-- PART II: Thirty Temptations whereby the Devil hindereth Men's Conversion, with the proper Remedi
PART II The Temptations whereby the Devil hindereth Men's Conversion: with the proper Remedies against them THE most holy and righteous Governor of the world, hath so restrained satan and all our enemies, and so far given us free-will, that no man can be forced to sin against his will: it is not sin if it be not (positively or privatively) voluntary. All our enemies in hell or earth, cannot make us miserable without ourselves; nor keep a sinner from true conversion, and salvation, if he do it not himself; no, nor compel him to one sinful thought, or word, or deed, or omission, but by tempting and enticing him to be willing: all that are graceless, are willfully graceless. None go to hell, but those that choose the way to hell, and would not be persuaded out of it; none miss of heaven, but those that did set so light by it, as to prefer the world and sin before it, and refused the holy way that leadeth to it.
And surely man that naturally loveth himself, would never take so mad a course, if his reason were not laid asleep, and his understanding were not wofully deluded: and this is the business of the tempter, who doth not drag men to sin by violence, but draw and entice them by temptations. I shall therefore take it for the next part of my work, to open these Temptations, and tell you the remedies.
Temptation I. 'The first endeavour of the tempter is, in general, to keep the sinner asleep in sin: so that he shall be as a dead man, that hath no use of any of his faculties; that hath eyes and seeth not, and ears but heareth not, and a heart that understandeth not, nor feeleth any thing that concerneth his peace. The light that shineth upon a man asleep, is of no use to him: his work lieth undone: his friends, and wealth, and greatest concernments are all forgotten by him, as if
there were no such things or persons in the world: you may say what you will against him, or do what you will against him, and he can do nothing in his own defence. This is the case that the devil most laboureth to keep the world in; even in so dead a sleep, that their reason, and their wills, their fear, and hope, and all their powers shall be of no use to them. That when they hear a preacher, or read the Scripture, or good books, or see the holy examples of the godly; yea, when they see the grave, and know where they must shortly lie, and know that their souls must stay here but a little while, yet they shall hear, and see, and know all this, as men asleep, that mind it not, as if it concerned not them at all; never once soberly considering and laying it to heart.'
Direct. I. For the remedy against this deadly sin, 1. Take heed of sleepy opinions, or doctrines and conceits which tend to the lethargy of security. 2. Sit not still, but be up and doing: stirring tends to shake off drowsiness. 3. Come into the light: live under an awakening minister, and in wakening company, that will not sleep with you, nor easily let you sleep: agree with them to deal faithfully with you, and promise them to take it thankfully. 4. And meditate oft on wakening considerations. Think whether a sleepy soul beseem one in thy dangerous condition. Canst thou sleep with such a load of sin upon thy soul? Canst thou sleep under the thundering threatenings of God? and the curse of his law; with so many wounds in thy conscience, and ulcers in thy soul? If thy body were sick, or in the case of Job; yea, if thou hadst but an aching tooth, it would not let thee sleep; and is not the guilt of sin, a thing more grievous? If thorns, or toads and adders were in thy bed, they would keep thee waking! and how much more odious and dangerous a thing is sin! If thy body want but meat, or drink, or covering, it will break thy sleep; and is it nothing for thy soul to be destitute of Christ and grace? A condemned man will be easily kept awake: and if thou be
unregenerate, thou art already condemned. Thou sleepest in irons; in the captivity of the devil; among the walking judgments of God; in a life that is still expecting an end; in a boat that is swiftly carried to eternity; just at the entrance of another world; and that world will be hell, if grace awake thee not. Thou art going to see the face of God; to see the world of angels or devils, and to be accompanied with one of them for ever: and is this a place or case to sleep in? Is thy bed so soft? thy dwelling so safe? God standeth over thee, man; and dost thou sleep? Christ is coming, and death, and judgment coming, and dost thou sleep? Didst thou never read of the foolish virgins, that slept out their time, and knocked and cried in vain when it was too late? Thou mightest more wisely sleep on the pinnacle of a steeple in a storm, than have a soul asleep in so dangerous a case as thou art in.
The devil is awake, and is rocking thy cradle! How busy is he to keep off ministers, or conscience, or any that would awake thee? None of thy enemies are asleep; and yet wilt thou sleep, in the thickest of thy foes? Is the battle a sleeping time; or thy race a sleeping time, when heaven or hell must be the end? While he can keep thee asleep, the devil can do almost what he list with thee. He knows that thou hast now no use of thy eyes, or understanding, or power to resist him: the most learned doctor in his sleep, is as unlearned, actually, as an idiot, and will dispute no better than an unlearned man. This makes many learned men to be ungodly: they are asleep in sin. The devil could never have made such a drudge of thee, to do his work, against Christ and thy soul, if thou hadst been awake. Thou wouldst never have followed his whistle to the ale-house, the play-house, the gaminghouse, and to other sins, if thou hadst been in thy wits, and well awakec. I cannot believe that thou longest to be damned, or so hatest thyself, as to have done as thou hast done, to have lived a godless, a graceless, a prayerless, and yet a merry, careless life, if thy eyes had been opened, and thou hadst known, and feelingly known, that this was the way to hell. Nature itself will hardly go to hell awake. But it is
easy to abuse a man that is asleep. Thou hast reason; but didst thou ever awake it to one hour's serious consideration of thy endless state and present case? O dreadful judgment, to be given over to the spirit of slumber! Is it not high time now to awake out of sleepe? When the light is arisen and shines about thee! When others that care for their souls, are busily at work! When thou hast slept out so much precious time already! Many a mercy, and perhaps some ministers, have been as candles burnt out to light thee while thou hast slept! How oft hast thou been called already! "How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard?" Yet thou hast thundering calls and alarms to awake thee. God calls, and Ministers call! Mercies call, and judgments call! and yet wilt thou not awake? "The voice of the Lord is powerful: full of majesty; breaketh the cedars; shaketh the wilderness:" and yet cannot it awake thee?
Thou wilt not sleep about far smaller matters! at meat, or drink, or in common talk, or market. But O! how much greater business hast thou to keep thee awake? Thou hast yet an unholy soul to be renewed; an ungodly life to be reformed; an offended God to be reconciled to; and many thousand sins to be forgiven! Thou hast death and judgment to prepare for; thou hast heaven to win, and hell to escape! Thou hast many a needful truth to learn, and many a holy duty to perform; and yet dost thou think it time to sleep? Paul, that had less need than thou, did watch, and pray, and labour, day and night. O that thou knewest how much better it is to be awake! While thou sleepest, thou losest the benefit of the light, and all the mercies that attend thee: the sun is but as a clod to a man asleep; the world is as no world to him; the beauty of heaven and earth are nothing to him; princes, friends, and all things are forgotten by him! So doth thy sleep in sin make nothing of health, and patience, time, and help, ministers, books, and daily warnings. O what a day hast thou for everlasting, if thou hadst but a heart to use it! What a price hast thou in thine handh! Sleep not out thy day, thy harvest time, thy tide time!
"They that sleep, sleep in the night." "Awake, and Christ will give
thee lightk!" "Awake to righteousness, and sin not!" O, when thou seest the light of Christ, what a wonder will it possess thee with, at the things which thou now forgettest! What joy will it fill thee with; and with what pity to the sleepy world! But if thou wilt needs sleep on, be it known to thee, sinner, it shall not be long. If thou wilt wake no sooner, death and vengeance will awake thee. Thou wilt wake when thou seest the other world; and seest the things which thou wouldst not believe, and comest before thy dreadful Judge! "Thy damnation slumbereth notm." There are no sleepy souls in heaven or hell; all are awake there; and the day that hath awakened so many, shall waken thee. Watch, then, if thou love thy soul, lest thy Lord come "suddenly and find thee sleeping." "What I say to one, I say to all, Watch."
Tempt. II. 'If Satan cannot keep the soul in a sleepy, careless, inconsiderate forgetfulness, he would make the unregenerate soul believe, that there is no such thing as regenerating grace; but that it is a fancied thing, which no man hath experience of, and he saith, as Nicodemus, "How can these things be?" He thinks that natural conscience is enough.'
Direct. II. But this may be easily refuted by observing, that holiness is but the very health and rectitude of the soul; and is no otherwise supernatural, than as health to him that is born a leper. It is the rectitude of nature, or its disposition to the use and end that it was made for. Though grace be called supernatural, 1. Because it is not born with us: and 2. Corrupted nature is against it: 3. And the end of it is the God of nature, who is above nature: 4. And the revelation and other means are supernatural (as Christ's incarnation, resurrection, &c.): yet both nature, and Scripture, and experience tell you, that man is made for another life, and for such works which he
is utterly unfit for, till grace have changed and renewed him, as it doth by many before your eyes.
Tempt. III. 'But, saith the tempter, if supernatural grace be necessary, yet it may be born in you. Infants have no sin; Christ saith, "Of such is the kingdom of God: Abraham is your Father; yea,
God." You are born of Christian parents'.
Direct. III. See the full proof of original sin in all infants, in my "Treatise of the Divine Life," Part 1. Chap. xi. xii. Grace may indeed be put betimes into nature, but comes not by nature. "Except you be born again, you cannot enter into the kingdom of Godr." "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away: behold, all things are become new." But how vain is it for him to boast that he was born holy, who finds himself at the present unholy. Shew that you have a holy, heavenly heart and life, and then you are happy, whenever it was wrought.
Tempt. IV. 'But, saith the tempter, baptism is the laver of regeneration: you are baptized, and therefore you are regenerated.
The ancients taught that all sins were washed away in baptism, and grace conferred.'
Direct. IV. Answ. The ancients by baptism, meant the internal and external acts conjunct: the soul's delivering up itself to God in the covenant, and sealing it by baptism: and so it includeth conversion, and true repentance, and faith: and all that are thus baptized are pardoned, justified, and holy. But they that have only sacramental regeneration, or the external ordinance, are not for that in a state of life; for Christ expressly saith, that "except you are born of the Spirit" as well as "water, you cannot enter into the kingdom of heavenu."
And Peter told Simon Magus, after he was baptized, that he was "yet in the gall of bitterness, and bond of iniquity." It is not the "putting
away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good consciencey."
Christ cleanseth his church "by the washing of water by the word."
But if you had been cleansed in baptism, if at present you are unclean, and unholy, can you be saved so?
Tempt. V. 'When this faileth, the tempter would persuade them, that godliness is nothing but a matter of mere opinion or belief: to believe all the articles of the faith, and to be no papist nor heretic, but of true religion, and to be confident of God's mercy through Christ: for "he that believeth shall be saved."
Direct. V. To this you must answer, that it will not save a man, that his religion is true, unless he be true to it! Read James 2 against such a dead faith. Saving faith is the hearty entertainment of Christ, as our
Lord and Saviour, and the delivering up the soul to him to be sanctified and ruled, as well as pardoned. "Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. He that knoweth his master's will and doth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes." It is sad that men should think to be saved by that which will condemn them! by being of a right opinion, and a wrong conversation; by believing their duty, instead of doing it; and then presuming that Christ forgiveth them, and that their state is good. Opinion and presumption are not faith.
Tempt. VI. 'But, saith the tempter, holiness is the excellency of holy persons; but vulgar, unlearned people may be saved, without such high matters, which are above them.'
Direct. VI. But God telleth you, that "without holiness none shall see him." The unlearned may be saved; but the ungodly cannotd.
Holiness is to the soul, as life to the body: he that hath it not, is dead; though all have not the same degree of health: sin is sin, and hated of God in learned and unlearned. All men have souls that need regenerating at first: and as all bodies that live, must live on the
earth, by the air, and food, &c., so all souls that live, do live upon the same God, and Christ, and heaven, by the same Word and Spirit; and all this may be had by the unlearned.
Tempt. VII. 'But, saith the tempter, God is not so unmerciful as to damn all that are not holy: this is but talk to keep men in awe; and not to be believed.'
Direct. VII. But if God's threatenings be necessary to keep men in awe, then are they necessary to be executed. For God needs not awe men by a lie. He best knows to whom he will be merciful, and how far! Did you never read, Isa. 27:11. "It is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them, will shew them no favour." And Psal.
59:5. "Be not merciful to any wicked transgressors." Is he not just, as well as merciful? Do you not see that men are sick, and pained, and die, for all that God is merciful? And do not merciful judges condemn malefactors? Are not angels made devils by sin, for all that God is merciful? The devil knoweth this to his sorrow. "And if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell," will he be unjust for you?
Tempt. VIII. 'But Christ died for all: and God will not punish him and you both, for the same fault.'
Direct. VIII. Christ died so far for all that have the Gospel, as to procure and seal them a free and general pardon of all their sins, if they will repent, and take him for their Saviour, and so to bring salvation to their choice. But will this save the ungodly, obstinate refusers? Christ died to sanctify, as well as to forgive, and to "purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works," and "to destroy the works of the devilh," and to bring all men under his dominion
and government. "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, the same is none of hisk."
Tempt. IX. 'No man can be certain of his salvation; but all must hope well: and to raise doubts in men's hearts, whether they shall be saved or no, will not help them; but puzzle them, and cast them into despair.'
Direct. IX. But is there so little difference between a child of God, and of the devil, and between the way to heaven, and the way to hell, that they cannot be known asunder? Hath not Christ taught us plainly how to know them? and bid us "give diligence to make our calling and election surem?" If all men must hope that they shall be saved, then most must hope for that which they shall never have: but it is no hope of God's making, which deceiveth men. Should so great a matter as our everlasting joy, or misery, be cast out of our care, and ventured so regardlessly in the dark, when it is it that we have life, and time, and all for, to make it sure? And what hurt can it do you, to find out the truth of your own condition? If you are indeed unregenerate, and unholy, discover it now in time, and you have time to be recovered. You must despair of being saved, without conversion; but that preventeth absolute, final despair. Whereas, if you find not out your case till time is past, then hope is past; and the devil hath you in endless desperation, where he would.
Tempt. X. 'If this prevail not, the devil will seek to carry it by noise instead of reason; and will seek to keep you in jovial, merry, voluptuous company, that shall plead by pots, and plays, and pleasures; and shall daily make a jest of godliness, and speak of the godly with scorn, as a company of fanatic hypocrites.'
Direct. X. But consider, that this is but the rage of fools, that speak of what they never understood. Did they ever try the way they speak
against? Are they to be believed before God himself? Will they not eat their words, at last, themselves? Will their merry lives last always? Do they die as merrily as they live? and bring off themselves as well as they promised to bring off you? He that will be cheated of his salvation, and forsake his God for the ranting scorns of a distracted sinner, is worthy to be damned.
Tempt. XI. 'Next, he telleth them, that a godly life is so hard and tedious, that if they should begin, they should never endure to hold on; and therefore it is in vain to try it.'
Direct. XI. But this pretence is compounded of wickedness, and madness. What, but a wicked heart, can make it so hard a thing to live in the love of God, and holiness, and in the hope and seeking of eternal life? Why should not this be a sweeter and pleasanter life, than drinking, and roaring, and gaming, and fooling away time in vain; or than the enjoying of all the delights of the flesh? There is nothing but a sick, distempered heart against it, that nauseateth that which in itself is most delightful. When grace hath changed your hearts, it will be easy. Do you not see that others can hold on in it, and would not be as they were, for all the world? And why may not you? God will help you: it is the office of Christ, and the Spirit to help you: your encouragements are innumerable. The hardness is most at first: the longer it is the easier. But what if it were hard? Is it not necessary? Is hell easier, and to be preferred before it? And will not heaven pay for all your cost and labour? Will you sit down in desperation, and resolve to let your salvation go, upon such silly bugbear words as these?
Tempt. XII. 'Next, the devil's endeavour will be, to find them so much employment with worldly cares, or hopes, or business, that
they shall find no leisure to be serious about the saving of their souls.'
Direct. XII. But this is a snare, though frequently prevalent, yet so irrational, and against so many warnings and witnesses, even of all men in the world, either first or last, at conversion, or at death, that he, who after all this will neglect his God, and his salvation, because he hath worldly things to mind, is worthy to be turned over to his choice, and have no better help or portion in the hour of his necessity and distress. Of this sin I have spoken afterward, Chap. iv. Part 6.
Tempt. XIII. 'Lest the soul should be converted, the devil will do all that he can, to keep you from the acquaintance and company of those, whose holiness, and instructions might convince, and strengthen you; and especially from a lively, convincing minister; and to cast you under some dead-hearted minister and society.'
Direct. XIII. Therefore, if it be possible, though it be to your loss or inconvenience in the world, live under a searching, heavenly teacher; and in the company of them that are resolved for heaven. It is a dead heart indeed, that feeleth not the need of such assistance, and is not the better for it when it has it. If ever you be fair for heaven, and like to be converted, it will be among such helps as these.
Tempt. XIV. 'But one of the strongest temptations of satan is, by making their sin exceeding pleasant to them, for the gain, or honour, of fleshly satisfaction; and so increasing the violence of their sensual appetite and lust, and making them so much in love with their sin, that they cannot leave it. Like the thirst of a man in a burning fever, which makes him cry for cold drink, though it would kill him: the fury of the appetite conquering reason. So we see many drunkards, fornicators, worldlings, that are so deeply in love with their sin, that come on it what will, they will have it, though they have hell with it.'
Direct. XIV. Against this temptation, I desire you to read what I have said after, Chap. 4. Part 7. Chap. 3. Direct. 6, 8. O that poor sinners knew what it is that they so much love! Is the pleasing of the flesh so sweet a thing to you? and are you so indifferent to God, and holy things? Are these less amiable? Do you foresee what both will be at last? Will your sin seem better than Christ, and grace, and heaven, when you are dying? O be not so in love with damning folly, and the pleasure of a beast, as for it to despise the heavenly wisdom and delights!
Tempt. XV. 'Another great temptation is, the prosperity of the wicked in this life; and the reproach and suffering which usually falls upon the godly: if God did strike every notorious sinner dead in the place, as soon as he had sinned, or struck him blind, or dumb, or lame, or inflicted presently some such judgment, then many would fear him, and forbear their sin; but when we see no men prosper so much as the most ungodly, and that they are the persecutors of the holy seed, and that sentence against an evil work is not speedily executed, then are their hearts set in them to do evil.'
Direct. XV. But, alas! how short is the prosperity of the wicked! Read Psal. 73. 37. Delay is no forgiveness: they stay but till the assize: and will that tempt you to do as they? How unthankfully do sinners deal with God! If he should kill you, and plague you, that would not please you; and yet if he forbear you, you are emboldened by it in your sin.
Thus his patience is turned against him; but the stroke will be the heavier when it falls. Dost thou think those men will always flourish?
Will they always domineer and revel? Will they always dwell in the houses where they now dwell, and possess those lands, and be honoured and served as now they are? O how quickly, and how dreadfully will the case be changed with them! O could you but foresee now, what faces they will have, and what heavy hearts, and
with what bitter exclamations they will at last cry out against themselves, for all their folly, and wish that they had never been deceived by prosperity; but rather had the portion of a Lazarus! If you saw how they are but fatted for the slaughter, and in what a dolorous misery their wealth, and sport, and honours will leave them, you would lament their case, and think so great a destruction were soon enough, and not desire to be partners in their lot!
Tempt. XVI. 'Another temptation is, their own prosperity. They think God, when he prospereth them, is not so angry with them as preachers tell them: and it is a very hard thing, in health and prosperity, to lay to heart either sin or threatenings, and to have such serious, lively thoughts of the life to come, as men that are wakened by adversity have: and especially men that are familiar with death.
Prosperity is the greatest temptation to security, and delaying repentance, and putting off preparation for eternity. Overcome prosperity, and you overcome your greatest snare.'
Direct. XVI. Go into the sanctuary; yea, go into the church-yard, and see the end: and judge by those skulls, and bones, and dust, if you cannot judge by the forewarnings of God, what prosperity is! Judge by the experience of all the world! Doth it not leave them all in sorrow at last? Wo to the man that hath his portion in this life! O miserable health, and wealth, and honour, which procureth the death, and shame, and utter destruction of the soul! Was not he in as prosperous a case as you, that quickly cried out in vain, for a drop of water to cool his tongue? There is none of you so senseless as not to know that you must die. And must you die? Must you certainly die? and shall that day be no better prepared for? Shall present prosperity make you forget it, and live as if you must live here for ever? Do you make so great difference between that which is, and that which will be, as to make as great a matter of it as others, when it comes; and to
make no more of it when it is but coming? O man, what is an inch of hasty time! How quickly is it gone! Thou art going hence apace, and almost gone! Doth God give thee the mercy of a few days or years of health, to make all thy preparations in for eternity, and doth his mercy turn to thy deceit, and dost thou turn it so much contrary to the ends for which it was given thee? Wilt thou surfeit on mercy, and, destroy thy soul with it? Sense feeleth and perceiveth what now is, but thou hast reason to foresee what will be? Wilt thou play in harvest, and forget the winter!
Tempt. XVII. 'Another great temptation to hinder conversion, is the example and counsel of the great ones that are ungodly; when landlords, and men in power, are sensual, and enemies to a holy life, and speak reproachfully of it, their inferiors, by the reverence which they bear to worldly wealth and greatness, are easily drawn to say as they. Also, when men reputed learned and wise, are of another mind: and especially when subtle enemies speak that reproach against it, which they cannot answer.'
Direct. XVII. To this I spake in the end of the first part of this chapter. No man is so great and wise as God. See whether he say as they do in his Word! The greatest that provoke him can no more save themselves from his vengeance, than the poorest beggars! What work made he with a Pharaoh! and got himself a name by his hardheartedness and impenitency! He can send worms to eat an arrogant
Herod, when the people cry him up as a god! Where are now the Cæsars and Alexanders of the world? The rulers and pharisees believed not in Christ. Wilt thou not therefore believe in him? The governor of the country condemned him to die; and wilt thou condemn him? "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from uss."
Wilt thou therefore join in the conspiracy? When "he that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision."—"He will break them with an iron rod, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel," unless they "be wise, and kiss the Son, and serve the Lord with fear, before his wrath be kindled, and they perish." If thy landlord, or great ones, shall be thy god, and be honoured and obeyed before God and against him, trust to them, and call on them in the hour of thy distress, and take such a salvation as they can give thee. Teach not God what choice to make, and whom to reveal his mysteries to: he chooseth not always the learned scribe, nor the mighty man; Christ himself saith, "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes: even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sightu!" If this reason satisfy you not, follow them, and speed as they. If they are greater and wiser than God, let them be your gods. "You see your calling, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world, to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that arey." It is another kind of greatness, honour, and wisdom, which God bestoweth on the poorest saints, than the world can give. Worldlings will shortly be weary of their portion: in your baptism you renounced the world, with its pomps and vanity; and now do you deify, what you then defied?
Tempt. XVIII. 'Another temptation is, to draw on the sinner into such a custom in sin, and long neglect of the means of his recovery, till his heart is utterly hardened.'
Direct. XVIII. Against this, read after, Chap. iv. part 2. against hardness of heart.
Tempt. XIX. 'Another temptation is, to delay repentance, and purpose to do it hereafter.'
Direct. XIX. Of this I entreat you to read the many reasons which I have given, to shame and waken delayers, in my book of "Directions for a Sound Conversion."
Tempt. XX. 'The worst of all is, to tempt them to flat unbelief of Scripture, and the life to come.'
Direct. XX. Against this, read here, Chap. iii. Direct.1. Chap. iv. Part 1. and my "Treatise against Infidelity."
Tempt. XXI. 'If they will needs look after grace, he will do all he can to deceive them with counterfeits, and make them take a seeming, half conversion for a saving change.'
Direct. XXI. Of this read my "Directions for Sound Conversion," and the "Formal Hypocrite," and "Saints' Rest," Part iii. Chap. 10.
Tempt. XXII. 'If he cannot make them flat infidels, he will tempt them to question and contradict the sense of all those texts of Scripture which are used to convince them, and all those doctrines which grate most upon their galled consciences; as, of the necessity of regeneration,—the fewness of them that are saved,—the difficulty of salvation,—the torments of hell,—the necessity of mortification,— and the sinfulness of all particular sins: they will hearken what cavillers can say for any sin, and against any part of godliness; and with this they wilfully delude themselves.'
Direct. XXII. But if men are resolved to join with the devil, and shut their eyes, and cavil against all that God speaketh to them to prevent their misery, and know not, because they will not know; what remedy is left, or who can save men against their wills? "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. He that doth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." In Scripture, "some things are hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable, wrest to their own destruction." Of particulars read the end of my "Treatise of Conversion."
Tempt. XXIII. 'Yea, satan will do his worst to make them heretics, and teach them some doctrine of licentiousness suitable to their lusts: it is hard being wicked still against conscience in the open light: this is kicking against the pricks: too smarting work to be easily borne. Therefore the devil will make them a religion which shall please them, and do their sins no harm: either a religion made up of loose opinions, like the Familists, Ranters, Libertines, and Antinomians (and the Jesuits too much); or else made up of trifling formalities, and a great deal of bodily exercise, and stage-actings, and compliment, as much of the Popish devotion is: and a little will draw a carnal heart to believe a carnal doctrine: it is easier to get such a new religion, than a new heart. And then, the devil tells them that now they are in the right way, and therefore they shall be saved.
A great part of the world think their case is good, because they are of such a sect or party, and of that, which they are told by their leaders, is the true church and way.'
Direct. XXIII. But remember, that whatever law you make to yourselves, God will judge you by his own law. Falsifying the king's coin, is no good way to pay a debt, but an addition of treason to your
former misery. It is a new and holy heart and life, and not a new creed, or a new church or sect, that is necessary to your salvation. It will never save you, to be in the soundest church on earth, if you be unsound in it yourselves; and are but the dust in the temple that must be swept out: much less will it save you, to make yourselves a rule, because God's rule doth seem too strict.
Tempt. XXIV. 'Another way of the tempter is, to draw men to take up with mere convictions, instead of true conversion: when they have but learned that it is necessary to salvation, to be regenerate, and have the Spirit of Christ, they are as quiet, as if this were indeed to be regenerate, and to have the Spirit. As some think they have attained to perfection, when they have but received the opinion that perfection may here be had; so abundance think they have sanctification and forgiveness, because they now see that they must be had, and without sanctification, there is no salvation: and thus the knowledge of all grace and duty, shall go with them for the grace and duty itself; and their judgment of the thing, instead of the possession of it: and instead of having grace, they force themselves to believe that they have it.'
Direct. XXIV. But remember, God will not be mocked: he knoweth a convinced head, from a holy heart. To think you are rich, will not make you rich; to believe that you are well, or to know the remedy, is not enough to make you well. You may dream that you eat, and yet awake hungry. All the land and money which you see, is not therefore your own. To know that you should be holy, maketh your unholiness to have no excuse. Ahab did not escape by believing that he should return in peace: self-flattery in so great and weighty a case, is the greatest folly. "If you know these things, happy are ye if ye do them."
Tempt. XXV. 'Another great temptation is, by hiding from men the intrinsic evil and odiousness of sin. What harm, saith the drunkard, and adulterer, and voluptuous sensualist, is there in all this, that preachers make so great ado against? What hurt is this, to God or man? that they would make us believe that we must be damned for it; and that Christ died for it; and that the Holy Ghost must mortify it? "Wherefore," say the Jews, "hath God pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin, that we have committed?"—He that knoweth not God, knoweth not what sin against God is: especially when the love of it, and delight in it, blindeth them.'
Direct. XXV. Against this, I entreat you to ponder on those forty intrinsical evils in sin, which I have after named, Chap. 3. Direct. 8. and the aggravations. If the devil can but once persuade you, that sin is harmless, all faith, all religion, all honesty, and your souls and all, are gone. For then, all God's laws and government must be fictions: then, there is no work for Christ as a Saviour, or the Spirit as a Sanctifier, to do; then, all ordinances and means are troublesome vanities; and godliness and obedience deserve to be banished from the earth, as unnecessary troublers of mankind; then, may this poison be safely taken, and made your food. But O how mad a conceit is this! How quickly will God make the proudest know, what harm it was to refuse the government of his Maker, and set up the government of his beastly appetite, and misguided will! and that sin is bad, if hell be bad.
Tempt. XXVI. 'The devil also tempteth them to think, that though they sin, yet their good works are a compensation for their bad; and therefore they pray, and do some acts of Pharisaical devotion, to make' God amends for what they do amiss.'
Direct. XXVI. Against this consider, that if you had never so many good works, they are all but your duty, and make no satisfaction for your sin. But what good works can you do, that shall save a wicked soul? and that God will accept without your hearts? Your hearts must be first cleansed, and yourselves devoted and sanctified to God: for an evil tree will bring forth evil fruit: first make the tree good, and the fruit will be good! It is the love of God, and the hatred of sin, and a holy and heavenly life which are the good works that God chiefly calleth for; and faith, and repentance, and conversion, in order to these. And will God take your lip-labour, or the leaving of your flesh by way of alms, while the world and fleshly pleasure have your hearts? Indeed, you do no work that is truly good! The matter may be good: but you poison it with bad principles and ends. "The carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be; but is enmity against God."
Tempt. XXVII. 'Some are tempted to think, that God will not condemn them because they are poor and afflicted in this life, and have their sufferings here: and that he that condemneth the rich, for not shewing mercy to the poor, will himself shew them mercy.'
Direct. XXVII. Hath he not shewed you mercy? and is it not mercy which you vilify and refuse? even Christ, and his Spirit, and holy communion with God? or must God shew you the mercy of glory, without the mercy of grace? which is a contradiction. Strange! that the same men that will not be entreated to accept of mercy, nor let it save them, are yet saying, that God will be merciful and save them.
And for your poverty and suffering, is it not against your will? you cannot deny it: and will God save any man for that which is against his will? You would have riches, and honour, and pleasure, and your good things in this life as well as others, if you could tell how: you
love the world as well as others, if you could get more of it. And to be carnal and worldly for so poor a pittance, and to love the world when you suffer in it, doth make you more inexcusable than the rich. The devils have suffered more than you, and so have many thousand souls in hell; and yet they shall be saved never the more. If you are poor in the world, but rich in faith and holiness, then you may well expect salvation. But if your sufferings make you no more holy they do but aggravate your sin.
Tempt. XXVIII. 'Also the devil blindeth sinners, by keeping them ignorant of the nature and power of holiness of heart and life! They know it not by any experience: and he will not let them see it and judge of it in the Scripture, where it is to be seen without any mixed contraries; but he points them only to professors of holiness, and commonly to the weakest and the worst of them, and to that which is worst in them, and sheweth them the miscarriages of hypocrites, and the falls of the weaker sort of Christians, and then tells them, this is their godliness and religion; they are all alike.'
Direct. XXVIII. But it is easy to see, how these men deceive and condemn themselves. This is as if you should plead that a beast is wiser than a man, because some men are drunk, and some are passionate, and some are mad. Drunkenness and passions, which are the disturbers of reason, are no disgrace to reason, but to themselves: nor were they a disgrace themselves, if reason which they hinder were not honourable. So no man's sins are a disgrace to holiness, which condemneth them: nor were they bad themselves, if holiness were not good, which they oppose. It is no disgrace to the day-light or sun, that there is night and darkness: nor were darkness bad, if light were not good. Will you refuse health, because some men are sick? nay, will you rather choose to be dead, because the living have infirmities? The devil's reasoning is more foolish than this!
Holiness is of absolute necessity to salvation. If many that do more than you, are as bad as you imagine, what a case then are you in, that have not near so much as they? If they that make it their greatest care to please God, and be saved, are as very hypocrites as the devil would persuade you, what a hopeless case then are you in, that come far short of them? If so, you must do more than they, and not less, if you will be saved: or else out of your own mouths will you be condemned.
Tempt. XXIX. 'Another way of the tempter is, by drawing them desperately to venture their souls; come on them what will, they will put it to the venture, rather than live so strict a life.'
Direct. XXIX. But, O man, consider what thou dost, and who will have the loss of it! and how quickly it may be too late to recall thy adventure! What should put thee on so mad a resolution? Is sin so good?—is hell so easy?—is thy soul so contemptible?—is heaven such a trifle?—is God so hard a master?—is his work so grievous, and his way so bad?—doth he require any thing unreasonable of you?—hath
God set you such a grievous task, that it is better to venture on damnation than perform it? You cannot believe this, if you believe him to be God. Come near, and think more deliberately on it, and you will find you might better run from your food, your friend, your life, than from your God, and from a holy life, when you run but into sin and hell.
Tempt. XXX. 'Another great temptation is, in making them believe that their sins are but such common infirmities as the best have; they cannot deny but they have their faults; but are not all men sinners?
They hope they are not reigning, unpardoned sins.'
Direct. XXX. But, O how great a difference is between a converted and an unconverted sinner!—between the failings of a child and the
contempt of a rebel!—between a sinner that hath no gross or mortal sin, and hateth, bewaileth, and striveth against his infirmities;—and a sinner that loveth his sin, and is loath to leave it, and maketh light of it, and loveth not a holy life. God will one day shew you a difference between these two, when you see that there are sinners that are justified and saved, and sinners that are condemned.
Temptations to take Mortal Sins for Infirmities Tempt. I. 'But here are many subordinate temptations, by which satan persuades them that their sins are but infirmities: one is, because their sin is but in the heart, and appeareth not in outward deeds: and they take restraint for sanctification.'
Direct. I. Alas! man, the life and reign of sin is in the heart: that is its garrison and throne: the life of sin lieth in the prevalence of your lusts within, against the power of reason and will. All outward sins are but acts of obedience to the reigning sin within; and a gathering tribute for this, which is the king. For this it is that they make provision. On this all is consumedg. Original sin may be reigning sin
(as a king may be born a king): sin certainly reigneth, until the soul be converted and born again.
Tempt. II. 'The devil tells them it is but an infirmity, because it is no open, gross, disgraceful sin: it is hard to believe that they are in danger of hell, for sins which are accounted small.'
Direct. II: But do you think it is no mortal, heinous sin, to be void of the love of God and holiness?—to love the flesh and the world above him?—to set more by earth than heaven, and do more for it?
However they shew themselves, these are the great and mortal sins.
Sin is not less dangerous for lying secret in the heart. The root and heart are usually unseen. Some kings (as in China, Persia, &c.) keep
out of sight for the honour of their majesty. Kings are the spring of government; but actions of state are executed by officers. When you see a man go, or work, you know that it is something within which is the cause of all. If sin appeared without, as it is within, it would lose much of its power and majesty. Then ministers, and friends, and every good man would cast a stone at it; but its secresy is its peace.
The devil himself prevaileth by keeping out of sight. If he were seen, he would be less obeyed. So it is with the reigning sins of the heart.
Pride and covetousness may be reigning sins, though they appear not in any notorious, disgraceful course of life. David's hiding his sin, or Rachel her idol, made them not the better. It is a mercy to some men, that God permitteth them to fall into some open, scandalous sin, which may tend to humble them, who would not have been humbled nor convinced by heart-sins alone. An oven is hottest when it is stopped.
Tempt. III. 'Satan tells them, they are not unpardoned, reigning sins, because they are common in the world. If all that are as bad as I, must be condemned, say they, God help a great number.'
Direct. III. But know you not that reigning sin is much more common than saving holiness? and that the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leadeth to destruction, and many go in at it? Salvation is as rare as holiness; and damnation as common as reigning sin, where it is not cured. This sign therefore makes against you.
Tempt. IV. 'But, saith the tempter, they are such sins as you see good men commit: you play at the same games as they: you do but what you see them do; and they are pardoned.'
Direct. IV. You must judge the man by his works, and not the works by the man. And there is more to be looked at, than the bare matter of an act. A good man and a bad may play at the same game, but not
with the same end, nor with the same love to sport, nor so frequently and long to the loss of time. Many drops may wear a stone: many stripes with small twigs may draw blood. Many mean men in a senate have been as great as kings: you may have many of these little sins set all together, which plainly make up a carnal life. The power of a sin is more considerable than the outward shew. A poor man, if he be in the place of a magistrate, may be a ruler. And a sin materially small, and such as better men commit, may be a sin in power and rule with you, and concur with others which are greater.
Tempt. V. 'But, saith the tempter, they are but sins of omission, and such as are not reigning sins.'
Direct. V. Sins of omission are always accompanied with some positive, sensual affection to the creature, which diverteth the soul, and causeth the omission: and so omission is no small part of the reigning sin. The not using of reason and the will for God, and for the mastering of sensuality, is much of the state of ungodliness in man.
Denying God the heart and life is no small sin. God made you to do good, and not only to do no harm: else a stone or corpse were as good a Christian as you, for they do less harm than you. If sin have a negative voice in your religion, whether God shall be worshipped and obeyed or not, it is your king: it may shew its power as well by commanding you not to pray, and not to consider, and not to read, as in commanding you to be drunk or swear. The wicked are described by omissions:—Such as "will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts;"—such as "know not God, and call not on his namek;"— that have "no truth, or mercy, or knowledge' of God;"—that "feed not, clothe not, visit not" Christ in his membersm;—that hide their talents. Indeed, if God have not your hearts the creature hath it; and so it is omission and commission that go together in your reigning sin.
Tempt. VI. 'But, saith the tempter, they are but sins of ignorance, and therefore they are not reigning sins: at least you are not certain that they are sins.
Direct. VI. And, indeed, do you not know that it is a sin to love the world better than God? and fleshly pleasure better than God's service? and riches better than grace and holiness? and to do more for the body than for the soul, and for earth than for heaven? Are you uncertain whether these are sins? And do you not feel that they are your sins? You cannot pretend ignorance for these. But what causeth your ignorance? Is it because you would feign know, and cannot? Do you read, and hear, and study, and inquire, and pray for knowledge, and yet cannot know? Or is it not because you would not know, or think it not worth the pain to get it; or because you love your sin?
And will such wilful ignorance as this excuse you? No; it doth make your sin the greater. It sheweth the greater dominion of sin, when it can use thee as the Philistines did Samson, put out thine eyes, and make a drudge of thee; and conquer thy reason, and make thee believe that evil is good and good is evil. Now it hath mastered the principal fortress of thy soul, when thine understanding is mastered by it. He is reconciled indeed to his enemy, who taketh him to be a friend. Do you not know, that God should have your heart, and heaven should have your chiefest care and diligence; and that you should make the Word of God your rule, and your delight, and meditation day and night? If you know not these things, it is because you would not know them: and it is a miserable case to be given up to a blinded mind! Take heed, lest at last you commit the horridest sins, and do not know them to be sins. For such there are that mock at godliness, and persecute Christians and Ministers of Christ, and know not that they do ill; but think they do God service. If a man will make himself drunk, and then kill, and steal, and abuse his neighbours, and say, I knew not that I did ill, it shall not excuse him.
This is your case. You are drunken with the love of fleshly pleasure and worldly things, and these carry you so away, that you have neither heart nor time to study the Scriptures, and hear, and think what God saith to you, and then say that you did not know.
Tempt. VII. 'But, saith the tempter, it cannot be a mortal, reigning sin, because it is not committed with the whole heart, nor without some struggling and resistance: dost thou not feel the Spirit striving against the flesh? and so it is with the regenerate. The good which thou dost not do, thou wouldst do; and the evil which thou dost, thou wouldst not do: so then it is no more thou that dost it, but sin that dwelleth in thee. In a sensual, unregenerate person there is but one party, there is nothing but flesh; but thou feelest the combat between the flesh and the Spirit within thee.'
Direct. VII. This is a snare so subtle and dangerous, that you have need of eyes in your head to escape it. Understand, therefore, 1. That as to the two texts of Scripture, much abused by the tempter, they speak not at all of mortal, reigning sin, but of the unwilling infirmities of such as had subdued all such sin, and walked not after the flesh but after the Spirit; and whose wills were habitually bent to good, and fain would have been perfect, and not have been guilty of an idle thought or word, or of any imperfection in their holiest service, but lived up to all that the law requireth: but this they could not do, because the flesh did cast many stops before the will in the performance. But this is nothing to the case of one that liveth in gross sin and an ungodly life, and hath strivings and convictions, and ineffectual wishes to be better, and to turn, but never doth it. This is but sinning against conscience, and resisting the Spirit that would convert you; and it maketh you worthy of many stripes, as being rebellious against the importunities of grace. Sin may be resisted, where it is never conquered: it may reign nevertheless for some
contradiction. Every one that resisteth the king doth not depose him from his throne. It is a dangerous deceit to think that every good desire that contradicteth sin doth conquer it, and is a sign of saving grace. It must be a desire after a state of saving grace. It must be a desire after a state of godliness, and an effectual desire too. There are degrees of power: some may have a less and limited power, and yet be rulers. As the evil spirits that possessed men's bodies were a legion in one, and but one in others, yet both were possessed; so is it here. Grace is not without resistance in a holy soul: there are some remnants of corruption in the will itself, resisting the good; and yet it followeth not, that grace doth not rule: so it is in the sin of the unregenerate. No man in this life is so good as he will be in heaven, or so bad as he will be in hell: therefore none is void of all moral good. And the least good will resist evil in its degree, as light doth darkness. As in these cases:
1. There is in the unregenerate, a remnant of natural knowledge and conscience: some discoveries of God and his will there are in his works: God hath not left himself without witness. This light and law of nature governed the heathens: and this, in its measure, resisteth sin and assisteth the conscience.
2. When supernatural, extrinsic revelation in the Scripture is added to the light and law of nature, and the ungodly have all the same law as the best, it may do more.
3. Moreover, an ungodly man may live under a most powerful preacher, that will never let him alone in his sins, and may stir up much fear in him and many good purposes, and almost persuade him to be a true Christian; and not only to have some ineffectual wishings and strivings against sin, but to do many things after the preacher, as
Herod did after John, and to escape the common pollutions of the world.
4. Some sharp affliction, added to the rest, may make him seem to others a true penitent: when he is stopped in his course of sin, as Balaam was by the angel, with a drawn sword, and seeth that he cannot go on but in danger of his life; and that God is still meeting him with some cross, and hedging up his way with thorns (for such mercy he sheweth to some of the ungodly): this may not only breed resistance of sin, but some reformation. When the Babylonians were planted in Samaria they feared not God, and he sent lions among them; and then they feared him, and set up some kind of service to him, performed by a base sort of priests; "they feared the Lord, and served their own gods," thinking it was safest to please all. Affliction maketh bad men most like to the good.
5. Good education and company may do very much: it may help them to much knowledge, and make them professors of strict religion; and constant companions with those that fear sin, and avoid it; and therefore they must needs go far then, as Joash did all the days of Jehoiada. As plants and fruits change with the soil by transplantation, and as the climate makes some blackmoors and some white, so education and converse have so great a power on the mind that they come next to grace, and are often the means of it.
6. And God giveth to many, internally, some grace of the Spirit, which is not proper to them that are saved, but common or preparatory only. And this may make much resistance against sin, though it do not mortify it. One that should live but under the convictions that Judas had when he hanged himself, I warrant he would have strivings and combats against sin in him, though he were unsanctified.
7. Yea, the interest and power of one sin may resist another: as covetousness may make much resistance against sensuality and pride of life, and pride may resist all disgraceful sin.
Tempt. VIII. 'But, saith the tempter, it is not unpardoned sin, because thou art sorry and dost repent for it when thou hast committed it: and all sin is pardoned that is repented of.'
Direct. VIII. All the aforesaid causes which may make some resistance of sin in the ungodly, may cause also some sorrow and repenting in them. There is repenting and sorrow for sin in hell. All men repent and are sorry at last; but few repent so as to be pardoned and saved. When a sinner hath had all the sweetness out of sin that it can yield him, and seeth that it is all gone, and the sting is left behind, no marvel if he repent. I think there is scarcely any drunkard, or whoremonger, or glutton (that is not a flat infidel), but he repenteth of the sin that is past, because he hath had all out of it that it can yield him, and there is nothing left of it that is lovely: but yet he goeth on still, which sheweth that his repentance was unsound. True repentance is a thorough change of the heart and life; a turning from sin to a holy life, and such a sorrow for what is past as would not let you do it, if it were to do again. If you truly repent, you would not do so again, if you had all the same temptations.
Tempt. IX. 'But, saith the tempter, it is but one sin, and the rest of thy life is good and blameless; and God judgeth by the greater part of thy life, whether the evil or the good be most.'
Direct. IX. If a man be a murderer, or a traitor, will you excuse him, because the rest of his life is good, and it is but one sin that he is charged with? One sort of poison may kill a man; and one stab at the heart, though all his body else be whole: you may surfeit on one dish: one leak may sink a ship. "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and
yet offend in one point, is guilty of all." Indeed God doth judge by the bent of thy heart, and the main drift and endeavour of thy life. But canst thou say, that the bent of thy heart, and the main endeavour of thy life is for God, and heaven, and holiness? No: if it were, thou wert regenerate; and this would not let thee live in any one beloved, chosen, wilful sin. The bent of a man's heart and life may be sinful, earthly, fleshly, though it run but in the channel of one way of gross sinning! As a man may be covetous, that hath but one trade; and a whoremonger, that hath but one whore; and an idolater, that hath but one idol. If thou lovedst God better, thou wouldst let go thy sin; and if thou love any one sin better than God, the whole bent of thy heart and life is wicked: for it is not set upon God and heaven, and therefore is ungodly.
Tempt. X. 'But, saith the tempter, it is not reigning, unpardoned sin, because thou believest in Jesus Christ; and all that believe, are pardoned, and justified from all their sin.'
Direct. X. He that savingly believeth in Christ, doth take him entirely for his Saviour and Governor; and giveth up himself to be saved, sanctified, and ruled by him: as trusting your physician, implieth that you take his medicines, and follow his advice, and so trust him; and not that you trust to be cured while you disobey him, by bare trusting: so is it as to your faith and trust in Christ; it is a belief or trust, that he will save all those that are ruled by him in order to salvation. "He is the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him." If you believe in Christ, you believe Christ: and if you believe
Christ, you believe, "that except a man be converted, and born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaveny;" and that he that is "in Christ, is a new creature; old things are past away, and all is become new;" and that "without holiness none shall see Goda." And that "no fornicator, effeminate, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers,