I will further suppose that which may be supposed and that which is suitable to our purpose. Suppose, therefore, that a Father has a child whom he loveth, but the child has not half that wit that some of the family had, and I am sure that we have less wit than angels; and suppose, also, that some bad-minded neighbor, by tampering with, tempting of, and by unwearied solicitations, should prevail with this child to steal something out of his father’s house or grounds, and give it unto him; and this he doth on purpose to set the Father against the child; and suppose, again, that it comes to the father’s knowledge that the child, through the allurements of such a one, has done so and so against his Father; will he, therefore, disinherit this child? Yea, suppose, again, that he who tempted this child to steal should be the first to accuse this child to its Father for so doing. Would the Father take notice of the accusation of such a one?-No, verily, we that are evil can do better than so; how then should we think that the God of heaven should do such a thing, since also we have a wise brother, and that will and can plead the very malice of our enemy that doth to us all these things against him for our advantage? I say this is the sum of this fifth plea of Christ, our Advocate, against Satan. O Satan, says he, thou art an enemy to my people; thou plead not out of love for righteousness, not to reform, but to destroy my beloved and my inheritance. The charge with which you charge my people is your own (Job 8:4-6). Not only as a matter of charge, but the things that you accuse them of are thine, thine in nature. Also, thou hast tempted, allured, flattered, and daily labored with them to do that for which now thou so willingly would have them destroyed. Yea, all this hast thou done of envy to my Father and to godliness; of hatred to me and my people; and that you might destroy others besides (I Chron 21:1). And now, what can this accuser say? Can he excuse himself? Can he contradict our Advocate? He cannot; he knows that he is a Satan, an enemy, and as an adversary has he sown his tares among the wheat, that it might be rooted up; but he shall not have his end; his malice has prevented him, and so has the care and grace of our Advocate. The tares, therefore, he shall have returned unto him again; but the wheat, for all this, shall be gathered into God’s barn (Matt 13:25–30).
Thus, therefore, our Advocate makes use, in his plea against Satan, of the rage and malice that are the occasion of the enemy’s charge, wherewith he accuses the children of God. Therefore, when you read these words, “O Satan,” say to yourself, thus Christ our Advocate accuses our adversary of malice and envy against God and goodness. At the same time, he accused us of the sins we commit, for which we are sorry, and Christ has paid a price of redemption: “And if any man sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” But,
6. Christ, when he pleads as an Advocate for his people, in the presence of God, against Satan, can plead those very weaknesses of his people, for which Satan would have them damned, for their relief and advantage. “Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?” This is part of the plea of our Advocate against Satan for his servant Joshua, when he said, “The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan” (Zech 3:2). Now, to be a brand plucked out of the fire is to be a saint, impaired, weakened, defiled, and made imperfect by sin; for so also the apostle means when he says, “And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh” (Jude 23). By fire, in both these places, we are to understand sin; for that it burns and consumes as fire (Rom 1:27). Therefore, a man is said to burn when his lusts are strong upon him and to burn in lusts for others when his wicked heart runs wickedly after them (I Cor 7:9).
Also, when Abraham said, “I am but dust and ashes” (Gen 18:27), he meant he was but what sin had left; yes, he had something of the smutch and besmearing of sin yet upon him. Wherefore it was a custom with Israel, in days of old, when they set days apart for confession of sin and humiliation for the same, to sprinkle themselves with or to wallow in dust and ashes, as a token that they did confess they were but what sin had left, and that they also were defiled, weakened, and polluted by it (Esth 4:1,3; Jer 6:26; Job 30:19, 42:6).
