CHAPTER V. Motives against sin
arguments, or inferences. It is left to him to speak that to the heart which can be but whispered unto the mind. It is too big for words, and too glorious to be clothed with man's apprehensions, much less expressions, and it is fit only to speak itself; and that may be a reason also, why we find so little of rational inducements drawn from this eternal love to enforce obedience. I have given you all I could find in the New Testament. I attribute it to this, that this love spoken by the Spirit to the heart persuades to it without any more arguments, and will not take in the assistance of reason, or notions, or inferences to urge the commands of itself, but will itself do it, and doth it abundantly. It remains that I pray as the apostle doth, 2 Thes. 3:5,
'The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God!'
CHAPTER V
Motives against sin, because it is Satan's great work and interest, who is Christ's greatest enemy.
He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.—1 JOHN 3:8.
The subject on which I intend to discourse, is motives to holiness and against sin, drawn from such arguments as the New Testament affords, such as arise from the thoughts of Christ and his love, and from the consideration of the end and design of his death.
One great end of his death I have already shewn in another discourse,* to be his overcoming Satan thereby, and so redeeming us from the power of him that had the power of death. What motives to holiness the consideration hereof will afford is the thing now to be considered, and what use faith may make hereof to strengthen and
help the heart against sin. Now the scope of this text is punctual to it.
The apostle's scope is to give an exhortation unto holiness and against sin; and to this end he sets forth Christ and Satan as two opposites and antagonists: Satan, as is denoted to us, having set up sin as his work; and Christ is described as the founder of holiness, and destroyer of Satan's work. These two have drawn after them all the sons of men into two several parties, who are here, and shall be hereafter, distinguished for ever, by the poise and inclination of their spirits, and course and sway of their lives, as they stood to sin or righteousness, and shall accordingly be judged to belong to either
Christ or Satan. 'Little children' (says the apostle, verse 7), 'let no man deceive you: he that doth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. And he that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose was the Son of God manifest, that he might destroy the works of the devil,' verse 8.
Christ the Son of God is the fountain of holiness and righteousness to all that hope for, or expect, salvation from him; verse 3, 'Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.' And ver. 5, 'In him is no sin.' And ver. 6, 'Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.' So as (verse 7), 'He that doth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.' Christ requires of all he justifies (although he imputes a righteousness of his own to them), that they themselves be so truly and really righteous in their hearts and lives, as rightly from thence to be denominated righteous, as truly as all other denominations are from what qualifications are in a man, from which he acts accordingly. A man is termed a wise man, that hath a principle of wisdom, and acts wisely, though he may have mixtures and strains of folly; so giving the like allowance to a holy man, he that doth righteousness, makes it his business, work, trade, and study to do so, is righteous. Let no man deceive you with the doctrine
of the imputed righteousness of Christ, as if it discharged you from having a true inherent holiness of your own, such and the same for kind as he had. No; it obligeth you unto it, to be yourselves
'righteous, even as he is righteous.'
Now to sharpen the exhortation, and make it yet more pungent, he sets forth withal Satan, Christ's enemy and opposite, and the contrary head, fountain, leader and author of all sin, and opposer of all righteousness, who sinned from the beginning, and was himself the first that brought sin into the creation, perpetrated it himself, and was the cause of it in all others; and who not only then sinned and diffused it, but he 'sinneth from the beginning,' that is, hath continually made it his trade to sin, and to cause others to sin.
Though Adam brought it in among men, yet it was but by one act, and of that act Satan was the designer; but Adam was not the continual cause of sin to others, and is dead long since, and ceased to sin, but Satan sins still from the beginning. He sins not only personally from the beginning, but by provoking and tempting others continually; for so the devil's sinning from the beginning is here principally to be understood, as he is the causer of men to sin, as at the beginning he did to our first parents, and he thereby makes the sins we commit his works; for our sins, or the sins in us, as caused by him, are called his work.
1. Our apostle brings in this of Satan's interest to sin as a distinct, yea, a farther motive to the saints against sin, to be superadded to the former. He had said that sin was a transgression of the law, ver.
4. That consideration is to move you as creatures and subjects to God, for you are therefore to be such as live under law and obedience; but that is denied now-a-days to be any obligation, though to John it was. But consider yourselves as persons redeemed by a righteous Saviour, bearing your sins, who took sins away, ver. 5,
and in whom is no sin; he could else never have taken sin away in us, nor could he have any other end in dying than to take sins away, seeing himself had none. Will not the ingenuity of this move you?
Then (as the apostle John says) consider whose interest and whose cause sin is; it is the devil's work, and if the law of subjects will not move you, let the law of arms. That sin is the force and strength of the kingdom of Satan, Christ's enemy, is an higher aggravation of it than [that] it is a transgression of the law. What is but felony in time of peace as breach of the law, is treason in time of a common engagement; and to gratify a professed enemy at such a time is as witchcraft and rebellion.
2. As he thus sets forth sin as the devil's proper work, thereby to deter from it, and exhort the more powerfully to constant holiness, so he pronounceth every one that commits sin to be of the devil, and that hereby the children of God and Satan are manifestly distinguished: ver. 10, 'In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil; whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.' He instanceth in that one duty, and he turns it both ways, either to omission or commission; and the reason he gives is full, for the devil sins from the beginning, that is, makes a trade, a practice of it. He interprets it to be meant of a way or a course of sinning, as by the other he signifies a course of righteousness. Of the devil he saith, 'he sins'
(not, hath sinned) 'from the beginning;' he hath made it his work without interruption, without ceasing; therefore whosoever he be that continues in sin, commits it, makes a trade and practice of it, is of the devil, for he sins as he doth. As a gentleman may do an ignoble work of a tradesman, but yet ceaseth not to be noble by it, for he lives upon his lands, and not upon his work, so may a godly man do a piece of a sinner's work, and he doth it too often; but he doth not make it a trade, nor live on it (1 John 1:10, and 2:1, 2): he lives on
higher things, and if he belongs to Christ, Christ will not suffer him to continue in sin; for Christ came to dissolve the work, as the trade, the haunt of the devil in him; and he would wholly lose his end if he preserved not his own, if he broke not that haunt, that way of sinning, and the dominion, the rule, the work of Satan in him, and so defaced that character wherein the children of Satan resemble their father, in being workers of iniquity, as Christ calls those, Luke 13:27, that have been the greatest pretenders to him. They shall be found to have been (if you take their whole course) 'such workers of iniquity'
(Ἐργάται), Luke 13:27. And in this sense he that commits sin is here taken, as by the opposite afore, he that doth righteousness is righteous. Where not one alone act of righteousness, but he that worketh righteousness, that makes it his study, business, and life, is meant: 'He that lives in sin is of the devil.' He speaks of the differing states of a believer and unbeliever; because Christ was manifested to do this (or to do nothing), namely, to dissolve the devil's trade and work in us. He hath spoiled the devil's business, and he will suffer no man (whom he died for), after he is engrafted into him, to be the devil's factor.
3. The apostle holds forth Christ and Satan to be two fountains, the one of sin, the other of righteousness. All mankind (according as their courses and ways are) fall either to the one or the other, and are either of God or of the devil. Though men consider it not, they hold of the one or the other in capite, as of their head; yea, they are children of one of these. John 8:44, 'You are of your father the devil, and his lusts you will do.' Their indoles, genius, disposition, and practices, are the same that his are, and he is their prince, their sovereign, their natural, or rather unnatural, lord; and in this the children of God and of the devil are manifest; even as here the apostle says, 'He that commits sin is of the devil, and he that doth not righteousness is not of God.' He knows not Christ, nor ever truly saw
him, or was acquainted with him, ver. 6, for he came to take sin away, to dissolve the works of the devil, &c.; and therefore, all you that profess the name of Christ (says John), look to this, and examine yourselves by it, deceive not yourselves, but walk by this example.
I have thus given you the general scope of the apostle's words; and the design of my following discourse is not now to urge that point of the distinction of a regenerate and unregenerate man, by their several courses of sin and righteousness, but to exhort believers in Christ unto all practices of all sorts of righteousness, and to dehort them from all sin upon all occasions. Now unto this end (which is also John's scope), I shall present unto you, which this scripture is so great a ground for, the great and dividing interests of these two opposites, Jesus Christ and Satan, in respect of sin and righteousness. The devil sinned from the beginning, and drew men after him, and set up his design; and Christ was promised from the beginning, and in the end appeared to break this design of Satan. The devil had always a faction for him and for sin from the first; and therefore John instanceth, 1 John 3:12, in the eldest son of reprobation, Cain: 'Not as Cain,' saith he, 'who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother.' So that if you profess yourselves to belong to Christ, you are thereby instantly engaged to set upon the practice and advancement of holiness and righteousness; and to oppose and destroy sin, upon this interest and account, that you are engaged together with Christ, and so his interest in this became yours. And to put an addition of strength hereto, and to encourage you the more therein, I shall join to this another scripture, which is the close of Peter's first epistle: 1 Peter 5:8, 'Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.' The things which out of this text I have designed to handle are principally two.
1. That there is a general engagement of all Christians against Satan, as against a common enemy, against whom as such they should all direct, intend, and point their opposition in fighting against sin, and the force of that engagement.
2. I shall propound the encouragements we may take to ourselves in this great conflict.
1. There is a general engagement of all Christians against Satan as their common enemy.
(1.) The devil is a common adversary (so Peter speaks of him), a malicious enemy, 'seeking whom he may devour,' making that his chief end and business, to destroy and devour men's souls, as a lion doth his prey—an industrious enemy, walking about, and spying out advantages privately and particularly against every soul.
(2.) Satan's chief work and business, wherein he shews himself our adversary, lies in drawing us to sin. This the coherence of the apostle
Peter shews, for his exhortation is, 'Be sober, and watch,' which evidently hath respect unto lusts, inordinate affections growing upon a man's spirit, and those are the advantages which Satan seeks; and by the prevailing thereof it is, that a man is devoured by Satan, and to effect this it is, that he walks up and down to do this his business.
(3.) The saints' resistance of Satan herein is a common engagement.
He is your adversary (verse 8), and not yours only, but of all the brotherhood (as the word is) 'that are in the world,' who suffer and are in danger and jeopardy in this respect from him; who therefore, as one man, are all engaged against him to resist him. And in fighting against sin, they should point, and direct, and intend their opposition against Satan also (whom resist, says Peter), and have an
aim at him in their resisting of sin, sharpening and whetting up their spirits against him.
(4.) The force of this engagement is to be considered.
[1.] For the first, that the devil is our adversary, and a common enemy, I will not insist on it.
[2.] That to draw us to sin, and to preserve ourselves from sin, is the great interest on both sides: namely, to draw us to sin, and to move us to yield to loose affections, is the devil's interest; and to be sober, and to resist him herein, is ours. Heb. 12:4, 'You have not yet resisted unto blood, fighting against sin.' To what purpose comes in that addition, 'fighting against sin'? It is to shew that the eminent matter of contest, and contention, and scope of a Christian is to fight against sin, which every true believer hath set up as the principal business of his life in this world. A Christian is sin's antagonist, as the word here rendered 'fighting against' is in the original (ἀνταγωνιζόμενοι). Well, but how is it connected with the former speech? He had minded them, chap. 10, how they had already in their goods and names been prejudiced and spoiled. What was the bottom cause of it, but fighting against sin, because they would not deny Christ, or forsake their profession, and so sin against Christ! On this account the apostle puts all those their former sufferings. Now (says the apostle), for this principle and resolution, if you continue in it, as it is indeed your end and interest, you may be brought to martyrdom, unto blood, which yet you have not been, as many others have afore you. And it bath not been resisting authority, or opposition to men, and a contending with them about a worldly power, or interest; but the world through Satan's instigation comes upon them, to urge them to a compliance with sinful customs and practices, and they hold fast to their principle, to fight against sin (that they would not sin, was the
bottom ground of their opposition), and so chose to suffer rather. So then not to sin, to fight against sin, is at once the interest of all
Christians, and the cause of all persecutions, which by sinning they might avoid; but (as it is in chap. 11) 'they chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.' This is our part and interest; but then, on the contrary, the devil's part is to sin, and to draw men to sin is his interest; yea, it is the main end and design of that other part of his power, viz., the bringing persecutions on the saints, for he doth it to draw and tempt them unto sin; that is in his eye and design more than to vex them, or to bring an outward misery upon them.
That subject therefore which I shall a little insist on, is the demonstration how much, and how properly and peculiarly, our sinning is both the work of Satan and also the interest of his kingdom, to set forth both which, that place, 1 John 3:8, doth most fully serve of any other scripture.
1. That scripture tells as he hath sinned from the beginning, therein charging him, as he that was the first that brought it into the creation of God. He was the first that sinned himself; John 8:44, he is said to 'speak a lie of his own,' for none tempted or tempteth him to sin; and he is 'the father of it,' as the first inventor of any trade is termed in Gen. 4:20, 21. And, moreover, he was the cause of it in all others, and that in a far different manner than Adam was, or any of mankind have been to others, as Jeroboam or the like. Adam brought in sin by one act traduced down to us, but himself is long since dead, and hath ceased to sin; but the devil sins from the beginning, and hath made it his trade continually to sin, and draw others to sin; and they are the sins in us men, as caused by him, that are termed his works, for they are those works of the devil, which Christ came to dissolve and to take away, verse 5. But Christ was not manifested to take away the
devil's sins that are personally in himself, nor shed a drop of blood to hinder him from sinning; but his sins and his works as in us, these
Christ came to dissolve, these sins which are his wicked work in us.
2. Sin is in a peculiar and proper manner termed his work more than ours, and is owned by him accordingly; and thus though we are the actors of these sins more immediately, yet it is Satan who loves sin, as it is a work of iniquity. He is the very inventor, and loves the very workmanship of it in us, as Christ loves in a believer the new creature, 'which in Christ Jesus is created unto good works,' Eph.
2:10. A mechanic that works to get his living, loves not so much the work he makes, as the livelihood that comes by it (as of the makers of Diana's shrines it is said, Acts 19:24), and so men love sin for the pleasure, that cannot be enjoyed without it; but there are principal artists (as they are termed), the curious painters and inventors, who when they have invented a curious piece that pleases their fancy, love the work itself. Thus doth the devil love sin as his own work; and as God, having made the world, upholds it, gives virtue to nature, and works hitherto (as Christ says), so sin being the devil's creature, he preserves it, upholds it, diffuseth it, and so sins from the beginning in tempting and provoking us. Adam, poor man, when fallen (by whom it is said that sin entered into the world, Rom. 5), as also our mother Eve, but looked upon all the sins he or she saw any of their sons commit, as evils of which themselves were the cause, and viewed them with a sad and heavy heart, and with this mournful reflection, I have made all this work in the world. But the devil looks with another eye upon all the sins which are done under the sun; and says as Nebuchadnezzar, This Babel and confusion in the world have
I built for the honour of my majesty, in my opposition to God. He looks as God did upon his works, and is refreshed, for it is merely, purely his own.
3. It being his work, and he the inventor, he hath the monopoly of it, the gains of it,—and let him enjoy them, as by the ordinary law all first inventors use to do,—and all we men work but under him, though we are also said to seek out many inventions, as Solomon speaks, but so as he hath the chief business and affair in it. Sinners take pains, like the merchants from far that travel sea and land, that is, go over all things delightful in this world, the delights of the sons of men, and seek to and fro to bring in pleasures from them to themselves, and fall into many snares and temptations, that pierce their souls with many sorrows; but the devil hath the custom out of all, and they bring in but the bullion to this great sovereign's mint.
The coinage, the prerogative thereof, is his, and it is his stamp and superscription the works bear. Sinners, like the poor Israelites, gather straw where they can find it, do burn, 1 Cor. 7:9, and are inflamed with lusts, but it is his brick which they make. If you ask how his glory, his kingdom, his greatness is increased by it, I answer,
(1.) The power, the glory of his kingdom lies in sinning; for sin, as sin, is his interest, and sin (as it opposeth God) set him up at first to build pyramids and trophies for his own glory in dishonouring of God. You are busy like bees flying to and fro to a thousand flowers; and, poor souls, you aim at honey, but then you return with it unto his hive, where you, and he, and honey, are all burnt together. Look as Christ's kingdom consists in peace, joy, righteousness (Rom 14:17,
Heb. 7:2), so the devil's kingdom consists in sin, and his throne is established by it. Eph. 6:12, the devils are called 'rulers of the darkness of this world,' and the world is the bound of his dominion; but that wherein properly his rule lies, is the 'darkness,' the sin of the world, which he is the ruler of; insomuch as that which is his top interest is sin, and his throne is established by it, and founded and built upon it, as Christ's sceptre and throne is 'a sceptre of righteousness,' Heb. 1:8. A sceptre is an ensign of power, and kings'
sceptres are made of gold; but Christ's sceptre is formed of righteousness, pure righteousness; and this is that interest of his kingdom, so as iniquity is the interest of that of Satan.
(2.) Our sinnings through his temptations are the greatest, if not the only delight and pleasure he hath. They are as meat and drink to him, his food and nourishment, and we thereby become caterers and providers for the devil's banqueting. This is founded on 1 Peter 5:8, for wherefore is it that Peter gives him hers the character of a roaring lion, and compares him thereunto, but to represent him as one that seeks for a prey! for roaring is hers attributed to him, as to terrify, in respect of the dreadfulness of the danger, so in relation to his own hungering after a prey; a soul acting sin is his prey: Ps. 104:21, 'The young lions roar after their prey,' and so the devil doth too; for it follows in 1 Peter 5:8, that he seeks whom to devour, and to that end walks up and down, and seeks a prey both by spying out a Christian's looseness of spirit, and also by eyeing God to have a commission from him to fall upon him. In Ps. 28:5, a roaring lion is translated by the Septuagint λέων πεινῶν, the same word which Peter here useth for devouring.* When a lion is hungry, he roars more terribly; and as roaring is from the speediness and impatiency of desire, so the satisfaction of that appetite is delight, and devouring the prey is his pleasing enjoyment; suitably his pleasure is sin, that is his prey, and when you sin much, and draw others to sin, you feast the devil with the blood of your own souls. His curse was to eat dust for his food,
Gen. 3:14; being banished heaven, he lives on men's lusts, and on things earthly, in which yet he delights not, for he tastes not meat or drink; but to tempt others herewith and to draw them to sin, this delights him, and is a joy to him. The apostle termeth all our righteousness σκύβαλα, dogs'-meat; but sins are the devil's meat, and therefore he walks to and fro seeking it, as lions do their food,
Ps. 104:22; yea, he calla other devils to feast with him. Plutarch says,
the manner of young lions is, when they have their prey, to roar to invite other lions to come and eat with them; so the devil brings seven other devils worse than himself; and as there is joy in heaven if a sinner be converted, so in hell when a converted sinner falls into sinning.
4. Let us but view what expressions the Scriptures use of men's sinning against God, and turning aside from him to serve any lust, and we shall see that they evidently argue that our sinnings are the devil's interest. Thus the apostle, 1 Tim. 5:15, speaking of younger widows marrying again when they had vowed themselves to Christ, as was the practice then, says, that they had 'already turned aside after Satan.' If we never so little decline from Christ, return to Satan; and if we give way to any passion, it is to 'give place to the devil,' Eph.
4:27. And what he says of anger, wrath, &c., he intends also of any other sin or lust. 'Let him that hath stolen, steal no more,' as giving place to the devil. Thus also when Peter would exaggerate Ananias's sin, Acts 5, he saith not only, Why hast thou sinned? but 'Why hath
Satan filled thy heart?' Thus 'he that commits sin is of the devil,' 1
John 3:2. He is of his side and party, yea, of the devil as of a father, John 8:44. Yea, the measure of men's wickedness, more or less, is expressed by their having fewer or more devils in them. Mary
Magdalene had seven devils, Mark 16:9. And the devil is said to return to an apostate backslider with seven devils worse than himself, to express that his latter days shall be more wicked than his former; yea, the scripiure calls a sinner 'devil,' John 6:70. And as Judas joined with the devil in betraying Christ, the devil is said to have 'entered into him,' Luke 22:3. Yea (consider it, brethren), though a man be a good man (as Peter was), yet in any foul act or sin he puts off the Christian, and turns devil for that time. It was the sharpest word that ever Christ uttered to a man that was holy, 'Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence to me,' Mat. 16:23. It was
the wont word that could be given him, and yet Christ, who is truth, spake it; and he exceeded not in passion above the merit of the thing, for guile was not found in his mouth. And he speaks it with indignation, as of one he abhorred, Get out of my sight, I cannot endure to look on thee. It doth not signify that Christ loved him not, but Christ spoke thus, that he might the more pungently and piercingly set on his sin upon him. Thus the incestuous Corinthian, though a good man, 1 Cor. 5:13, is called τὸν πονηρὸν, that wicked person. The man was good; he had spirit or grace in him to be saved, ver. 5, yet in the act he was a devil; for ὁ πονηρος is the style of the devil in John, and elsewhere.
And therefore it is that excommunication is to be a delivering up to Satan; and the apostle would have him delivered up to Satan, ver. 5, as a suitable punishment. Thus you say, when you turn an untoward servant or child out of doors, Now go to your companions. And thus an excommunicated person is delivered to Satan, as it were in these words, You acted the part of the devil in sinning; he entered into you, and you cast your lot with him (as Solomon speaks), and therefore let the devil keep you company a-while, and affright and torment you, that so you may learn what it is to have the devil again. And accordingly at last wicked men, as having followed the devil's design, are cast into 'the fire prepared for the devil and his angels,' and they and he are tormented together in the same lake of fire and brimstone common to both, because the cause, the engagement, was common to both. All these and many more expressions, which might haply be gathered together, evince this, that sin is the devil's great interest, and that to sin is to maintain the devil's quarrel, to fight Satan's battles against the Lord, to build up his kingdom, to strengthen his cause, to side and take part with him.
Use 1. If it be so, as I have proved, that sin is the devil's great business, and the interest of his kingdom, then we may be sure, that
in every sin to which we are indulgent, we have dealings with the devil: whilst we are in this world (as Peter speaks), we are subject to be tempted (as Paul says, Gal. 6:1), and therefore 'let us be sober and watch;' and (as Christ exhorts, Mat. 26:41), 'watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.' Our dear Lord had then taken three of his strongest disciples to assist him in his temptation, the sorest that ever was: they fell asleep. Well, says be, you will have your turn; your time of temptation will come, and you had need watch better for yourselves than you have done for me, or you will be undone. And in that compendium of prayers our Lord gave us, he puts in two petitions much to one purpose: 'Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from that evil one' (so in the Greek), the head, the author of all evil. That particle ἀλλὰ, but, shews its coherence and conjunction with the former petition; and so the meaning is, that God would not so give us over to Satan, as that he should devour us, or undo us. He doubles this petition, and twines it both ways, because temptations to sins are all our lots; and therefore we should eye the devil in them, as one with whom we have to do. And though it is true that no man is tempted but of his own lust (says James, chap.
1), yet there is no lust stirs, but this temper blows it up. He observes which way the stream is inclined to run, and he applies his winds to blow in accordingly: there is no great sin but he hath a hand in it, if not by beginning it, yet by promoting it. This you may learn of the same James: 'From whence come wars?' says he, James 4:1. It is true that they arise from our lusts, that war in our members, prone enough to rise up in arms upon every occasion, and from thence is all inordinate love of the world. And the spirit that is in us lusts after envy fast enough of itself; but yet there is over and above a devil that acts and inflames all these; and therefore when he gives counsel against all these, he closeth all with this, ver. 7, 'Resist the devil,' as the great leader of all these warring lusts. 'If you have bitter envyings and strife in your hearts, this spirit' is not only 'earthly and sensual,'
but the devil is in it, 'it is devilish.' Are there divisions and offences in churches? Rom. 16:17, the devil is in them; so Paul suggests, ver. 20, comforting them, that the God of peace, that loves peace, and is among them, would tread down Satan, the head, the ringleader of them, shortly. Doth anger arise? Take heed, the devil stands at the door watching to enter: Eph. 4:26, 27, 'Be angry, and sin not,' &c.,
'neither give place to the devil.' A lust given way to, opens the door for him to enter and fill the heart; and what he speaks of anger, is true of all those sins he there names afore and after, viz., lying, stealing, uncleanness, &c. Is a man covetous, and resolved to be rich?
'He falls into temptation and into a snare,' 1 Tim. 6:9. Whose snare it is you may easily know by what is joined with it, viz., temptation. It is the snare of the tempter, which in 2 Tim. 2:26 is called 'the snare of the devil.' Thus every lust is, and by it he entered into Ananias's heart and filled it, Acts 5. Hath a man an evil tongue? Though it is bad enough of itself, yet the devil heats it in his forge, inflames the lust of it, and sharpens the wit to it: James 3:6, 'The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity amongst our members; it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and is set on fire of hell.' In like manner, with respect unto uncleanness, this unclean spirit takes all occasions to tempt us, 1 Cor. 7:5. The apostle exhorts man and wife not to be a long time asunder (but upon absolute necessity), 'lest
Satan,' says he, 'tempt you for your incontinency;' that is, whereas the most of men have not that gift of continency (which, ver. 7, he says he had), and therefore to avoid fornication and burning, are supposed to marry, ver. 2. Satan spies out all advantages to stir up that lust ere you are aware, you having that in you which the apostle calls your incontinency, and to provoke you to some unclean act. All lusts else are the devil's snares; and in a word, in all these cobwebs there inhabit spiders, and every straggling love of inordinate affection that goes out, and is fastened to anything in the world, is the spider's dancing-rope to go in and out of his house upon.
Use 2. What weight should the serious consideration hereof have upon our spirits, both to preserve us from sinning, and to humble us for having sinned.
(1.) To preserve us, and to be a motive against sinning. Doth any lust begin to boil within thee? Think with thyself, and say, This is Satan's scout, he is in ambushment not far off, and the devil is now approaching, for, lo, I feel his darts, his fiery inflaming darts, as Paul calls them. These darts cast into my heart came out of his forge, I feel them as fire in my bones; and as in war darts use to be thrown at the first onset, when the enemy is approaching, so are these; but he will come on with sharper weapons and sorer assaults, and enter into me if I take not heed. Our Saviour Christ espied him afar off: 'Now is the prince of this world a-coming,' says he; so mayest thou, as one army doth another, when their forlon is approaching. Christ indeed could say with comfort, 'He hath nothing in me;' but thou canst not say so, for he hath that in thee will betray thee to him, and join with him against thee. Think then with thyself, Now I have to do with the devil; and now resist, and give not place to the devil. If thou wert sure thou hadst to do with the devil, thou wouldst avoid him; if he took a shape and appeared to thee, thou wouldst not deal or track with him; but know, that when thy lust, thy passion, thy pride or covetousness is up, he is surely at thy elbow. As therefore the apostle,
Heb. 13:2, exhorts to works of hospitality, because 'thereby some unawares have entertained angels,' as Lot and Abraham did; so for certain thou, by letting in this or that sin, lettest in the devil, and entertainest him, though thou seest him not. And though thou yieldest but to one act of sin only (as thou thinkest), yet thou servest the devil, and dost his work, yea, and hast communion with him. The poor prodigal aimed but at husks to fill his belly, Luke 15:15, but he could not enjoy them but by joining himself to the farmer, the devil, whose all the swine and pleasures of sin in this world are. Oh
consider this! 'I would not,' says the apostle, 1 Cor. 10:20, 'that you should have communion with devils.' All men, especially Christians, abhor that; he takes that for granted, and yet it is in the nature of the thing itself; by yielding to sin, you become companions with the devils, as they in eating things sacrificed to him did. In eating his dainties of sinful pleasures he seems to feast you, but really and indeed you entertain him. In sinning, we have communion with Satan, as in righteousness we have with God; only with this difference: in works of righteousness we have communion with God in a work that is God's (for as Christ saith, we 'work the works of God'); and then, further, we have communion with his person by faith eyeing him, and walking in the light of him, and in so doing he often manifests himself to us; but though we have not such sensible communion with the person of Satan as with God by faith, yet having to do with his works wherein he acts us, we have remotely to do with his person. For as merchants each with other, we have to do with his wares, and his commodities, not only for the present, but for hereafter. Now then, in the entrance to any sin, consider upon what is said, that it is the devil who is thy guide, and wilt thou follow him?
Thou makest thereby a kind of covenant to serve him ere thou art aware of it. All men do it implicitly, as we say of them that go to cunning wizards, but in such a case thou wilt do it explicitly.
(2.) Hast thou sinned, and therein acted the devil's part? Humble thyself greatly, and that upon this consideration, that thou hast sided with Satan, and the devil hath cause to say, thou hast manfully, or rather devilishly, took my part this day. The apostle James having shewn, that in yielding to their lusts they closed with the devil (chap.
4:1, 2, and 7 compared), exhorts them to renounce Satan, and to draw nigh to God, and then to be aftlicted and mourn. 'Humble yourselves,' says he, 'in the sight of the Lord.' Would it not break thy heart to hear Christ from heaven, after such or such a sin or fact, to