their faares for birds in the winter time, when there is want of food; and therefore prayed Agur, Give me neither poverty nor riches; and why not poverty? Left I be poor and steal, and take the name of God in vain Prov. xxx. 8, 9. In poverty, temptations are strong to diftrust, to fteal, lye, fwear, or to ufe ill fhifts, and unlawful means, Many a time have I feen a poor profeffor put to shift, and whilft others cenfured, I have thought with myfelf, Ahl poor foul, why should I or any other cenfure this poor man? little know we the temptations to which he is subjet. But to fuch let me give fome counsel.

SECT. XIX.

Of Wrestling with Satan in this respect. CONSIDER, that all good things are then beautiful,

when they are compaffed by good means. Hence the godly man confults ever what is juft, not what is gainful; or what may be compaffed by honeft courfes, not what may be gained by fraud, deceit, cozenage, or the like carnal dealings. Better is a little with righteoufnefs, * than great revenues without right,' Prov. xvi. 8.

2. Confider, that there is no neceffity, if ordinary and lawful means fail, to ufe unlawful; when mea fay, I muft live and maintain my family. Know, it is not abfolutely neceffary thou shouldft live, but fo long as God pleafeth; nay, it is abfolutely neceffary that thou should rather perith, and not live, than break God's commandments: if thou diet for want of means, thou mayft go to heaven as Lazarus, and exchange a miferable life with an happy but if to keep thee from dying, thou losest thy foul, this is to leap out of the frying pan into the fire. Thou had better farve, than thro' diftrefs to use unlawful means, and fo offend God. Who would wilfully, upon any pretence, run himself into an hot burning oven? O take heed! O for fhame, never plead a need or acceffity for

hell!

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3. Confider, that whatsoever is got with ill means, is got with God's anger; and the splitting (hipwreck of a good confcience; an hard bargain! This made Solomon fay, There is gold, and a multitude of rubies, Prov. xx. 15. which happily may be got in felling or buying by a L 4 falle

falfe oath or lye; but the lips of truth are a precious jew. el. The meaning is, that truth and a good conscience are far more precious than gold or rubies. Oh it is a pitiful exchange, when with the lofs of our beft jewels, we gain nothing but dung and drofs: What is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, and lofe his own foul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his foul?' Mat. xvi. 26. O the folly to fave the nail of thy finger, with the lofs of thine eyes! to get a little wealth, and to lofe thy God, thy foul, and a good confcience, more worth than worlds. Mr. Perkins relates a story of a good man, who being ready to ftarve, ftole a lamb, and being about to eat of it with his poor children, and as his manner was to crave a bleffing, he durft not do it, but fell into a great perplexity of confcience, acknowleged his fault to the owner, and promised restitution if ever God enabled him. In this cafe, if ever thou repenteft, thus will thy conscience faite thee, and if thou never repenteft, thy confcience will be as a worm gnawing on thee in hell.

4. Labour to live the life of faith. If lawful means fail, as bread in famine, yet mayft thou feed thyself with faith. Is not this the Pfalmift's cure?" Truft in the 'Lord, and do good, fo fhalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed,' Pfal. xxxvii. 3. Mark that verily, it is all one with in truth and stableness thou shalt be fed. A promife well improved, is inftead of meat and drink to a hungry foul; the juft, in troublesome times, fhall live by faith, Heb. x. 38. Did not Abraham thus, when he told his fon Ifaac, as they were going up to the mount, My fon, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering, Gen. xxii. 8. Come, it may be thou art low, and haft fcarce bread enough to put into thy mouth, remember that if God fpeak the word to weak means, they fhall work as well as the ftrong; an hard and dry cruft of bread, and a very little, fhall be nourishment, both competent and comfortable, never ufe fhifts, if in any of thy wants thou haft not lawful means at hand; He that believeth will not make hafte, faith the prophet, Ifa. xxviii: $6. Chrift in his great neceffity would not turn ftones into bread to fave his life, and wilt thou in far lefs neceffity.

not to fave thy life, but to increase thy wealth, turn ftones into bread, yea, into blood, the blood of poor faints, as poor as thyfelf, by thy oppreffion and extortion? Rather call to mind God's promife, Man fhall not live by bread 'alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the 'mouth of God.' By every word, that is, by every thing which God appoints, and gives power unto to be our nourishment; the Lord would have us live by faith, and to depend on him in the greatest straits, for God is all fufficient.

TH

SECT. XX.

Of Temptations in refpect of our fpiritual Eftates. HE next kind of temptation is in reference to our fpiritual eftates. And herein Satan confiders men either as weak Chriftians or as ftrong; for the former, he tempts them to errors, defpairs, diffidence, blind zeal, c. for the latter, he tempts them to privy pride, fecret hypocrify, folitary mufings on the temptations of Satan, mifreprefenting of the Lord's doings, turning the grace of God into wantonnefs, diftractions and wandrings of heart in holy things, to boafting, and exalting their ftrength of grace, already received, &c. I cannot enumerate all, much Jefs can I enlarge upon all, only I fhall fpeak to one affault of a weak Chriftian, and another of a strong Chriftian, and pafs all the reft.

SECT. XXI.

Of Satan's Affaults to bring weak Chriftians to Errors.
F Chriftians are but weak in knowlege, then Satan pre-

fome precious, glorious truth of God. This Satan doth

for thefe ends: As,

1. To feduce the godly, and to draw them into error. Indeed he cannot feduce them to damnable, yet he may feduce them to dangerous errors, and if he can but prevail in that, he counts it worth the while. Or,

2. If he cannot feduce, yet he will endeavour to unfetthe weak Chriftians in the truth already received. q. d. If this be not truth, then mayft thou queftion every thing for truth, which already thou believeft, and where art thou then? Or,

3. Or if he cannot unfettle, yet will he labour to shake them in the truth received; all have not attained to the fame measure of ftedfafnefs, fome are but weak, and babes in knowlege, tho' others are as grown men. Now variety of errors, opinions, and difputes, are a fhaking of weak minds, which made the apoftle to fay, Him that is weak in faith receive ye, but not unto doubtful difputation,' Rom. xiv. 1. Or,

4. If he cannot fhake them, yet if he can but perplex and trouble them, he hath his end. This hath been Satan's great defign in all ages of the church of God, to raife up fome impoftors, or notable feducers to perplex and trou ble the church of God; he hath no comfort himself, and he cavies comfort wherever he fees it. Hence he labours, if he cannot feduce us out of the way, yet to hedge up our way with thorps, to cast blocks in our way, to disturb us in our course towards heaven. Or,

5. He may yet have a further cnd, he prefents error, that if he can do no more, yet he may prejudice the enter tainment of further truth. Satan knows full well, that towards the end of the world there will be abundance of the truth revealed and made known. The knowlege of ⚫ the Lord fhall be as the waters that cover the fea,' Ifa, xv. 9. God hath spoken glorious things in the latter days.

Every child fhall be as David, and the knowlege of the 'Lord fhall be increased,' Zech. xii. 9. Dan. xii. 4 Now at this time Satan will vent his errors, he will fet on foot many dangerous errors, to prejudice the hearts of the peo ple of God in the receiving and entertaining of truths to be revealed. When God is fowing wheat, then is Satan byfy to fow his tares; when God is discovering truths, then he is bnly to communicate his errors: The devil is never more bufy, than when God's work goes beft on; He hopes in the heat of the market to vend his own wares, he hopes in the throng to put off one with another, and that mea will not fo carefully obferve it; at leaft if men be shy to entertain the one, he hopes by this to leffen the authority and to prejudice the entertaining of the other. These are Satan's ends, and no wonder if he prevail with weak Chrif tians, that are yet as babes in knowlege, and know not how to relift.

SECT.

B

SECT. XXII.

Of wrofiling with Satan as to this Affault..

UT that you may be armed and able to overcome Sa. tan in this refpect, obferve these particulars.

1. Be fare of a right knowlege of the principles and fundamental truths. Thefe are the effentials of Chriftianity, without which no heaven, no falvation: Nor need the ripeft Chriftians contemn this leffon; for principles are of daily ufe for them, yea they muft continually live upon them, as on their bread and drink. The want of this knowlege is the cause of much herefie and apoftafy in these difinal times; and the not digefting and improving of this Knowlege is the caufe of much of the hypocrify, and selfdeceiving kind of religioufnefs that in thefe times have fo prevail'd. Come then, and be well grounded in these fuadamentals: You have them in every catechifm opened to you, and laid before you; and thus you are likeft to fland in a time of trial, and to refift Satan in his fiery darts, and to hold fast, and to grow up in the knowkge of the fuperftructure. It is our mifery, and Satan's advantage, that Chriftians are fo earnest about circumftantials, and neglect the great fundamentals, upon which the eternal being of their precious fouls depends.

2. Take heed of spending, or rather mis-spending pre. cious time and thoughts in needless controversies, in doubtfal difputations. Satan hath not prevailed in any thing like to this. This caufeth fiding, and vain names; which administers much fuel to the fire of contention, so much blown up by evil spirits. Oh what strange and strong contests have you ufually met with, about church governments? What breaches have been among brethren about matters of difcipline? Have they not (like foolish children). thrown dirt in one anothers faces, while the common enemy hath weakned and infulted over them all? I am exceedingly taken with those divines, who decline (as much as they may) thefe needlefs controverfies. It is laid of Zachary Urfine, that his enemies troubling him, and crying out against him that he was a Sacramentarian, he fo naturally abhorred brawls, and in his judgment fo difliked ecclefiaftical contentions, that he chofe rather to leave Vrati