Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices

To his most dear and precious ones, the sons and daughters of the Most High GOD, over whom the Holy Ghost has made him a watchman.

Beloved in our dearest Lord,

Christ, Scripture, your own hearts, and Satan’s devices are the four chief things that should be studied and searched first and most. If anyone casts off the study of these, that person can be neither safe here nor happy hereafter. It is my work as a Christian, and much more as a watchman, to do my best to reveal the fullness of Christ, the emptiness of the creature, and the snares of the great deceiver. Even if a minister had as many eyes as Argus with which to watch, as many heads as Typhoeus with which to plan, and as many hands as Briareus with which to labor, he could find enough employment for them all. I have endeavored to do this in the following discourse, according to the measure of grace I have received from the Lord. God once accepted a handful of meal for a sacrifice and a handful of goats’ hair for an offering. I know that you have not so learned the Father as to despise the day of small things.

Beloved, Satan has fallen from light to darkness, from happiness to misery, from heaven to hell, and from an angel to a devil. He is so full of malice and envy that he will leave no means untried by which he may make all others eternally miserable with himself. Shut out of heaven and confined under chains of darkness until the judgment of the great day, he uses all his power and skill to bring all the sons of men into the same condition and condemnation as himself. Satan has cast such sinful seed into our souls that he can no sooner tempt than we are ready to consent. He can no sooner form a plot against us than he conquers us. If he merely shows people a little of the beauty and splendor of the world, how ready they are to fall down and worship him.

Whatever sin the human heart is most inclined toward, the devil will help it along. If David is proud of his people, Satan will provoke him to number them so that he may become still prouder (2 Sam 24).

If Peter is slavishly fearful, Satan will urge him to rebuke and deny Christ in order to save his own skin (Matt 16:22; Matt 26:69-75). If Ahab’s prophets are inclined to flatter, the devil will immediately become a lying spirit in the mouths of four hundred of them, and they will flatter Ahab to his ruin (1 Kgs 22). If Judas will be a traitor, Satan will quickly enter his heart and make him sell his Master for money, something some heathens would never have done (John 13:2). If Ananias will lie for advantage, Satan will fill his heart so that he may lie flagrantly to the Holy Ghost (Acts 5:3).

Satan loves to sail with the wind and to suit people’s temptations to their conditions and inclinations. If they are prosperous, he will tempt them to deny GOD; if they are in adversity, he will tempt them to distrust GOD (Prov 30:9). If their knowledge is weak, he will tempt them to think too little of GOD. If their conscience is tender, he will tempt them toward scrupulosity; if lax, toward carnal security. If they are bold-spirited, he will tempt them toward presumption; if timid, toward desperation; if flexible, toward inconstancy; if stubborn, toward impenitence, etc.

From Satan’s power, malice, and skill proceed all the soul-killing plots, devices, stratagems, and schemes in the world. He has various devices for drawing souls into sin, various plots for keeping souls from all holy and heavenly service, and various stratagems for keeping souls in a mourning, staggering, doubting, and questioning condition.

He has various devices for destroying the great and honorable, the wise and learned, the blind and ignorant, the rich and poor, and both real and nominal saints, etc.

Sometimes he will refrain from tempting so that we may think ourselves secure and neglect our watch. At other times he will seem to flee so that he may make us proud of the victory. Sometimes he will fix people’s eyes more upon others’ sins than upon their own so that he may puff them up. At other times he will fix their eyes more upon others’ graces than upon their own so that he may overwhelm them, etc.

A person might as well count the stars and number the sands of the sea as reckon up all Satan’s devices. Yet the following treatise reveals those that are most significant and by which he does the most harm to the precious souls of men, and it prescribes remedies against them.

Beloved, I think it necessary to give you and the world a faithful account of the reasons that moved me to appear in print in these days, when we may say that there has never been more writing and yet never less practice. They are as follows.

First, Satan has a greater influence upon people and greater advantages over them, having the wind and the hill, as it were, than they think he has. Knowledge of his great advantages is the direct way to disappoint him and to make the soul strong in resisting and happy in conquering, etc.

Second, your urgency and the urgency of many other precious sons of Zion, after much wrestling with GOD, with my own heart, and with others, have conquered me and compelled me at last to do what was at first far from agreeable to my inclination and resolution, etc.

Third, the strange opposition I met from Satan while studying for this discourse sharpened my spirit. I knew that Satan strives mightily to keep from seeing the light those things that especially tend to shake and break his kingdom of darkness and to exalt the kingdom and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in the souls and lives of the children of men, etc. Pirates make their strongest and fiercest opposition against the most richly laden vessels. In the same way, Satan, that arch-pirate, opposes those truths that have the most of God, Christ, and heaven in them.

Fourth, this discourse is exceedingly useful to all sorts, ranks, and conditions of people in the world. Here you have salve for every sore, a plaster for every wound, and a remedy against every disease, especially those diseases that most tend toward the destruction of souls and the ruin of the state, etc.

Fifth, I know of no one who has written on this subject. Everyone I have seen has only touched upon this string. This has strongly provoked me to attempt something in this direction, so that others who have better heads and hearts may be stirred up all the more to improve their talents by discovering more of Satan’s devices and making known such choice remedies as may enable human souls to triumph over all his plots and stratagems, etc.

Sixth, I have many precious friends in several countries who greatly desire that my pen may reach them now that my voice cannot. By the help of the mighty God of Jacob, I have formerly been a weak instrument of good to them. I cannot but hope and believe that the Lord will also bless these labors to them, since they are in part the fruit of their desires and prayers, etc.

Seventh and last, not knowing how soon my glass may run out or how soon the hand of death may cut me off from every opportunity for further service to Christ or to your souls in this world, I was willing to sow a small handful of spiritual seed among you. Then, when I put off this earthly tabernacle, my love for you and the dear remembrance of you that I carry in my soul may strongly engage your minds and spirits to make this book your companion and, under every external or internal change, to make use of this heavenly salve. By the Lord’s blessing, I hope it will be as effective in healing all your wounds as looking up to the bronze serpent was in healing those who had been bitten and stung by fiery serpents. I shall leave this book with you as a legacy of my dearest love, desiring the Lord to make it a far greater and sweeter legacy than all the earthly legacies left by the high and mighty ones of the earth to their nearest and dearest relations, etc.

Beloved, I would not have affection carry my pen too far beyond my intention. Therefore, only allow me to express my desires for you and my desires to you, and I shall draw to a close.

My desires for you are these: “That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthned with might by his Spirit in the inner man” (Eph 3:16). “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye being rooted and grounded in love” (Eph 3:17), “may be able to comprehend with all Saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height” (Eph 3:18). “And to know the love of Christ that passeth knowledge: that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God” (Eph 3:19). “And that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increased in the knowledge of God” (Col 1:10), “strengthned with all might according to his glorious power, unto all patience, and long-suffering with joyfulness” (Col 1:11). “That ye do no evil” (2 Cor 13:7). “That your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge, and in all Judgment” (Phil 1:9).

“That ye may approve things that are excellent, that ye may be sincere, and without offence till the day of Christ” (Phil 1:10). “And that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of Faith with power” (2 Thess 1:11). “That the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God, and the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess 1:12).

I also desire that you may be eminent in holiness, since holiness is Zion’s glory (Ps 93:5); that your hearts may be kept upright, your judgments sound, and your lives blameless; and that, as you are now my joy, you may be my crown in the day of Christ. May I see my labors in your lives. Since the things you hear are heavenly, may your conduct not be earthly, but worthy of the gospel. As fish that live in the salt sea are nevertheless fresh, so may you remain charitable and loving though you live in an uncharitable world.

May you, like the bee, suck honey from every flower. May you shine in a sea of troubles as the pearl shines in the sky, though it grows in the sea. In all your trials, may you be like the stones in Thraica, which neither burn in the fire nor sink in the water. May you be like the heavens, excellent in substance and beautiful in appearance, so that you may meet me with joy on that day when Christ shall say to his Father, “Lo, here am I, and the children that thou hast given me.”

My desires to you are that you would make it your business to study Christ, his Word, your own hearts, Satan’s plots, and eternity more than ever; that you would endeavor more to be inwardly sincere than outwardly glorious, and to live rather than merely have a name for being alive. Labor with all your might to be thankful under mercies, faithful in your places, humble under divine manifestations, and fruitful under precious ordinances. Since your means and mercies are greater than those of others, take care that your account before God does not prove worse than theirs.

Pray for me, who am not worthy to be named among the saints, that I may be a precious instrument in the hand of Christ to bring many souls to him and to build up those who have been brought in, in their most holy faith. Pray that utterance may be given to me so that I may make known all the will of God; that I may be sincere, faithful, frequent, fervent, and constant in the work of the Lord (2 Cor 11:23-28); that my labor may not be in vain in the Lord; that my labors may be accepted by the Lord and by his saints; and that I may daily see the fruit of my soul’s labor, etc.

Above all, pray for me that I may increasingly find in my own heart the power and sweetness of those things that I give out to you and others. Pray that my soul may be so visited with strength from on high that I may live fully and constantly according to those truths that I hold forth to the world, and that in both life and doctrine I may be a burning and shining light. Then, when the Lord Jesus appears, I may receive the crown of glory that he shall give me on that day, and not to me only, but to all who love his appearing, etc.

In closing, remember this: your life is short, your duties are many, your assistance is great, and your reward is sure. Therefore, do not faint. Hold on and hold up in ways of well-doing, and heaven shall make amends for all.

I shall now take leave of you, when my heart has by my hand subscribed that I am,

Your loving pastor under Christ, according to all pastoral affections and engagements in our dearest Lord,

THOMAS BROOKS.

Dear Friend,

Solomon bids us “buy the Truth” (Prov 23:23), but does not tell us what it must cost, because we must obtain it, however dear it may be. We must love it both shining and scorching. As the saying goes, “Many love truth when it shines, but hate it when it reproves.” Every part of truth is precious, like filings of gold. We must either live with it or die for it.

As Ruth said to Naomi, “Whither thou goest, I will go, and where thou lodgest, I will lodge, and nothing but death shall part thee and me” (Ruth 1:16-17). In the same way, gracious spirits must say: “Where truth goes, I will go, and where truth lodges, I will lodge, and nothing but death shall part me and truth.” As Jerome said, “If truth is the cause of discord, I can die, but I cannot be silent.”

A man may lawfully sell his house, land, and jewels, but truth is a jewel beyond all price and must not be sold. It is our heritage: “Thy Testimonies have I taken as an Heritage for ever” (Ps 119:111). It is a legacy our forefathers bought with their blood. This should make us willing to lay down anything and spend anything so that, with the wise merchant in the Gospel, we may purchase this precious pearl (Matt 13:45). It is worth more than heaven and earth, and it will enable a man to live happily, die comfortably, and reign eternally. “Truth at last Triumphs.”

Now, if you please, read the work and receive this counsel from me.

First, you must understand that though not every man can be excellent, he may still be useful. An iron key may unlock the door of a golden treasure. Indeed, “iron can do some things that gold cannot do, &c.”

Second, remember that it is not hasty reading but serious meditation on holy and heavenly truths that makes them sweet and profitable to the soul. It is not the bee’s touching the flower that gathers honey, but her remaining on the flower for a time that draws out its sweetness. It is not the one who reads most, but the one who meditates most, who will prove the choicest, sweetest, wisest, and strongest Christian, etc. Among the Persians in India, it is a law to consider beforehand what they are about to do, rejecting it if it is bad and acting on it if it is good.

Third, know that it is not the knowing, talking, or reading man, but the doing man, who will finally be found the happiest. As Justin Martyr rightly said, “Our religion consists not in words, but in deeds.” “If you know these things, blessed and happy are you if you do them” (John 13:17). “Not every one that saith, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that doth the will of my Father that is in Heaven” (Matt 7:21). Judas called Christ “Lord, Lord,” yet betrayed him and has gone to his place. Ah, how many Judases we have in these days! They kiss Christ yet betray Christ. In their words they profess him, but in their works they deny him. They bow the knee to him, yet in their hearts despise him. They call him Jesus, yet will not obey him as their Lord.

Reader, if you are not firmly resolved to practice what you read, why do you read except to increase your own condemnation? If your light and knowledge are not turned into practice, the more knowledgeable you are, the more miserable you will be on the day of recompense. Your light and knowledge will torment you more than all the devils in hell. Your knowledge will be the rod that eternally lashes you, the scorpion that forever bites you, and the worm that everlastingly gnaws you. Therefore, read and labor to know so that you may act, or else you are undone forever.

The heathen philosopher Seneca disliked those who are “always about to live,” but never begin. Luther said that God loves “the Runner, not the Questioner.” Pacuvius has an elegant saying: “I hate the men that are idle in deed, and philosophical in word, &c.”

When Demosthenes was asked what was the first part of an orator, what the second, and what the third, he answered, “Action.” If anyone should ask me what is the first, second, and third part of a Christian, I must give the same answer: “Action.” The man who reads so that he may know, and labors to know so that he may act, will have two heavens: a heaven of joy, peace, and comfort on earth, and a heaven of glory and happiness after death.

Fourth and last, as you read, give serious attention to the observations integrated throughout this work. You will find many sweet and precious notes that will often illuminate what you read and repay your effort with much comfort and profit, etc.

Desiring that you may find as much sweetness and benefit in reading this treatise as I found, through the overshadowings of heaven, in studying and writing it, “I recommend thee to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build thee up, and to give thee an inheritance among them which are sanctified” (Acts 20:32). And so I remain,

Reader,

Your soul’s servant in every office of the Gospel,

THOMAS BROOKS

“Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his Devices” (2 Cor 2:11).

In 2 Corinthians 2:5, the apostle shows that the incestuous person had, by his incest, saddened those precious souls whom God would not have saddened. Souls that walk sinfully are Hazaels to the godly and draw many sighs and tears from them. Jeremiah weeps in secret for Judah’s sins, and Paul cannot speak of those belly-gods with dry eyes (Phil 3:18). Lot’s righteous soul was burdened, vexed, and racked by the filthy Sodomites (2 Pet 2:7-8). Every sinful Sodomite was a Hazael to his eyes and a Hadadrimmon to his heart. Gracious souls commonly mourn for other people’s sins as well as their own, and for the souls and sins of those who make a mock of sin and a jest of damning their own souls (Ps 119:136, 158). Guilt or grief is all that gracious souls gain through communion with vain souls.

In 2 Corinthians 2:6, he shows that the punishment inflicted on the incestuous person was sufficient. Therefore, they should not refuse to receive the man who had repented and sorrowed over his former faults and follies. It is not for Christ’s honor, the Gospel’s credit, or the good of souls that professing Christians should be like those bloody wretches who burned some who recanted at the stake, saying that they would send them out of the world while they were in a good mind.

In 2 Corinthians 2:7-10, the apostle urges the church to forgive him, comfort him, and confirm their love toward him, lest he be swallowed up with excessive sorrow. Satan seeks to mix the detestable darnel of desperation with the godly sorrow of a truly penitent heart. Jerome expressed it sweetly: “Let a man grieve for his sin, and then joy for his grief.” Sorrow for sin is sinful when it keeps the soul from looking toward the mercy seat, keeps Christ and the soul apart, or makes the soul unfit for the communion of saints.

In 2 Corinthians 2:11, he gives another reason to move them to show pity and mercy to the penitent sinner who was mourning and groaning under his sin and misery: “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his Devices.” I will say a little to explain these words.

“Lest Satan should get an advantage of us” means lest Satan overreach us. The Greek word signifies taking more than belongs to oneself. The comparison is taken from the greedy merchant who seeks and seizes every opportunity to beguile and deceive others. Satan is that wily merchant who devours, not widows’ houses, but most men’s souls.

“We are not ignorant of Satans Devices” means we are not ignorant of his plots, machinations, or stratagems. He is only a nominal Christian who has no personal experience of Satan’s stratagems: his deliberate and carefully constructed machinations, his artfully fashioned methods, and his plots, darts, and depths. By these he outwitted our first parents, and he still cheats us whenever he sees fit.

Doctrine: Satan has various devices by which he deceives, entangles, and destroys the souls of men.

I shall, first, prove the point; second, show you his various devices; third, present the remedies against his devices; fourth, explain how it comes about that he has so many different devices for deceiving, entangling, and destroying the souls of men; and fifth, set down some propositions concerning Satan’s devices.

For proof of the point, consider these few Scriptures. “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil” (Eph 6:11). The Greek word here rendered “wiles” is a notably emphatic word.

1. It signifies snares laid behind a person, treacheries that come upon one’s back unawares. It describes the methods or waylayings of that old subtle serpent. Like Dan’s adder in the path, he bites the heels of travelers and thereby carries his venom into the head and heart. The word signifies an ambush or stratagem of war by which the enemy attacks a man from concealment and takes him unawares.

2. It signifies snares set to catch someone on his road. A man walks along his road without thinking of danger, and suddenly he is caught by thieves or falls into a pit, etc.

3. It signifies snares purposely, artfully, and craftily set to take the prey with the greatest possible advantage. The Greek term, derived from words meaning “after” and “way,” properly signifies waylaying, circumvention, or going about as those who seek their prey do. Julian drew more people away from the faith by his craft than all his persecuting predecessors could do by their cruelty. In the same way, Satan does more harm in his sheep’s skin than by roaring like a lion.

Take one more Scripture as proof of the point: “And that they might recover themselves out of the snare of the Devil, who are taken captive by him at his will” (2 Tim 2:26). The Greek word here rendered “recover themselves” signifies awakening themselves. The apostle alludes to someone asleep or drunk, who must be awakened and restored to his senses. The Greek word here rendered “taken captive” signifies being taken alive. It is properly a military word and signifies being taken alive, as soldiers are taken alive in wars, or as birds are taken alive and ensnared in the fowler’s net.

Satan has snares for the wise and snares for the simple; snares for hypocrites and snares for the upright; snares for generous souls and snares for fearful souls; snares for the rich and snares for the poor; snares for the aged and snares for the young, etc. Happy are those souls that are not taken and held in the snares he has laid.

Take one more proof, and then I will proceed to explain the point: “But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatyra, as many as have not this Doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak, I will put upon you no other burthen, but to hold fast till I come” (Rev 2:24). Those poor souls called their opinions the depths of God, when they were really the depths of Satan. You call your opinions depths, and so they are, but they are depths that Satan has brought out of hell. They are the whisperings and hissings of that serpent, not the inspirations of God (Pareus, on this passage; 1 Tim 4:1).

The second thing I am to show you is Satan’s various devices. First, I shall show you the several devices he uses to draw the soul into sin. I shall describe twelve devices, which deserve our most serious consideration.

Satan’s first device for drawing the soul into sin is this:

He presents the bait and hides the hook. He presents the golden cup and hides the poison. He displays the sweetness, pleasure, and profit that may flow into the soul by yielding to sin, while hiding the wrath and misery that will certainly follow its commission.

By this device he captured our first parents. “And the Serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die. For God doth know, that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil” (Gen 3:4-5). Your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods. Here is the bait: the sweetness, the pleasure, and the profit. Oh, but he hides the hook: the shame, wrath, and loss that would certainly follow. As Augustine says, “Sin is present when you take delight in it; it reigns if you consent.”

There is an opening of the mind’s eyes to contemplation and joy, and there is an opening of the body’s eyes to shame and confusion. Satan promises the former but intends the latter, and so he cheats them, giving them an apple in exchange for Paradise. He deals the same way with thousands today. Satan easily deceives us with his golden baits, then leads us into a fool’s paradise and abandons us there. He promises the soul honor, pleasure, profit, etc., but repays it with the greatest contempt, shame, and loss imaginable.

In the same way, when people sought to induce D. Taylor the martyr to recant, they promised him not only a pardon but also a bishopric.

Satan labored to catch Christ with a golden bait (Matt 4:8-9). He showed him the beauty and splendor of a bewitching world, which undoubtedly would have captured many a carnal heart. But here the Devil’s fire fell upon wet tinder and did not take hold. These tempting objects did not win Christ’s affections or dazzle his eyes.

Yet many have died eternally from the wound of the eye and have fallen forever through that vile prostitute, the world. By exposing her two fair breasts of profit and pleasure, she has wounded their souls and cast them down into utter perdition. By the glitter of her pomp and advancement, she has slain millions. One person has said, “This World at last shall be burnt for a witch.” Augustine observes, “Many are miserable by loving hurtful things, but they are more miserable by having them.” Therefore, people need to pray with Bernard, “Grant us, Lord, that we may so partake of temporal felicity, that we may not lose eternal.”

The world resembles the serpent Scytale. When she cannot overtake fleeing travelers, she astonishes and amazes them with her beautiful colors so that they have no power to escape before she stings them to death. Adversity has slain her thousand, but prosperity her ten thousand.

Here are the remedies against this device of the devil.

Remedy 1: Keep Your Distance from Sin

The first remedy against this device of the Devil is to keep as far as possible from sin and from playing with the golden bait Satan holds out to catch you. Scripture commands, “Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good” (Rom 12:9). When we encounter anything extremely evil and contrary to us, nature abhors it and withdraws as far as possible.

The Greek word rendered abhor means to hate something as hell itself and to hate it with horror. As Chrysostom explains, the simple verb conveys extreme detestation, and the compound form intensifies it.

Anselm used to say that if he should see the shame of sin on the one hand, and the pains of hell on the other, and must of necessity choose one, he would rather be thrust into hell without sin, than go into heaven with sin. So great was his hatred and detestation of sin.

Our wisest and safest course is to stand at the greatest distance from sin. We must not go near the harlot’s house (Prov 5:8), but flee from “all appearance of evil” (1 Thess 5:22). The best way to avoid falling into a pit is to keep as far from it as possible. Anyone bold enough to dance upon the brink of the pit may learn by woeful experience that in God’s sight, it is just that he should fall into it.

A pagan expressed a divine thought when he said that if there were no God to punish him, no Devil to torment him, no hell to burn him, no man to see him, yet he would not sin for the ugliness and filthiness of sin, and the grief of his own Conscience. So says Seneca.

Joseph keeps his distance from sin and from playing with Satan’s golden baits, and he stands. David draws near, plays with the bait, falls, and swallows both bait and hook with a vengeance. David comes near the snare and is caught in it, resulting in broken bones, a wounded conscience, and the loss of his God.

Sin is a plague, indeed, the greatest and most infectious plague in the world. Yet, alas, how few people tremble at it or keep their distance from it! “Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?” (1 Cor 5:6). As soon as one sin seized Adam’s heart, every sin entered his soul and overspread it. How Adam’s one sin has spread throughout all mankind! “Wherefore as by one man sin entred into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Rom 5:12).

How the father’s sin infects the child, the husband’s infects the wife, and the master’s infects the servant! The sin in one person’s heart is able to infect a whole world, so spreading and infectious is its nature. Sin is like the diseases physicians call a “corruption of the whole substance.”

The story of the Italian who first made his enemy deny God and then stabbed him, murdering both body and soul at once, demonstrates sin’s complete malignity. Oh, may what has been said on this subject persuade you to stand at a distance from sin.

Remedy 2: Consider Sin’s Bitter End

The second remedy is to consider that sin is only a bitter-sweet. The apparent sweetness in sin will quickly vanish, and lasting shame, sorrow, horror, and terror will take its place. “Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue, though he spare it, and forsake it not, but keep it still within his mouth, yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of Asps within him” (Job 20:12-14).

Forbidden profits and pleasures are most pleasing to vain people, who count madness as mirth, etc. Many long to meddle with sin’s murderous morsels. These morsels do not nourish but tear and consume the belly, that is, the soul that receives them. Many eat on earth what they digest in hell. Sin’s murderous morsels will deceive those who devour them.

When the golden bait is displayed to catch us, we must respond as the orator Demosthenes did concerning the beautiful Lais. When he was asked an excessive sum of money merely to behold her, he replied, “I will not buy repentance so dear; I am not so ill a Merchant as to sell eternals for temporals.”

Adam’s apple was a bitter-sweet, Esau’s meal was a bitter-sweet, the Israelites’ quails were a bitter-sweet, Jonathan’s honey was a bitter-sweet, and Adonijah’s delicacies were a bitter-sweet. After the meal ends, the reckoning comes. People must not expect to dance and dine with the Devil and then sup with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. They must not expect to feed upon the poison of asps and yet escape being slain by the viper’s tongue.

As Plutarch says, if intemperance could provide more pleasure than temperance, Heliogabalus would have been happier than Adam in Paradise.

When an asp stings someone, it first tickles him and makes him laugh. Then the poison gradually reaches his heart and pains him far more than it ever delighted him. Sin acts the same way. It may please a little at first, but in the end it will pain the soul with a vengeance. Indeed, if there were even the least real delight in sin, there could be no perfect hell, where people will be most perfectly tormented by their sin.

Remedy 3: Consider What Sin Costs

The third remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that sin will usher the greatest and saddest losses imaginable into our souls. It will bring the loss of divine favor, which is better than life; the loss of joy that is unspeakable and full of glory; the loss of peace that passes understanding; the loss of those divine influences by which the soul has been refreshed, quickened, raised, strengthened, and made glad; and the loss of many desirable outward mercies that the soul might otherwise have enjoyed (Isa 59:2; Ps 51:12; Isa 59:8; 2 Chr 15:3-4; Jer 17:18; Jer 5:2).

An English captain gave a sound and savory reply after the loss of Calais. A proud Frenchman scornfully demanded, “When will you fetch Callice again?” The captain replied, “When your sins shall weigh down ours.”

Ah, England! My constant prayer for you is that you may not sin away your mercies into the hands of those who cannot call mercy mercy, who would rejoice in nothing more than to see your sorrow and misery, and who would delight to see the hand that has clothed you with so much mercy and glory make you naked.

Remedy 4: Recognize Sin’s Deceit

The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is seriously to consider that sin has a profoundly deceitful and bewitching nature. Sin comes from the greatest deceiver and is a child of his own begetting. It is the foundation of all deceit in the world and is exceedingly deceitful in its own nature. “But exhort one another daily, while it is called to day, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb 3:13).

Sin will kiss the soul and make fair promises to it, yet betray the soul forever. Like Delilah, it smiles upon us so that it may betray us into the Devil’s hands, just as she betrayed Samson into the hands of the Philistines. Sin gives Satan power over us and an advantage to accuse us and claim us as those who wear his badge.

Sin has a profoundly bewitching nature. In Sardis there grew an herb called Apium Sardis that would make a person lie laughing while mortally ill. Such is the operation of sin. When sin sits upon the throne, it so bewitches the soul that the soul cannot leave it, even though it will perish eternally by it.

Sin so bewitches the soul that it makes the soul call evil good and good evil, bitter sweet and sweet bitter, light darkness and darkness light. A soul bewitched by sin will resist God to the death, at sword’s point. Let God strike, wound, and cut to the very bone, yet the bewitched soul neither cares nor fears. It will persist in wickedness, as you may see in Pharaoh, Balaam, and Judas (Prov 5:12-13).

This occasioned Chrysostom, when Empress Eudoxia threatened him, to say, “Go tell her: I fear nothing but sin.”

Tell the bewitched soul that sin is a viper that will certainly kill unless it is killed. Tell it that sin often kills secretly, insensibly, and eternally. Yet the bewitched soul cannot and will not cease from sin.

Ambrose records that when physicians told Theotimus that unless he abstained from drunkenness, uncleanness, etc., he would lose his eyes, his heart was so bewitched by his sins that he answered, “Then farewell sweet light.” He would rather lose his eyes than leave his sin. In the same way, a person bewitched by sin would rather lose God, Christ, heaven, and his own soul than part with his sin.

Oh, therefore, forever take heed against playing or nibbling at Satan’s golden baits.

Satan’s second device for drawing the soul into sin is to paint sin with virtue’s colors.

Satan knows that if he presented sin in its own nature and dress, the soul would rather flee from it than yield to it. Therefore, he presents it to us not in its own proper colors, but painted and gilded over with the name and appearance of virtue, so that we may be more easily overcome by it and take greater pleasure in committing it. He presents pride to the soul under the name and notion of neatness and cleanliness. He presents covetousness, which the apostle condemns as idolatry, as nothing more than good management; drunkenness as good fellowship; riotousness under the name and notion of liberality; and wantonness as a trick of youth, etc.

The remedies against this device of Satan are these.

Remedy 1: Sin Remains Filthy Beneath Its Colors

First, consider that sin is not in the least less filthy, vile, and abominable because it is colored and painted with virtue’s color. A poisonous pill is not in the least less poisonous because it is gilded over with gold. A wolf is not in the least less a wolf because he has put on a sheepskin. The devil is not in the least less a devil because he sometimes appears like an angel of light. So neither is sin in the least less filthy and abominable because it is painted over with virtue’s colors.

Remedy 2: Disguised Sin Is More Dangerous

The second remedy against this device of Satan is to consider that the more sin is painted under the color of virtue, the more dangerous it is to the souls of men. We see this clearly in these days. Very many souls have been turned out of the holy way, in which their souls had sweet and glorious communion with God, into ways of the highest vanity and folly, because Satan neatly colored over sin and painted vice under the name and color of virtue.

This is so notoriously known that I need only name it. The most dangerous vermin are too often found under the fairest and sweetest flowers. The fairest glove is often drawn over the foulest hand, and the richest robes are often put upon the filthiest bodies. In the same way, the fairest and sweetest names are put upon the greatest and most horrible vices and errors in the world. Ah, that we did not have too many sad proofs of this among us!

Jerome says, “Vices that are concealed under the appearance of virtues are more shameful.” Thus the Illuminates, as they called themselves, were a pestilent sect in Aragon. Though they professed and affected a kind of angelic purity in themselves, they suddenly fell to justifying bestiality, as many have done in these days.

Remedy 3: See Sin as You Will See It at Death and Judgment

The third remedy against this device of Satan is to look upon sin with the eye with which, within a few hours, we shall see it. Ah, souls! When you lie upon a dying bed and stand before a judgment seat, sin will be unmasked and its dress and robes will be taken off. Then it will appear more vile, filthy, and terrible than hell itself. What formerly appeared most sweet will appear most bitter. What appeared most beautiful will appear most ugly. What appeared most delightful will then appear most dreadful to the soul.

Ah, the shame, pain, gall, bitterness, horror, and hell that the sight of sin, when its dress is taken off, will raise in poor souls! Sin will surely prove evil and bitter to the soul when its robes are taken off. A man may have the stone though he feels no fit of it. Conscience will work at last, though for the present one may feel no fit of accusation.

Laban showed himself at parting. Sin will be bitterness in the end, when it appears to the soul in its own filthy nature. The devil deals with men as the panther does with beasts: he hides his deformed head until his sweet scent has drawn them into danger. Until we have sinned, Satan is a parasite; when we have sinned, he is a tyrant.

Tacitus says of Tiberius that when his sins appeared in their own colors, they so terrified and tormented him that he protested to the Senate that he suffered death daily.

Oh, souls! The day is at hand when the devil will pull off the paint and ornament he has put upon sin. He will present that monster, sin, in such a monstrous shape to your souls that your thoughts will be troubled, your countenances changed, the joints of your loins loosened, your knees dashed against one another, and your hearts so terrified that you will be ready, with Ahithophel and Judas, to strangle yourselves and hang your bodies on earth and your souls in hell, unless the Lord has more mercy on you than he had on them.

Satan, who now allures you to sin, will before long make you see that “Sin is a murdering of God.” This will make you murder two at once, your soul and your body, unless the Lord in mercy holds your hands.

Oh, therefore look upon sin now as you must look upon it to all eternity, and as God, conscience, and Satan will present it to you on another day.

Remedy 4: Remember What Painted Sins Cost Christ

The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is seriously to consider that those very sins which Satan paints and gives new names and colors cost the best blood, the noblest blood, the lifeblood, the heart-blood of the Lord Jesus. Luther says, “One little drop,” speaking of the blood of Christ, “is more worth than Heaven and Earth.”

Christ came from the eternal bosom of his Father to a region of sorrow and death. God was manifested in the flesh, and the Creator was made a creature. He who was clothed with glory was wrapped in rags of flesh. He who filled heaven and earth with his glory was cradled in a manger. He who is the power of God fled from weak man; the God of Israel fled into Egypt. The God of the law was subject to the law; the God of circumcision was circumcised; and the God who made the heavens worked at Joseph’s humble trade.

He who binds the devils in chains was tempted. He who owns the world and its fullness hungered and thirsted. The God of strength grew weary. The Judge of all flesh was condemned, and the God of life was put to death. He who is one with his Father cried out in misery, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” He who had the keys of hell and death at his girdle lay imprisoned in another man’s sepulcher, having nowhere to lay his head during his lifetime and nowhere of his own to lay his body after death.

The head before which the angels cast down their crowns was crowned with thorns. Those eyes, purer than the sun, were put out by the darkness of death. Those ears, which heard nothing but the hallelujahs of saints and angels, heard the blasphemies of the multitude. That face, fairer than the sons of men, was spat upon by those beastly, wretched Jews. That mouth and tongue, which spoke as no man ever spoke, was accused of blasphemy. Those hands that freely swayed the scepter of heaven were nailed to the cross. Those feet, like fine brass, were nailed to the cross for man’s sins.

Each sense was afflicted: his feeling or touch by a spear and nails; his smell by the stinking odor of Golgotha, the place of skulls; his taste by vinegar and gall; his hearing by reproaches; and his sight by his mother and disciples mourning for him. His soul was comfortless and forsaken. All this was for those very sins that Satan paints and puts fine colors upon.

One of the rabbis, when he read what bitter torments the Messiah would suffer when he came into the world, cried out, “Let the Messiah come, but do not let me see him.” Dionysius, being in Egypt at the time of Christ’s suffering, saw an eclipse of the sun and knew it to be contrary to nature. He cried out, “Either the God of Nature suffers, or the frame of the World will be dissolved.”

Oh, how should the consideration of this stir up the soul against sin, move the soul to flee from it, and lead it to use every holy means by which sin may be subdued and destroyed!

After Julius Caesar was murdered, Antonius brought out Caesar’s coat, all bloody and cut, and laid it before the people, saying, “Look, here you have your Emperor’s Coat thus bloody and torn.” At this the people were immediately in an uproar and cried out for the murderers to be slain. They took the tables and stools that were there, set them on fire, ran to the houses of those who had slain Caesar, and burned them.

So, when we consider that sin has slain our Lord Jesus, ah, how it should provoke our hearts to take revenge upon sin! Sin murdered the Lord of glory and did the mischief that all the devils in hell could never have done.

Bernard excellently says, “The more vile Christ made himself for us, the more dear he ought to be to us.” Bonaventure said, “Oh my God! As long as I see your wounds, I will never live without wounds.”

It was good counsel that someone gave: “Never let go out of your minds the thoughts of a crucified Christ.” Let these thoughts be meat and drink to you. Let them be your sweetness and consolation, your honey and your desire, your reading and your meditation, your life, death, and resurrection.

Satan’s third device for drawing the soul into sin is to diminish and lessen sin.

“Ah!” says Satan. “It is but a little pride, a little worldliness, a little uncleanness, a little drunkenness, etc.” As Lot said of Zoar, “It is but a little one, and my soul shall live” (Gen 19:20). “Alas,” says Satan, “it is but a very little sin that you balk at; you may commit it without any danger to your soul. It is but a little one; you may commit it, and yet your soul shall live.”

The remedies against this device of Satan are these.

Remedy 1: Small Sins Have Brought Great Wrath

First, solemnly consider that those sins which we are apt to account small have brought the greatest wrath of God upon men. Consider the eating of an apple, gathering a few sticks on the Sabbath day, and touching the ark. Oh, the dreadful wrath these sins brought down upon the heads and hearts of men!

The least sin is contrary to the law of God, the nature of God, the being of God, and the glory of God. Therefore, it is often severely punished by God. Draco, the rigid lawgiver, was asked why he appointed death for all sins when sins were not equal. He answered, “He knew that sins were not all equal, but he knew the least deserved death.” Though men’s sins are not all equal, the least of them deserves eternal death.

Do we not daily see the vengeance of the Almighty falling upon the bodies, names, estates, families, and souls of men for sins that are only little ones in their eyes? Surely, unless we are utterly forsaken by God and blinded by Satan, we cannot help but see it.

Oh, therefore, when Satan says, “It is but a little one,” answer, “Oh, but those sins that you call little are such as will cause God to rain Hell out of Heaven upon sinners, as he did upon the Sodomites.”

Remedy 2: A Lesser Sin Makes Way for a Greater

The second remedy against this device of Satan is seriously to consider that giving way to a lesser sin makes way for committing a greater one. If anyone yields to a lesser sin to avoid a greater, the odds are ten thousand to one that God in justice will leave that soul to fall into the greater. If we commit one sin to avoid another, it is just that we should avoid neither. We have neither law nor power in our own hands to keep sin away as we please. By yielding to the lesser sin, we tempt the tempter to tempt us to the greater.

Sin has an encroaching nature. It creeps upon the soul by degrees, step by step, until it brings the soul to the very height of sin. David gave way to his wandering eye, and this led him into those foul sins that caused God to break his bones, turn his day into night, and leave his soul in great darkness. Jacob, Peter, and other saints have found by woeful experience that yielding to a lesser sin ushers in a greater. The little thief opens the door and makes way for the greater. The little wedge, once knocked in, makes way for the greater.

Hugo’s gloss is devout, etc.: “Let there be nothing in you of Babylon.” “Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones” (Ps 137:9). Not only the grown men, but the little ones must be dashed against the stones. Not only great sins, but little sins must be killed, or they will kill the soul forever.

Satan will first draw you to sit with the drunkard, then to sip with the drunkard, and at last to be drunk with the drunkard. He will first draw you to be unclean in your thoughts, then unclean in your looks, then unclean in your words, and at last unclean in your practices. He will first draw you to look upon the golden wedge, then to like the golden wedge, then to handle the golden wedge, and at last to gain the golden wedge by wicked ways, though you run the risk of losing God and your soul forever. You may see this in Gehazi, Achan, Judas, and many in our own days.

Sin never stands still. In Psalm 1:1, they are first “ungodly,” then “sinners,” then “scorners.” They go on from sin to sin until they reach the height of sin, namely, “to sit in the seat of scorners,” or, as it is in the Septuagint, “to affect the honour of the Chair of Pestilence.”

Austin, writing upon John, tells the story of a certain man who believed that the devil made the fly, not God. Someone said to him, “If the Devil made Flies, then the Devil made Worms, and God did not make them, for they are living creatures as well as Flies.”

“True,” he said. “The Devil did make Worms.”

“But,” said the other, “if the Devil did make Worms, then he made Birds, Beasts, and Man.”

He granted it all. “Thus,” says Austin, “by denying God in the Fly, he came to deny God in man, and to deny the whole Creation.”

By all this we see that yielding to lesser sins draws the soul into committing greater ones. Ah, how many in these days have fallen first into low thoughts of Scripture and ordinances, then into slighting Scripture and ordinances, then into making a nose of wax of Scripture and ordinances, then into casting off Scripture and ordinances, and at last into advancing and exalting themselves and their Christ-dishonoring, soul-damning opinions above Scripture and ordinances!

An Italian found his enemy at a disadvantage and promised to save his life if he would deny his faith. To save his life, the man denied his faith. Once he had done so, the Italian stabbed him, rejoicing that he had at one time taken revenge upon both body and soul.

A young man, long tempted either to kill his father, lie with his mother, or become drunk, yielded to the lesser sin, namely, becoming drunk, so that he might be rid of the greater temptations. But when he was drunk, he both killed his father and lay with his mother.

Sin gains upon a man’s soul by imperceptible degrees. “The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness, and the end of his talking is mischievous madness” (Eccl 10:13). Corruption in the heart, when it breaks out, is like a breach in the sea. It begins as a narrow passage, then eats through and casts down everything before it.

The soul’s deliberations are quick and soon ended. What is done in a moment may undo a man forever. When a man has begun to sin, he does not know where, when, or how he will stop. Usually, the soul goes on from evil to evil and from folly to folly until it is ripe for eternal misery. Men commonly grow from being bad to being very bad, and from being very bad to being utterly bad; then God utterly rejects them forever.

Remedy 3: Do Not Break with God for a Trifle

The third remedy against this device by which Satan draws the soul into sin is solemnly to consider that it is sad to contend with God for a trifle. Dives would not give a crumb, and therefore he would not receive a drop (Luke 16:21). It is the greatest folly in the world to risk going to hell for a small matter.

“I tasted but a little honey,” said Jonathan, “and I must dye” (1 Sam 14:43). It is a most unkind and unfaithful thing to break with God for a little. Little sins carry only little temptations to sin, and a man shows the most viciousness and unkindness when he sins upon a little temptation. It is devilish to sin without a temptation, and it is little less than devilish to sin upon a small occasion. The less the temptation to sin, the greater that sin is.

Saul’s sin in not waiting for Samuel was not so great in its matter, but it was great in its malice. Even if Samuel had not come at all, Saul should not have offered sacrifice. This cost him dearly, both his soul and his kingdom.

It vexed King Lysimachus that by stopping to drink one small draught of water he lost his kingdom. In the same way, some souls will be eternally vexed at last because, for one little sin compared with great transgressions, they have lost God, heaven, and their souls forever.

It is the greatest unkindness that can be shown to a friend to risk making his soul complain, bleed, and grieve upon a light and slight occasion. So it is the greatest unkindness that can be shown to God, Christ, and the Spirit for a soul to put God to complaining, Christ to bleeding, and the Spirit to grieving by yielding to little sins.

Therefore, when Satan says, “It is but a little one,” answer that often the greatest unkindness is shown to God’s glorious majesty in committing the least folly. Therefore, you will not displease your best and greatest friend by yielding to his least enemy.

Remedy 4: The Smallest Sins May Be the Most Dangerous

The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is seriously to consider that there is great danger, and often the greatest danger, in the smallest sins. “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump” (1 Cor 5:6). If the serpent winds in his head, he will draw his whole body in after it.

Greater sins startle the soul sooner and awaken and rouse it to repentance more readily than lesser sins do. Little sins often slide into the soul and breed and work secretly and imperceptibly there, until they become strong enough to trample upon the soul and cut its throat.

Often the greatest danger to our bodies lies in the least diseases that cling to us, because we are apt to make light of them and neglect the timely use of means for removing them. At last they grow so strong that they prove mortal. So there is often the most danger in the least sins. We are apt to take no notice of them and to neglect those heavenly helps by which they should be weakened and destroyed, until they grow so strong that we are ready to cry out, “The Medicine is too weak for the Disease; I would pray, and I would hear, but I am afraid that sin has grown up by degrees to such a head that I shall never be able to prevail over it; but as I have begun to fall, so I shall utterly fall before it, and at last perish in it, unless the power and free grace of Christ act gloriously beyond my present apprehension and expectation.”

The viper is killed by the little young ones nourished and cherished in her belly. So many men are eternally killed and betrayed by the little sins, as they call them, nourished in their own bosoms.

Caesar was stabbed with bodkins. Pope Adrian was choked by a gnat. A scorpion is little, yet it can sting a lion to death. A mouse is little, yet it kills an elephant if it gets into its trunk. The leopard, though great, is poisoned by a head of garlic. The smallest errors often prove the most dangerous. It is as much treason to coin pennies as to coin larger pieces.

One little failure, in the eyes of the world, overshadows all a Christian’s graces, just as one cloud sometimes overshadows the whole body of the sun.

“I know not,” says one, “whether the maintenance of the least sin is not worse than the commission of the greatest; for this may be of frailty, that argues obstinacy.” A little hole in a ship sinks it. A small breach in a sea bank carries away everything before it. A little stab at the heart kills a man, and a little sin, without a great deal of mercy, will damn a man.

Remedy 5: Saints Chose Torment Rather Than the Least Sin

The fifth remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that other saints have chosen to suffer the worst torments rather than commit the least sin, that is, what the world accounts the least sin. Austin says, “It is better to die with hunger, than to eat that which is offered to Idols.”

You may see this in Daniel and his companions. They would rather choose to burn and be cast to the lions than bow to the image Nebuchadnezzar had set up. When this peccadillo, in the world’s account, and a hot, fiery furnace stood in competition, so that they must either fall into sin or be cast into the furnace, their tenderness for the honor and glory of God and their hatred and indignation against sin were such that they would rather burn than sin. They knew it was far better to burn for not sinning than for God and conscience to raise a hell, a fire, in their bosoms because of sin.

Many heathens would rather die than deceive or cheat one another, so faithful were they to each other. Will they not rise in judgment against many professors in these days who think nothing of overreaching one another?

I have read of that noble servant of God Marcus Arethusius, minister of a church in the time of Constantine. During Constantine’s reign, he had caused an idol’s temple to be overthrown. Afterward, when Julian became emperor, he tried to force the people of that place to build it again. They were ready to do so, but Marcus refused.

Therefore, the very people to whom he had preached took him, stripped off all his clothes, abused his naked body, and gave him over to the children to lance with their penknives. Then they put him in a basket, anointed his naked body with honey, and set him in the sun to be stung by wasps. They showed him all this cruelty because he would do nothing toward rebuilding the idol’s temple.

At last they offered to save him if he would do even the least thing toward it, if he would give only a halfpenny. But he refused everything, though giving a halfpenny might have saved his life. In doing this, he merely lived up to the principle that most Christians speak of and all profess, but few attain: “That we must choose rather to suffer the worst of torments that men and devils can invent and inflict, than to commit the least sin, whereby God should be dishonored, our consciences wounded, religion reproached, and our own souls endangered.”

Remedy 6: The Soul Cannot Bear the Guilt of the Least Sin

The sixth remedy against this device is seriously to consider that the soul is never able to stand under the guilt and weight of the least sin when God lays it upon the soul. The least sin will press and sink the stoutest sinner as low as hell when God opens a sinner’s eyes and makes him see the horrid filthiness and abominable vileness in sin.

What creatures are so little, base, and vile as lice or gnats? Yet by these little, poor creatures God so plagued stouthearted Pharaoh and all Egypt that, fainting under them, they were forced to cry out, “This is the finger of God” (Exod 8:16-19). When little creatures, even the least creatures, are armed with power from God, they will press and sink the greatest, proudest, and stoutest tyrants who breathe. So when God puts a sword into the hand of a little sin and arms it against the soul, the soul will faint and fall beneath it.

The tyrant Maximinus, who had issued his proclamation engraved in brass for the utter abolition of Christ and his religion, was eaten by lice.

Some who have merely planned adultery without actually committing it, others who found a trifle and had no concern to restore it though the light of natural conscience told them they were not doing as they would be done by, and others who entertained some unworthy thought of God have been so frightened, amazed, and terrified by sins that are small in men’s account that they wished they had never existed. They could take no delight in any earthly comfort. They were driven to their wits’ end, ready to destroy themselves and wishing themselves annihilated.

“One drop of an evil conscience swallows up the whole sea of worldly joy.” As someone said, “How great a pain not to be born, comes from the prick of his small thorn?”

Mr. Perkins mentions a good but very poor man who, being ready to starve, stole a lamb. When he was about to eat it with his poor children and, as his custom was before eating, ask a blessing, he did not dare to do so. Instead, he fell into great perplexity of conscience, acknowledged his fault to the owner, and promised payment if he should ever be able to make it.

Remedy 7: The Least Sin Is Worse Than the Greatest Affliction

The seventh remedy against this device is solemnly to consider that there is more evil in the least sin than in the greatest affliction. This appears as clear as the sun from God the Father’s severe dealing with his beloved Son. He poured all the vials of his fiercest wrath upon him for the least sin as well as for the greatest.

“The wages of sin is death,” of sin indefinitely, whether great or small. Death is the payment of the least sin. The best wages the least sin gives its soldiers is death of every kind. Strictly speaking, no sin is little, because there is no little God against whom we sin.

Oh, how this should make us tremble as much at the least spark of lust as at hell itself, considering that God the Father would not spare his bosom Son, no, not for the least sin, but made him drink the dregs of his wrath!

So much for the remedies that may fence and preserve our souls from being drawn into sin by this third device of Satan.

The fourth device Satan uses to draw the soul into sin is presenting the sins of the best men while hiding their virtues. He shows the soul their sins but conceals their sorrow and repentance. Thus he sets before the soul David’s adultery, Hezekiah’s pride, Job’s impatience, Noah’s drunkenness, Peter’s blasphemy, etc., while hiding the tears, sighs, groans, meltings, humblings, and repentings of these precious souls.

The remedies against this device of the devil are these.

Remedy 1: Consider the Saints’ Repentance

The first remedy against this device of Satan is seriously to consider that the Spirit of the Lord has been as careful to record the saints’ rising by repentance out of sin as he has been to record their falling into sin.

David falls fearfully, but by repentance he rises sweetly: “Blot out my transgressions, wash me throughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin; for I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Purge me with Hyssop, and I shall be clean, wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow; deliver me from blood-guiltinesse, O God, thou God of my salvation.”

It is true that Hezekiah’s heart was lifted up under the abundance of mercy God had poured upon him. It is equally true that “Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, so that the wrath of the Lord came not upon him, nor upon Jerusalem, in the days of Hezekiah.”

It is true that Job curses the day of his birth. It is also true that he rises by repentance: “Behold I am vile: (saith he) what shall I answer thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth: once have I spoken, but I will not answer, yea twice, but I will proceed no further. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee: Wherefore I abhor my self, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 40:4-5; Job 42:5-6).

Peter falls dreadfully but rises sweetly by repentance. A look of love from Christ melts him into tears. He knew that repentance was the key to the kingdom of grace. Tertullian says that Peter was “born for no other purpose but to repent.” As once his faith was so great that he leaped, as it were, into a sea of waters to come to Christ, so now his repentance was so great that he leaped, as it were, into a sea of tears because he had gone from Christ.

Some say that after his sad fall he wept from time to time and that his face was furrowed with unceasing tears. He had no sooner taken in poison than he vomited it up again before it reached his vital organs. He had no sooner handled this serpent than he turned it into a rod with which to scourge his soul in remorse for sinning against such clear light, strong love, and sweet discoveries of Christ’s heart toward him.

Clement notes that Peter so repented that for the rest of his life, whenever he heard the cock crow at night, he would fall upon his knees and, weeping bitterly, beg pardon for his sin. Ah, souls! You can easily sin as the saints did, but can you repent with the saints? Many can sin with David and Peter who cannot repent with David and Peter, and so they must perish forever.

Luther confesses that before his conversion he encountered no more displeasing word in all his study of divinity than “Repent.” Afterward, however, he delighted in the work: “To sorrow for his sin, and then to rejoice in his sorrow.”

The emperor Theodosius, pressing to receive the Lord’s Supper, excused his own foul act by pointing to David’s similar deed. Ambrose replied, “You have followed David transgressing, follow David repenting, and then think of the Table of the Lord.”

Remedy 2: Do Not Make a Trade of Sin

The second remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that these saints did not make a trade of sin. They fell once or twice, and rose by repentance, so that they might keep closer to Christ forever. They fell accidentally, occasionally, and with much reluctance. You sin presumptuously, obstinately, readily, delightfully, and habitually.

The saints cannot sin with a whole will, but only, as it were, with a half-will: an unwilling willingness, not with full consent, but with dissenting consent. Though sin dwells in the regenerate, as Augustine notes, it does not reign over the regenerate. They rise by repentance.

By making a trade of sin, you have contracted upon your soul a kind of cursed necessity of sinning. You can as easily cease to exist or cease to live as cease to sin. Through custom, sin has become another nature to you, which you cannot and will not lay aside, though you know that if you do not lay sin aside, God will lay your soul aside forever. You know that if sin and your soul do not part, Christ and your soul can never meet (2 Pet 2:14; Prov 4:16).

If you make a trade of sin and cry out, “Did David not sin this way, and Noah sin this way, and Peter sin this way?” etc., the answer is no. Their hearts turned aside to folly one day, but your heart turns aside to folly every day. When they had fallen, they rose by repentance and by acts of faith upon a crucified Christ. But you fall and have neither strength nor will to rise. You wallow in sin and will die eternally in your sins unless the Lord is all the more merciful to your soul.

Do you think, O soul, that this is sound reasoning: Such a person tasted poison only once and narrowly escaped, but I drink poison daily and shall nevertheless escape? Yet such is the mad reasoning of vain souls. David, Peter, and others sinned once, foully and fearfully. They tasted poison only once and were sick to death. But I taste it daily, and yet I shall not taste eternal death.

Remember, O souls, that the day is at hand when self-flatterers will be found to be self-deceivers, indeed, self-murderers.

Remedy 3: Consider God’s Severe Discipline

The third remedy against this device of Satan is seriously to consider that though God does not, and never will, disinherit his people for their sins, he has severely punished his people for their sins.

David sins, and God breaks his bones for his sin: “Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce” (Ps 51:8). “And because thou hast done this, the Sword shall not depart from thy house, to the day of thy death.” Though God will not utterly take his loving-kindness from them, allow his faithfulness to fail, break his covenant, or alter what has gone out of his mouth, yet “will he visit their transgression with a rod, and their iniquity with stripes” (Ps 89:30, 35).

Josephus reports that not long after the Jews had crucified Christ on the cross, so many of them were condemned to crucifixion that there were not enough places for crosses or enough crosses for the bodies to be hung upon.

Scripture abounds with instances of this kind. This truth is so well known among all who know anything of truth that citing more Scriptures to prove it would be like lighting a candle to see the sun at noon.

The Jews have a proverb: “That there is no punishment comes upon Israel, in which there is not one ounce of the Golden Calf.” They mean that this sin was so great that God remembered it in every plague and that it influenced every trouble that befell them. Every man’s heart may say to him in his sufferings what the heart of Apollodorus said in the kettle: “I have been the cause of this.”

God is most angry when he shows no anger. God keep me from this mercy! This kind of mercy is worse than every other kind of misery.

One man, writing to a sick friend, used this expression: “I account it a part of unhappiness not to know adversity, I judge you to be miserable, because you have not been miserable.” It is mercy that our affliction is not an execution but a correction. He who has deserved hanging may be glad if he escapes with a whipping.

Luther says, “There is not a Christian that carries not his cross.” God’s corrections are our instructions, his lashes our lessons, his scourges our schoolmasters, and his chastisements our warnings (Ps 94:12; Prov 3:12-13, 16; Obad 1:6, 13; Isa 9). To express this, both the Hebrews and the Greeks use the same word for chastening and teaching, because teaching is the true end of chastening. This agrees with the proverb, “Smart makes wit, and vexation gives understanding.” Luther therefore aptly calls affliction “The Christian Man’s Divinity.” Bernard likewise says, “Afflictions are blessings.”

So Job says in Job 33:16, 19, “God speaketh once, yea, twice, yet man perceiveth it not, in a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, that he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man: He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword” (the original marginal reference is Job 30:8-10; its intended target is uncertain).

When Satan tells you of other men’s sins to draw you into sin, think of those same men’s sufferings to keep you from sin. Lay your hand upon your heart and say, O my soul, if you sin with David, you must suffer with David, etc.

Remedy 4: Remember Why Their Falls Were Recorded

The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that God had only two main purposes in recording the falls of his saints.

The first is to keep those who fall through weakness and infirmity from fainting, sinking, and despairing under the burden of their sins.

The second is that the saints’ falls may serve as landmarks, warning those who stand to take heed lest they fall. Bernard said that he knew a good man who, whenever he heard that someone had committed a notorious sin, would say to himself, “he fell today, so may I tomorrow.”

It never entered God’s heart to record his children’s sins so that others might be encouraged to sin. He recorded them so that others might be warned to watch their footing, cling more firmly to the skirts of Christ, and avoid every occasion and temptation that might cause the soul to fall as others have fallen when Christ has left them to themselves.

The Lord has made their sins landmarks, warning his people to take care how they approach those sands and rocks, snares and baits, that have proved fatal to the choicest treasures: the joy, peace, comfort, and glorious enjoyments of the bravest spirits and noblest souls ever to sail through the ocean of this sinful, troublesome world. You may see this in David, Job, Peter, and others.

Nothing in the world can more notoriously contradict God’s great purpose in recording his saints’ sins than taking encouragement from them to sin. Wherever you find such a soul, you may write him down as Christless and graceless, a soul cast off by God, a soul whom Satan has by the hand. The eternal God knows where Satan will lead him.

The fifth device Satan uses to draw the soul into sin is presenting God to the soul as one made up entirely of mercy. Satan says, “Oh! you need not make such a matter of sin. You need not be so fearful of sin or so unwilling to sin, for God is a God of mercy, a God full of mercy, a God that delights in mercy, a God that is ready to show mercy, a God that is never weary of showing mercy, a God more prone to pardon his people than to punish his people. Therefore he will not take advantage against the soul. Why, then, should you make such a matter of sin?”

The remedies against this device of Satan are these.

Remedy 1: Being Abandoned to Sin Is the Sorest Judgment

The first remedy is seriously to consider that being left to sin under any pretense whatsoever is the sorest judgment in the world.

Aug. says, “It is a human thing to fall into sin, a devilish to persevere therein, and an angelic or supernatural to rise from it.”

O unhappy man, when God leaves you to yourself and does not resist you in your sins! Woe, woe to him at whose sins God winks. When God lets the way to hell be smooth and pleasant, that is hell on this side of hell, a dreadful sign of God’s indignation against a man, a token of his rejection, and evidence that God does not intend good toward him.

That is a sad word: “Ephraim is joyned to Idols, let him alone” (Hos 4:17). He will be beyond counsel and correction. He has made a match with mischief and will have his belly full of it; he falls with open eyes, so let him fall at his own peril. This is also a terrible saying: “So I gave them up unto their own hearts lusts, and they walked in their own counsels” (Ps 81:12).

A soul given up to sin is a soul ripe for hell, a soul hastening to destruction. Ah, Lord! I humbly beg this mercy: whatever you give me up to, do not give me up to the ways of my own heart. As Augustine prayed, “Deliver me, O Lord, from that evil man myself.” If you give me up to affliction, temptation, reproach, etc., I will patiently sit down and say, “’Tis the Lord, let him do with me what seems good in his own eyes.” Do anything with me. Lay whatever burden you will upon me, provided you do not give me up to the ways of my own heart.

Remedy 2: God Is Just as Well as Merciful

The second remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that God is as just as he is merciful. As the Scriptures declare him to be a very merciful God, so they declare him to be a very just God.

Witness his casting the angels out of heaven and binding them in chains of darkness until the judgment of the great day. God hung them upon gibbets, as it were, so that others might hear, fear, and do no more so wickedly (2 Pet 2:4-6). Witness also his turning Adam out of Paradise, drowning the old world, and raining hell out of heaven upon Sodom. Witness all the crosses, losses, sicknesses, and diseases in the world. Witness Tophet, prepared of old. Witness his “treasuring up of wrath against the day of wrath, unto the revelation of the just judgements of God.”

Above all, witness the pouring out of all his wrath upon his bosom Son when he bore the sins of his people and cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt 27:46).

Remedy 3: Sins Against Mercy Bring the Sorest Judgments

The third remedy against this device of Satan is seriously to consider that sins against mercy will bring the greatest and sorest judgments upon men’s heads and hearts.

Mercy is Alpha; justice is Omega. David, speaking of these attributes, places mercy in the vanguard and justice in the rear guard, saying, “My Song shall be of Mercy and Judgement” (Ps 101:1). It has also been said, “The higher we are in dignity, the more grievous is our fall and misery.”

When mercy is despised, justice takes the throne. God is like a prince who does not send his army against rebels before sending his pardon and having it proclaimed by a herald of arms. He first hangs out the white flag of mercy. If this wins men in, they are happy forever. But if they hold out, God will display his red flag of justice and judgment. If one is despised, the other will certainly be felt.

“God is slow to anger, but he recompenses his slowness with grievousness of punishment.” If we abuse mercy to serve our lust, then, in Salvian’s phrase, “God will rain Hell out of Heaven, rather than not visit for such sins.”

See this in the Israelites. God loved and chose them when they were in their blood and most unlovely. He multiplied them, not by ordinary means but by miracle. From seventy souls they grew within a few years to six hundred thousand. The more they were oppressed, the more they prospered, like chamomile, which spreads the more it is trodden upon; like a palm tree, which spreads farther the more it is pressed; or like fire, which burns more fiercely the more it is raked. Their mercies came upon them like Job’s messengers, one upon the heels of another. “He put off their sackcloth, and girded them with gladness, and compassed them about with Songs of deliverance; he carried them on the wings of Eagles, he kept them as the Apple of his eye,” etc.

But when they abused his mercy, they became the greatest objects of his wrath. Just as I know no man who can recount all their mercies, I know no man who can sum up the miseries that came upon them for their sins. Our Savior prophesied concerning Jerusalem “That a stone should not be left upon a stone.” This was fulfilled forty years after his ascension by the emperor Vespasian and his son Titus.

Vespasian broke into their city at Cedron, where they had taken Christ, and on the same feast day on which Christ was taken. He whipped them where they had whipped Christ. He sold twenty Jews for a penny, as they had sold Christ for thirty pence, according to S. Andr. cat.

When they besieged Jerusalem, the Jews were oppressed by a grievous famine. Their food consisted of old shoes, old leather, old hay, and the dung of beasts. Eleven hundred thousand of the poorer sort died, partly by the sword and partly by famine. Two thousand were disemboweled in one night. Six thousand were burned in a porch of the temple. The whole city was sacked, burned, and leveled to the ground, and ninety-seven thousand were taken captive and assigned to base and miserable service, as Eusebius and Josephus report. To this day, throughout all parts of the world, are they not the offscouring of the world? None are less loved, and none more abhorred, than they.

So Capernaum, which was lifted up to heaven, was threatened with being thrown down to hell. No souls fall so low into hell, if they fall, as those whom a hand of mercy has lifted nearest to heaven.

Men are therefore worse because they ought to be better; they will be deeper in hell because heaven was offered to them, but they refused it. Good turns aggravate unkindnesses, and men’s offenses are increased by their obligations.

You slight souls who are so apt to abuse mercy, consider this: in the days of the gospel, the plagues God inflicts upon those who despise and abuse mercy are usually spiritual plagues, such as blindness of mind, hardness of heart, and numbness of conscience. These are ten thousand times worse than the worst outward plagues that can befall you. Therefore, though you may escape temporal judgments, you will not escape spiritual judgment.

“How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?” asks the apostle. To neglect is to “Shift off, disregard.” Therefore, whenever Satan presents God to the soul as one made up entirely of mercy so that he may draw you into wickedness, tell him that sins against mercy will bring the greatest misery upon the soul. Whatever becomes of you, you will not sin against mercy, etc.

Remedy 4: Special Mercy Belongs to the Divinely Qualified

The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is seriously to consider that although God’s general mercy is over all his works, his special mercy is confined to those who are divinely qualified.

Thus it is written, “And the Lord passed by before me, and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty” (Exod 34:6-7). Again, “And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my Commandements” (Exod 20:6). “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth, unto such as keep his Covenant, and his Testimonies” (Ps 25:10). “Many sorrows shall be to the wicked, but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about” (Ps 32:10). “Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy” (Ps 33:18). “For as the Heaven is high above the Earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him” (Ps 103:11). “But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting, upon them that fear him” (Ps 103:17).

At his solemn feasts, Augustus gave trifles to some but gold to those upon whom his heart was most set. In the same way, by a hand of general mercy, God gives outward blessings, these poor trifles, to those whom he loves least. But his gold, his special mercy, is only for those upon whom his heart is most set.

When Satan attempts to draw you into sin by presenting God as a God made entirely of mercy, reply that although God’s general mercy extends to all the works of his hands, his special mercy is confined to those who are divinely qualified: those who love him and keep his commandments, those who trust him, those who hang upon him by hope, and those who fear him. You must be such a person here, or you can never be happy hereafter. You must partake of his special mercy or perish eternally in everlasting misery, notwithstanding God’s general mercy.

Remedy 5: Let Mercy Preserve You from Sin

The fifth remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that those who were once glorious on earth and are now triumphing in heaven regarded God’s mercy as the most powerful argument for preserving them from sin and fencing their souls against it, not as an encouragement to sin.

“For thy loving kindness is before mine eyes, and I have walked in thy truth; I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers. I have hated the Congregation of evil doers, and will not sit with the wicked” (Ps 36:3-6).

Joseph likewise strengthens himself against sin by remembering mercy. “How then can I,” he says, “do this great wickedness and sin against God?” (Gen 39:8). He had fixed his eye upon mercy, and therefore sin could not enter, though the irons entered into his soul. His soul, being captivated by mercy, was not moved by his mistress’s impudence. Satan often knocked at the door, but the sight of mercy would not allow Joseph to answer or open it. Like a pearl in a puddle, Joseph kept his virtue.

So Paul asks, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound, God forbid; how shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (Rom 6:1-2). Nothing in the world makes a man more unlike a saint and more like Satan than arguing from mercy to sinful liberty, and from divine goodness to licentiousness. This is the devil’s logic. Whoever reasons this way may be marked, “This soul is lost.” A man may as truly say that the sea burns or fire cools as say that free grace and mercy should make a truly gracious soul act wickedly.

The stone called Pontanus possesses the virtue of preserving its bearer from harm by poison. God’s mercy in Christ toward our souls is the most precious stone or pearl in the world for preventing us from being poisoned by sin.

The same apostle says, “I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

So John writes, “These things I write unto you, that ye sin not” (1 John 2:1-2). What had he written? He wrote “That we might have fellowship with the Father and his Son, and that the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin, and that if we confess our sin, he is just and faithful to forgive us our sins; and that if we do sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

The apostle presents these choice favors and mercies as the choicest means of preserving the soul from sin and keeping it at the greatest distance from sin. If this will not do it, you may write the man down as void of Christ and grace and undone forever.

Satan’s sixth device for drawing the soul into sin is to persuade it that repentance is easy.

Satan persuades the soul that repentance is an easy work, and therefore it need not make so much of sin. “Why? Suppose you do sin,” says Satan. “It is no great difficulty to return, confess, be sorrowful, beg pardon, and cry, Lord have mercy upon me. If you do only this, God will clear the account, pardon your sins, and save your souls, etc.”

By this device Satan draws many souls into sin and makes many millions the servants, or rather the slaves, of sin.

The remedies against this device of Satan follow.

Remedy 1: Consider the Difficulty of Repentance

The first remedy is to consider seriously that repentance is a mighty and difficult work, a work beyond our power. No power less than the power that raised Christ from the dead and made the world can break or turn a sinner’s heart. You are as able to melt adamant as to melt your own heart, to turn flint into flesh as to turn your own heart to the Lord, or to raise the dead and make a world as to repent.

Repentance is a flower that does not grow in nature’s garden. “Can the Æthiopian change his skin, the Leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil” (Jer 13:23). Repentance is a gift that comes down from above. People are not born with repentance in their hearts as they are born with tongues in their mouths. “Him hath God exalted with his right hand, to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31). Likewise: “In meekness instructing them that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth” (2 Tim 2:25).

Fallen man has lost both command of himself and command of the creatures. Certainly, he who cannot command himself cannot repent by himself. Dying Fulgentius prayed, “Give repentance, and afterward forgiveness.”

It is not in the power of any mortal to repent at pleasure. King Cyrus vainly boasted and had these words written upon his tombstone: “I could do all things.” Paul could do all things too, but only through Christ who strengthened him.

Some ignorant and deluded souls vainly imagine that these five words, “Lord have mercy upon me,” have the power to send them to heaven. But as many are ruined by buying a counterfeit jewel, so many are in hell because they mistook the nature of their repentance. Many rest in their repentance even though it is only the shadow of repentance. This caused one man to say, “Repentance damns more than sin.”

Remedy 2: Consider the Nature of True Repentance

The second remedy against this device of Satan is to consider solemnly the nature of true repentance. Repentance is something very different from what vain people imagine.

Repentance is sometimes taken in a strict and narrow sense, meaning godly sorrow. At other times it is taken in a broader sense, meaning amendment of life. Repentance contains three things: the act, the subject, and the terms.

The Hebrew word for repentance is teshuvah, from shuv, which signifies returning. It implies going back from what a person has done and turning from one thing to another, from sin to God. The Greeks have two words by which they express the nature of repentance. One is metamelein, signifying care, anxiety, or concern after a thing is done. The other is metanoia: after-wit or after-wisdom, the mind’s recovery of wisdom, or its growing wiser after folly. It comes from anoia, “madness,” and meta, “after,” because repentance corrects human folly and returns the mind to soundness.

1. The Act

The formal act of repentance is change and conversion. Scripture often describes it as turning. “Turn thou me, and I shall be turned,” says Ephraim. “After that I was turned, I repented,” he says. It is a turning from darkness to light.

2. The Subject

The subject changed and converted is the whole person. Both the sinner’s heart and life are changed: first the heart, then the life; first the person, then the practice and conduct.

“Wash ye, make you clean.” There is the change of their persons. “Put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do well.” There is the change of their practices. Likewise, “Cast away,” says Ezekiel, “all your transgressions whereby you have transgressed.” There is the change of the life. Ezekiel adds, “and make you a new heart and a new spirit.” There is the change of the heart.

3. The Terms

The terms of this change and conversion are that from which and that to which both heart and life must be changed: from all sin to God. The heart must be changed from the state and power of sin, and the life from the acts of sin, but both must be turned to God. The heart must come under his power in a state of grace, and the life must come under his rule in all new obedience.

As the apostle says, “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.” Likewise the prophet Isaiah says, “Let the wicked forsake their ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, & let him return unto the Lord.” So much for the nature of evangelical repentance.

Now, souls, tell me whether repentance is as easy as Satan suggests. Besides what has been said, I want you to notice that repentance includes turning from the most darling sin. Ephraim shall say, “What have I to do any more with Idols?” Indeed, it is a turning from every sin to God: “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every of you according to his ways, saith the Lord God: Repent, and turn your selves from your transgressions, so iniquity shall not be your ruin” (Ezek 18:30).

Herod turned from many sins, but he did not turn from his Herodias, and that was his ruin. Judas turned from every visible wickedness, yet he would not cast out that golden devil, covetousness. Therefore, he was cast into the hottest place in hell.

He who does not turn from every sin does not turn rightly from any sin. Every sin strikes at the honor of God, the being of God, the glory of God, the heart of Christ, the joy of the Spirit, and the peace of a man’s conscience. Therefore, a truly penitent soul strikes at every sin, hates every sin, conflicts with every sin, and labors to draw strength from a crucified Christ to crucify every sin.

A true penitent knows neither father nor mother, neither right eye nor right hand, but will pluck out the one and cut off the other. Saul spared only one Agag, and that cost him his soul and his kingdom.

True repentance is a thorough change of both mind and conduct. As Luther said, the best and most excellent repentance is a new life. That is an excellent saying. Repentance for sin is worth nothing without repentance from sin. “If you repent with a contradiction,” says Tertullian, “God will pardon you with a contradiction; if you repent and yet continue in your sin, God will pardon you, and yet send you to hell; there’s a pardon with a contradiction.” Negative goodness will save no man from the axe.

Repentance is not only a turning from every sin, but also a turning to every good: to loving every good, valuing every good, and pursuing every good. “But if the wicked will turn from all the sins that he hath committed, and keep all my Statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not dye” (Ezek 18:21). Merely negative righteousness and holiness are no righteousness or holiness.

David fulfilled all the wills of God and had respect for all his commandments. So did Zacharias and Elizabeth. It is not enough that the tree bears no evil fruit; rather, “it must bring forth good fruit, else it must be cut down and cast into the fire.” Therefore, it is not enough that you are not wicked in this or that way. You must be gracious and good in this and that way, or divine justice will put the axe of divine vengeance to the root of your soul and cut you off forever. “Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewed down and cast into the fire.”

It is said of Ithacus that hatred of the Priscillian heresy was all the virtue he possessed. The evil servant did not riot away his talent. Those reprobates did not rob the saints, but neither did they relieve them, and for this they must perish eternally (Matt 23).

Repentance also includes an awareness of sin’s sinfulness and of how opposed and contrary it is to the blessed God. God is light; sin is darkness. God is life; sin is death. God is heaven; sin is hell. God is beauty; sin is deformity.

True repentance also includes an awareness of sin’s harmfulness: how it cast angels out of heaven and Adam out of paradise; how it laid the first cornerstone in hell; how it brought into the world all the curses, crosses, and miseries found there; and how it makes people liable to temporal, spiritual, and eternal wrath. Sin has made people godless, Christless, hopeless, and heavenless.

Further, true repentance includes sorrow for sin and contrition of heart. It breaks the heart with sighs, sobs, and groans because sin has offended a loving God and Father, crucified a blessed Savior afresh, and grieved and vexed the sweet Comforter, the Spirit.

True repentance is sorrow for sin because it offends God and turns a person away from God. This sorrow both comes from God and drives a person to God, as it did the church in the Canticles and the prodigal (Ezek 10:22-23).

Again, repentance includes not only a loathing of sin but also a loathing of ourselves for sin. A man does not merely loathe poison; he also loathes the dish or vessel that smells of the poison. In the same way, a true penitent does not merely loathe his sin. He loathes himself, the vessel that smells of it.

“And there shall ye remember your ways and all your doings, wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall loath your selves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed” (Ezek 20:43). True repentance will cause your hearts not only to loathe your sins but also to loathe yourselves.

Again, true repentance does not merely cause a man to loathe himself for his sins. It also makes him ashamed of his sin. “What fruit have ye of those things, whereof ye are (now) ashamed?” says the apostle. So Ezekiel says, “And thou shalt be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more, because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee, for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God.”

When a penitent soul sees his sins pardoned, God’s anger pacified, and divine justice satisfied, he sits down and blushes, as the Hebrew expresses it, like one ashamed. Bernard said, “So much the more God has been displeased with the blackness of sin, the more will he be pleased with the blushing of the sinner.” Those who do not burn now with zeal against sin must before long burn in hell for sin.

True repentance also causes a man to cross his sinful self, walk contrary to his sinful self, and take holy revenge upon sin, as you may see in Paul, the jailer, Mary Magdalen, and Manasses. The apostle shows this: “For godly sorrow worketh Repentance never to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death: For behold the self-same thing that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you; yea, what clearing of your selves; yea, what indignation; yea, what fear; yea, what vehement desire; yea, what zeal; yea, what revenge?” (2 Cor 7:10-11).

Now, souls, add all these things together and tell me whether repentance is as easy as Satan would make you believe. I am confident your hearts will answer that it is as hard to repent as it is to make a world or raise the dead.

I shall conclude this second remedy with a worthy saying from a precious and holy man. “Repentance,” he says, “strips us stark naked of all the Garments of the old Adam, and leaves not so much as a shirt behind.” In this rotten building it leaves not one stone upon another. As the flood drowned Noah’s own friends and servants, so the flood of repenting tears must drown our sweetest and most profitable sins.

Remedy 3: Continue in Repentance

The third remedy against this device of Satan is to consider seriously that repentance is a continued act. The word repent implies its continuation. True repentance inclines a person’s heart to perform God’s statutes always, even to the end.

A true penitent must go on from faith to faith and from strength to strength. He must never stand still or turn back. Repentance is a grace and must operate daily, as other graces do. True repentance is a continual spring from which the waters of godly sorrow are always flowing: “My sins are ever before me.”

A true penitent often looks back upon the days of his former vanity. This makes him morning and evening “water his couch with his tears.” “Remember not against me the sins of my youth,” says one blessed penitent. “I was a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious,” says another.

Anselm confessed in his Meditations that his whole life was either damnable for sin committed or unprofitable for good omitted. At last he concluded, “Oh what then remains, but in our whole life, to lament the sins of our whole life.”

Repentance is a continued act of turning, a repentance never to be repented of, and a turning that never turns again to folly. A true penitent always has something within him from which to turn. He can never come near enough to God, not even as near as he once was. Therefore, he continues turning so that he may come nearer and nearer to God, his chief good and only happiness. God is all things above all things, the best and the greatest.

True penitents cry out every day, “O wretched men that we are, who shall deliver us from this body of death?” They remain conscious of sin, continually conflict with sin, continually sorrow for sin, and continually loathe themselves for sin.

Repentance is not a passing act but a continued act of the soul. Tell me, O tempted soul, whether it is as easy as Satan would make you believe to turn every day more and more from sin and nearer and nearer to God, your choicest blessedness. A true penitent can as easily content himself with one act of faith or one act of love as he can content himself with one act of repentance.

A Jewish rabbi urged his disciples to practice repentance and exhorted them to be sure to repent the day before they died. One disciple replied that the day of any man’s death was very uncertain. “Repent therefore every day,” said the rabbi, “and then you shall be sure to repent the day before you die.” You are wise and know how to apply this to your own advantage.

Remedy 4: Consider the Ruin of the Unrepentant

The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is to consider solemnly that if repentance were as easy as Satan claims, so many would not lie roaring and crying out under the horrors and terrors of conscience because they had not repented, dreading wrath and eternal ruin. Certainly, so many millions would not go to hell for failing to repent if repentance were so easy.

Do not poor souls under horror of conscience cry out and say, “If this whole world were a lump of gold and ours to dispose of, we would give it for the least dram of true repentance”? And will you still say that repentance is easy? When a poor sinner’s conscience is awakened, he will judge the exchange of the whole world for the smallest measure of repentance to be the happiest exchange a sinner ever made.

Tertullian warned, “If you are backward in the thoughts of Repentance, be forward in the thoughts of Hell; the flames whereof, only the streams of the penitent eye can extinguish.”

Tell me, O soul, is it good to go to hell? Is it good to dwell with the devouring fire and everlasting burnings? Is it good to be forever separated from the blessed and glorious presence of God, angels, and saints? Is it good to be forever shut out from those good things of eternal life that are so many they exceed number, so great they exceed measure, and so precious they exceed all estimation?

We know that this is the greatest misery that can befall the sons of men. Would they not prevent it by repentance if repentance were as easy as Satan would have it?

Basil asks, “Oh how shall you tear and rend yourself? how shall you lament fruitless Repenting? what will you say? Woe is me, that I have not cast off the burden of sin; woe is me, that I have not washed away my spots, but am now pierced with my iniquities; now have I lost the surpassing joy of Angels.”

Therefore, do not risk losing God, Christ, heaven, and your soul forever by listening to this device of Satan: that repentance is easy, etc. If it is so easy, why do wicked men’s hearts rise so fiercely against those who press the doctrine of repentance upon them in the sweetest way and with the strongest and choicest arguments Scripture affords?

Why do they kill two at once, the faithful laborer’s name and their own souls, by their wicked words and actions, simply because they are urged to repent, which Satan tells them is so easy? Surely, if repentance were so easy, wicked people would not become so enraged when that doctrine is pressed upon them by evangelical considerations.

Remedy 5: Repenting Requires as Much Grace as Resisting Sin

The fifth remedy against this device of Satan is to consider seriously that repenting of sin is as great a work of grace as not sinning.

Through our sinful falls, the powers of the soul are weakened, the strength of grace decays, our evidences for heaven are blotted, and fears and doubts arise within the soul: Will God once more pardon this scarlet sin and show mercy to this wretched soul? Corruptions within the heart also gain greater advantage and become more firmly established. After a fall, a person’s conscience becomes either more enraged or more numb.

For a soul to repent of its falls despite all these things shows that repenting of sin is as great a work of grace as not sinning. Repentance is the soul’s vomit, and of all medicines none is so difficult and painful as that which causes vomiting.

Yet it is better to be kept from sin than cured of sin by repentance, just as it is better to be preserved from a disease than to be cured of it.

The same means that tend to preserve the soul from sin also work to raise the fallen soul by repentance. We know that God’s mercy and loving-kindness are special means of keeping the soul from sin. As David said, “Thy loving kindness is always before mine eyes, and I have walked in thy truth, and I have not sate with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers. I have hated the Congregation of evil doers, and will not sit with the wicked” (Ps 26:3-5).

By the same means, the soul is raised by repentance out of sin. You may see this in Mary Magdalen, who loved much and wept much because much was forgiven her (Luke 7:37-39, etc.). You may also see it in Hosea: “Come let us return unto the Lord; for he hath torn, and he will heal; he hath smitten, and he will binde us up. After two days he will revive us, in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight” (Hos 6:1-2).

To live “in his sight” means to live before his face, as the Hebrew expresses it, that is, in his favor. Confidence in God’s mercy and love, that he would heal them, bind up their wounds, revive their dejected spirits, and cause them to live in his favor, worked upon their hearts to make them repent and return to him.

I might show you this truth in many other particulars, but this may suffice. Remember this general truth: as much of the power of God, the love of God, faith in God, the fear of God, care to please God, and zeal for God’s glory is required to work repentance in a person as is required to keep that person from sin (2 Cor 7:11).

From this you may easily judge that repenting of sin is as great a work as not sinning. Now tell me, O soul, is it easy not to sin? We know, then, that it is certainly not easy to repent of sin.

Remedy 6: Satan Will Call Repentance Impossible

The sixth remedy against this device of Satan is to consider seriously that the one who now tempts you to sin on the claim that repentance is easy will before long present repentance as the most difficult and hardest work in the world. He will do this to drive you to despair and break the neck of your soul forever.

Beza tells of a certain great man who was admonished during sickness to repent. He answered that he would not repent yet because, if he recovered, his companions would laugh at him. When he grew sicker and sicker, his friends again pressed him to repent. But then he told them it was too late: “For now,” he said, “I am judged and condemned.”

To drive you to despair, Satan will set your sins in order before you and make them say, “We are thine, and we must follow thee.” Satan will make the soul look upward and see God angry, look inward and see conscience accusing and condemning, and look downward and see hell’s mouth open to receive the impenitent soul. He will use all this to make repentance appear impossible.

“What,” says Satan, “do you think it is easy to do what the whole power of grace cannot conquer while we are in this world? Is it easy,” says Satan, “to turn from an outward act of sin to which you have been addicted? Do you not remember that you have often complained against such and such particular sins and resolved to leave them, yet to this hour you have not and cannot?

“How difficult will it then be to turn from every sin? Yes, to put to death and cut off those sins, those darling lusts, that are like joints and limbs, like right hands and right eyes? Have you not loved your sins above your Savior? Have you not preferred earth to heaven? Have you not all along neglected the means of grace? And despised the offers of grace? And vexed the Spirit of grace?

“There would be no end if I set before you the infinite evils you have committed, the innumerable good services you have omitted, and the frequent checks of your own conscience you have scorned. Therefore you may well conclude that you can never repent, that you will never repent.

“Now,” says Satan, “consider your numberless sins for just a moment, and the greatness of your sins, the foulness of your sins, the heinousness of your sins, the circumstances of your sins, and you will easily see that those sins you thought were but motes are indeed mountains. Is it not now in vain to repent of them?

“Surely,” says Satan, “if you seek repentance and grace with tears, as Esau did, you will not find it. Your hourglass has run out, your sun has set, the door of mercy is shut, and the golden scepter has been withdrawn. Now you who have despised mercy will be destroyed forever by justice. For a wretch such as you to attempt repentance is to attempt the impossible;

“It is impossible that you, who have never conquered even one sin in all your life, should master such a numberless number of sins. They are so near, so dear, so necessary, and so profitable to you; they have so long shared bed and board with you and been your old acquaintances and companions. Have you not often intended, promised, vowed, and resolved to begin repenting, yet never managed it to this day?

“Surely it is vain to strive against the stream when overcoming it is impossible. You are lost and condemned forever; to hell you must go, to hell you shall go.”

A commander named Lamachus once dealt with a soldier brought before him for misconduct. The soldier pleaded that he would never behave that way again. Lamachus answered, “No man must offend twice in War.” In the same way, God will not allow people continually to neglect the day of grace.

Ah, souls! He who now tempts you to sin by suggesting that repentance is easy will at last work upon you to despair. He will present repentance as the hardest work in all the world, as far above man as heaven is above hell and light above darkness.

Repentance is a work that must be done in time, or people are utterly undone forever. They must either repent or perish.

Oh, that you were wise enough to break off your sins by timely repentance.

The seventh device Satan uses to draw the soul into sin is making the soul bold enough to venture upon the occasions of sin.

Satan says, “You may walk by the harlot’s door, though you won’t go into the harlot’s bed; you may sit and sip with the drunkard, though you won’t be drunk with the drunkard; you may look upon Jezebel’s beauty, and you may play and toy with Delilah, though you do not commit wickedness with the one or the other; you may with Achan handle the golden wedge, though you do not steal the golden wedge, etc.”

The remedies against this device of the devil are these.

Remedy 1: Avoid Every Appearance of Evil

The first remedy is solemnly to dwell upon those Scriptures that expressly command us to avoid the occasions of sin and the least appearance of evil: “Abstain from all appearance of evil” (1 Thess 5:22). Whatever is heterodox, unsound, and unsavory, shun it as you would a serpent in your way or poison in your food.

Epiphanius says that under the old law, when any dead body was carried past a house, the people were commanded to shut their doors and windows.

Theodosius tore up the Arians’ arguments presented to him in writing because he found them contrary to the Scriptures. Augustine even retracted ironies because they had the appearance of lying.

When God had commanded the Jews to abstain from swine’s flesh, they would not so much as name it. In their common conversation they would call a sow “another thing.” To abstain from every appearance of evil is to do nothing in which sin appears or which has a shadow of sin.

Bernard explains it well: “Whatever is of an ill show, or of ill report, that he may neither wound conscience nor credit: we must shun, and be shy of the very show and shadow of sin,” if we care either for our reputation abroad or our comfort at home.

It was good counsel that Livia gave her husband Augustus: “It behooves you not only not to do wrong, but not to seem to do so,” etc.

So Jude says, “And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the Garment spotted by the flesh” (Jude 23). This phrase is taken from legal uncleanness, which was contracted by touching the houses, vessels, or garments of unclean persons. Under the law, people might not touch a menstruous cloth, nor would God accept a spotted peace offering.

Socrates speaks of two young men who threw away their belts when water used in pagan purification rites fell upon them in an idol’s temple. The historian says they did this because they detested “the Garment spotted by the flesh.”

Thus we must not only hate and avoid gross sins, but everything that may carry a savor or suspicion of sin. We must abhor the very signs and tokens of sin: “Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house” (Prov 5:8).

He who would not be burned must dread the fire. He who would not hear the bell must not meddle with the rope. To venture upon an occasion of sin and then pray, “lead us not into temptation,” is the same as thrusting your finger into the fire and then praying that it may not be burned.

You have another command in Proverbs: “Enter not in the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men; avoid it, and pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away” (Prov 4:14-15). This threefold progression in Solomon shows with great emphasis how necessary it is to flee from every appearance of sin, as a sailor shuns sands and shoals, and as people shun those whose plague sores are running.

As weeds endanger the grain, bad humors endanger the blood, and an infected house endangers the neighborhood, so the company of bad people endangers those who are good. Intimacy with wicked companions is one of hell’s strongest chains, binding us to participation in both sin and punishment. One person said, “As often as I have been among vain men, I returned home less a man than I was before.”

Remedy 2: Turn from the Occasion to Conquer the Sin

The second remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that ordinarily there is no conquest over sin unless the soul turns from the occasion of sin. It is impossible for anyone to conquer sin while playing and sporting with its occasions.

God will not remove the temptation unless you turn from the occasion. It is just and righteous with God that the person who ventures to dance upon the brink of the pit should fall into it, and that the person who will not flee from the occasions of sin should become a slave to sin.

As long as there is fuel in our hearts for a temptation, we cannot be secure. Anyone who has gunpowder about him needs to keep far enough away from sparks. To rush upon the occasions of sin is both to tempt ourselves and to tempt Satan to tempt our souls.

It is very rare for a soul to play with the occasions of sin without being ensnared by sin. God seldom keeps that soul from the acts of sin which will not keep away from the occasions of sin. The person who ventures upon the occasions of sin is like someone trying to quench a fire with oil, which fuels, sustains, and increases it.

A fable says that a butterfly asked an owl how she should deal with the fire that had singed her wings. The owl counseled her not to look even at its smoke.

Ah, souls! Often remember how frequently sin has overcome you when you have boldly approached its occasions. Look back, souls, to the day of your vanity, when you were as easily conquered as tempted and as easily vanquished as assaulted because you played with the occasions of sin. If you would in the future be kept from committing sin and made victorious over it, oh, flee from the occasions of sin.

Remedy 3: Follow the Saints Who Fled Temptation

The third remedy against this device of Satan is seriously to consider that other precious saints, who were once glorious on earth and are now triumphing in heaven, have turned from the occasions of sin as from hell itself.

You may see this in Joseph: “And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he harkned not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her” (Gen 39:10). Joseph was famous for all four cardinal virtues, if anyone ever was. In this one temptation you may see his fortitude, justice, temperance, and prudence, for he shunned the occasion and would not so much as be with her.

What a person truly is appears in temptation, which is only a tap that gives vent to corruption. The Nazirite might not only refrain from drinking wine, but could not taste a grape or the husk of a grape. The leper was to shave his hair and pare his nails.

Stories tell of heathens who would not look upon beautiful people lest they should be ensnared. Democritus plucked out his own eyes to avoid the danger of uncleanness.

The devil counts a suitable occasion as half a conquest. He knows that corrupt nature contains a seed plot for every sin, which, when drawn out and watered by a sinful occasion, is soon set to work producing death and destruction. God will not remove the temptation until we remove the occasion.

A bird is safe while aloft, but she does not come near the snare without danger. Shunning the occasions of sin makes a person most like the best of people. An eminently gracious soul dares not come near the train, though far from the explosion.

Thus Job says, “I made a Covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?” (Job 31:1). Job set a watch at the entrance of his senses so that his soul might not be infected or endangered through them. The expression “I made a Covenant” means literally, “I cut a Covenant.” When making covenants, it was customary among the Jews to cut some animal into pieces and walk between them, signifying their desire that God should destroy those who broke the covenant.

The eye is the window of the soul. If it is always open, the soul may suffer for it. A person may not look intently upon what he must not love entirely. The disciples were set agog by beholding the beauty of the temple.

It is best and safest to keep the eye fixed upon the highest and noblest objects, as the sailor’s eye is fixed upon the star while his hand is on the helm. Thus David, when he was himself, shunned the occasions of sin: “I have not sate with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers; I have hated the Congregation of evil doers, and will not sit with the wicked” (Ps 26:4-5).

Stories speak of some who could not sleep when they thought of the trophies of other worthy people who had gone before them. The highest and choicest examples are very quickening and stirring to some, and they should be so to all.

Oh, that the examples of those worthy saints David, Joseph, and Job might prevail with all your souls to shun and avoid the occasions of sin! Everyone should strive to be like in grace those whom they desire to equal in glory.

Someone who shoots at the sun, though falling far short, will shoot higher than someone who aims at a shrub. It is best, and it reveals much of Christ within, to look to the highest and worthiest examples.

Plutarch says of Demosthenes that he was excellent at praising the worthy acts of his ancestors, but not so excellent at imitating them. Oh, that this were not applicable to many professors in our times!

Remedy 4: Let Avoidance of Sin Prove Your Grace

The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that avoiding the occasions of sin is evidence of grace and lifts a person above most others in the world.

What a person truly is appears in temptation, when sinful occasions present themselves before the soul. It reveals both the truth and the strength of grace when, with Lot, a person can remain chaste in Sodom; with Timothy, can live temperately in Asia among the luxurious Ephesians; with Job, can walk uprightly in the land of Uz, where the people were profane in their lives and superstitious in their worship; with Daniel, can be holy in Babylon; with Abraham, righteous in Chaldea; and with Nehemiah, zealous in Damascus, etc.

Many a wicked person is swollen and full of sinful corruption but does not reveal it for lack of opportunity. But that person is surely good who will not be captured in his course, though tempted by occasions.

A Christless soul is so far from refusing occasions when they come into its way that it looks and longs for them. Rather than go without them, it will buy them not only with love or money, but also with the loss of its soul. Nothing but grace can defend a person against the occasions of sin when strongly tempted by them.

Therefore, as you would cherish in your own heart precious evidence of the truth and strength of your graces, shun every sinful occasion.

The eighth device Satan uses to draw the soul into sin is representing to the soul the outward mercies vain people enjoy and the outward miseries from which they are freed while they walk in the ways of sin.

Satan says, “Do you see, O soul, the many mercies that such and such enjoy who walk in those very ways that your soul startles to think of, and the many crosses from which they are delivered, even such as make other men (who say they dare not walk in such ways) spend their days sighing, weeping, groaning, and mourning?” And therefore Satan says, “If ever you would be freed from the dark night of adversity and enjoy the sunshine of prosperity, you must walk in their ways.”

By this stratagem the devil captured those in Jeremiah who said, “As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee; but we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth of our mouth, to burn Incense unto the Queen of Heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her, as we have done, we and our Fathers, our Kings & our Princes in the Cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. But since we left off to burn Incense to the Queen of Heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword, and by the famine” (Jer 44:16-18).

This is exactly the language of a world of ignorant, profane, and superstitious souls in London and England. They would have appointed a captain for themselves to return to bondage, indeed to a bondage worse than the one under which the Israelites groaned.

“Oh!” they say, “since such and such persons have been put down and left off, we have had nothing but plundering, and taxing, and butchering of men, etc. Therefore we will do as we and our kings, nobles, and fathers formerly did, for then we had plenty at home and peace abroad, etc., and there was none to make us afraid.”

Some heathens would be wicked as their gods were, considering it a dishonor to their god to be unlike him, as Lactantius records.

Seneca spoke weightily: “There is nothing more unhappy, than he who never felt adversity.”

The remedies against this device of Satan are these that follow.

Remedy 1: Do Not Judge God’s Heart by His Hand

The first remedy is solemnly to consider that no one knows how the heart of God stands by his hand. His hand of mercy may be toward a person while his heart is against that person, as you may see in Saul and others. The hand of God may be set against a person while God’s heart is dearly set upon him, as you may see in Job and Ephraim. God’s hand was severely set against them, yet his heart and affections were strongly working toward them.

No one knows either love or hatred by outward mercy or misery, for all things come alike to all: to the righteous and the unrighteous, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, etc. The sun of prosperity shines upon the brambles of the wilderness as well as upon the fruit trees of the orchard. The snow and hail of adversity fall upon the best garden as well as upon the stinking dunghills or the wild waste.

It is said of one of the emperors that Rome had no war in his days because “it was plague enough to have such an emperor.” You are wise and know how to apply it.

Tully judged the Jews’ religion to be worthless because they were so often overcome, impoverished, and afflicted. He judged the religion of Rome to be right because the Romans prospered and became lords of the world. Yet though the Romans had God’s hand, the Jews had his heart, for they were dearly beloved though severely afflicted.

Ahab’s and Josiah’s deaths were alike in their very circumstances. Saul and Jonathan, though different in their natures, deserts, and conduct, were not divided in their deaths. Health, wealth, honors, crosses, sicknesses, losses, and so forth are cast promiscuously upon good and bad people.

“The whole Turkish Empire is nothing else but a crust, cast by Heaven’s great House-keeper to his dogs.” Luther says, “It is nothing but a crumb of bread.”

Moses died in the wilderness as well as those who murmured. Nabal was rich as well as Abraham. Ahithophel was wise as well as Solomon. Doeg was honored by Saul as well as Joseph was honored by Pharaoh. Usually the worst people have most of these outward things, while the best have least of earth, though most of heaven.

Remedy 2: Do Not Turn Mercy into Sinful Liberty

The second remedy against this device of Satan is seriously to consider that nothing in the world provokes God to wrath and anger so much as people taking encouragement from God’s goodness and mercy to act wickedly.

You may see this in the wrath that fell upon the old world and in God’s raining hell out of heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah. This is clear in Jeremiah 44:20-28. The words are worthy of your best meditation. Oh, that they were engraved upon all your hearts and constantly present in all your thoughts! Though they are too long for me to transcribe, they are not too long for me to remember.

To argue from mercy to sinful liberty is the devil’s logic. Such logicians always walk as if upon a mine of gunpowder, ready to be blown up. Such souls can never avert or avoid the wrath of God.

This is wickedness at its height: for a person to be very bad because God is very good. A worse spirit than this is not in hell. Ah, Lord! Does not wrath, indeed the greatest wrath, lie at this person’s door? Are not the strongest chains of darkness prepared for such a soul?

Such souls make God a god of rags, one who will not do as he says. But they will find God as severe in punishing as he is gracious to others in pardoning. Good turns aggravate unkindness, and our guilt is increased by our obligations.

To sin against mercy is to sin against humanity. It is bestial, and it is even worse. To return good for evil is divine; to return good for good is human; to return evil for evil is brutish; but to return evil for good is devilish. From this evil, deliver my soul, O God.

Remedy 3: Fear the Misery of Being Uncorrected

The third remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that there is no greater misery in this life than not to be in misery, and no greater affliction than not to be afflicted. Woe, woe to the soul upon which God will not spend a rod! This is the saddest stroke of all, when God refuses to strike at all.

“Ephraim is joyned to Idols; let him alone.” “Why should you be smitten any more? you will revolt more and more.”

When the physician gives up the patient, you say, “Ring out his Knell, the man is dead.” So when God gives up a soul to sin without control, you may truly say, “This soul is lost.” You may ring out its knell, for it is twice dead and plucked up by the roots.

Freedom from punishment is the mother of security, the stepmother of virtue, the poison of religion, the moth of holiness, and the introducer of wickedness. One person said, “Nothing seems more unhappy to me, than he to whom no adversity has happened.”

Outward mercies often prove a snare to our souls. “I will lay a stumbling block” (Ezek 3:20). Vatablus’s note there is, “I will prosper him in all things, and not by affliction restrain him from sin.” Prosperity has been a stumbling block at which millions have stumbled, fallen, and broken the necks of their souls forever.

Augustine said, “Religion brought forth riches, and the daughter soon devoured the mother.”

Remedy 4: Consider What the Wicked Lack

The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is seriously to consider that what wicked people lack amid all their outward mercy and freedom from adversity is far greater than all their outward enjoyments. They have many mercies, yet they lack more than they enjoy. The mercies they enjoy are nothing compared with the mercies they lack.

It is true that they have honors, riches, pleasures, and friends, and are mighty in power. Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring are before their eyes. “Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them; They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. They take the Timbrel and Harp, and rejoyce at the sound of the Organ; they spend their days in wealth, their eyes stand out with fatness, they have more than heart can wish: And they have no bands in their death, but their strength is firm; they are not in trouble as other men,” as David and Job speak.

Yet all this is nothing compared with what they lack. They lack an interest in God, Christ, the Spirit, the promises, the covenant of grace, and everlasting glory. They lack acceptance and reconciliation with God. They lack righteousness, justification, sanctification, adoption, and redemption. They lack the pardon of sin, power against sin, and freedom from the dominion of sin.

They lack that favor which is better than life, that joy which is unspeakable and full of glory, that peace which passes understanding, and that grace whose least spark is worth more than heaven and earth. They lack a house that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. They lack riches that do not perish, glory that does not fade, and a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

Wicked people are the neediest people in the world. Indeed, they lack the two things that would make their mercies sweet: the blessing of God and contentment with their condition. Without these, their heaven is only hell on this side of hell. People who enjoy every worldly comfort may truly say, “All human consolations are desolations.”

When their hearts are lifted up and swollen with thoughts of their abundance, if conscience merely speaks a word and says, “It is true, here is this and that outward mercy; oh, but where is an interest in Christ? Where is the favor of God? Where are the comforts of the Holy Ghost? Where are your evidences for Heaven? etc.” this word from conscience changes the person’s countenance, troubles his thoughts, amazes his heart, and makes all his mercies on the right hand and the left appear dead and withered.

“Neither Christ nor Heaven, can be hyperbolized.” A crown of gold cannot cure a headache, nor can a velvet slipper ease the gout. No more can honor or riches quiet and still the conscience. The human heart is a three-cornered triangle which the whole round circle of the world cannot fill, as mathematicians say. All its corners will complain of emptiness and hunger for something else.

Ah! If the eyes of wicked people were opened to see their needs amid their abundance, they would cry out and say as Absalom did, “What are all these to me, so long as I cannot see the King’s face?” What are honor, riches, and the favor of creatures as long as I lack the favor of God, the pardon of my sins, an interest in Christ, and the hope of glory? O Lord, give me these, or I die. Give me these, or else I shall eternally die.

Remedy 5: See Outward Things as They Are

The fifth remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that outward things are not as they seem or as they are esteemed. They have a glorious outside, but if you view their insides, you will easily find that they fill the head with cares and the heart with fears.

What if fire should consume one part of my estate, and the sea should become a grave that swallows up another part? What if my servants should be unfaithful abroad and my children deceitful at home? Ah, the secret fretting, vexing, and gnawing that daily, indeed hourly, attends the souls of those whose hands are full of worldly goods!

It was a good speech by an emperor: “You gaze on my purple Robe, and golden Crown; but did you know what cares are under it, you would not take it up from the ground to have it.”

It was a true saying of Augustine on Psalm 26: “Many are miserable by loving hurtful things; but they are more miserable by having them.”

It is not what people enjoy, but the principle from which it comes, that makes them happy. An abundance of these outward things usually causes great distraction, great vexation, and at last great condemnation to those who possess them.

If God gives these things in his wrath and does not sanctify them in his love, they will at last become witnesses against a person, racks to torture and torment him, and millstones to sink him forever. This will happen on the day when God calls people to account, not for the use but for the abuse of mercy.

Remedy 6: Consider God’s Purpose in Prosperity

The sixth remedy against this device of Satan is seriously to consider God’s end and design in heaping mercy upon the heads of the wicked and giving them a discharge, rest, and quiet from the sorrows and sufferings under which others sigh.

David shows God’s end and design in this: “When I went into the Sanctuary of God, then I understood their end: Surely thou didst set them in slippery places, thou castedst them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation as in a moment? They are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awaketh, so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their Image” (Ps 73:17-20).

So also: “When the wicked spring as grasse, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish, it is that they shall be destroyed for ever” (Ps 92:7).

Valens, the Roman emperor, fell from being an emperor to being a footstool to Sapor, king of Persia. Dionysius, king of Sicily, fell from his royal glory to become a schoolmaster. The brave Queen Zenobia was brought to Rome in golden chains.

God’s setting wicked people up is only in order to cast them down. His raising them high is only in order to bring them low. “And in very deed, for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth” (Exod 9:16).

I have constituted and set you up as a target, that I may shoot at you and follow you closely with plague upon plague until I have beaten the very breath from your body and gained a name for myself by setting my feet upon the neck of all your pride, power, pomp, and glory.

Valens the emperor, Belisarius the famous general, Henry the Fourth, Bajazet, Pytheas, great Pompey, and William the Conqueror were all brought very low after being very high. They all fell from great glory and majesty to great poverty and misery.

Ah, souls! What person in his right mind would be lifted up so that he might be cast down? Who would be set higher than others when it is only in order to be brought lower than others? There is no wicked person in the world who is set up with Lucifer as high as heaven who will not be brought down with Lucifer as low as hell.

Can you think seriously of this, O soul, and not say, “O Lord, I humbly crave that you will let me be little in this world, that I may be great in another world; and low here that I may be high forever hereafter. Let me be low, and feed low, and live low, so I may live with you forever; let me now be clothed with rags, so you will clothe me at last with your Robes; let me now sit upon a dunghill, so I may at last be advanced to sit with you upon your Throne. Lord, make me rather gracious than great; inwardly holy than outwardly happy; and rather turn me into my first nothing, even make me worse than nothing, rather than set me up for a time, that you may bring me low forever.”

Bernard prayed, “Grant us Lord that we may so partake of temporal felicity, that we may not lose eternal.”

Remedy 7: Fear Spiritual Judgments Most

The seventh remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that God often most plagues and punishes those whom others think he most spares and loves. That is, God most plagues and punishes with spiritual judgments, which are the greatest, sorest, and heaviest judgments, those whom he least punishes with temporal punishments.

No people on earth are so internally plagued as those who meet with the fewest external plagues. Oh, the blindness of mind, hardness of heart, and searedness of conscience to which those souls are given up who, in the eyes of the world, are reputed the happiest people because they are not outwardly afflicted and plagued as others are!

“He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul” (Ps 106:15; see also Ps 81:12; Ps 78:26-31). It is a heavy plague to have a fat body and a lean soul, a house full of gold and a heart full of sin.

Ah, souls! It would be better for all the temporal plagues that have befallen the children of men since the fall of Adam to meet upon your souls at once than for you to be given up to the least spiritual plague, the least measure of spiritual blindness, or the least spiritual hardness of heart, etc.

“It is better to have a sore, than a seared conscience. It is better to have no heart than a hard heart; no mind, than a blind mind.”

Nothing will better or move the person who is given up to spiritual judgments. Let God smile or frown, stroke or strike, cut or kill; he does not mind or regard it. Let life or death, heaven or hell, be set before him; it does not stir him. He is mad upon his sin, and God is fully determined to execute justice upon his soul.

This person’s preservation is only a reservation for greater condemnation. He can set no bounds to himself. He has become a child of fathomless perdition. He carries guilt in his bosom and vengeance at his back wherever he goes. Neither ministry nor misery, neither miracle nor mercy, can soften his heart. If this soul is not in hell on this side of hell, who is? Who is?

Remedy 8: Remember the Coming Account

The eighth remedy against this device of Satan is to dwell more upon the strict account vain people must give for all the good they enjoy.

“In this day men shall give an account of good things committed to them, of good things neglected by them, of evil committed by them, and of evils permitted by them.”

Ah! If people dwelt more upon the account they must soon give for all the mercies they have enjoyed, all the favors they have abused, and all the sins they have committed, it would make their hearts tremble, their lips quiver, and rottenness enter their bones.

It would cause their souls to cry out and say, “Oh! That our mercies had been fewer and lesser, that our account might have been easier, and our torment and misery (for our abuse of so great mercy) not greater than we are able to bear. O cursed be the day wherein the Crown of honor was set upon our heads and the treasures of this world were cast into our laps; O cursed be the day wherein the sun of prosperity shone so strong upon us and this flattering world smiled so much upon us as to occasion us to forget God, to slight Jesus Christ, to neglect our souls, and to put far from us the day of our account.”

Philip III of Spain, whose life was free from gross evils, professed that he would rather lose all his kingdom than offend God willingly. Yet when he was in the agony of death and considered more thoroughly the account he was to give to God, fear struck him, and these words broke from him: “Oh, would to God I had never reigned. Oh that those years that I have spent in my Kingdom, I had lived a solitary life in the wilderness! Oh that I had lived a solitary life with God! How much more securely should I now have died? How much more confidently should I have gone to the Throne of God? What does all my glory profit me, but that I have so much the more torment in my death?”

Bernard said, “Then shall a good conscience be more worth than all the world’s good.”

God keeps an exact account of every penny laid out upon him and his, and every penny laid out against him and his. On the day of account, people will know and feel this, though now they wink and refuse to understand.

The sleeping of vengeance causes the overflowing of sin, and the overflowing of sin causes the awakening of vengeance. Abused mercy will certainly turn into fury. God’s forbearance is no acquittal. The day is at hand when he will repay wicked people for the abuse of old and new mercies.

If he seems slow, yet he is sure. He has leaden heels but iron hands. The farther he draws back his blow or his arrow, the deeper he will wound on the day of vengeance.

Jerome still thought he heard this voice in his ears: “Arise, you dead, and come to judgement.” He said, “As often as I think on that day, how my whole body quakes, and my heart within me trembles!”

People’s actions are all in print in heaven. On the day of account, God will read them aloud in the ears of all the world, so that all may say Amen to the righteous sentence he will pass upon every despiser and abuser of mercy.

The ninth device Satan uses to draw the soul into sin is presenting the soul with the crosses, losses, reproaches, sorrows, and sufferings that daily attend those who walk in the ways of holiness.

Satan says, “Do you not see that there are none in the world so vexed, afflicted, and tossed as those who walk more circumspectly and holily than their neighbors? They are a byword at home and a reproach abroad; their miseries come in upon them like Job’s messengers, one upon the neck of another, and there is no end to their sorrows and troubles. Therefore,” says Satan, “you had better walk in ways that are less troublesome and less afflicted, though they are more sinful; for who but a madman would spend his days in sorrow, vexation, and affliction when it may be prevented by walking in the ways that I set before him?”

The remedies against this device of Satan are these.

Remedy 1: Consider the Profit of Affliction

The first remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that all the afflictions attending the people of God will turn to their profit and glorious advantage.

Afflictions will uncover a filthiness and vileness in sin that the soul has never yet seen. Gaspur Olevianus, a German divine, said during his sickness, “In this Disease I have learned how great God is, and what the evil of sin is; I never truly knew what God was before, nor what sin meant, till now.” Afflictions are a crystal glass in which the soul has the clearest sight of sin’s ugly face. In this glass the soul comes to see that sin is only a bitter-sweet. Indeed, the soul comes to see that sin is not only an evil, but the greatest evil in the world, an evil far worse than hell itself.

Again, afflictions contribute to mortifying and purging away their sins (Isa 1:25; Isa 27:8-9). Afflictions are God’s furnace, by which he cleanses his people from their dross. Affliction is a fire that purges out our dross and makes virtue shine. It is a potion that carries away ill humors better than all the medicines physicians call benedicta medicamenta. Aloes kill worms, and cold and frost destroy vermin; so afflictions destroy the corruptions in our hearts. Salt brine preserves from putrefaction, and saltmarshes keep sheep from rot; so afflictions preserve the saints from sin. In times of peace our armor is rusty; in time of war it is bright. Under all the prophets’ thundering, the Jews retained their idols, but it has been observed that no idols were found among them after their Babylonian captivity.

Again, afflictions are sweet preservatives that keep the saints from sin, which is a greater evil than hell itself. As Job said, “Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have born chastisement, I will not offend any more. That which I see not teach thou me; if I have done iniquity, I will do no more. Once have I spoken foolishly, yea, twice, but I will do so no more” (Job 34:31-32). The burned child dreads the fire. “Ah,” says the soul under the rod, “sin is but a bitter-sweet, and for the future I intend by the strength of Christ, that I will not buy repentance at so dear a rate.”

To frighten their scholars away from sin, the rabbis used to tell them “That sin made God’s head ache”; and saints under the rod have found by woeful experience that sin makes not only their heads but also their hearts ache.

Augustine escaped a man lying in wait to harm him because he wandered out of his way. If afflictions did not put us out of our way, we would often meet some sin that would harm our precious souls.

Again, afflictions will cause the saints to become more fruitful in holiness: “But he afflicts us for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness” (Heb 12:10-11). Flowers smell sweetest after a shower. Vines bear better for bleeding. The walnut tree is most fruitful when most beaten. The saints spring up and thrive most inwardly when they are most outwardly afflicted. Some call affliction “The mother of virtue.” The ball in the emblem says, in effect, “the harder you beat me down in affliction, the higher I shall bound in affection towards heaven and heavenly things.”

Manasseh’s chain was more profitable to him than his crown. Luther could not understand some Scriptures until he was in affliction. The Christ-cross mark at the head of an alphabet is no letter, yet it taught him more than all the letters in the row. “God’s House of Correction is his School of Instruction.” Likewise, the school of the cross is the school of light.

All the stones that struck Stephen’s ears only knocked him closer to Christ, the cornerstone. The waves only lifted Noah’s ark nearer to heaven; the higher the waters grew, the nearer the ark was lifted toward heaven. Afflictions lift the soul into richer, clearer, and fuller enjoyment of God.

“Behold, I will allure her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably to her” (Hos 2:14), or rather, as the Hebrew has it, “I will earnestly or vehemently speak to her heart.” God makes afflictions into inlets through which the soul enjoys his blessed self more sweetly and fully.

When did Stephen see the heavens opened and Christ standing at God’s right hand? It was when the stones were about his ears and only a short step stood between him and eternity. When did God appear in his glory to Jacob? It was in the day of his troubles, when stones were his pillows, the ground his bed, the hedges his curtains, and the heavens his canopy. “Then he saw the Angels of a God ascending & descending in their glistering robes.”

It is reported of the emperor Tiberius that, while passing a place where he saw a cross lying on a marble stone in the ground, he ordered the stone dug up and found a great treasure beneath the cross. In the same way, many precious saints have found much spiritual and heavenly treasure beneath the crosses they have encountered.

The plant in Nazianzen grows by being cut. When cut, it flourishes; it contends with the ax, lives by dying, and grows by cutting. So the saints, through the afflictions that befall them, gain more experience of God’s power supporting them, God’s wisdom directing them, God’s grace refreshing and cheering them, and God’s goodness quieting and quickening them. They are moved to greater love for holiness, greater delight in holiness, and a more vehement pursuit of holiness.

I have read of a fountain that is cold at noon but grows warm at midnight. Likewise, many precious saints who are cold toward God, heaven, and holiness in prosperity’s daylight grow warm toward God, heaven, and holiness in adversity’s midnight.

Again, afflictions serve to keep the saints’ hearts humble and tender: “Remembring my affliction, and my misery, the wormwood, and the gall; my soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me” (Lam 3:19-20), or bowed down within me, as the original has it. So David, when under the rod, could say, “I was dumb, I opened not my mouth: because thou didst it.”

I have read of Gregory Nazianzen that whenever anything turned out prosperously, he would read through The Lamentation of Jeremiah, and this kept his heart tender, humble, and low. Prosperity contributes as much to puffing up the soul as adversity does to bowing it down. The saints find this by experience, and therefore they can kiss and embrace the cross as others do the world’s crown.

Again, afflictions bring the saints nearer to God and make them more importunate and earnest in prayer. “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept thy word. It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy Statutes” (Ps 119:67, 71).

“I will be to Ephraim as a Lyon, and as a young Lyon to the house of Judah, I, even I will tear, and go away, I will take away, and none shall rescue him. I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face; in their affliction they will seek me early” (Hos 5:14-15). And so they did. “Come,” they say, “and let us return unto the Lord, for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two dayes he will revive us, in the third day, he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight” (Hos 6:1-2).

When God had hedged up their way with thorns, they said, “I will go and return to my first husband, for then was it with me better than now” (Hos 2:5, 7). Ah, the joy, peace, comfort, delight, and content that attended us when we kept close communion with God call us to return to him. “We will return to our first husband, for then was it with us better than now.” The more precious odors and the purest spices are beaten and bruised, the sweeter the scent and savor they send abroad. So it is with the saints when they are afflicted.

When Tiribazus, a Persian nobleman, was arrested, he drew his sword and defended himself. But when they told him that they had come to carry him to the king, he willingly yielded. Likewise, though a saint may at first resist a little, when he remembers that afflictions are meant to carry him nearer to God, he yields and kisses the rod. Afflictions are like the thorn at the nightingale’s breast, which awakens her and prompts her sweet and delightful singing.

Again, afflictions revive and recover decayed graces. They inflame love that has grown cold, quicken faith that is decaying, put life into hopes that are withering, and put spirit into joys and comforts that are languishing. One says, “Musk when it has lost its sweetness, if it be put into the sink amongst filth, it recovers it.” So afflictions recover and revive decayed graces.

The more the saints are beaten with the hammer of affliction, the more they become trumpets of God’s praise and the more their graces are revived and quickened. Most people are like a top that will not move unless you whip it, and the more you whip it, the better it goes. You know how to apply this. Those in adversity, Luther says, understand the Scriptures better, while those in prosperity read them like a verse in Ovid. Bees are killed with honey but quickened with vinegar. The honey of prosperity kills our graces, but the vinegar of adversity quickens them.

Adversity diminishes the world’s loveliness, which might entice us. It abates the vigor of the flesh within, which might incite us to folly and vanity. It also assists the spirit in its quarrel with those two enemies, which greatly helps revive and recover decayed graces.

Now suppose that afflictions and troubles attend the ways of holiness. Since they all work for the saints’ great profit and singular advantage, let no soul be so mad as to leave an afflicted way of holiness in order to walk along a smooth path of wickedness.

Remedy 2: Affliction Cannot Harm the Soul

The second remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that all the afflictions befalling the saints reach only their worse part. They neither reach nor hurt their noble part, their best part. All the arrows stick in the target; they do not reach the conscience.

“And who shall harm you, if you be followers of that which is good?” says the apostle. That is, no one shall harm you. They may afflict you in one way or another, but they shall never harm you.

A heathen, when commanded by a tyrant to be placed in a mortar and beaten to pieces with an iron pestle, cried out to his persecutors, “You only beat the vessel, the case, the husk of Anaxarchus; you do not beat me.” His body was only a case or husk to him. He counted his soul as himself, and they could not reach it. You are wise and know how to apply this.

Socrates said of his enemies, “They may kill me, but they cannot hurt me.” So afflictions may kill us, but they cannot hurt us. They may take away my life, but they cannot take away my God, my Christ, or my crown.

As Cyprian said to Cornelius, the Christian soldier shall always be master of the day: “he may suffer death, but never conquest.”

Remedy 3: Affliction Is Brief

The third remedy against this device of Satan is seriously to consider that the afflictions attending the saints in the ways of holiness are short and momentary.

“Sorrow may abide for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” This short storm will end in an everlasting calm. This short night will end in a glorious day that shall never end. Only a very short time lies between grace and glory, between our title to the crown and our wearing it, and between our right to the heavenly inheritance and our possession of it.

Fourteen thousand years to the Lord are only like one day. What is our life but a shadow, a bubble, a flower, a post, a span, a dream, etc.? The Lord’s hand rests upon us for so little a while that Luther cannot find enough diminutives to express it, for he calls the cross we bear a very little, little cross.

None of God’s afflicted people are without bright intervals, intermissions, respites, and breathing spaces beneath their short and momentary afflictions. When God’s hand is on your back, let your hand be on your mouth, for although the affliction is sharp, it will be short.

The prophet says in Isaiah 26:20 (the bitter is brief) that indignation does not merely pass, but passes quickly over. Its sharpness, shortness, and suddenness are illustrated by a woman’s labor (John 16:21).

And this is a sweet Scripture: “For ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while he that shall come, will come, and will not tarry” (Heb 10:36). “A little, little, little while.”

When Athanasius’s friends came to lament his misery and banishment, he said, “It is but a little cloud, and will quickly be gone.” It will be only like a day before God gives his afflicted people “beauty for ashes, the Oyle of gladness for the spirit of heaviness”; before he turns all your sighing into singing, all your lamentations into consolations, your sackcloth into silks, ashes into ointments, and your fasts into everlasting feasts, etc.

Remedy 4: Affliction Proceeds from God’s Love

The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is seriously to consider that the afflictions befalling the saints proceed from God’s dearest love.

“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.” “Saints,” says God, “think not that I hate you, because I thus chide you.” He who escapes reproof may suspect his adoption.

Augustine asks, “if he were beloved, how came he to be sick?” Wicked people are apt to speak this way because they do not know that corrections are pledges of our adoption and badges of our sonship. God had one Son without sin, but none without sorrow. God had one Son without corruption, but no son without correction.

A gracious soul may look through the darkest cloud and see God smiling upon him. We must look through the anger of his correction to the sweetness of his countenance, just as through a rainbow we see the beautiful image of the sun’s light in the midst of a dark, watery cloud.

When Munster lay sick and his friends asked how he was and how he felt, he pointed to the sores and ulcers covering him and said, “These are God’s Gems and Jewels, with which he decks his best friends, and to me they are more precious than all the gold and silver in the world.”

At first conversion, a soul is only rough-cast, but by afflictions God squares, fits, and fashions it for the glory above. This shows that afflictions flow from precious love. Therefore, the afflictions attending God’s people should be no barrier to holiness and no motive for drawing the soul into ways of wickedness.

Remedy 5: Measure Affliction by Its End

The fifth remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that it is our duty and glory to measure afflictions, not by their pain, but by their end.

When Israel was dismissed from Egypt, it was with gold and earrings (Exod 11). Likewise, when the Jews were dismissed from Babylon, it was with gifts, jewels, and all necessary utensils (Ezra 1).

Look more at the latter end of a Christian’s affliction than at its beginning. Consider Job’s patience and the end the Lord made for him. Do not look at Lazarus lying at Dives’s door, but lying in Abraham’s bosom. Do not look at Joseph’s beginning, when he was so far from his dream that the sun and moon would reverence him that for two years he was cast where he could see neither sun, moon, nor stars. Behold him at last made ruler over Egypt.

Do not look upon David when there was only a step between him and death, nor when some envied him and others slighted and despised him. Behold him seated on his royal throne, dying in his bed of honor, with his son Solomon and all his glittering nobles around him.

Afflictions are only a dark entry into your Father’s house and a dirty lane leading to a royal palace. They are our Father’s goldsmiths, working to add pearls to our crowns. Tiberius saw paradise while walking upon hot, burning coals. Herodotus said of the Assyrians, “Let them drink nothing but wormwood all their life long: when they die, they shall swim in Honey.” You are wise and know how to apply this.

Now tell me, souls, whether it is not very great madness to shun the ways of holiness and walk in the ways of wickedness because of the afflictions attending the ways of holiness.

Remedy 6: Affliction Tests Rather Than Ruins

The sixth remedy against this device of Satan is seriously to consider that God’s purpose in all the afflictions befalling the saints is only to test them. It is not to wrong or ruin them, as ignorant souls are apt to think.

“He knoweth the way that I take, and when he hath tryed me, I shall come forth as gold,” says patient Job. So it says in Deuteronomy 8:2, “And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the Wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee to know what was in thy heart, whether thou wouldst keep his Commandments or no.” God afflicted them in this way to reveal to themselves and others what was in their hearts.

When fire is put to green wood, an abundance of watery matter comes out that did not appear before. When the pond is empty, the mud, filth, and toads come to light. Snow covers many a dunghill, and prosperity likewise covers many a rotten heart. It is easy to wade in a warm bath, and every bird can sing on a sunny day, etc. Hard weather tests what health we have; afflictions test what sap and grace we have.

The king of Aracum, according to Scaliger, tests the woman he intends to marry by making her sweat. If she smells sweet, he marries her; if not, he rejects her. You may easily make the application.

Withered leaves soon fall off in windy weather, and rotten boughs quickly break beneath heavy weights, etc. You are wise and know how to apply this. A raked dunghill sends out a filthy steam, but ointments send out sweet perfume. This applies to sinners and saints under the rod.

Afflictions are like pinching frosts that search us. Where we are most unsound, we will complain soonest; and where the most corruptions lie, we will shrink most. We test metal by striking it, and if it sounds well, we approve it. So God tests his people by striking them. If under these blows they yield a pleasant sound, God will turn their night into day, their bitter into sweet, and their cross into a crown. They shall hear that voice: “Arise and shine, for the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee, and the favours of the Lord are flowing in on thee.”

Remedy 7: Wickedness Brings Greater Misery

The seventh remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that the afflictions, wrath, and misery attending the ways of wickedness are far greater and heavier than those attending the ways of holiness.

Oh, the galling, girding, lashing, and gnawing of conscience that attend souls in a way of wickedness! “The wicked,” says Isaiah, “are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace to wicked, saith my God.”

Sin often makes people insensible to the wrath of the Almighty. Sin transforms many a man, as it were, into the bears in Pliny that could not be stirred by the sharpest prickles, or the fish in Aristotle that do not awake even when spears are thrust into their sides.

There are snares in all the wicked’s mercies, and curses and crosses attend all their comforts, both at home and abroad. What is a fine suit of clothes with the plague in it? What is a golden cup when poison lies at the bottom? What is a silken stocking with a broken leg in it?

The curse of God, the wrath of God, the hatred of God, and the fierce indignation of God always attend sinners who walk in a way of wickedness. Turn to Deuteronomy 28 and read from verse 15 to the end of the chapter. Then turn to Leviticus 26 and read from verse 14 to the end of that chapter. You will see how God’s curse haunts the wicked person like a fury in all his ways.

In the city it attends him, and in the country it hovers over him. Coming in, it accompanies him; going out, it follows him; and when he travels, it is his companion. It fills his store with strife and mingles God’s wrath with his sweetest morsels. It is a moth in his wardrobe, murrain among his cattle, mildew in the field, and rot among his sheep. It often makes the fruit of his loins his greatest vexation and confusion.

Sin brings sorrow and sickness, etc. The rabbis say that when Adam tasted the forbidden fruit, his head ached. Sinners are said to sing exquisitely while they live but roar horribly when they die. So it is with the wicked.

No solid joy, lasting peace, or pure comfort attends sinners in their sinful ways. A sword of vengeance hangs over their heads every moment by a small thread. What joy and content can attend such a soul if the eye of conscience is open far enough to see the sword? Ah, the horrors and terrors, the tremblings and shakings that attend their souls!

Device 10: Comparing Yourself with Worse People

The tenth device Satan uses to draw the soul to sin is to make people frequently compare themselves and their ways with those reputed or reported to be worse than they are.

By this device the devil drew the proud Pharisee to bless himself while in a cursed condition: “God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican,” etc.

Why, says Satan, you swear only petty oaths, such as by your faith and troth, etc., but such and such people swear by wounds and blood. You are now and then a little wanton, but others daily defile and pollute themselves by actual uncleanness and filthiness. You deceive and overreach your neighbors in matters that are only toys and trifles, but others deceive and overreach people in matters of the greatest concern, even to their ruin and undoing. You only sit, chat, and sip with the drunkard, but others sit and drink and become drunk with the drunkard. You are only a little proud in heart and habit, in looks and words, etc.

These are the remedies against this device of the devil.

Remedy 1: Look First at Your Own Sin

The first remedy against this device of Satan is to consider solemnly that there is no greater or clearer argument proving a man a hypocrite than being sharp-sighted abroad and blind at home: “Than to see a mote in another mans eye, and not a beam in his own eye;” to use spectacles to behold other men’s sins rather than looking glasses to behold his own; and to keep his finger on other men’s sores, amplifying and aggravating their sins while mitigating his own, etc.

History speaks of a kind of witches who, when going abroad, would put on their eyes, but upon returning home would box them up again. So do hypocrites.

Remedy 2: Compare Yourself with God’s Word

The second remedy against this device of Satan is to spend more time comparing your internal and external actions with the rule, the Word by which you must be judged at last, than comparing yourself with those who are worse than you.

A man who compares himself with others worse than himself may seem, both to himself and others, to be an angel. Yet, when he compares himself with the Word, he may see himself to be like the devil, indeed, a very devil: “Have not I chosen twelve, and one of you is a Devil?” Such men are like him, as though they had been spat out of his mouth.

Satan is called “The God of this World,” because, as God at first only spoke the word and it was done, so if the devil merely holds up his finger or gives the least hint, these people will do his will, though they undo their souls forever. Ah! What monsters these men would appear to be if they compared themselves with a righteous rule instead of with the most unrighteous people. They would appear as black as hell itself.

The nearer we draw to God and his Word, the more rottenness we shall find in our bones. The more any man looks into the body of the sun, the less he sees when he looks down again. It is said of the basilisk that if it looks into a glass, it immediately dies. So will sin and a sinner, in a spiritual sense, when the soul looks into the Word, which is God’s glass, etc.

Remedy 3: Lesser Sins Still Bring Damnation

The third remedy against this device of Satan is to consider seriously that although your sins are not as great as other people’s, yet without sound repentance on your side and pardoning mercy on God’s, you will be as certainly damned as others, though not equally tormented with them. As in heaven one is more glorious than another, so in hell one shall be more miserable than another, as Augustine says.

What though hell shall not be so hot for you as for others? You must go as certainly to hell as others unless the glorious grace of God shines upon you in the face of Christ. God will suit men’s punishments to their sins. The greatest sins shall be attended with the greatest punishments, and lesser sins with lesser punishments. Alas! What poor comfort this will be when you come to die: to consider that although you will not be equally tormented with others, you must still be forever shut out from the glorious presence of God, Christ, angels, and saints, and from the good things of eternal life, which are so many that they exceed number, so great that they exceed measure, and so precious that they exceed estimation.

Surely the tears of heaven are not sufficient to bewail the loss of heaven. The worm of grief gnaws as painfully as the fire burns. If those souls in Acts 20 wept because they should see Paul’s face no more, how deplorable is the eternal deprivation of the beatific vision?

The gate of indulgence, the gate of hope, the gate of mercy, the gate of glory, the gate of consolation, and the gate of salvation will be forever shut against them (Matt 25:10).

But this is not all. You shall not only be shut out of heaven, but shut up in hell forever; not only shut out from the presence of God and angels, etc., but shut up with devils and damned spirits forever; not only shut out from those sweet, surpassing, inexpressible, and everlasting pleasures at God’s right hand, but shut up forever under torments that are easeless, remediless, and endless.

It was a good saying of Chrysostom concerning hell: “let us not seek where it is, but how we shall escape it.”

Ah, souls! Would it not be ten thousand times better for you to break off your sins by repentance than to go on in them until you feel the truth of what you now hear?

The God of Israel is very merciful. Ah, that you would repent and return, so that your souls might live forever. Remember this: the torment of the damned is grievous because of the bitterness of the punishments, but most grievous because of their eternity. To be tormented without end goes beyond the bounds of all desperation. Ah! How the thoughts of this make the damned roar and cry out for quietness of heart, tear their hair, gnash their teeth, and rage with madness because they must dwell in everlasting burnings forever.

Surely one good means of escaping hell is to take a turn or two in hell through our daily meditations.

Device 11: Corrupting the Mind with Dangerous Errors

The eleventh device Satan uses to draw the soul to sin is to pollute and defile the souls and judgments of men with dangerous errors whose natural tendency is to carry their souls into all looseness and wickedness, as woeful experience abundantly demonstrates.

Ah! How many are filled with these and similar Christ-dishonoring and soul-undoing opinions: “That Ordinances are poor, low, carnal things, and not only to be lived above, but without also. That the Scriptures are full of fallacies and uncertainties, and no further to be heeded than they agree with that spirit that is in them. That ’tis a poor low thing, if not Idolatry too, to worship God in a mediator. That the Resurrection is already past. That there was never any such man or person, as Jesus Christ; but that all is an Allegory and it signifies nothing but light and love and such good frames born in men. That there’s no God, nor Devil, Heaven, nor Hell, but what is within us. That there is no sin in the Saints, they are under no Law but that of the Spirit, which is all freedom. That sin and grace are equally good, and agreeth to his will.” There are a hundred other horrid opinions that have caused wickedness to break in like a flood among us, etc.

These are the remedies against this device of Satan.

Remedy 1: Recognize the Evil of an Erroneous Mind

The first remedy against this device of Satan is to consider solemnly that an erroneous, vain mind is as odious to God as a vicious life. A blind eye is worse than a lame foot. The man who had leprosy in his head was to be pronounced utterly unclean (Lev 13:44). Gross errors make the heart foolish, render the life loose, and make the soul light in God’s sight. Error spreads and frets like gangrene and renders the soul a leper in the sight of God.

The breath of the erroneous is infectious. Like the dogs of Congo, they bite though they do not bark.

It was God’s heavy and dreadful plague upon the Gentiles to give them up to a mind void of judgment: an injudicious mind; a mind rejected, disallowed, and abhorred by God; or a mind in which no one has cause to glory, but rather to be ashamed. I think that in these days God punishes many men’s former wickedness by giving them up to soul-ruining errors.

Ah, Lord! I humbly beg this mercy: that you would rather take me into your own hand and do anything with me than give me up to those sad errors to which thousands have married their souls and through which they are perishing forever.

To persist in error through animosity is diabolical. It would be best never to have erred; next to that, it is best to amend our error.

Remedy 2: Receive the Truth with Love

The second remedy against this device of Satan is to receive the truth affectionately and let it dwell plentifully in your souls. The greatest sinners are sure to be the greatest sufferers.

When men stand against the truth, when truth would enter and they bar the doors of their souls against it, God in justice gives such souls up to be deluded and deceived by error, to their eternal undoing: “Because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved, God shall send them strong delusions” (or, as the Greek has it, “The efficacy of errour.”) “That they should believe a lye. That they all might be damned, who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thess 2:10-12).

Ah, sirs! As you love your souls, do not tempt God or provoke him by withstanding and openly confronting truth, lest he give you up to believe a lie so that you may be damned. No people on earth are so strongly defended against error as those who receive the truth in the love of it. Such souls “are not easily tossed too and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lye in wait to deceive” (Eph 4:14). The expression translated “sleight” signifies cheating with a die, such tricks as cheats and false gamblers use at dice.

It is not the person who receives the most truth into his head, but the one who receives the most truth affectionately into his heart, who shall enjoy a sound and clear judgment when others are deluded and deceived by those who make it their business to infect men’s judgments and undo their souls.

Ah, souls! If you would not have your judgments polluted and defiled with error, “Let the word of the Lord, that is more precious than Gold, yea than fine Gold, dwell plenteously in you” (Col 3:16). Let it indwell you as an engrafted word, incorporated into your souls, so thoroughly digested that you turn it into a part of yourselves.

It is not hearing, knowing, commending, or talking about truth, but the indwelling of truth in your souls that will keep your judgments chaste and sound amid all those glittering errors. Those errors betray many souls into the hands of him who can easily “transforme himself into an Angel of light,” so that he may draw others to lie in chains of darkness with him forever.

Oh! Do not let the Word be a stranger, but make it your choicest familiar. Then you will be able to stand in the day when many fall on your right hand and on your left through the subtlety of those who say, “Loe here is Christ, and loe there is Christ.”

Those who do not know God’s ways must necessarily err, yet they cannot wander so far as to miss hell.

There was more wit than grace in the speech of the man who counseled his friends “Not to come too near to Truth, lest his teeth should be beaten out with its heels.” Ah, souls! If truth dwells plentifully in you, you are happy; if not, you are unhappy beneath all your greatest felicity.

Melanchthon said, “It is with Truth as it is with holy water, everyone praised it, and thought it had some rare virtue in it, but offer to sprinkle them with it, and they will shut their eyes, and turn away their faces from it.”

Truth at last triumphs. “Truth stands in the open fields.” Yes, and it makes those souls stand in whom it dwells, when others fall as stars from heaven.

Remedy 3: Remember That Error Brings Loss

The third remedy against this device of Satan is to consider solemnly that error causes its owner to suffer loss. Error is bright like glass, but brittle, and it cannot endure the hammer or fire as gold can, which remains firm and radiant though rubbed or melted.

All the pain and labor men undertake to defend and maintain their errors, spread them abroad, and infect the world with them will bring them neither profit nor comfort in the day when “every mans work shall be made manifest, and the fire shall try it, of what sort it is,” as the apostle shows in that remarkable Scripture (1 Cor 3:11-15).

Ah, that all who rise early and go to bed late, spending their time, strength, spirits, and all they possess to advance and spread God-dishonoring and soul-undoing opinions, would consider seriously that they shall lose all the pain, cost, and expense they have incurred or will incur in propagating error. If they are ever saved, it shall be by fire, as the apostle shows there.

Ah, sirs! Is it nothing to spend your money on that which is not bread and your strength on that which will not and cannot profit you on the day when you must give your account and all your works must be tried by fire? Ah! May such souls now at last “buy the truth, and sell it not.” Remember, you can never overpay for it, whatever you give for it, and you can never receive enough for selling it, even if you should have all the world in exchange.

It is said of Caesar that he had greater care of his books than of his royal robes; for while swimming through the waters to escape his enemies, he carried his books in his hand above the water but lost his robes. Ah! What are Caesar’s books compared with God’s books?

Remember this well: one day, indeed one hour, spent studying or spreading the truth will yield the soul more comfort and profit than many thousands of years spent studying and spreading corrupt and vain opinions. Such opinions arise from hell, not heaven; from the god of this world, not from the God who shall at last judge this world and all the corrupt opinions of men.

Remedy 4: Reject Every Doctrine Contrary to Godliness

The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is to hate, reject, and abominate all doctrines and opinions that are contrary to godliness and open a door to profaneness. Reject all doctrines and opinions that require men to display a strictness beyond what Scripture requires. Reject all that advance and exalt corrupt nature as capable of doing supernatural things, which none can do except by the supernatural power that raised Christ from the grave.

Reject all opinions that exalt our own righteousness in place of Christ’s righteousness, place good works on Christ’s throne, and make them copartners with Christ, etc. Reject all opinions and doctrines that so exalt Christ and his righteousness that they cry down every duty of holiness and righteousness. Reject all doctrines and opinions that make the glorious and blessed privileges of believers in the days of the gospel lesser, fewer, and weaker than they were in the time of the law.

One old piece of gold is worth a thousand new counters, and one old truth of God is worth more than a thousand new errors. True hatred extends to the whole kind. It is sad to frown upon one error and smile upon another.

Gideon had seventy sons and only one bastard, yet that bastard destroyed all the rest (Judg 8:13). One turn may bring a man completely out of the way.

Ah! If your souls rose with holy hatred and strong indignation against such doctrines and opinions, you would stand when others fall. You would shine like the sun in her glory when many who once shone like stars may go out like stinking candle snuffs.

Remedy 5: Hold Fast to the Truth

The fifth remedy against this device of Satan is to hold fast to the truth. Just as men take hold of the arm of flesh only after they let go of the arm of God (Jer 17:5), so they take hold of error only after they let go of truth. Therefore, hold fast to the truth (2 Tim 1:13; Titus 1:9).

Truth is your crown. Hold fast to your crown, and let no man take it from you. Have you not found truth sweet to your soul, even “sweeter than the Honey, or the Honey-comb?” Will you not go on to heaven feeding upon truth, that heavenly honeycomb, as Samson fed upon his honeycomb? The priests of Mercury, when they ate their figs and honey, cried out, “sweet is Truth.”

Ah, souls! Have you not found truth sweetening, cheering, warming, raising, and strengthening your spirits? Have you not found truth a guide to lead you, a staff to uphold you, a cordial to strengthen you, and a plaster to heal you? Will you not hold fast to the truth?

Has truth not been your best friend in your worst days? Has truth not stood by you when friends forsook you? Has truth not done more for you than all the world could do against you? Will you not hold fast to the truth? Is truth not your right eye, without which you cannot see for Christ; your right hand, without which you cannot act for Christ; and your right foot, without which you cannot walk with Christ? Will you not hold fast to truth?

Oh! Hold fast to the truth in your judgments and understandings, in your wills and affections, and in your profession and conduct. Truth resembles some plants that live and thrive only in warm climates.

Truth is more precious than gold or rubies, “and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared to her.” Truth is the heavenly glass in which we may see the luster and glory of divine wisdom, power, greatness, love, and mercy. In this glass you may see Christ’s face, favor, riches, and heart, beating and working sweetly toward your souls.

Oh! Let your souls cleave to truth as Ruth did to Naomi (Ruth 1:15-16), and say, “I will not leave Truth, nor return from following after Truth; but where Truth goes, I will go, and where Truth lodges, I will lodge, and nothing but death shall part Truth and my soul.”

What John said to the church of Philadelphia, I may say to you: “Hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy Crown.” The crown is the summit of royalty, and such a thing is truth. “Let no man take thy Crown. Hold fast the faithful word,” as Titus says (Titus 1:9). Hold fast as with tooth and nail against those who would snatch it from us.

You would be better off letting go of anything rather than truth. You would be better off letting go of your honors and riches, your friends and pleasures, the world’s favors, your nearest and dearest relations, indeed, your very lives, than letting go of truth. One blessed martyr said, “Though I cannot dispute for the truth, yet I can die for the truth.” Oh! Keep the truth, and truth will keep you safe and happy forever. Blessed are those souls that are kept by truth.

Remedy 6: Remain Humble

The sixth remedy against this device of Satan is to remain humble. Humility will keep the soul free from many darts Satan casts and many erroneous snares he spreads. Low trees and shrubs escape many violent gusts and blasts of wind that shake and tear taller trees. In the same way, humble souls escape many gusts and blasts of error that tear proud and lofty souls.

I have read of a man who saw in a vision many snares of the devil spread over the earth. He sat down mourning and said within himself, “who shall pass through these?” He then heard a voice answer, “humility shall pass through them.”

Satan and the world have the least power to fasten errors upon humble souls. The God of light and truth delights to dwell with the humble, and the more light and truth dwell in the soul, the farther darkness and error will stand from it. The God of grace pours graces into humble souls as men pour liquid into empty vessels. The more grace is poured into the soul, the less error will be able to overpower or infect it.

That is a sweet word: “The meek (or, the humble) will he guide in judgement, and the meek will he teach his way” (Ps 25:9). The Hebrew term Gnanavim, from Gna’ah, signifies the humble or afflicted. Certainly, souls guided and taught by God are not easily drawn aside into ways of error.

Oh! Beware of spiritual pride. Pride fills our fancies, weakens our graces, and makes room in our hearts for error. No people on earth are entangled so quickly and conquered so easily by error as proud souls. The high tide quickly ebbs, and the highest sun soon declines. You know how to apply this. The proud soul is like the man who gazed upon the moon but fell into the pit.

Oh! It is dangerous to desire to be wise above what is written; to be curious and intemperate in your desire for knowledge; to trust your own capacities and abilities; to undertake to pry into every secret; and to be puffed up with a carnal mind. Souls that soar above the bounds and limits of humility usually fall into the very worst errors, as daily experience demonstrates.

Remedy 7: Consider the Evils Error Produces

The seventh remedy against this device of Satan is to consider solemnly the great evils errors have produced. Errors in the conscience produce many great evils, not only inwardly in men’s own souls but also outwardly in human affairs.

Error is a fruitful mother and has brought forth monstrous children that have set towns, cities, and nations on fire. Error is that whorish woman “that hath cast down many, wounded many, yea, slain many strong men, and many great men, and many learned men, and many professing men” in former times and in our own, as is all too evident to everyone who is not greatly abandoned by God, destitute of truth, and blinded by Satan.

Oh, the graces error has weakened and the sweet joys and comforts it has clouded, if not buried! Oh, the hands error has weakened, the eyes it has blinded, the judgments it has perverted, the minds it has darkened, the hearts it has hardened, the affections it has cooled, the consciences it has seared, and the lives it has polluted! Ah, souls! Can you consider this solemnly and not tremble more at error than at hell itself? etc.

Device 12: Delighting in Wicked Company

The twelfth device Satan uses to draw the soul to sin is to make people love wicked company and keep wicked society. Oh, the horrid impieties and wickednesses into which Satan has drawn people by inducing them to sit and associate with vain persons!

These are the remedies against this device of the devil.

Remedy 1: Obey God’s Commands to Avoid Wicked Company

The first remedy against this device of Satan is to dwell, until your hearts are affected, upon those commands of God that expressly require us to shun the society of the wicked: “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Eph 5:11). “Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away” (Prov 4:14-16). See also 1 Cor 5:9-11; 2 Thess 3:6; and Prov 1:10-15.

Turn to these Scriptures and let your souls dwell upon them until a holy indignation is raised within you against fellowship with vain men. “God will not take the wicked by the hand,” as Job says. Why, then, should you?

Jerome says, “The Commands of God must outweigh all authority and example of men.” God’s commands are not like decrees that are easily reversed. They are like the decrees of the Medes, which cannot be changed. If you do not observe these commands now, they will at last be witnesses against you and millstones that sink you on the day Christ judges you.

Remedy 2: Recognize How Infectious Wicked Company Is

The second remedy against this device of Satan is to consider seriously that the company of wicked people is highly infectious and dangerous, as is clear from the Scriptures mentioned above (Prov 13:20).

Ah! How many have lost their names, estates, strength, God, heaven, and souls through association with wicked people? As you shun a stinking carcass; as the seaman shuns sands, rocks, and shoals; and as you shun those whose plague sores are running, so you should shun the society of wicked people. As weeds endanger the corn, bad humors endanger the blood, and an infected house endangers the neighborhood, so wicked company endangers the soul.

Eusebius reports that John the Evangelist would not remain in the same bath as Cerinthus the heretic, lest some judgment overtake them both. A man who keeps bad company is like one who walks in the sun and becomes tanned without realizing it.

Bias, a heathen man, was at sea in a great storm. Perceiving that many wicked men in the ship were calling upon the gods, he said, “Oh, forbear prayer, hold your tongues, I would not have the Gods take notice that you are here, they sure will drown us all, if they should.” Ah, sirs! Could a heathen perceive so much danger in the society of wicked people, while you perceive none?

Remedy 3: Use the Names Scripture Gives the Wicked

The third remedy against this device of Satan is always to look upon wicked people under the names and descriptions Scripture gives them.

Scripture calls them lions for their fierceness, bears for their cruelty, dragons for their hideousness, dogs for their filthiness, and wolves for their subtlety. Scripture describes them as scorpions, vipers, thorns, briars, thistles, brambles, stubble, dirt, chaff, dust, dross, smoke, and scum. The original references follow; unresolved readings are retained: 2 Tim 4:17; Isa 11:7, 29; Ezek 3:10; Matt 16:9; Rev 3:5, 10; Matt 3:7; Isa 10:17, 27; “Chap. 4. 55”; Ezek 13:26; Judg 9:14; Job 21:18; Ps 18:42; Ps 14:18; Ps 42; Ezek 22:18, 19; Isa 65:5; and Ezek 24:6.

It is not safe to look upon wicked people under the names and descriptions they give themselves or flatterers give them, for this may delude the soul. Looking upon them under the names and descriptions Scripture gives them may preserve the soul from frequenting their company and delighting in their society.

Do not tell me what this man calls them or how one person or another regards them. Tell me what Scripture calls them and how Scripture regards them. As Nabal’s name was, so was his nature; and as wicked men’s names are, so are their natures. You may know well enough what is within them by the fitting names the Holy Spirit has given them.

Lactantius says of Lucian, “he spared neither God nor man.” Such monsters are wicked people. Their company should be a burden, not a delight, to all who have tasted the sweetness of divine love.

Remedy 4: Remember How the Godly Grieved over Wicked Company

The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is to consider solemnly that the society and company of wicked people was a great grief and burden to those precious souls who were once glorious on earth and are now triumphing in heaven.

“Woe is me that I dwell in Mesech, that I sojourn in the Tents of Kedar. My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace” (Ps 120:5-6). Jeremiah likewise said, “Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men, that I might leave my people, and go from them; for they be all adulterers, an Assembly of treacherous men” (Jer 9:2).

So they “vexed Lots righteous soul by their filthy conversation” (2 Pet 2:7-8). They made his life a burden and made death more desirable to him than life. Indeed, they made his life a lingering death. Guilt or grief is all the good gracious souls obtain by conversing with wicked people.

A gracious gentlewoman, when she was to die and was in great trouble of conscience, said, “O Lord, let me not go to Hell, where the wicked are; for Lord, you know I never loved their company here.”

The second thing to be shown is the several devices Satan uses, both to draw souls to sin and to keep souls from holy duties, hinder them in holy services, and keep them from religious practices.

“And he shewed me Joshuah the high Priest, standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him” (Zech 3:1).

I will show you the truth of this in the following particulars.

The First Device: Presenting the World Attractively

The first device Satan uses to draw souls from holy duties and keep them from religious services is presenting the world to the soul in such dress and appearance that it ensnares the soul and wins its affections. He represents the world in its beauty and splendor, which proves a bewitching sight to a world of men.

It is true that this did not take Christ, because Satan could find no matter in him for his temptation to work upon. But Satan can no sooner cast out his golden bait than we are ready to play with it and nibble at it. He can no sooner throw out his golden ball than men are apt to run after it, though they lose God and their souls in the pursuit.

The beauty of the world overcomes a Christian more than its strength does, and flattering sunshine more than a blustering storm. In storms, we keep our garments close about us. The champions could not wring an apple out of Milo’s hand by force, but a fair maid got it immediately by fair means.

Ah! How many professors in these days followed hard after God, Christ, and ordinances for a time, until the devil set the world before them in all its beauty and splendor. It so bewitched their souls that they began to have low thoughts of holy things, then became cold in their affections toward holy things, then slighted them, and at last, like the young man in the Gospel, turned their backs upon them.

Ah! The time, thoughts, spirits, hearts, souls, duties, and services that the inordinate love of this wicked world consumes and destroys, and has consumed and destroyed! Where one thousand are destroyed by the world’s frowns, ten thousand are destroyed by the world’s smiles. The inhabitants of Nilus are deafened by the noise of the waters; likewise, the world makes such a noise in men’s ears that they cannot hear the things of heaven. The world is like the swallows’ dung that put out Tobias’s eyes.

Siren-like, the world sings us and sinks us. It kisses us and betrays us, like Judas. It kisses us and strikes us under the fifth rib, like Joab. The honors, splendor, and all the glory of this world are only sweet poisons that will greatly endanger us, if they do not eternally destroy us. Ah! The multitude of souls that have surfeited on these sweet baits and died forever!

The remedies against this device of Satan are these.

Remedy 1: Consider the World’s Weakness

The first remedy against this device of Satan is to dwell upon the impotence and weakness of all these things below. They cannot secure you from the least evil, nor can they procure for you the least desirable good. A crown of gold cannot cure a headache, a velvet slipper ease the gout, or a jewel around the neck take away a toothache.

The prior in Melancthon rolled his hands up and down in a basin full of angel coins, thinking thereby to have charmed his gout, but it would not work.

The frogs of Egypt entered the houses of Egypt’s rich men as well as those of the poor. Our daily experience proves that all the honors and riches, etc., that men enjoy cannot free them from colic, fever, or lesser diseases. Nugas the Scythian, despising the rich presents and ornaments sent to him by the emperor of Constantinople, asked whether those things could drive away calamities, diseases, or death.

Indeed, what may seem most strange is that great wealth cannot keep men from falling into extreme poverty. In Judges 1:6, you will find seventy kings with their fingers and toes cut off, glad, like whelps, to lick up crumbs under another king’s table. Shortly afterward, the same king who brought them to this poverty was reduced to the same poverty and misery. Why, then, should something keep you out of heaven when it cannot give you the least ease on earth?

Remedy 2: Consider the World’s Vanity

The second remedy against this device of Satan is to dwell upon the vanity of worldly goods as well as their impotence. This is the sum of Solomon’s sermon: “Vanity of vanity, and all is vanity.” Our first parents found this to be true and therefore named their second son Abel, or vanity.

Solomon, who had tried these things and could best describe their vanity, preached this sermon again and again: “Vanity of vanity, and all is vanity.” Gilimer, king of the Vandals, when led in triumph by Belisarius, cried out, “Vanity of vanity, all is vanity.”

It is sad to think how many thousands can say with the Preacher, “Vanity of vanity, all is Vanity,” and even swear it, yet follow these things as if no other glory or happiness could be found except in the things they call vanity. Such men will sell Christ, heaven, and their souls for a trifle. They call these things vanity but do not sincerely believe them to be vanity. Instead, they set their hearts upon them as though they were their crown, the summit of all their royalty and glory.

Lucian pleasantly imagines Charon standing on top of a high hill, viewing all the affairs of living men and looking upon their great cities as little birds’ nests.

Oh! Let your souls dwell upon the vanity of all things below until your hearts are thoroughly convinced and persuaded of their vanity, so that you trample upon them and make them a footstool from which Christ may rise and ride in holy triumph in your hearts.

Chrysostom once said, “That if he were the fittest in the world to preach a sermon to the whole world, gathered together in one congregation, and had some high mountain for his pulpit, from whence he might have a prospect of all the world in his view, and were furnished with a voice of brass, a voice as loud as the trumpet of the archangel, that all the world might hear him, he would choose to preach upon no other text than that in the Psalms: ‘O mortal men, how long, will ye love vanity, and follow after leasing?’”

Oh, the imperfection, ingratitude, fickleness, inconstancy, and faithlessness of those creatures we most slavishly love! Ah, if we would only weigh man’s pain against his payment, his crosses against his mercies, and his miseries against his pleasures, we would see that nothing is gained by the bargain and conclude, “Vanity of vanity, all is vanity.”

Tell me, you who say that all things under the sun are vanity: if you really believe what you say, why do you spend more thought and time on the world than on Christ, heaven, and your immortal souls? Why, then, do you neglect your duty toward God to gain the world? Why do you pursue the world so eagerly, yet remain so cold in your pursuit of God, Christ, and holiness? Why are your hearts so exceedingly lifted up when the world comes in and smiles upon you, but so dejected and cast down when the world frowns upon you and, like Jonah’s gourd, withers before you?

Remedy 3: Consider the World’s Uncertainty

The third remedy against this device of Satan is to dwell much upon the uncertainty, mutability, and inconstancy of all things under the sun. Man himself is only the dream of a dream, the offspring of a fancy, an empty vanity, the curious picture of nothing, a poor, feeble, dying flash.

All temporal things are as transitory as a rushing, headlong torrent, a shadow, a ship, a bird, an arrow, or a post that passes by. “Why shouldst thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?” says Solomon. The apostle says, “The fashion of this world passeth away” (1 Cor 7:31). This indicates that there is no firmness or solid ground for confidence in the creature. “Heaven only hath a foundation, Earth hath none, but is hanged upon nothing,” as Job speaks.

The apostle instructed Timothy “to Charge rich men that they be not high-minded, nor put their trust in uncertain riches.” Riches have never been true to anyone who trusted them. They have deceived men as Job’s brook deceived the poor traveler in summer. They are like bad servants whose shoes are made of running leather and who will never stay long with one master. As a bird hops from tree to tree, so the honors and riches of this world pass from man to man. Let Job and Nebuchadnezzar testify to this truth, for they fell from great wealth to great want.

No man can promise himself that he will remain wealthy until night. One storm at sea, one coal of fire, one false friend, one unadvised word, or one false witness may make you a beggar and a prisoner all at once. The most renowned Frederick lost everything and petitioned to be made merely the sexton of the church that he himself had built.

All the riches and glory of this world are only smoke and chaff that vanish, “As a dream and vision in the night that tarrieth not.” It is as if a hungry man dreams and thinks that he eats, but when he awakens, his soul is empty; or as if a thirsty man thinks he drinks, but when he awakens, his soul is faint, as the prophet Isaiah says.

I have read of a poor fisherman who, while his nets were drying, slept upon a rock and dreamed that he had been made a king. He suddenly started up and, leaping for joy, fell from the rock. In place of his imaginary happiness, he lost his small portion of pleasures.

Where is Solomon’s glory? Where are Nebuchadnezzar’s sumptuous buildings, Sisera’s nine hundred chariots, Alexander’s power, or the authority of Augustus, who commanded the whole world to be taxed? Those who have been most glorious in what men generally account glorious and excellent have had inglorious ends: Samson for strength, Absalom for beauty, Ahithophel for policy, Haman for favor, Asahel for swiftness, and Alexander for great conquest, yet after twelve years he was poisoned. You may see the same thing in the four mighty kingdoms, the Chaldean, Persian, Grecian, and Roman. How soon they were gone and forgotten!

Now rich, now poor; now full, now empty; now in favor, soon out of favor; now honorable, now despised; now healthy, now sick; now strong, now weak. John compares the pomp of this world to the moon, which increases and decreases (Rev 12:1).

Oh! Do not let these uncertain things keep you from those holy services and heavenly employments that may make you happy forever and render your soul eternally blessed and at ease, when all these transitory things bid your soul an everlasting farewell.

Remedy 4: Consider the World’s Dangers

The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is seriously to consider that the great things of this world are very harmful and dangerous to both the outward and inward man because of the corruptions in men’s hearts.

Oh, the rest, peace, comfort, and contentment that the things of this world strip from many men! Oh, the fears, cares, envy, malice, dangers, and mischiefs to which they subject men! They often make men carnally confident: “The rich mans riches are a strong Tower in his imagination. I said in my prosperity I should never be moved.”

They often swell the heart with pride and make men forget God, neglect God, and despise the Rock of their salvation. “When Jesurun waxed fat, and was grown thick, and covered with fatness, then he forgot God, and forsook God that made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation,” as Moses spoke.

Henry the Second, hearing that Mentz, his chief city, had been taken, used this blasphemous speech: “I shall never,” said he, “love God any more, that suffered a City so dear to me, to be taken from me.”

When someone presented Antipater, king of Macedonia, with a book about happiness, his answer was, “I have no leisure.”

Ah! The time, thoughts, and spirits that the things of the world consume and spend! Oh! How they hinder the exercise of faith upon God! How they interrupt our sweet communion with God! How they diminish our love for the people of God, cool our love for the things of God, and cause us to act like those who are most unlike God!

Oh, the deadness and barrenness that attend men under great outward mercies! Oh! The riches of the world choke the word, so that men live under the most soul-searching and soul-enriching means with lean souls. Though they have full purses and their chests are full of silver, their hearts are empty of grace.

It is said that “Abraham was very rich in Cattel, in silver, and in gold” (Gen 13:2). According to the Hebrew, Chabbedgh, it is “Abraham was very heavy,” showing that riches are a heavy burden and often a hindrance to heaven and happiness.

A French proverb says, “That four good mothers beget four bad daughters; great familiarity begets contempt, truth hatred, virtue envy, riches ignorance.”

King Henry the Fourth asked the Duke of Alva whether he had observed the great eclipse of the sun that had recently occurred. “No,” said the duke, “I have so much to do on Earth, that I have no leisure to look up to Heaven.” Ah! Would that this were not true of most professors in these days. It is very sad to think how much their hearts and time are occupied with earthly things, leaving them scarcely any leisure to look up to heaven or to seek Christ and the things that belong to their everlasting peace.

Ponticius bestowed five talents as a gift upon Anacreon. For two nights afterward, Anacreon was so troubled by cares about how to keep them and how to use them that he carried them back to Policrates, saying that they were not worth the pains he had already taken for them.

Riches, though honestly gained, are like manna. Those who gathered less had no lack, while what those who gathered more possessed was only a trouble and annoyance to them. The world is troublesome, yet it is loved. What would it be if it were peaceful? You embrace it though it is filthy. What would you do if it were beautiful? You cannot keep your hands from the thorns. How earnest would you be, then, in gathering the flowers?

Sicily is so full of sweet flowers that dogs cannot hunt there. What do all the sweet pleasures of this world do but make us lose the scent of heaven?

The world may fittingly be compared to the serpent Scytale. It is reported that when she cannot overtake fleeing travelers, she so astonishes and amazes them with her beautiful colors that they have no power to escape before she stings them. Ah! How many thousands now on earth have found this true by experience and, bewitched by the beauty and splendor of this enticing world, have spun a fine thread with which to strangle themselves both temporally and eternally!

Remedy 5: Consider the World’s Mixture

The fifth remedy against this device of Satan is to consider that all the happiness of this world is mixed. Our light is mixed with darkness, our joy with sorrow, our pleasures with pain, our honor with dishonor, and our riches with want. If our sight is spiritual, clear, and quick, we may see that in the happiness of this world our wine is mixed with water, our honey with gall, our sugar with wormwood, and our roses with thorns.

Sorrow attends worldly joy, danger attends worldly safety, loss attends worldly labors, and tears attend worldly purposes. Regarding these things, men’s hopes are vain, their sorrow certain, and their joy feigned. “Hark, Scholar,” said the harlot to Apuleius, “It is but a bitter sweet you are so fond of.” Surely all the things of this world are only bitter-sweets.

The apostle calls this world “A sea of glass”: a sea because of its trouble, and glass because of its brittleness and bitterness. The honors, profits, pleasures, and delights of this world are true gardens of Adonis, where we can gather nothing but trivial flowers surrounded by many briars.

Remedy 6: Seek Better and More Lasting Things

The sixth remedy against this device of Satan is to gain a better acquaintance with, and firmer assurance of, more blessed and glorious things. What raised their spirits in Hebrews 10-11 to trample upon all the beauty, splendor, and glory of the world was their acquaintance with and assurance of better and more lasting things: “They took joyfully the spoyling of their goods, knowing in themselves, that they had in Heaven a better and a more durable substance. They look’t for a house that had foundations, whose builder and maker was God: And they look’t for another Country, even an heavenly. They saw him that was invisible, and had an eye to the recompence of reward.”

This made them count all the glory and splendor of this world too poor and contemptible for them to set their hearts upon. Let heaven be a man’s object, and earth will soon be his abject.

The main reason men dote upon the world and damn their souls to gain it is that they are not acquainted with a greater glory. Men ate acorns until they became acquainted with the use of wheat. Ah! If men were better acquainted with what union and communion with God mean, and with what it is “to have a new name, and a new stone, that none knows, but he that hath it”; if they tasted more of heaven, lived more in heaven, and had more glorious hopes of going to heaven, how easily they would have the moon under their feet!

Luther was once in need when a good sum of money was unexpectedly sent to him by a nobleman of Germany. Somewhat amazed, he said, “I fear that God will give me my reward here, but I protest I will not be so satisfied.”

Lewis of Bavaria, emperor of Germany, excellently said, “Such goods are worth getting and owning, as will not sink, or wash away, if a shipwreck happens, but will wade and swim out with us.”

It is recorded of Lazarus that after his resurrection from the dead, he was never seen to laugh. His thoughts and affections were so fixed on heaven, though his body was on earth, that he could not help but slight temporal things, because his heart was so bent and set upon eternal things.

As Augustine says, there are goods of the throne of grace, such as God, Christ, the Spirit, adoption, justification, remission of sin, peace with God, and peace with conscience. There are also goods of the footstool, such as honors, riches, the favor of creatures, and the other comforts and accommodations of this life. Whoever is acquainted with and assured of the goods of the throne will easily trample upon the goods of the footstool.

When Basil was tempted with money and advancement, he said, “give me money that may last forever, and glory that may eternally flourish; ‘for the fashion of this world passeth away,’ as the waters of a river that runs by a city.”

Ah, make it your business and work to think more about the great things of eternity and make them more certain to your own souls. They will give you joy in life, peace in death, and a crown of righteousness on the day of Christ’s appearing. They will lift your souls above all the beauty and splendor of this bewitching world and raise your feet above other men’s heads.

When a man becomes assured of a crown, a scepter, the royal robes, etc., he begins to have low, mean, and contemptible thoughts of the things he once highly prized. In the same way, assurance of greater and more glorious things will breed in the soul a holy scorn and contempt for all those poor, mean things that the soul previously valued above God, Christ, heaven, etc.

Remedy 7: Know Where True Happiness Lies

The seventh remedy against this device of Satan is seriously to consider that true happiness and satisfaction cannot be found in the enjoyment of any worldly good. True happiness is too great and glorious to be found in anything below God, who is a Christian’s chief good.

True happiness lies only in our enjoyment of a suitable good, a pure good, a total good, and an eternal good. God alone is such a good, and only such a good can satisfy the soul of man.

The blessed angels, those glittering courtiers, have every happiness and blessing, yet they have neither gold, silver, jewels, nor any of the beauty and splendor of this world. Certainly, if happiness were found in these things, the Lord Jesus, who is the rightful and royal heir of all things, would have exchanged his cradle for a crown, his birth chamber, a stable, for a royal palace, his poverty for plenty, his despised followers for shining courtiers, and his modest provisions for the choicest delicacies, etc.

Certainly, happiness does not lie in things a man may enjoy and yet remain miserable forever. A man may be great and graceless with Pharaoh, honorable and damnable with Saul, or rich and miserable with Dives, etc. Therefore, happiness does not lie in these things. Philosophers could say that he was never a happy man who might afterward become miserable.

Certainly, happiness does not lie in things that cannot comfort a man on his deathbed. Are honors, riches, friends, etc., able to comfort you when you come to die? Or is it not rather faith in Christ’s blood, the witness of Christ’s Spirit, the sense and feeling of Christ’s love and favor, and the hope of reigning eternally with Christ?

Gregory the Great used to say, “He is poor whose soul is void of grace, not whose Coffers are empty of money.”

Can happiness lie in things that cannot give us health, strength, ease, a good night’s rest, an hour’s sleep, or a good appetite? All the honors, riches, and delights of this world cannot give us even these poor things. Therefore, happiness certainly does not lie in enjoying them, etc.

Surely happiness cannot be found in things that cannot satisfy men’s souls, and none of these things can satisfy the soul of man. “He that loveth silver, shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abundance, with increase; this is also vanity,” said the wise man.

The barren womb, the horseleech’s daughter, the grave, and hell will be satisfied as soon as the soul of man will be satisfied by the enjoyment of any worldly good. The reasonable soul may be occupied with other things, but it cannot be filled with them. Something will always be lacking for the soul that has nothing but outward goods to live upon. You may as soon fill a bag with wisdom, a chest with virtue, or a circle with a triangle as fill man’s heart with anything below. A man may have enough of the world to sink him, but he can never have enough to satisfy him, etc.

Remedy 8: Consider the Soul’s Dignity

The eighth remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider the dignity of the soul. Oh, the soul of man is worth more than a thousand worlds! It is the greatest possible abasement of the soul to let it dote upon a little shining earth, a little painted beauty, and fading glory, when it is capable of union with Christ, communion with God, and enjoyment of the eternal vision of God.

Seneca could say, “I am too great, and born to greater things, than that I should be a slave to my body.” Oh! You should say, “my soul is too great, and born to greater things, than that I should confine it to a heap of white and yellow earth.”

Plutarch tells us that Themistocles thought it beneath his rank to stoop down to take up the spoils that the enemies had scattered in flight. Instead, he said to one of his followers, “you may, for you are not Themistocles.” Oh, what a sad thing it is that a heathen should set his feet upon the very things on which most professors set their hearts, and for the gain of which many, like Balaam, risk losing their immortal souls forever!

I have dealt at greater length with the remedies that may help us against this dangerous device of Satan because he usually does more harm to men’s souls by this device than by all other devices.

In closing, I wish, as Chrysostom once did, that the sentence, “Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do; and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the Sun” (Eccl 2:11), were engraved on the doorposts through which you enter, on the tables where you sit, on the dishes from which you eat, on the cups from which you drink, on the bedsteads where you lie, on the walls of the house where you live, on the garments you wear, on the heads of the horses you ride, and on the foreheads of everyone you meet.

May your souls not be kept by the beauty and splendor of the world from those holy and heavenly services that may render you blessed while you live and happy when you die. May you breathe your last into the bosom of him who lives forever and who will make eternally happy all those who prefer Christ’s spiritual and eternal things above all temporal and transitory things.

Satan’s second device for drawing souls away from holy duties and keeping them from religious service is to present them with the dangers, losses, and sufferings that attend particular acts of service.

By this device Satan kept those who believed in Christ from confessing him: “Nevertheless among the chief Rulers also, many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the Synagogue” (John 12:42). Many a man says, “I would walk in all the ways of God, I would give up myself to the strictest way of holiness; but I am afraid dangers will attend me on the one hand, and losses, and perhaps such and such sufferings on the other hand.” Oh, how should we help ourselves against this temptation and device of Satan?

The remedies against this device of Satan follow.

Remedy 1: Afflictions Cannot Harm Your Treasure

The first remedy against this device of Satan is to consider that all the troubles and afflictions you meet in the way of righteousness will never hurt or harm you. “And who is he that shall harm you, if you be followers of that which is good?” says the apostle. That is, no one shall harm you. As the saying has it, “Nobody is properly hurt but by himself, and his own fault.”

Natural conscience cannot help but pay homage to the image of God stamped upon the natures, words, works, and lives of the godly, as we may see in the conduct of Nebuchadnezzar and Darius toward Daniel.

All the afflictions and troubles that attend people in the way of righteousness can never rob them of their treasure or their jewels. They may rob them of light and trifling things, such as the sword at their side, the stick in their hand, or the flowers and ribbons in their hats. But a saint’s treasures are the presence of God, the favor of God, union and communion with God, the pardon of sin, the joy of the Spirit, and peace of conscience. These are jewels that none but Christ can give and none but Christ can take away.

Why, then, should a gracious soul hold back from the way of holiness because of afflictions, when no affliction can strip a man of his heavenly jewels? They are his ornaments and safety here, and they will be his happiness and glory hereafter. Why should a man fear or be troubled by storms at sea when his treasures are secure in a friend’s hand on land?

A believer’s treasure is always safe in the hands of Christ. His life, soul, grace, comfort, and crown are safe in Christ’s hand. “I know him in whom I have believed, and that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him, until that day,” says the apostle (2 Tim 1:12). Luther expressed it memorably: “Let him that died for my soul, see to the salvation of it.” A child’s most precious things are most secure in his father’s hands; so our souls, graces, and comforts are secure in the hand of Christ.

Gordius, that blessed martyr, considered it a loss not to suffer many kinds of torture. He said, “tortures are but tradings with God for glory. The greater the combat is, the greater is the following reward.”

Remedy 2: Follow the Saints Who Persevered

The second remedy against this device of Satan is to consider that other precious saints, once shining lights on earth and now triumphing in heaven, continued in religious service despite all the troubles and dangers surrounding them.

Nehemiah and Ezra were surrounded by dangers on the left and the right, yet in the face of them all they continued building the temple and the wall of Jerusalem. So did Daniel and those precious worthies in Psalm 44. Though they lacked outward encouragement and faced a world of great discouragement, their souls clung to God and his ways: “Though they were sore broken in the place of Dragons, and covered with the shadow of death; yea, though they were all the day long counted as sheep for the slaughter, yet their hearts were not turned back, neither did their steps decline from his ways” (Ps 44).

Though bonds and imprisonment attended Paul and the rest of the apostles in every place, they continued in the Lord’s work and service. Why, then, should you degenerate from their worthy examples, which it is both your duty and your glory to follow?

William Flower, the martyr, said, “That Heaven should as soon fall, as I will forsake my profession, or budge in the least degree from it.” Sanctus, while enduring as great a torment as you have read of, cried, “I am a Christian.” No torment could make him abandon the service of God. I might produce a cloud of witnesses, but if these do not move you to be noble and brave, I fear that more will not.

Remedy 3: Neglect Brings Greater Danger

The third remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that all the troubles and dangers attending holy duties and heavenly services are only temporal and momentary, while neglecting those duties may expose you to every temporal, spiritual, and eternal danger.

“How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” He does not say, if we reject or renounce so great salvation. No, but if we neglect or put off so great salvation, how shall we escape? The underlying word means, “Dis-regard, not care for it.” We cannot escape by any way, means, or device in the world. Divine justice will be above us in spite of our very souls.

Performing particular heavenly services may expose you to the frowns of men, but neglecting them will expose you to the frowns of God. Performing them may make you contemptible in the eyes of men, but neglecting them may make you contemptible in the eyes of God. Performing them may cost you your estate, but neglecting them may cost you God, Christ, heaven, and your soul forever.

Performing them may shut you out from some outward, temporal comforts, but neglecting them may shut you out from that excellent, matchless glory “that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entred into the heart of men.” Remember this: no man breathes who will not suffer more by neglecting those holy and heavenly services that God commands, commends, and rewards than he could possibly suffer by performing them.

Francis Xaverius counseled John III, king of Portugal, to meditate for a quarter of an hour every day upon this text: “What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world, and lose his soul.”

Remedy 4: God Delivers Through Trouble

The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is to consider that God knows how to deliver from troubles by troubles, from afflictions by afflictions, and from dangers by dangers. By lesser troubles and afflictions, God often delivers his people from greater ones, so that they may say, “We had perished, if we had not perished; we had been undone, if we had not been undone; we had been in danger, if we had not been in danger.”

God will so order the afflictions that befall you in the way of righteousness that your souls will say, “We would not for all the world wish we had missed such and such troubles and afflictions; for surely, had not these befallen us, it would have been worse and worse with us.” Oh, the carnal security, pride, formality, dead-heartedness, lukewarmness, censoriousness, and earthliness that God has cured in us through the troubles and dangers we have met in the ways and services of the Lord!

I remember the story of a godly man who broke his leg as he was preparing to sail for France. Providence so ordered it that the ship on which he would have sailed was wrecked at that very time, and not one man was saved. By breaking a bone, his life was saved.

In the same way, the Lord often breaks our bones, but he does it to save our lives and our souls forever. He gives us a potion that makes us heartsick, but he does it to make us perfectly well and to purge us of those evil humors that have made our heads ache, God’s heart ache, and our souls sick and heavy to the point of death, etc. Oh, therefore, let no danger or misery hinder you from your duty.

Anaxagoras, when he saw the great possessions he had lost, said, “Had not these things perished I could not have been safe.”

Remedy 5: The Gain Exceeds the Loss

The fifth remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that you will gain more in the service of God and by walking in righteous and holy ways, even though troubles and afflictions attend you, than you can possibly suffer or lose by being found in God’s service. “Godliness is great gain.”

Oh, the joy, peace, comfort, and rest that saints meet in the ways and service of God! They find that religious services are not empty things, but things in which God is pleased to reveal his beauty and glory to their souls. “My soul thirsts for God,” says David, “that I might see thy beauty, and thy glory, as I have seen thee in thy Sanctuary.”

Oh, the sweet looks, sweet words, sweet hints, sweet promptings, sweet influences, and sweet love letters that gracious souls receive from heaven while they wait upon God in holy and heavenly services! The least of these will darken and outweigh all the splendor and glory of this world, richly repaying the soul for every trouble, affliction, and danger that has attended it in God’s service.

Tertullian, in his Book to the Martyrs, has an apt saying: “That’s right and good merchandise, when something is parted with to gain more.” He applies it to their sufferings: though the flesh lost something, the spirit gained much more.

Under all their troubles and afflictions, the saints can say that they have meat to eat and drink to drink that the world knows nothing of. They receive such supplies, refreshments, and warmth that they would not exchange them for all the honors, riches, and delicacies of this world.

Let a Christian compare his external losses with his spiritual, internal, and external gain, and he will find that for every penny he loses in God’s service, he gains a pound; for every pound he loses, he gains a hundred; and for every hundred lost, he gains a thousand. We lose pins in his service and find pearls. We lose the favor of the creature and gain peace with the Creator. We may lose the comforts and satisfactions of the creature, but we gain the favor of God, peace of conscience, and the comforts and satisfactions of a better life.

When the noble general Zedislaus lost his hand in the wars of the king of Poland, the king sent him a golden hand in its place. Whatever we lose in Christ’s service, he will make up by giving us golden mercies.

If the people of this world knew the sweetness that saints enjoy in afflictions, they would rather choose Manasseh’s iron chain than his golden crown. They would rather be Paul the prisoner than Paul caught up into the third heaven. For light afflictions, they will receive a weight of glory. For a few afflictions, they will receive joys, pleasures, and satisfactions as numerous as the stars of heaven or the sands of the sea. For momentary afflictions, they will receive an eternal crown of glory.

As one person said of Julian’s persecution, “Though the Cross be bitter, yet ’tis but short, a little storm, and an eternal calm follows.” “It is but a wink, and you will be in heaven immediately,” said the martyr. Oh, therefore, do not let afflictions or troubles make you shun the ways of God or abandon that service which should be dearer to you than a world, yes, than your very life, etc.

Satan’s third device for hindering souls from holy and heavenly services and religious duties is to present the soul with the difficulty of performing them.

Satan says, “it is so hard and difficult a thing to pray as you should, and to wait on God as you should, and to walk with God as you should, and to be lively, warm, and active in the communion of saints as you should, that you would be better off ten thousand times neglecting them than undertaking them.” Doubtless, by this device Satan has kept and still keeps thousands from waiting upon God and giving him the service due to his name.

The remedies against this device of Satan follow.

Remedy 1: Consider the Necessity of Duty

The first remedy against this device of Satan is to dwell more upon the necessity of the service and duty than upon the difficulty attending it. You should reason with your souls in this way:

“Oh, our souls, though such and such services are hard and difficult, are they not exceedingly necessary for the honor of God, and the keeping up of his name in the world, and the keeping down of sin, and the strengthening of weak graces, and for the reviving of languishing comforts, and for the keeping clear and bright of your blessed grounds of assurance, and for the scattering of your fears, and for the raising of your hopes, and for the gladdening of the hearts of the righteous, and stopping the mouths of unrighteous souls, who are ready to take every opportunity to blaspheme the name of God and throw dirt and contempt upon his people and ways?”

Never stop thinking about the necessity of this or that duty until your souls are lifted far above all the difficulties attending religious duties.

The necessity of doing your duty also appears from the fact that you are God’s servants by a threefold right: by right of creation, by right of preservation, and by right of redemption.

Remedy 2: Christ Makes His Service Sweet

The second remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that the Lord Jesus will make his services easy for you through the sweet revelation of himself to your souls while you are serving him.

“Thou meetest him that rejoyceth, and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways,” says the prophet Isaiah (Isa 64:5). The word Pagang is interpreted in different ways, but most understand it here to describe meeting a soul with the loving tenderness with which the father of the prodigal met his son. God is the Father of mercies. His heart is full of compassion, and he is as swift to show mercy as he is slow to anger.

If meeting with God, who is goodness itself, sweetness itself, beauty itself, strength itself, and glory itself, will not sweeten his service to your soul, nothing in heaven or earth will.

Jacob’s meeting with Rachel and enjoyment of Rachel made his hard service easy and delightful to him. Will not the soul’s enjoyment of God and meeting with God make his service far easier and more delightful? Doubtless it will. The Lord will give such sweet assistance by his Spirit and grace that his service will be joyous and not grievous, a delight and not a burden, a heaven and not a hell to believing souls.

Confidence in this divine assistance raised Nehemiah’s spirit far above all the difficulties and discouragements attending him in the Lord’s work and service: “But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do, will you rebel against the King? Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of Heaven he will prosper us, therefore we his servants will arise and build: but you have no right, nor portion, nor memorial in Jerusalem” (Neh 2:19-20).

Ah, souls! While you are engaged in the Lord’s service, you will learn by experience that the God of heaven will prosper, support, encourage, and strengthen you. He will carry you through the hardest service with the greatest possible sweetness and cheerfulness. Remember that God will fit your strength to your work, and in the hardest service you will receive the choicest assistance.

Luther spoke excellently to Melanchthon, who was inclined to be discouraged by doubts, difficulties, and fear of enemies and to cease the service they had undertaken: “If the work be not good, why did we ever own it? If it be good, why should we ever decline it?” And again, “Why should we fear the conquered world, that have Christ the Conqueror on our side?” (Isa 40:31).

Remedy 3: Remember What Christ Endured

The third remedy against this device of Satan is to dwell upon the hard and difficult things that the Lord Jesus Christ passed through for your temporal, spiritual, and eternal good.

Ah, what a sea of blood, wrath, sin, sorrow, and misery the Lord Jesus waded through for your internal and eternal good! Christ did not plead, “This cross is too heavy for me to bear, this wrath is too great for me to lie under, this cup (which has in it all the ingredients of divine displeasure) is too bitter for me to sip from; how much more to drink the very dregs of it?”

No, Christ does not stand upon this. He does not plead the difficulty of the service, but resolutely and bravely wades through it all, as the prophet Isaiah shows: “The Lord God hath opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away my back, I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I hid not my face from shame and spitting.”

Christ makes nothing of his Father’s wrath, the burden of your sins, the malice of Satan, and the rage of the world, but sweetly and triumphantly passes through them all. Ah, souls! If this consideration will not raise your spirits above every discouragement you meet, so that you own Christ and his service and stick and cleave to them, I fear nothing will.

A soul not stirred, raised, and lifted by this to be resolute and brave in God’s service despite every danger and difficulty is a soul God has left to much blindness and hardness.

Zanch said, “It is not fit since the head was crowned with thorns, that the members should be crowned with rosebuds.” Godfrey of Bullen, the first king of Jerusalem, refused to be crowned with a golden crown, saying, “it was not fitting for a Christian there to wear a crown of gold, where Christ for our salvation had once worn a crown of thorns.”

Remedy 4: Duty Delights the Renewed Soul

The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is to consider that religious duties and holy, heavenly exercises are difficult only to the worse and ignoble part of a saint. They are not difficult to the noble and better part of a saint, the soul and its renewed affections.

As every flower has its sweet fragrance, so every good duty carries nourishment in its mouth and comfort in its performance. Holy exercises are a heavenly pleasure and recreation, as the apostle says: “I delight in the Law of God, after the inward man: with my mind I serve the Law of God, though with my flesh the Law of sin.”

To the noble part of a saint, “Christs yoke is easie, and his burthen is light.” The word describes his yoke as “a benign, a gracious, a pleasant, a good, and a gainful yoke,” in contrast to one that is painful and tedious. All Christ’s commands and ways, even those that require pulling out right eyes and cutting off right hands, are joyous and not grievous to the noble part of a saint. All Christ’s ways and services are pleasantness itself to the better part of a saint.

So far as a saint is renewed, he is always at his best when he sees most of God, tastes most of God, rises highest in his enjoyment of God, and is warmest and liveliest in God’s service. The noble part of a saint cries, “O! that it might be always thus: O! that my strength were the strength of stones, and my flesh as brass, that my worse part might be more serviceable to my noble part, that I might act by an untired power in that service, that is a pleasure, a Paradise to me.”

Remedy 5: Look to the Reward

The fifth remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider the great reward and glorious recompense awaiting those who cleave to the Lord’s service in the face of every difficulty and discouragement. Though the work is hard, the wages are great. Heaven will make amends for all. Indeed, one hour in heaven will abundantly repay you for cleaving to the Lord and his ways in the face of every difficulty.

This carried the apostle through the greatest difficulties: “he had an eye to the recompence of reward; he looked for a house that had foundations, whose builder and maker was God, and for an heavenly countrey.” This also sustained the spirit of Christ in the face of every difficulty and discouragement: “Looking unto Jesus the Author and finisher of faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the Cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God.”

Basil speaks of some martyrs who were cast out naked for an entire frosty night and were to be burned the following day. They comforted themselves in this manner: “The winter is sharp, but Paradise is sweet; here we shiver for cold, but the bosom of Abraham will make amends for all.”

Christians who would continue in the Lord’s service must look more upon the crown than upon the cross, more upon their future glory than upon their present misery, and more upon their encouragements than upon their discouragements.

God’s very service is wages. His ways are strewn with roses and paved with joy unspeakable and full of glory, and with peace that passes understanding. Some degree of comfort follows every good action, as heat accompanies fire and beams and influences issue from the sun.

“Moreover, by them is thy servant warned, and in keeping of them there is great reward” (Ps 19:11). There is great reward not only for keeping them, but in keeping them. This is a reward before the reward, a sure reward for well-doing in the very act of doing it.

The joy, rest, refreshment, comfort, satisfaction, smiles, and supplies that saints now enjoy in the ways of God are so precious and glorious in their eyes that they would not exchange them for ten thousand worlds. Ah, if the incidental rewards are so sweet and glorious before payday comes, what will be the glory with which Christ crowns his saints for cleaving to his service in the face of every difficulty? Then he will say to his Father, “Lo here am I, and the Children, which thou hast given me.” If there is so much to be had in a wilderness, what then shall be had in paradise? etc.

Device 4: Drawing False Inferences from Christ’s Work

The fourth device Satan uses to keep souls from holy exercises and religious services is to lead them to draw false inferences from the blessed and glorious things Christ has done. They reason that because Jesus Christ has done everything for us, there is nothing for us to do but joy and rejoice. He has perfectly justified us, fulfilled the law, satisfied divine justice, pacified his Father’s wrath, and gone to heaven to prepare a place for us and, in the meantime, to intercede for us. Therefore, they say, away with praying, mourning, hearing, etc.

Ah, what a world of professors Satan has drawn away from religious services in these days by leading them to make such sad, wild, and strange inferences from the sweet and excellent things the Lord Jesus has done for his beloved ones!

The remedies against this device are these.

Remedy 1: Consider What Christ Requires of You

Against this device of Satan, dwell as much on those Scriptures that show you the duties and services Christ requires of you as on those Scriptures that declare the precious and glorious things Christ has done for you. Tertullian said of the fullness of Scripture, “I adore the fullness of the Scripture.” Gregory called Scripture “the heart and soul of God.” Who, then, will not dwell on it?

It is a sad and dangerous thing to have two eyes with which to behold our dignity and privileges, but not one with which to see our duties and services. I should look with one eye on the choice and excellent things Christ has done for me, to raise my heart to love Christ with the purest love, rejoice in Christ with the strongest joy, and lift Christ above all, for he has made himself my all. With the other eye, I should look on those services and duties that the Scriptures require from those for whom Christ has done such blessed things:

“What, know ye not that your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price, therefore glorifie God in your body, and in your spirit, which are Gods” (1 Cor 6:19-20).

“Therefore my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor 15:58).

“And let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Gal 6:9).

The Apostle also says, “Rejoyce always, and pray without ceasing.” And in Philippians, “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12-13). Again, “This do till I come” (1 Cor 11:26). And again, “Let us consider one another, to provoke one another to love, and to good works; not forsaking the assembling of our selves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more, as you see the day approaching” (Heb 10:24-25).

The Jews spent much time turning over the leaves of Scripture, but they did not weigh its substance. “You search the Scriptures” (John 5:39). The Greek appears to be indicative rather than imperative.

A soul that does not want to be drawn away by this device of Satan must not look askance at these blessed Scriptures and the abundance of others like them. He must dwell on them and make them his chief and choicest companions. This will be a happy means of keeping him close to Christ and his service in these times, when many turn their backs on Christ under the pretense of having a high interest in the great and glorious things Christ has accomplished, etc.

Remedy 2: Let Christ’s Work Motivate Your Service

Against this device of Satan, consider that the great and glorious things Jesus Christ has done, and is doing, for us should be far from taking us away from religious services and pious performances. Instead, they should be the greatest possible motives and encouragements to perform them, as the Scriptures abundantly demonstrate. I will give only a few examples.

“That we being delivered out of the hands of our Enemies, might serve him without fear; in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our lives” (Luke 1:74-75). This much I am sure of: all a person’s happiness here is his holiness, and hereafter his holiness shall be his happiness.

Christ has freed you from all your enemies: the curse of the law, the predominant and damnatory power of sin, the wrath of God, the sting of death, and the torments of hell. But what is Christ’s purpose and design in doing these great and marvelous things for his people? It is not that they should cast off the duties of righteousness and holiness, but that their hearts might be freer and sweeter in all holy duties and heavenly services. Christ has broken the devil’s yoke from our necks so that his Father might receive better service from our hearts.

So the Apostle says, “I will be their God, and they shall be my people: And I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” Mark what follows: “Having therefore these promises (dearly beloved) let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh & spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord” (2 Cor 6:17-18; 2 Cor 7:1).

Again, “The grace of God that bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men, teaching us, that denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God, & our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purifie unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:11-14; see also 1 Pet 2:9).

Ah, souls! I know no arguments that will move you to a lively and constant performance of all heavenly services like those drawn from considering the great and glorious things Christ has done for you. If such arguments will not take hold of you and win you over, I do not think that throwing hellfire in your faces will ever do it.

Remedy 3: Follow the Saints’ Active Example

Against this device of Satan, seriously consider that those precious souls for whom Jesus Christ has done and suffered as much as he has for you were exceedingly active and lively in all religious services and heavenly performances.

“Talk not of a good life, but let your life speak.” Your actions do not pass away in passing, for every good work is a grain of seed for eternal life. The saints’ motto in every age has been, “Let’s be doing.” “God loves the Runners, not the Questioner, or Disputers,” said Luther.

Christ did and suffered as much for David as for you, and yet who was more devoted to praying and praising God than David? “Seven times a day will I praise the Lord.” Who was more devoted to studying and meditating on the Word than David? “Thy Law is my meditation day and night.” You may run and read the same truth in Jacob, Moses, Job, Daniel, and the rest of the holy prophets and apostles, for whom Christ has done as much as he has for you.

Ah, how all those worthies abounded in works of righteousness and holiness, to the praise of free grace! The day is at hand when God will ask people not what they have read, but what they have done; not what they have said, but how they have lived.

A person who talks of heaven but does not do the will of God is like one who gazed at the moon but fell into the pit.

Certainly Satan has gained the upper hand over souls who argue in this way: Christ has done such and such glorious things for us; therefore, we need not take care or make a matter of conscience of performing such and such religious services as people say the Word calls for. If this logic is not from hell, what is?

Ah, if the holy prophets and apostles were alive to hear such logic coming from the mouths of those who profess an interest in the great and glorious things Jesus Christ has done for his chosen ones, how they would blush to look on such souls! How their hearts would grieve and break within them when they heard the language and observed the actions of such souls!

Remedy 4: Seek the Evidence of a Holy Life

Against this device of Satan, seriously consider that those who do not walk in the ways of righteousness and holiness, and who do not wait upon God in the several duties and services he commands, cannot have the same evidence in their own souls of their righteousness before God, their fellowship and communion with God, their blessedness here, and their happiness hereafter as those souls who love and delight in the ways of the Lord and are always at their best when most engaged in the Lord’s work and service.

It is one thing to judge by our graces and another to rest or place our trust in them. There is a great difference between declaring and deserving.

“Little Children,” says the Apostle, “let no man deceive you; he that doth righteousness, is righteous, even as he is righteous. In this,” says the same Apostle, “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: If ye know that he is righteous,” says the same Apostle, “ye know that every one that doth righteousness, is born of him. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his Commandments, is a lyar, and the truth is not in him. But whosoever keepeth his Word, in him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also to walk, even as he walked. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lye, and do not the truth; but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another; and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin,” says the same Apostle.

As David’s daughters were known by their garments of various colors, so God’s children are known by their piety and sanctity. A Christian’s emblem should be a house walking toward heaven. High words certainly make a person neither holy nor just, but a virtuous life and circumspect walk make him dear to God.

So James 2 says, “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have no works; Can faith save him?” That is, it cannot. “For as the body without spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”

A tree that is not fruitful is destined for the fire. Christianity is not talking but walking with God, who will not be put off with words. If he finds no fruit, he will take up his ax, and then the soul is cut off forever.

Looking after holy and heavenly works is the best way to preserve the soul from being deceived and deluded by Satan’s deceptions and by sudden flashes of joy and comfort. Holy works are a more perceptible and constant pledge of the precious Spirit, producing and maintaining in the soul a more solid, pure, clear, strong, and lasting joy.

Ah, souls! If you would have within yourselves constant and blessed evidence of your fellowship with the Father and the Son, of the truth of grace, and of your future happiness, see that you hold close to holy services and do not turn your backs on religious duties.

Remedy 5: Remember the Other Ends of Duty

Against this device of Satan, solemnly consider that the saints have other choice and glorious purposes for performing religious duties besides justifying their persons before God, satisfying God’s law or justice, or purchasing the pardon of sin, etc.

It is a precious truth, never to be forgotten, “That duties are esteemed not by their acts, but by their ends.” “The end moves to doing.” “Keep yourself within compass, and have an eye always to the end of your life and actions,” was Emperor Maximilian’s motto.

The saints perform duties to testify to their justification, for “A good tree cannot but bring forth good fruits”; to testify to their love for God and sincere obedience to God’s commands; to testify to their deliverance from spiritual bondage; to give evidence of the Spirit’s indwelling; to stop the mouths of the worst people; and to gladden those righteous souls whom God would not have saddened.

These, and an abundance of other choice purposes, explain why those who have an interest in Christ’s glorious works should nevertheless keep close to the holy duties and religious services Christ commands. If these considerations will not prevail with you to wait upon God in holy and heavenly duties, I am afraid that even if someone rose from the dead, his arguments would not win you over. You would continue in your sins and neglect Christ’s service, though you lost your souls forever, etc.

Device 5: Pointing to the Poverty and Fewness of the Godly

The fifth device Satan uses to draw souls away from religious services and keep them from holy duties is to present to them the poverty and fewness of those who walk in God’s ways and continue in religious practices.

Satan says, “do you not see that those who walk in such and such religious ways are the poorest, the meanest, and the most despicable persons in the world?” This argument prevailed with those in John 7: “Then answered the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived? Have any of the Rulers, or of the Pharisees believed on him? But this people who knoweth not the Law are cursed” (John 7:47-49).

The remedies against this device are as follows.

Remedy 1: See Their Inward Riches

Against this device of Satan, consider that although the saints are outwardly poor, they are inwardly rich. Though poor in temporal things, they are rich in spiritual things. The saints’ worth and riches are inward: “The Kings daughter is all glorious within.”

“Hearken my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom, which he hath promised to them that love him?” says James. “I know thy poverty, but thou art rich,” says John to the church of Smyrna.

“Do not you see,” Chrysostom asks, “the places where creatures are hidden are rough and overgrown with thorns?” Do not naturalists tell you that mountains rich with gold within are bare of grass outside? The saints, like scholars, have poor commons here because they must study hard to go to heaven.

What if they have little in possession? They have a glorious kingdom in reversion. “Fear not little flock, it is your fathers pleasure to give you a Kingdom” (Luke 12:32). Though the saints have little in hand, they have much in hope.

In worldly matters, you count those happy who have much in reversion, even though they have little in possession. Will you count the saints miserable because they have little in hand and little in possession, though they have a glorious kingdom in reversion? I am sure the poorest saint who breathes would not, even if it were in his power, exchange what he has in hope and reversion for the possession of as many worlds as there are stars in heaven or sands in the sea, etc.

Remedy 2: Remember God’s Great and Honorable Servants

Against this device of Satan, consider that in every age God has had some who were great, rich, wise, and honorable and who chose his ways and held to his service in the face of every difficulty. Though not many wise people have chosen his ways and held to his service, some wise people have; though not many mighty people have, some mighty people have; and though not many noble people have, some noble people have.

Good nobles, as someone has said, are like black swans. They are thinly scattered through the firmament of a state, like stars of the first magnitude. Yet God has had some in every age, as histories could demonstrate.

Witness Abraham, Jacob, Job, several kings, and others whom Scripture mentions. And ah, how many have we among ourselves whose souls have held to the Lord, who have swum through the blood of the slain to reach his service, and who have not counted their lives dear to themselves, so that they and others might enjoy the holy things of Christ according to Christ’s mind and heart, etc.

Remedy 3: Compare Spiritual and Temporal Riches

Against this device of Satan, solemnly consider that the spiritual riches of the poorest saints infinitely surpass the temporal riches of all the wicked people in the world.

Their spiritual riches satisfy them. They can rest satisfied with the riches of grace found in Christ, without honors and without wealth, etc. “He that drinks of that water, that I shall give him, shall thirst no more.” Alexander’s vast mind asked whether there were any more worlds to conquer.

The riches of poor saints endure. They will bed and board with them and accompany them to prison, to a sickbed, to the grave, and even to heaven. The spiritual riches of poor saints are like wine to cheer them, bread to strengthen them, clothing to warm them, and armor to protect them.

Crassus was so rich that he maintained an army from his own revenues. Yet he, his great army, and his son and heir fell together, and he left his great estate to others. Everyone who knows anything knows that this world’s riches cannot satisfy human souls and that they are as fading as a flower, or as their owners are, etc.

Remedy 4: Count the Saints in Themselves

Against this device, seriously consider that although the saints are few when considered comparatively, though they are “a little, little, flock” (Luke 12:32), “a remnant, a garden enclosed, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed” (Song 4:12), though they are like the summer gleanings, one from a city and two from a tribe (Jer 3:14), a handful compared with a houseful, a spark compared with a flame, and a drop compared with the ocean, yet, considered simply in themselves, they are an innumerable number that cannot be counted.

John says, “After this I beheld, and loe a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations and kindred, and people, and tongues, stood before the Throne, and before the Lamb, cloathed with white Robes, and Palmes in their hands” (Rev 7:9).

Matthew says, “And I say unto you, that many shall come from the East, and West, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matt 8:11).

Paul says, “But ye are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the City of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of Angels. To the general Assembly, and Church of the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect” (Heb 12:22-23). When Fulgentius saw the nobility of Rome so splendidly arrayed, the sight raised his meditations to the heavenly Jerusalem.

Remedy 5: Look to the Saints’ Coming Glory

Against this device of Satan, seriously consider that it will be only as a day before these poor, despised saints shine brighter than the sun in its glory. It will not be long before you will wish, Oh, that we were now among the poor, mean, despised ones on the day God comes to make up his jewels!

It will not be long before these poor, few saints are lifted onto their thrones to judge the multitude and the world, as the Apostle says: “Know ye not that the Saints shall judge the world?” In that day, oh, how the great, the rich, the learned, and the noble will wish they had lived and spent their days with these few, poor, contemptible creatures in the Lord’s service! Oh, how this wicked world will curse the day when they entertained such base thoughts of the poor, humble saints and allowed their poverty to become a stumbling block that kept them from the ways of holiness!

Mr. Fox was once asked whether he remembered a certain poor man whom he had helped in a time of trouble. He answered, “I remember him well, I tell you I forget Lords and Ladies to remember such.” So God will deal with his poor saints. He will forget the great and mighty ones of the world to remember his few, poor, despised ones. Though John was poor in the world, the Holy Spirit calls him the greatest born of women. Ah, poor saints! People who do not know your worth cannot think so lowly of you that the Lord will not think more highly.

I have read of Ingo, an ancient king of the Draves, who gave a stately feast. He appointed his nobles, who were pagans at that time, to sit in the hall below and commanded that certain poor Christians be brought into his presence chamber to sit with him at his table and eat and drink his royal fare. When many wondered at this, he said, “He accounted Christians, however poor, a greater ornament at his table, and more worthy of his company, than the greatest peers unconverted to the Christian faith, for when these might be thrust down to hell, those might be his consorts and fellow princes in heaven.” You know how to apply it.

Although you sometimes see the reflection of stars in a puddle, at the bottom of a well, yes, in a stinking ditch, the stars themselves are situated in heaven. Likewise, though you see a godly person in a poor, miserable, low, and despised condition concerning the things of this world, he is fixed in heaven, in the region of heaven. “Who hath raised us up,” says the Apostle, “and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

Oh, therefore, speak to your own souls when they begin to turn away from the ways of Zion because of the poverty and fewness of those who walk in them. The day is at hand when those few, poor, despised saints will shine in glory, judge this world, and see all the wicked people of this world wishing they were in the saints’ condition. If it were in their power, the wicked would give ten thousand worlds merely to have the honor and happiness of waiting upon those whom they neglected and despised in this world because of their poverty and fewness.

Remedy 6: Anticipate the Church’s Increase

Against this device of Satan, solemnly consider that a time will come, even in this life and this world, when the reproach and contempt now cast on God’s ways because of the poverty and fewness of those who walk in them will be completely removed. God will make those the head who for countless days have been the tail. He will raise to great outward riches, prosperity, and glory those who have been treated as outcasts because of their poverty and fewness.

The following Scriptures abundantly confirm this truth: Jer 31:12; Isa 30:23; Isa 62:8-9; Joel 2:23-24; Mic 4:6; Amos 9:13-14; Zech 8:12; Isa 41:18-19; Isa 55:13; Isa 66:6-7; Isa 65:21-22; Isa 61:4; Isa 60:10; and Ezek 36:10.

Keep only these two cautions in mind. First, in those times the saints’ chief comforts, delights, and contentment will consist in their clearer, fuller, and more constant enjoyment of God. Second, such an abundant measure of the Spirit will be poured upon them that their riches and outward glory will not be snares, but golden steps to a richer life in God.

Speaking of the glory of the church, the new Jerusalem that came down from heaven, John tells us in Revelation 21, “That the Nations of them which are saved, shall walk in the light of it, and the Kings of the earth do bring their glory into it.”

The prophet Isaiah says, “They shall bring their sons from far, and their silver and their gold with them. For brass, I will bring Gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron.” The prophet Zechariah likewise says, “And the wealth of all the Heathen round about, shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel in great abundance” (Zech 14:14).

The Lord has promised that the meek shall inherit the earth. Heaven and earth shall pass away before one jot or tittle of his word passes unfulfilled.

Ah, poor saints! Some now thrust sorely at you, others look askance at you, others shut the door against you, and others turn their backs on you. Most people, except the few who live much in God and are filled with the riches of Christ, either neglect or despise you because of your poverty. But the day is coming when you will be lifted above the dunghill and exchange poverty for riches, rags for robes, reproach for a crown of honor, and infamy for glory, even in this world.

Nor is this all. God will also mightily increase the number of his chosen ones, and multitudes will be converted to him. “Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Sion travelled, she brought forth children” (Isa 66:8).

“And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations, upon horses, and in chariots, in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts to my holy Mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord; as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord” (Isa 66:19-20).

Does Scripture not say that the kingdoms of this world must become the kingdoms of our Lord (Rev 11:15)? Has God not given Christ the heathen and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession (Ps 2:8)? Has the Lord not said that “in the last days the mountain of the Lords house shall be lifted up above the hills, and shall be established in the top of the mountains, and all nations shall flow unto it” (Isa 2:2; see also Isa 54:14; Isa 61:9)?

Read and meditate on Isaiah 60, Isaiah 66, and Isaiah 2:1-5. There you will find the multitudes that will be converted to Christ. Oh, that you would be mighty in believing and wrestling with God, asking him to hasten the day of his glory so that the reproach now resting on his people and ways may cease!

Device 6: Following the World’s Example

The sixth device Satan uses to keep souls from religious services is to present before them the example of the greater part of the world, who walk in the ways of their own hearts and make light of the ways of the Lord.

Satan says, “Why, do you not see that the great and the rich, the noble and the honorable, the learned and the wise, even the greatest number of men never trouble themselves about such and such ways? Why then should you be singular and overly particular? You would do far better to do as most people do, etc.” (John 4:18; John 7:48-49; 1 Cor 1:26, 22; Mic 7:2-4).

The remedies against this device are these.

Remedy 1: Do Not Follow a Multitude into Evil

Against this device of Satan, solemnly consider those Scriptures that speak directly against following the sinful examples of others. In Exodus, it is written, “Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil, neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest Judgement.”

The way to hell is broad and well beaten. The way to be undone forever is to do as most people do. “The multitude is the weakest and worst Argument,” says Seneca.

The multitude are generally ignorant and do not know the Lord’s way. Therefore, they speak evil of what they do not know. They are envious and maliciously set against God’s service and way, and therefore they cannot speak well of God’s ways. “This way is every where spoken against,” they said.

So Numbers 16 says, “Separate from them, and come out from among them.” The Apostle says, “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.” Solomon says, “Enter not into the way of the wicked, forsake the foolish and live” (Prov 4:14; Prov 9:6).

Those who walk with the majority will perish with the majority. Those who do as most people do will soon suffer with most people. Those who live as most people live must die with most people and go to hell with most people.

Remedy 2: Those Who Sin Together Suffer Together

Against this device of Satan, seriously consider that if you sin with the multitude, all the angels in heaven and all the people on earth cannot keep you from suffering with the multitude. If you are wicked with them, you must unavoidably be miserable with them. Sin and punishment are linked together with adamantine chains.

Say to your soul: O my soul! If you will sin with the multitude, you must be shut out of heaven with the multitude and cast down to hell with the multitude.

“And I heard a voice from Heaven, saying, Come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Come out in affection, action, and habitation, or the infection of sin will bring upon you the infliction of punishment.

The wise man says, “He that walketh with wise men, shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed,” or, as the Hebrew has it, “Shall be broken in pieces.” In the Hebrew expression, the associated sense is “to be naught.”

Of sin we may say what Isidore says of the serpent: “so many colours, so many dolours.”

Multitudes may help you into sin. Indeed, one person may draw you into sin. But no multitude can help you escape punishment. You may see this in Moses and Aaron, who were provoked to sin by the multitude but were shut out of the pleasant land and fell under the hand of justice as well as others.

Remedy 3: Consider the Worth of Your Soul

Against this device of Satan, solemnly consider the worth and excellence of your immortal soul. Your soul is a jewel worth more than heaven and earth. The loss of your soul is incomparable, irreparable, and irrecoverable. If it is lost, everything is lost, and you are undone forever.

Is it madness and folly for a person to kill himself for company? Is it not greater madness or folly to break the neck of your soul and damn it for company?

Suspect any way in which you see multitudes walking. The multitude is a stream against which you must row hard, or you will be carried into a gulf from which angels cannot deliver you. What wise person would reach for gold in a fiery crucible and hazard his immortal soul to gain the world by following a multitude in steps that lead to the chambers of death and darkness?

Is it not better to walk in a narrow way alone than to wander with company in crooked ways? Surely it is better to go to heaven alone than to hell with company.

I might add other things, but these may suffice for the present. I am afraid that if these arguments do not stir you, other arguments will have little effect on you.

Device 7: Flooding Worship with Vain Thoughts

The seventh device Satan uses to keep souls from holy exercises and religious services is to cast in a multitude of vain thoughts while the soul is seeking God or waiting upon him. By this device he has cooled some men’s spirits in heavenly services and drawn many precious souls away, at least for a time, from religious performances.

The troubled soul complains, “I have no heart to hear, nor any heart to pray, nor any delight in reading, nor in the society of the saints, etc. Satan so dogs and follows my soul, and is still casting in such a multitude of vain thoughts concerning God, the world, and my own soul, etc., that I even tremble to think of waiting upon God in any religious service. Oh! The vain thoughts Satan casts in so displease my soul, and so grieve, vex, perplex, and distract my soul, that they even make me weary of holy duties, even of my very life. Oh! I cannot be so raised and ravished, so heated and melted, so quickened and enlarged, so comforted and refreshed, as I should be, as I might be, and as I would be in religious services, because of that multitude of vain thoughts Satan is injecting or casting into my soul, etc.”

The same complaint may be expressed in this prayer: “Lord, how gladly I would serve you now, but vain thoughts will not let me.”

The remedies against this device of Satan are these.

Remedy 1: Be Deeply Affected by God’s Majesty

Have your hearts strongly affected by the greatness, holiness, majesty, and glory of that God before whom you stand and with whom your souls converse in religious services. Oh, let your souls be deeply affected by the presence, purity, and majesty of the God before whom you stand.

A man would be afraid to play with a feather while speaking with a king. Ah, when men have poor, low, light, and slight thoughts of God as they draw near to him, they tempt the devil to bestir himself and cast in a multitude of vain thoughts to disturb and distract the soul as it waits upon God.

When Pompey could not keep his soldiers in camp by persuasion, he lay across the narrow passage leading out and told them, “Go if you will, but you must first trample upon your General.” The thought of this overcame them. You are wise and know how to apply it to the point in hand.

Nothing contributes so much to keeping out vain thoughts as looking upon God as omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent; as a God full of all glorious perfections, whose majesty, purity, and glory will not allow him to behold the least iniquity. The blessed saints and glorious angels in heaven do not have so much as one vain thought because they are deeply affected by the greatness, holiness, majesty, purity, and glory of God.

Remedy 2: Persevere Resolutely in Worship

Be resolute in religious services notwithstanding all the wandering thoughts that trouble the soul. It will be a sweet help against them when the soul resolves to wait upon God whether troubled by vain thoughts or not, saying, “Well, I will pray still, and hear still, and meditate still, and keep fellowship with the saints still.”

Many precious souls can say from experience that when they have been resolute in waiting upon God, Satan has left them and has not been so busy vexing them with vain thoughts. When Satan perceives that the trifling, vain thoughts he casts into the soul only provoke it to greater diligence, carefulness, watchfulness, and resolution in holy and heavenly services, and that the soul loses none of its zeal, piety, or devotion but doubles its care, diligence, and earnestness, he often ceases to interpose his trifles and vain thoughts. So he ceased to tempt Christ when Christ was resolute in resisting his temptations.

It is a rule in civil law: “Nothing seems to be done, if there remains anything to be done.” Augustine likewise says, “If once you say it is enough, you are undone.”

Remedy 3: Distinguish Temptation from Consent

Consider that the vain and trifling thoughts cast into our souls while we wait upon God in one religious service or another are not sins charged upon us if they are not cherished and indulged, but are abhorred, resisted, and disclaimed. Though they may trouble our minds, they will not be put upon our accounts or keep mercies and blessings from us.

It is not Satan’s casting in of vain thoughts that can keep mercy from the soul or undo it, but the lodging and cherishing of them: “O Jerusalem, how long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee?” (Jer 4:14). That is, “in the midst of thee.” Such thoughts pass through the best hearts; they are lodged and cherished only in the worst hearts.

When an upright soul can look God in the face and say, “Lord, when I approach near to you, a world of vain thoughts crowds in upon me, disturbing my soul, weakening my faith, and lessening my comfort and spiritual strength; oh! These are my clog, my burden, my torment, my hell; oh! Do justice upon these, free me from these, that I may serve you with more freedom, singleness, spiritualness, and sweetness of spirit,” those thoughts may vex the soul, but they shall not harm it or keep a blessing from it.

If resisted and lamented vain thoughts could stop the current of mercy and render a soul unhappy, no one on earth would ever taste mercy or be eternally happy.

Remedy 4: Resist Sinful Thoughts as Evidence of Grace

Solemnly consider that watching against sinful thoughts, resisting them, and lamenting and weeping over them carry the sweetest and strongest evidence of the truth and power of grace and of the sincerity of your hearts. This is also the readiest and surest way to be rid of them (Ps 139:23).

Many low and carnal considerations may cause men to watch their words, lives, and actions, such as the hope of gain, the desire to please friends, or the wish to gain a name in the world. Oh, but watching our thoughts and weeping and lamenting over them must arise from some noble, spiritual, and inward principle, such as love for God, a holy fear of God, or a holy care and delight to please the Lord.

The schools rightly observe that outward sins are of greater infamy, but inward sins of the heart are of greater guilt, as we see in the devils. Thoughts are the firstborn and blossoms of the soul, the beginning of our strength for either good or evil, and the greatest evidence that can be given for or against a man.

Nothing more clearly shows that a man has been thoroughly and genuinely wrought upon than having his thoughts brought into obedience, as the apostle says (2 Cor 10:4-5). Grace has grown to a very great height in the soul where it prevails to subdue the vain thoughts that walk up and down within it.

Though you cannot be rid of them, resist and oppose their first risings. When sinful thoughts arise, think that the Lord takes notice of these thoughts: “He knows them afar off” (Ps 124:2). He knew Herod’s bloody thoughts, Judas’s betraying thoughts, and the Pharisees’ cruel and blasphemous thoughts afar off (Isa 59:7; Isa 66:18; Matt 9:4; Matt 12:25). Even Zeno, a wise heathen, affirmed that God beholds the thoughts.

Oh, think this way: “All these sinful thoughts, they defile and pollute the soul, they deface and spoil much of the inward beauty, and glory of the soul” (Matt 15:15-18). If I commit the sin toward which my thoughts incline me, I must either repent or not repent. If I repent, it will cost me more grief, sorrow, shame, heartbreak, and soul-bleeding before my conscience is quieted, divine justice pacified, my comfort and joy restored, my evidences cleared, and my pardon sealed in the court of conscience than the imagined profit or seeming sensual pleasure could be worth: “What fruit had you in those things whereof you are now ashamed.”

Tears instead of gems adorned David’s bed when he had sinned. They must likewise adorn yours, or you must lie down forever in the bed of sorrow.

If I never repent, oh, then my sinful thoughts will be scorpions that eternally vex me, rods that eternally lash me, thorns that everlastingly prick me, a dagger eternally stabbing me, and a worm forever gnawing me. Inward bleeding kills many a man; sinful thoughts will do the same if they are not repented of.

Therefore, watch against them. Be constant in resisting, lamenting, and weeping over them. Then they shall not hurt you, though they may trouble you for a time. Remember that whoever does this does more than the most glittering and blustering hypocrite in the world.

Remedy 5: Fill the Soul with God

Labor more and more to be filled with the fullness of God and enriched with all spiritual and heavenly things (Eph 3:10). Why do the angels in heaven not have so much as an idle thought? It is because they are filled with the fullness of God.

The expression is a Hebraism. When the Hebrews wished to describe many excellent things, they added the name of God, as in the city of God, cedars of God, and wrestlings of God. So here: “That ye may be filled with the fulness of God.”

Take this as an experienced truth: the more the soul is filled with the fullness of God and enriched with spiritual and heavenly things, the less room that soul has for vain thoughts. The fuller a vessel is with wine, the less room it has for water.

Oh, then lay up much of God, Christ, precious promises, and choice experiences in your hearts. You will then be less troubled by vain thoughts. “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things” (Matt 12:3).

Remedy 6: Maintain Holy Affections

Maintain holy and spiritual affections, for your thoughts will resemble your affections. “O how I love thy Law, ’tis my meditation all the day” (Ps 119:97). What we love most, we muse upon most. “When I awake, I am still with thee” (Ps 109:8). What we greatly value, we shall greatly mind. Those who are frequent in their love for God and his law will frequently think of God and his law. A child will not forget his mother.

Remedy 7: Avoid Excessive Worldly Business

Avoid a multiplicity of worldly business (2 Tim 2:4). Do not let the world occupy your hearts and thoughts at other times. Souls torn in pieces by the cares of the world will always be vexed and tormented by vain thoughts whenever they approach God. Vain thoughts will continually crowd in upon one who lives amid a crowd of business.

Paul’s word is “is entangled.” He borrowed the comparison from the custom of the Roman Empire, in which soldiers were forbidden to serve as proctors in other men’s causes or to undertake husbandry or merchandise.

The stars with the smallest circuits are nearest the pole, and men least perplexed by business are commonly nearest to God.

Device 8: Making the Soul Rest in Its Performances

The eighth device Satan uses to hinder souls from religious services and holy performances is to make them rest in their performances: in prayer, hearing, reading, and the communion of saints (Isa 58:1-3; Zech 7:4-6; Matt 6:2; Rom 1:7).

When Satan has drawn the soul to rest upon the service performed, he helps it reason, “Why, you might as well never pray as pray and rest in prayer; might as well never hear as hear and rest in hearing; might as well never be in the communion of saints as rest in the communion of saints.” By this device he stops many souls in their heavenly race and draws poor souls away from the services that should be their joy and crown.

The remedies against this device are these.

Remedy 1: Recognize the Imperfections in Your Best Services

Dwell much upon the imperfections and weaknesses that attend your choicest services. Oh, the spots, blots, and blemishes visible upon the face of our fairest duties! “Pride and high confidence is most apt to creep in upon duties well done,” says one.

When you have done all you can, you still need to close with this prayer: “O enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord,” because of the weaknesses that cling to your best services. We may all say with the church, “All our righteousnesses are as a menstrous cloth” (Isa 64:6). If God strictly marked what is done amiss in our best actions, we would be undone. Oh, the water mingled with our wine and the dross clinging to our gold!

Remedy 2: See That Your Services Cannot Sustain You

Consider the impotence and inability of any of your best services to give divine comfort and refreshment or to keep your souls from fainting and sinking in days of trouble, when darkness surrounds you.

God will say to you as he once did to the Israelites: “Go and cry unto the gods that you have chosen, let them save you in the time of your tribulation” (Judg 10:14). So, in the day of your troubles, God will say, “Go to your prayers, to your hearing, and to your fasting, etc., and see if they can help you, if they can support you, if they can deliver you.”

If God withholds the influence of his grace from you in that day, your former services will be poor cordials to comfort you. Then you must and will cry, “Oh! None but Christ. None but Christ.” Oh, “my prayers are not Christ, my hearing is not Christ, my fasting is not Christ, etc.”

“All good is in the chiefest good.” Neither Christ nor heaven admits of hyperbole. One smile from Christ, one glimpse of Christ, one good word from Christ, or one nod of love from Christ in the day of trouble and darkness will do more to revive and refresh the soul than all your former services in which your souls rested as though they were the bosom of Christ, which alone should be the center of our souls. Christ is the crown of crowns, the glory of glories, and the heaven of heavens.

Remedy 3: Know That Resting on Good Things Destroys

Solemnly consider that resting upon good things will as certainly undo and eternally destroy us as the greatest enormities we could commit. Souls that, after doing all, do not look as high as Christ and rest and center in Christ alone, laying their services at his footstool, must lie down in sorrow. Their bed is prepared for them in hell.

“Behold all ye that kindle a fire, and compass your selves with the sparks, and walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled, this ye shall have at mine hands, ye shall lie down in sorrow” (Isa 50:11). Is it good to dwell with everlasting burnings and a devouring fire? If it is, continue resting in your duties. If not, see that you center only in the bosom of Christ.

Remedy 4: Rest Only in God and Christ

Dwell much upon the necessity and excellence of the resting place God has provided for you above all other resting places. God himself is your resting place. His free mercy and love are your resting place. The pure, glorious, matchless, and spotless righteousness of Christ is your resting place.

Ah, it is sad to think that most men have forgotten their resting place, as the Lord complains: “My people have been as lost sheep, their shepherds have caused them to go astray, and have turned them away to the Mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill, and forgotten their resting place” (Jer 50:6).

Poor souls who do not see the excellence of the resting place God has appointed for them wander from mountain to hill and from one duty to another. Here they will rest, and there they will rest. But souls who see the excellence of the resting place God has provided will say, “farewell prayer, farewell hearing, farewell fasting, etc. I will rest no more in you, but now I will rest only in the bosom of Christ, the love of Christ, the righteousness of Christ.”

The third thing to be shown is the several devices Satan uses to keep souls in a sad, doubting, questioning, and uncomfortable condition.

Though he can never rob a believer of his crown, such is his malice and envy that he will leave no stone unturned and no means unattempted to rob believers of their comfort and peace, make their lives a burden and a hell to them, and cause them to spend their days in sorrow and mourning, sighing and complaining, doubting and questioning: “Surely we have no interest in Christ, our Graces are not true, our hopes are the hopes of hypocrites; our confidence is our presumption; our enjoyments are our delusions,” etc.

Blessed Bradford says in one of his epistles, “O Lord, sometimes I think I feel it so with me, as if there were no difference between my heart and the wicked, I have a blind mind as they, a stout, stubborn, rebellious hard heart as they,” and so he goes on, etc.

I shall show you this in some particulars, etc.

Satan’s first device for keeping souls in a sad, doubting, and questioning condition, and so making their lives a hell, is to cause them to be continually poring and musing over sin. He makes them mind their sins more than their Savior, indeed, so to mind their sins as to forget and neglect their Savior. As the psalmist says, “The Lord is not in all their thoughts.” Their eyes are so fixed upon their disease that they cannot see the remedy, though it is near. They muse so much upon their debts that they have neither mind nor heart to think of their surety, etc.

A Christian should wear Christ in his bosom as a flower of delight, for he is a whole paradise of delight. He who does not mind Christ more than his sin can never be as thankful and fruitful as he should.

The remedies against this device are these.

1. Freed from Sin’s Condemning Power

The first remedy is for weak believers to consider that, though Jesus Christ has not freed them from the presence of sin, he has freed them from the condemning power of sin. It is most true that sin and grace were never born together, nor shall sin and grace die together. Yet while a believer breathes in this world, they must live together and keep house together.

Christ in this life will not free any believer from the presence of even one sin, though he frees every believer from the damning power of every sin. “There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” The law cannot condemn a believer, for Christ has fulfilled it for him. Divine justice cannot condemn him, for Christ has satisfied it. His sins cannot condemn him, for they are pardoned in the blood of Christ. His own conscience, upon righteous grounds, cannot condemn him, because Christ, who is greater than his conscience, has acquitted him.

2. Freed from Sin’s Dominion

The second remedy against this device of Satan is to consider that, though Jesus Christ has not freed you from the molesting and vexing power of sin, he has freed you from the reign and dominion of sin. You say that sin so molests and vexes you that you cannot think of God, go to God, or speak with God. Oh, but remember, it is one thing for sin to molest and vex you and another for sin to reign and have dominion over you.

“My sins do not hurt me if they do not please me.” Sin is like a wild fig tree or ivy in a wall: cut off stump, body, bough, and branches, yet some strings or others will sprout out again until the wall is pulled down. The primitive Christians chose rather to be thrown to lions without than left to lusts within. As Tertullian says, they preferred the lion without to the lion within.

“For sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the Law, but under grace” (Rom 6:14). Sin may rebel, but it shall never reign in a saint. Sin in the regenerate fares like the beasts Daniel speaks of, “That had their Dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season, and a time” (Dan 7:12).

Sin reigns in the soul when the soul willingly and readily obeys it and submits to its commands, as subjects actively obey and embrace the commands of their prince. A king’s commands are readily embraced and obeyed by his subjects, but a tyrant’s commands are embraced and obeyed unwillingly. All service done to a tyrant is done under violence, not out of obedience. Free and willing submission to the commands of sin declares that the soul is under sin’s reign and dominion, but Christ frees all believers from this plague, this hell.

Sin cannot say of a believer what the centurion said of his servants: “I bid one go, and he goeth, and to another come, and he cometh, and to another, do this and he doth it.” No. A saint’s heart rises against the commands of sin. When sin would carry his soul to the devil, he hauls his sin before the Lord and cries out for justice: “Lord,” says the believing soul, “sin plays the tyrant, the devil in me; it would have me do that which works against your holiness, as well as against my happiness; against your honor and glory, as against my comfort and peace; therefore do me justice, you righteous Judge of heaven and earth, and let this tyrant sin die for it,” etc.

When you cry out to God, it is a sign that sin has not gained your consent but has committed a rape upon your soul. If the ravished virgin under the law cried out, she was guiltless (Deut 22:27). So when sin plays the tyrant over the soul and the soul cries out, it is guiltless; those sins shall not be charged upon the soul.

3. Keep the Promises of Pardon in View

The third remedy against this device of Satan is constantly to keep one eye upon the promises of remission of sin, as well as the other eye upon the inward operations of sin. This is a most certain truth: God will graciously pardon those sins in his people that he will not fully subdue in them during this life (Isa 44:22; Mic 7:18-19; Col 2:13-14).

Paul prays three times, that is, often, to be delivered from the thorn in the flesh. All he can obtain is, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” God says, “I will graciously pardon in you what I will not conquer in you.”

The promises of God are a precious book; every leaf drops myrrh and mercy. Though the weak Christian cannot open, read, and apply them, Christ can and will apply them to the Christian’s soul.

“And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me, and whereby they have transgressed against me” (Jer 33:8). “I, even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins” (Isa 43:25). The Hebrew particle notes a constant, continued act of God: “I, I am he, blotting out thy transgressions today, and tomorrow,” etc.

Ah, you lamenting souls who spend your days sighing and groaning under the sense and burden of your sins, why do you deal so unkindly with God and so injuriously with your own souls by failing to look upon those precious promises of remission of sin, which may sustain and refresh your spirits in the darkest night and under the heaviest burden of sin?

4. See Your Sins Charged to Christ

The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is to look upon all your sins as charged to Christ’s account, as debts that the Lord Jesus has fully satisfied. Indeed, if even one farthing of the debt Christ undertook to satisfy had remained unpaid, it would not have agreed with God’s unspotted justice to let him enter heaven and sit down at his right hand. But because all our debts were discharged by his death, we are freed, and he is exalted to sit at his Father’s right hand, which is the summit of his glory and the greatest pledge of our happiness.

“For he hath made him to be sin for us that knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him,” says the apostle (2 Cor 5:21). Christ was the greatest of sinners by imputation and reputation.

All our sins were made to meet upon Christ, as the evangelical prophet has it: “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all,” or, as the Hebrew has it, “He hath made the iniquity of us all to meet in him” (Isa 53:5-6).

In law, we know that all the wife’s debts are charged to the husband. The wife may say to one creditor and another, “If I owe you anything, go to my husband.” So a believer may say to the law and to the justice of God, “If I owe you anything, go to my Christ, who has undertaken for me.” I must not sit down discouraged under the apprehension of debts that Christ has fully satisfied to the last farthing.

Would it not show great weakness, I had almost said great madness, for a debtor to sit discouraged while looking over debts that his surety has readily, freely, and fully satisfied? The sense of his surety’s great love should engage him forever to love and honor his surety and bless the hand that has paid the debt and crossed the books, etc. But to sit down discouraged when the debt is satisfied is a sin that calls for repentance.

Christ has settled all accounts between God and us. Remember the scapegoat: “Upon his head all the iniquities of the Children of Israel and all their transgressions in all their sins, were confessed and put, and the Goat did bear upon him all their iniquities,” etc. (Lev 16:21). The Lord Jesus is that blessed scapegoat upon whom all our sins were laid and who alone has carried our sins away into the land of forgetfulness, where they will never be remembered again.

Christ has the greatest worth and wealth in him. As the worth and value of many pieces of silver are found in one piece of gold, so all the excellencies scattered abroad among the creatures are united in Christ. The whole volume of perfections spread throughout heaven and earth is epitomized in him.

A believer under the guilt of sin may look the Lord in the face and sweetly plead with him: “It is true, Lord, I owed you much, but your son was my ransom, my redemption; his blood was the price, he was my surety, and undertook to answer for my sins; I know you must be satisfied, and Christ has satisfied you to the utmost farthing; not for himself, for what sins had he of his own? but for me, they were my debts that he satisfied for; be pleased to look over the book, and you shall find that it is crossed by your own hand, upon this very account, that Christ has suffered and satisfied for them.”

Christ is the channel of grace from God. The “bloods” of Abel, as the Hebrew has it, cried for vengeance against sin, as if the blood of one Abel had as many tongues as drops. But the blood of Christ cries louder for the pardon of sin.

5. Consider Why God Permits This Conflict

The fifth remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider the reasons why the Lord is pleased to have his people exercised, troubled, and vexed by the operations of sinful corruptions.

He does so partly to keep them humble and low in their own eyes. Augustine says, “That the first, second and third virtue of a Christian is Humility.” He also does it partly to put them upon the use of all divine helps by which sin may be subdued and mortified; partly so that they may live upon Christ for the perfecting of the work of sanctification; partly to wean them from things below and make them heartsick over their absence from Christ; partly to maintain in them tender compassion toward others subject to the same infirmities; partly so that they may distinguish between a state of grace and a state of glory; and partly so that heaven may be sweeter to them at the close.

Does the Lord, for these weighty reasons, allow his people to be exercised and molested by the operations of sinful corruptions? Oh, then let no believer speak, write, or conclude bitter things against his own soul and comforts because sin troubles and vexes his righteous soul, etc. Let him lay his hand upon his mouth and be silent, because the Lord will have it so upon grounds so weighty that the soul cannot withstand them.

We therefore learn that we may teach, as a proverb among the rabbis says. After the Trojans had wandered and been tossed up and down the Mediterranean Sea, as soon as they saw Italy they cried out with exultant joy, “Italy, Italy:” So will the saints when they come to heaven.

6. Repent of Discouragement

The sixth remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that believers must repent for being discouraged by their sins. Their discouragement over their sins will cost them many a prayer, many a tear, and many a groan. This is because their discouragements under sin flow from ignorance and unbelief.

They spring from ignorance of the riches, freeness, fullness, and everlastingness of God’s love; ignorance of the power, glory, sufficiency, and efficacy of the death and sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ; ignorance of the worth, glory, fullness, largeness, and completeness of the righteousness of Jesus Christ; and ignorance of the real, close, spiritual, glorious, and inseparable union between Christ and their precious souls.

God never gave a believer a new heart so that it should always lie bleeding and always be rent and torn to pieces by discouragements. Ah, if precious souls knew and believed the truth of these things as they should, they would not sit dejected and overwhelmed under the sense and operation of sin, etc.

Satan’s second device for keeping souls in a sad, doubting, and questioning condition is to cause them to make false definitions of their graces. Satan knows that, as false definitions of sin wrong the soul in one way, false definitions of grace wrong it in another.

I will give only the example of faith. Oh, how Satan labors with all his might to make people define faith falsely! He leads some to define faith too highly, as though it were a full assurance of God’s love toward a person’s particular soul, or a full persuasion of the pardon and remission of that person’s particular sins.

Satan says, “what do you talk of faith? faith is an assurance of the love of God, and of the pardon of sin, and this you do not have; you know you are far off from this, therefore you have no faith.” By drawing people into such a false definition of faith, he keeps them in a sad, doubting, and questioning condition. He makes them spend their days in sorrow and sighing, so that tears are their drink, sorrow their food, and sighing their work all day long, etc.

The philosophers say there are eight degrees of heat, though we discern three. If a person defined heat only by its highest degree, all the other degrees would be excluded from being heat. So if people define faith only by its highest degrees, by assurance of God’s love and the pardon of their particular sins, what will become of the lesser degrees of faith?

If a person defined a living man only by the highest and strongest demonstrations of life, such as laughing, leaping, running, working, and walking, etc., would not many thousands who groan under internal and external weaknesses, and who cannot laugh, leap, run, work, or walk, be declared dead by such a definition, though we know them to be alive? It is so here, and you know how to apply it, etc.

The remedies against this device are these.

1. True Faith May Exist Without Assurance

The first remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that there may be true faith, indeed, great measures of faith, where there is no assurance. The Canaanite woman in the Gospel had strong faith, yet no assurance that we read of.

“These things have I written unto you,” says John, “that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” In these words you see that they believed and had eternal life in respect to God’s purpose and promise, in respect to its seeds and beginnings in their souls, and in respect to Christ their head, who sits in heaven as a public person representing all his chosen ones: “Who hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:6). Yet they did not know they had eternal life.

It is one thing to have a right to heaven and another to know it. It is one thing to be beloved and another for a person to know he is beloved. It is one thing for God to write a person’s name in the Book of Life and another for God to tell him his name is written there and say, “Rejoyce, because thy name is written in heaven.”

So Paul says, “In whom ye also trusted, after ye heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, in whom also after ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise” (Eph 1:13).

So Micah says, “Rejoyce not against me, O my Enemy, for when I shall fall, I shall rise; when I shall sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me; I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned,” etc. (Mic 7:8-9). Or, as the Hebrew has it, the sad countenance of God. This soul had no assurance, for he sat in darkness and was under the sad countenance of God. Yet he had strong faith, as appears in these words: “When I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.” “He will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness.” Those in Isaiah 50:10 likewise had faith though they had no assurance. Let this suffice for the first answer.

2. Define Faith as Scripture Does

The second remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that God defines faith differently in Scripture. God defines faith as receiving Christ: “As many as received him, to them he gave this priviledge, to be the Sons of God. To as many as believed on his name” (John 1:12). He defines it as the soul’s cleaving to God, though no joy but afflictions attend the soul (Acts 11:23).

The Lord also defines faith as coming to God in Christ, and often as resting, staying, or rolling the soul upon Christ (Matt 11:28; John 6:37; Heb 7:25-26; Isa 3, 4, etc.).

It is safest and sweetest to define as God defines, both vices and graces. This is the only way to settle the soul and secure it against the wiles of men and devils, who labor through false definitions of grace to keep precious souls in a doubting, staggering, and languishing condition and so make their lives a burden and a hell to them.

3. True Faith May Coexist with Doubts

The third remedy against this device of Satan is seriously to consider that there may be true faith where there is much doubting. Witness those frequent sayings of Christ to his disciples (Matt 6:30; Matt 14:31; Matt 16:8; Luke 12:28): “Why are ye afraid, O ye of little faith?”

People may be truly believing and nevertheless sometimes doubting. In the same people spoken of in the foregoing Scriptures, you may see their faith commended and their doubts condemned, which necessarily supposes the presence of both.

4. Assurance Is an Effect of Faith

The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that assurance is an effect of faith and therefore cannot be faith. The cause cannot be the effect, nor the root the fruit. As the effect flows from the cause, the fruit from the root, and the stream from the fountain, so assurance flows from faith. I shall establish this truth as follows.

First, assurance of our salvation and the pardon of sin arises primarily from the witness of God’s Spirit that we are the children of God. The Spirit never bears this witness until we are believers (Eph 1:13; Gal 4:6). “For we are Sons by Faith in Christ Jesus.” Therefore assurance is not faith but follows it, as an effect follows its cause.

Again, no one can be assured and persuaded of his salvation until he is united to Christ and grafted into Christ. A person cannot be grafted into Christ until he has faith. He must first be grafted into Christ by faith before he can have assurance of salvation. This clearly demonstrates that assurance is not faith but an effect and fruit of faith, etc.

Again, faith cannot be lost, but assurance may be lost; therefore assurance is not faith (Ps 51:12; Ps 30:6-7). Though assurance is a precious flower in a saint’s garden and is infinitely sweeter and more delightful to the soul than all outward comforts and satisfactions, it is still a flower subject to fading and losing its freshness and beauty, as saints find by sad experience, etc. (Song 5:6; Isa 8:17).

Many thousands of precious souls, of whom this world is not worthy, have the faith of reliance and yet lack assurance and its effects, such as high joy, glorious peace, and vehement longings for the coming of Christ.

Again, a person must first have faith before he can have assurance; therefore assurance is not faith. That a person must first have faith before assurance is clear from this: a person must first be saved before he can be assured of his salvation, for he cannot be assured of what does not exist. A person must first have saving faith before he can be saved by faith, for he cannot be saved by what he does not have. Therefore a person must first have faith before he can have assurance, and so it plainly follows that assurance is not faith, etc.

Satan’s third device for keeping the soul in a sad, doubting, and questioning condition is to make the soul draw false inferences from the contrary workings of providence (Ps 77:7, 11; Ps 81:1, last verse; Ps 73:2, 23).

Satan says, “do you not see how Providence crosses your prayers, and crosses your desires, your tears, your hopes, your endeavors? Surely if his love were toward you, if his soul did delight and take pleasure in you, he would not deal thus with you,” etc.

The remedies against this device are these.

1. What Crosses Desire May Serve Our Good

The first remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that many things may be contrary to our desires without being contrary to our good. Abraham, Jacob, David, Job, Moses, Jeremiah, Jonah, Paul, and others met with many things contrary to their desires and endeavors that were not contrary to their good, as all know who have wisely compared their desires and endeavors with God’s actions. Medicine often works contrary to the patient’s desires when it does not work contrary to the patient’s good.

I remember a story of a godly man who greatly desired to go to France. As he was going to board the ship, he broke his leg. Providence so ordered matters that the ship on which he would have traveled was wrecked at that very time, and not one person was saved. Thus, by breaking a bone, his life was saved. Though providence worked contrary to his desire, it did not work contrary to his good, etc.

The Circumcellians, unable to withstand Augustine’s preaching and writing, sought to destroy him. They beset the road he was to take on a visitation, but by God’s providence he missed his way and escaped the danger.

2. God’s Hand May Oppose Those He Loves

The second remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that God’s hand may be against a person when God’s love and heart are greatly set upon that person. No one can conclude from God’s hand how God’s heart stands.

God’s hand was against Ephraim, yet his love and heart were dearly set upon Ephraim: “I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: Turn thou me, and I shall be turned, for thou art the Lord my God. Surely, after that I was returned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh, I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. Ephraim is my dear Son, he is a pleasant Child, for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still. Therefore my bowels are troubled for him, I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord” (Jer 31:18-20).

God can look sourly, chide bitterly, and strike heavily even where and when he loves dearly. God’s hand was very much against Job, yet his love and heart were very much set upon Job, as you may see by comparing Job 1-2 with Job 41-42. God’s hand was sore against David and Jonah when his heart was much set upon them.

God’s providential hand may also favor people when his heart is set against them. His providential hand was for a time with Saul, Haman, Ahab, and Jehu, yet his heart was set against them. “No man knoweth love or hatred by all that is before him” (Eccl 9:1-2).

Anyone who concludes that God’s heart is against all those whom his hand opposes will condemn the generation of the just, whom God would not unjustly condemn.

3. Cross Providences Lead to Nobler Good

The third remedy against this device of Satan is to consider that all the cross providences that befall the saints are ordered toward some noble good that God intends to prefer upon them.

Providence worked contrary to David’s desire by taking away the child sinfully begotten, but it did not work contrary to a nobler good. Was it not far better for David to have such a legitimate heir as Solomon than for a bastard to wear the crown and wield the scepter?

Joseph, as you know, was sold into a distant country through the envy and malice of his brothers. He was afterward imprisoned because he would not become a prisoner to his mistress’s lusts. Yet all these providences wonderfully contributed to his advancement and to the preservation of his father’s family, which was then the visible church of Christ. A noble hand of providence so managed matters that they promoted what they sought to prevent. Joseph was therefore sold by his brothers so that he might not be worshipped, and yet he was worshipped because he was sold.

David was destined for a kingdom, but oh, the straits, troubles, and deaths through which he passed before he felt the weight of the crown! All this served to sweeten his crown and settle it more firmly and gloriously upon his head.

God so arranged matters that Jonah’s offense and the cross events attending it advanced the very end they seemed most directly to oppose. Jonah fled to Tarshish, was cast into the sea, and then was saved by a miracle. The mariners who cast Jonah into the sea then, as is very probable, declared to the Ninevites what had happened. Therefore he must be a man sent by God, his threats must be believed and heeded, and the Ninevites must repent and humble themselves so that the threatened wrath might not be executed, etc.

4. Every Providence Furthers Believers

The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is seriously to consider that all the strange, dark, deep, and changeable providences believers meet with shall further them on their way to heaven and on their journey to happiness.

The movements of divine providence are so dark, deep, and changeable that the wisest and noblest souls cannot tell what conclusions to draw. Yet divine wisdom and love will so order all things here below that they shall work for the real, inward, and eternal good of those who love him.

All the rugged providences David met with contributed to bringing him to the throne. All the rugged providences Daniel and the three children met with contributed to their great advancement. Likewise, all the rugged providences believers meet with shall contribute to lifting their souls above everything below God.

As the waters lifted Noah’s ark nearer heaven, and as all the stones about Stephen’s ears only knocked him closer to Christ, the Cornerstone, so all the strange and rugged providences we meet with shall raise us nearer heaven and knock us nearer to Christ, that precious Cornerstone.

Speaking of Valentinian, Orosius says, “He that for Christ’s name’s sake had lost a tribuneship soon afterward succeeded his persecutor in the Empire.”

Device 4: Suggesting That True Graces Are Counterfeit

The fourth device Satan uses to keep souls in a sad, doubting, and questioning condition is to suggest that their graces are not true, but counterfeit.

Satan says, “All is not gold that glitters, all is not free grace that you count grace, that you call grace. That which you call faith is but a fancy; and that which you call zeal is but unnatural heat and passion; and that light you have, it is but common, it falls short of what many have attained to who are now in hell,” etc.

Satan does not labor more mightily to persuade hypocrites that their graces are true when they are counterfeit than he does to persuade precious souls that their graces are counterfeit when they are indeed true, and such as will withstand Christ’s touchstone, etc.

The remedies against this device are these.

Remedy 1: Consider the Two Meanings of Grace

The first remedy against this device of Satan is to consider seriously that grace is understood in two ways.

1. It is understood as the gracious goodwill and favor of God, by which he is pleased, out of his own free love, to accept some in Christ as his own. Some call this the first grace because it is the fountain of all other graces and the spring from which they flow. It is therefore called grace because it makes a person gracious with God, but this grace is only in God.

2. Grace is understood as the gifts of grace, and these are of two sorts: common and special.

Some gifts are common to believers and hypocrites, such as a gift of knowledge, a gift of prayer, etc. Yet it must be granted that many a fair flower may grow from a stinking root, and many sweet dispositions and fair actions may exist where there is only the corrupt root of nature.

Some are special graces, proper and peculiar to the saints, such as faith, humility, meekness, love, patience, etc. (Gal 5:22-23).

Remedy 2: Consider the Differences Between Renewing and Temporary Grace

The second remedy against this device of Satan is wisely to consider the differences between renewing grace and restraining grace, and between sanctifying grace and temporary grace. I will show you these differences in the following ten particulars.

1. True Grace Makes All Glorious and New

True grace makes all glorious within and without. “The Kings daughter is all glorious within, her raiment is of wrought gold.” True grace makes the understanding glorious, the will glorious, and the affections glorious. It casts a general glory upon all the noble parts of the soul: “The Kings daughter is all glorious within.” As it makes the inside glorious, so it makes the outside glorious: “Her cloathing is of wrought gold.” It makes people look gloriously, speak gloriously, walk gloriously, and act gloriously, so that vain souls will be forced to say that these are those who have seen Jesus (Acts 4:8-31).

As grace is a fire that burns up and consumes the dross and filth of the soul, so it is an ornament that beautifies and adorns the soul. God does not bring a pair of scales to weigh our graces, but a touchstone to test them. Purity, preciousness, and holiness are stamped upon all saving graces (Acts 15:9; 2 Pet 1:1; Jude 20).

True grace makes all things new, both the inside and the outside. “If any man be in Christ he is a new creature” (2 Cor 5:17). It is a new creation: new Adam, new covenant, new paradise, new Lord, new law, new hearts, and new natures go together. Temporary grace does not do this.

True grace changes the very nature of a person. Moral virtue only restrains or chains up the outward person; it does not change the whole person. A lion in a grate is still a lion. He is restrained but not changed, for he still retains his lion-like nature. In the same way, temporary graces restrain many people from this or that wickedness, but they do not change their hearts or turn them away from wickedness. True grace, however, turns a lion into a lamb, as you may see in Paul (Acts 9), and a notorious prostitute into a blessed and glorious penitent, as you may see in Mary Magdalene (Luke 7), etc.

2. The Objects of True Grace Are Supernatural

The objects of true grace are supernatural. True grace is concerned with the choicest and highest objects, the objects that most ennoble and enlarge the soul: God, Christ, precious promises worth more than a world, a kingdom that cannot be shaken, a crown of glory that does not wither, and heavenly treasures that do not rust (2 Cor 4:18; 2 Cor 11; Heb 13; Prov 14; Matt 6). A saint has his feet where other people’s heads are.

The objects of temporary grace are low and poor, and always within the reach of reason.

3. True Grace Makes Spiritual Duties Delightful

True grace enables a Christian, when he is himself, to perform spiritual actions with real pleasure and delight. To truly gracious souls, “Christs yoke is easie, and his burden is light; His Commandments are not grievous, but joyous. I delight in the Law of God after the inward man,” says Paul (Matt 11:30; 1 John 5:3; Rom 7:22).

The blessed man is described in this way: “That he delights in the Law of the Lord.” “’Tis joy to the just to do judgment,” says Solomon (Ps 1:2; Prov 21:15). To a gracious soul, “All the ways of the Lord are pleasantness, and his pathes are peace.”

But to souls that have only temporary grace and moral virtues, religious services are a toil, not a pleasure, and a burden, not a delight. “Wherefore have we fasted,” they say, “and thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our souls, and thou takest no knowledge?” etc. (Isa 58:3). Those in Malachi say, “Ye have said it is vain to serve God, and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of Hosts?” (Mal 3:14). Those in Amos say, “When will the new Moon be gone that we may sell corn on the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat making the Ephah small, and the Shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit” (Amos 8:5).

4. True Grace Watches One’s Own Heart

True grace makes a person most careful and most fearful of his own heart. It makes him most diligent about his own heart, informing it, examining it, and watching over it (Ps 51:10; Ps 119:36, 80; Ps 139:23; Ps 86:11).

Temporary grace and moral virtues make people more mindful and careful of others, instructing them, counseling them, stirring them up, and watching over them, etc. (Matt 23). This openly demonstrates that their graces are not saving and peculiar to the saints, but temporary and no more than Judas, Demas, and the Pharisees had, etc.

5. True Grace Cleaves to the Holiest Ways

Grace will work a person’s heart to love and cleave to the strictest and holiest ways and things of God, because of their purity and sanctity, in the face of all dangers and hardships. “Thy word is very pure, therefore thy servant loveth it” (Ps 119:140).

Others love it, like it, and follow it for the credit, honor, and advantage they receive from it. But I love it for its spiritual beauty and purity. So the psalmist says, “All this is come upon us, yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsly in thy Covenant. Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way. Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of Dragons, and covered us with the shadows of death” (Ps 44:17-19). Grace is armor against every trouble and a paradise of every pleasure.

Temporary grace will not sustain the soul against all opposition and discouragement in the ways of God, as is clear from their apostasy in John 6 and from the stony ground falling away (Matt 13:20-21), etc.

6. True Grace Prefers Christ’s Cross to the World’s Crown

True grace will enable a person to step over the world’s crown to take up Christ’s cross, and to prefer the cross of Christ above the glory of this world. It enabled Abraham, Moses, Daniel, and the other worthies in Hebrews 11 to do so.

Godfrey of Bouillon, the first king of Jerusalem, refused to be crowned with a crown of gold, saying, “That it was not fitting for a Christian there to wear a Crown of gold, where Christ had worn a Crown of thorns.” Few share Jerome’s mind, who would rather have St. Paul’s coat with his heavenly graces than the purple of kings with their kingdoms.

Temporary grace cannot work the soul to prefer Christ’s cross above the world’s crown. When the two meet, a temporary Christian steps over Christ’s cross to take up and keep the world’s crown. “Demas hath forsaken us to embrace this present world” (2 Tim 4:10).

The young man in the Gospel also had many good things in him. He made a promising approach toward heaven and came near to heaven, but when Christ set his cross before him, he stepped over it to enjoy the world’s crown. When Christ told him, “Go and sell all that he had, and give to the poor,” etc., “he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions” (Matt 19:20-22). If heaven can be had on no other terms, Christ may keep his heaven to himself; he will have none of it, etc.

The king of Navarre told Beza that, in the cause of religion, “he would launch no further into their Sea, than he might be sure to return safe to the Haven.”

7. True Grace Acts from Spiritual Motives

Sanctifying and renewing grace puts the soul upon spiritual duties from spiritual and intrinsic motives. These include the sense of divine love that constrains the soul to wait upon God and act for God; the sense of the excellence and sweetness of communion with God; and the choice and precious discoveries the soul formerly received of God’s beauty and glory while engaged in his service.

The good looks, the good words, the blessed love letters, the glorious kisses, and the sweet embraces that gracious souls have received from Christ in his service provoke and move them to wait upon him in holy duties. Such a soul may pray with Bernard, “As what I have, if offered to you, does not please you, O Lord, without myself, so the good things we have from you, though they may refresh us, yet they do not satisfy us without yourself.”

Bernard also said excellently, “Good are you, O Lord, to the soul that seeks you; what are you then to the soul that finds you?”

But restraining and temporary grace puts people upon religious duties only from external motives, such as care for the creature, the eye of the creature, the rewards of the creature, maintaining a reputation among the creatures, and a thousand similar considerations. You may see this in Saul, Jehu, Judas, Demas, and the scribes and Pharisees, etc.

An abbot mentioned by Melanchthon lived strictly, walked demurely, and looked humbly as long as he was only a monk. But when his seemingly extraordinary sanctity gained him the position of abbot, he grew intolerably proud and insolent. When asked the reason, he confessed “That his former lowly look was but to see if he could find the keys of the abbey.” Such poor, low, vain motives move temporary souls to perform all the service they do, etc.

8. True Grace Follows the Lord Fully

Saving and renewing grace will cause a person to follow the Lord fully, both in forsaking every sin and in observing all God’s precepts. Joshua and Caleb followed the Lord fully (Num 14:7). The Hebrew expression means, “Has fulfilled after me.” It is a metaphor taken from a ship under sail, strongly carried by the wind and fearing neither rocks nor sands.

Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous before God and walked blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord (Luke 1:5-6). The saints in Revelation are described in this way: “that they follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes” (Rev 14:4).

Restraining and temporary grace cannot enable a person to follow the Lord fully. All that temporary grace can enable a person to do is follow the Lord partially, unevenly, and haltingly. You may see this in Jehu, Herod, Judas, and the scribes and Pharisees, who paid tithes of mint, anise, and cumin but omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith, etc. (Matt 23:23).

True grace works the heart to hate every sin and love every truth (Ps 119:104, 128). It works a person to hate those sins that, even at the cost of his blood, he cannot conquer, and to loathe those sins he would give all the world to overcome. Augustine said, “I had rather go to Hell pure from sin, than to Heaven polluted with that filth.”

A truly gracious soul can therefore say, “Though there is no one sin mortified and subdued in me, as it should be, and as I would have it, yet every sin is hated and loathed by me.”

A truly gracious soul can also say, “Though I do not obey any one command as I should, and as I would, yet every word is sweet, every command of God is precious; I dearly prize and greatly love those commands that I cannot obey, though there are many commands that I cannot in a strict sense fulfill, yet there is no command I would not fulfill, that I do not exceedingly love.” “I love thy commandements above gold, above fine gold. My soul hath kept thy testimonies, and I love them exceedingly” (Ps 119:129, 127, 167). Such a soul prays, “Give what you command, and command what you will.”

9. True Grace Leads the Soul to Rest in Christ

True grace leads the soul to rest in Christ as its chief good. It works the soul to center in Christ as its highest and ultimate end. “Whither should we go, thou hast the words of eternal life. My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest of ten thousand. I found him whom my soul loved, I held him and would not let him go” (John 6:68; Song 5:10; Song 3:4).

The wisdom a believer has from Christ leads him to center in the wisdom of Christ. The love the soul has from Christ leads it to center in the love of Christ. The righteousness the soul has from Christ leads it to rest and center in the righteousness of Christ (1 Cor 1:30; Phil 3:9).

True grace is a beam from Christ, and wherever it is, it will naturally lead the soul to rest in Christ. Grace is the star that leads to Christ. It is the cloud and pillar of fire that leads the soul to that heavenly Canaan where Christ sits supreme. The stream does not lead more naturally to the fountain, nor the effect to its cause, than true grace leads the soul to Christ.

Restraining and temporary grace, however, works the soul to center and rest in things below Christ. Sometimes it works the soul to center in the praises of the creature, and sometimes to rest in the rewards of the creature. “Verily they have their reward,” says Christ (Matt 6:1-2). The same is evident elsewhere (Zech 7:5-6), and in a hundred other things, etc.

10. True Grace Is Satisfied with Christ Alone

True grace will enable a soul to sit down satisfied and content with the bare enjoyment of Christ. The enjoyment of Christ without honor will satisfy the soul. The enjoyment of Christ without riches, pleasures, or the smiles of creatures will content and satisfy the soul. As Seneca says, “A contented man cannot be a poor man.”

“’Tis enough Joseph is alive.” So says a gracious soul, “though honor is not, and riches are not, and health is not, and friends are not, etc., it is enough that Christ is, that he reigns, conquers, and triumphs.” Charles the Great’s motto was, “Christ reigns, conquers, triumphs,” and so it is the saints’ motto.

Christ is the pot of manna, the jar of oil, and a bottomless ocean of all comfort, contentment, and satisfaction. Whoever has him lacks nothing; whoever lacks him enjoys nothing. Paul says, “Having nothing and yet possessing all things” (2 Cor 6:10).

A person who has only temporary or restraining grace cannot sit down satisfied and content when outward comforts are absent. Such a soul says, “Christ is good with honors; and Christ is good with riches; and Christ is good with pleasures; and he is good with such and such outward contents. I must have Christ and the world, or else with the young man in the Gospel (against my soul’s wishes) I shall forsake Christ to follow the world.”

In his discussion of Psalm 12, Augustine represents God rebuking a discontented Christian in these words: “What is your faith? have I promised you these things? What, were you made a Christian that you should flourish here in this world?”

Ah, how many shining professors there are in the world who cannot sit down satisfied and content when this or that outward comfort is absent! They are like madmen, fretting and vexing, raging and growing frantic, as though there were no God, no heaven, no hell, and no Christ to make up all such outward wants to souls.

But a truly gracious soul can say, “In having nothing I have all things, because I have Christ; having therefore all things in him, I seek no other reward, for he is the universal reward.” Such a soul can say, “Nothing is sweet to me without the enjoyment of Christ in it; neither honors, nor riches, nor the smiles of creatures are sweet to me any farther than I see Christ and taste Christ in them.”

Contentment is the deputy of outward happiness and supplies its place when it is absent. As the Jews throw the book of Esther to the ground before they read it because the name of God is not in it, as the rabbis have observed, so the saints do, in some sense, with those mercies in which they do not read Christ’s name and see Christ’s heart.

The confluence of all outward good cannot make a heaven of glory in my soul if Christ, who is the summit of my glory, is absent. As Absalom said, “What is all this to me so long as I cannot see the Kings face?” So says the soul, “why do you tell me of this and that outward comfort, when I cannot see his face whom my soul loves? Why, my honor is not my Christ, nor are riches Christ, nor is the favor of the creature Christ; let me have him, and let the men of this world take the world and divide it amongst themselves. I prize my Christ above all; I would enjoy my Christ before all other things in the world. His presence will make up the absence of all other comforts; and his absence will darken and embitter all my comforts; so that my comforts will neither taste like comforts, nor look like comforts, nor warm like comforts, when he that should comfort my soul stands afar off,” etc. (Lam 1:16). Luther said, “he would rather be in Hell with Christ, than in Heaven without him.”

Christ is all and in all to truly gracious souls (Col 3:11). We have all things in Christ, and Christ is all things to a Christian. If we are sick, he is a physician. If we thirst, he is a fountain. If our sins trouble us, he is righteousness. If we need help, he is mighty to save. If we fear death, he is life. If we are in darkness, he is light. If we are weak, he is strength. If we are in poverty, he is plenty. If we desire heaven, he is the way.

The soul cannot say, “this I would have, and that I would have”; but Christ says, “it is in me, it is in me eminently, perfectly, eternally.” “None but Christ, none but Christ,” said Lambert, lifting up his hands while the ends of his fingers were flaming.

The fifth device Satan uses to keep souls in a sad, doubting, and questioning condition is to suggest that their conflict is not found only in saints, but also in hypocrites and profane souls. The truth is that there is as much difference between the conflict in believers and that in wicked people as there is between light and darkness, or heaven and hell. I will demonstrate this in the following particulars.

Scripture says, “the Devil is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44). Luther said, “The Devil’s breasts are very fruitful with lies.”

1. The Whole Soul Opposes Sin

The whole frame of a believer’s soul is against sin. The understanding, will, affections, and all the powers and faculties of the soul are armed against it. A covetous man may condemn covetousness while the frame and inclination of his heart favor it. A proud person may condemn pride while the frame of his spirit favors it. A drunkard may condemn drunkenness while the frame of his spirit favors it. A man may condemn stealing and lying while the frame of his heart favors them.

“Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that abhorrest Idols, dost thou commit sacriledge? Thou that makest thy boast of the Law, through breaking the Law, dishonourest thou God?” (Rom 2:21-23).

But a saint’s will is against sin: “The evil that I would not do, I do”; and his affections are against it: “What I hate, I do” (Rom 7:19). He can say, “I hate every false way” (Ps 119:104). This signifies hatred with a deadly and irreconcilable hatred. He knows that every part of the old man has acted, and still acts, like a treacherous friend and a friendly traitor. Therefore, his heart strikes at all sin.

It was a good saying: “Lord deliver me from an evil man myself.” Augustine complains that people do not tame the beasts within their own bosoms.

2. The Saint Opposes Every Sin

A saint conflicts against sin universally, against the least as well as the greatest, and against the most profitable and pleasing sin as well as those that are less pleasing and profitable. He will fight them all, though he cannot conquer even one as he should and as he would. He knows that every sin strikes at God’s holiness as well as his own happiness, and at God’s glory as well as his soul’s comfort and peace.

He knows that all sin is hateful to God and that all sinners are traitors to the crown and dignity of the Lord Jesus. He looks at one sin and sees that it threw down Noah, the most righteous man in the world. He looks at another and sees that it cast down Abraham, the greatest believer in the world. He looks at another and sees that it threw down David, the best king in the world. He looks at another and sees that it cast down Paul, the greatest apostle in the world. One sin threw down Samson, the strongest man in the world; another cast down Solomon, the wisest man in the world; another cast down Moses, the meekest man in the world; and another cast down Job, the most patient man in the world.

This raises a holy indignation against all sin, so that nothing can satisfy or content his soul except the destruction of all those lusts and vermin that vex and torment his righteous soul. It will not satisfy a gracious soul to see justice done upon one sin. He cries out for justice upon them all. He would not have some crucified and others spared, but cries, “Lord crucify them all, crucify them all.”

“The greater the combat is, the greater shall be the following rewards,” says Tertullian. True hatred is directed against the whole kind.

But the conflict in wicked people is partial. They frown upon one sin and smile upon another. They strike at some sins but stroke others. They thrust some out of doors but keep others close within their bosoms, as you may see in Jehu, Herod, Judas, Simon Magus, and Demas. Wicked people strike at gross sins that violate not only God’s law but also the laws of nature and nations, yet they make nothing of lesser sins, such as vain thoughts, idle words, sinful impulses, petty oaths, etc. They fight against sins that fight against their honor, profits, and pleasures, etc., but make a truce with those that are like right hands and right eyes to them (John 3:20).

Plutarch reports that one man would not have his doubts resolved because he did not want to lose the pleasure of seeking a resolution. In the same way, wicked people will not be rid of some sins because they do not want to lose the seeming pleasure of sinning.

3. The Saint Fights with Spiritual Arguments

The conflict within a saint against sin is maintained by many arguments. Some are drawn from the love and honor of God, the sweetness and communion with God, and the spiritual and heavenly blessings and privileges God has conferred upon believers. Others are drawn from the blood, glory, eye, kisses, and intercession of Christ. Still others are drawn from the earnest, seal, witness, and comforts of the Spirit.

Though being kept from sin brings comfort to us, opposing sin with spiritual and heavenly arguments, together with God’s pardon of sin, brings the greatest glory to God.

But the conflict in wicked people arises from low, carnal, and legal arguments, drawn from the eye, ear, or hand of the creature, or from shame, hell, the curses of the law, etc.

Eusebius Emesenus excellently said, “Our Fathers overcame the torrents of the flames, let us overcome the fiery darts of vices.” Consider that the pleasure and sweetness following victory over sin is a thousand times greater than the seeming sweetness found in sin.

4. The Saint’s Conflict Is Constant

The conflict within saints is constant. Though sin and grace were not born together in a saint’s heart, and though they will not die together, they must conflict together as long as the believer lives.

Paul had been converted for fourteen years when he cried, “I have a Law in my members rebelling against the Law of my mind, & leading me captive to the Law of sin” (2 Cor 12:7-9).

Pietro Candiano, one of the dukes of Venice, died fighting against the Nauratines with his weapons in his hands. In the same way, a saint lives fighting and dies fighting. He stands fighting and falls fighting, with his spiritual weapons in his hands.

But the conflict within wicked people is inconstant. Now they fall out with sin, and soon they fall in with it. Now it is bitter; soon it is sweet. Now the sinner turns from his sin, and soon he returns to wallowing in it, as a swine returns to wallowing in the mire (2 Pet 2:19-20). One hour you will find him praying against sin as if he feared it more than hell, and the next hour pursuing sin as if there were no God to punish him, no justice to damn him, and no hell to torment him.

5. The Conflict Reaches the Same Faculties

The conflict within saints occurs in the same faculties: judgment against judgment, mind against mind, will against will, and affections against affections. That is, the regenerate part opposes the unregenerate part throughout all the faculties of the soul.

But in wicked people, the conflict is not within the same faculties. It is between conscience and will. A sinner’s will is strongly inclined toward particular sins, but conscience intervenes and tells him, “God has made me his deputy; he has given me power to hang and draw, to examine, scourge, judge and condemn, and if you do such and such wickedness, I shall be your jailer and your tormentor. I do not bear the rod or the sword in vain; if you sin, I shall do my office, and then your life will be a hell.” This raises a tumult in his soul.

Even a heathen could say that the wicked person’s soul is in a mutiny. A wicked man is not at peace with himself; he and his conscience are at odds.

6. The Saint’s Conflict Prevails

The conflict within saints is more blessed, successful, and prevailing. Through his conflict with sin, a saint gains ground against it. “They that are Christs,” says the apostle, “have crucified the world with the affections and lusts.” Christ puts his hand to the work and helps believers lead captivity captive and set their feet upon the necks of those lusts that formerly trampled upon their souls and comforts.

Grace and sin are like two buckets in a well: when one is up, the other is down. They are like the two laurels at Rome: when one flourishes, the other withers. The more grace thrives in the soul, the more sin dies within it.

As the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker and the house of David stronger and stronger, so the Lord, through discoveries of his love and the influences of his Spirit, causes grace, the nobler part of a saint, to grow stronger and stronger, while corruption, like the house of Saul, grows weaker and weaker.

But sin in a wicked heart gains ground and grows stronger and stronger. Despite all the sinner’s conflicts, his heart becomes more encouraged, emboldened, and hardened in the way of sin (2 Tim 3:13). He proceeds from wickedness to greater wickedness, and from greater wickedness to utter wickedness. Lactantius says of Lucian, “he spared neither God nor man.” You may see the same progression in the Israelites, Pharaoh, Jehu, and Judas. They undoubtedly experienced many strange conflicts, tumults, and mutinies in their souls when God spoke such bitter things against them and executed such justice upon them.

Mortification is a continuing act. It is a daily dying to sin: “I die daily.”

Remember this caution: though Christ has given sin its death wound through his power, Spirit, death, and resurrection, it will die only a lingering death. As a mortally wounded man dies little by little, so sin dies within a saint’s heart. The death of Christ upon the cross was a lingering death, and the death of sin in the soul is also a lingering death. Now it dies a little, and soon it dies a little, etc.

A crucified man will strive and struggle, yet in the eyes of the law and in the judgment of all who see him, he is dead. It is just so with sin.

As the psalmist says, “Slay them not, lest my people forget, scatter them by thy power, and bring them down O Lord our shield” (Ps 58:11). He would not have them utterly destroyed, but would have some remnants preserved as a memorial. God deals similarly with sin. It is wounded and brought down, but not wholly slain. Something is still left as a monument of divine grace, to keep us humble, wakeful, and watchful, and to ensure that our armor remains on and our weapons always remain in our hands.

The souls of the best people in this life hang between flesh and spirit. They are, as it were, like Mahomet’s tomb at Mecca between two lodestones; like Erasmus as the papists paint him, between heaven and hell; or like the tribe of Manasseh, half on this side of the Jordan in the land of the Amorites and half on the other side in the Holy Land. Yet in the end they will overcome the flesh and trample upon the necks of their spiritual enemies.

Cyprian said, “There is no such pleasure as to have overcome an offered pleasure; neither is there any greater conquest than that which is gotten over a man’s corruptions.” The Romans lost many a battle, yet in the end were conquerors in all their wars. It is just so with the saints.

The sixth device Satan uses to keep souls in a sad, doubting, and questioning condition is to suggest that their spiritual condition is surely not good because they cannot rejoice in Christ as they once did and have lost the comfort and joy that were once in their spirits.

Satan says, “you know the time was when your heart was much carried out to joying and rejoicing in Christ; you do not forget the time when your heart used to be full of joy and comfort, but now, how have you fallen in your joys and comforts? Therefore your condition is not good; you only deceive yourself in thinking that it ever was good, for surely if it had been, your joy and comfort would have continued.”

The soul is then inclined to take Satan’s side and say, “’Tis even so, I see all is naught, and I have but deceived my own soul,” etc.

The remedies against this device are these.

1. Grace Can Remain Without Comfort

The first remedy against this device of Satan is to consider that the loss of comfort is an adjunct separable from grace. The soul may be full of holy affections while it is empty of divine consolations. There may be, and often is, true grace, even much grace, where there is not a drop of comfort or a dram of joy (Ps 63:1-2, 8; Isa 50:7, 10; Mic 7:8-9; Ps 42:5).

Comfort does not belong to the being of a Christian, but to the Christian’s well-being. God has not so joined these two precious lovers that they can never be separated. The wisdom from above will never lead a man to reason, “I have no comfort, therefore I have no grace; I have lost that joy that once I had, therefore my condition is not good, was never good,” etc. Instead, it will enable him to reason, “Though my comfort is gone, yet the God of my comfort abides, though my joy is lost, yet the seeds of grace remain.”

The joys of the best people are like glass, bright and brittle, and always in danger of breaking. Spiritual joy is a sun that is often clouded. Though it is as precious a flower as paradise affords, it is still liable to fade and wither.

2. What Remains Is Better Than What Was Lost

The second remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that the precious things you still enjoy are far better than the joys and comforts you have lost. Your union with Christ, communion with Christ, sonship, sainthood, and status as an heir, which you still enjoy through Christ, are far better than the comforts you lost through sin (Jer 31:18-20).

Though your comforts are gone, your union and communion with Christ remain. Though your comforts are gone, you are still a son, though a comfortless son; an heir, though a comfortless heir; and a saint, though a comfortless saint.

Though the bag of silver, your comforts, is lost, the box of jewels, your union with Christ, communion with Christ, sonship, sainthood, and status as an heir, is still safe. It is far better than the bag of silver you lost. Indeed, the least of these precious jewels is worth more than all the comforts in the world.

Let this be a cordial to comfort you, a star to lead you, and a staff to support you: your box of jewels is safe, though your bag of silver is lost.

When someone objected to Junius that his cheerfulness was contrary to Christ’s agony and sadness, he answered, “Christ was sad, that I might be merry; he had my sins, and I have his righteousness.”

3. Other Precious Souls Have Lost Comfort

The third remedy against this device of Satan is to consider that your condition is no different from the condition of those precious souls whose names were written upon the heart of Christ and who are now at rest in the bosom of Christ.

One day you will find them praising and rejoicing; the next day, mourning and weeping. One day you will find them singing, “The Lord is our portion”; the next day, sighing and questioning themselves: “Why are ye cast down O our Souls? Why is our Harp turned to mourning? And our Organ into the voice of them that weep,” etc. (Ps 51:12; Ps 30:6-7; Job 23:6, 8, 9, 30, 31; Lam 1:16; Matt 27:46; Ps 42:5; Lam 5:15).

4. Joy Does Not Always Have the Same Cause

The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that the causes of joy and comfort are not always the same.

Perhaps your former joy and comfort sprang from the Spirit’s witness, as he testified to your soul that your nature was changed, your sins pardoned, and your soul reconciled, etc. On some special occasion, the Spirit may testify to the soul that God’s heart is dearly set upon him and that God loves him with an everlasting love, etc., yet the soul may never enjoy such a testimony again throughout all the days of his life.

Though the Spirit is a witnessing Spirit, it is not his office every day to assure believers of their interest in God, Christ, heaven, etc. The Spirit does not make a feast in the soul every day, nor does he make every day a day for wearing wedding robes.

Or perhaps your former joy and comfort sprang from the newness and suddenness of the change in your condition. For a man in one hour to have his night turned into day, his darkness into light, his bitterness into sweetness, God’s frowns into smiles, his hatred into love, and his hell into heaven must bring him great joy and comfort.

His heart cannot help leaping and dancing within him when, in one hour, he sees Satan accusing him, his own heart condemning him, the eternal God frowning upon him, the gates of heaven barred against him, the whole creation standing armed at God’s slightest command to execute vengeance upon him, and the mouth of the infernal pit open to receive him.

Then, in that same hour, Christ comes to the astonished soul and says, “I have trod the winepress of my Father’s wrath for you, I have laid down my life as a ransom for you, by my blood I have satisfied my Father’s justice, and pacified his anger, and procured his love for you; by my blood I have purchased the pardon of your sins, your freedom from hell, and your right to heaven.” Oh, how wonderfully this will cause the soul to leap for joy!

A pardon unexpectedly placed into the hand of a condemned man when he is on the final step of the ladder, ready to be turned off, will cause great joy and rejoicing. The newness and suddenness of the change in his condition will make his heart leap and rejoice. Yet with the passage of time, much of his joy will diminish, though his life remains as dear to him as it ever was.

5. God Will Restore His People’s Comforts

The fifth remedy against this device of Satan is to consider that God will restore and make up the comforts of his people. Though your candle is put out, God will light it again and make it burn more brightly than ever. Though your sun is presently clouded, he who rides upon the clouds will scatter them and cause the sun to shine and warm your heart as in former days.

Hudson the martyr was deserted at the stake. He stepped out from under his chain and, after praying earnestly, was immediately comforted and suffered valiantly. Likewise, when Mr. Glover came within sight of the stake, he cried to his friend, “He is come, he is come,” meaning the Comforter whom Christ promised to send.

As the psalmist says, “Thou which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth. Thou shalt encrease my greatness, and comfort me on every side” (Ps 71:20-21).

God takes away a little comfort so that he may make room in the soul for a greater degree of comfort. The prophet Isaiah sweetly shows this: “I have seen his ways and will heal him; I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him, and to his mourners” (Isa 57:18).

Bear up sweetly, O precious soul! Your storm will end in a calm, and your dark night in a day of sunshine. Your mourning will be turned into rejoicing, and the waters of consolation will be sweeter and higher in your soul than ever before (Ps 126:6; Ps 42:7-8). The mercy is surely yours, but the time of giving it belongs to the Lord. Wait only a little, and you will find the Lord comforting you on every side.

The Seventh Device: Repeated Relapses into the Same Sin

The seventh device Satan uses to keep souls in a sad, doubting, and questioning condition is to remind the soul of its frequent relapses into the same sin that it formerly pursued with particular sorrow, grief, shame, and tears, and against which it prayed, complained, and resolved.

Satan says, “Your heart is not right with God; surely your condition is not good. You only flatter yourself by thinking that God will ever eternally own and embrace such a one as you are, who complain against sin and yet relapse into the same sin; who with tears and groans confess your sin, and yet time and again fall into the same sin.”

I confess that this is a very sad condition. After a soul has obtained mercy and pity from the Lord, after God has spoken peace and pardon to it, wiped the tears from its eyes, and set it upon its feet, it returns to folly. Ah, how relapses expose people to the greatest afflictions and worst temptations! How they make the wound bleed afresh! How they darken and cloud former assurances and evidences of heaven! How they put a sword into the hand of conscience to cut and slash the soul! They raise such fears, terrors, horrors, and doubts in the soul that it cannot be as frequent in duty as before, nor as fervent in duty as before, nor as confident in duty as before, nor as bold, familiar, and delighted with God in duty as before, nor as constant in duty as before. They give Satan an advantage to triumph over Christ. They make the work of repentance more difficult, make a person’s life a burden, and render death very terrible to the soul, etc. A backslider may say, “all my pains and expense are lost.”

The remedies against this device are these.

Remedy 1: Scripture Shows That Saints May Relapse

The first remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that many Scriptures clearly show the possibility of saints falling into the same sins of which they have formerly repented.

The Lord says by the prophet Hosea, “I will heal their back-slidings, I will love them freely, for mine anger is turned away from them” (Hos 14:4). The prophet Jeremiah likewise says, “Go and proclaim these words toward the North, and say, Return thou back-sliding Israel, saith the Lord, and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you; for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep mine anger for ever. Turn O back-sliding Israel, saith the Lord, for I am married unto you: And I will take you one of a City, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion” (Jer 3:12, 14). So the psalmist says, “They turned back and dealt unfaithfully with their fathers, they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.”

And no wonder. Though their repentance may be entirely sincere and sound, their graces are still weak and their mortification imperfect in this life. Though grace frees them from the dominion of sin, the condemning power of every sin, and the love of all sin, it does not free them from the seed of any one sin. It is therefore possible for a soul to fall again and again into the same sin. If the fire is not wholly put out, who would think it impossible for it to catch and burn again and again?

Backsliding is a soul-wounding sin: “I will heal their back-sliding.” You read of armor for the breast, but none for the back. When a soldier boasted too much about a great scar on his forehead, Augustus Caesar, in whose time Christ was born, asked whether he had received it while looking back as he fled.

Remedy 2: God Has Not Promised Freedom from Every Relapse

The second remedy against this device of Satan is seriously to consider that God has nowhere bound himself by any particular promise that souls converted and united to Christ will not fall again and again into the same sins after conversion.

I cannot find anywhere in the whole book of God that he has promised such strength or power against this or that particular sin that the soul will forever, in this life, be placed beyond the possibility of falling repeatedly into it. Where God has no mouth to speak, I must not have a heart to believe. God will graciously pardon those sins in his people that he will not effectually subdue in them during this life.

I would travel far to speak with the soul that could show me a promise that, after our sorrow and grief over this or that sin have become so great or so much, God will preserve us from ever falling into the same sin again. The sight of such a promise would be like life from the dead to many a precious soul that desires nothing more than to keep close to Christ and fears nothing more than backsliding from Christ.

In some cases the saints have found God better than his word. He promised the children of Israel only the land of Canaan, but besides that he gave them two other kingdoms that he had never promised. He promised Zachary that he would restore his speech at the birth of the child, but besides that he gave him the gift of prophecy.

Remedy 3: Renowned Saints Relapsed into the Same Sin

The third remedy against this device of Satan is seriously to consider that the most renowned saints, who are now crowned, relapsed into the same sins during their days on earth. A sheep may often slip into a slough, as well as a swine.

Lot was twice overcome with wine. John twice worshiped the angel. Abraham repeatedly dissembled and exposed his wife to adultery to save his own life, which some heathens would not have done. Abraham said, “And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my fathers house, that I said unto her, this is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me, at every place whither we shall come, say of me, he is my Brother” (Gen 20:13; see also Gen 12).

Perhaps the prodigal portrays a Christian relapse. He was already a son and lived with his father; then he went away, spent everything, and yet was not utterly undone but returned again.

In his wrath, David was determined, if ever a man was, to put Nabal and all his innocent family to death. Afterward he fell into the foul murder of Uriah.

Though Christ told his disciples “that his Kingdom was not of this world,” they still wanted, again and again and again, on three separate occasions, to mount on horseback and become high, great, and glorious in this world. Their pride and ambitious disposition drove them, though they were only so many beggars, to strive for preeminence and greatness in the world while their Lord and Master told them three separate times about his sufferings in the world and his departure from it.

Jehoshaphat, though a godly man, joined himself by marriage to Ahab (2 Chr 18:1-3, 30-31). Though he was saved by a miracle, he soon fell into the same sin again and “joyns himself with Ahaziah King of Israel, who did very wickedly” (2 Chr 20:35-37).

Samson is numbered by the Spirit of the Lord among the faithful worthies (Heb 11:32), yet he repeatedly fell into one gross sin, as is evident (Judg 14-16). Peter, as you know, relapsed repeatedly, and so did Jonah.

This happens so that they may see their own inability to stand against, resist, or overcome any temptation or corruption. It also removes them from all false confidences, so that they rest wholly, only, and always upon God. And it magnifies the power, wisdom, skill, mercy, and goodness of the physician of our souls, who can heal, help, and cure when the disease is most dangerous, when the soul has relapsed and grows worse and worse, when others say, “There is no help for him in his God,” and when the soul’s own heart and hopes are dying. The prodigal saw his father’s compassion to be greater when his father received him after he had run away.

Remedy 4: Relapses into Enormities and Infirmities Differ

The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is to consider that there are relapses into enormities and relapses into infirmities.

It is not usual for God to leave his people frequently to relapse into enormities. By his Spirit and grace, his smiles and frowns, and his word and rod, he usually preserves his people from frequently relapsing into them. Relapses into enormities are wounding and wasting sins. The Lord is therefore graciously pleased to place his everlasting arms beneath his chosen ones and keep them from frequently falling into such sins.

Yet he frequently leaves his choicest ones to relapse into infirmities, which in his grace he pardons as a matter of course. These include idle words, passion, vain thoughts, etc. Though gracious souls strive against these infirmities, complain of them, and weep over them, the Lord frequently leaves them to relapse into them in order to keep them humble. These frequent relapses into infirmities will never be their bane because they are their burden.

Remedy 5: Involuntary and Voluntary Relapses Differ

The fifth remedy against this device of Satan is to consider that there are involuntary relapses and voluntary relapses.

Involuntary relapses occur when the resolution and full inclination of the heart are against sin, and when the soul strives against sin with all its might by sighs and groans, prayers and tears, yet is forced through weakness to fall back into sin because it lacks sufficient spiritual strength to overcome. Though involuntary relapses must humble us, they must never discourage or deject us, for God will freely and readily pardon them as a matter of course.

There is a great difference between a sheep that falls into the mire through weakness and a swine that delights to wallow in it. There is likewise a difference between a woman who is forced despite striving and crying out and an alluring adulteress.

Voluntary relapses occur when the soul longs and loves “to return to the flesh-pots of Egypt,” and when returning to former courses is a pleasure and pastime to a person. Such voluntary relapses reveal the person as blinded, hardened, and ripened for ruin, etc.

Remedy 6: Past Horror and Comfort Cannot Prevent Every Relapse

The sixth remedy against this device of Satan is to consider that neither the greatest horror or sorrow a soul can endure for sin nor the sweetest and choicest discoveries of God’s grace and love possess such power or infinite virtue as to fence and secure the soul forever from relapsing into the same sin.

Grace is only a created habit, which may be overcome by the secret, subtle, and powerful workings of sin in our hearts. The discoveries God makes of his love, beauty, and glory to the soul do not always remain fresh and powerful upon the heart. By degrees they fade and wear away, and then the soul may return again to folly.

We see this in Peter. After receiving from Christ’s own mouth a glorious testimony of his blessedness and happiness, Peter tried to prevent Christ from going up to Jerusalem to suffer. He acted from merely slavish fears that he and his companions could not be safe if his Master were brought to suffering. Christ reproached his disciples for their unbelief and hardness of heart, though they had seen his glory as the glory of the only begotten Son of God, full of grace and truth (John 1:14; Matt 16:15-19, 22-24).

After this, Christ took Peter onto the mountain and showed him his beauty and glory, strengthening him against the approaching hour of temptation (Matt 17:1-3). Yet soon after Peter had received the honor and happiness of seeing the Lord’s glory, which most of the other disciples had not seen, he basely and most shamefully denied the Lord of glory, thinking by that means to secure his own safety (Matt 26:69, etc.).

After Christ had broken Peter’s heart with a look of love because of his most unlovely conduct, he told those who first learned of his resurrection to “go and tell Peter that he was risen.” Yet after all this, slavish fears again prevailed upon Peter. He basely dissembled, playing the Jew with the Jews and the Gentile with the Gentiles, even seducing Barnabas, etc. (Gal 2:11-13).

As a caution, however, know that it is very rare for God to leave his beloved ones frequently to relapse into one and the same gross sin. The law of nature is in arms against gross sins as well as the law of grace. Consequently, a gracious soul cannot, dares not, and will not frequently return to gross folly.

God has made even his dearest ones smart dearly for their relapses, as may be seen in his dealings with Samson, Jehoshaphat, and Peter. Ah, Lord! How hard is the heart of a person who can see you stripping and whipping your dearest ones for their relapses and yet think nothing of returning to folly, etc.

The Eighth Device: Using Temptations to Question Grace

The eighth device Satan uses to keep souls in a sad, doubting, and questioning condition is to persuade them that their state is not good, their hearts are not upright, and their graces are not sound because they are so constantly pursued, vexed, and tormented by temptations.

His method is first to weary and vex the soul with temptations and then to tempt it to believe that it surely is not beloved because it is so greatly tempted. By this stratagem he keeps many precious souls in a sad, doubting, and mourning frame for many years, as many of the precious sons of Zion have found by woeful experience, etc.

The remedies against this device are these.

Remedy 1: Those Most Beloved Have Been Most Tempted

The first remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that those who have been best and most beloved have been most tempted by Satan.

Though Satan can never rob a Christian of his crown, his malice is such that he will tempt Christians so that he may rob them of their comforts. His enmity toward the Father is such that the nearer and dearer any child is to him, the more Satan will trouble and vex that child with temptations.

He may tempt a saint so severely as to make the saint weary of life. Job said, “My soul is weary of my life” (Job 10:1). Pirates do not usually attack poor, empty vessels, and beggars need not fear a thief. Those who possess most of God and are richest in grace will be attacked most by Satan, who is the greatest and wisest pirate in the world.

Christ himself was nearest and dearest to the Father, the most innocent and excellent, yet no one was as greatly tempted as Christ. David was dearly beloved, yet Satan tempted him to number the people. Job was highly praised by God himself, yet he was greatly tempted, as witnessed by the sad things that fell from his mouth when he was wet to the skin.

Peter was highly prized by Christ. This is shown by the choice testimony Christ gave concerning his faith and happiness, by Christ’s showing him his glory on the mountain, and by the eye of pity Christ cast upon him after his fearful fall. Yet Peter was tempted by Satan: “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail thee not,” etc. (Luke 22:31-32).

Paul received the honor of being exalted as high as heaven and seeing glory that could not be expressed. Yet no sooner had he stepped out of heaven than Satan buffeted him, “lest he should be exalted above measure” (2 Cor 12:2, 7).

If those who were so truly, gloriously, and eminently beloved by God, who lived in heaven and set their feet upon the stars, were tempted, let no saints judge that they are not beloved merely because they are tempted. It is as natural for dearly beloved saints to be tempted as it is for the sun to shine or a bird to sing. The eagle does not complain of her wings, the peacock of his train, or the nightingale of her voice, because these are natural to them. No more should saints complain of their temptations, because temptations are natural to them.

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the Rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph 6:12).

Remedy 2: Temptations Are Sanctified by a Hand of Love

The second remedy against this device of Satan is to consider that all the temptations that befall the saints will be sanctified to them by a hand of love.

Ah, what choice experiences the saints gain of God’s power supporting them, his wisdom directing them to handle their spiritual weapons and graces so that they not only resist but overcome, and the Lord’s mercy and goodness in pardoning and helping them!

Paul therefore says, “I received the messenger of Satan for to buffet me, lest I should be exalted, lest I should be exalted above measure” (2 Cor 12:7). Twice in that verse he begins and ends with the same purpose. If he had not been buffeted, who knows how his heart might have swollen? He might have been carried higher in self-conceit than he had previously been carried in his ecstasy.

Temptation is God’s school, in which he gives his people the clearest and sweetest discoveries of his love. It is a school in which God teaches his people to be more frequent and fervent in duty. When Paul was buffeted, he prayed three times, that is, frequently and fervently. Luther said, “There were three things that made a Preacher, Meditation, Prayer, and Temptation.”

It is a school in which God teaches his people to be more tender, meek, and compassionate toward other poor, tempted souls than ever before. It is a school in which God teaches his people to see more evil in sin than ever, more emptiness in the creature than ever, and more need of Christ and free grace than ever. It is a school in which God teaches his people that all temptations are only his goldsmiths, by which he will try and refine them and make them brighter and more glorious.

The outcome of all temptations will be for the good of the saints, as you may see from the temptations encountered by Adam and Eve, Christ, David, Job, Peter, and Paul. Those hands of power and love that bring light out of darkness, good out of evil, sweetness out of bitterness, life out of death, and heaven out of hell will bring much sweetness and good to his people out of all the temptations that come upon them.

Remedy 3: Resisted Temptations Do Not Harm the Saints

The third remedy against this device of Satan is wisely to consider that temptations do not hurt or harm the saints so long as the saints resist them and the temptations prove to be their greatest afflictions.

It is not Satan’s tempting but your assenting, not his enticing but your yielding, that makes temptations hurtful to your soul. If the soul resists when it is tempted and says with Christ, “Get thee behind me Satan”; and with that young convert, “I am not the man that I was”; or answers, as Luther counsels all people to answer every temptation, “I am a Christian,” and if a person’s temptation is his greatest affliction, then the temptation is not sin upon the soul, though it is trouble upon the mind.

When a soul can look the Lord in the face and say, “Ah, Lord! I have many outward troubles upon me, I have lost such and such a near mercy, and such and such desirable mercies, and yet you who know the heart, you know that all my crosses and losses do not make so many wounds in my soul, nor draw so many sighs from my heart and tears from my eyes, as those temptations with which Satan follows my soul,” then temptations are only the soul’s trouble; they are not the soul’s sin.

Satan is a malicious and envious enemy. As his names are, so is he. His names are all names of enmity: the accuser, the tempter, the destroyer, the devourer, and the envious man.

Sometimes he displays his malice and envy by tempting people to sins quite contrary to their bodily temperament. Thus he tempted Vespasian and Julian, men of sweet and excellent natures, to become most bloody murderers. Sometimes he displays his malice by tempting people to things that will bring them neither honor nor profit, etc., saying, “Fall down and worship me,” and tempting them to blasphemy and atheism, etc., the thoughts and first motions of which cause the heart and flesh to tremble.

Sometimes he displays his malice by allowing those things to remain near the soul that may most vex and plague it. Gregory observes this in Satan’s leaving Job’s wife alive. This arose not from forgetfulness, carelessness, love, or pity toward Job, but from a desire to vex and torment him and drive him to blaspheme God, despair, and die, etc.

Sometimes Satan displays his malice by tempting people to sins toward which they have not found their natures inclined and which they abhor in others. If the soul resists these temptations, complains of them, groans and mourns beneath them, and looks to the Lord Jesus for deliverance from them, they will not be charged to the soul’s account but to Satan’s. Satan will be tormented all the more in proportion to the malicious temptations with which he has tempted the saints, etc.

Resist Temptation Immediately

Make immediate and peremptory resistance against Satan’s temptations. Defy the temptation at first sight. “It is safe to resist, it is dangerous to dispute.” Eve lost herself and her posterity by entering into a contest of debate when she should have resisted and stood in open defiance against Satan.

The person who would stand in the hour of temptation must plead with Christ, “’Tis written.” The person who would triumph over temptations must continue to plead, “’Tis written.” Satan is bold and impudent. If you are not peremptory in your resistance, he will make fresh attacks. It is your greatest honor and highest wisdom to withstand the beginnings of a temptation peremptorily, for a later remedy often comes too late.

When Emperor Constantine was told that there was no way to cure his leprosy except by bathing his body in the blood of infants, he immediately answered, “I had rather not be cured, than use such a remedy.”

Mistress Catharine Bretterge once said after a great conflict with Satan, “Do not reason with me; I am but a weak woman. If you have anything to say, say it to my Christ; he is my advocate, my strength, and my redeemer, and he shall plead for me.”

People must not attempt to resist Satan’s craft with craft, but by open defiance. The person who thinks he can repel Satan by disputing and reasoning shoots with Satan using Satan’s own bow.

As soon as a temptation shows its face, say to it as Ephraim said to his idols, “Get you hence, what have I any more to do with you?” (Hos 14). Oh, say to the temptation as David said to the sons of Zerviah, “What have I to do with you?” (2 Sam 16:10). You will be too hard for me. The person who resists temptations in this way will never be undone by them, etc.

Resist Temptation Strongly and Constantly

Make strong and constant resistance against Satan’s temptations. Resist temptations with arguments drawn from the honor of God, the love of God, and your union and communion with God; from Christ’s blood, death, kindness, intercession, and glory; from the Spirit’s voice, counsel, comforts, presence, seal, whisperings, commands, and assistance; and from the witness of the Spirit, the glory of heaven, the excellence of grace, the beauty of holiness, the worth of the soul, and the vileness, bitterness, and evil of sin. The least sin is a greater evil than the greatest temptation in the world.

I have read of a person who, when tempted with offers of money to desert Christ, gave this excellent answer: “Let no man think that he will embrace other men’s goods to forsake Christ who has forsaken his very own goods to follow Christ.”

See that you make constant resistance as well as strong resistance. Remain constantly armed. Satan will come with new temptations when the old ones prove too weak. In a calm, prepare for a storm.

The tempter is restless, impudent, and subtle. He will suit his temptations to your constitutions and inclinations. Satan loves to sail with the wind. If your knowledge is weak, he will tempt you to error. If your conscience is tender, he will tempt you to scrupulosity and excessive strictness, so that you do nothing except hear, pray, read, etc. If your conscience is wide and lax, he will tempt you to carnal security. If you are bold-spirited, he will tempt you to presumption; if timid, to desperation; if flexible, to inconstancy; if proud and stiff, to gross folly.

Therefore, remain prepared for fresh assaults and make one victory a step toward another. When you have overcome a temptation, beware of unbending your bow. Take care that your bow is always bent and remains strong. When you have overcome one temptation, you must be ready to enter the contest with another.

“And when the Devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season” (Luke 4:13). Christ had no rest until he was exactly tried with all kinds of temptations, as Calvin observes.

As distrust, in one sense, is the mother of safety, so security is the gate of danger. A person especially needs to fear that he does not fear at all. If Satan is always roaring, we should always be watching and resisting his temptations. Certainly, the person who makes strong and constant resistance against Satan’s temptations will ultimately rise above them and is presently secure enough from being ruined by them, etc.

Never Yield to Sin to Escape Temptation

To conclude, remember that it is dangerous to yield to the least sin in order to escape the greatest temptation. Taking this course would be like trying to wash oneself clean in ink or exchanging a light cross made of paper for an iron cross that is heavy, burdensome, and bloody.

The least sin, when pressed upon the conscience, will wound, vex, and oppress the soul more than all the temptations in the world can. Therefore, never yield to the least sin in order to escape the greatest temptation. The person who yields to sin to escape temptation will be tempted all the more and will become less able to withstand temptations.

Sidonius Apollinaris relates how a certain man named Maximus, after reaching the height of honor by indirect means, became greatly wearied on the first day. Fetching a deep sigh, he said, “Oh Damocles! how happy do I esteem thee, for having been a King but the space of a dinner? I have been one a whole day, and can bear it no longer.” I will leave you to make the application.

The fourth thing to be shown is the several ways and devices Satan uses to destroy and ensnare all sorts and ranks of people in the world.

I shall begin with the honorable and the great and show you the devices Satan uses to destroy them. I will mention only those that are most significant.

Device 1: Seeking Their Own Greatness

Satan’s first device for destroying the great and honorable of the earth is to make it their business to seek themselves: to make themselves great, raise themselves, enrich themselves, secure themselves, etc. You may see this in Pharaoh, Ahab, Rehoboam, Jeroboam, Absalom, Joab, and Haman, among others. Self-seeking, like the deluge, overthrows the whole world.

But even if Scripture were silent, our own experiences would abundantly demonstrate this method Satan uses to destroy the great and honorable. He buries their names in the dust and their souls in hell by drawing them wholly to mind themselves, and only to mind themselves, and in all things to mind themselves, and always to mind themselves. The apostle says that “All” comparatively “mind themselves,” because so few lay aside their private interests and drown all self-regard in the glory of God and the public good (Phil 2:21).

The remedies against this device are these.

Remedy 1: Consider the Sins Self-Seeking Produces

The first remedy against this device of Satan is to consider solemnly that self-seeking is a sin that will drive people into a world of sins. These sins are not only against the law of God and the rules of the gospel, but even against the laws of nature, though those laws have been greatly darkened by humanity’s fall.

Self-love is the root of hatred toward others. People are first “Lovers of themselves,” and then “fierce,” etc. (2 Tim 3:2). Naturalists observe that the beasts most cruel to others are the most loving toward their own.

Self-seeking drove the Pharisees to oppose Christ, Judas to betray Christ, and Pilate to condemn Christ. It drove Gehazi to lie, Balaam to curse, and Saul and Absalom to plot David’s ruin. It drove Pharaoh and Haman to devise ways to destroy the Jews whom God intended to save by his mighty arm.

It drives people to use wicked balances and the bag of deceitful weights. It drives them into oppression and into “selling the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shooes,” etc. (Amos 2:6). I know of no sin in the world that self-seeking will not drive people to commit, even though it results in their eternal loss.

Remedy 2: Consider How Self-Seeking Degrades a Person

The second remedy against this device of Satan is to consider seriously that self-seeking exceedingly degrades a person. It strips him of all his royalty and glory. From being a lord, it makes him a servant to the creature, indeed, often to the worst of creatures. It makes him a slave to slaves, as you may see in Judas, Demas, Balaam, and the scribes and Pharisees.

Self-seekers bow down to created things just as Gideon’s many thousands bowed down to the waters. Self-seeking will make a person say anything, do anything, and be anything to please the lusts of others and gain advantages over them.

Self-seeking transforms a person into every shape and form. Now it makes him appear as an angel of light, and soon afterward as an angel of darkness. Now self-seekers seem to be for God, and soon afterward they are openly against God. Now you will hear them crying, “Hosanna in the Highest,” and soon afterward, “Crucifie him, crucifie him.” Now you will see them building with the saints, and soon afterward plotting the overthrow of the saints, as those self-seekers did in the times of Ezra and Nehemiah.

A self-seeker is a Cato outwardly but a Nero inwardly. Domitian seemed to love most those whom he least wished to remain alive, and that is precisely the temper of self-seekers. Under the rites given through Moses, it was punishable by death to counterfeit the ceremonial and figurative ointment (Exod 30). What, then, will it be to counterfeit the Spirit of life and holiness?

Self-seekers are the lowest of all people. There is no service so degrading, poor, or low that they will not bow to it. They can look neither above nor beyond their own lusts and the enjoyment of the creature (Rom 1:25). These are the chief and ultimate objects of their intentions.

It is said of Tiberius that while Augustus ruled, his reputation was entirely untainted. While Drusus and Germanicus were alive, he pretended to possess virtues he did not have so that he might preserve the people’s good opinion of him. But after he had placed himself beyond contradiction and restraint, there was no deed in which he was not guilty and no crime in which he was not involved.

My prayer shall be that the spirit of Tiberius may not be found in any of our rulers, lest it prove their ruin as it did his. Wherever it is found, may it be detected, loathed, and cast out, so that neither the state nor souls may be ruined by it, etc.

Remedy 3: Dwell on the Curses Pronounced Against Self-Seekers

The third remedy against this device of Satan is to dwell solemnly on those dreadful curses and woes pronounced from heaven against self-seekers.

Isaiah says, “Wo unto them that joyn house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth” (Isa 5:8).

Habakkuk says, “Wo to him that increaseth that which is not his, and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay. Wo to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil. Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul. For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it. Wo to him that buildeth a town with blood, and establisheth a city by iniquity” (Hab 2:6, 9-12).

The materials of a house built by oppression will appear together as witnesses. The stones of the wall will cry, “Lord, we were built up by blood and violence,” and the beam will answer, “True Lord, even so it is.” The stones will cry, “vengeance Lord upon these self-seekers,” and the beam will answer, “Wo to him,” because he built his house with blood.

Crassus, a very rich Roman and a great self-seeker, waged war against the Parthians out of a greedy desire for gold. They killed him and thirty thousand Romans. Because these people concluded that he had attacked them for their gold, they melted gold and poured it into his dead body, saying, “satisfy yourself with gold.”

Isaiah also says, “Wo unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that rite grievousness which they have prescribed. To turn aside the needy from judgement, and to take away the right from the poor of my people; that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless” (Isa 10:1-2).

Amos says, “Wo unto them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the Nations, to whom the house of Israel came. That put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come neer. That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the middle of the stall. That drink wine in Bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief oyntments, but they are not grieved for the afflictions of Joseph” (Amos 6:1).

Micah says, “Wo to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds; when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand. And they covet fields, and take them by violence, and houses, and take them away. So they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage” (Mic 2:1-2).

The Roman emperor Tacitus expressed it this way: “he that is too much for himself, fails to be good to others.”

From these Scriptures you see that self-seekers labor like a woman in travail, but what they bring forth proves to be their death. Their pleasure becomes their pain, their comforts their torment, their glory their shame, and their exaltation their desolation. Loss, disgrace, trouble, shame, vexation, and confusion will certainly be the portion of self-seekers.

When the Tartars took the duke of Muscovia in battle, they made a cup from his skull with this inscription: “All covet, all lose.”

Remedy 4: Remember That Self-Seekers Destroy Themselves

The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is to consider solemnly that self-seekers are self-losers and self-destroyers.

Absalom and Judas seek themselves and hang themselves. Saul seeks himself and kills himself. Ahab seeks himself and loses himself, his crown, and his kingdom. Pharaoh seeks himself and overthrows himself and his mighty army in the Red Sea. Cain sought himself and killed two at once: his brother and his own soul. Gehazi sought a change of clothing, but God changed his clothing into leprous skin. Haman sought himself and lost himself. The princes and presidents sought themselves in the ruin of Daniel, but ruined themselves, their wives, and their children.

Adam seeks himself and loses himself, Paradise, and that blessed image God had stamped upon him. Lot seeks himself and loses himself and his goods (Gen 13:10-11). Peter seeks to save himself and miserably loses himself. In the affair of the ambassadors, Hezekiah seeks himself and would have lost himself and his life too if God had not saved him by a miracle.

What self-seekers think will be a staff to support them becomes, by the hand of justice, an iron rod to break them. What they wish to possess as springs to refresh them becomes a gulf that utterly consumes them. The crosses of self-seekers will always exceed their mercies, their pain will exceed their pleasure, and their torments will exceed their comforts. Every self-seeker is a self-tormenter and a self-destroyer. He carries a hell and an executioner in his own heart, etc.

Remedy 5: Consider Those Who Preferred the Public Good

The fifth remedy against this device of Satan is to dwell much on the famous examples of those worthy saints who denied themselves and preferred the public good to their own particular advantage.

Consider Moses. “And the Lord said unto Moses, let me alone that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven, and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they.” Oh, but this offer did not persuade Moses. Being a man of a noble public spirit, he was fervent in his desires and prayers that the people might be spared and pardoned. He said, “Pardon I beseech thee the iniquity of this people, unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people from Egypt until now. And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word.”

Ah! If God made such an offer to many who call themselves Moses and are called Moses by many others, I fear they would prefer their own advantage to the public good. They would not care what became of the people as long as they and their families could be made great and glorious in the world. They would not care if a Babel were built for them upon the ashes and ruin of the people. There are no spirits lower than these in hell, no, not in hell, and I am sure there are no such spirits in heaven. Such people’s hearts and principles must be changed, or they will be undone forever.

It is good to share the mind of the man who was more willing to beautify Italy than his own house. The ancients used to place statues of their princes beside their fountains, signifying that rulers were, or at least should be, fountains of the public good.

Nehemiah was a choice soul, a man of noble public spirit who spent his time, strength, and estate for the good and relief of his people. He says, “Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their Governor in the Land of Judah, from the twentieth year, even unto the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes the King, that is, twelve years, I & my brethren have not eaten the bread of the Governor. Yea, also I continued in the work of this wall, & all my servants were gathered hither unto the work. Moreover, there were at my table an hundred and fifty of the Jews & Rulers, besides those that came unto us from among the heathen that are about us. Now that which was prepared for me daily, was one Ox, and six choice sheep, also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days store of all sorts of wine: yet for all this required I not the bread of the Governor, because the bondage was heavy upon the people. Think upon me, O my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.”

A certain great emperor came into Egypt and, to demonstrate his zeal for the public good, said to the Egyptians, “Draw from me as from your River Nilus.”

Daniel was also a man of noble public spirit. “Then the Presidents and Princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom, but they could find no occasion, nor fault, forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. Then said these men, we shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him, concerning the Law of his God.”

A counselor says, “a statesman should be thus divided into three parts: his will to God, his love to his master, his heart to his country, his secret to his friend, his time to business.” Solomon’s tribunal was supported by lions to show what spirit and mettle a magistrate should possess.

Christ had a public spirit. He laid himself out and laid himself down for the public good. Oh, never stop looking and meditating upon these precious and sweet examples until your souls are enlivened and raised up to act more for the public good than for your own particular advantage. Many heathens have excelled in this.

Microbius writes of Augustus Caesar, in whose time Christ was born, that he had such an entire and fatherly affection for the commonwealth that he called it his own daughter. He therefore refused to be called the lord or master of his country and would only be called father of his country. He governed it not by fear but by love, and the senate and people of Rome together greeted him by the name father of his country. The people greatly lamented his death, saying, “If only he had never been born, or had never died.”

So Marcus Regulus, to save his country from ruin, exposed himself to the greatest sufferings the malice and rage of his enemies could inflict.

So Titus, Aristides, and many others became famous for preferring the public good to their own advantage. My prayer is, and shall be, that God may give all our rulers such a spirit that they may be willing to be anything to be nothing, to deny themselves, and to trample their sinful selves underfoot for the honor of God and the public good. Then neither saints nor heathens will be witnesses against them on that day when the hearts and conduct of all the rulers in the world will lie open and bare before him who judges the world in righteousness and judgment.

Remedy 6: Consider How Self Hinders Divine Things

The sixth remedy against this device of Satan is to consider seriously that self is a great hindrance to divine things. Therefore, the prophets and apostles were usually carried out of themselves when they received the clearest, choicest, highest, and most glorious visions.

Self-seeking blinds the soul so that it cannot see beauty in Christ or excellence in holiness. It disorders the palate so that a person cannot taste sweetness in the Word of God, the ways of God, or the fellowship of God’s people. It closes the hand against all Christ’s soul-enriching offers and hardens the heart against all Christ’s knocks and entreaties. It makes the soul like an empty vine and a barren wilderness. “Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit to himself” (Hos 10:1).

Nothing more clearly reveals a person to be empty and devoid of God, Christ, and grace than self-seeking. The Pharisees were great self-seekers and great undervaluers of Christ, his Word, and his Spirit. There is no greater hindrance to all the duties of piety than self-seeking.

Oh, this is what keeps many souls from seeking God and the precious things of eternity. Because of self, they cannot wait upon God, act for God, or remain in those ways where they might meet with God. Self-seeking drives many people to neglect and slight the things of their peace.

Self-seekers, like Esau, prefer a mess of pottage to their birthright. Like the men of Shechem, they esteem the bramble above the vine, the olive, and the fig tree. They prefer empty things to a full Christ and base things to a glorious Christ.

Self-seekers will neither enter heaven themselves nor permit others to enter who are ready to take the kingdom by violence, as you may see in the scribes and Pharisees.

Oh, but a gracious spirit acts in an entirely different way, as you may see in that sweet Scripture: “At our gates are all manner of pleasant fruit, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O beloved” (Song 7:13). All that the church has and is belongs only to him. Let others bear fruit for themselves and store up treasure for themselves; gracious spirits will preserve their fruit for Christ and lay it up for Christ. The saints’ motto is, “For you, Lord, for you.” The saints’ motto is, “Not to us, Lord.”

All the divine endeavors and productions of the saints fall into God’s bosom and empty themselves into his lap. As Christ lays up his merits for them, his graces for them, his comforts for them, and his crown for them, so they lay up all their fruits, and all their loves, all their graces, and all their experiences, and all their services only for him who is the soul of their comforts and the crown and summit of all their royalty and glory, etc.

Satan’s second device for ensnaring and destroying the great and honorable people of the earth is to engage them against the people of the Most High, against those who are his jewels, his pleasant portion, the delight of his eye, and the joy of his heart.

Thus he drew Pharaoh to engage against the children of Israel, and that was Pharaoh’s overthrow (Exod 14). So he engaged Haman against the Jews and brought him to hang upon the gallows he had made for Mordecai (Esth 7). So he engaged those princes and presidents against Daniel, which brought utter ruin upon them and their families (Dan 6). So it is written: “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison. And he shall go out to deceive the Nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battel: whose number is as the sand of the sea. And they went up upon the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the Saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of Heaven, and consumed them” (Rev 20:7-9).

The remedies against this device are these.

1. Consider the Ruin of Those Who Oppose the Saints

The first remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that none have engaged against the saints without being ruined by the God of saints. Divine justice has been too strong for all who have opposed and engaged against the saints, as is evident in Saul, Pharaoh, Haman, etc. “He reproved Kings for their sakes, saying, Touch not mine anointed, nor do my Prophets no harm.”

When men of Balaam’s spirit and principles have engaged against the saints, how has the angel of the Lord met them in the way and dashed their bones against the wall? How has he broken their backs and necks and, by his drawn sword, cut them off in the prime of their days and at the height of their sins?

Ah! What a harvest hell has had in our days from those who have engaged against the Lamb and against those who are called, chosen, and faithful! Ah! How has divine justice poured out their blood like water upon the ground! How has he laid their honor and glory in the dust! In the pride and madness of their hearts, they said as Pharaoh did: “We will pursue, we will overtake, we will divide the spoil, our lusts shall be satisfied upon them. We will draw our sword, our hand shall destroy them.” In the very things in which they have spoken and acted proudly, justice has risen above them. History abounds in nothing more than examples of this kind, etc.

As people once said in an epigram about the Greeks whom they thought invulnerable, “we shoot at them, but they fall not down; we wound them, and not kill them,” etc. Pedaretus, as cited by Erasmus, said, “The number of opposers makes the Christians’ conquest the more illustrious.”

2. Dwell on God’s Promises to Defend His People

The second remedy against this device of Satan is to dwell for some time every morning upon the following Scriptures, in which God has pledged himself to stand by his people and for his people and to make them victorious over the greatest and wisest of their enemies.

“Associate your selves,” says the Lord by the prophet, “O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces, and give ear, all ye of far Countrys: Gird your selves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together and it shall come to naught. Speak the word, and it shall not stand, for God is with us” (Isa 8:9-10). Cyprian said of the Christians in his time that they could be killed, but they could not be conquered.

“Fear not thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, & thy Redeemer, the holy One of Israel. Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth, thou shalt thresh the mountains, & beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, & the whirlwind shall scatter them, & thou shalt rejoyce in the Lord, and shalt glory in the holy one of Israel” (Isa 41:14).

“No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord” (Isa 54:17).

“Now also many Nations are gathered together against thee, that say, let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel; for he shall gather them as sheaves into the floor. Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion, I will make thy horn iron, and I will make thy hoof brass, and thou shalt beat in pieces many people, and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth” (Mic 4:11-13).

“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burthensome stone for all people, all that burthen themselves with it shall be cut in pieces; though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it” (Zech 12:2-3).

3. Remember That Opposing the Saints Is Opposing God

The third remedy against this device of Satan is to consider that you cannot engage against the saints without engaging against God himself, because of the near and blessed union between God and them. You cannot fight against the saints without being found, when the account is settled, to have fought against God himself (Acts 5:39). What greater madness can there be than for weakness itself to engage against almighty strength? This seems like the fable of the giants who were said to make war against the gods.

The near union between the Lord and believers is set forth by the close union between a husband and his wife. “They two shall be one flesh. This is a great mysterie, but I speak concerning Christ and the Church. We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones,” says the apostle. This near union is also set forth by the union between the head and the members, which make up one body, and by the union between the graft and the stock, which are made one by insertion.

The soul’s happiness consists in nothing so much as its union with God, nor does its misery lie so much in anything as in its disunion from God.

The union between the Lord and a believer is so close that you cannot strike a believer without the Lord being conscious of it and taking it as done to himself. “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” (Acts 9:4). “And in all their afflictions he was afflicted,” etc. (Isa 63:9).

Ah, souls! Whoever engaged against God and prospered? Whoever took up the sword against him without perishing by it? God can speak you into hell and nod you into hell at his pleasure. It is your greatest concern to lay down your weapons at his feet and to “kiss the Son lest he be angry, and you perish in the midway” (Ps 2:12).

4. Remember What You Owe to the Saints’ Prayers

The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that you are greatly indebted to the saints, as instruments, for the mercies you enjoy and for the prevention and removal of many judgments that otherwise might have ruined you before this day.

One person said concerning Luther, “He could have what he wanted from God.”

Were it not for the saints’ sake, God would quickly make the heavens like brass and the earth like iron. God would quickly strip you of your robes and glory and set you upon the dunghill with Job. The saints are the supports that keep the world from falling about your ears and that keep the iron rod from breaking your bones. “Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them” (Ps 106:23).

Ah! If the saints had not many times cast themselves into the breach between God’s wrath and you, you would have been cut off from the land of the living and would have had your portion with those whose names are written in the dust. Prayer is “the gate of Heaven, a Key to let us into Paradise.” Yet “When the danger is over, the Saint is forgotten,” as a French proverb says, and many saints in England have found this true by experience.

Many a nation, many a city, and many a family is surrounded with blessings for the sake of the Josephs who live there. They are preserved from many calamities and miseries for the sake of the Moseses, Daniels, Noahs, and Jobs who dwell among them.

That is a sweet word: “As the Whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more: but the righteous is an everlasting foundation,” or is the foundation of the world (Prov 10:25). The righteous person is the foundation of the world, which, except for their sakes, would soon shatter and fall to ruin. So the psalmist says, “The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved, I bear up the pillars of it. Selah” (Ps 75:3).

Mary, Queen of Scots and mother of King James, used to say that she feared Mr. Knox’s prayers more than an army of ten thousand men.

The emperor Marcus Antonius was in Germany with his army when his enemies enclosed them in a dry country and blocked all the passages. He and his army seemed likely to perish for lack of water. Seeing him in such distress, the emperor’s lieutenant told him that he had heard that Christians could obtain anything from their God by their prayers. The emperor had a legion of Christians in his army, so he asked them to pray to their God for his deliverance and that of his army from the danger. They immediately did so. At once a great thunderclap fell among their enemies and an abundance of water fell upon the Romans. Their thirst was quenched, and their enemies were overthrown without any battle.

I will close this last remedy with those sweet words of the psalmist: “In Judah is God known his name is great in Israel: In Salem also is his Tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Sion. There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, & the sword, and the battel. Selah” (Ps 76:1-3).

Secondly, Satan has his devices to ensnare and destroy the learned and the wise. Sometimes he works upon them to make them proud of their gifts and abilities (John 5:44). Sometimes he draws them to rest upon their gifts and abilities. Sometimes he causes them to make light of and despise those who lack their gifts and abilities, though those people excel them in grace and holiness. The truth of this may be seen in the learned scribes and Pharisees. Sometimes he draws them to employ their gifts and abilities in ways and causes that oppose the honor of Christ, the joy of the Spirit, the advancement of the gospel, and the liberty of the saints, etc. (1 Kgs 22:22-25; 1 Cor 1:18-29).

The remedies against this device are these.

1. Remember That Everything You Have Was Received

The first remedy against this device of Satan is seriously to consider that you have nothing except what you have received, for Christ is the fountain of common gifts as well as of saving grace.

“What hast thou,” says the apostle, “that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory as though thou hadst not received it?” (1 Cor 4:7). Bernard said, “Whatsoever you are, you owe to him that made you, and whatsoever you have, you owe to him that redeemed you.”

Some people would hammer out their own happiness, like the spider climbing up by the thread of her own weaving. Of all the gifts and abilities in you, you may well say as the young man did of his hatchet, “Alas Master! it was but borrowed.” Alas, Lord! All I have is merely borrowed from that fountain which fills all the vessels in heaven and on earth and still overflows. My gifts are not so much mine as yours. “Of thine own have we offered unto thee,” said that princely prophet, etc. (1 Chr 29:14).

2. Do Not Trust in Your Own Abilities

The second remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that people’s reliance and trust in their own wit, gifts, and abilities have brought their utter overthrow and ruin. You may see this in Ahithophel, in those presidents and princes who engaged against Daniel, and in the scribes and Pharisees.

Someone has said, “General Councils were seldom successful because men came with confidence, leaning to their own understanding, and seeking for victory, rather than verity.”

God loves to confute people in the things they trust. The person who stands upon his gifts and abilities merely stands upon quicksand, which will certainly fail him. Nothing in the world provokes God to withdraw from a soul more than this. How can the soul stand when its strength has departed from it? Everything a person leans upon except God will become a dart that certainly pierces the heart through and through.

Ah! How many people in these days have lost their estates, their friends, their lives, and their souls by leaning upon their admired gifts and abilities! The saints are described as leaning upon their beloved, the Lord Jesus (Song 8:5). The person who leans only upon the bosom of Christ lives the highest, choicest, safest, and sweetest life. Miseries always lie at the door of the person who leans upon anything below the precious bosom of Christ. Such a person is in the greatest danger, and this is not the least of his plagues: he thinks himself secure.

It is the greatest wisdom in the world to take the wise man’s counsel: “Trust in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not to thine own understanding” (Prov 3:5).

3. Others May Exceed You in Grace and Holiness

The third remedy against this device of Satan is to consider that you do not surpass others more in gifts and abilities than they surpass you in grace and holiness. There may be, and often are, great gifts and abilities where there is little grace, or even no grace. Judas and the scribes and Pharisees had great gifts but no grace. The disciples had grace but weak gifts (Luke 11:1; Mark 8:31-33; Luke 24:19-28). There may also be, and often is, a great deal of grace where gifts and abilities are weak.

You may be higher than others in the gifts of knowledge, utterance, learning, etc., while those very souls may be higher than you in their communion with God, their delight in God, their dependence upon God, their affections toward God, and their humble, holy, and blameless walk before God.

Is it not folly and madness for someone to make light of and despise another because the other is not as rich in lead or iron as he is, when that person is a thousand thousand times richer in silver, gold, jewels, and pearls? And is it not madness and folly indeed for those with greater gifts and abilities to despise others on that account, when those very people whom they make light of and despise have a thousand times more grace than they do? Yet, ah! How this evil spirit prevails in the world!

It was Augustine’s sad complaint in his time: “The unlearned,” he said, “rise up, and take heaven by violence, and we with all our learning are thrust down to hell.” It is sad to see how many of the rabbis of these times make an idol of their gifts and abilities. With what an eye of pride, scorn, and contempt they look upon those who lack their gifts and do not worship the idol they have set up in their own hearts!

Paul, the great doctor of the Gentiles, wonderfully surpassed the doctors and rabbis of our times in every gift and ability. Yet, ah! How humbly, tenderly, and sweetly he conducted himself toward the meanest and weakest! “To the weak, I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Cor 9:22). “Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not?” (2 Cor 11:29). “Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.”

But, ah! How little of this sweet spirit is found in the doctors of our age, who look sourly and speak bitterly against those who do not see as they see and cannot speak as they speak. Sirs, the Spirit of the Lord, even in despised saints, will be too strong for you. His appearance in them in these latter days will be so full of spiritual beauty and glory that it will darken what you are too apt to count and call your glory (Isa 60:13-17). The Spirit of the Lord will not allow his choicest jewel, grace, to remain forever buried under the straw and stubble of gifts and abilities.

4. Pride Causes Gifts and Abilities to Wither

The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is to consider that there is no surer way for people to have their gifts and abilities blasted and withered than to be proud of them, rest upon them, make light of and despise those who lack them, and employ them against those people, ways, and things upon which Jesus Christ has set his heart.

Becanus says “That the tree of Knowledge bears many leaves, and little fruit.” Ah! May it not be so with many in these days who once outshone the stars, etc.

Ah! How has God blasted and withered the gifts and abilities of many among us who were once famous, shining lights! How their sun is darkened and their glory clouded! “How is the sword of the Lord upon their arm, and upon their right eye? How is their arm clean dryed up, and their right eye utterly darkned?” as the prophet speaks (Zech 11:17).

This is a matter for humiliation and lamentation. Many precious, discerning saints see this and secretly mourn over it. Oh, that these people might become properly conscious of God’s withdrawal from them, so that they may repent, remain humble, conduct themselves sweetly toward God’s jewels, and lean only upon the Lord rather than upon their gifts and understanding! Then the Lord may delight to visit them with his grace in such a measure that their faces may shine more gloriously than ever, and they may become more serviceable to the honor of Christ and the faith of the saints than they have formerly been, etc.

Third, Satan has devices to destroy the saints. One great device he uses is to make them first become estranged, then divided, then bitter and jealous, until they “bite and devour one another” (Gal 5:15). Our own woeful experience proves this all too well. The Israelites in Egypt did not vex one another more than Christians have done in these days, causing a deadly consumption to fall upon some. As the saying warns, “If we knock we break.” Dissolution is the daughter of dissension.

The remedies against this device are these.

1. Dwell on One Another’s Graces

The first remedy against this device of Satan is to dwell more upon one another’s graces than upon one another’s weaknesses and infirmities. It is sad to consider that saints should have many eyes for one another’s infirmities, but not one eye for each other’s graces. They use spectacles to behold one another’s weaknesses rather than looking glasses to behold one another’s graces.

Erasmus tells of someone who collected all the lame and defective verses in Homer’s works but passed over all that were excellent. Ah, may this not be the practice of many who will at last meet in heaven! May they not be careful and skillful in collecting all the weaknesses of others while passing over everything excellent in them. The Corinthians looked more upon the incestuous person’s sin than upon his sorrow, which threatened to drown him in grief (2 Cor 2:7-8).

Flavius Vespasian the emperor was more ready to conceal the vices of his friends than their virtues. Christians, can you think seriously about a heathen excelling you in this and not blush? As another saying puts it, “Not race, or place, but grace truly sets forth a man.”

Tell me, saints, is it not sweeter, more comforting, and more delightful to look more upon one another’s graces than upon one another’s infirmities? Tell me, what pleasure, delight, or comfort is there in looking upon the enemies, wounds, sores, sickness, diseases, and nakedness of our friends? Sin, you know, is the soul’s enemy, the soul’s wound, the soul’s sores, the soul’s sickness, the soul’s disease, and the soul’s nakedness. Ah, what kind of heart loves to look upon these things?

Grace is the choicest flower in a Christian’s garden, the richest jewel in his crown, his princely robes, and the height of royalty. It must therefore be the most pleasing, sweet, and delightful object upon which a gracious eye can fix. Sin is darkness; grace is light. Sin is hell; grace is heaven. What madness it is to look more at darkness than light, and more at hell than heaven!

Tell me, saints, does not God look more upon his people’s graces than upon their weaknesses? Surely he does. He looks more at David’s and Asaph’s uprightness than at their infirmities, though those infirmities were great and many. He looks more at Job’s patience than at his passion: “Remember the patience of Job,” without a word about his impatience (Jas 5:11; 12:25; 1 Pet 2:6).

The artist who drew Alexander while he had a scar upon his face drew him with his finger over the scar. God puts his fingers upon his people’s scars so that no blemish may appear. Sin is Satan’s work, while grace is God’s work. Is it not most fitting that the child should look most upon and mind most his Father’s work?

Ah, saints, make it the height of your glory in this matter to be like your heavenly Father. By doing so, much sin would be prevented, the designs of wicked men frustrated, Satan outwitted, many wounds healed, many sad hearts cheered, and God more abundantly honored, etc.

2. Remember That Unity Brings Safety

The second remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that love and unity contribute most to your own safety and security. “We shall be invincible, if we are inseparable.” The world may frown upon you and plot against you, but it cannot hurt you. Unity is the best bond of safety in every church and commonwealth.

The heathens had a Temple of Concord. Shall concord not be found among Christians, who are temples of the Holy Spirit? Pancirolus says that the most precious pearl among the Romans was called unio, union.

A Scythian king in Plutarch vividly represented this truth to his eighty sons. When he was ready to die, he commanded that a tightly bound bundle of arrows be given to his sons to break. They all tried, but because the arrows were bound firmly together, they could not break them. Then he ordered the band to be cut, and they broke the arrows with ease. He applied it in these words: “My sons, so long as you keep together, you will be invincible, but if the band of union is broken between you, you will easily be broken in pieces.”

Pliny writes of a stone on the island of Scyrus which, when whole, floats above the water though it is large and heavy, but sinks when broken. So long as saints remain whole, nothing shall sink them. But if they break apart, they are in danger of sinking and drowning, etc.

3. Dwell on God’s Commands to Love

The third remedy against this device of Satan is to dwell upon those commands of God that require you to love one another. Oh, when your hearts begin to rise against each other, press God’s commands upon your hearts and say to your souls, “Oh, our souls! Has not the eternal God commanded you to love those who love the Lord? Is it not life to obey and death to rebel?”

To act or run contrary to God’s express command, even under the pretense of revelation from God, is as much as a man’s life is worth, as that sad account demonstrates (1 Kgs 13:24). Therefore, see that you fulfill the Lord’s commands. His commands are not like decrees that are easily reversed, but like those of the Medes, which cannot be changed.

Oh, ponder these commands of God often: “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you, that ye also love one another” (John 13:34). It is called a new commandment because it is renewed in the gospel and pressed home by Christ’s example, and because it is rare, choice, special, and remarkable above all others. Some understand this as a Hebraism, in which “new,” “rare,” and “excellent” are synonymous.

“This is my Commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you. These things I command you, that ye love one another” (John 15:12, 17). “Owe no man any thing, but love one another; for he that loveth another, hath fulfilled the Law” (Rom 13:8). “Let brotherly love continue” (Heb 13:3). “Love one another, for love is of God, and every one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God” (John 4:7). “See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently” (1 Pet 1:22). “Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another. Love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous” (1 Pet 3:8). “For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another” (1 John 3:11). “And this is his Commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another as he gave us Commandment” (1 John 3:23). “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11). Oh, dwell much upon these precious commands so that your love for one another may be inflamed.

In the primitive times, the heathens took special notice that, in the depths of misery, when fathers and mothers forsook their children, Christians who otherwise were strangers stood by one another. Their religious love proved firmer than natural affection. The ancients commonly said that Alexander and Ephestion had one soul in two distinct bodies because their joy and sorrow, glory and disgrace, were mutual to them both.

Ah, that there were more of that spirit among the saints in these days! The world was once destroyed with water for the heat of lusts, and it is thought that it will be destroyed again with fire for the coldness of love.

4. Dwell on the Things in Which You Agree

The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is to dwell more upon those choice and sweet things in which you agree than upon those things in which you differ. Ah, if you did this, how sinful hearts would be subdued, your love raised, and your spirits sweetened toward one another!

You agree in most things and differ in only a few. You agree in the greatest and weightiest matters concerning God, Christ, the Spirit, the Scripture, etc. You differ only on points that have long been disputed among men of the greatest piety and ability. You agree to own the Scripture, to hold to Christ the head, and to walk according to the laws of the new creature.

Shall Herod and Pilate agree? Shall Turks and pagans agree? Shall bears and lions, tigers and wolves agree? Indeed, shall a legion of devils agree in one body, and shall not saints agree, though they differ only in matters that have the least of God’s heart in them and will never hinder their meeting in heaven? What a sad thing it was that a heathen could say, “no Beasts are so mischievous to men, as Christians are one to another.”

5. Remember the God of Peace

The fifth remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that God delights to be called the God of Peace, Christ the Prince of Peace and King of Salem, that is, King of Peace, and the Spirit a Spirit of Peace (2 Cor 13:11; Isa 9:6). As the saying declares, “Where peace is, there is Christ, because Christ is peace.” “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace” (Gal 5:22). Oh, why then should the saints not be children of peace?

Certainly, men of perverse, unquiet, fiery spirits cannot have the same sweet evidence of their interest in the God of peace, the Prince of peace, and the Spirit of peace that those precious souls possess who follow after the things that make for love and peace.

“The name of peace is sweet,” said the orator. Its very name is sweet and comforting; its fruit and effect are pleasant and profitable, more desirable than innumerable triumphs. It is a blessing that ushers in a multitude of other blessings.

The ancients used to paint Peace in the form of a woman with a horn of plenty in her hand. The Greeks had a statue of Peace with Pluto, the god of riches, in her arms. Ah, peace and love among the saints will secure them and their mercies at home. Indeed, it will multiply their mercies and engage the God of mercy to crown them with the choicest mercies. It will also make them most terrible, invincible, and successful abroad.

Love and peace among the saints bring the counsels of their enemies to a stand and render all their enterprises abortive. They do most to weaken their enemies’ hands, wound their hopes, and kill their hearts, etc.

6. Keep Your Peace with God

The sixth remedy against this device of Satan is to take greater care and make more conscience of keeping up your peace with God. Ah, Christians, I fear your negligence here has caused much of the sourness, bitterness, and division among you. “There is no fear of knowing too much, but there is much fear in practising too little.”

Ah, you have not kept up your peace with God as you should, and therefore you so dreadfully break the peace among yourselves. The Lord has promised “That when a mans ways please him, he will make his enemies to be at peace with him” (Prov 16:7). How much more, then, would God cause the children of peace to keep peace among themselves if their ways pleased him? All creatures are at his beck and restraint.

Laban followed Jacob with one troop, and Esau met him with another, both with hostile intentions. But because Jacob’s ways pleased the Lord, God worked so mightily that Laban left him with a kiss and Esau met him with a kiss. Jacob received an oath from one, tears from the other, and peace with both.

Pharnaces sent a crown to Caesar at the same time that he rebelled against him. Caesar returned the crown with this message: “Let him return to his obedience first.” There is no sound peace with God or man except in the way of obedience.

If we make it our business to keep our covenant of peace with God, God will make it his work and glory to maintain our peace with men. But if people make light of keeping up their peace with God, it is just for God to leave them to a spirit of pride, envy, passion, contention, division, and confusion, and to leave them to “bite and devour one another, till they be consumed one of another,” etc.

7. Remember Your Near Relation and Union

The seventh remedy against this device of Satan is to dwell much upon the near relation and union between you. This consideration had a sweet influence upon Abraham’s heart: “And Abraham said unto Lot, let there be no strife I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my heardsmen and thy heardsmen, for we are brethren” (Gen 13:8). The sense is, “O let there be no bitterness between us, for we are brethren.”

That is a sweet word in the psalmist: “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to live together in unity.” It is not good without being pleasant, nor pleasant without being good, but both good and pleasant. Some things are good but not pleasant, such as patience and discipline. Some things are pleasant but not good, such as carnal pleasures and voluptuousness, etc. Some things are neither good nor pleasant, such as malice, envy, and worldly sorrow, etc. And some things are both good and pleasant, such as piety, charity, peace, and union among brethren.

Oh, that we could see more of this among those who will one day meet in their Father’s kingdom and never part! The multicolored coats marked the king’s children; in the same way, following after peace marks God’s children now.

As they are brethren, so they are all fellow members: “Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular” (1 Cor 12:27). And again, “We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones” (Eph 5:30). Shall the members of the natural body serve and help one another while the members of this spiritual body cut and destroy one another? Is it contrary to the law of nature for the natural members to cut and slash one another? Is it not much more contrary to the law of nature and grace for the members of Christ’s glorious body to do so?

As you are all fellow members, so you are fellow soldiers under the same Captain of salvation, the Lord Jesus, fighting against the world, the flesh, and the devil (Rev 12:7-8; Heb 2:10). As you are fellow soldiers, so you are fellow sufferers under the same enemies, the devil and the world (John 15:19-20; Heb 12:14). As you are fellow sufferers, so you are fellow travelers toward the land of Canaan and “the new Jerusalem, that is above.” “Here we have no abiding City, but we look for one to come” (Heb 13:14). The heirs of heaven are strangers on earth. And as you are fellow travelers, so you are fellow heirs of the same crown and inheritance (Rom 8:15; Rev 2:10).

8. Dwell on the Miseries of Discord

The eighth remedy against this device of Satan is to dwell upon the miseries of discord. Dissolution is the daughter of dissension. Ah, how the name of Christ and the way of Christ suffer through the discord of saints! How many who are entering the ways of God are hindered and saddened! How the mouths of the wicked are opened and their hearts hardened against God and his ways by the discord of his people!

Our dissensions are among the Jews’ greatest stumbling blocks. Can you think of this without your hearts bleeding? Remember that the disagreement of Christians is the devil’s triumph. What a sad thing it is that Christians should give Satan cause to triumph!

It was a notable saying of one: “Take away strife, and call back peace, lest you lose a man, your friend, and the Devil, an enemy, rejoice over you both,” etc.

9. Be First in Seeking Peace

The ninth remedy against this device of Satan is seriously to consider that it is no disparagement to you to be first in seeking peace and reconciliation. Rather, it is an honor that you have begun to seek peace. Those who first begin to pursue peace will have the name, distinction, comfort, and credit of being most like God.

Abraham was older and more worthy than Lot, both by grace and by nature, for he was Lot’s uncle. Yet Abraham first sought peace with his inferior, which God has recorded to his honor. Ah, how the God of peace, by his Spirit and messengers, pursues peace with poor creatures! God first offers peace to us: “Now then we are Ambassadours for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christs stead, be ye reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5:20).

God’s grace first kneels to us. Who can turn their backs upon such blessed and bleeding embraces except souls in whom Satan, the god of this world, reigns as king? God is the injured party, yet he first sues for peace with us: “I said, behold me, behold me, unto a Nation that was not called by my name” (Isa 65:1). “Behold me, behold me” is repeated to show God’s exceeding readiness to show them favor and mercy. Ah, how the sweetness, freeness, and riches of his grace break forth and shine upon poor souls!

When a man goes away from the sun, its beams still follow him. So when we go away from the Sun of righteousness, the beams of his love and mercy still follow us. Christ first sent to Peter, who had denied him, and to the rest, who had forsaken him: “Go your ways and tell his Disciples and Peter, that he goeth before you into Galilee, there shall ye see him, as he said unto you” (Mark 16:7).

Ah, souls, it is not a base or low thing, but a Godlike thing, to be first in seeking peace even when others have wronged us. Such actions will reveal much of God within a person’s spirit, etc.

Christians, it is not a matter of liberty whether you will pursue peace or not. It is a matter of duty laid upon you. You are bound by express precepts to follow after peace, and though it may seem to fly from you, you must pursue it. “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Heb 12:14). Peace and holiness must be pursued with the greatest eagerness imaginable. The word signifies following after peace as a persecutor follows the person he persecutes.

So the psalmist says, “Depart from evil, and do good, seek peace, and pursue it” (Ps 34:14). The Hebrew word rendered “seek” is in the Piel form and signifies seeking earnestly, vehemently, affectionately, studiously, and industriously. The word rendered “pursue” signifies earnest pursuit. It is a metaphor taken from the eagerness of wild beasts or ravenous birds, which will run or fly both fast and far rather than be disappointed of their prey.

The apostle presses the same duty upon the Romans: “Let us follow after the things that make for peace, and things wherein one may edifie another” (Rom 14:19). Ah, you perverse, sour, dogged Christians, can you look upon these commands of God without tears and blushing?

I have read in Plutarch a remarkable story of Aristippus, though he was only a heathen. He went of his own accord to Aeschines, his enemy, and said, “Shall we never be reconciled till we become the table talk of all the country?” When Aeschines answered that he would most gladly be at peace with him, Aristippus said, “Remember then that though I was the elder and better man, yet I first sought you.” Aeschines replied, “You are indeed a far better man than I; for I began the quarrel, but you the reconcilement.”

My prayer is that this heathen may not rise in judgment against the flourishing professors of our times, “Who whet their tongues like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words” (Ps 64:3).

10. Walk Together Where You Agree

The tenth remedy against this device of Satan is for saints to join together and walk together in the ways of grace and holiness as far as they agree, making the Word the only touchstone and judge of their actions.

That is sweet advice which the apostle gives: “I press toward the mark, for the price of the high-calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:14). “Let us therefore as many as be perfect” (comparatively, or conceitedly so) “be thus minded: And if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you” (Phil 3:15). “Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing” (Phil 3:16).

Ah, Christians, God loses much, you lose much, and Satan gains much because you do not and will not walk lovingly together as far as your ways lie together. It is your sin and shame that you do not and will not pray together, hear together, confer together, and mourn together, etc., merely because you disagree in some far lesser matters. Joint prayer has great power. Mary Queen of Scots, the mother of King James, used to say that she feared Master Knox’s prayers more than an army of ten thousand men.

What folly and madness it is when people whose hundred-mile roads run together for ninety-nine miles refuse to walk that far together merely because they cannot go the final mile together! Yet such is the folly and madness of many Christians in these days. They will not do the many things they may do because they cannot do everything they should do. I fear God will whip them into a better temper before he has finished with them: “He will break their bones, and pierce their heart”; but he will cure them of this malady, etc.

Be sure that you make the Word the only touchstone and judge of all persons and actions. “To the Law and to the Testimony, if they speak not according to this word, ’tis because there is no light in them” (Isa 8:20). It is best and safest to make that the judge of all people and things now by which all will be judged on the last day. “The word,” says Christ, “that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:48).

Do not make your dim light, notions, fancies, or opinions the judge of men’s actions. Always judge by the rule and plead, “’Tis written.” When a vain, importunate soul cried out during a dispute with a holy man, “Hear me, hear me,” the holy man answered, “Do not hear me, nor I you, but let us both hear the Apostle.”

In all the disputes held before him with the Arians, Constantine continually called for the Word of God as the only means, if not to convert them, at least to stop their mouths, etc.

11. Judge Yourselves

The eleventh remedy against this device of Satan is to be much engaged in self-judgment. “Judge your selves, and you shall not be judged of the Lord” (1 Cor 11:31).

Ah, if Christians’ hearts were more occupied in judging and condemning themselves, they would not be so ready to judge and censure others or to behave sourly and bitterly toward those who differ from them. No souls in the world are so fearful of judging others as those who judge themselves most. None are so careful to make a righteous judgment of people or things as those most careful to judge themselves.

None tremble so much at the thought of thinking evil of others, speaking evil of others, or doing evil to others as those who make it their business to judge themselves. None make such sweet constructions and charitable interpretations of people and things as those who are best and most practiced in judging themselves.

It is told of Nero that, because he was unchaste himself, he thought there was no chaste man. By contrast, in the Olympic Games the wrestlers did not put their crowns upon their own heads but upon the heads of others. It is just so with souls that are skilled in self-judgment.

I have one request for you who judge others much but judge yourselves little, and who are so ready and inclined to judge rashly, falsely, and unrighteously: every morning, dwell for a while upon these Scriptures.

“Judge not that ye be not judged; for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again” (Matt 7:1-2). “Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment” (John 7:24). “Let not him that eateth not, judge him that eateth, for God hath received him. Why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at naught thy brother? we shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ” (Rom 14:3, 10). “Let us not judge one another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in his brothers way” (Rom 14:13).

“Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then shall every man have praise of God” (1 Cor 4:5). “Speak not evil one of another” (brethren). “He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his Brother, speaketh evil of the Law, and judgeth the Law; but if thou judgest the Law, thou art not a doer of the Law, but a Judge” (Jas 4:11). “There is one Law-giver, who is able to save, and to destroy” (Jas 4:12). “Who art thou that judgest another mans servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth: yea, he shall be holden up, for God is able to make him stand” (Rom 14:4).

A man named Delphidius accused another before Julian of something he could not prove, while the accused party denied the charge. Delphidius answered, “if it be sufficient to deny what is laid to one’s charge, who shall be found guilty?” Julian replied, “And if it be sufficient to be accused, who can be innocent?” You are wise and know how to apply it.

12. Above All, Be Clothed with Humility

The twelfth remedy against this device of Satan is this: above all, labor to be clothed with humility (1 Pet 5:5). Humility makes a person peaceable among brethren, fruitful in well-doing, cheerful in suffering, and constant in holy walking. Humility prepares us for the highest services we owe to Christ, yet it will not neglect the lowest service to the humblest saint, as Christ’s own example shows (John 13:5).

Humility can feed upon the humblest dish, yet it is maintained by the choicest delicacies: God, Christ, and glory. Humility will make a person bless the one who curses him and pray for those who persecute him. A humble heart is a habitation for God, a scholar of Christ, a companion of angels, a preserver of grace, and one prepared for glory.

Humility is the nurse of our graces, the preserver of our mercies, and the great promoter of holy duties. Humility, as Bernard said, is that which keeps all graces together. Humility cannot find three things on this side of heaven: fullness in the creature, sweetness in sin, or life in an ordinance without Christ. A humble soul always finds three things on this side of heaven: the soul to be empty, Christ to be full, and every mercy and duty in which God is enjoyed to be sweet.

Humility can weep over other people’s weaknesses and rejoice over their graces. It will make a person quiet and contented in the lowest condition, and it will preserve him from envying another person’s prosperity. Humility honors those who are strong in grace and puts two hands under those who are weak in grace. Humility makes a person richer than other people, yet makes him judge himself the poorest among them.

Humility will see much good abroad when it can see little at home. Ah, Christians, though faith is the champion of grace and love the nurse of grace, humility is the beautifier of grace. It casts a general glory upon all the graces in the soul. Ah, if Christians abounded more in humility, they would be less bitter, perverse, and sour, and more gentle, meek, and sweet in their spirits and practices.

Humility will make a person think highly of others and humbly of himself. It will make him see much glory and excellence in others and much baseness and sinfulness in himself. It will make him see others as rich and himself as poor, others as strong and himself as weak, others as wise and himself as foolish.

Humility will make a person excellent at covering others’ infirmities, recording their gracious services, and delighting in their graces (1 Thess 1:2-3). It makes a person rejoice in every light that outshines his own and every wind that advances another’s good (Eph 5:8).

The humble soul is like the violet, which grows low, hangs its head downward, and hides itself with its own leaves. If the fragrant smell of its many virtues did not reveal it to the world, it would choose to live and die in its self-contented secrecy.

Humility is better at believing than at questioning another person’s happiness. “I judge,” says a humble soul, “it is well with these Christians now, but it will be far better with them hereafter. They are now upon the borders of the new Jerusalem, and it will be but as a day before they slide into Jerusalem.” A humble soul is more willing to say that heaven is another person’s than his own, that Christ is another Christian’s than his own, and that God is their covenant God rather than his.

Ah, if Christians were more humble, there would be less fire and more love among them than there is now, etc.

Fourthly, just as Satan has his device for destroying gracious souls, so he also has his devices for destroying poor, ignorant souls. Sometimes he does this by drawing them to cherish ignorance and to neglect, slight, and despise the means of knowledge (Hos 4:6). Ignorance is the mother of mistake (Prov 22:29), the cause of trouble, error, and terror (Matt 22:29). It is the highway to hell, although the ignorant have this advantage: they have a cooler hell. It makes a person both a prisoner and a slave to the devil at once. Ignorance strips a person of humanity. It makes a person a beast, and even more miserable than the beast that perishes.

No souls are so easily or so frequently caught in Satan’s snares as ignorant souls. They are easily drawn to dance with the devil all day and to dream of supping with Christ at night, etc.

The remedies against this device are these.

1. An Ignorant Heart Is Evil

The first remedy against this device of Satan is to consider seriously that an ignorant heart is an evil heart. “Without knowledge the mind is not good” (Prov 19:2). As an ignorant heart is a wicked heart, it is a heart in the dark. No good can enter a dark heart except through the understanding. Aristotle says, “Every wicked man is ignorant.” “And if the eye be dark, all the body is dark” (Matt 6:22). A leprous head and a leprous heart are inseparable companions. Ignorant hearts are so evil that they lash out on every side and do not hesitate to spit their venom in the very face of God, as Pharaoh did when thick darkness was upon him.

2. Ignorance Deforms the Soul

The second remedy against this device of Satan is to consider that ignorance is the deformity of the soul. As blindness is the deformity of the face, so ignorance is the deformity of the soul. As the lack of physical eyes spoils the beauty of the face, so the lack of spiritual eyes spoils the beauty of the soul. A person without knowledge is like a workman without his hands, a painter without his eyes, a traveler without his legs, a ship without sails, a bird without wings, or a body without a soul.

3. Ignorance Makes People Objects of God’s Wrath

The third remedy against this device of Satan is to consider solemnly that ignorance makes people the objects of God’s hatred and wrath. “It is a people that do erre in their hearts, and have not known my ways. Wherefore I sware in my wrath, they should never enter into my rest” (Heb 3:10-11). Those who do not know God’s ways must necessarily err, yet they cannot wander so far as to miss hell. “My people are a people of no understanding, therefore he that made them, will have no mercy on them” (Isa 27:11). Christ has said “That he will come in flaming fire, to render vengeance on them that know not God” (2 Thess 1:8). Ignorance will end in vengeance.

When you see a poor blind man here, you do not loathe or hate him, but pity him. Oh, but blindness of soul makes you abominable in the sight of God! God has sworn that ignorant people shall never enter heaven. Heaven itself would be a hell to ignorant souls.

“My people are destroyed for want of knowledge; because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will reject thee” (Hos 4:6). That is, they are cut off. Rome says that ignorance is the mother of devotion, but Scripture says it is the mother of destruction.

Chilo, one of the seven sages, was asked what God had done. He answered, “He exalted humble men, and suppressed proud ignorant fools.”

4. Ignorance Leads to Every Sin

The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is to consider that ignorance is a sin that leads to all sins. All sins exist seminally in ignorance. Aristotle makes ignorance the mother of all the misrule in the world. “You do erre, not knowing the Scriptures” (Matt 22:29).

Ignorance leads people to hate and persecute the saints. “They shall hate you, and put you out of the Synagogues, yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the father, nor me” (John 16:2-3).

Paul credits his ignorance for all his cruelties toward Christians: “I was a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious, but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly” (1 Tim 1:13). It was ignorance that led the Jews to crucify Christ. “Father forgive them,” says Christ of his murderers, “for they know not what they do”; “for if the Princes of this world had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor 2:8). They acted like Oedipus, who killed his father Laius, king of Thebes, and thought he had killed his enemy.

Sin was at first the cause of ignorance, but now ignorance is the cause of all sin. “Swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and whoring abound,” says the prophet, “because there is no knowledge of God in the Land.” No souls are so frequent or so shameless in the ways of sin as ignorant souls. They neither care nor pay attention to what they do or what they say against God, Christ, heaven, holiness, and their own souls.

“Our tongues are our own, who shall controul us?” “They are corrupt and speak wickedly, concerning oppression, they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the Heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth” (Ps 73:8-9). “Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the Lord” (Ps 14:4).

An appendix concerning five more of Satan’s devices, by which he keeps poor souls from believing in Christ, receiving Christ, embracing Christ, and resting, leaning, or relying upon Christ for everlasting happiness and blessedness according to the gospel, with remedies against these devices.

The First Device: Emphasizing the Greatness and Vileness of Sin

Satan’s first device for keeping the soul from believing in Christ is to suggest the greatness and vileness of the soul’s sins.

“What,” says Satan, “do you think that you will ever obtain mercy by Christ, you who have sinned with so high a hand against Christ? You who have slighted the offers of grace? You who have grieved the Spirit of grace? You who have despised the word of grace? You who have trampled underfoot the blood of the Covenant, by which you might have been pardoned, purged, justified, and saved? You who have spoken and done all the evil that you could?” (Jer 3:5).

“No, no,” says Satan, “he has mercy for others, but not for you; pardon for others, but not for you; righteousness for others, but not for you, etc. Therefore it is in vain for you to think of believing in Christ, or resting and leaning your guilty soul upon Christ.”

The remedies against this device are these.

Remedy 1: Greater Sins Create Greater Need of a Savior

The first remedy against this device of Satan is to consider that the greater your sins are, the more you need a Savior. The greater your burden is, the more you need someone to help bear it. The deeper the wound is, the greater the need for a surgeon. The more dangerous the disease is, the greater the need for a physician.

Who but madmen would argue like this? “My burden is great, therefore I will not call out for help; my wound is deep, therefore I will not call out for balm; my disease is dangerous, therefore I will not go to the physician.”

Ah! It is spiritual madness. It is the devil’s logic to argue thus: “My sins are great, therefore I will not go to Christ; I dare not rest nor lean on Christ, etc.” Instead, the soul should reason thus: “The greater my sins are, the more I stand in need of mercy, of pardon, and therefore I will go to Christ, who delights in mercy, who pardons sin for his own name’s sake; who is as able and as willing to forgive pounds as pence, thousands as hundreds.” (Mic 7:18; Isa 43:25)

Remedy 2: Grace Is Promised to Returning Souls

The second remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that the promise of grace and mercy is made to returning souls. Therefore, however wicked you are, if you will return, God will be yours, mercy will be yours, and pardon will be yours.

For if you turn again unto the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this Land, for the Lord our God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him (2 Chr 30:9).

Likewise: Go, and proclaim these words towards the North, and say, return thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord, and I will not cause my anger to fall upon you; for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger for ever (Jer 3:12).

Likewise: And rent your hearts, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil (Joel 2:13).

Likewise: Let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon (Isa 55:7). Or, as the Hebrew reads it, He will multiply pardon. See also Ezekiel 18.

Ah, sinner! Your great transgressions will not exclude you from mercy if you will break off your sins by repentance and return to the fountain of mercy. Christ’s heart and Christ’s arms are wide open to embrace the returning prodigal. It is not simply the greatness of your sins, but your stubborn persistence in sin, that will be your eternal overthrow.

Remedy 3: The Greatest Sinners Have Obtained Mercy

The third remedy against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that the greatest sinners have obtained mercy. Therefore, all the angels in heaven, all the people on earth, and all the devils in hell cannot say that you may not obtain mercy.

Manasseh was a notorious sinner. He erected altars for Baal, worshiped and served all the host of heaven, caused his sons to pass through the fire, and gave himself to witchcraft and sorcery. He made Judah sin more wickedly than the heathen whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel, and he caused the streets of Jerusalem to run with innocent blood (2 Kgs 21). The Hebrew doctors write that he also killed the prophet Isaiah, who was his father-in-law.

Ah! What a devil incarnate he was in his actions. Yet when he humbled himself and sought the Lord, the Lord received his prayer, heard his supplication, brought him to Jerusalem, made himself known to him, and crowned him with mercy and loving-kindness, as you may see in 2 Chronicles 33.

Paul was once a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious, yet he obtained mercy (1 Tim 1:13). Mary Magdalene was a notorious prostitute, a common whore, and one from whom Christ cast seven devils. Yet Christ pardoned and dearly loved her, as recorded in Luke 7. Likewise: Now when Jesus was risen early, the first day of the week, he appeared to Mary Magdalen, out of whom he had cast seven Devils (Mark 16:9).

Jansenius says concerning this passage that it is very remarkable that, after his resurrection, our Savior first appeared to Mary Magdalene and Peter, who had been grievous sinners. Even the worst sinners may therefore be comforted and encouraged to come to Christ, believe in Christ, and rest and stay their souls upon Christ for mercy here and glory hereafter.

There is a very precious word upon which the worst sinner may depend. Speaking of Christ, the psalmist says, Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive, thou hast received gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord might dwell amongst them (Ps 68:18).

What if you are a rebellious child or a rebellious servant? What if you are a rebellious swearer, a rebellious drunkard, or a rebellious Sabbath-breaker? Christ has nevertheless received gifts for you, Even for the rebellious also. He has received the gift of pardon, the gift of righteousness, and all the gifts of the Spirit for you, so that your heart may be made a delightful house in which God may dwell.

Bodin tells a story about a great rebel who had gathered a strong party against a Roman emperor. The emperor proclaimed that whoever brought in the rebel, dead or alive, would receive a large sum of money. When the rebel heard this, he came and presented himself before the emperor, then demanded the reward.

“Now,” says the emperor, “If I should put him to death, the world would say I did it to save my money.” So he pardoned the rebel and gave him the money.

Ah, sinners! Shall a heathen do this, though he had only a drop of mercy and compassion in him? Will Christ not do much more, when all fullness of grace, mercy, and glory is in him (Col 1:19; Col 2:3-4)? Surely his heart yearns toward the worst rebels. Ah! If you will only come in, you will find him ready to pardon. Indeed, you will find him made up of pardoning mercy. He is, in the Hebrew expression, But thou a God of pardons (Neh 9:17). Oh, the readiness and willingness of Jesus Christ to receive into favor the greatest rebels!

The Father of mercies met, embraced, and kissed the prodigal mouth that had come from feeding swine and kissing harlots.

Ephraim had committed idolatry and had fallen away from God. He was guilty of lukewarmness, unbelief, and other sins (Hos 4:17; Hos 5:3; Hos 6:8; Hos 11:12; Hos 12:14; Hos 13:12). Yet God says, Ephraim is my dear Son, he is a pleasant Child, my Bowels are troubled for him, I will have mercy (or rather, as it is in the original, I will have mercy, mercy) upon him saith the Lord (Jer 31:20).

“Well,” says God, “though Ephraim be guilty of crimson sins, yet he is a Son, a dear Son, a precious Son, a pleasant Child; though he be black with filth, and red with guilt, yet my bowels are troubled for him, I will have mercy, mercy upon him.”

Ah, sinners! If these merciful affections do not melt, win, and draw you, justice will be a swift witness against you. It will make you lie down in eternal misery for kicking against the tender mercies of God.

Christ still hangs out a white flag of grace and mercy to returning sinners who humble themselves at his feet for favor, as that warlike Scythian once did. But if sinners continue to resist, Christ will put out his red flag, his bloody flag, and they will die forever by the hand of justice. Sinners, there is no way to avoid perishing by Christ’s iron rod except by kissing his golden scepter.

Remedy 4: Christ Excludes No Willing Sinner

The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is to consider that nowhere in all Scripture has Jesus Christ excluded the worst sinners who are willing to receive him, believe in him, and rest upon him for happiness and blessedness.

Ah, sinners! Why should you be more cruel and unmerciful to your own souls than Christ is? Christ has not excluded you from mercy. Why, then, should you exclude your own souls from mercy?

Oh, dwell often upon this choice Scripture: All that the father giveth me, shall come to me; and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out (John 6:37). Or, as the original has it, I will not cast out.

“Well,” says Christ, “if any man will come, or is coming to me, let him be more sinful, or less; more unworthy, or less; let him be never so guilty, never so filthy, never so rebellious, never so leprous, etc. Yet if he will but come, I will not, not, not cast him off.”

The same truth is set forth here: Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind. Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the Kingdom of God. And such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God (1 Cor 6:9-11).

Ah, sinners! Do not think that he who has received such notorious sinners into mercy will reject you. He is yesterday and to day, and the same for ever (Heb 13:8).

Christ was born in an inn to show that he receives all who come. His garments were divided into four parts to show that, from whatever part of the world we come, we will be received. If we are naked, Christ has robes to clothe us. If we have no shelter, Christ has room to lodge us.

This is another choice Scripture: Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons. But in every Nation, he that feareth him and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him (Acts 10:34-35).

The three languages written upon the cross, Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, testified that Christ was the King of the Jews (John 19:19-20). Each language, in its own idiom, affirms this singular axiom: Christ is an all-sufficient Savior. A threefold cord is not easily broken.

The apostle puts the matter beyond doubt: Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them (Heb 7:25). He would not be an all-sufficient Savior if he were not as able to save the greatest sinners as the least.

Ah, sinners! Tell Jesus Christ that he has not excluded you from mercy. Therefore, resolve that you will sit, wait, weep, and knock at the door of mercy until he says, “Souls be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven, your persons are justified, and your souls shall be saved.”

Remedy 5: Great Sinners Become Dear to Christ

The fifth remedy against this device of Satan is to consider that the greater sinner you are, the dearer you will be to Christ when he sees you as the travail of his soul: He shall see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied (Isa 53:11). The more dearly we pay for anything, the dearer that thing is to us.

Christ has paid most, prayed most, sighed most, wept most, and bled most for the greatest sinners. Therefore, they are dearer to Christ than others who are less sinful. Rachel was dearer to Jacob than Leah because she cost him more. He obeyed, endured, and suffered more by day and night for Rachel than for Leah (Gen 29:30).

Ah, sinners! The greatness of your sins only sets off the freeness and riches of Christ’s grace and the freeness of his love. This makes heaven and earth ring with his praise: he loves those who are most unlovely and shows the greatest favor to those who have sinned most greatly against him. This could be shown by several examples in Scripture, including Paul, Mary Magdalene, and others. Who sinned more against Christ than these? And who received sweeter and choicer manifestations of divine love and favor than these?

Remedy 6: Remaining Apart from Christ Strengthens Sin

The sixth remedy against this device of Satan is seriously to consider that the longer you remain apart from Christ, the greater and stronger your sins will grow.

All divine power and strength against sin flows from the soul’s union and communion with Christ (Rom 8:10; 1 John 1:6-7). While you remain apart from Christ, you remain apart from the strength and power that alone can enable you to trample down sin’s strength, lead captivity captive, and kill the Goliaths who defy Christ.

Only faith in Christ makes a person triumph over sin, Satan, hell, and the world (1 John 5:4). Only faith in Christ binds the strong man hand and foot, stops the issue of blood, makes a person strong in resisting, and makes him happy in conquering. Sin always dies most where faith lives most. The soul that believes most is the soul most mortified to sin.

Ah, sinner, remember this: there is no way on earth to be effectually rid of the guilt, filth, and power of sin except by believing in a Savior. Resolving will not do it. Complaining will not do it. Mourning will not do it. Believing will make you divinely victorious over that body of sin which has remained too strong for you until this day and which will certainly ruin you if it is not ruined by the hand of faith (Matt 5:25-35).

Remedy 7: Everything in Christ Encourages Faith

The seventh remedy against this device of Satan is wisely to consider that, just as there is nothing in Christ to discourage the greatest sinners from believing in him, so there is everything in Christ to encourage the greatest sinners to believe in him and to rest and lean upon him for all happiness and blessedness.

If you look at his nature, disposition, names, titles, and offices as King, Priest, and Prophet, you will find nothing to discourage the greatest sinners from believing in him. Instead, you will find many things to encourage them to receive and believe in him (Song 1:3).

Christ is the greatest good, the choicest good, the chief good, the most suitable good, and the most necessary good. He is a pure good, a real good, a complete good, an eternal good, and a soul-satisfying good (Col 1:19; Col 2:3; Song 5:10).

Sinners, are you poor? Christ has gold to enrich you. Are you naked? Christ has royal robes and white clothing to clothe you. Are you blind? Christ has eye salve to enlighten you (Rev 3:17-18). Are you hungry? Christ will be manna to feed you (John 6:48). Are you thirsty? He will be a well of living water to refresh you (John 7:38). Are you wounded? He has balm under his wings to heal you (Mal 4:2). Are you sick? He is a physician to cure you (Matt 4:23). Are you prisoners? He has laid down a ransom for you (Matt 20:28).

Ah, sinners! Tell me, tell me: is there anything in Christ to keep you from believing? No. Is there not everything in Christ that may encourage you to believe in him? Yes. Oh, then believe in him, and then Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isa 1:18).

Indeed, then your iniquities will be forgotten as well as forgiven. They will be remembered no more. God will cast them behind his back and throw them into the bottom of the sea (Isa 43:25; Isa 38:17; Mic 7:19).

Remedy 8: Believing in Christ Is Absolutely Necessary

The eighth remedy against this device of Satan is seriously to consider the absolute necessity of believing in Christ. Heaven is too holy and too hot to hold unbelievers. Their lodging is prepared in hell.

But the fearful and unbelieving, &c. shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death (Rev 21:8).

Christ says, If ye believe not that I am he, you shall dye in your sins (John 8:24). Whoever dies in his sins must go to judgment and to hell in his sins.

Every unbeliever is a condemned person. John says, He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:18). He also says, And he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him (John 3:36).

Ah, sinners! The law, the gospel, and your own consciences have passed the sentence of condemnation upon you. There is no way to reverse that sentence except by believing in Christ.

Therefore, my counsel is this: stir yourselves up to lay hold upon the Lord Jesus (Isa 64:7). Look to him and wait upon him, from whom every good and perfect gift comes (Jas 1:17). Give him no rest (Isa 62:7) until he has given you that jewel, faith, which is worth more than heaven and earth and which will make you happy in life, joyful in death, and glorious in the day of Christ.

This is enough concerning the remedies against Satan’s first device, by which he keeps thousands from believing in Christ.

The second device Satan uses to keep poor sinners from believing and closing with a Savior is suggesting their unworthiness.

“Ah,” says Satan, “As you are worthy of the greatest misery, so you are unworthy of the least crumb of mercy. What, do you think,” says Satan, “that Christ will ever own, receive, or embrace such an unworthy wretch as you are?”

“No, no, if there were any worthiness in you, then indeed Christ might be willing to be entertained by you. You are unworthy to entertain Christ into your house; how much more unworthy are you to entertain Christ into your heart,” etc.

The remedies against this device are these.

Remedy 1: God Requires No Prior Worthiness

The first remedy against this device of Satan is to consider seriously that nowhere in Scripture has God required any worthiness in the creature before believing in Christ. If you search diligently through all Scripture, from the first line in Genesis to the last line in Revelation (Matt 19:8), you will not find one word declaring that God requires any worthiness in the creature before the soul believes in Christ, or before the soul leans and rests upon Christ for happiness and blessedness.

Why, then, should that be a barrier and hindrance to your faith which God nowhere requires of you before you come to Christ, that you may have life (John 5:40)? Ah, sinners! Remember, Satan objects to your unworthiness only because he intends to keep Christ and your souls apart forever. Therefore, in the face of all your unworthiness, rest upon Christ, come to Christ, and believe in Christ, and you are happy forever (John 6:40, 47).

Remedy 2: Christ Receives Unworthy Souls

The second remedy against this device of Satan is to consider wisely that no one has ever received Christ, embraced Christ, and obtained mercy and pardon from Christ except unworthy souls. What worthiness was in Matthew, Zacheus, Mary Magdalene, Manasseh, Paul, or Lydia before they came to Christ and believed in Christ? Surely none.

Ah, sinners! You should reason in this way: Christ has bestowed the choicest mercies, the greatest favors, the highest dignities, and the sweetest privileges upon unworthy sinners. Therefore, O our souls, do not faint or despair, but wait patiently and quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Who can tell whether free grace and mercy may shine upon us, though we are unworthy, and give us a portion among those worthies who are now triumphing in heaven?

Remedy 3: Worthiness Is Found in Christ

The third remedy against this device of Satan is this: if the soul keeps away from Christ until it is worthy, it will never close with Christ, embrace Christ, or become one with Christ. It must lie down in everlasting sorrow (Isa 50:11).

God has laid up all worthiness in Christ so that the creature may know where to find it and may seek after it. There is no way on earth to make unworthy souls worthy except by believing in Christ. Believing in Christ will make slaves worthy sons, and enemies worthy friends (John 1:11; Jas 2:23). God will count none worthy, call none worthy, or act toward any as worthy except believers (Rev 3:4), who are made worthy by the worthiness of Christ’s person, righteousness, satisfaction, and intercession, etc.

Remedy 4: Pride Refuses to Come Empty-Handed

The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is to consider solemnly that, if you search diligently into your own hearts, you will find that the pride and folly of your own hearts prompt you to bring some worthiness to Christ. O you would gladly bring something to Christ that might make you acceptable to him. You are reluctant to come empty-handed.

The Lord cries out, “Ho every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat, come buy wine and milk, without money, and without price. Wherefore do ye spend your money upon that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not?” (Isa 55:1-2).

Here the Lord calls upon moneyless, penniless, and unworthy souls to come and partake freely of his precious favors. But sinners are proud and foolish, and because they have no money and no worthiness to bring, they will not come, though he sweetly invites them.

Ah, sinners! What is more just than that you should perish forever, when you prefer husks among swine to the milk and wine, the sweet and precious things of the gospel that are freely and sweetly offered to you, etc.? Well, sinners, remember this: it is not so much the sense of your unworthiness as your pride that keeps you from a blessed closing with the Lord Jesus.

The third device Satan uses to keep poor sinners from believing and closing with a Savior is suggesting that they lack certain preparations and qualifications.

Satan says, “You are not prepared to entertain Christ; you are not thus and thus humbled and justified; you are not heartsick of sin; you have not been under horrors and terrors as such and such people have; you must wait until you are prepared and qualified to receive the Lord Jesus,” etc.

The remedies against this device are these.

Remedy 1: Christ Saves Without One Uniform Preparation

The first remedy against this device of Satan is to consider solemnly that people who were not prepared and qualified in the particular way Satan suggests have received Christ, believed in Christ, and been saved by Christ.

Matthew was called while sitting at the receipt of customs, and such power accompanied Christ’s call that it made him follow Christ (Matt 9:9). We do not read of any horrors or terrors he underwent before Christ called him. What preparations and qualifications were found in Zacheus, Paul, the jailer, or Lydia before their conversion (Luke 19:9; Acts 16)?

God brings some in by the sweet and quiet voice of the gospel. Usually, those who are brought into Christ in this way are the sweetest, humblest, choicest, and most fruitful Christians. God is a free agent, working by law or gospel, by smiles or frowns, and by presenting hell or heaven to sinners’ souls. God thunders from Mount Sinai upon some souls and conquers them by thundering. He speaks to others in a quiet voice and conquers them by that.

You who are brought to Christ by the law, do not judge and condemn those who are brought to Christ by the gospel. You who are brought to Christ by the gospel, do not despise those who are brought to Christ by the law (Rom 14). Some are brought to Christ by fire, storms, and tempests; others, by easier and gentler gales of the Spirit. The Spirit is free in the work of conversion and, like the wind, blows when, where, and how it pleases (John 3:8). Three times happy are those souls brought to Christ, whether on a winter’s night or a summer’s day.

Remedy 2: Dwell on Christ’s Invitations

The second remedy against this device of Satan is to dwell solemnly upon the following Scriptures. They clearly show that poor sinners who are not prepared and qualified in the particular way suggested to meet with Christ, to receive and embrace the Lord Jesus Christ, may nevertheless believe in Christ and rest and lean upon him for happiness and blessedness according to the gospel: Prov 1:20-33; Prov 8:1-11; Prov 9:1-6; Ezek 16:1-14; John 3:14-18, 36; Rev 3:15-20.

Here the Lord Jesus Christ stands knocking at the Laodiceans’ door. He earnestly desires them to sup with him and him to sup with them, so that they may have intimate communion and fellowship with one another.

Now, please tell me, what preparations or qualifications did these Laodiceans have for entertaining Christ? Surely none, for they were lukewarm; they were “neither hot nor cold.” They were “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” Yet Christ, to show his free grace and condescending love, invites the very worst sinners to open to him, though they were in no way prepared or qualified in the manner suggested.

Remedy 3: Scripture Requires Faith, Not Prescribed Preparations

The third remedy against this device of Satan is to consider seriously that nowhere in Scripture does the Lord require these particular preparations and qualifications before people come to Christ, believe in Christ, or receive and embrace the Lord Jesus. Believing in Christ is the great thing God presses upon sinners throughout Scripture, as everyone who knows anything of Scripture knows. God justifies the ungodly (Rom 4:5).

Objection: But does not Christ say, “Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt 11:28)?

To this I give three answers.

1. Though the invitation is to those who “Labour and are heavy laden,” the promise of giving rest is made over to coming, to believing.

2. All this Scripture proves and shows is that those who labor under sin as under a heavy burden, and who are laden with the guilt of sin and the sense of God’s displeasure, ought to come to Christ for rest. It does not prove that only such people must come to Christ, or that everyone must be burdened and laden in this way with a sense of sin and God’s wrath before coming to Christ.

When poor sinners are under a sense of sin and God’s wrath, they are prone to run from creature to creature, duty to duty, and ordinance to ordinance to find rest. If they could find it in anything or any creature, Christ would never hear from them. But here the Lord sweetly invites them and, to encourage them, pledges himself to give them rest.

“Come,” says Christ, “and I will give you rest. I will not show you rest, nor merely tell you of rest, but I will give you rest. I am faithfulness itself, and cannot lie. I will give you rest. I who have the greatest power to give it, the greatest will to give it, the greatest right to give it. Come, laden sinners, and I will give you rest.”

Rest is the most desirable good, the most suitable good, and, for you, the greatest good. “Come,” says Christ, that is, “Believe in me, and I will give you rest.” “I will give you peace with God, and peace with conscience: I will turn your storm into an everlasting calm. I will give you such rest, that the world can neither give to you, nor take from you.”

3. No single Scripture expresses the whole mind of God. Therefore, compare this one Scripture with the several Scriptures given in the second remedy above. It will clearly appear that, though people are not burdened and laden with their sins in this or that way, or filled with horror and terror, if they may come to Christ, then they may receive and embrace the Lord Jesus Christ.

Remedy 4: Acceptable Sorrow Flows from Faith

The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is to consider that all trouble for sin, and all sorrow, shame, and mourning that are acceptable and delightful to God and prevail with God, flow from faith in Christ as the stream flows from the fountain, the branch from the root, and the effect from the cause.

“They shall look on him whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him” (Zech 12:10). All gospel mourning flows from believing. They shall first look and then mourn. Everyone who knows anything knows this: “What ever is not of faith, is sin.” Until people have faith in Christ, their best services are only glorious sins (Rom 4:25).

The fourth device Satan uses to keep poor sinners from believing and closing with a Savior is suggesting to a sinner that Christ is unwilling to save.

“It is true,” says Satan, “Christ is able to save you, but is he willing? Surely, though he is able, he is not willing to save such a wretch as you are, who have trampled his blood under your feet and have been in open rebellion against him all your days,” etc.

Remedy 1: Consider the Evidence of Christ’s Willingness

The remedy against this device of Satan is to consider briefly the following things.

Consideration 1

The great journey Christ took from heaven to earth for the express purpose of saving sinners strongly demonstrates his willingness to save them. “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matt 9:13). “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief” (1 Tim 1:15).

Consideration 2

His divesting himself of his glory for the sake of sinners’ salvation declares his willingness to save them. He leaves his Father’s bosom, puts off his glorious robes, lays aside his glorious crown, and bids farewell to his glittering courtiers, the angels. He does all this so that he may accomplish sinners’ salvation.

Consideration 3

That sea of sin, sea of wrath, sea of trouble, and sea of blood through which Jesus Christ waded so that sinners might be pardoned, justified, reconciled, and saved strongly demonstrates his willingness to save sinners. From the cradle to the cross, his whole life was a life of sufferings.

Consideration 4

His sending his ambassadors early and late to woo and entreat sinners to be reconciled to him openly shows his readiness and willingness to save sinners (2 Cor 5:19-20).

Consideration 5

His complaints against those who refuse him, turn their backs upon him, and will not be saved by him strongly declare his willingness to save them. “He came to his own, and his own received him not” (John 1:11). Likewise, “But ye will not come to me, that ye may have life” (John 5:40).

Consideration 6

The joy and delight he takes in the conversion of sinners demonstrate his willingness that they should be saved. “I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance” (Luke 15:7).

God the Father rejoices at the return of his prodigal son. Christ rejoices to see the travail of his soul (Isa 53:11). The Spirit rejoices that he has another temple in which to dwell, and the angels rejoice that they have another brother in whom to delight, etc.

The fifth device Satan uses to keep poor sinners from believing and closing with a Savior is leading a sinner to pay more attention to God’s secret decrees and counsels than to his own duty.

“Why should you busy yourself about receiving, embracing, and entertaining Christ?” says Satan. “If you are elected, you will be saved; if not, all that you can do will do you no good.” Indeed, he will lead the soul not only to doubt its election but to conclude that it is not elected and that, therefore, whatever it may do, it will never be saved.

The remedies against this device are these.

Remedy 1: Satan Does Not Know God’s Secret Choice

The first remedy against this device of Satan is to consider seriously that neither all the angels in heaven, all the people on earth, nor all the devils in hell can tell that you may not be an elect person, a chosen vessel. You may be confident of this: God never made Satan one of his privy council. God never acquainted him with the names or identities of those upon whom he has set his love for eternity, etc.

Remedy 2: Attend to Your Revealed Duty

The second remedy against this device of Satan is to concern yourself with what you have to do. Secret things belong to the Lord, but revealed things belong to you (Deut 29:29).

Your work, sinner, is to be resolute in believing and returning to the Lord. Your work is to cast yourself upon Christ, lie at his feet, wait upon him in his ways, and give him no rest until he says, “Sinner, I am your portion, I am your salvation, and nothing shall separate you and me.”

Let me add these seven marks as a conclusion.

Satan labors might and main through false teachers, who are his messengers and ambassadors, to deceive, delude, and forever undo the precious souls of men. “I have seen folly in the Prophets of Samaria, they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err” (Jer 23:13). “The Prophets make my people to err” (Mic 3:5). They seduce people, carry them out of the right way into bypaths and blind thickets of error, blasphemy, and wickedness, where they are lost forever (Acts 20:28-30; 2 Cor 11:13, 15; Eph 4:14; 2 Tim 3:4-6; Titus 1:11-12; 2 Pet 2:18-19).

“Beware of false Prophets, for they come to you in sheeps cloathing, but inwardly they are ravening Wolves” (Matt 7:14-15). These lick and suck the blood of souls. “Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision” (Phil 3:2). These kiss and kill. They cry, “Peace, peace,” until souls fall into everlasting flames, etc. (Prov 7).

Now the best way to deliver poor souls from being deluded and destroyed by these messengers of Satan is to reveal their true colors. Once they are known, poor souls may shun them and flee from them as from hell itself.

You may know them by the following marks.

Mark 1: They Please Men, Not Souls

False teachers are men-pleasers. They preach more to please the ear than to profit the heart. “Which say to the Seers, see not, and to the Prophets, Prophesie not unto us right things; speak to us smooth things, prophesie deceits” (Isa 30:10). “A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the Land. The Prophets prophesie falsly, and the Priests bear rule by their means, and my people love to have it so. And what will you do in the end thereof” (Jer 5:30-31). True teachers are not like this (Gal 1:10; 1 Thess 2:1-4).

They handle holy things more with wit and dalliance than with fear and reverence. False teachers are soul-undoers (Jer 23:16-17). They are like evil surgeons who skin over a wound but never heal it. Flattery undid Ahab and Herod, Nero and Alexander. As the saying goes, “whilst an ass is stroked under the belly, you may lay on his back what burden you please”.

False teachers are hell’s greatest enrichers. “Not bitter, but flattering words do all the mischief,” said Valerian, the Roman emperor. Such smooth teachers are sweet soul-poisoners, etc.

Mark 2: They Slander Faithful Ministers

False teachers are notorious for casting dirt, scorn, and reproach upon the persons, names, and reputations of Christ’s most faithful ambassadors. Thus Corah, Dathan, and Abiram charged Moses and Aaron with taking too much upon themselves, since all the congregation was holy (Num 16:3, 9). They accused them of taking too much state, too much power, too much honor, and too much holiness upon themselves, as though they were more than others and could take so much upon themselves.

In the same way, Ahab’s false prophets attacked good Micaiah, paying him with blows for lack of better reasons (1 Kgs 22:10, 26). Indeed, Paul, that great apostle of the Gentiles, had his ministry undermined and his reputation blasted by false teachers: “For his Letters (say they) are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and contemptible” (2 Cor 10:10). They treated him with contempt rather than admiration. They looked upon him as a dunce rather than a doctor.

Our Lord Jesus received the same hard treatment from the Scribes and Pharisees, who labored as for life to build their own credit upon the ruins of his reputation (Matt 27:63). Even Lucian, that blasphemous atheist, called him “the crucified deceiver.”

The devil has never driven a fuller trade in this practice than he does in these days. Oh, the dirt, filth, and scorn thrown upon those of whom the world is not worthy! The proverb says, “A man’s eye and his good name can bear no jests.” I suppose false teachers do not heed this saying of Austin: “He that willingly takes from my good name, unwillingly adds to my reward.”

Mark 3: They Invent Their Own Visions

False teachers spread the devices and visions of their own heads and hearts (Matt 24:4-5, 11, 14; Titus 1:10; John 2:6-7; Rom 16:8). “Then the Lord said unto me, the Prophets prophesie lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: They prophesie unto you a false vision, and divination, and a thing of naught, and the deceit of their heart” (Jer 14:14). Again: “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, hearken not unto the words of the Prophets that prophesie unto you, they make you vain, they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord” (Jer 23:16).

Are there not multitudes in this nation whose visions are nothing but golden delusions, lying vanities, and brain-sick fantasies? These are Satan’s great benefactors. Divine justice will hang them up in hell as the greatest malefactors unless the physician of souls prevents it, etc.

Mark 4: They Neglect Weightier Matters

False teachers easily pass over the great and weighty things of both law and gospel, while dwelling chiefly upon matters of the least importance and concern to the souls of men.

“Now the end of the Commandment is Charity, out of a pure heart, and of a good Conscience, and of faith unfeigned. From which some having swerved, have turned aside unto vain jangling, desiring to be Teachers of the Law, and understand neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm” (1 Tim 1:5-7).

“Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees; Hypocrites, for ye pay Tythe of Mint, and Annise, and Cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the Law, Judgment, Mercy, and Faith; these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone” (Matt 23:23).

Luther complained of such teachers in his time, who would strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. This age is full of such teachers, such monsters. The high priest’s spirit lives and thrives in these days (Matt 27:6).

False teachers are scrupulous about the lesser things of the law and negligent in the greater. “If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness. He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strife of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness, from such withdraw thy self” (1 Tim 6:3-5).

If such teachers are not hypocrites in grain, I know nothing (Rom 2:22). The earth groans to bear them, and hell is prepared for them (Matt 24:51).

Mark 5: They Disguise Error with Fair Words

False teachers cover and color their dangerous principles and foul impostures with very fair speeches and plausible pretenses, with high notions and golden expressions (Gal 6:12-13; 2 Cor 11:13-15; Rom 16:17-18; Matt 16:6, 11-12; Matt 7:15).

Many in these days are bewitched and deceived by the magnificent words, lofty strains, and stately terms of deceivers: Illumination, Revelation, Deification, fiery Triplicity, etc. As prostitutes paint their faces and decorate and perfume their beds so that they may more effectively allure and deceive simple souls, false teachers apply a great deal of paint and decoration to their most dangerous principles and blasphemies so that they may more effectively deceive and delude poor, ignorant souls.

They know that sugared poison goes down sweetly. They wrap their most pernicious, soul-killing pills in gold. Consider the supporting Scriptures.

In the days of the emperor Hadrian, a man named Bencosby gathered a multitude of Jews together and called himself Be-cocuba, the Son of a Star, applying that promise to himself (Num 23:17). But he proved to be Barchosiba, the Son of a lie. In the same way, despite all their flourishes, all false teachers will at last prove to be the sons of lies.

Mark 6: They Seek Converts, Not Holy Lives

False teachers strive more to win men over to their opinions than to improve their conduct. “Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, Hypocrites, for ye compass Sea and Land to make one Proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him two-fold more the child of Hell then your selves” (Matt 23:15).

They busy themselves chiefly with men’s heads. Their work is not to improve men’s hearts and mend their lives. In this they are very much like their father, the devil, who will spare no effort to gain proselytes.

Epictetus said to his Stoics, “For shame, either live as Stoics or leave off the name of Stoics.” The application is easy.

Mark 7: They Make Merchandise of Followers

False teachers make merchandise of their followers. “But there were false Prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false Teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious wayes, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandize of you; whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbreth not” (2 Pet 2:1-3).

They eye your goods more than your good and care more about serving themselves than saving your souls. As long as they may have your substance, they do not care if Satan has your souls (Rev 18:11-13). To pick your purse more effectively, they will promote principles that are very indulgent to the flesh. False teachers are the great worshipers of the golden calf (Jer 6:13).

Crates threw his money into the sea, resolving to drown it lest it should drown him. But false teachers do not care whom they drown, so long as they may have their money.

By these marks you may know false teachers, shun them, and deliver your souls out of their dangerous snares. That you may do so, my prayers shall meet yours at the throne of grace.

And now, to prevent objections, I shall lay down some propositions or conclusions concerning Satan and his devices. Then I shall give you the reasons for the point and proceed to make some use and application of the whole to ourselves.

1. Do Not Blame Satan for Our Own Sin

Though Satan has his devices to draw souls into sin, we must be careful not to lay all our temptations upon him. We must not wrong the devil by blaming him for what should be blamed upon our own base hearts. I think that people often charge the devil with what should be charged upon their own hearts. “And the Lord said unto the Woman, what is this that thou hast done? and the Woman said, the Serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.” (Gen 3:13). Sin and shifting blame came into the world together.

This is no small baseness in our hearts: they will be wicked, yes, very wicked, and yet blame that wickedness upon Satan. Man has an evil root within him. Even if there were no devil to tempt him and no wicked people in the world to entice him, the root of bitterness, that cursed sinful nature within him, would still draw him into sin. This is so even though he knows beforehand that “the wages of sin is eternal death” (Rom 6:23). “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies.” (Matt 15:19). As Tully says, “We are no sooner born, than buried in a bog of wickedness.”

The whole frame of man is out of frame. The understanding is dark, the will contrary, the memory slippery, the affections crooked, the conscience corrupted, the tongue poisoned, and the heart wholly evil, only evil, and continually evil. Even if God chained up Satan and gave him no liberty to tempt or entice the sons of men to vanity or folly, they still would not and could not keep from sinning against him. The cursed nature within them would continually provoke them to sins that provoke and stir up God’s anger against them (Jude 15-16).

Satan has only persuasive craft, not compelling might. He may tempt us, but without our consent he cannot conquer us. He may entice us, but without our consent he cannot hurt us. Our hearts have the greatest influence in every sin (Jas 1:4). As Nazianzen says, “The fire is our wood, though it is the Devil’s flame.” Satan can never undo a man without the man’s cooperation, but a man may easily undo himself without Satan.

Satan can present the golden cup, but he has no power to force us to drink the poison in it. He can present the glory of the world, but he cannot force us to fall down and worship him in order to enjoy it. He can spread his snares, but he has no power to force us to walk among them. Therefore, do the devil this much justice: do not excuse yourselves by accusing him and laying upon him the burden that you should lay upon your own hearts.

2. Satan Has a Hand in Most Sins

Satan has a great hand and influence in most sins. It was Satan who tempted our first parents to rebellion (Gen 3:1, 4-5). It was Satan who provoked David to number the people (1 Chr 21:1). It was Satan who moved Peter to rebuke Christ, and therefore Christ said, “Get thee behind me Satan.” (Matt 16:22-23). It was Satan who moved Cain to murder righteous Abel. Therefore, he is called “a Murtherer from the beginning.” (John 8:44).

It was Satan who put treason into Judas’s heart against Christ: “And supper being ended, the Devil having put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simons son, to betray him.” (John 13:2). It was Satan who moved Ananias to lie. Peter said, “Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lye to the Holy Ghost?” (Acts 5:3). The devil tempts; God tests, as Tertullian says.

As Joab’s hand was in the woman of Tekoah’s account, so Satan’s hand is usually in all the sins people commit. Such is Satan’s malice against God and his envy against man that he will have a hand, one way or another, in every sin. He does this although he knows that all the sins to which he provokes others will be charged against him, increasing his woe and eternal torment.

Ambrose portrays the devil boasting against Christ and claiming Judas as his own: “He is not yours, Lord Jesus, he is mine; his thoughts beat for me; he eats with you, but is fed by me; he takes bread from you, but money from me; he drinks wine with you, and sells your blood to me.” Such is Satan’s malice against Christ and his wrath and rage against man that he will seize every advantage to draw people into whatever may give him an opportunity to triumph forever over Christ and human souls.

3. Satan Must Obtain Double Permission

Satan must obtain double permission before he can do anything against us. He must have permission from God and permission from ourselves before he can act against our happiness. He must receive his commission from God, as you may see in Job’s example. Though the devil had enough malice to destroy Job, he did not have the power even to touch him until God gave him a commission (Job 1:11-12; Job 2:3-5).

The demons could not even enter the swine without Christ’s permission (Luke 8:32). Satan eagerly desired to combat Peter, but he could not do so without permission: “Satan hath desired to have you, to winnow you.” (Luke 22:31). In the same way, Satan could never have overthrown Ahab and Saul except by a commission from God (1 Kgs 22). Ah, what a cordial and comfort this should be to the saints! Their greatest, most subtle, and most watchful enemy cannot hurt or harm them without permission from the one who is their sweetest Savior, their dearest Husband, and their choicest friend.

As Satan must have permission from God, so he must have permission from us. When he tempts, we must assent. When he makes offers, we must listen. When he commands, we must obey. Otherwise, all his labor and temptations will be frustrated, and the evil to which he tempts us will be put only to his account. As Isidore says, the opposing power has no force to compel, but only to persuade.

There is a remarkable passage in Acts: “Why hath Satan filled thy heart to lye to the holy Ghost?” (Acts 5:3). Peter does not dispute the matter with Satan. He does not say, “Satan, why have you filled Ananias’s heart to make him lie to the Holy Ghost?” Instead, he disputes with Ananias: “Ananias, Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lye to the Holy Ghost?” Why have you given him an advantage to fill your heart with unbelief, hypocrisy, and obstinate boldness, so that you would lie to the Holy Ghost? Those who pretend to religion and the Spirit, yet are governed only by carnal principles for carnal ends, are the worst and grossest liars.

It is as though Peter had said: Satan could never have done this in you, which will now undo you forever, unless you had first given him permission. If, when a temptation comes, a person cries out and says, “Ah, Lord! Here is a temptation that would force me, that would deflower my soul, and I have no strength to withstand it; oh! Help, help, for your honor’s sake, for your Son’s sake, for your promise’s sake,” it is a sign that Satan has not gained that person’s consent but has committed a rape upon the soul, for which he will pay dearly.

4. Only Spiritual Weapons Can Defeat Satan

No weapons except spiritual weapons will be useful and serviceable to the soul in fighting and combating the devil. The apostle shows this when he says, “Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” (Eph 6:13). The same apostle tells you, “That the weapons of your warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God, to the casting down of strong holds.” (2 Cor 10:4).

You are not dealing with a weak enemy but a mighty one. Therefore, you need to ensure that your weapons are mighty, and they cannot be mighty unless they are spiritual. Carnal weapons have no might or spirit in them for conquering Satan. We read of many people who, through greatness of spirit, could do violence to nature, yet were at a loss when they had to deal with a corruption or temptation.

It was not David’s sling or stone that gave him the honor and advantage of setting his feet upon Goliath, but his faith in the name of the Lord of Hosts: “Thou comest to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a shield; but I am come to thee in the name of the Lord of Host, the God of the Armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.” (1 Sam 17:45).

Anyone who fights against Satan in the strength of his own resolutions, constitution, or education will certainly flee and fall before him. Satan will be too strong for such a soul and will lead him captive at his pleasure. The only way to stand, conquer, and triumph is continually to plead, “’Tis written,” as Christ did (Matt 4:10). Heraclius’s motto was, “It is God that gives victory.” That should be every Christian’s motto.

No sword except the two-edged sword of the Spirit will prove its strength when a soul engages Satan. Therefore, when you are tempted to uncleanness, plead, “’Tis written, Be ye holy, as I am holy” (1 Pet 1:16); and, “Let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the Lord.” (2 Cor 7:1).

If Satan tempts you to distrust God’s providence and fatherly care for you, plead, “’Tis written, They that fear the Lord, shall want nothing that is good.” (Ps 34:10).

“’Tis written, The Lord will give grace and glory, and no good thing will he withhold from them that purely live.” (Ps 84:11).

If he tempts you to fear that you will faint and fall, and never be able to run to the end of the race set before you, plead, “’Tis written, The righteous shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.” (Job 17:9).

“’Tis written, I will make an everlasting Covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they may not depart from me.” (Jer 32:40).

“’Tis written, They that wait upon the Lord, they shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as Eagles, they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk, & not faint.” (Isa 40:31).

If Satan tempts you to think that, because your sun is presently set in a cloud, it will never rise again, and that God’s face will never shine upon you again, or that your best days are over and you must spend all your time in sorrow and sighing, plead, “’tis written, He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us, and cast all our sins into the depth of the sea.” (Mic 7:19).

“’Tis written, For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord, thy Redeemer.” (Isa 54:7-8).

“’Tis written, The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the Covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee.” (Isa 54:10).

“’Tis written, Can a woman forget her sucking childe, that she should not have compassion on the Son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will not I forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands, thy walls are continually before me.” (Isa 49:15-16).

If you would ever prove too strong for Satan and have your bow remain strong after all your assaults, then take up the Word of God, which is “The two-edged sword of the Spirit, and the shield of faith, whereby you shall be able to quench the fiery darts of the Devil.” (Eph 6:16-17). Spitting at Satan’s name, crossing yourselves, or relying upon your own resolutions will not gain you the victory.

Luther reports that Staupicius, a German minister, acknowledged that before he rightly understood the free and powerful grace of God, he vowed and resolved a hundred times against a particular sin but could never gain power over it. At last, he saw that the reason was his trust in his own resolution. Therefore, become skillful in the word of righteousness and in exercising faith upon Christ, his victory, and the crown of glory set before you. Then Satan will certainly flee from you, etc. (Jas 4:7).

5. Satan’s Names Reveal His Nature

We may learn much about Satan’s nature and disposition from the various names and epithets given to him in Scripture. Sometimes he is called Behemoth, meaning a brute beast, by which the devil’s greatness and brutishness are pictured (Job 40:15). Those evil spirits are sometimes called accusers because of their calumnies and slanders, and evil ones because of their malice. Satan is an adversary who troubles and molests. Abaddon is a destroyer (Rev 9). They are called tempters because of their suggestions, lions because they devour, dragons because of their cruelty, and serpents because of their subtlety, etc.

As Satan’s names are, so is he. As face answers to face, so Satan’s names answer to his nature. He has the worst names and the worst nature of all created creatures, etc.

6. God Will Crush Satan Under the Saints’ Feet

God will shortly tread Satan down under the saints’ feet (Rom 16:20). The Greek word signifies breaking or crushing something to pieces. When applied to the feet, it denotes the breaking or crushing accomplished by stamping upon something.

Christ our Champion has already won the field and will shortly set our feet upon the necks of our spiritual enemies. Satan is a defeated adversary. Christ has led him captive and triumphed over him upon the cross. Christ has already overcome him and put weapons into your hands so that you may overcome him also and set your feet upon his neck.

Though Satan is a roaring lion, Christ, who is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, will make Satan flee and fall before you. Let Satan do his worst. You will still have the honor and happiness of triumphing over him. Cheer up, you precious sons of Zion! The certainty and sweetness of victory will abundantly repay all the pains you have taken in resisting Satan’s temptations. Satan’s broken horns will be the trumpets of our triumph and the cornets of our joy, etc.

Now I shall come to the reasons for the point and so draw to a close, etc.

Reason 1: To Keep Hearts Humble and Watchful

The first reason is that their hearts may be kept in a humble, praying, watchful frame. Oh, does Satan have so many devices to ensnare and undo the souls of men? How should this awaken dull, drowsy souls and make them stand watch! A saint should be like a seraph, covered all over with eyes and lights, so that he may avoid Satan’s snares and stand fast in the hour of temptation.

The philosopher had a brass ball in his hand. If he happened to fall asleep with it, its fall into a basin awakened him to his studies. You are wise and know how to apply it.

The Lord has revealed in Scripture the various snares, plots, and devices by which the devil seeks to undo the souls of men. Being forewarned, they may be forearmed, always remain upon their watchtower, and hold their weapons in their hands, as the Jews did in Nehemiah’s time.

Reason 2: Satan’s Malice and Enmity

The second reason arises from the malice, envy, and enmity that Satan bears against the souls of men. Satan is full of envy and enmity, and this makes him intensely diligent in adapting his snares and plots to the tempers, constitutions, fancies, and callings of men, so that he may make them as miserable as himself.

Malice cares not what it says, or does, so it may kill or gall. An envious heart, and a plotting head are inseparable companions.

The Russians are so malicious that a man among them may hide some of his own goods in the house of someone he hates and then accuse that person of stealing them. In the same way, out of malice toward the souls of men, Satan hides his goods, his wares, as I may say, within their souls and then goes and accuses them before the Lord. In a thousand thousand other ways, Satan’s malice, envy, and enmity continually drive him to seek the eternal ruin of the precious souls of men, etc.

Reason 3: Satan’s Long Experience

The third reason is drawn from Satan’s long experience. He is a spirit of mighty abilities, and his ability to lay snares before us has been greatly increased by his long existence. He is a spirit of more than five thousand years’ standing. He has had time enough to study all the ways and methods that are most likely to ensnare and undo the souls of men.

As he has had time enough, so he has made it his whole study, his only study, and his constant study to devise snares, depths, and stratagems by which to entangle and overthrow the souls of men. When he was but a young serpent, he easily deceived and outwitted our first parents (Gen 3). But now he has become that old serpent, as John calls him (Rev 12:9). He is as old as the world and has grown very cunning through experience.

Reason 4: Judgment on Those Who Refuse Mercy

The fourth reason is that, in judgment upon the people of the world, they may stumble, fall, and be ensnared forever. Wicked people withstand the offers of mercy and despise the Spirit of grace. They will not open, no matter how hard God knocks through his word and rod, through his Spirit and their consciences. Therefore, by the hand of justice, they are given up to be hardened, deceived, and ensnared by Satan, to their everlasting ruin (1 Kgs 22:22).

What can be more just than that they should be taken and charmed by Satan’s wiles when they have frequently refused to be charmed by the Spirit of grace, though he has charmed ever so wisely and ever so sweetly, etc.?

Reason 5: To Display the Power of God’s Grace

The fifth reason is that the excellence and power of God’s grace may be more clearly illustrated and manifested by making men able to grapple with this mighty adversary. Notwithstanding all Satan’s plots, devices, and stratagems, God will make them victorious here and crown them with glory hereafter.

The greater and more subtle the enemies of the children of Israel were, the more brightly divine power, wisdom, and goodness sparkled and shone. Notwithstanding all their enemies’ power, plots, and stratagems, etc., God would bring his people to Canaan at last.

When Paul had weighed this, he sat down and gloried in his infirmities, distresses, and Satan’s buffetings, so that the power of Christ might rest upon him (2 Cor 12:7-9).

Application:

If Satan has such a world of devices and stratagems to ensnare and undo the souls of men, then instead of wondering that so few are saved, sit down and wonder that any are saved. Wonder that any escape the snares of this cunning fowler, who spreads his nets and casts out his baits in all places, cases, and companies.

But this is not the main thing I intend to address. My main business will be to set before you some special directions and helps against all his devices.

Direction 1: Walk by the Word’s Rule

If you would not be taken by any of Satan’s devices, then walk by rule. Whoever walks by rule walks most safely, most honorably, and most sweetly (Prov 12:24; Gal 6:16; Prov 15:25).

When people throw off the Word, God throws them off, and then Satan takes them by the hand and leads them into snares at his pleasure. Whoever thinks himself too good to be ruled by the Word will be found too bad to be owned by God. If God does not, or will not, own him, Satan will overthrow him by his stratagems.

Those who keep to the rule will be kept in the hour of temptation: “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” (Rev 3:10).

Direction 2: Do Not Grieve the Holy Spirit

If you would not be taken by any of Satan’s devices, take care not to vex and grieve the Holy Spirit of God. It is the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ who is best able to disclose Satan’s snares to us. Only he can point out all Satan’s plots, uncover all his methods, and enable people to escape the pits he has dug for their precious souls.

“The Divine Spirit is a very tender thing: If you grieve him, he will certainly grieve and vex your precious souls” (Lam 1:16). Ah! If you set that sweet and blessed Spirit mourning, who alone can secure you from Satan’s depths, by whom will you be secured?

Man is a weak creature, entirely unable to discover Satan’s snares or avoid them unless the Spirit of the Lord gives skill and power. Therefore, whoever else may be grieved, be sure that the Spirit is not grieved by your enormities (Isa 63:10; Ps 73:2-3); by your refusing the cordials and comforts he sets before you; by slighting and despising his gracious actions in others; by calling sincerity, “hypocrisy,” and faith, “fancy,” etc. (1 Thess 5:19; Acts 2:13); or by attributing to the Spirit those things that are the offspring and fruits of your own hearts.

The Spirit of the Lord is your counselor, your comforter, your upholder, and your strengthener. Only the Spirit makes a man too great for Satan to conquer: “Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

Direction 3: Seek Heavenly Wisdom

If you would not be taken by any of Satan’s devices, then labor for more heavenly wisdom. Ah, souls! You are much in the dark. You have little compared with what others have, and with what you might have had if you had not failed yourselves.

There are many knowledgeable souls, but few wise souls. There is often a great deal of knowledge where there is little wisdom to put that knowledge to use. Knowledge without wisdom is like mettle in a blind horse, which often causes its rider to fall and have his bones knocked against the walls. As Drusius says, without prudence, simplicity is foolishness.

It is not the most knowledgeable Christian, but the wisest Christian, who sees, avoids, and escapes Satan’s snares. “The way of life is above to the wise,” says Solomon, “that he may depart from Hell beneath” (Prov 15:24). “If men could but see the fair face of wisdom with mortal eyes, they would be in love with her,” says Plato.

Heavenly wisdom makes a man delight to fly high, and the higher anyone flies, the further he is beyond the reach of Satan’s snares. Ah, souls! You need a great deal of heavenly wisdom to see where and how Satan lays his baits and snares. You need wisdom to find proper remedies against his devices, and wisdom to apply those remedies seasonably, inwardly, and effectually to your own hearts, so that you may avoid the snares that the evil one has laid for your precious souls.

Nazianzen said that he would rather have a drop of prudence than an ocean of abundant fortune. “A Serpent’s eye is a singular ornament in a Dove’s head.”

Direction 4: Resist Satan’s First Motions

If you would not be taken by any of Satan’s devices, then immediately resist Satan’s first motions. It is safe to resist and dangerous to dispute. Eve disputes and falls in Paradise (Gen 3); Job resists and conquers upon the dunghill.

Whoever plays with Satan’s bait will quickly be taken by Satan’s hook. The promise of conquest is made to resistance, not disputation: “Resist the Devil, and he shall flie from you” (Jas 4:7).

Ah, souls! If you were better at resisting than disputing, though perhaps you are not very expert at either, your temptations would be fewer and your strength to stand would be greater than it is now, etc.

Direction 5: Be Filled with the Spirit

If you would not be taken by any of Satan’s devices, then labor to be filled with the Spirit. The Spirit of the Lord is a Spirit of light and power, and what can a soul do without light and “power against spiritual wickednesses in high places” (Eph 6:12)?

It is not enough that you have the Spirit. You must be filled with the Spirit, or Satan, that evil spirit, will be too strong for you and his plots will prosper against you. That is a sweet word of the apostle: “Be filled with the Spirit” (Eph 5:18). That is, labor for an abundance of the Spirit, as the sails of a ship are filled with wind. Whoever thinks he has enough of the Holy Spirit will quickly find himself vanquished by the evil spirit.

Satan has snares to take you in prosperity and adversity, in health and sickness, in strength and weakness, when you are alone and when you are in company, when you enter spiritual duties and when you leave them. If you are not filled with the Spirit, Satan will be too strong and crafty for you. He will easily and frequently take you in his snares and make you his prey in spite of your souls.

Therefore, labor more to have your hearts filled with the Spirit than to have your heads filled with notions, your shops with wares, your chests with silver, or your bags with gold. Then you will escape the snares of this fowler and triumph over all his plots, etc.

Luther says, “a holy gluttony is to lay on, to feed hard, and to fetch hearty draughts, till they be even drunk with loves, and with the abundance of the Spirit; Oh! that there were more of such holy gluttony in the world.”

Direction 6: Keep Humble

If you would not be taken in any of Satan’s snares, then keep humble. A humble heart would rather lie in the dust than rise by wickedness, and would sooner part with everything than with the peace of a good conscience.

Humility keeps the soul free from many darts Satan casts and snares he spreads, just as low shrubs escape many violent gusts and blasts of wind that shake and tear taller trees. The devil has the least power to fasten a temptation upon the person who is most humble. Whoever has a gracious measure of humility is neither affected by Satan’s offers nor terrified by his threats.

It is reported that Satan once said of a learned man, “you always overcome me: when I would exalt and promote you, you keep yourself in humility; and when I would throw you down, you lift yourself up in assurance of faith.”

I have read of someone who saw in a vision many snares of the devil spread over the earth. He sat down, mourned, and said to himself, “who shall pass through these?” He then heard a voice answer, “humility shall.”

God has said that he will teach the humble, dwell with the humble, and fill and satisfy the humble (Ps 25:9; Isa 57:15; Jas 4:6). If God’s teachings, God’s indwelling, and God’s outpourings will not keep the soul from falling into Satan’s snares, I do not know what will.

Therefore, as you would be happy in resisting Satan and blessed in triumphing over Satan and all his snares, keep humble. I say again, keep humble, etc.

Direction 7: Keep Constant Watch

If you would not be taken in any of Satan’s snares, then keep a strong, close, and constant watch. A secure soul is already an ensnared soul. The soul that will not watch against temptations will certainly fall before the power of temptations. Satan works most strongly upon the imagination when the soul is drowsy.

We must not be like Agrippa’s dormouse, which would not awaken until it was cast into boiling lead (1 Thess 5:6). But carefully heed the following Scriptures, in which this duty of watchfulness is so strictly enjoined (Matt 24:42; Matt 26:41; Mark 13:33-35, 37; Luke 21:36). The soul’s security is Satan’s opportunity to fall upon and spoil the soul, as Joshua did the men of Ai.

The best way to be safe and secure from all Satan’s assaults is to follow Nehemiah and the Jews by watching and praying, and praying and watching. By this means they became too strong for their enemies, and the work of the Lord prospered sweetly in their hands.

Remember how Christ rebuked his sluggish disciples: What, “could you not watch with me one hour?” What, can you not watch with me? How then will you die with me? If you cannot endure words, how will you endure wounds, etc.?

Satan always keeps a crafty and malicious watch, “seeking whom they may devour,” or whom he may drink or sip up, as the apostle speaks (1 Pet 5:8). Satan is deeply envious of our condition because we will enjoy that Paradise out of which he has been cast and from which he will forever be kept.

Shall Satan keep a crafty watch while Christians fail to keep a holy, spiritual watch? Our whole life is beset with temptations. Satan watches every opportunity to break our peace, wound our consciences, lessen our comforts, impair our graces, blur our evidences, and damp our assurances, etc.

Oh, what need we have always to be upon our watchtower, lest we be surprised by this subtle serpent! Watchfulness includes waking and rousing the soul. It is a continual, careful observation of our hearts and ways through all the turns of our lives, so that we still keep close to God and his Word (1 Cor 16:13; Col 4:2; 1 Pet 4:7; Rev 3:3).

Watchfulness is nothing other than the soul running up and down, to and fro, busy everywhere. It is the heart employed in diligently observing what comes from within us and what comes from outside and enters us. Ah, souls! You are safe and secure only while you are upon your watch.

“Hannibal never rested, whether he conquered or was conquered.” It is so with Satan. “Learn, for shame, from the Devil,” said blessed Latimer, “to watch, seeing the Devil is so watchful.”

While Antipater kept watch, Alexander was safe; and while we keep strict watch, we are safe. A watchful soul is a soul upon the wing, a soul out of gunshot, a soul upon a rock, a soul in a castle, a soul above the clouds, and a soul held fast in everlasting arms.

I will conclude this seventh direction with this advice. Remember that the dragon is subtle. He bites the elephant’s ear and then sucks its blood because he knows that this is the only place the elephant cannot reach with its trunk to defend. In the same way, our enemies are so subtle that they will bite and strike us where they may do us the most harm. Therefore, it greatly concerns us always to stand upon our guard.

Direction 8: Keep Communion with God

If you would not be taken by any of Satan’s snares and devices, then maintain your communion with God. Your strength to stand against and withstand Satan’s fiery darts comes from your communion with God. A soul high in communion with God may be tempted, but it will not easily be conquered. Such a soul will fight it out to the death. Communion with God furnishes the soul with the greatest and choicest arguments to withstand Satan’s temptations.

Communion is the result of union. It is a reciprocal exchange between Christ and a gracious soul. The original words have two occurrences of “in,” as if God could never have near enough communion with his people (2 Cor 6:16).

Communion is Jacob’s ladder, where Christ sweetly comes down into the soul and the soul, by divine influences, sweetly ascends to Christ. Communion with Christ is very inflaming, elevating, and strengthening.

The sea ebbs and flows, and the moon increases and decreases; so it is with saints in their communion with God. While Samson maintained his communion with God, no enemy could stand before him. He went on conquering and to conquer. But when he had fallen in his communion with God, he quickly fell before the plots of his enemies.

It will be so with your souls. As long as your communion with God is maintained, you will be too strong for “spiritual wickednesses in high places.” But if you fall from your communion with God, you will fall like others before every temptation.

As long as David maintained his communion with God, he stood and triumphed over all his enemies. But when he had fallen in his communion with God, he fell before the enemies within his own bosom and fled before those who pursued his life. It will be so with your souls if you do not maintain your communion with God.

Job maintains his communion with God and conquers Satan upon the dunghill. Adam loses his communion with God and is conquered by Satan in Paradise.

Plutarch tells of Eudoxus that he was willing to be burned up immediately by the sun if he might be admitted near enough to learn its nature. What, then, should we not be willing to suffer to maintain communion with Christ?

Communion with God is a shield upon land as well as an anchor at sea. It is a sword to defend you as well as a staff to support you. Therefore, maintain your communion.

Direction 9: Draw Fresh Strength from Christ

If you would not be taken in any of Satan’s snares, do not engage Satan in your own strength. Instead, draw new virtue and strength from the Lord Jesus every day.

Certainly, the soul that engages any old or new temptation without new strength and fresh influences from on high will fall before the power of temptation. You may see this in Peter. He rested upon some previously received strength, saying, “Though all men should deny thee, yet will not I,” and therefore he fell grievously before a new temptation. He cursed, swore, and denied three times the one who had appeared gloriously to him three times (Matt 16).

That is a remarkable saying of Moses: God is “my strength, and my praise, and my salvation,” all in the abstract (Exod 15).

Ah, souls! When the snare is spread, look up to Jesus Christ, who is lifted up in the gospel as the bronze serpent was in the wilderness. “’Tis but look up and live, look unto me and be saved from the ends of the earth” (Isa 45:22).

Say to him, “Dear Lord, here is a new snare laid to catch my soul, and grace formerly received without fresh supplies from your blessed bosom will not deliver me from this snare; Oh! give me new strength, new power, new influences, new measures of grace, so that I may escape this snare.”

Ah, souls! Remember that your strength to stand and overcome must not be expected from graces already received, but from the fresh and renewed influences of heaven. You must lean more upon Christ than upon your duties, more upon Christ than upon spiritual tastes and discoveries, and more upon Christ than upon your graces. Otherwise, Satan will lead you into captivity, etc. “separate from me, or apart from me, ye can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Direction 10: Be Much in Prayer

If you would not be taken in any of Satan’s snares, then be much in prayer. Prayer is a shelter to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge to the devil.

The saying about Charlemagne was “that he spoke more with God than with men.” Ah, that I could say so of the Christians in our days!

David’s heart was often more out of tune than his harp. He prays and then, in spite of the devil, cries, “return unto thy rest oh my soul.” Prayer is the gate of heaven and a key that lets us into Paradise. Nothing renders plots fruitless like prayer.

Therefore Christ says, “Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation.” You must watch and pray, and pray and watch, if you would not enter into temptation.

When Sennacherib and Haman had laid plots and snares to destroy the Jews, the Jews prayed, their souls were delivered, and Sennacherib and Haman were destroyed.

David had many snares laid for him, and this drove him to prayer: “Keep me,” he says, “from the snare which they have laid for me, and the grins of the workers of iniquity. Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that I escape” (Ps 141:9-10). Again he says, “The proud, saith he, hath hid a snare for me, and cords, they have spread a net by the way side, they have set grins for me, Selah. I said unto the Lord, thou art my God, hear the voice of my supplication, O Lord” (Ps 140:5-6).

Saul and many others had laid snares for David. This drove him to prayer, and so the snares were broken and he was delivered.

Ah, souls! Take words to yourselves and tell God that Satan has spread his snares in all places and companies. Tell God that Satan digs deep and has plot upon plot and device upon device, all to undo you. Tell God that you have neither the skill nor the power to escape his snares. Tell God that the work of delivering you is too high and hard for any created being unless he puts his own everlasting arms beneath you.

Tell God how his honor is engaged to stand by you and bring you safely through, so that you are not ruined by Satan’s plots. Tell God how the wicked would triumph if you should fall into Satan’s snares. Tell God of Christ’s love, Christ’s blood, and Christ’s intercession for you, so that a way may be found for your escape.

Tell God that if he will make it his honor to save you from falling into Satan’s snares, you will make it your glory to speak of his goodness and live out his kindness.

Bernard prayed, “Oh Lord, I never go away from you, without you.” “Let us,” says Basil, “with a holy impudence, make God ashamed that he cannot look us in the face if he denies our importunity, Jacob-like.” As Jacob said, “I will not let thee go, unless thou bless me” (Gen 32:26).

Christians must do as Daedalus did. When he could not escape by a way upon earth, he went by a way through heaven. That is the way of prayer, which is the only way left to escape Satan’s snares, etc.

Next Application: Thankfulness

The next application is an exhortation to thankfulness addressed to those who escape Satan’s snares and are not taken by him at his will.

Ah, Christians! It is your duty, with that princely prophet David, to call upon your souls and say, “bless the Lord, oh our souls, and all that is within us, bless his holy name: Bless the Lord oh our souls, and forget not all his benefits” (Ps 103:1-2). Bless him who has not given us over as prey to Satan or allowed us to be ensnared by the snares he has laid for our souls.

The sense of this great favor stirred David’s heart to praise: “Blessed be the Lord,” he says, “who hath not given us a prey to their teeth, our soul is escaped as a Bird out of the snares of the Fowlers, the snare is broken, and we are escaped” (Ps 124:6).

Ah, Christians! Remember that the greatest part of the world, indeed, the greatest part of professing Christians, are taken in Satan’s snares. Can you think seriously about this and not blush to be unthankful? What makes you better than others? What have you deserved from God, or done for God more than others, that you should escape the snares by the help of a divine hand while others are taken and held in the devil’s snares to their eternal overthrow, etc.?

Will you be thankful for escaping snares that people spread for your lives or estates, etc., yet not be much more thankful for escaping the snares Satan has laid for your precious souls?

The ancients used to say, “say a man is unthankful, and say he is anything.” David says, “I will yet praise thee more and more”; in the original, “I will adde to thy praise” (Ps 71:14).

The stork is said to leave one of her young where she hatches them, and the elephant to turn the first water it draws from a spring toward heaven before it feeds, from some instinct of gratitude. Ah, souls! See that these creatures do not bear witness against you in the day of Christ.

Remember that deliverance from Satan’s snares carries with it the clearest and greatest evidence that God’s soul and heart are turned toward us. Many people, by a common hand of providence, escape many snares that others have laid for them, yet do not escape the snares Satan has laid for them.

Saul, Judas, and Demas doubtless escaped many snares people had laid for them, but none escaped the snares the devil had laid for them. Many are lifted above the snares of men by a common hand of providence but are left, by a hand of justice, to fall into the devil’s snares. Your deliverance from Satan’s snares is a fruit of special love. Can you view it in this way and not be thankful, precious soul? I think not.

Final Application: Long to Be Home

The last application of this point is to urge Christians to long to be at home. Oh, long to be in the bosom of Christ! Long to be in the land of Canaan, for this world, this wilderness, is full of snares.

All employments and enjoyments are full of snares. In civil things Satan has snares to entrap us, and in all spiritual things he has snares to catch us. All places are full of snares: city and country, shop and closet, sea and land. All our mercies are surrounded by snares. There are snares around our tables and around our beds, etc.

Indeed, Satan is so powerful and subtle that he will often make our greatest, nearest, and dearest mercies become our greatest snares. Sometimes he makes the wife who lies in a man’s bosom a snare to him, as Samson’s wife was and as Job’s was. Sometimes he makes a child a snare, as Absalom was and Eli’s sons were. Sometimes he makes a servant a snare, as Joseph was to his mistress.

Ah, souls! Satan is so cunning and skillful that he can turn your cups, clothes, houses, gardens, and all your recreations into snares, etc.

Oh, how should the consideration of these things stir all your souls to say with the church, “Make hast my beloved, and be like a Roe, or a young Hart upon the mountain of spices” (Song 8:14). That is, “flee away speedily my beloved.” It should stir you to love, look, and long for the coming of Christ (Phil 3:20; 2 Cor 5:2, 4).

Augustine wished that he might have seen three things: Rome flourishing, Paul preaching, and Christ conversing with people upon the earth. Bede came afterward and corrected this last wish, saying, “yea, but let me see the King in his beauty, Christ in his heavenly Kingdom.”

Shall the betrothed maiden long for her wedding day, the servant for his freedom, the captive for his ransom, the traveler for his inn, and the mariner for his harbor? And shall not the people of the Lord long much more to be in the bosom of Christ, since there is nothing below Christ’s bosom that is not surrounded by Satan’s snares?

What Paul once said of bonds and afflictions, that they attended him in every place, all the saints may say of Satan’s snares: they attend them in every place (Acts 20:23). This should cause them to cry, “let us go from here, let us go from here,” and to say with Monica, Augustine’s mother, “What are we doing here? why do we not depart from here? why do we not fly faster?”

Ah, souls! Until you are taken up into Christ’s bosom, your comforts will not be full, pure, and constant. Until then, Satan will still be striking you and spreading snares to entangle you. Therefore, you should always cry with the church, “Come Lord Jesus” (Rev 22:20).

Is Christ not the Star of Jacob, “that giveth light to them that are in darkness?” Is he not that Prince of peace who brings the olive branch of peace to perplexed souls? Is not the greatest worth and wealth in him? Are not the lesser excellencies and perfections of all created beings epitomized in him? Is he not the Crown of Crowns, the Glory of Glories, and the Heaven of Heavens?

It is as easy to encompass the heavens with a handspan and contain the sea in a nutshell as to relate fully Christ’s excellencies or heaven’s happiness.

Oh, then, continue longing for a full, clear, and constant enjoyment of Christ in heaven. Until then, Satan will still have plots and designs against you. He acts with united power and will never let you rest until you are taken up to everlasting rest in the bosom of Christ.