CHAPTER VI. A motive to holiness, and to flight against sin
call thee devil, and to bid thee get thee behind him, as he did to Peter? Now Christ hath the same affection in this respect whilst he is in heaven, and when he was on earth, not only to turn away his lace, and withdraw the light of his countenance from thee; but with indignation (for the present) to reject thee, and cast thee behind his back, and to remove thee as an accursed thing in his sight. Christ said thus to Peter, and thou deservest it; but humble thyself and be not discouraged; for at another time, when the same Peter had played the devil worse by far, in forswearing his Saviour, and had acted the devil in his colours—for the devil is a blasphemer, and the father of lies, and Peter had done both by lying and forswearing
Christ—yet then Christ turned not his back but his face upon him.
Christ looked back, and one look of Christ cast the devil out, as the believer doth experience, that when Christ appears by faith in the heart, the devil is gone, and Peter went forth and wept bitterly. Be not therefore discouraged, for Christ still loved and prayed for this
Peter, and exercised these varieties of dispensations to the same Peter, to shew us that he useth both upon occasion to his children, and we should have the one in our eye to humble us, the other to encourage us. We have an enemy on earth, Satan, but an advocate in heaven, 1 John 2:1.
CHAPTER VI
A motive to holiness, and to flight against sin, drawn from the consideration, that his holy war is a common engagement in which all angels and saints are confederates.
I shall now demonstrate that there is a common engagement of all believers against Satan in fighting against sin, and that they are to point and direct their opposition against him. My purpose is not to
enlarge upon the warfare of a Christian, the subject of so many tongues and pens, but my scope is to whet and edge your spirits against sin, whenever you find your spirits tempted and lusts high, and to animate you unto an opposition to the devil.
I shall give you the story of this war against Satan, and shew how ancient and how long a continued and universal an engagement this is.
1. God in paradise proclaimed this war, and stated it there, so old is it; it began there, and it was proclaimed there. I will not for the present go so high to say, that it began before between the Son of God and these evil angels in heaven, though some affirm it. This devil he affronted our great God in both his courts: his court in heaven, where angels are; and his court on earth, paradise, which God himself built for Adam personally, as the seat of him who was made king of all the earth, and father of all men. The devil, by tempting our first father and mother, was the cause of their first sin, which was the original and fountain of all ours. 'Because thou hast done this' (says God, Gen. 3:14), and done it enviously, maliciously, and subtilly, knowing what would be the consequence of it to all mankind, 'thou art therefore accursed.' The man and woman were deceived, as birds by the fowler, but the devil was the deceiver, and therefore he is cursed above all. It is therefore the common quarrel of our nature, as we are men, to make war against him.
This engaged God himself. God laid it to heart on our behalf, and shall not we? Yea, it drew in all the three persons, who appeared in making man, and said, 'Let us make man after our image,' which this devil sought to deface. They are all answerably disgusted at this destroying of their image, and are resolved to renew it.
1. It was God the Father who dealt then personally with the devil, and who cursed him; for it was he that gave the law to Adam of not eating the forbidden fruit, as appears by this discourse, and it is the same person that curseth Satan, and he it is that is that God of peace who heads him under, Rom. 16:20. And it is the same 'God of all grace' that helps us against him, 1 Peter 5:9, 10.
2. God the Son was he that was to become the promised seed, and who was on purpose designed out by God to deal with him. It was he who was instantly proclaimed the general upon the place of the affront, and the head of this quarrel; and so he was then professedly engaged, and that by his own consent standing by.
3. The Holy Ghost, though not mentioned, yet to be sure we may find him to be there, as he must needs be Satan's opposite here upon. For the devil spoiled that in man which is more properly his work
(holiness being the work of the Holy Spirit); and their very titles ever hereafter shew their opposition. Thus the one is called the Holy
Spirit, and Satan is termed the unclean spirit in the Evangelists and in the Acts no less than two-and-twenty times; and so he is called too in the Old Testament, Zech. 13:2; and he and his angels are frequently called evil spirits both in the Old and New Testament. And the opposition of these two is seen in every saint's heart every day.
These words also in Gen. 3:15, 'I will put enmity between her seed and thy seed,' do involve the whole seed of elect men as well as Christ, as I have shewn in another discourse.* Thus it is an universal engagement; yea, and as you see God's heart was so upon it, and his counsels and resolutions in this point so ripe and ready, as he stands not deliberating; but upon the very place in paradise where the mischief was done, and well nigh as soon as it was done, he proclaimed war. He stays not as long as till he had turned man out of paradise; yea, and he professeth himself to be the beginner,
contriver, and undertaker of this war: 'I will put,' says he, 'enmity,'
&c. It is a war, then, of God's own making; and properly his more than ours. Thus great and solemn it is, not a quarrel only against sin, but against the devil; between thee and the serpent, that is, the devil.
As the war was thus early proclaimed, so you read how accordingly it was carried on from the first, that men began to multiply in the earth, even by the two first sons of men, sons of Adam, that were in the world; the devil took the one, Cain, and God took the other, Abel.
This early division and parting of the seed John takes notice of: 1
John 3:10–12, '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. For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.' As if he had said, This different seed and quarrel, which in Gen. 3 was spoken of, caused arms to be taken up presently. The devil, as he had set up, so he carried on his design, and drew men after him from the beginning. He had a party for him from the first of the sons of Adam, Cain; and God carried on this quarrel in like manner against sin and the devil in the heart of the next son, Abel. Sin was the interest that made the division; for Cain killed him 'because his works were evil, and his brother's righteous,' says the text. And these two, Cain and Abel, led on all that followed under the whole Old Testament; all under it fell the one way or the other. The elect, then, as they had the promised seed in their eye, so withal they had Satan as their adversary in their eye, whom they should oppose; for by their being instructed in the one part of the promise, they were also in the other. And hence the word Satan (or adversary) was the usual name both anciently and frequently in the
Old Testament given to the devil, even from Job's time: Job 1:6 and chap. 2, 1 Sam. 29:4, 1 Chron. 21:1, Ps. 109:6, and Zech. 3:1.
In the end, the general himself came down into the field, and he was 'manifest to destroy the works of the devil,' yea, and he died in the quarrel (I need not repeat what I have said at large about this*); and when he had by death destroyed him, he triumphed over him, and left it to you ἐπιτελεισθαι (as Peter's word is) to accomplish the victory. So then unto that war, which against Satan and sin as his work was proclaimed by God in paradise, Christ sounded the alarm, and upon his cross set up his royal standard thereon, appointed that the rendezvous to draw elect men to him when he was lift up, John
12:32; and unto it and him hath been the gathering of all the saints ever since. Know then that Christ, in redeeming us, not only intended an obedience to his Father, and glory to him, and our salvation with it, but withal he aimed at the destruction of Satan; he acted not only the part of a son that learned obedience, and of a saviour, but also of a warrior, an avenger and destroyer. Now, the saints are to fight in this quarrel out of the same interest Jesus Christ doth, and they ought to be spirited with his aims and ends; and therefore, 1 Peter 4:7, we are exhorted to arm ourselves with the same mind that was in Jesus Christ our general, and therefore to direct our opposition as Christ did. And whereas, Heb. 2:14, he is said to have 'destroyed him that had the power of death,' in the 10th verse he is set before us as the captain of our salvation, ἀρχηγὸν.
No sooner was Christ gone to heaven, but unto his standard all the saints and brotherhood on earth, the church universal, have and do flock in all ages, and enrol their names: 'We,' says the apostle Paul,
'wrestle against principalities,' &c., Eph. 6:12. We, he speaks it indefinitely in the name of all the saints; and so Peter speaks too:
'Resist your adversary,' says he, 'knowing that the same afflictions'
(that is, the same temptation from him) 'are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world;' that is, this is the common cause in which all saints are engaged, not one excepted; and is not this a great engagement, then? That which is translated 'brethren' is in the original 'brotherhood,' ἀδελφότητι, shewing that they are engaged, not only all and every saint, nor singly all and every one, but as a joint body they all strive together as one man; so then these are the two eminent parts of the communion of saints, namely, to love the saints and to resist this common enemy; and the whole brotherhood is engaged in both. And the same God that hath put in love into the brethren, hath put into all their hearts also an enmity against Satan in fighting against sin. The apostle adds, 'in the world;' and so speaks of all saints in all places, and in all times present and to come. The catholic church and the communion of saints are joined together in the creed, and are of equal extent in this.
Your baptism is the sign and sacrament of this universal engagement, so the primitive Christians understood it. Hi sunt angeli quibus in lavacro renuntiamus. In the Common Prayer-book it is made sacramentum militare, manfully to fight under Christ's banner against sin, the world, and the devil, and to continue Christ's faithful soldier; and again particularly it is interpreted to be a promise to forsake the devil and all his works; and the scripture is not averse to this very notion, if the whole coherence of the 6th chapter of the Romans be observed. The apostle speaks of our being baptized into Christ, sad our conformity to him professedly avowed in baptism, ver. 3, 4, to the 12th; and what is his inference from thence? ver. 12,
13, 'Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, neither yield you your members, as arms, or weapons of unrighteousness, but yield yourselves unto God.' So then through baptism, they were milites sacramento obstricti duci, in allusion to the Roman custom of being by an oath (which was called sacramentum) engaged to their
general. And whereas he says, yield yourselves unto God, add but that of James 4:1, and it carries it to this engagement against Satan I insist on; for whereas the apostle (in Rom. 6) had in military language expressed it thus, 'Let not sin reign, to obey it in the lusts thereof, but yield your members as weapons to God,' James following the same metaphor (chap. 4:1–8) thus speaks, 'Whereas lusts war in the members, yield yourselves to God, resist the devil.' The devil is the leader, lusts are but the common soldiers.
All men therefore must of necessity fall to one side or the other, either be subject to God, and so resist the devil, or be subject to that evil spirit. He supposeth every man, when tempted, to be set in the midst between God and the devil, putting themselves under God's protection, or yielding themselves unto God; they are engaged in a war as against their lusts, so against the devil, and are thus to direct their opposition in fighting against sin. Calvin* hath a good speech on those three passages of James, as they lie, whereof the first concerns our duty to men, humility: 'God gives grace to the humble.'
2. Submit to God. 3. Resist the devil. He shews (says he) whither or against whom we should direct our opposition; for whereas he had taught modesty and humility towards men, and submission towards
God, he with the same breath sets Satan as our professed enemy, whom we should rise up against and resist, and give no quarter to him; but whenever thou wouldst mortify a lust, is laying the knife to the throat thereof, thrust it down even unto the devil's heart also, give that one blow, and all with the more violence as spiting him therein. Reach him in thy intention and aim, for God warrants thee to do it in that blessed curse, 'I will put enmity between thee and the serpent;' and Christ loves that you should do it (for himself did so) for his sake, and in his quarrel.
The last thing to be considered is, what force and efficacy this engagement against Satan should have upon our hearts to make us holy, to resist the devil, and to fight against sin, as it is Satan's interest; which, if you please, you may take and turn into the use of the former. We have lived in times in which we have all felt, more or less, the power of a public engagement in our spirits, and have seen by experience of what efficacy it is. Let me speak to you then in the language of the times you have run through. When, after thou first gayest up thy name to Christ, thou didst oblige thyself in this so solemnly a stated and public war, yea, and further from that time, every one of you was then set as in a garrison, to keep his own soul, and to preserve it from lusts which fight against the soul; so as it is not to be looked at by thee only or singly, as thine own soul, and thine own salvation, but also as now made a castle and fortress of Jesus Christ delivered up unto thee to be kept as with a garrison.
This allusion is warranted by all these scriptures put together, Luke 11:21, 22, and Peter's words, 1 Epist. 1:5, 'kept as with a garrison,' and Paul's words, Philip. 4:7, to which may be added that of 1 John 5:18,
'He that is born of God keeps himself, that the evil one touch him not.' So then thou hast in charge, as John speaks, to keep thyself that the evil one touch thee not, nor come within thee. Now think what a trust this is, not only of thine own soul, but of a garrison of Christ's, and what a wickedness must it be at any time to betray it, or to hold correspondency with the enemy; yet so in every indulgence unto sin thou dost And moreover, consider that though a transgression in time of peace is but a small matter, as to steal some trifle, or for a servant or apprentice to run away, yet to run away, yea, to step aside in time of war, is death. Adam's sinning at the first was a transgression of the law, but it was but as in time of peace; yea, all thy sinning in unregeneracy, was but as in a time of peace, in comparison to this now (when Satan kept his house, thy heart was in peace, says Christ, Luke 11:21), but every sin now is against the law of
arms; it is a sending supplies to the enemy, or a letting in a foreign power into Christ's quarters and dominions.
But to urge more particularly the force of what hath been but even now discoursed, Peter's exhortation here, you see, is to resist the devil, which is done in resisting sin, and in doing that we must have our aim at Satan, and be moved the more with an opposition unto him; and what spirit truly exalted would not the consideration of each of those particulars move and raise? The men time then that thou art tempted to pride, uncleanness, envy, revenge, covetousness, or any other lust (in which the devil is always at the head), make use of these considerations to strengthen thy spirit against both them and him.
1. Is it nothing to thee to consider how ancient a war this is, and hath been, an old feud descended from hand to hand, till brought down to thee from paradise, and an old hatred though in a successive body, as a nation whets on to pursue the destruction of the enemy? Ezek.
25:15. The devil as he is the old serpent, so he is the old enemy. As Solomon says, to sharpen friendship, 'Thy friend and thy father's friend forgot not!' So say I, to sharpen thy hatred against the devil, thy enemy and thy father's enemy forget thou not. Satan is thy enemy, thy first father's enemy, the empoisoner of our nature, the adversary of all the saints, remember this and resist him. Therefore, when the next temptation from him riseth, think with thyself, Shall I ever yield to such an enemy?
2. All that is holy in heaven or earth are combined with thee in this quarrel, thou art environed not only with a cloud of witnesses and spectators, but with a crowd of fellow-engagers. All the three persons were drawn in, and espoused this thy quarrel; all the holy angels have fallen in, and in respect of their opposition unto Satan it is that
they are termed an heavenly host, the militia of heaven, Luke 2:14; and their opposition to the devil is on our behalf, as appears from Rev. 12:7. And as these engaged with thee are greedy and curious spectators and beholders of the issue of every temptation, and as I told you there was an invisible world you shall one day judge, so there is an invisible world that beholds you in all your actings with or for Satan. We are members of that other world, and in fighting against sin do carry on that general cause of that other world, striving to do God's will on earth as it is done in heaven. God hath
'made us a spectacle to angels and to men' herein, 1 Cor. 4:9. When Christ had to do with Satan in the wilderness and in the garden, he had angels both times to view him and to guard him, and minister unto him. I have shewed in another discourse* how Christ had made the devil a public shame before the world, Col. 2; and if the devil gets thee to sin, he makes thee a public shame before the same world. 'I charge thee,' says Paul to Timothy, 'before Jesus Christ and the elect angels,' walk so and so, 1 Tim. 5:21. And as the things of this life are made small matters in comparison of those of the other world by the apostle, 1 Cor. 6, so thy sin, as it is known amongst men (which is but man's day) is a small matter unto the blot thou hast in thy reputation before God and Christ, and the angels in that other world. And God himself and Christ are the greatest spectators of all: 2 Chron. 16:9,
'The eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him: herein therefore thou hast done foolishly,' said Hanani the seer unto Asa. Thou hast shamed thyself quite before the great God; you may behold this in the case of Job (and it is worth our considering), how both God's heart wrought, and how the devil's, concerning Job.
That conference between God and the devil about him is carried so, that you see the heart of each how they are affected with this spectacle. You find God begins and boasteth of Job, as one he liked to talk of: Job 1:8, 'Seest thou not my servant Job? There is none like
him on the earth, fearing God and resisting evil;' which the devil could never fasten on him or bring him to, as you may see by his conversation, Job 31 throughout. God boasts of him, as a general would do of some eminent worthy that was never yet foiled or taken captive, or as a master or tutor would boast of some eminent scholar; and Oh how this pleased God at the very heart, as I may speak with reverence! Well, when he had given Satan leave to bring all these evils on him, and Satan came before God another time, chap. 2:10, the thing God again spoke of was still concerning Job: ver. 3 'And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job? There is none like him in the earth, fearing God and eschewing evil, and still he holds fast his integrity.' And though thou hast moved me against him, yet all thou hast done hath not moved him. Those words, 'and still he holds fast his integrity,' God let fall on purpose to vex and confound the devil, and to shew how much he gloried in it; and the devil, as put to the foil in it, puts it off upon want of some further and greater trial, in which God lets him use his skill. The result of both maketh this apparent, how much it confounds the devil, to think, I have tempted this man, and I cannot for my heart get him to yield; and on the contrary, how much it rejoiceth God to see Satan so often assault a man, and yet still to hold fast his integrity. God puts the emphasis there, as on the other side he observes with grief how often a man hath been foiled: 'This they have done these ten times,' says
God, Num. 14:22. It mightily heightens the spirit of a soldier to fight in the view of his general, that, as Paul says to Timothy 'he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier,' 2 Tim. 2:4. True stories have many instances, and romances imitate the truth herein, and bring in great champions fighting in the sight of their lover, whose honour and service they have undertaken. Let us look to Jesus, the author, finisher, and crowner of our faith. 'Blessed is he that endureth temptation; for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him,'
James 1:12. This Paul had in his eye. 'I have fought,' aye he, 'a good fight; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which God, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day,' 2 Tim. 4:7,
8. He eyed God (as they in their Olympic concertations did the judges) to see how he stood with a crown and a shield. Ps. 5:12,
'Thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous with favour, thou shalt crown him about as with a shield;' so in the original, God both assisting as with a shield in the combat, and ready afterwards to crown him that overcomes. Oh, whom would not the consideration of these things hearten to stand out against sin and Satan therein! Oh, where are
Jobs and Pauls to be found on earth, that hold fast their integrity!
3. Consider how the general came down into the field, was tempted in all things as you are, and at last died in this quarrel, to overcome on your behalf. Now the death of the general enrageth the soldiers, as was seen in the battle where Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, lost his life, and they make their enemies' lives go for it; and by his death
Christ hath begun to make thee free, and hath, as was said, betrusted thine own soul to thee, as a castle for thee to defend. If a town or castle hath cost blood, the blood of many soldiers to win it, and he to whom it is betrusted should yield it up, how heinous would the action be! So much blood as it cost the gaining, so much will be reckoned to the betrayers of it. But hath it been the life of ordinary soldiers, or your own conquests, that gained you liberty? No; it was the precious blood of Jesus Christ, which redeemed you from your vain conversations; and shalt thou now give it up to his utter enemy whom he came to destroy, and whom he by force threw out? and wilt thou do this for a few good words, for husks, and such wretched allurements?
4. Remember how it was told thee that thy Saviour perfectly triumphed for thee over this devil, as conquered in thy name and
stead. Now this is a great incentive. As the apostle reasons from his death against sin—'How shall we, that are dead, live any longer therein?'—so I from his triumph. Thou art more than a conqueror in him, and conquerors fight with other spirits than other men, as those that know not how to be foiled. This know, that it is thy duty by faith, and thou oughtest and art bound to triumph in Christ, and to give thanks for the victory as already past. Paul in the midst of the conflict falls a-thanking God: Rom. 7:25, 'I thank my God, through Jesus
Christ.' And, 1 Cor. 15:51, 'I Thanks be to God, that giveth us the victory, through Jesus Christ our Lord.'
Now then, 1, if it were but barely betraying what Christ triumphed for, how dishonourable were it! In so doing, look as Christ put the devil then to open shame, thou puttest Christ to open shame before the devils: as Heb. 6, the apostle speaks, Thou makest what in thee lies, Christ's glorying void, which Paul professeth he would rather die than do. But it is more especially so when thou thyself hast also given thanks for the victory through faith. View this in the glass of the times, if public thanks have been given for a victory, or the gaining of a stronghold, and a triumph made upon it, and the great guns let off; for the same persons to yield up what themselves thus joined in triumph for, how dishonourable and hateful were it! As thou art to shew forth Christ's death till he comes, so Christ's triumph also, and so to act as a conqueror, as to be able to say, I have overcome that evil one. Nay, let me tell thee, in case thou yieldest to thy lust, thou givest occasion to Satan to triumph; and that not only against thee, but against Christ also; and so thou not only failest Christ, but shamest him. Oh that ever Satan should with an easy suggestion win that from Christ which he so triumphed for! The reason why the devil and wicked men rage so in open scandal, and a saint's known falling, is, because he remembers the shame Christ once put him to; and now, thinks he, I am revenged for it; and so with the greatest joy he
spreads and multiplies the report of it, so infinitely doth he please himself with it. You find in the Psalms how David still prays he might not be made a scorn to his enemies, nor that they should triumph over him; the same holds much more in respect of spiritual enemies.
Add unto this the further baseness of it in this respect, to yield to, and to be overcome by, a routed enemy rallying again, by a stigmatized enemy (for remember how Christ used him), by an enemy thrust through. If a known cheater should come to your shop, whose nose is slit, or ears cut off, would it not be accounted the greatest folly to be gulled by such an one?
Last of all, let it something move thee that we are to be his judges.
You are to judge the fallen angels; how will you be fit to do it if you sin with them! How dishonourable is it for judges to be found to have cast their lots with cut-purses and thieves; or for judges to leave their seats (now you 'sit with Christ in heavenly places,' Eph. 2:6), how unworthy and unbecoming is it!
I shall conclude with a few words of further direction and encouragement, drawn from what Peter says, 1 Peter 5:9, 'Whom resist.'
1. From the word 'resist,' consider that Satan, who tempts you, is an adversary without you, the word ἀντίστητε doth import this. Peter speaks of them in whom Christ dwells, and bids us understand ourselves herein; that when Satan tempteth any of us, he is but as one that stands without us, and we are to withstand him as one that attempteth to come in upon us. Compare this 1 Peter 5:9 with Eph.
6:13, 'Take unto you,' says Paul, 'the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand.' ἀντιστῆναι, those principalities and powers spoken of, ver. 12. Not only the like word ἀντιστῆναι, withstand, imports this, but the other metaphor here also; for it were
in vain to exhort a man that had his enemy in his bosom to put armour on (which is a thing he is clothed with), to withstand him. It is the case indeed of every unregenerate man, to have the devil within him, who is therefore in the first place to be exhorted to turn from Satan to God, and to have Satan cast out of him; but a godly man is assaulted by Satan from without. That other exhortation also
(Eph. 4:27, 'Give not place to the devil') argues him without us, seeking to come in, and to get room or place in our hearts. If you give way to a lust, he enters in; yea, it is made one eminent difference between a man unconverted and converted, that Satan is within them whilst unregenerate. Hence Christ is said to have cast out of Mary Magdalene seven devils that were within her, dwelling as in their own house, Luke 12:24. So in 1 John 4:4, this difference is put between the world and godly men, that Christ is in one, Satan in the other: 'Stronger is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.' He doth not only work in wicked men effectually, but he himself is 'in them;' yea, as Christ is said to be in us, and we in Christ mutually; so of the world it is said, that the devil is in them, and that they are in the devil: 1 John 5:19, 'The whole world lieth in wickedness.' The words in the original are, ὅλος ἐν τῷ πονηρῷ κεῖται. He had said before, 'He that is born of God keepeth himself, (that is, take his whole course), 'that the evil one' ὁ πονηρὸς, 'toucheth him not;' which evidently argues that Satan is not in him, but without him, much less is he in Satan; and then he adds these words, 'the whole world lieth,' ἐν τῷ πονηρῷ, 'in that evil one' (as he had done in the former verse), that is, the devil, the author of all wickedness. And John in this epistle had designed out the devil by ὁ πονηρὸς, that wicked one, chap. 2:13, 14. Chap. 3:12, 'Cain was of that evil one.'
And this is a deeper phrase than to say they are under his power; for it implies in its analogy, that as of their natural life it is said, they
'live, move, and have their being in God,' so of their life as sinful, that they lie and move in Satan, and he is their element as it were. They
are all as young ones in his belly, and are quickened and nourished by that wickedness they take in from him, as the child is by the mother. But it is a great advantage to a believer that his enemy is without him. A strong party may be kept out by a few that are in an house, and will stand to defend it; and therefore give not place to the devil; but if he knocks, open not to him, for if he sets in his bill he will turn the master out. Yea, let me strengthen this yet further, that there is a stronger within us than is without us: 1 John 4:4, 'Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is he,' viz., Christ, 'that is in you, than he that is in the world.' And so it concerns Christ to help us to keep possession, more than it doth us, for we are his house, and he as a Son is to take care over his own house, Heb. 3:6; and Christ's graces in us are the goods. Now it concerns the governor that hath a fort committed to him, and is in possession, most to defend it. It concerns him in point of honour, though the goods within be of little worth, to defend and maintain his own, especially whenas he hath already triumphed over the enemy. All our conflicts, therefore, are mainly to shew forth Christ's power the more in us. It is true, that against these ships that launch forth with Christ in them, the devil (who is the prince of the air) will be sure to raise up storms; but be of good comfort, Christ is in thee, though thou art but a poor cock-boat, ready ever and anon to be overwhelmed, and Christ will never suffer himself to be cast away.
Julius Cæsar said to the mariner in a storm, Tecum fortunam Cæsaris vehis; but a greater than Cæsar is in thee. All those storms and waves are but to shew his power in rebuking them; go to him and awaken him, and he will do it for thee.
2. Another encouragement is, that if thou standest stedfast and fixed in thine own will, he cannot hurt thee; this both words, 'resist' and 'stedfast,' do imply. There can be no greater security given to combat with any adversary than this, that he cannot wound thee unless
thyself will. I shall but add this illustration to it: when Christ was tempted by Satan, and he had had power to carry his body up to the top of a pinnacle of the temple, from whence a child with a push might have thrown him down with ease, yet the devil could not; which is the more observable, in that he could hurry and bring his body to the very place (as he can us to an object that shall tempt us and bring us into ticklish and tottering circumstances), yet still throw him down he could not, he must have his own consent to that, and he could do nothing but persuade. Thus it is with thy will, for Christ's temptations are the patterns of ours. Austin makes this the wonder, that whereas the devil is a dog in chains, yet lo, how he doth prevail, when yet he can only bark and solicit, but hurt and bite none but him that is willing, and joins himself to him.* The like hath Bernard:
Videte fratres quám debilis est hostis, qui non vincit nisi volentem.
3. Be but stedfast in believing and thou art victorious. Have but an inward courage, let not thy heart fail thee, and thou conquerest. 'I have prayed,' saith Christ, 'that thy faith fail not.' Keep up thy heart but in confidence (so saith the apostle, 'Hold fast your confidence'), for faith supports it; yea, it is but having an eye, a look unto Christ,
'the author and finisher of our faith,' and unto God, 'the God of all grace,' as the 10th verse points out. It is but to cry out to him for help in time of need (as the word signifies, and as the apostle, Heb. 4:16, directs us); it is but to see our own weakness, and to look out for a strength in the grace that is in God and in Jesus Christ, and we overcome. 2 Tim. 2:1, 'Above all, take' (says the apostle, Eph. 6:16)
'the shield of faith, wherewith (alone) ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.' And the reason the apostle here puts the article, ἐν τὴ πίστει, is not to note out religion in general, but the eminent use of that grace in this victory. 'This is your victory, even your faith,' 1 John 5:4. I enlarge not on this, only observe the
easiness of such a victory, as an encouragement to us; as Christ says, 'Fear not, only believe,' Luke 8:50.
I go on unto what is more directly propounded by Peter purposely for encouragement, in those words, 'Knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.' It ought to be a comfort and encouragement to us, that to be thus tempted is the common lot of all the brotherhood universally in the world. They are all fellow-sufferers with us in this kind, not from men only, but from Satan by sore and grievous temptations; and this will afford unto us a double consideration for encouragement against temptations.
1. That there are all sorts of temptations dispensed amongst them. If they have not that which thou hast, they have some other; yea, and every one hath that which shall be personally most grievous to him.
There are 'manifold temptations,' as James and Peter says, and God exerciseth all with one or other; and the more to lead thee through them, is the more to make thee perfect, for Christ was thus made perfect that he ran through all; therefore be not discontented with thy lot. Yea, the apostle intimates that the same, the very same that befall any one, do befall some other in the world (which is a wide place, and hath many saints in it), τὰ αὐτὰ τῶν παθημάτων, 'the same of sufferings;' that is, the same sort or kind of sufferings that befall one befall some other; they have all sorts amongst them. We have heard Job complaining, says Calvin, did ever the like befall another? (in his 3d, 4th, 5th chapters). But the apostle here on the contrary saith, that nothing doth befall us in this which we may not behold in some or other members of the church. In 1 Cor. 10:13, the apostle comforts the Corinthians with this: 'There hath no temptation taken you,' saith he, 'but what is common to man; but God is faithful,' &c.
(1.) He speaks to them as believers, and as considered in the state of grace, and as those that were under the protection of God and his promises. Why else doth he comfort them with this word, 'but God is faithful'? &c.
(2.) He speaks of temptations to sin; yea, of their having been overcome of sins, and great sins, idolatry, fornication, murmuring; and he had laid before them great punishments for such sins: 'Let him that standeth,' saith he, 'take heed lest he fall,' namely, into sin for time to come. And then to comfort them for their having fallen, he adds, there is no temptation hath befallen you but what is common to man; that is, to the saints of God as clothed with human infirmity, by reason of which a saint may fall into sin. Camero says, sins cannot be meant, because the promise is, 'they shall be able to bear them;' now it is not a promise to the saints to be able to bear sins. But I answer, that promise imports two things.
1. That sins are sufferings to the saints, and the greatest. Why else doth he speak of bearing them, and speak of this as proper to a saint?
2. The promise is not that their spirits should bear them, that is, brook them, as being contented with them as sins, but that they should be able to submit to the providence of God under them, and not despair, as Calvin saith; and submission to God in point of sinnings, and bearing up one's heart not to despair, is the greatest patience.
A second ground of encouragement is from this, that all the brotherhood's being involved thus in temptations is part of the communion of saints. Consider how not all singly, but all jointly as one man, are engaged with you in the same strivings; and so helping one another, ye strive together as one man, and