THE FOURTH USE.
[FOURTH.] By this doctrine, sufficiency of argument is ministered to the tempted to withstand the assaults of the devil.
[FOURTH.] By this doctrine, sufficiency of argument is ministered to the tempted to withstand the assaults of the devil.
When souls begin to seek after the Lord Jesus, then Satan begins to afflict and distress, as the Canaanites did the Gibeonites, for making peace with Joshua (Josh 10:1,6).
Three things usually afflict the soul that is earnestly looking after Jesus Christ. First. Dreadful accusations from Satan. Second. Grievous defiling and infectious thoughts. Third. A strange readiness in our nature to fall in with both.
First, by the first of these, the heart is made continually to tremble. Hence his temptations are compared to the roaring of a lion, for as the lion by roaring killed the heart of his prey, so doth Satan kill the spirit of these that hearken to him (1 Peter 5:8); for when he tempted, especially by way of accusation, he doth to us as Rabshakeh did to the Jews; he speaks to us in our own language; he says our sin at every word, our guilty conscience knows it; he speaks our death at every word, our doubting conscience feels it.
Second. Besides this, there doth now arise, even in the heart, such defiling and foul infectious thoughts that put the tempted to their wits' end; for now, it seems to the soul that the very flood-gates of the flesh are opened and that to sin there is no stop at all; now the air seems to be covered with darkness, and the man is as if he was changed into the nature of a devil; now if ignorance and unbelief prevail, he concluded that he is a reprobate, made to be taken and destroyed.
Third. Now, he also feels a readiness to fall in with every temptation; a readiness, I say, continually present (Rom 7:21). This throws everything down. Now despair begins to swallow him up; now he can neither pray, nor read, nor hear, nor meditate on God, but fire and smoke continually burst forth of the heart against him. Now sin and great confusion put forth itself in all; yea, the more the sinner desired to do a duty sincerely, the further off it always finds itself; for by how much the soul struggled under these distresses, by so much the more doth Satan put forth himself to resist, still infusing more poison, that if possible, it might never struggle more, for struggling are also as poison to Satan. The fly in the spider's web is an emblem of the soul in such a condition—the fly is entangled in the web; at this, the spider shows himself; if the fly stirs again, down comes the spider to her, and claps a foot upon her; if yet the fly makes a noise, then with a poisoned mouth the spider lays hold upon her; if the fly struggle still, then he poisons her more and more. What shall the fly do now? Why does she die if somebody does not quickly release her? This is the case of the tempted; they are entangled in the web, their feet and wings are entangled; now Satan shows himself; if the soul now struggled, Satan labored to hold it down; if it now shall make a noise, then he bites with blasphemous mouth, more poisonous than the gall of a serpent; if it struggle again, then he poisoned more and more, insomuch that it needs, at last, must die in the net, if the man, the lord Jesus, help not out.
The afflicted conscience understands my words.
Further, though the fly in the web is altogether incapable of looking for relief, this awakened, tempted Christian is not. What must he do, therefore? How should he contain hopes of life? If he looks to his heart, there is blasphemy; if he looks to his duties, there is sin; if he strives to mourn and lament, perhaps he cannot; unbelief and hardness hinder. Shall this man lie down and despair? No. Shall he trust to his duties? No. Shall he stay from Christ till his heart is better? No. What then? Let him NOW look to Jesus Christ crucified, then shall he see his sins answered for, then shall he see death a-dying, then shall he see guilt borne by another, and there shall he see the devil overcome. This sight destroys the power of the first temptation, purifies the heart, and inclines the mind to all good things.
And to encourage thee, tempted creature, to this most gospel duty, consider that when Jesus Christ read his commission upon entering into his ministry, he proclaimed, 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord' (Luke 4:18,19).
These things, therefore, should the tempted believe, but believing is now sweating work, for Satan will hold as long as possible, and only steadfast faith can make him fly. But O, the toil of a genuinely gracious heart in this combat! If faith is weak, he can scarce get higher than his knees; Lord, help! Lord, save! And then down again, till an arm from heaven takes him up, until Jesus Christ be evidently set forth crucified for him, and cursed for his sin; for then, and not till then, the temptation rightly ceased, at leastwise for a season. Now the soul can tend to look about it, and thus consider with itself: if Christ hath borne my sin and curse, then it is taken away from me; and seeing thus to take away sin was the contrivance of the God of heaven, I will bless his name, hope in his mercy, and look upon death and hell with comfort. 'Thine heart shall meditate terror,' thou shalt see the far-off land (Isa 33:16-18).
