A Christian Directory Volume I Part 29

_Direct._ XLV. Take heed of security, and Satan's ambushments.

Distinguish between cessation and conquest. You conquer not every time that you have rest and quietness from temptation. Till the sin be hated, and the contrary grace or duty in practice, you have not at all overcome: and when that is done, yet trust not the devil or the flesh; nor think the war will be shorter than your lives, for one a.s.sault will begin where the former ended. Make use of every cessation but to prepare for the next encounter.

_Tempt._ XLVI. He will tempt you to take striving for overcoming; and to think, because you pray and make some resistance, that sin is conquered; and because your desires are good, all is well.

_Direct._ XLVI. But all that fight do not overcome. "If a man strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully," 1 Tim. ii.

5. "Many will seek to enter and shall not be able," Luke xiii. 24.

_Tempt._ XLVII. He followeth the sinner with frequency and importunity, till he weary him, and make him yield.

_Direct._ XLVII. 1. Remember that Christ is as importunate with thee to save thee, as the devil can be to d.a.m.n thee; and which then should prevail? 2. Be you as constant in resistance; be as oft in prayer and other confirming means. Do as Paul, 2 Cor. xii. 7, 8, who prayed thrice, (as Christ did in his agony,) when the p.r.i.c.k in the flesh was not removed. 3. Tempt not the tempter, by giving him encouragement. A faint denial is an invitation to ask again. Give him quickly a flat denial, and put him out of hope, if you would shorten the temptation.

_Tempt._ XLVIII. Lastly, the devil would sink the sinner in despair, and persuade him now it is too late.

_Direct._ XLVIII. Observe his design, that it is but to take off that hope which is the weight to set the wheels of the soul a going. In all he is against G.o.d and you. In other sins he is against G.o.d's authority: in this he is against his love and mercy. Read the gospel, and you will find that Christ's death is sufficient; the promise is universal, full, and free; and that the day of grace is so far continued till the day of death, and no man shall be denied it that truly desireth it. And that the same G.o.d that forbiddeth thy presumption, forbiddeth also thy despair.

_Temptations to draw us off from Duty._

_Tempt._ I. The greatest temptation against duty is, by persuading men that it is no duty. Thus in our days we have seen almost all duty cast off by this erroneous fancy. One saith, That the holy observation of the Lord's day is not commanded of G.o.d in Scripture. Another saith, What Scripture have you for family prayer, or singing psalms, or baptizing infants, or praying before and after sermon, or for your office, ordination, t.i.thes, churches, &c. Another saith, That church government and discipline are not of divine inst.i.tution. Another saith, That baptism and the Lord's supper were but for that age. And thus all duty is taken down, instead of doing it.

_Direct._ I. Read and fear, Matt. v. 19, "Whosoever shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."

Denying duty is too easy a way of evading obedience to serve turn.

Denying the laws that bind you to public payments will not save you from them; but for all that, if you deny, you must be distrained on.

And G.o.d will make it dearer to you, if you put him to distrain on you for duty. Must he go to law with you for it? He will quickly show you law for it, and prove that it was your duty. Open your doubts to able men, and you will hear more evidence than you know; but if pride and false-heartedness blind you, you must bear your punishment.

_Tempt._ II. Saith the tempter, It is a duty to weak ones, but not for you: you must not be still under ordinances, in the lower form: every day must be a sabbath to you, and every bit a sacrament, and every place as a church: you must live above ordinances in Christ.

_Direct._ II. We must live above Mosaical ordinances, Col. ii. 18, 21; but not above Christ's ordinances: unless you will live above obedience and above the government of Christ.[109] Hath not Christ appointed the ministry, and church helps, "till we all come to a perfect man?" Eph. iv. 13; and promised to "be with them to the end of the world?" Matt. xxviii. 20. It is befooling pride that can make you think you have no need of Christ's inst.i.tuted means.

_Tempt._ III. But thou art unworthy to pray or receive the sacrament: it is not for dogs.

_Direct._ III. The wilful, impenitent refusers of grace, are unworthy.

The willing soul, that fain would be what G.o.d would have him, hath an accepted worthiness in Christ.

_Tempt._ IV. But while you doubt, you do it not in faith; and therefore to you it is sin.

_Direct._ IV. But is it not a greater sin to leave it undone? Will doubting of all duty excuse you from it? Then you have an easy way to be free from all! Do but doubt whether you should believe in G.o.d, or Christ, or love him, or live a G.o.dly life, and it seems you think it will excuse you. But if you doubt whether you should feed your child, you deserve to be hanged for murdering it, if you famish it. If you doubt of duty, it is duty still, and you are first bound to lay by your doubts. But things indifferent, left to your choice, must not be done with a doubting conscience: it was of such things that Paul spake.

_Tempt._ V. The devil puts somewhat still in the way, that seemeth necessary, to thrust out duty.

_Direct._ V. G.o.d hath not set you work which he alloweth you no time for. Is all your time spent in better things? Is it not your carnal mind that makes you think carnal things most needful? Christ saith, "One thing is needful," Luke x. 42. "Seek first the kingdom of G.o.d and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you," Matt.

vi. 33. Had you that love and delight in holiness as you should, you would find time for it. An unwelcome guest is put off with any excuse.

Others, as poor as you, can find time for duty, because they are willing. Set your business in order, and let every thing keep its proper place, and you may have time for every duty.

_Tempt._ VI. But you are so unable and unskilful to pray, to learn, that it is as good never meddle with it.

_Direct._ VI. Set yourselves to learn, and mark those that have skill; and do what you can. You must learn by practice. The unskilfullest duty is better than none. Unworded groans come oft from the Spirit of G.o.d, and G.o.d understandeth and accepteth them, Rom. viii. 26, 27.

_Tempt._ VII. It will be so hard and long to learn, that you will never overcome it.

_Direct._ VII. Willingness and diligence have the promise of G.o.d's help.

Remember, it is a thing that must be done. When your own disuse and sin hath made it hard, will you put G.o.d and your souls off with that as an excuse? If you had neglected to teach your child to speak or go when it is young, should he therefore never learn? Will you despair, and let go all your hope on this pretence? or will you hope to be saved without prayer and other holy duty? How foolish are both these! Sick men must eat, though their stomachs be against it; they cannot live else.

_Tempt._ VIII. But thou findest thou art but the worse for duty, and never the better for it.

_Direct._ VIII. Satan will do what he can to make it go worse with you after than before. He will discourage you if he can, by hindering your success, that he may make you think it is to no purpose: so, many preachers, because they have fished long and catched nothing, grow cold and heartless, and ready to sit down and say, as Jer. xx. 9, "I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name." So in prayer, sacrament, reproof, &c. the devil makes great use of this, What good hath it done thee? But patience and perseverance win the crown. The beginning is seldom a time to perceive success: the carpenter is long at work before he rear a house; nature brings not forth the plant or birth the first day. Your life-time is your working time. Do your part, and G.o.d will not fail on his part. It is his part to give success; and dare you accuse him, or suspect him? There is more of the success of prayer to be believed than to be felt. If G.o.d have promised to hear he doth hear, and we must believe it whether we feel it or not. Prayers are often heard long before the thing is sent us that we prayed for: we pray for heaven, but shall not be there till death. If Moses's message to Pharaoh ten times seem lost, it is not lost for all that. What work would ever have been done, if on the first conceit of unsuccessfulness it had been given off? Be glad that thou hast time to plough and sow, to do thy part, and if G.o.d will give thee fruit at last.

_Tempt._ IX. But, saith the tempter, it goeth worse with thee in the world, since thou settest thyself to read, and pray, and live obediently; thou hast been poorer, and sicker, and more despised since, than ever before: Jer. xx. 8, Thou art "a derision daily, every one mocketh thee." This thou gettest by it.

_Direct._ IX. He began not well, that counted not that it might cost him more than this to be a holy christian. If G.o.d in heaven be not enough to be thy portion, never serve him, but find something better if thou canst. He that cannot lose the world cannot use it as he ought. If thou hadst rather be at the devil's finding and usage than at G.o.d's, thou art worthy to speed accordingly. Nay, if thou think thy soul itself worse, remember that we are not worst when we are troubled most: physic makes sick, when it works aright.

_Tempt._ X. Satan filleth many with abundance of scruples about every duty, that they come to it as sick persons to their meat, with a peevish, quarrelling disposition. This aileth, and that aileth it; something is still amiss, that they cannot get it down; this fault the minister hath in praying or preaching; or the other circ.u.mstance is amiss, or the other fault is in the company that join with them: and all is to turn them off from all.

_Direct._ X. But do you mend the matter by casting off all, or by running into greater inconveniences? Is not their imperfect prayer and communion better than your idle neglect of all, or unwarrantable division? It is a sign of an upright heart to be most about heart-observation, and quarrelsome with themselves; and the mark of hypocrites to be most quarrelsome against the manner of other men's performances, and to be easily driven by any pretences from the worship of G.o.d and communion of saints.

_Tempt._ XI. The devil will set one duty against another: reading against hearing; praying against preaching; private against public; outward and inward worship against each other; mercy and justice, piety and charity, against each other; and still labour to eject the greater.

_Direct._ XI. The work of G.o.d is an harmonious and well-composed frame: if you leave out a part you spoil the whole, and disadvantage yourselves in all the rest; place them aright, and each part helpeth and not hindereth another; plead one for another, but cast by none.

_Tempt._ XII. The commonest and sorest temptation is by taking away our appet.i.te to holy duties, by abating our feeling of our own necessity: when the soul is sleepy and feeleth no need of prayer, or reading, or hearing, or meditating, but thinks itself tolerably well without it; or else grows sick and is against it, and troubled to use it; so that every duty is like eating to a sick stomach, then it is easy to tempt it to neglect or omit many a duty: a little thing will serve to put it by, when men feel no need of it.

_Direct._ XII. O keep up a lively sense of your necessities: remember still that time is short, and death is near, and you are too unready.

Keep acquaintance with your hearts and lives, and every day will tell you of your necessities, which are greatest when they are least perceived.

_Tempt._ XIII. The tempter gets much by ascribing the success of holy means to our own endeavour, or to chance, or something else, and making us overlook that present benefit, which would greatly encourage us: as when we are delivered from sickness or danger upon prayer, he tells you so you might have been delivered if you had never prayed.

Was it not by the physician's care and skill, and by such an excellent medicine? If you prosper in any business, Was it not by your own contrivance and diligence?

_Direct._ XIII. This separating G.o.d and means, when G.o.d worketh by means, is the folly of atheists. When G.o.d heareth thy prayer in sickness or other danger, he showeth it by directing the physician or thyself to the fittest means, and blessing that means; and he is as really the cause, and prayer the first means, as if he wrought thy deliverance by a miracle. Do not many use the same physician, and medicine, and labour, and diligence, who yet miscarry? Just observation of the answers of prayer might do much to cure this. All our industry may say as Peter and John, Acts iii. 12, "Why look ye so earnestly on us, as if by our own power or holiness we had done this?"

when G.o.d is glorifying his grace, and owning his appointed means.

_Tempt._ XIV. Lastly, the devil setteth up something else in opposition to holy duty, to make it seem unnecessary. In some he sets up their good desires, and saith, G.o.d knoweth thy heart without expressing it; and thou mayst have as good a heart at home as at church. In some he sets up superst.i.tious fopperies of man's devising, instead of G.o.d's inst.i.tution. In some he pretendeth the Spirit against external duty, and saith, The Spirit is all; the flesh profiteth nothing. Yea, in some he sets up Christ himself against Christ's ordinances, and saith, It is not these, but Christ, that profits you.

_Direct._ XIV. This is distracted contradiction: to set Christ against Christ, and the Spirit against the ordinances of the Spirit. Is it not Christ and the Spirit that appointed them? Doth he not best know in what way he will give his grace? Can you not preserve the soul and life, without killing the body? Cannot you have the water, and value the cistern or spring, without cutting off the pipes that must convey it? O wonderful! that Satan could make men so mad, as this reasoning hath showed us that many are in our days. And to set up superst.i.tion or pretend a good heart against G.o.d's worship, is to accuse him that appointed it of doing he knew not what, and to think that we are wiser than he! and to show a good heart by disobedience, pride, contempt of G.o.d and of his mercies!

_Temptations to frustrate holy Duties, and make them ineffectual._

The devil is exceeding diligent in this: 1. That he may make the soul despair, and say, Now I have used all means in vain, there is no hope.

2. To double the sinner's misery by turning the very remedy into a disease. 3. To show his malice against Christ, and say, I have turned thy own means to thy dishonour.

Consider, therefore, how greatly we are concerned to do the work of G.o.d effectually. Means well used are the way to more grace, to communion with G.o.d, and to salvation; but ill used, they dishonour and provoke him, and destroy ourselves, like children that cut their fingers with the knife, when they should cut their meat with it.

_Tempt._ I. Duty is frustrated by false ends: as, 1. To procure G.o.d to bear with them in their sin (whereas it is the use of duty to destroy sin). 2. To make G.o.d satisfaction for sin (which is the work of Christ). 3. To merit grace (when the imperfection merits wrath). 4. To prosper in the world and escape affliction, Jam. iv. 3 (and so they are but serving their flesh, and desiring G.o.d to serve it). 5. To quiet conscience in a course of sin (by sinning more in offering the sacrifice of fools, Eccles. v. 1, 2). 6. To be approved of men (and verily they have their reward, Matt. vi. 5). 7. To be saved when they can keep the world and sin no longer (that is, to obtain that the gospel may all be false and G.o.d unjust).

_Direct._ I. First see that the heart be honest, and G.o.d, and heaven, and holiness most desired, else all that you do will want right ends.

_Tempt._ II. When ignorance or error make men take G.o.d for what he is not, thinking blasphemously of him, as if he were like them, and liked their sins, or were no lover of holiness, they frustrate all their worship of him.