_Of Satan’s subtlety in urging that of Ps. xci. 11, 12,
to Christ.—Of his imitating the Spirit of God in various ways of
teaching.—Of his pretending Scripture to further temptation.—The
reasons of such pretendings, and the ends to which he doth abuse
it.—Of Satan’s unfaithfulness in managing of scriptures.—Cautions
against that deceit.—The ways by which it may be discovered._
The ways of Satan, hitherto insisted on, to engage Christ in this act
of presumption, were secret insinuations and underhand contrivances:
but that which he openly and expressly urged to this purpose, was
an argument drawn from the promise of God, though sadly abused and
misrepresented, ‘He shall give his angels charge concerning thee,’
&c. This we are next to consider, in which, as cited by him, we may
easily see, (1.) That Satan affected an imitation of Christ, in the way
of his resistance. Christ had urged Scripture before, and now Satan
endeavours to manage the same weapon against him. (2.) It is observable
that Scripture is the weapon that Satan doth desire to wield against
him. In his other ways of dealing he was shy, and did but lay them in
Christ’s way, offering only the occasion, and leaving him to take them
up; but in this he is more confident, and industriously pleads it, as
a thing which he could better stand to and more confidently avouch.
(3.) The care of his subtlety herein, lay in the misrepresentation
and abuse of it, as may be seen in these particulars: [1.] In that he
urged this promise to promote a sinful thing, contrary to the general
end of all Scripture, which was therefore written ‘that we sin not.’
[2.] But more especially in his clipping and mutilating of it. He
industriously leaves out that part of it which doth limit and confine
the promise of protection to lawful undertakings, such as this was not,
and renders it as a general promise of absolute safety, be the action
what it will. It is a citation from Ps. xci. 11, 12, which there runs
thus, ‘He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all
thy ways.’ These last words, ‘in all thy ways,’ which doth direct to a
true understanding of God’s intention in that promise, he deceitfully
leaves out, as if they were needless and unnecessary parts of the
promise, when indeed they were on purpose put there by the Spirit of
God, to give a description of those persons and actions, unto whom, in
such cases, the accomplishment of the promise might be expected; for
albeit the word in the original, which is translated ‘ways’—דרכים—doth
signify any kind of way or action in the general, yet in this place it
doth not; for then God were engaged to an absolute protection of men,
not only when they unnecessarily thrust themselves into dangers, but in
the most abominably sinful actions whatsoever; which would have been a
direct contradiction to those many scriptures wherein God threatens to
withdraw his hand and leave sinners to the danger of their iniquities;
but it is evident that the sense of it is no more than this, ‘God is
with you, while you are with him.’ We have a paraphrase of this text,
to this purpose, in Prov. iii. 23, ‘Then shalt thou walk in thy way
safely, and thy foot shall not stumble:’ where the condition of this
safety, pointed to in the word ‘then,’ which leads the promise, is
expressly mentioned in the foregoing verses, ‘My son, let them’—that
is, the precepts of wisdom—‘not depart from thine eyes.... Then’—not
upon other terms—‘shalt thou walk in thy way safely.’ The ways then in
this promise, cited by Satan, are the ways of duty, or the ways of our
lawful callings. The fallacy of Satan in this dealing with Scripture
is obvious, and Christ might have given this answer, as Bernard hath
it, That God promiseth to keep him in his ways, but not in self-created
dangers, for that was not his way, but his ruin; or if a way, it was
Satan’s way, but not his.[428] (3.) To these two, some add another
abuse, in a subtle concealment of the following verse in Ps. xci.,
‘Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder.’ This concerned Satan, whose
cruelty and poisonous deceits were fitly represented by the lion and
the adder, and there the promise is also explained to have a respect to
Satan’s temptations—that is, God would so manage his protection, that
his children should not be led into a snare.
Hence observe, _Obs._ 13. _That Satan sometimes imitates the Spirit of
God by an officious pretence of teaching the mind of God to men._
This our adversary doth not always appear in one shape. Sometime he
acts as a lion or dragon, in ways of cruelty and fierceness; sometimes
as a filthy swine, in temptations to bestial uncleanness and sensual
lusts; sometime he puts on the garb of holiness, and makes as if he
were not a spiritual adversary, but a spiritual friend and counsellor.
That this is frequent with him, the apostle tells us: 2 Cor. xi. 14,
‘Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.’ Angels of light
are those blessed spirits sent forth to minister for the good of the
elect, whose ministry God useth not only for our preservation from
bodily hurts, but also for prevention of sin and furtherance of duty.
Satan, as wicked as he is, doth counterfeit that employment, and takes
upon him to give advice for our good, pretending to teach us in the
truth, or to direct and further us in our endeavours.[429]
That he designs an imitation of God and his Spirit, may be discovered
by expressing a great many particulars of God’s ways and appointments,
wherein Satan, as God’s ape, partly out of mockery and scorn, partly
upon other grounds of advantage to his intendments, doth counterfeit
the current coin of the Lord’s establishments by a very close
imitation. But I shall here confine myself to the point of teaching and
instruction, wherein how he proceeds, we shall the better understand by
considering how many ways God hath of old, and now still doth use in
declaring his mind to his people. The sum of all we have, Heb. i. 12.
Heretofore he signified his mind in ‘divers manners’ by the prophets,
and ‘in these last days by his Son,’ in all which we shall trace the
steps of Satan.
(1.) First, _God revealed himself sometime by voice_; as to Abraham,
Moses, and others. The devil hath dared to imitate this. There want
not instances of it; in the temptation, which is now under explanation,
he did so; and his confessing Christ, ‘I know thee who thou art,’ [Mat.
i. 24,] &c., doth shew that he is ready enough to do it at any time
for advantage. Sprenger tells us a story of the devil’s preaching to a
congregation in the habit and likeness of a priest, wherein he reproved
sin, and urged truth, and seemed no way culpable for false doctrine;
but I suspect this for a fabulous tale. However, it is undeniable that
he sometime hath appeared to men with godly exhortations in his mouth,
of living justly, and doing no man wrong, &c.,[430] except we resolve
to discredit all history, and the narrations of persons, and some such
are known to some in this auditory, who solemnly affirm they have met
with such dealing from him.
(2.) Secondly, _God hath sometime revealed himself to men in ecstasies
and trances_; such as was that of Paul: Acts xxii. 17, ‘I was in an
ecstasy or trance,’ γενέσθαι με ἐν ἐκστάσει. This also hath the devil
imitated. Mohammed made this advantage of his disease, the epilepsy or
falling-sickness, pretending that at such times he was in an ecstasy,
and had converse with the angel Gabriel. But what he only in knavery
pretended, others have really felt. The stories of Familists and
deluded Quakers are full of such things. They frequently have fallen
down and have lain as in a swoon, and when they have awaked, told
wonderful stories of what they have heard and seen.
(3.) Thirdly, _Visions and dreams were usual things in the Old
Testament, and famous ways of divine revelation_; but Satan was not
behind in this matter. His instruments had their visions too. In Ezek.
xiii. 7 we have mention of vain visions and lying divinations; and such
satanical dreams are also noted, Deut. xiii. 1, ‘If there arise among
you a dreamer of dreams.’ Those days of confusion, that are not yet
out of memory, afforded store of these. While unstable, giddy-headed
people began to dote on novelties and questions in religion, they
gave opportunity to Satan to beguile them; for he taking advantage
of their nauseating of old truths, and their expectation of sublime
discoveries, which had sufficiently prepared them for any impression,
did so overwork their fancies that they easily conceited themselves
to have had divine revelations, and nothing was more ordinary than
to hear stories of visions and dreams. And this spread further by a
kind of infection, for it grew into a religious fashion; and he was
not esteemed that had not something of this nature to experience.
And though the folly and impertinences of such things generally, and
sometime the apparent wickedness of them, as contradicting truth and
the divine rules of holiness, were sufficient discoveries that Satan’s
hand was in them, yet until time, experience, and the power of God had
cooled the intemperate heat of this raving humour, it continued in
the good liking and admiration of the more inconsiderate vulgar. And
sometime those from whom more seriousness and consideration might have
been expected fell into a reverence for these pretences in others,
and helped forward this spiritual witchcraft by their countenance and
arguings, often abusing that text in Acts ii. 17, ‘Your young men
shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams,’ by applying
it to a justification of these apparently foolish dotages. And indeed
the effect hath discovered they were no better, for many of those
things which with great confidence were avouched as certain, were by
time proved to be false. Many things were useless, vain, ridiculous,
and some were brought to lament and confess their folly after they
proceeded far in these ways; and at last, when the former opportunities
were worn out, Satan grew weary of that design as being no longer
proper to be insisted on. There is now a great calm, so that it is but
seldom that we hear of such things talked of. It were needless to give
particular instances, when you may at your leisure fetch them from
hundreds of pamphlets commonly known.
(4.) Fourthly, One of the most noted ways by which God discovered his
mind was that of _inspiration_, by which some eminent persons, called
therefore prophets, spake the will of God ‘as they were moved or
acted by the Spirit of God,’ [2 Peter i. 21.] The devil had also his
false prophets. Such are frequently taxed in the Old Testament, and
foretold in the New: ‘False Christs, and false prophets shall arise,’
Mat. xxiv. 24; ‘There were false prophets among the people, as there
shall be false teachers among you,’ 2 Peter ii. 1. Many false teachers
are gone out into the world. Such a one was Montanus in Tertullian’s
time, David George, John of Leyden, Hacket, our countryman, were such,
and a great many such there have been in all ages. It is notoriously
known that Satan hath thus inspired poor, possessed wretches, who
have uttered threatenings against sin and woe to sinners. The sayings
of such possessed creatures have not long since been gathered into
a volume and published, as containing very persuasive arguments to
repentance and amendment of life.[431] Besides these, our own times
afford too many examples of this kind. Many have put on the guise of
the old prophets in a foolish though adventurous imitation of their
actions and prophecies. Some have in our streets resembled Jonah
in Nineveh, ‘Yet forty days,’ &c. Some fancied to walk naked like
Isaiah; others have come with their earthen pitchers and broken them,
imitating these and other types by which God in his true prophets
foresignified his judgments to come; in all which actions and garbs,
with much earnestness, and in an affected tone, they have called out
for repentance in a confident denunciation of woes and miseries, with
a bold limiting of the time of forty days, that the same might carry a
parallel to Jonah’s prophecy, and sometime giving—which is the surest
way—an unlimited, uncertain time. How the devil acts in these matters,
and by what ways he seduceth them to believe they are inspired of
God, or have real visions and revelations, it is not my business now
to inquire; only let those that think such things strange, consider
that the devil hath the advantage of deep fanciful apprehensions and a
working melancholy in such persons, by which he can easily work them to
conceit anything, and confidently believe what they have conceited.
(5.) Fifthly, Sometime God notified his mind _by signs and miracles_.
Satan hath also his ‘lying signs and wonders;’ a power God hath
permitted him this way, which is very great, and the delusions wrought
thereby are strong, hazarding the deception of the elect. This power
of doing wonders the devil usually applies to false doctrines, to
strengthen and countenance errors. The apostle testifies, 2 Thes. ii.
9, that Satan shall employ this power for the advancement of the ‘man
of sin, whose coming shall be with signs and lying wonders.’ The beast
arising out of the earth, Rev. xiii. 14, ‘he shall deceive by the means
of those miracles which he hath power to do.’ And accordingly the
popish legends are full of stories of miracles, whereof, though most
be lies, forgeries, and the false contrivements of those who sought to
bring the people to receive their doctrines, the credit and advancement
of which they sought by such ways; some notwithstanding, though not
true miracles, yet were truly acted, to countenance those errors which
are pretended to be established by them.
(6.) Sixthly, God doth teach and lead his people _by impulses_. Christ
was thus ‘led of the Spirit into the wilderness;’ and Paul was ‘bound
in spirit to go to Jerusalem,’ [Acts xx. 22.] It is common for Satan to
imitate such impulses. We have clear instances of diabolical impulses
to sin in Scripture. A strong impulse was on Ananias, ‘Satan filled his
heart,’ [Acts v. 3;] a strong impulse on Judas, ‘Satan entered into his
heart,’ [Luke xxii. 3;] and what then more easy to apprehend, than that
Satan can counterfeit better impulses, and violently stir up the hearts
of men to actions seemingly good or indifferent? Some hypocrites are
moved strongly to pray or preach,—Satan therein aiming at an increase
of pride or presumption in them;—and they know no other, but that it is
the Spirit of God. God’s children may have impulses from Satan, upon
pretences of zeal, as the disciples had, when they called for fire from
heaven. In these impulses Satan doth not so act the heart of man as
the Spirit of God doth, whose commands in this case are irresistible;
but he only works by altering the disposition of our bodies in a
natural way; and then having fitted us all he can for an impression, he
endeavours to set it on by strong persuasions. Some memorable instances
of these impulses might profitably illustrate this. Math. Parisiensis
takes notice of a boy, in _anno_ 1213, of whom also Fuller makes
mention,[432] who, after some loss which the Christians had received in
the war against the Turks, went up and down, singing this rhyme—
‘Jesus Lord, redeem our loss:
Restore to us thy holy cross.’
And by this means he gathered a multitude of boys together, who could
not by the severest menaces of their parents be hindered from following
him to their own ruin. Another instance of a strange impulse we have in
Josephus:[433] one Jesus, the son of Ananus, about four years before
the destruction of Jerusalem, at the feast of tabernacles, begins to
cry out, ‘Woe, woe, to the east and west, to men and women,’ &c., and
could by no means be restrained night or day; and when his flesh was
beaten off his bones, he begged no pity nor ease, but still continued
his usual crying.
(7.) Seventhly, God doth also by his Spirit teach his people in
_bringing things to their remembrance_, John xiv. 26. Satan also in
imitation of this, can put into the minds of men, with great readiness
and dexterity, promises or sentences of Scripture, insomuch that they
conclude that all such actings are from the Spirit of God, who, as they
conclude, set such a scripture upon their heart. Thus dealt Satan with
Christ. He urgeth the promise upon him, wherein upon the matter he doth
as much, as when he secretly suggests such things to the heart without
an audible voice. In this way of craft Satan doth very much resemble
the true work of the Spirit; [1.] In the readiness and quickness of
suggesting; [2.] In seeming exact-suiting scripture suggested, with the
present occasion; and [3.] In the earnestness of his urging it upon the
fancies of men. Yet when all this is done, they that shall seriously
consider all ends, matter and circumstances, will easily observe it is
but the cunning work of a tempter, and not from the Holy Spirit.
_Obs._ 14. Observe also, _That whatever be the various ways of Satan’s
imitation, yet the matter which he works and practiseth upon is still
Scripture_. To this he confines himself:—
[1.] First, _Because the Scriptures are generally, among Christians,
received as the undoubted oracles of God, the rule of our lives and
duties, and the grounds of our hope_. It would be a vain and bootless
labour to impose upon those that retain this belief, the sayings of the
Turkish Alcoran, the precepts of heathen philosophers, or any other
thing that may carry a visible estrangement from or contradiction to
Scripture. He could not then possibly pretend to a divine instruction,
nor could he so ‘transform himself into an angel of light:’ but by
using this covert of divine command, promise, or discovery, he can
more easily beget a belief that God hath said it, and that there is
neither sin nor danger in the thing propounded, but duty and advantage
to be expected; and this is the very thing that makes way for an
easy entertainment of such delusions. Poor creatures believe that is
all from God, and that they are acted by his Spirit, and that with
such confidence that they contemn and descry those, as ignorant of
divine mysteries, and of the power of God, who are not so besotted as
themselves.
[2.] Secondly, _The Scriptures have a glorious irresistible majesty in
them, peculiar to themselves, which cannot be found in all that art
or eloquence can contribute to other authors_. It is not play-book
language, nor scraps of romances that Satan can effect these cheats
withal; and therefore we may observe that in the highest delusions
men have had pretences of Scripture; and their strong persuasions of
extraordinary discoveries have stricken men into a reverence of their
profession, because of the Scripture words and phrases with which
their boldest follies are woven up. For let but men inquire into the
reason of the prevalency of Familism of old, upon so vast a number
of people as were carried away with it, and they shall find that the
great artifice lay in the words they used, a language abstracted from
Scripture, to signify such conceits as the Scripture never intended.
Hence were their expressions always high, soaring, and relating to a
more excellent and mystical interpretation of those divine writings.
This may be observed in David George, Hen. Nicholas, and others, who
usually talk of being consubstantiated with God, taken up into his
love, of the angelical life, and a great deal more of the same kind.
The Ranters at first had the like language, and the Quakers after them
affected such a canting expression. And we may be the more certain of
the truth of this observation, that such a kind of speaking, which
borrows its majesty from the style of the Scripture, is of moment to
Satan’s design; because we find the Scripture itself gives particular
notice of it. The false teachers in 2 Pet. ii. 18, are described,
among other things, by their ‘swelling words of vanity,’ which the
Syriac renders to be ‘a proud and lofty way of speaking.’ The original
signifies no less—ὑπέρογκα,—they were words swelled like bladders,
though being pricked, they be found to be empty sounds, and no
substance. There are indeed swelling words of atheistical contempt of
those who, as the psalmist speaks, ‘set their mouths against heaven,’
Ps. lxxiii. 9, 11; but this passage of Peter, as also the like in
Jude 16, signify big swollen words, from high pretensions and fancies
of knowing the mind of God more perfectly; for they that use them
pretend themselves prophets of God, ver. 1, and as to their height in
profession, are compared to clouds highly soaring; and in 2 Cor. xi.
14, they are said to be ‘transformed into the apostles of Christ,’ and
to the garb of the ‘ministers of righteousness.’ And that which is
more, this particular design of Satan is noted as the rise of all; ‘No
marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.’
Having seen the reasons why Satan chooseth Scripture as his tool to
work by, I shall next shew to what base designs he makes it subserve.
[1.] First, He useth this artifice _to beget and propagate erroneous
doctrines_. Hence no opinion is so vile, but pretends to Scripture
as its patron. The Arians pretend Scripture against the divinity of
Christ. The Socinians, Pelagians, Papists, yea, and those that pretend
to inspirations for their rule, and disclaim the binding force of
those antiquated declarations of the saints’ conditions, as they call
them, yet conform all their sayings to the Scripture expression, and
endeavour to prove their mistakes by its authority.
[2.] Secondly, _He makes abused Scripture to encourage sinful actions_.
He can cite passages of God’s patience and long-suffering, of his
pardoning grace and readiness to forgive, and a thousand more, upon no
other design than the ‘turning of the grace of God into wantonness,’
[Jude 4.] When professors turn loose and negligent, when they adventure
too far upon sinful pleasures, they lick themselves whole by an
overforward grasping at such passages of Scripture, which Satan will
with great readiness set upon their hearts; and then they pretend to
themselves that their peace is made up with God, and that they have no
less than a sealed pardon in their bosoms; which notwithstanding may
be known to have only Satan’s hand and seal at it, by their overly and
formal sorrow for such miscarriages, and their readiness to return to
the same follies again.
[3.] Thirdly, By this imitation of the commands and promises of God,
_he doth strangely engage such as he can thus delude unto desperate
undertakings_.[434] The Familists of Germany were persuaded by this
delusion, to expose themselves unarmed to the greatest hazards, upon
vain pretences of promises set home upon them, as that God would fight
for them, that they must ‘stand still and see the salvation of God,’
[Exod. xiv. 13.] Some of later times have paid their lives for their
bold misapplication of that promise, ‘One shall chase a thousand,’
[Deut. xxxii. 30.] Judas of Galilee and Theudas were prompted by Satan
to gather multitudes together, though to their own ruin, upon a vain
persuasion that they were raised up of God, and that God would be with
them.[435]
[4.] Fourthly, He sometimes _procures groundless peace and assurance in
the hearts of careless ones by Scripture misapplied_. Many you may meet
with who will roundly tell you a long story how they were cast down and
comforted by such a scripture brought to their minds, when, it may be
much feared, they are but deceived, and that as yet God hath not spoken
peace to them.
Lastly, This way of Satan’s setting home scriptures proves sadly
effectual to beget or heighten _the inward distresses and fears of
the children of God_. It is a wonder to hear some dispute against
themselves, so nimble they be to object a scripture against their
peace, above their reading or ability, that you would easily conclude
there is one at hand that prompts them, and suggests these things to
their own prejudice. And sometime a scripture will be set so cross or
edgeway to their good and comfort, that many pleadings, much time,
prayers, and discourses cannot remove it. I have known some that have
seriously professed scriptures have been thrown into their hearts like
arrows, and have with such violence fixed a false apprehension upon
their minds, as that God had cut them off, that they were reprobate,
damned, &c., that they have borne the tedious, restless affrightments
of it for many days, and yet the thing itself, as well as the issue
of it, doth declare that this was not the fruit of the Spirit of God,
which is a spirit of truth, and cannot suggest a falsehood, but of
Satan, who hath been a liar from the beginning.
Observe lastly, _Obs._ 15. _Though Satan useth Scripture in these
deceitful workings, yet he never doth it faithfully._
(1.) First, _Because it is against his nature, as it is now corrupted
by his fall_. There is no truth in him: ‘When he speaketh a lie he
speaketh of his own, for he is a liar,’ John viii. 44; not that he
cannot speak a truth, but that he usually is a liar, and that he never
speaks truth but with a purpose to deceive.[436]
(2.) Secondly, _To deal faithfully in urging scriptures upon the
consciences of men, is also contrary to his interest_. He hath a
kingdom which he endeavours to uphold. This kingdom, being directly
contrary to that of Christ’s, which is a kingdom of light, is therefore
called a kingdom of darkness, being maintained and propagated only
by lies and deceits. He cannot then be supposed to use Scripture
faithfully, because that is the true sceptre of Christ’s kingdom, for
then should Satan, as Christ argues, Mat. xii. 26, ‘cast out Satan, and
be divided against himself.’
This unfaithful dealing with Scripture is threefold.
(1.) First, The unfaithfulness of his _design_. Though he speaks what
is true, yet he doth it with an evil mind, aiming at one of these three
things:—
[1.] First, _To deceive and delude_. If he applies promises, or insists
upon the privileges of God’s children, it is to make them proud or
presumptuous. If he urge threatenings, or stir up the conscience to
accuse for sin, it is to bring them to despair; if he object the law,
it is to enrage lust; and that ‘sin by the commandment might become
exceeding sinful,’ [Rom. vii. 13.]
[2.] Secondly, His design is sometime _to bring the Scripture under
suspicion or contempt_. He puts some weak Christians upon unseasonable
or imprudent use of Scripture, and then tempts others to laugh at
them, and to despise in their hearts those ways of religion which
some zealots with too much weakness do manage. Men are apt enough to
scoff at the most serious and weighty duties of holiness, even when
performed in a most serious manner. If David put on sackcloth, and
afflict himself with fasting, it is presently turned to his reproach,
‘and the drunkards make a song of it,’ [Ps. lxix. 12;] but much more
advantage hath the devil to raise up scorn and loathing in the minds of
debauched persons, by the affected and unskilful use of Scripture. Some
by a narrow confinement of the words _brother_ and _sister_ to those
of their own fellowship, as if none else were to be owned by them,
have occasioned the scoff of holy brethren—a phrase notwithstanding
used with a grave seriousness by the apostle—in the usual discourses
of those who wait all occasions to harden themselves against the
power of religion. The like observations they make of other ways and
forms of speaking, which some have accustomed themselves unto, in a
conscientious conformity to Scripture phrase: in all which the devil
observing the weakness and injudiciousness of some on the one hand, and
the scornful pride of others on the other hand, is willing to provide
matter for their atheistical jeers, by putting all the obligations he
can upon the consciences of the weak, to continue in the use of these
expressions. For some proof of this matter we may note the secret
deceit of Satan, in that liberal profession of Christ to be ‘the Son of
God,’ [Mark i. 24; Luke iv. 34], ‘I know thee who thou art; the Holy
One of God.’ Here was truth spoken by him, and one would have thought
with great ingenuity;[437] but yet he cunningly insinuated into the
minds of the hearers a ground of suspicion that he was not the Son of
God; and for that end calls him Jesus of Nazareth, as if Christ had
been born there. He knew well that the Jews expected no Messiah from
Nazareth, and therefore on set purpose used he that expression, that
he might draw him into contempt. And accordingly we find this very
mistake, that Christ was born at Nazareth, became an argument against
him: John vii. 41, while some were convinced, and said, ‘This is the
Christ,’ others said, ‘Shall Christ come out of Galilee?’
[3.] Thirdly, Another part of his design in the use of scriptures is
to _put a varnish upon hypocrisy_. He is ready to serve men by putting
Scripture expressions in their mouths, and inuring them to a constant
use of the phrases of those divine writings, that they may less suspect
themselves of the pride, formality, and secret wickedness of their
hearts; and to help on their mistakes concerning their spiritual
condition, he can urge upon their consciences those scriptures that
serve to engage them in external observances of religion. It may appear
by the Pharisee’s boast of fasting ‘twice a week,’ of ‘paying tithes,’
of ‘giving alms,’ Luke xviii. 11, that their consciences were someway
concerned in these things, so that though they were left without check
of conscience ‘to devour widows’ houses,’ yet were they urged to make
‘long prayers.’ Suitable to this is that which Solomon speaks of the
harlot, who, to colour over her wickedness, had her offerings and
vows; and when her conscience is appeased with these performances,
she can excuse herself in her way of sinning, ‘She eats and wipes her
mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness,’ Prov. xxx. 20. Satan
doth but hereby help to paint a sepulchre, or gild a potsherd, and to
furnish men with excuses and pretexts in their way of sinning. Not
unlike to this was that service which the devil with great readiness
performed—as I was informed from some of good credit—to a young student
who had fallen upon some books of magic in a college library, into
which having stolen privately one night in pursuit of that study,
was almost surprised by the president, who, seeing a candle there at
an unseasonable time, suddenly opens the door to know who was up so
late, in which strait the devil—to gratify his pupil with a ready
excuse—snatcheth away his book, and in a moment lays Montanus his Bible
before him, that he might pretend that for his employment.
(2.) Secondly, Another point of Satan’s unfaithful dealing with
Scripture is _his false citation of it_. It is nothing with him to
alter, change, or leave out such a part as may make against him. If
he urge promises upon men, in order to their security and negligence,
he conceals the condition of them, and banisheth the threatening far
from their minds, representing the mercy of God in a false glass,
as if he had promised to save and bring to heaven every man upon
the common and easy terms of being called a Christian. If it be his
purpose to disquiet the hearts of God’s children, to promote their
fears, or to lead them to despair, then he sets home the commands and
threatenings, but hides the promises that might relieve them, and,
which is remarkable, he hath so puzzled some by setting on their hearts
a piece of Scripture, that when the next words, or next verse, might
have eased them of their fears, and answered the sad objections which
they raised against themselves from thence, as if their eyes had been
holden, or as if a mist had been cast over them, they have not for a
long time been able to consider the relief which they might have had.
This hiding of Scripture from their eyes, setting aside what God may do
for the just chastisement of his children’s folly, is effected by the
strong impression which Satan sets upon their hearts, and by holding
their minds down to a fixed meditation of the dreadful inferences which
he presents to them from thence, not suffering them to divert their
thoughts by his incessant clamours against them.
(3.) Thirdly, He unfaithfully handleth scriptures, _by wresting the
true import and sense of them_. We read of some, 2 Pet. iii. 16, who
‘wrest the Scripture.’ The word in the original—στρεβλοῦσι—signifies
a racking or torturing of it, as men upon a rack are stretched beyond
their due length, to a dislocation of their joints, and sometimes
forced to speak what they never did nor intended; so are the Scriptures
used. Those that do so are Satan’s scholars, and taught of him, though
in regard of the Spirit’s true teaching, they are called unlearned,
which is sufficient to shew Satan’s deceitful dealing. He often lays
his dead and corrupt sense—as the harlot did with her dead child in the
room of the living infant—in the place of the living meaning of the
scripture. This may be seen evidently:—
[1.] First, _In heresies or errors_. These are Satan’s brood, and there
are none so vile, that pretend to Christian religion, but they claim a
kindred to Scripture, and are confident on its authority for them. Now
seeing truth is but one, and these errors not only contradictory to
truth, but to each other, Satan could never spin out such conclusions
from the divine oracles, but by wresting them from their true
intendments; and he that would contemplate the great subtlety of Satan
in this his art, need but consider what different strange and monstrous
shapes are put upon the Scripture by the several heresies which march
under its colours. The Quakers in their way represent it like an old
almanack out of date, and withal, in the use they make of it, they
render it as a piece of nonsensical furious raving. The Socinians take
down the sublime mysteries of Christ’s satisfaction and justification
by faith, with external rewards and punishments, to a strain as low
as the Turkish Alcoran. The papists make it like a few leaves of an
imperfect book, wanting beginning and end, and so not fit to be set up
as a sufficient rule. The Ranters make it seem rather like language
from hell than the commands of the pure and holy God. Some will have it
to countenance most ridiculous inventions in worship; others will have
it to discharge all outward observations and ordinances, as childish
rudiments. Some raise it all to the pitch of enigmatical unintelligible
mysteries; others can find no more in the precepts of it than in
Aristotle’s ethics. Thus by distorting and wresting, Satan hath learned
these unskilful ones to make it serve their vilest lusts and humours.
[2.] Secondly, The same art of wresting Scripture is observable in his
_secret suggestings_. If he would encourage any in sin, he can wrest
Scripture for that, and tell him that God is merciful, that Christ
died for sinners, that there is hope of pardon, that saints have done
the like: things very true in themselves, but perverted by him to
another sense than ever they were intended to by God, who hath spoken
these things that we sin not. If he would discourage a saint, he can
tell him when he finds him doubting his estate, that the ‘fearful and
unbelieving have their part in the lake which burns with fire and
brimstone,’ Rev. xxi. 8; when he finds him under a known sin, he tells
that of the apostle, ‘If we sin wilfully after we have received the
knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins,’
[Heb. x. 26.] When he observes them discomposed and wandering in duty,
then he objects, ‘They draw nigh me with their lips, but their heart
is far from me,’ [Isa. xxix. 13.] If he sees them dull and without
consolation at the Lord’s supper, then to be sure they hear of him,
‘He that eats and drinks unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to
himself,’ 1 Cor. xi. 29. If he find him bemoaning that he is not so
apprehensive of mercies or judgments as he would be, then he sets home
some such scripture as this, ‘This people’s heart is waxed gross, and
their ears are dull of hearing,’ Mat. xiii. 15, &c. These scriptures
are frequently perverted by Satan from the true and proper meaning of
them. I have had complaints from several dejected Christians of these
very scriptures urged upon them to their great trouble, when yet it was
evident that none of these were truly applied, by Satan’s temptation
against them.
_Applic._ These things give us warning not _to take anything of this
nature upon trust_. If Satan can so imitate the Spirit of God in
applications of Scripture, and bringing it to our remembrance, we
have great reason to beware lest we be imposed upon by Satan’s design
clothed in Scripture phrase; not that I would have men esteem the
secret setting of Scripture upon their minds, to be in all cases a
delusion, and to be disregarded as such. Some indeed there are that so
severely remark the weaknesses of professors of religion, that they
raise up a scorn to that which is of most necessary and serious use.
Because the devil prevails with some hypocrites to gild themselves
with Scripture phrase, and others through imprudent inadvertency
are, unknown to themselves, beguiled by Satan, to misapplications of
Scripture to their own estate, or to other things; they therefore decry
all the inward workings of the heart, as fancy or affected singularity;
these do but the devil’s work. But that the Spirit of God, whom Satan
treacherously endeavours to imitate, doth set home Scripture commands,
threatenings, and promises upon the hearts of his people, is not only
attested by the experience of all that are inwardly acquainted with
the ways of God, but is one of the great promises which Christ hath
given for the comfort of his people in his absence: John xiv. 26, ‘But
the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father shall send in
my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your
remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.’ This then being granted
as a firm unshaken truth, our care must be in discovering and avoiding
Satan’s counterfeit using of Scripture, and in this we should be more
wary;
[1.] First, _Because we are not so apt to suspect what we meet with in
such a way, when it is brought to us in the language of Scripture_.
[2.] Secondly, _And those that are not exercised in the Scripture, will
be at a sad loss, as not knowing how to extricate themselves from such
difficulties as may arise to them from Satan’s sophistry_.
[3.] Thirdly, Wariness is also more necessary, _because we are
inclinable to believe what suits our desires, and conscience awakened
is averse to the rejecting of that which answers its fears_.
_Quest._ You may say, What is there of direction for us in this case?
_Ans._ The answer is ready. Two things are given us in charge. (1.)
That we be wisely suspicious. A facile hasty credulity is treacherous.
Christ forbids, when he foretells the rising of false Christs, Mat.
xxiv. 26, the forwardness of a sudden belief, taxing thereby those
that are presently taken with every new appearance. It is childish to
be carried with every wind. We are warned also of this: 1 John iv.
1, ‘Believe not every spirit.’ (2.) We are commanded to bring all
pretences whatsoever to trial. Though immediate revelation or vision be
pretended, or extraordinary commission, yet must all be brought to the
touchstone. ‘We must prove all things,’ 1 Thes. v. 21, ‘and try those
that say they are apostles,’ Rev. ii. 2; nay, ‘the spirits are to be
tried whether they be of God,’ 1 John iv. 1.
_Quest._ You will say, How must we try?
_Ans._ I answer, God hath given a public, sufficient, and certain rule,
which is _the Scripture, and all must be tried by that_; so that if
there be impulses or discoveries or remembrances of Scripture upon any,
it must not be taken for granted that they are of God, because they
pretend so high, for so we shall make Satan judge in his own cause; but
lay all to the line and plummet of the written word, and if it answer
not that, call it confidently a delusion, and reject it as accursed,
though it might seem in other regards to have been suggested by an
angel from heaven.
_Obj._ But it will be said, Satan pretends to this rule, and it is
Scripture that is urged by him.
_Ans._ I answer, Though it be so, yet he useth not Scripture in its own
intendment and sense. For the discovery of his unfaithful dealing;—
[1.] First, _Compare the inference of the suggestion with other
scriptures_. If it be from a dark scripture, compare it with those that
are more plain, and in every case see whether the general current of
the Scriptures speak the same thing; for if it be from Satan, he either
plays with the words and phrases, from doubtful and equivalent terms
making his conclusion, or his citation will be found impertinent, or,
which is most usual, contrary to truth or holiness. If any of these
appear by a true examination of the import of the scripture which he
seeks to abuse, or by comparing it with the scope and genius of other
scriptures, you may certainly pronounce that it is not of God, but
Satan’s deceit.[438]
[2.] Secondly, _Consider the tendency of such suggestions_. Let no
man say that this will come too late, or that it is an after-game. I
do not mean that we should stay so long as to see the effects, though
this is also a certain discovery of Satan’s knavery in his highest
pretences. The fanatic furies of the German enthusiasts do now appear
plain to all the world to have been delusions, by their end, fruits,
and issue. But that while these conclusions are obtruded upon us, we
should observe to what they tend, which we shall the better know if all
circumstances round about be considered. Sometimes Satan doth covertly
hint his mind, and send it along with the suggestions; sometimes our
condition will enough declare it, and there is no case but it will
afford something of discovery if seriously pondered. If he either
prompt us to pride, vainglory, or presumption, or that our condition
sway us that way, it will be sufficient ground of suspicion that it is
Satan that then urgeth promises or privileges upon us. If we are of a
wounded spirit, inclined to distrust, or if we be put on to despair,
it is past denial that it is Satan that urgeth the threatenings, and
presseth the accusations of the law against us. He that gathers stones,
timber, lime, and such materials together, as are usually employed in
building, doth discover his intention before he actually build his
house, and thus may Satan’s end be known by his preparations, compared
with the sway and inclination of our present temper.
[3.] Thirdly, _It must be remembered that with these endeavours, we
often seek the face of the Lord for help and counsel_; and that we
apply ourselves to such of the servants of God, as being more knowing
than ourselves, and less prepossessed in their judgments, because not
concerned, are better able to see into the nature of our straits, and
to help us by their advices.