_What are those Usual Methods of_ Temptation, _with which the Powers of
Darkness do assault the Children of Men?_
The _Corinthians_, having upon the Apostles Direction, Excommunicated
one of their Society, who had married his Mother-in-law, & this, as it
is thought, while his own Father was Living too; the Apostle encourages
them to Re-admit that man, upon his very deep and sharp _Repentance_.
He gives divers Reasons of his propounding this unto them; whereof
one is, _Lest Satan should get advantage of them;_ for, had the man
miscarried, under any Rigour of the Sentence continued upon him, after
his _Repentance_, 'tis well if the Church itself had not quickly fallen
to pieces thereupon; besure, the Success of the Gospel had been more
than a little Incommoded. The Apostle upon this Occasion, intimates,
That _Satan_ has his _Devices;_ by which word are meant, Artifices or
Contrivances used for the _Deceiving_ of those that are Treated with
them well, But what shall _we do_ that we may come to this _Corinthian
Attainment, We are not Ignorant of Satan's Devices?_ [_Non cuivis
homini Contingit!_]
Truly, the Devil has _Mille Nocendi Artes;_ and it will be
impossible for us, to run over all the _Stratagems_ and _Policies_
of our Adversary. I shall only attempt a few Observations upon the
_Temptations_ of our Lord Jesus Christ: who was _Tempted in all things
like unto us, except in our Sins_. When we read the _Temptations_
of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Fourth Chapter of _Matthew_ There,
Thence, you will understand, what was once counted so difficult; Even,
_The way of a Serpent upon the Rock_. There are certain Ancient and
Famous _Methods_ which the Devil in his _Temptations_, does mostly
accustome himself unto; which is not so much from any Barrenness, or
Sluggishness in the Devil, but because he has had the Encouragement of
a, _Probatum est_, upon those horrid Methods. How did the Devil assault
the First _Adam?_ It was with Temptations drawn from _Pleasure_, and
_Profit_, and _Honour_, which, as the Apostle notes, in 1 Joh. 2, 16.
are, _All that is in the World_. [53] With the very same temptations
it was, that he fell upon the Second _Adam_ too. Now, in those
_Temptations_, you will see the more _Usual Methods_, whereby the
_Devil_ would be Ensnaring of us; and I beseech you to attend unto the
following Admonitions, as those _Warnings_ of God, which the Lives of
your souls depend upon your taking of.
There were especially Three _Remarkable_ Assaults of _Temptations_,
which the _Devil_ it seems, visibly made upon our Lord; after he had
been more invisibly for Forty dayes together _Tempting_ of that Holy
One; and we may make a few distinct _Remarks_ upon them all.
§ The first of our Lords three Temptations is thus related, in Mat. 4,
3. _He was an Hungry; and when the Tempter came to him, he said, If
thou be the Son of God, Command that these Stones be made Bread._
From whence, take these _Remarks_.
I. The Devil will ordinarily make our _Conditions_, to be the
Advantages of his _Temptations_. When our Lord was _Hungry_, then
_Bread! Bread!_ shall be all the Cry of his Temptation; the Devil
puts him upon a wrong step, for the getting of _Bread_. There is no
Condition, but what has indeed some _Hunger_ accompanying of it;
and the Devil marks what it is, that we are _Hungry_ for. One mans
Condition makes him _Hunger_ for Preferments, or Employments, another
mans makes him _Hunger_ for Cash or Land, or Trade; another mans makes
him _Hunger_ for Merriments, or Diversions: And the Condition of every
Afflicted Man, makes him _Hunger_ with Impatience for Deliverance. Now
the Devil will be sure to suit his Perswasions with our _Conditions_.
When he has our _Condition_ to speak with him, & for him, then thinks
he, _I am sure this man will now hearken to my Proposals!_ Hence, if
men are in _Prosperity_, the Devil will tempt them to Forgetfulness of
God; if they are in _Adversity_, he will tempt them to Murmuring at
God; in all the expressions of those impieties. Wise _Agur_ was aware
of this; in _Prov._ 30, 9. says he, if a man be _Full_, he shall be
tempted, _to deny God, and say who is the Lord?_ if a man be Poor, he
shall be tempted, _to steal, and take the Name of God in vain_. The
Devil will talk suitably; if you ponder your Conditions, you may expect
you shall be tempted agreeably thereunto.
II. The Devil does often manage his _temptations_, by urging of our
_Necessities_. Our Lord, was thus by the Devil bawl'd upon; _You want
Bread, and you'll starve, if in my way you get it not_. The Devil will
show some forbidden thing unto us, and plead concerning it, as of
_Bread_ we use to say, _it must be had_. _Necessity_ has a wonderful
compulsion in it. You may see what _Necessity_ will do, if you read in
Deut. 28. 56. _the tender and the delicate Woman among you, her eye
shall be evil towards the Children that she shall bear, for she shall
eat them for want of all things_. The Devil will perswade us that there
is a _Necessity_ of our doing what he does propound unto us; and then
tho' the _Laws_ of God about us were so many _Walls_ of Stone, yet
we shall break [54] through them all. That little inconvenience, of
our coming to beg our _Bread_, O what a fearful Representation does
the Devil make of it! and when once the Devil scares us to think of
a sinful thing, _it must be done_, we soon come to think, _it may be
done_. When the Devil has frighted us into an Apprehension, that it is
a _Needful_ thing which we are prompted unto, he presently Engages all
the Faculties of our Souls, to prove, that it may be a _Lawful_ one;
the Devil told _Esau, You'll dye if you don't sell your Birthright;_
the Devil told _Aaron, You'll pull all the people about your ears, if
you do not countenance their superstitions;_ and then they comply'd
immediately. Yea, sometimes if the Devil do but Feign a Necessity, he
does thereby _Gain_ the Hearts of Men; he did but feign a Need, when
he told _Saul, the Cattel must be spared, and the sacrifice must be
precipitated_, and he does but feign a Need, when he tells many a man,
_if you do no servile work on the Sabbath-day, and if you don't Rob
God of his evening_,[207] _you'll never subsist in the world_. All
the denials of God, in the world, use to be from this Fallacy impos'd
upon us. It never can be necessary for us to violate any Negative
Commandment in the Law of our God; where God says, _thou shalt not_,
we cannot upon any pretence reply, I _must_. But the Devil will put a
most formidable and astonishing face of necessity upon many of those
_Abominable things, which are hateful to the soul of God_. He'll say
nothing to us about, the one thing needful; but the petite and the
sorry _Need-nots_ of this world, he'll set off with most bloody Colours
of _Necessity_. He will not say, _'tis necessary for you to maintain
the Favour of your God, and secure the_ welfare of your Soul; but he'll
say, _'tis necessary for you to keep in with your Neighbours; and that
you and yours may have a good Living among them_.
III. The Devil does insinuate his most Horrible _Temptations_, with
pretence, of much _Friendship_ and _Kindness_ for us. He seemed very
unwilling that our Lord should want any thing that might be comfortable
for him; but, he was a _Devil_ still! The _Devil_ flatters our Mother
Eve, as if he was desirous to make her more Happy than her Maker
did; but there was the _Devil_ in that flattery. _Sub Amici fallere
Nomen_,----to Salute men with profers to do all manner of Service for
them; and at the same time to Stab them as _Joab_ did _Abner_ of old;
this is just like the _Devil_, and the _Devil_ truly has many Children
that Imitate him in it. Some very Affectionate Things were spoken
once unto our Lord; _Lord, be it far from thee, that thou shouldest
suffer any Trouble!_ But our Lords Answer was, in Mat. 16. 23. _Get
thee behind me Satan._ The Devil will say to a man, _I would have thee
to Consult thy own Interest, and I would have Trouble to be far from
thee_. He speaks these _Fair Things_, by the Mouths of our professed
Friends unto us, as he did by the Tongue of a Speckled Snake unto our
Deluded Parents at the first. But all this while, 'tis a Direction that
has been wisely given us; _When he speaks fair, Believe him not, for
there are seven Abominations in his Heart_.
IV. Things in themselves _Allowable_ and _Convenient_, are oftentimes
turned into sore _Temptations_ by the Devil. He press'd our Lord unto
the mak[55]ing of _Bread;_ Why, that very thing was afterwards done
by our Lord, in the Miracles of the _Loaves;_ and yet it is now a
motion of the _Devil, Pray, make thy self a little Bread_. The Devil
will frequently put men by, from the doing of a _seasonable Duty;_
but how? Truly by putting us upon another _Duty_, which may be at
that juncture a most _Unseasonable_ Thing. It is said in Eccl. 8. 5.
_A Wise Mans heart discerns both Time and Judgment._ The _Ill-Timing_
of good Things, is One of the chief Intregues, which the Devil has to
Prosecute. The Devil himself, will Egg us on to many a _Duty;_ and
why so? But because at that very Time a more proper and Useful Duty,
will have a _Supersedeas_ given thereunto. And, thus there are many
Things, whereof we can say, though no more than this, yet so much
as this, _They are Lawful ones_, by which Lawful Things----_Perimus
Omnes_. Where shall we find that the Devil has laid our most fatal
Snares? Truly, our Snares are on the _Bed_, where it is _Lawful_ for
us to Sleep; at the _Board_, where it is _Lawful_ for us to Sit; in
the _Cup_, where 'tis _Lawful_ to Drink; and in the _Shops_, where
we have _Lawful_ Business to do. The _Devil_ will decoy us, unto the
utmost Edge of the _Liberty_ that is _Lawful_ for us; and then one
Little push, hurries us into a Transgression against the Lord. And the
_Devil_ by Inviting us to a _Lawful_ thing, at a wrong time for it,
Layes us under further Entanglement of Guilt before God. 'Tis _Lawful_
for People to use Recreations; but in the Evening of the Lords Day,
or the Morning of any Day, how Ensnaring are they! The _Devil_ then
too commonly bears part in the Sport. If _Promiscuous Dancing_ were
Lawful; though almost all the Christian Churches in the World, have
made a Scandal of it; yet for Persons to go presently from a _Sermon_
to a _Dance_, is to do a thing, which Doubtless the _Devil_ makes good
Earnings of.
V. To _distrust_ Gods Providence and Protection, is one of the worst
things, into which the Devil by his _Temptations_ would be hurrying
of us. He would fain have driven our Lord unto a Suspicion of Gods
care about Him, said the Devil, _You may dy for lack of Bread, if you
do not look better after your self, than God is like to do for you_.
It is an usual thing for Persons to dispair of Gods _Fatherly Care_
Concerning them; they torture themselves with distracting and amazing
Fears, that they shall come to want before they dy; Yea, they even say
with _Jonas_, in Chap. 2. 4. _I am cast out of the sight of God;_
He wont look after me! But it is the Devil that is the Author of all
such Melancholly Suggestions in the minds of men. It is a thought
that often raises a Feaver in the Hearts of _Married_ Persons, when
Charges grow upon them; _God will never be able in the way of my
calling, to feed and cloath all my Little Folks_. It is a Thought with
which _Aged_ persons are often tormented, _Tho' God has all my dayes
hitherto supplied me, yet I shall be pinched with Straits before I come
to my Journeys end_. 'Tis a malicious Devil that raises these _Evil
surmisings_ in the hearts of Men. And sometimes a distemper of Body
affords a Lodg[56]ing for the Devil, from whence he shoots the cruel
Bombs of such _Fiery Thoughts_ into the minds of many other persons.
With such thoughts does the Devil choose to persecute us; because
thereby we come to _Forfeit_ what we _Question_. We _Question_ the Care
of God, and so we _Forfeit_ it, until perhaps the Devil do utterly
_drown us in Perdition_. Our God says, _Trust in the Lord, and do good,
and verily thou shalt be fed_. But the Devil says, _don't you trust in
God; be afraid that you shall not be fed;_ and thus he hinders men from
the _doing of Good_.
VI. There is nothing more Frequent in the _Temptations_ of the Devil,
then for our _Adoption_ to be doubted, because of our _Affliction_.
When our Lord was in his Penury, then says the Devil, _If thou be
the Son of God;_ he now makes an _If_, of it; _What? the Son of God,
and yet not be able to Command a Bit of Bread!_ Thus, when we are
in very Afflictive Circumstances, this will be the Devils Inference,
_Thou art not a Child of God_. The Bible says in Heb. 12. 7. _If you
are Chastened, it is a shrow'd sign that you can't be Children._ Since
he can't Rob us of our _Grace_, he would Rob us of our _Joy;_ and
therefore having Accused us unto God, he then Accuses God unto us.
When _Israel_ was weak and faint in the Wilderness, then did _Amalek_
set upon them; just so does the Devil set upon the people of God, when
their Losses, their Crosses, their Exercises have Enfeebled their Souls
within them; and what says the Devil? E'en the same that was mutter'd
in the Ear of the Afflicted _Job, Is not this the Uprightness of thy
Ways? Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being Innocent? If thou
wert a Child of God, He would never follow thee, with such Testimonies
of his Indignation_. This is the _Logic_ of the Devil; and he thus
interrupts that patience and that Chearfulness wherewith we should
_suffer the will of God_.
VII. To dispute the Divine Original and Authority of _Gods Word_, is
not the least of those _Temptations_ with which the Devil troubles us.
God from Heaven, had newly said unto our Lord, _this is my Beloved
Son;_ but now the Devil would have him to make a dispute of it, _If
thou be the son of God_. The Devil durst not be so Impudent, and Brasen
fac'd, as to bid men use _Pharaohs_ Language, _Who is the Lord, that
I should obey his voice?_ But he will whisper into our Ears, what
he did unto our Mother _Eve_ of old, _It is not the Lord that hath
spoken what you call his Word_. The Devil would have men say unto the
_Scripture_, what they said unto the _Prophet_, in Jer. 43. 2. _Thou
speakest falsely; the Lord our God hath not sent thee to speak what
thou sayest unto us;_ & he would fain have secret & cursed Misgivings
in our hearts, _that things are not altogether so as the Scripture
has represented them_. The Devil would with all his heart make one
huge Bonefire of all the Bibles in the world; & he has got Millions of
persecutors to _assist him in the suppression of that miraculous book.
It was the devil once in the tongue of a Papist_, that cry'd out, _A
plague on this bible; this 'tis that_ [89] _does all our mischief_. But
because he can't _Suppress_ this Book, he sets himself, to _Disgrace_
it all that he can. Altho' the Scripture carries its _own Evidence_
with it, and be all over, so pure, so great, so true, and so powerful,
that it is impossible it should proceed from any but God alone; yet
the Devil would gladly bring some Discredit upon it, as if it were but
some _Humane Contrivance;_ Of nothing, is the Devil more desirous,
than this; That we should not count, _Christ_ so precious, _Heaven_ so
Glorious, _Hell_ so Dreadful, and _Sin_ so odious, as the Scripture has
declared it.
§. The Second of our Lords Three Temptations, is related after this
manner, in Mat. 4. 5, 6. _Then the Devil taketh him up, into the Holy
City, and setteth him upon a Pinacle of the Temple; and saith unto
him, if thou be the Son of God, cast thy self down; for it is written,
He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee, and in their Hands,
they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy Foot against a
Stone_.
From whence take these _Remarks_.
I. The places of the greatest _Holiness_ will not secure us from
Annoyance by the _Temptations_ of the Devil, to the greatest
wickedness. When our Lord was in the _Holy City_, the Devil fell upon
him there. Indeed, there is now no proper _Holiness_ of _Places_ in
our Days; the Signs and Means of Gods more special Presence are not
under the Gospel, ty'd unto any certain _places:_ Nevertheless there
are _places_, where we use to enjoy much of God; and where, altho' God
visit not the _Persons_ for the sake of the _Places_, yet he visits
the _Places_ for the sake of the _Persons_. But, I am to tell you
that the Devil will visit those _Places_ and best _Persons_ there.
No _Place_, that I know of, has got such a _Spell_ upon it, as will
always keep the Devil out. The _Meeting-House_ wherein we Assemble for
the Worship of God, is fill'd with many Holy People, and many Holy
Concerns continually; but if our Eyes were so refined as the Servant
of the Prophet had his of old, I suppose we should now see a Throng of
_Devils_ in this very place. The Apostle has intimated, that Angels
come in among us; there are Angels it seems that hark, how I _Preach_,
and how you _Hear_, at this Hour. And our own sad Experience is
enough to intimate, That the _Devils_ are likewise Rendevouzing here.
It is Reported, in _Job_ 1. 5. _When the Sons of God came to present
themselves before the Lord, Satan came also among them._ When we are in
our Church-Assemblies, O how many _Devils_, do you imagine, [90] croud
in among us! There is a _Devil_ that rocques one to Sleep, there is
a _Devil_ that makes another to be thinking of, he scarce knows what
himself; and there is a _Devil_, that makes another, to be pleasing
himself with wanton and wicked Speculations. It is also possible, that
we have our _Closets_, or our _Studies_, gloriously perfumed with
Devotions every day; but alas, can we shut the Devil out of them? No,
Let us go where we will, we shall still find a Devil nigh unto us.
Onely, when we come to Heaven, we shall be out of his reach for ever;
_O thou foul Devil; we are going where thou canst not come!_ He was
hissed out of _Paradese_, and shall never enter it any more. Yea, more
than so, when the _New Jerusalem_ comes down into the _High Places_ of
our Air, from whence the Devil shall then be banished, there shall be
no Devil within the Walls of that Holy City. _Amen. Even so Lord Jesus,
Come quickly._
II. Any other acknowledgments of the Lord Jesus Christ, will
be permitted by the Temptations of the Devil, provided those
Acknowledgments of him, which are _True_ and _Full_, may be thereby
prevented. What was it, that the Devil hurried our Lord Jesus Christ
unto the Top of the _Temple_ for? Surely it could not meerly be to find
_Precipices;_ any part of the Wilderness would have afforded _Them_.
No, it was rather to have _Spectators_. And why so, Why, the carnal
Jews had an Expectation among them; that _Elias_ was to fly from Heaven
to the Temple; and the Devil seems willing, that our Lord should be
cry'd up for _Elias_, among the giddy multitude; or any thing in the
World, tho never so considerable otherwise, rather than to be received
as the Christ of God. The Devil will allow his Followers to think very
highly of the Lord Jesus Christ; O but he is very lothe to have them
think, _All_. We read in Col. 1. 19. _It has pleased the Father, that
in him there should all Fullness dwell._ But it is pleasing to the
Devil that we deny something of the Immense _Fullness_, which is in our
Lord. The Devil would confess to our Lord, _Thou art the Holy one of
God!_ but then he claps in, _Thou art Jesus of Nazareth;_ which was to
conceal our Lords being _Jesus of Bethlehem_, and so his being, _The
True Messiah_. All the _Heresies_, and all the Persecutions, that ever
plagued the Church of God, have still been, to strike at some _Glory_
of our Lord Jesus Christ. A CHRIST Entirely Acknowledged, will save the
Souls of them that so Acknowledge Him; but, says the Devil, _Whatever I
must not give way to that_. As they say, the Devil [91] makes Witches
unable to utter all the _Lords Prayer_, or some such System of
Religion, without some Deprevations of it; thus the Devil will consent
that we may make a very large Confession of the Lord Jesus Christ; only
he will have us to deprave it, at least in some one Important Article.
Some one Honour, some one Office, and some one _Ordinance_ of the Lord
Jesus Christ, must be always left unacknowledged, by those that will do
as the Devil would have them.
III. _High Stations_ in the Church of God, lay men open to violent
and peculiar _Temptations_ of the Devil. When our Lord was upon the
_Pinacle_, that is not the _Fane_, or _Spire_, but the _Battlements_
of the _Temple_, there did the Devil pester him, with singular
Molestations, and he therein seems to intend an Entanglement for the
Jews, as well as for our Lord. Believe me they that stand High, cannot
stand safe. The Devil is a _Nimrod_, a mighty Hunter; and common or
little Game, will not serve his Turn: he is a _Leviathan_, of whom we
may say, as in _Job._ 41. 34. _He beholds all high things._ Men of high
Attainments, and Men of high Employments, in the Church of God, must
look, like _Peter_ to be more _Sifted_, and like _Paul_, to be more
_Buffeted_ than other Men. _Feriunt Summos Fulmina Montes._----The
Devil can raise a Storm, when God permitteth it, but as for those
Men that stand near Heaven, the Devil will attack them with his most
cruel storms of Thunder and Lightening. It was said, _let him that
stands take heed;_ but we may say, _They that stand most high, have
cause to take most heed_. The Devil is a _Goliah;_ and when he finds
a _Champion_, he'l be sure most fiercely to Combate such a Man. He is
for, _Killing many Birds with one stone;_ and he knows that he shall
hinder a world of _Good_, and produce a world of _Ill_, if once he can
bring a Man Eminently Stationed into his Toyls. Hence 'tis that the
_Ministers_ of God, are more dogg'd by the Devil, than other persons
are. Especially such _Ministers_, as move in the highest Orb of
Serviceableness; and most of all such _Ministers_ as have spent many
years in Laudable Endeavours to be serviceable; Those Ministers are the
_Stars_ of Heaven, at which the _Tayl_ of the _Dragon_, will give the
most sweeping and most stinging strokes; the Devil will find that for
them, that shall make them _Walk softly_ all their Days. These are the
Men, that have creepled, and vexed the Devil more than other Men; for
which the Devil has an old Quarrel with them. O Neighbours, little do
you think, what black Days of Mourning, and Fasting, and Praying before
the Lord, a Raging Devil does fill the lives of such _Men of God_
withall.
[92] IV. The Devil will make a deceitful and unfaithful use of the
_Scriptures_ to make his _Temptations_ forceable. When the Devil
Solicited our Lord, unto an evil thing, he quoted the _Ninty First_
Psalm unto him, tho' indeed he fallaciously clip'd it, and maim'd it,
of one clause very material in it. O never does the Devil make such
dangerous Passes at us, as when he does wrest our own _Sword_ out
of our Hands, and push _That_ upon us. We have to defend us, that
Weapon in _Eph._ 6. 16. _The Sword of the Spirit, which is the word
of God;_ but when the Devil has that very Weapon to fight us with, he
makes terrible work of it. When the Devil would poyson men with false
_Doctrines_, he'l quote Scriptures for them; a _Quaker_ himself, will
have the First Chapter of _John_ always in his mouth. When the Devil
would perswade men to vile _Actions_, he'l quote Scriptures for them;
he'l encourage men to go on in Sin, by showing them, where 'tis said,
_The Lord is ready to Pardon_. I say this, The one story of _Davids_
Fall, in the Scripture, has been made by the Devil an Engine for the
Damnation of many Millions. The Devil will fright men from doing those
things, that are, _the Things of their Peace;_ but How? He'l turn a
_Scripture_ into a _Scarecrow_ for them. The Devil will fright them
from all constant Prayer to God, by quoting that Scripture, _The
Sacrifice of the Wicked, is an Abomination to the Lord;_ the Devil will
fright them from the Holy Supper of God, by quoting that Scripture, _He
that Eats and Drinks unworthily, Eats and Drinks damnation to himself_.
And thus the Devil will by some abused Scripture, Terrifie the Children
of God; the Scripture is written as we are told, _For our Comfort;_
but it is quoted by the Devil, _for our terror_. How many Godly Souls
have been cast into sinful Doubts and Fears, by the Devils foolish
glosses upon that Scripture, _He that doubts is damned;_ and that,
_the fearful shall have their portion in the burning Lake:_ The Devil
sometimes has play'd the _Preacher_, but I say, _Beware all silly Souls
when such a Fool is Preaching_.
V. Grievous and Pulling Hurries to _Self-Murder_ are none of the
smallest outrages, which the Devil in his _Temptations_ commits upon
us. Why, did the Devil say to our Lord, _Cast thy self down_, but in
hopes that our Lord would have broke his Bones, in the fall? The Devil
is an _Old Murtherer;_ and he loves to _Murder_ men; but no _Murder_
gives him so much satisfaction, as that which at his instigation, men
perpetrate upon themselves. We [93] see that such as are _Bewitched_
and _Possessed_ by the Devil, do quickly lay violent hands upon
themselves, if they be not watched continually, and we see that when
persons have begun that _Unnatural_ business of _killing themselves_,
there is a _Preternatural_ Stupendious Prodigious Assistance, by the
Devil given thereunto. When people are going to Harm themselves, we
call upon them, like those to the Jailor, in _Acts_ 16. 28. _Do thy
self no harm!_ And we have this Argument for it, _It is the Devil
that is dragging of you to this mischief; but will you believe, will
you obey such an one as the Devil is?_ What was it that made Judas to
strangle himself? We read it was when the _Devil was in him_. I suppose
there are few _self-murderers_, but what are first very strangely
fallen into the Devils hands; and possibly, 'tis by some Extraordinary
_Discontent_, against God, or _back-sliding_ from him, that the Devil
first entred into those disturbed Souls. Indeed, some very great Saints
of God, have sometimes had hideous Royls raised by the Devil in their
minds; untill they have e'en cry'd out with _Job, I choose strangling
rather than life;_ and sometimes the ill Humours or Vapours in the
Bodies of such Good Men, do so harbour the Devil that they have this
woful motion every day thence made unto them; _You must kill your
self! you must! you must!_ But it is rarely any other than a _Saul_,
an _Abimelek_, an _Achitophel_, or a _Judas;_ rarely any other, than
a very Reprobate, whom the Devil can drive, while the man is _Compos
Mentis_, to Consummate such a Villany. Yea, no Child of God, in his
Right Senses can go so far in this impiety, as to be left without all
Time and Room for true _Repentance_ of the Crime; 'tis _thus_ done,
by none but those that go to the Devil. A _self-murder_, acted by one
that is upon other accounts a Reasonable man, is but such an attempt of
Revenge upon the God that made him, as none but one full of the Devil
can be guilty of. If any of you are Dragoon'd by the Devil, unto the
murdering of your selves, my Advice to you is, _Disclose it, Reveal
it, make it known immediately_. One that Cut his own Throat among us,
Expired crying out, _O that I had told! O that I had told_. You may
spoil the Devil, if you'l _Tell_ what he is a doing of.
VI. Presumptuous and Unwarrantable _Trials of_ the Blessed God, are
some of those things whereinto the Devil would fain hook us with his
_Temptations_. This was that which the Devil would have brought our
Lord unto, even, _A tempting of the Lord our God_. It is the charge of
our God upon us, in _Deut._ 6. 16. _Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy
God._ But that which the Devil _Tries_, is, to put us upon _Trying_
in a sinful way whether God be such a God as indeed he is. [94] 'Tis
true as to the ways of Obedience, our God says unto us, _Prove me,
in those ways; Try, whether I won't be as good as my Word_. But then
there are ways of _Presumption_, wherein the Devil would have us to
trie, what a God it is, _With whom we have to do_. The Devil would
have us to trie the Purpose of God, about our selves or others; but
how? By going to the _Devil_ himself; by Consulting _Astrologers_, or
_Fortune Tellers;_ or perhaps by letting the Bible fall open, to see
what is the first Sentence we light upon. The Devil would have us trie
the Mercy of God, but how? By running into _Dangers_, which we have no
call unto. He would have us trie the Power of God; but how? By looking
for good things, without the use of Means for the getting of them. He
would have us trie the Justice of God; but how? By venturing upon Sin
in a _Corner_, with an Imagination that God will never bring us out. He
would have us trie the Promise of God; but how? By _Limiting_ the Lord,
unto such or such a way of manifesting Himself, or else believing of
nothing at all. He would have us trie the Threatning of God; but how?
By going on impenitently in those things, for which the _Wrath of God
comes upon the Children of Disobedience_. Thus would the Devil have us
to affront the Majesty of Heaven every day.
VII. The _Temptations_ of the Devil, aim at puffing and bloating of
us up, with _Pride;_ as much perhaps as any one iniquity. The Devil
would have had Our Lord make a _Vain glorious_ Discovery of himself
unto the World, by _Flying in the air_, so as no mortal can. _Hoc
Ithacus velit_--the Devil would have us to soar aloft, and not only
to be above other men, but also to _know_ that we are so, _Pride_ is
the Devils own sin; and he affects especially to be, _The King over
the Children of Pride_, it is a caution in 1 Tim. 3. 6. A Pastor
must not be _A Novice; Lest being lifted up with Pride, He fall into
the condemnation of the Devil. (Summo ac Pio cum Tremore Hunc Textum
Legamus nos Ministri Juvenes!)_ Accordingly, the Devil would have us to
be inordinately taken and moved with what _Excellencies_ our God has
bestowed upon us. If our _Estates_ rise, he would have us rise in our
Spirits too. If we have been blessed with Beauty, with Breeding, with
Honour, with Success, with Attire, with Spiritual Priviledges, or with
Praise-worthy Performances; Now says the Devil, _Think thy self better
than other Men_. Yea, the Devil would have us arrogate unto our selves,
those _Excellencies_ which really we never were owners of; and _Boast
of a false Gift_. He would have us moreover to Thirst after Applause
among others that may see Our _Excellencies!_ and be impatient if we
are not accounted _some-body_. He would have us further[95]more, to
aspire after such a _Figure_, as God has never yet seen fitting for us;
and croud into some _High Chair_ that becomes us not. Thus would the
Devil Elevate us into the _Air_, above our Neighbours; and why so? 'Tis
that we may be punished with such _Falls_, as may make us cry out with
_David, O my Bones are broken with my Falls!_ The Devil can't endure to
see men lying in the _Dust;_ because there is no falling thence. He is
a _Fallen Spirit_ himself, and it pleases him to see the _Falls_ of men.
§. The Third of our Lords Three Temptations, is related in such Terms
as these. Matth. 4. 8, 9. _Again the Devil taketh him up, into an
exceeding High Mountain, and sheweth him all the Kingdoms of the world,
and the glory of them: and saith unto him, all these things will I give
thee, if thou wilt fall down and Worship me._ From whence take these
Remarks.
I. The Devil in his _Temptations_ will set the Delight of this world
before us; but he'll set a fair, and a false _Varnish_ upon those
Delights. They were some unknown _Perspectives_, which the Devil had,
both for the Refracting of the _Medium_, and for the Magnifying of the
_Object_, whereby he gave our Lord at once a prospect of the whole
Roman Empire; but what was it? It was the _World_, and the _Glory_ of
it; he says not a word of the _World_, and the _Trouble_ of it. No
sure; not a word of that; the Devil will not have his Hook so barely
expos'd unto us. The Devil sets off the Delights of Sin, which he
offers unto us, with a stretched and raised Rhetorick; but he will not
own, _That in the midst of our Laughter, our Heart shall be sorrowful;_
and _That the end of our Mirth shall be Heaviness_. There is but one
Glass in the Spectacles, with which the Devil would have us to read,
those passages in _Eccles._ 11. 9. _Rejoyce O young Man in thy youth,
and let thy Heart chear thee in the Dayes of thy youth, and walk in the
ways of thy Heart, and in the sight of thine Eyes._ Thus far the Devil
would have us to Read; and he'll make many a fine Comment upon it;
he'll tell us, That if we'll follow the Courses of the World, we shall
swim in all the Delights of the World. But he is not willing you should
Read out the next words; _But know thou, that for all these things God
shall bring thee into judgment_. O he's loth we should be aware of
the dreadful Issues, and Reckonings that our Worldly Delights will be
attended with. He sets before us, the _Pleasures of Sin;_ but he will
not say, _These are but for a Season_. He sets before us, _The Sweet
Waters of Stealth?_ but he will not say, _There is Death in the Pot_.
He is a _Mountebank_, that will bestow nothing but Romantic Praises
upon all that he makes us the Offers of.
[96] II. There are most Hellish _Blasphemies_ often buzz'd by the
_Temptations_ of the Devil, into the minds of the best Men alive. What
a most Execrable Thing was here laid before our Lord Himself: Even,
To own the _Devil_ as _God!_ a thing that can't be uttered, without
unutterable Horror of Soul. The best man on earth, may have such _Fiery
Darts_ from Hell shot into his mind. One that was acted by the _Devil_,
had the impudence to propound this unto such a good man as _Job, Curse
God_. And the Devil pleases himself, by chasing the Hearts of good
men, with his base Injections, _That there is no God_, or, _That God
is not a Righteous God;_ and a thousand more such things, too Devilish
to be mentioned. A good man is extreamly grieved at it, when he hears
a _Blasphemy_ from the mouth of another man; said the Psalmist, in
Psal. 44. 15, 16. _My Confusion is continually before me, for the
voice of him that Blasphemeth._ But much more when a good man finds
a _Blasphemy_ in his own Heart; O it throws him into most Fevourish
Agonies of Soul. For this cause, a mischievous Devil will _Flie blow_
the Heart of such a man, with such Blasphemous Thoughts, as make him
crie out, _Lord I am e'n weary of my life_. Yea, the Devil serves the
man just as the Mistress of _Joseph_ dealt with him; he importunes the
man to think wickedly from Day to Day; and if the man refuse, he cries
out at last, _Behold what wicked thoughts this man has lodging in him_.
Sayst thou so? _Satan!_ No, they are Brats of thy own; and at thy Door
alone shall they be laid for ever.
III. There is a sort of Witchcrafts in those things, whereto the
Temptations of the Devil would inveigle us. To worship the Devil is
Witchcraft, and under that notion was our Lord urged unto sin. We are
told in _1 Sam._ 15. 23. _Rebellion is as the sin of Witchcraft:_ When
the Devil would have us to sin, he would have us to do the things which
the forlorn Witches use to do. Perhaps there are few persons, ever
allured by the Devil unto an Explicit Covenant with himself. If any
among ourselves be so, my councel is, that you hunt the Devil from you,
with such words as the Psalmist had, _Be gone, Depart from me, ye evil
Doers, for I will keep the Commandments of my God_. But alas, the most
of men, are by the Devil put upon doing the things that are Analagous
to the worst usages of Witches. The Devil says to the sinner, _Despise
thy Baptism, and all the Bond of it, and all the Good of it_. The Devil
says to the sinner, _Come, cast off the Authority of God, and, and
refuse the Salvation of Christ for ever_. Yea, the Devil who is called,
_The God of this World_, would have us to take Him for our God, and
rather Hear Him, Trust Him, Serve Him, than the God that formed us.
[97] IV. The _Temptations_ of the Devil do Tug and Pull for nothing
more, than that the Rulers of the World may yield Homage unto him.
Our Lord has had this by his Father Engag'd unto him, _That he shall
one day be Governour of the Nations_. The Devil doe's extreamly dread
the approach of that Illustrious time, when _The Kingdom of God shall
come and his Will be done, as in Heaven, and on Earth_. For this cause
it was that he was desirous, Our Lord should rather have accepted of
him, that Kingdom, which _Antichrist_ afterwards accepted of him, for
the Establishment of _Devil-worship_, in the World. I may tell you, The
Devil is mighty unwilling, that there should be one _Godly Magistrate_
upon the face of the Earth. Such is the influence of _Government_,
that the Devil will every where stickle mightily, to have that siding
with him. What _Rulers_ would the Devil have, to command all mankind,
if he might have his will? Even, such as are called in Psal. 94. 20.
_The throne of iniquity, which frames mischief by a Law;_ such as
will promote Vice, by both Connivance and Example; and such as will
oppress all that shall be _Holy, and Just, and Good_. All men have
cause therefore to be jealous, what Use the Devil may make of them,
with reference to the Affairs of Government; but Rulers may most of
all think, that the Lord Jesus from Heaven calls upon them, _Satan has
desired that he might Sift you, and have you; O Look to it, what side
you take_.
Thus have you in the Temptations of our Lord, seen the principal of
those Devices, which the Devil has to Entrap our Souls. But what shall
we now do, that we may be fortified against those Devices? O that we
might be well furnished with the _Whole Armour of God!_ But me thinks,
there were some things attending the Temptations of our Lord, which,
would especially Recommend those few Hints unto us for our Guard.
First, If you are not fond of Temptation, be not fond of Needless, or
Too much Retirement. Where was it, that the Devil fell upon our Lord?
it was when he was Alone in the Wilderness. We should all have our
Times to be Alone every Day; and if the Devil go to scare us out of our
Chambers, with such a Bugbear, as that he'll appear to us, yet stay in
spite of his teeth, stay to finish your Devotions; he Lyes, he dare not
shew his head. But on the other-side by being too solitary, we may lay
our selves too much open to the Devil; You know who says, _Wo to him
that is alone_.
[98] Secondly, Let an _Oracle_ of God be your defence against a
_Temptation_ of _Hell_. How did our Lord silence the _Devil?_ It was
with an, _It is written!_ And _all_ his Three Citations were from that
one Book of _Deuteronomy_. What a _full_ Armoury then have we, in _all_
the sacred Pages that lie before us? Whatever the Words of the _Devil_
are, drown them with the words of the _Great God_. Say, It is _Written_
The _Belshazzar_ of _Hell_ will Tremble and Withdraw, if you show these
_Hand-Writings_ of the Lord.
Lastly, Since the Lord Jesus Christ has conquered all the _Temptations_
of the Devil, Flie to that Lord, Crie to that Lord, that He would
give you a share in his Happy Victory. It was for Us that our Lord
overcome the Devil: and when he did but say, _Satan, Get hence_, away
presently the Tygre flew: Does the Devil molest Us? Then let us Repair
to our Lord, who says, _I know how to succour the Tempted_. Said the
_Psalmist_, _Psal._ 61. 2. _Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I._
A Woman in this Land being under the Possession of Devils, the Devils
within her, audibly spoke of diverse Harms they would inflict upon her;
but still they made this answer, _Ah! She Runs to the Rock! She Runs to
the Rock!_ and that hindered all. O this _Running to the Rock;_ 'tis
the best Preservation in the World; the _Vultures_ of _Hell_ cannot
prey upon the _Doves_ in the _Clefts_ of that _Rock_. May our God now
lead us thereunto.[208]
[END OF THE WONDERS OF THE INVISIBLE WORLD AND OF THE FIRST VOLUME.]