Brief Application of Satan's Subtlety as a Troubler and Accuser for Sin

[Brief Application of Satan's Subtlety as a Troubler and Accuser for Sin.]

             Use First.  Is Satan so subtle to trouble the saint’s peace?  This proves them to be the children of Satan, who show the same art and subtlety in vexing the spirits of the saints, as doth their infernal father; not to speak of bloody persecutors, who are the devil's slaughter-slaves to butcher the saints, but of those who more slyly trouble and molest the saint's peace.

1. Such as rake up the saint's old sins, which God hath forgiven and forgotten, merely to grieve their spirits and bespatter their names.  These show their devilish malice indeed, who can take such pains to travel many years back, that they may find a hand­ful of dirt to throw on the saint's face.  Thus Shimei twitted David, ‘Come out, thou bloody man,’ II Sam. 16:7.  When you that fear God meet with such reproaches, answer them as Beza did the Papists, who for want of other matter charged him for some wanton poems penned by him in his youth. These men, saith he, grudge me the pardoning mercy of God.         

2. Such as watch for the saints' halting, and catch at every infirmity to make them odious, and themselves merry.  It is a dreadful curse such bring upon themselves, though they think little of it; no less than Amalek's, the remembrance of whose name God threatened to blot out from under heaven, Deut. 25:19.  Why what had Amalek done to deserve this? They smote the hindermost, those that were feeble, and could not march with the rest.  And was it so great a cruelty to do this?  Much more to smite with the edge of a mocking tongue the feeble in grace.         

3. Such who father their sins upon the saints. Thus Ahab calls the prophet the troubler of Israel, when it was himself and his father's house.  What a grief was it, think you, to Moses' spirit, for the Israelites to lay the blood of those that died in the wilderness at his door?  Whereas, God knows, he was their constant bail, when at any time God's hand is up to destroy them.  And this was the charge which the best of God's servants in this crooked generation of ours lie under.  We may thank them, say the profane, for all our late miseries in the nation; we were well enough till they would reform us.  O for shame, blame not the good physic that was administered, but the corrupt body of the nation that could not bear it.       
4. Such as will themselves sin, merely to trouble the saint's spirit.  Thus Rabshakeh blasphemed, and when desired to speak in another language, he goes on the more to grieve them.  Sometimes you shall have a profane wretch, knowing one to be conscientious, and cannot brook to hear the name of God taken in vain, or the ways of God flouted, will on pur­pose fall upon such discourse as shall grate his chaste ears and trouble his gracious spirit.  Such a one strikes father and child in one blow; [he] thinks it not enough to dishonour God, except the saint stands by to see and hear the wrong done to his heavenly Father.

             Use Second.  This may afford matter of admiration and thankfulness to any of you, O ye saints who are not at this day under Satan's hatches.  Is he so subtle to disquiet, and hast thou any peace in thy conscience?  To whom art thou beholden for that serenity that is on thy spirit?  To none but thy God, under whose wing thou sittest so warm and safe.  Is there not combustible matter enough in thy conscience for his sparks to kindle?  Perhaps thou hast not committed such bloody sins as others.  That is not the reason for thy peace, for the least is big enough to damn, much more to trouble thee.  Thou hast not grossly fallen, may be, since conversion, that is rare, if thou beest of long standing, yet the ghosts of thy unregenerate sins might walk in thy conscience. Thou hast had many testimonies of God's favour, hast thou not?  Who more than David? Ps. 77.  Yet he [was] at a loss, sometimes learning to spell his evidences, as if he could never have read them.  The sense of God's love comes and goes with the present taste.  He that is in the dark, while there, sees not the more for former light.  O bless God for that light which shines in at thy window; Satan is plotting to undermine thy comfort every day.  This thief sees thy pleasant fruits as they hang, and his teeth water at them, but the wall is too high for him to climb; thy God keeps this serpent out of thy paradise.  It is not the grace of God in thee, but the favour of God, as a shield about thee, [that] defends thee from the wicked one. 

  Use Third.  Let Satan's subtlety to molest your peace, make thee, O Christian, more wise and wary. Thou hast no a fool to deal with, but one that hath wit enough to spill thy comfort and spoil thy joy, if not narrowly watched.  This is the dainty bit he gapes for.  It is not harder to keep the flies out of your cupboards in summer from tainting your provision, than Satan out of your consciences.  Many a sweet meal hath he robbed the saints of, and sent them supperless to bed; take heed, therefore, that he roams not thine away also. 

Part 5 - SATAN'S SECOND MAIN DESIGN: Is To Accuse, Vex and Trouble The Saint For Sin.

Argument  2.  A second argument Satan useth, is this, He whose sorrow falls short of theirs that never truly repented, he is not humbled enough.  But, soul, thy sorrow falls short of some that never truly repented; ergo.  Well, the first proposition is true, but how will Satan prove his minor?  Thus: Ahab, he took for his sin, and went in sackcloth.  Judas, he made bitter complaint.  O, says Satan, didst thou not know such a one that lay under terror of conscience, walking in a sad mournful condition so many months, and every one took him for the greatest convert [in] the country?  And yet he at last fell foully, and proved an apostate.  But thou never didst feel such smart, pass so many weary nights and days in mourning and bitter lamentation as he hath done, [and] therefore thou fallest short of one that fell short of repentance.  And truly this is a sad stumbling-block to a soul in an hour of temptation.  Like a ship sunk in the mouth of the harbour, which is more dangerous to others than if it had perished in the open sea; there is less scandal by the sins of the wicked, who sink, as it were, in the broad sea of profaneness, than in those who are convinced of sin, troubled in conscience, and miscarry so near the harbour, within sight, as it were, of saving grace.  Tempted souls can hardly get over these without dashing.  Am I better than such a one that proved nought at last?  Now to help thee a little to find out the fallacy of this argument, we must distinguish between the terrors that accompany sor­row, and the intrinsical nature of this grace.  The first, which are accessory, may be separated from the other, as the raging of the sea, which is caused by the wind, from the sea when the wind is down.  From this distinction take two conclusions.

             (1.) One may fall short of an hypocrite in the terrors that sometimes accompany sorrow, and yet have the truth of this grace, which the other with all his terrors wants.  Christians run into many mistakes, by judging rather according to that which is accessory, than that which is essential to the nature of duties and graces.  Sometimes thou hearest one pray with a moving expression, while thou canst hardly get out a few broken words in duty, and thou art ready to accuse thyself and to admire him, as if the gilt of the key made it open the door the better.  Thou seest another abound with joy which thou wantest, and art ready to conclude his grace more, and thine less; whereas thou mayest have more real grace, only thou wantest a light to show thee where it lies.  Take heed of judging by accessories.  Perhaps thou hast not heard so much of the rattling chains of hell, nor in thy conscience the outcries of the damned to make thy flesh tremble; but hast not seen that in a bleeding Christ which hath made thy heart melt and mourn, yea, loathe and hate thy lusts more than the devil himself? Truly, Christian, it is strange to hear a pa­tient complain of his physician, when he finds his physic work effectually to the evacuating his distempered humours, and the restoring his health, merely because he was not so sick as some others with the working of it.  Soul, thou hast more reason to be bles­sing God that the convictions of his Spirit wrought so kindly on thee, to effect that in thee without those errors which have cost others so dear.

             (2.)  This is so weak an argument, that contrariwise, the more the terrors are, the less the sorrow is for sin while they remain.  These are indeed preparatory sometimes to sorrow; they go before this grace as austere John before meek Jesus.  But as John went down when Christ went up, his increase was John's decrease, so as truly godly sorrow goes up, these terrors go down.  As the wind gathers the clouds, but those clouds seldom melt into a set rain, until the wind falls that gathered them; so these terrors raise the clouds of our sins in our consciences , but when these sins melt into godly sorrow, this lays the storm presently.  Indeed, as the loud winds blow away the rain, so these terrors keep off the soul from this gospel sorrow.  While the creature is making an out­cry, ‘it is damned, it is damned,’ it is taken up so much with the fear of hell, that sin as sin, which is the proper object of godly sorrow, is little looked on or mourned for.  A murderer condemned to die is so possessed with the fear of death and thought of the gallows, that there lies the slain body, it may be, before him, unlamented by him: but when his pardon is brought, then he can bestow his tears freely on his murdered friend.  ‘They shall look on him whom they have pierced, and mourn.’  Faith is the eye.  This eye, beholding its sin piercing Christ, and Christ pardoning its sin, affects the heart.  The heart affected sighs. These inward clouds melt, and run from the eye of faith with in tears; and all this is done when there is no tempest of terror upon the spirit, but a sweet serenity of love and peace; and therefore, Christian, see how Satan abuseth thee, when he would persuade thee thou art not humbled enough, because thy sorrow is not attended with these legal terrors.

Part 4 - SATAN'S SECOND MAIN DESIGN: Is To Accuse, Vex and Trouble The Saint For Sin.

Fourth Wile.  A fourth wile of Satan as a troubler, is to draw the saint into the depths of despair, under a specious pretence of not being humbled enough for sin.  This we find singled out by the apostle for one of the devil's fetches.  ‘We are not ignorant,’ saith he, ‘of his devices, II Cor. 2.11, his sophistical reasonings.  Satan sets much by this sleight; no weapon [is] oftener in his hand.  Where is the Christian that hath not met him at this door?  Here Satan finds the Christian easy to be wrought on —the humours being stirred to his hand—while the Christian of his own accord complains of the hardness of his heart, and is very prone to believe any who comply with his musing thoughts; yea, thinks every flatters him that would persuade him otherwise.  It is easier to dye that soul into black, which is of a sad colour already, than to make such a one take the lightsome tincture of joy and comfort.

             Question.  But how shall I answer this subtle enemy, when he perplexeth my spirit with not being humbled enough for sin, &c.?

             Answer.  I answer as to the former, Labour to spy the fallacy of his argument, and his mouth is soon stopped.

             Argument 1.  Satan argues thus.  There ought to be a proportion between sin and sorrow.  But there is no proportion between thy sins and thy sorrow. Therefore thou art not humbled enough.  What a plausible argument is here at first blush?  For the ma­jor, that there ought to be a proportion between sin and sorrow, this Satan will show you scripture for. Manasseh was a great sinner, and an ordinary sorrow will not serve his turn; ‘He humbled himself greatly before the Lord,’ II Chron. 33.12.  Now, saith Satan, weigh thy sin the balance with thy sorrow; art thou as great a mourner as thou hast been a sinner?  So many years thou hast waged war against the Almighty, making havoc of his laws,, loading his patience till it groaned again, raking in the sides of Christ with thy bloody dagger—while thou didst grieve his Spirit, and reject his grace—and dost [thou] think a little remorse, like a rolling cloud letting fall a few drops of sorrow, will be accepted?  No, thou must steep in sorrow as thou hast soaked in sin.  Now to show you the fallacy, we must distinguish of a twofold proportion of sorrow.

             (1.) An exact proportion of sorrow to the inherent nature and demerit of sin.

             (2.) There is a proportion to the law and rule of the gospel.  Now the first is not a thing feasible, be­cause the injury done in the least sin is infinite, because done to an infinite God.  And if it could be feasible, yet according to the tenor of the first coven­ant it would not be acceptable, because it had no clause to give any hope for an after-game by repentance: but the other, which is a gospel sorrow, is indeed repentance unto life, both given by the Spirit of the gospel, and to be tried by the rule of the gospel.  This is given for thy relief.  As you see some­times in the highway, where the waters are too deep for travellers, you have a foot-bridge or causey, by which they may escape the flood, and safely pass on; so that none but such as have not eyes, or are drunk, will venture to go through the waters, when they may avoid the danger.  Thou art a dead man if thou think to answer thy sin with proportionable sorrow; thou wilt soon be above thy depth, and quackle thyself with thy own tears, but never get over the least sin thou committedst.  Go not on therefore as thou lov­est thy life, but turn aside to this gospel path, and thou escapest the danger.  O you tempted souls, when Satan saith you are not humbled enough, see where you may be relieved.  I am a Roman, saith Paul, I appeal to Cæsar.  I am a Christian, say, I appeal to Christ's law.  And what is the law of the gospel concerning this?  Heart-sorrow is gospel sorrow: ‘they were pricked in their heart,’ Acts 2:37. And Peter, like an honest chirurgeon , will not keep these bleeding patients longer in pain with their wounds open, but presently claps on the healing plas­ter of the gospel—‘Believe on the Lord Jesus.’  Now a prick to the heart is more than a wound to the con­science.  The heart is the seat of life.  Sin wounded there lies a dying.  To do anything from the heart makes it acceptable, Eph. 6:6; II Cor. 5:11.  Now, poor soul, hadst thou sat thus long in the devil's stocks if thou hadst understood this aright?  Doth thy heart clear or condemn thee, when in secret thou art be­moaning thy sin before God?  If thy heart be false, I cannot help you, no, not the gospel itself; but if sincere, thou hast boldness with God, I John 3:21.

Part 3 - SATAN'S SECOND MAIN DESIGN: Is To Accuse, Vex and Trouble The Saint For Sin.

Third Wile.  Another wile of Satan lies in cavilling at the Christian's duties and performances, by which he puts him to much toil and trouble.  He is at church as soon as thou canst be, Christian, for thy heart; yea, he stands under thy closet-window, and hears what thou sayest to God in secret, all the while studying how he may commence a suit against thee from thy duty.  [He is] like those who come to sermons to carp and catch at what the preacher saith, that they make him an offender for some word or other misplaced; or like a cunning opponent in the schools, while his adversary is busy in reading his position, he is studying to confute it.  And truly Satan hath such an art as this, that he is able to take our duties in pieces, and so disfigure them that they shall appear formal, though never so zealous; hypocritical, though enriched with much sincerity.  When thou hast done thy duty, Christian, then stands up this sophist to ravel out thy work; there, will he say, thou playedst the hypocrite, zealous, but serving thyself, here wandering, there nodding, a little further puffed up with pride.  And what wages canst thou hope for at God's hands, now thou hast spoiled his work, and cut it all out into chips?  Thus he makes many poor souls lead a weary life; nothing they do but he hath a fling at, that they know not whether [it be] best to pray or not, to hear or not; and when they have prayed and heard, whether it be to any purpose or not.  Thus their souls hang in doubt, and their days pass in sorrow; while their enemy stands in a corner, and laughs at the cheat he hath put upon them; as one, who by putting a counterfeit spider into the dish, makes those that sit at table either out of conceit with the meat, that they dare not eat, or afraid of themselves if they have eaten, lest they should be poisoned with their meat.

             Question.  But you will say, What will you have us do in this case to withstand the cavils of Satan, in refer­ence to our duties?

             Answer 1.  Let this make thee more accurate in all thou doest.  It is the very end God aims at in suffering Satan thus to watch you, that you his chil­dren might be the more circumspect, because you have one [who] overlooks you, that will be sure to tell tales of you to God, and accuse thee to thy own self. Doth it not behove thee to write thy copy fair, when such a critic reads and scans it over?  Doth it not con­cern thee to know thy heart well, to turn over the Scriptures diligently, that thou mayest know the state of thy soul-controversy in all the cases of conscience thereof, when thou hast such a subtle opponent to reply upon thee?

             Answer 2.  Let it make thee more humble.  If Satan can charge thee with so much in thy best duties, O what then can thy God do!  God suffers sometimes the infirmities of his people to be known by the wicked, who are ready to check and frump them for them, for the end of humbling his people. How much more low should these accusations of Satan, which are in a great part too true, lay us before God?

             Answer 3.  Observe the fallacy of Satan's argument, which discovered, will help thee to answer his cavil.  The fallacy is double.

             (1.) He will persuade thee that thy duty and thyself are hypocritical, proud, formal, &c., because something of these sins are to be found in thy duty. Now, Christian, learn to distinguish between pride in a duty, and a proud duty; hypocrisy in a person, and a hypocrite; wine in a man, and a man in wine.  The best of saints have the stirrings of such corruptions in them and in their services.  These birds will light on an Abraham's sacrifice, but comfort thyself with this, that if thou findest a party within thy bosom pleading for God, and entering its protest against thee, thou and thy services are evangelically perfect.  God beholds these as the weaknesses of thy sickly state here below, and pities thee, as thou wouldst do thy lame child.  How odious is he to us that mocks one for natural defects, a blear eye, or a stammering tongue! such are these in thy new nature.  Observable is that in Christ's prayer against Satan, ‘And the Lord said unto Satan, Zech. 3:2, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; is not this a brand plucked out of the fire,’.  As if Christ had said, Lord, wilt thou suffer this envious spirit to twit thy poor child with, and charge him for, those infirmities that cleave to his perfect state?  He is but new plucked out of the fire.  No wonder there are some sparks unquenched, some corruptions un­mortified, some disorders unreformed in his place and calling; and what Christ did for Joshua, he doth incessantly for all his saints, for apologizing for their infirmities with his Father.    

 (2.) His other fallacy is in arguing from the sin that is in our duty, to the non-acceptance of them.  Will God, saith he, thinkest thou, take such broken groats at thy hand?  Is he not a holy God?  Now here, Christian, learn to distinguish and answer Satan. There is a double acceptance.  There is an acceptance of a thing by way of payment of a debt, and there is an acceptance of a thing offered as a token of love and testimony of gratitude.  He that will not accept of broken money, or half the sum for payment of a debt; the same man, if his friend sends him through but a bent sixpence, in token of his love, will take it kindly. It is true, Christian, the debt thou owest to God must be paid in good and lawful money, but for thy comfort, here Christ is thy paymaster.  Send Satan to him, bid him bring his charge against Christ, who is ready at God's right hand to clear his accounts, and show his discharge for the whole debt.  But now thy performances and obedience come under another no­tion, as tokens of thy love and thankfulness to God, and such is the gracious disposition of thy heavenly Father, that he accepts thy mite.  Love refuseth nothing that love sends.  It is not the weight or worth of the gift, but ‘the desire of a man in his kindness,’ Prov. 19:22.

            

Part 2 - SATAN'S SECOND MAIN DESIGN: Is To Accuse, Vex and Trouble The Saint For Sin.

Second Wile.  Another wile of Satan as a troubler, is in aggravating the saint’s sins, against which he hath a notable declamatory faculty—not that he hates sin, but the saint.  Now in this, his chief subtlety is so to lay his charge, that it may seem to be the act of the Holy Spirit.  He knows an arrow out of God’s quiver wounds deep; and therefore, when he accuseth, he comes in God’s name.  As suppose a child were conscious to himself of displeasing his father, and one that owes him a spite, to trouble him, should counterfeit a letter from his father, and cun­ningly convey it into the son’s hand, who receives it as from his father.  Therein he chargeth him with many heavy crimes, disowns him, and threatens he shall never come in his sight, or have penny portion from him; [and] the poor son, conscious to himself of many undutiful carriages, and not knowing the plot, takes on heavily, and can neither eat nor sleep from grief.  Here is a real trouble begot from a false and imaginary ground.  Thus Satan observes how the squares go between God and his children.  Such a saint he sees tardy in his duty, faulty in that service, and he knows the Christian is conscious of this, and that the Spirit of God will also show his distaste for these; both which [reasons] prompt Satan to draw a charge at length, raking up all the aggravations he can think of, and give it into the saint as sent from God. Thus he taught Job’s friends to pick up those infirmities which dropped from him in his distress, and shoot them back in his face, as if indeed they had been sent from God to declare him an hypocrite, and denounce his wrath for the same.

             But how shall we know the false accusation of Satan from the rebukes of God and his Spirit?

1. If they cross any former act or work of the Spirit in thy soul, they are Satan’s, not the Holy Spirit’s.  Now you shall observe Satan’s scope in accusing the Christian, and aggravating his sin, is to unsaint him, and persuade him he is but an hypocrite.  Oh, saith Satan, now thou hast shown what thou art.  See what a foul spot is on thy coat.  This is not the spot of a child.  Whoever, that was a saint, committed such a sin after such a sort?  All thy comforts and confidence which thou hast bragged of, were false, I warrant you.  Thus you see Satan at one blow dasheth all in pieces.  The whole fabric of grace which God hath been rearing up many years in the soul, must now at one puff of his malicious mouth be blown down, and all the sweet comforts with which the Holy Spirit hath sealed up God’s love, must be defaced with this one blot, which Satan draws over the fair copy of the saint’s evidence.  Well, soul, for thy comfort know, if ever the Spirit of God hath begun sanctifying or comforting work, causing thee to hope in his mercy, he never is, will, can be the messenger to bring contrary news to thy soul; His language is not yea and nay, but yea and amen for ever. Indeed, when the saint plays the wanton, he can chide, yea, will frown and tell the soul roundly of its sin, as he did David by Nathan.  ‘Thou art the man’ —this thou hast done.  He paints out his sin with such bloody colours, as made David’s heart melt, as it were, into so many drops of water.  But that shall not serve his turn; he tells him what a rod is steeping for him, that shall smart to purpose—one of his own house, no other than his darling son, shall rise up against him.  [This happens in order] that he may the more fully conceive how ill God took the sin of him, a child, a saint, when he shall know what it is to have his beloved child traitorously invade his crown, and unnaturally hunt for his precious life; yet not a word all this while is heard from Nathan teaching David to unsaint himself, and call in question the work of God in his soul.  No, he had no such commission from God; he was sent to make him mourn for his sin, not from his sin to question his state which God had so oft put out of doubt.            

 2. When they asperse the riches of God’s grace, and so charge the Christian, that withal they reflect upon the good name of God, they are not of the Holy Spirit but from Satan.  When you find your sins so represented and aggravated to you, as exceeding either the mercy of God’s nature, or the grace of his covenant, this comes from that foul liar.  The Holy Spir­it is Christ’s spokesman to commend him to souls, and to woo sinners to embrace the grace of the gospel; and can such words drop from his sacred lips, as should break the match and sink Christ’s esteem in the thoughts of the creature?  You may know where this is mined.  When you hear one commend another for a wise or good man, and at last come in with a but that dasheth all, you will easily think he is no friend to the man, but some sly enemy that by seeming to commend, desires to disgrace the more.  Thus you find God represented to you as merciful and gracious, but not to such a great sinner as you. to have power and strength, but not able to save thee; you may say, Avaunt, Satan, thy speech bewrayeth thee.   

SATAN'S SECOND MAIN DESIGN: Is To Accuse, Vex and Trouble The Saint For Sin.

            

 The second main design in which Satan appears such a subtle enemy is as a troubler and an accuser for sin, molesting the saint's peace, and disquieting the saint's spirit.  As the Holy Spirit's work is not only to be a sanctifier, but also a comforter, whose fruits are righteousness and peace, so the evil spirit Satan is both a seducer unto sin, and an accuser for sin, a tempter and a troubler, and indeed in the same order.  As the Holy Ghost is first a sanctifier, and then a comforter, so Satan [is] first a tempter, then a troubler.  Joseph's mistress first tries to draw him to gratify her lust, [but] that string breaking, she hath another to trounce him and charge him, and, for a plea, she hath his coat to cover her malice; nor is it hard for Satan to pick some hole in the saint's coat, when he walks most circumspectly.  The proper seat of sin is the will, of comfort the conscience.  Satan hath not absolute knowledge of or power over these, [they] being locked up from any other but God, and therefore what he doth, either in defiling temptations, or disquieting, is by wiles more than by open force; and he is not inferior in troubling, to himself in tempting.  Satan hath, as the serpent, a way by himself.  Other beasts [have] their motion direct, right on, but the serpent goes askew, as we say, winding and writhing its body; [so] that when you see a serpent creeping along, you can hardly discern which way its tends.  Thus Satan in his vexing temptations hath many intricate policies, turning this way and that way, the better to conceal his design from the saint, which will appear in these following methods:

          

   First Wile.  He vexeth the Christian by laying his brats at the saint's door, and charging him with that which is his own creature.  And here he hath such a notable art, that many dear saints of God are woefully hampered and dejected, as if they were the vilest blasphemers and veriest atheists in the world: whereas indeed the cup is of his own putting into the sack.  But so slyly is it conveyed into the saint's bosom, that the Christian, though amazed and frighted at the sight of them, yet being jealous of his own heart, and unacquainted with Satan's tricks of this kind, cannot conceive how such notions should come there, if not bred in, and vomited out by his own naughty heart.  So he bears the blame of the sin himself, because he cannot find the right father, mourning as one that is forlorn and cast off by God, or else, saith he, I should never have such vermin of hell creeping in my bosom.  And here Satan hath the end he proposeth, for he is not so silly as to hope he should have welcome with such a horrid crew of blas­phemous and atheistical thoughts in that soul, where he hath been denied when he came in an enticing way.  No, but his design is by way of revenge, because the soul will not prostitute itself to his lust, otherwise therefore to haunt it and scare it with those imps of blasphemy.  So he served Luther, to whom he appeared, and when repulsed by him, went away and left a noisome stench behind him in the room.  Thus when the Christian hath worsted Satan in his more pleasing temptations, being maddened, he belcheth forth this stench of blasphemous motions to annoy and affright him, that from them the Christian may draw some sad conclusion or other, and indeed the Christian's sin lies commonly more in the conclusion which he draws from them—as that he is not a child of God—than in the motions themselves.  All the counsel therefore I shall give thee in this case, is to do with these motions, as you use to serve those vagrants and rogues that come about the country, whom, though you cannot keep from passing through your town, yet you look they settle not there, but whip them and send them to their own home.  Thus give these motions the law, in mourning for them, resisting of them, and they shall not be your charge. Yea, it is like you shall seldomer be troubled with such guests; but if once you come to entertain them, and be Satan's nurse to them, then the law of God will cast them upon you.       

Part 2 - Satan's Subtlety as A TEMPTER TO SIN Briefly Applied

  

Use Second.  Is Satan so subtle?  O then, think not to be too cunning for the devil, he will be too hard for thee at last.  Sin not with thoughts of an after-repentance; it is possible thou meanest this at present, but dost thou think, who sits down to play with this cheater, to draw out thy stock when thou pleasest?  Alas, poor wretch! he has a thousand devices to carry thee on, and engage thee deeper, till he hath not left thee any tenderness in thy conscience.  As some have been served at play, intending to venture only a shilling or two, yet have by the secret witchery in gaming, played the very clothes off their back before they had done,—O how many have thus sinned away all their principles, yea, profession itself, that they have not so much as this cloak left, but walk naked to their shame!  [They are] like chil­dren, who, got into a boat, think to play near the shore, but are unawares by a violent gust carried down to the wide sea.  O how know you that dally with Satan, but that at last you may (who begin mod­estly) be carried down to the broad sea of profane­ness?  Some men are so subtle to over-reach, and so cruel when they get men into their hands, that a man had better beg his bread than borrow of them.  Such a merchant is Satan, cunning to insinuate, and get the creature into his books, and when he hath him on the hip, [there is] no more mercy to be had at his hand than the lamb may expect from the ravenous wolf.      

   Use Third.  Study his wiles, and acquaint thyself with Satan's policy.  Paul takes it for granted, that every saint doth in some measure understand them; ‘We are not ignorant of his devices,’ II Cor. 2:11.  He is but an ill fencer that knows and observes noth­ing of his enemy's play.  Many particular stratagems I have laid down already which may help a little, and for thy direction in this study of, and inquiry into, Satan's wiles, take the threefold counsel.

             1. Take God into thy counsel.  Heaven overlooks hell.  God at any time can tell thee what plots are hatching there against thee.  Consider Satan as he is God's creature; so God cannot but know him.  He that makes the watch, knows every pin in it.  He formed this crooked serpent, though not the crookedness of this serpent; and though Satan's way in tempting is as wonderful as the way of a serpent on a rock, yet God traceth him, yea, knows all his thoughts together.  Hell itself is naked before him; and this destroyer hath no covering.  Again, consider him as God's prisoner, who hath him fast in chains, and so the Lord, who is his keeper, must needs know whither his prisoner goes, who cannot stir without his leave.  Lastly, consider him as his messenger, for so he is.  An evil spirit from the Lord vexed Saul, and he that gives him his errand, is able to tell thee what it is.  Go then and plough with God's heifer; improve thy interest with Christ, who knows what his Father knows, and is ready to reveal all that concerns thee to thee, John 15:15.  It was he who de­scribed the devil coming against Peter and the rest of the apostles, and faithfully revealed it to them, before they thought of any such matter, Luke 22.  Through Christ's hands passes all that is transacted in heaven hell.  We live in days of great actions, deep counsels, and plots on all sides, and only a few that stand on the upper end of the world know these mysteries of state; all the rest know little more than pamphlet intelligence.  Thus it is in regard of those plots which Satan in his infernal conclave is laying against the souls of men; they are but a few that know anything to purpose of Satan's designs against them; and those are the saints, from whom God cannot hide his own counsels of love, but sends his Spirit to reveal unto them here, what he hath prepared for them in heaven, I Cor. 2:10, and therefore much less will he conceal any destructive plot of Satan from them.

             2. Be intimately acquainted with thy own heart, and thou wilt the better know his design against thee, who takes his method of tempting from the inclination and posture of thy heart.  As a general walks about the city, and views it well, and then raiseth his batteries where he hath the greatest advantage, so doth Satan compass and consider the Christian in every part before he tempts.

             3. Be careful to read the word of God with obs­ervation.  In it thou hast the history of the most remarkable battles that have been fought by the most eminent worthies in Christ's army of saints with this great warrior Satan.  Here thou mayest see how Satan hath foiled them, and how they have recovered their lost ground.  Here you have his cabinet‑counsels opened.  There is not a lust which you are in danger of, but you have it described; not a temptation which the Word doth not arm you against.  It is reported that a certain Jew should have poisoned Luther, but was happily prevented by his picture which was sent to Luther, with a warning from a faithful friend that he should take heed of such a man when he saw him, by which he knew the murderer, and escaped his hands.  The Word shows thee, O Christian, the face of those lusts which Satan employs to butcher thy precious soul. 

‘By them thy servant is warned,’ saith David, Ps. 19:11.

Satan's Subtlety as A TEMPTER TO SIN Briefly Applied

            

 Use First.  Affect not sinful policy and subtlety, it makes you but like the devil.  There is the wisdom of the serpent, which is commended, and that is his perfection as a creature, in which both the literal and the mystical excel, the one in an ingenious observing nature above the beast of the field, and the other in knowledge as an angel above men; but as the subtlety of the one and knowledge of the other is degenerate, and makes them more able to do mischief, the one of the bodies, the others to the souls of men, this kind of wisdom and subtlety is to be abhorred by us.  The serpent's eye, as one saith, does well only in the dove's head.

             1. Affect not subtlety in contriving any sin. Some are wise to do evil, Jer. 4:22.  Masters of this craft, who can as they lie on their beds, cast their wicked designs into an artificial method, showing a kind of devilish wit therein, as the Egyptians who dealt wisely, as they thought, with the Israelites, and Jezebel, who had printed her bloody design in so fair a letter, that some might read her saint while she was playing the devil.  This is the black art indeed, and make the soul as black as hell that practiseth it.  It is not hard for any, though a fool, to learn.  Be but wicked, and the devil will help thee to be witty. Come but a while to his school, and thou mayest soon be a cunning man.  No sins speak a higher attainment in wickedness, than those which are of deliberate counsel and deep plottings.  Creatures, as they go longer with their young, so their birth is more strong and perfect, as the elephant above all others.  The longer a sin is a forming and forging within, and the oftener the head and heart meet about it, the completer the sin.  Here are many litters of unformed sins in one, such, I mean, as are conceived and cast forth in the hurry of extemporary passion.  Those sudden acts show weakness, these other deep wickedness.

             

2. Take heed of hiding sin when thou hast com­mitted it.  This is one of the devices that are in man's heart; and as much art and cunning is shown in this, as in any one part of the sinner's trade.  What a trick had the patriarchs to blind their father's eye with a bloody coat?  Joseph's mistress, to prevent a charge from Joseph, accuseth him for what she is guilty, like the robber who escaped by crying ‘stop the thief.’  God taught man to make coats to cover his naked body, but the devil learnt him to weave these coverings to hide the nakedness of his soul.  The more subtle thou seemest in concealing thy sin, the more egregiously thou playest the fool.  None so shamed as the liar when found out, and that thou art sure to be. Thy covering is too short to hide thee from God's eye, and what God sees, if thou dost not put thyself to shame, he will tell all the world hereafter, however thou escapest in this life.            

 3. Take heed of subtlety and sinful policy, in compassing that which is lawful in itself; it is lawful to improve thy estate and husband it well for thy posterity but take not the devil's counsel, who will be putting thee upon some tricks in thy trade and sleights in thy dealing.  Such may go for wise men for a while, but the prophet reads their destiny, ‘At his end he shall be a fool,’ Jer. 17:11.  It is lawful to love our estate, life, liberty; but beware of sinful policy to save them.  It is no wisdom to shuffle with God, by denying his truth, or shifting off our duty to keep correspondence with men.  He is a weak fencer that lays his soul at open guard to be stabbed and woun­ded with guilt, while he is lifting up his hands to save a broken head.  Our fear commonly meets us at that door by which we think to run from it.  He that ‘will save his life shall lose it.’  As you love your peace, Christians, be plain-hearted with God and man, and keep the king's highway.  Go the plain way of command to obtain thy desire, and not leap over hedge and ditch to come a little sooner to the journey's end; such commonly either meet with some stop that makes them come back with shame, or else put to venture their necks in some desperate leap.  He is sure to come faster, if not sooner, home, that is wil­ling to go a little about to keep God company.  The historian's observation is worth the Christian's remembrance: ‘Crafty counsels promise fair at first, but prove more difficult in the managing, and in the end do pay the undertaker home with desperate sorrow.’

Part 2 - Satan's Subtlety In Choosing Fitting Instruments For His Purpose

   

 (2.) In covering their impostures and errors with choice notions and excellent truths.  Arius himself, and other dangerous instruments of Satan, were too wise to stuff their discourses with nothing but heterodox matter.  Precious truths dropped from them, with which they sprinkled their corrupt principles, yet with such art as should not easily be discerned.  This, as one observes, our Saviour warns his disciples of, when he bids them ‘beware of the leaven of the Pharisees,’ that is, of their errors.  But why leaven?  [Just] for the secret mixture of it with the wholesome bread.  You do not make your bread all of leaven, for none would then eat it, but crumble a little into a whole batch, which sours all.  Thus Christ doth tell the disciples, that the Pharisees among many truths mix their er­rors; and therefore it behoves them to beware, lest with the truth the errors go down also.  Again, leaven is very much like the dough, of the same grain with it, [and] only differs in age and sourness.  Thus Christ intimates the resemblance of their errors to the truth, as it were, out of the Scriptures, but soured with their own false glosses.  This indeed makes it easy for Christ's sheep to be infected with the scab of error, because that weed which breeds the rot is so like the grass that nourisheth them.       

  (3.) Their subtlety appears in holding forth such principles as are indulgent to the flesh.  This brings in whole shoals of silly souls into their net.  The heart of man loves a life to shape a religion according to his own humour, and is easy to believe that to be a truth that favours his own inclination.  Now there are three lusts that Satan's instruments labour to gratify in their doctrine—carnal reason, pride, and fleshly liberty.

             (a) Carnal reason.  This is the great idol which the more intelligent part of the world worship, making it the very standard of their faith, and from this bitter root have sprung those Arian and Socinian heresies.  And truly he that will go no farther than reason will carry him, may hold out in the plain way of the moral law, but when he comes to the depths of the gospel, must either go back, or be content that faith should help reason over.

             (b) Another lust that Satan cockers is pride. Man naturally would be a god to himself, though for clambering so high he got his fall; and whatever doctrine nourisheth a good opinion of man in his own eye, this is acceptable to him; and this hath spawned another fry of dangerous errors—the Pela­gian and Semi-pelagian, which set nature upon its legs, and persuade man he got alone to Christ, or at least with a little external help, of a hand to lead, or argument to excite, without any creating work in the soul.  O, we cannot conceive how glib such stuff goes down.  If one workman should tell you your house is rotten, and must be pulled down, and all new materials prepared; and another should say, No such mat­ter; such a beam is good, and such a spar may stand —a little cost will serve the turn: it were no wonder that you should listen to him that would put you to least cost and trouble.  The faithful servants of Christ tell sinners from the Word, that man in his natural state is corrupt and rotten, that nothing of the old frame will serve, and there must needs be all new; but in comes an Arminian, and blows up the sinner's pride, and tells him he is not so weak or wicked as the other represents him.  If thou wilt, thou mayest repent and believe; or, at least, by exerting thy natural abilities, oblige God to superadd what thou hast not. This is the workman that will please proud man best.

             (c) Satan by his instruments nourisheth that desire of fleshly liberty, which is in man by nature, who is a son of Belial, without yoke; and if he must wear any, that will please best which hath the softest lining, and pincheth the flesh least; and therefore when the sincere teachers of the Word will not abate of the strictness of the command, but press sincere obedience to it, then come Satan's instruments and say, These are hard task-masters, who will not allow one play-day in a year to the Christian, but tie him to continual duty; we will show you an easier way to heaven.  Come, saith the Papist, confess but once a year to the priest, pay him well for his pains, and be an obedient son of the church, and we will dispense with all the rest.  Come, saith the Familist Quoted from the Funk and Wagnalls online Encyclopedia —L. B. W., the gos­pel charter allows more liberty than these legal preachers tell you of.  They bid you repent and be­lieve, when Christ hath done all these to your hand. What have you left to do but to nourish the flesh? Something sure is in it, that impostors find such quick return for their ware, while truth hangs upon the log.  And is it not this, that they are content to afford heaven cheaper to their disciples than Christ will to his?  He that sells cheapest shall have most customers, though, at last, best will be best cheap; truth with self-denial [is] a better pennyworth, than error with all its flesh-pleasing.

3. Instrument.  Satan makes choice of such as have a great name for holiness.  None so good as a live bird to draw other birds into the net.  But is it possible that such should do this work for the devil? Yes, such is the policy of Satan, and the frailty of the best, that the most holy men have been his instruments to seduce others.  ‘Abraham’ he tempts his wife to lie, ‘Say thou art my sister.’  The old prophet leads the man of God out of his way, I Kings 13:11; the holi­ness of the man, and the reverence of his age, it is like, gave authority to his counsel.  O, how should this make you watchful, whose long travel and great progress in the ways of God, have gained you a name of eminency in the church, what you say, do, or hold, because you are file-leading men, and others look more on you than their way!            

4. Instrument.Satan chooseth persons of relation and interest, such as by relation or affection have deep interest in the persons he would gain. Some will kiss the child for the nurse's sake, and like the present for the hand that brings it.  It is like David would not have received that from Nabal, which he took from Abigail, and thanks her.  Satan sent the apple by Eve's hand to Adam.  Delilah doth more with Samson than all the Philistines' bands. Job's wife brings him the poison, ‘Curse God and die.’ Some think Satan spared her life, when he slew his children and servants—(though she was also within his commission)—as the most likely instrument, by reason of her relation and his affection, to lead him into temptation.  Satan employs Peter, a disciple, to tempt Christ, at another time his friends and kinsfolk.  Some martyrs have confessed, the hardest work they met withal, was to overcome the prayers and tears of their friends and relations.  Paul himself could not get off his snare without heart-breaking. ‘What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart?’Acts 21:13.

Satan's Subtlety In Choosing Fitting Instruments For His Purpose

       

      Third.  Satan shows his subtlety in pitching on fit instruments for his turn to carry on his designs. He, as the master-workman, cuts out the temptation, and gives it the shape, but sometime he hath his jour­neymen to make it up; he knows his work may be carried on better by others, when he appears not aboveboard himself.  Indeed there is not such a suitableness between the angelical nature and man's, as there is between one man and another; and therefore he cannot make his approaches so familiarly with us, as man can do to man.  And here, as in other things, he is God's ape.  You know this very reason was given, why the Israelites desired God might not speak to them, but Moses, and God liked the motion: ‘they have well said,’ saith God, ‘I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee,’ Deut. 18:17, 18.  Thus Satan useth the ministry of men like ourselves, by which as he becomes more famil­iar, so he is less suspected, while Joab-like, he gets another to do his errand.  Now it is not any [one that] will serve his turn for this employment; he is very choice in his instruments he pitcheth on.  It is not every soldier [that] is fit for an embassage, to treat with an enemy, to betray a town, and the like.  Satan considers who can do his work to his greatest advantage.  And in this he is unlike God, who is not at all choice in his instruments, because he needs none, and is able to do as well with one as another; but Satan's power being finite, he must patch up the defect of the lion's skin with the fox's.  Now the persons Satan aims at for his instruments are chiefly of four sorts.  1. Persons of place and power.  2. Persons of parts and policy.  3. Persons of holiness, or at least reputed so.  4. Persons of relation and interest.

1. Instrument.  Satan makes choice of persons of place and power.  These are either in the commonwealth or church.  If he can, he will secure the throne and the pulpit, as the two forts that command the whole line.  (1.) Men of power in the commonwealth; it is his old trick to be tampering with such.  A prince or a ruler may stand for a thousand; therefore saith Paul to Elymas, when he would have turned the deputy from the faith, ‘O full of all subtilty thou child of the devil!’ Acts 13:10.  As if he had said, You have learned this of your father the devil—to haunt the courts of princes, wind into the favour of great ones.  There is a double policy that Satan hath in gaining such to his side.  (a) None have such advantage to draw others to their way.  Corrupt the captain, and it is hard if he bring not off his troop with him.  When the princes—men of renown in their tribes—stood up with Korah, presently a multitude are drawn into the conspiracy, Num. 16:2, 19.  Let Jeroboam set up idolatry, and Israel is soon in a snare.  It is said [that] the people willingly walked after his commandment, Hos, 5:11.  (b) Should the sin stay at court, and the infection go no farther, yet the sin of such a one, though a good man, may cost a whole kingdom dear.  ‘Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to num­ber Israel,’ I Chron. 21:1.  He owed Israel a spite, and he pays them home in their king's sin, which dropped in a fearful plague upon their heads.  (2.) Such as are in place and office in the church.  No such way to in­fect the whole town, as to poison the cistern at which they draw their water.  Who shall persuade Ahab that he may go to Ramoth-Gilead and fall?  Satan can tell: ‘I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets,’ I Kings 22:22.  How shall the profane be hardened in their sins?  Let the preacher sew pillows under their elbows, and cry Peace, peace, and it is done.  How may the worship of God come to be neglected?  Let Hophni and Phin­ehas be but scandalous in their lives, and many both good and bad will ‘abhor the sacrifice of the Lord.’

2. Instrument.  He employeth persons of parts and policy.  If any hath more pregnancy of wit and depth of reason than other, he is the man Satan looks upon for his service, and so far does he prevail, that very few of his rank are found among Christ's disciples, ‘Not many wise.’  Indeed, God will not have his kingdom, either in the heart or in the world, main­tained by carnal policy, [for] it is a gospel command that we walk in godly simplicity.  Though the serpent can shrink up into his folds, and appear what he is not, yet it doth not become the saints to juggle or shuffle with God or men; and truly when any of them have made use of the serpent's subtlety, it hath not followed their hand.  Jacob got the blessing by a wile, but he might have had it cheaper with plain dealing. Abraham and Sarah both dissemble to Abimelech; God discovers their sin, and reproves them for it by the mouth of a heathen.  Asa, out of state-policy, joins league with Syria, yea, pawns the vessels of the sanctuary and all for help.  And what comes of all this?  ‘Herein thou hast done foolishly,’ saith God, ‘from henceforth thou shalt have wars.’  Sinful policy shall not long thrive in the saints' hands well.  But Satan will not out of his way; he inquires for the subtlest-pated men, a Balaam, Ahithophel, Haman, Sanballat, men admired for their counsel and deep plots; these are for his turn.  A wicked cause needs a smooth orator; bad ware, a pleasing chapman.  As in particular, the instruments he useth to seduce and corrupt the minds of men are commonly subtle-pated men, such ‘that if it were possible should deceive the very elect.’  This made the apostle so jealous of the Corinthians, whom he had espoused to Christ, lest, as Eve by the serpent, so their ‘minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.’  He must be a cunning devil indeed that can draw off the spouse’s love from he Beloved; yet there is such a witchery in Satan's instruments, that many have been brought to fly on the face of those truths and ordin­ances, yea, [of] Christ himself, to whom they have seemed espoused formerly.  Now in three particulars this sort of Satan's instruments show their master's subtlety.

   (1.) In aspersing the good name of the sincere messengers of Christ—Satan's old trick to raise his credit upon the ruined reputation of Christ's faithful servants.  Thus he taught Korah, Dathan, and Abiram to charge Moses and Aaron: ‘Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation is holy,’ Num. 16:3. They would make the people believe that it was the pride of their heart to claim a monopoly to them­selves, as if none but Aaron and his fraternity were holy enough to offer incense, and by this subtle practice they seduced for a while, in a manner, the whole congregation to their side.  So the lying prophets, that were Satan's knights of the post to Ahab, fell foul on good Micaiah.  Our Saviour himself was no better handled by the Pharisees and their confederates; and Paul, the chief of the apostles, [had] his ministry undermined, and his reputation blasted, by false teachers, as if he had been some weak sorry preacher.  ‘but his bodily presence is weak,’ say they, ‘and his speech contemptible,’ II Cor. 10:10.  And is this your admired man?