Imatges de pàgina
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heart (for fo I may yet fuppofe thee) this hinders not bur thou fhouldft bid them welcome. It was the old law, 'love ve therefore the ftrangers, for ye were ftrangers in the land of Egypt,' Deut. x. 19. And it is the apoftle's charge, Be not forgetful to entertain ftrangers, for thereby fome have entertained angels unawares,' Heb. xiii. 2. Holy thoughts are precious things, and if not angels (strictly fo called) yet are they God's meffengers, and in that fenfe angels fent from God: They are the immediate fruits and buds of an immortal nature; they come from God, and they tend to God. They never come but for good, nor do they dwell any where, but in the issue they give exceeding great rewards. Why then cherish these motions of the Spirit, commune with them again and again; know the errand fully and throughly on which they come from heaven. Their meaning is to bring up thy foul from earth to heaven, and were it not pity to let them go before they have done the great business on which they come.

2. Complain of Satan's fhutting the doors against fuch thoughts. Tell thy God that his enemy and thine hath got the poffeffion of thy fancy and affections, and of all the outer rooms that lead into the privy chamber of thy heart, and that he hath put his bars and bolts so strongly in, that thou canst not open to those strangers. Yea, cry out a gainst Satan and thyfelf, O the tyranny of Satan! and Oh the loathness of my own heart, to entertain, those holy thoughts! and if they ftand at the door and offer their fer. vice, do not I join with Satan, and bid them begone? or if they step in before I am aware, am not I weary, and willing with Satan tò drive them out again? Why Lord, I am not fufficient of myself, to think any thing as of my felf, but my fufficiency is of thee, 2 Cor. iii. 5. If I en deavour never fo much to wind up my foul to an holy meditation, prefently I find my fancy or imagination, like the peggs of an inftrument flip between my fingers as I am winding them up, and to fall down fuddenly again. Oh, woe is me that my nature is thus vile, and that Satan is thus ftrong in me! Come, Lord, and break open these doors, that thy meffengers may come in, and find due welco.ne; all my fufficiency is of thee, and thou art God

all

all-fufficient. Why Lord if thou wilt thou canft throw out Satan, and make room for thefe harbingers and forerunners of thy majesty.

3. Stand and startle at these wicked thoughts, that come inftead of former good ones, is Satan fo bufy with thee, that now he hath filled thy heart with proud unclean or diftrustful thoughts? doth he now fuggeft, That there is no God, that the world is for ever, that riches are better than grace, that the pleasures of fin are better than the hopes of heaven: Oh, fhew thy abhorrence of them, and chide thy foul fharply for fo much as holding any conference with them. But in this repulfe begin betimes, crush them early at the very first rising, or Satan will prevail. It is not to tell what a world of mifery man brings upon himfelf, by giving way to the first wicked thoughts: In the first place therefore, remember that text, Let the wicked man forfake his way, and the ungodly man his thoughts, Ifa. 1v. 7.

SECT. IV.

Of the Duties that concern us in Respect of the Mediate Af

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faults.

O Satan's mediate affaults by the world, or flefh, make ufe of thefe repulfes. As,

1. To his affaults by the world, confider,

1. It is the Lord's command that we should have no intimate, indeared amity or correspondency with the world, ⚫ Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, if any man love the world, the love of the Father • is not in him,' 1 John ii. 15.

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2. God and the world are at fuch enmity that we can not ferve both. No man can ferve two masters (that are • oppofite) for either he fhall hate the one, and love the other, or else he shall lean to the one, and defpife the other; ye cannot ferve God and Mammon,' Mat. vi. 24. The apostle herein appeals to our confciences; Know ye not that the amity of the world is enmity with God? whofoever'therefore would be a friend of the world, ⚫ maketh himself an enemy of God,' James iv. 4. It is a rouzing question, Know ye not? wordly men do not fo much out of ignorance, as out of heedlefaefs; they do not

confider

!

confider: And what should they confider? That the amity of the world is enmity with God; and to please the world is to wage war against heaven. Oh, confider this ye that forget God!

3. In our baptifm we renounce the world, with all the vain pomps and glorious vanities thereof; then we profess, that we would couragiously fight against them under Chrift; fhall we caft afide the livery of Jefus Chrift? fhall we backflide from our religion in truth and power, and join league with the profeft enemies of God and Chrift? What is this but to be worse and more wicked in the latter end, than we were in the beginning? For if after we have escaped the pollutions of this world, thro' the knowlege of the Lord and Saviour Jefus Chrift, we are again intangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is werfe than the beginning,, 2 Pet. ii. 20,

4. What is the world but changeable, variable, deceit ful, miferable? Was there ever more experience of this truth than at this time? Oh what tumblings and toffings have been of late? How have men been deceived in their expectations and fruitions? Fair fhews have been reprefented to fome, as they were to Chrift; when the devil fbewed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, Mat. iv. 8. And how many have fallen down and worshipped? But are they not deceived? What matters the world's gorgeous fhews? it is in touch a feather, in fight a fhadow, in weight a fmoak, in truft a reed, in all deceitful. Achithophel for all his policy, Haman for all his fway, Goliah for all his ftrength, Nebuchadnezzar for all his pleafure; thefe worldlings that fuck'd in the fweets of this world, they found its deceit, and now feel its punishment. Wicked world! how dost thou undo men with a world of treacheries? It hates them that love it, deceives them that truft it, afflicts them that ferve it, reproaches them that honour it, damns them that follow it. Athanafius tells us of an hermit to whom God should reveal the state of this world, Et omnia vifcofa, omnia operta tenchris, et obfeffa laqueis, All hanged full of nets, and devils fet by to watch them. Go you over the whole world, behold countries, view provinces, look into cities,

hearken

hearken at doors, fee what is done in halls, in palaces, in private houses, are not the devil's foares in every corner? Justice is fold, fhame is loft, truth is wrefted, right des fpifed; what lying, what flandering, what deceiving is there? the innocent are condemned, the guilty delivered, the wicked advanced, the virtuous oppreff d; pride, envy, perjury, vanity, these bear fway.

Ah! poor foul, doth the world interpofe to hinder thy confideration, or thought of change? Doth it tell thee of riches, honours, pleasures? fay then with Chrift, What if a man gain the whole world, and lose his own foul? Or doth it tell thee of afflictions, perfecutions, torments? fay then with the apostle, That the afflictions of this life are not wor thy of the glory which fhall be revealed in us. Or if all this will not stop the mouth of the world, confider again, and confider of these particulars; the commands of Christ, the enmity betwixt the world and Chrift, thy promise, and vow, and first obligation to Chrift: Yea, confider of what the world is, either in itself or thyfelf, and then bid it begone; Away world, for it is written the time is short, and the fashion of this world paffeth away, 1 Cor. vii. 31.

2. To his affaults by the flesh, confider,

1. It is the Lord's command that we should depofe the Aleth. Let not fin reign in your mortal bodies, that ye bould obey it in the lufts thereof, Rom. vi. r. And put off the old man, which is corrupt, according to the deceitful lufts, Eph. iv. 22. And mortify your members which are upon earth, as fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affections, evil,concupifcence, Col. iii. 5.

2. The flesh is a worfe enemy than the devil himself. For never could the devil hurt us, if this inbred enemy did not betray us. This is the root, the fountain, the origin of all other fin, when luft hath conceived, it bringeth forth fin. Hence we fay, that fuggeftion could do nothing without luft; if there were no fire in our wood, never could devils breath kindle any flame in our fouls.

3. We are to weaken the flesh by abating the fuel of whatsoever may nourish and ftrengthen it. Make not provifion for the flefb to fulfil the lufts thereof, Rom. xiii. 1. E

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As in a fiege all means is ufed to ftop the paffages by which the enemy may be victualled, fo muft we ftop the paffages of fin by which the flesh is ftrengthned. Now as the Aeth is refident in all parts and powers of the body and foul, so must we in every respect keep back provision from every part. From the body delicacy, drunkennels, wan tonnefs; from the phantafy vain imaginations, pernicions errors; from the mind and will finful cogitations, wicked deliberations; from the memory the remembrance of fia fal pleafures, unless it be to repent of those that are past, and to flee from those that are prefent; from the heart on Jawful lufts, wicked defires, unruly paffions. I might thus inftance in every part.

4. As we must weaken, fo we must watch over the flesh; and the rather because tho' we should get the bet ter in many conflicts, yet still it is plotting and practising new and fresh treafons. But what are thofe parts of the Befh we must especially watch? I anfwer,

1. The fenfes. Thefe are the gates of our fouls, and therefore they had need to be ftrongly guarded I made a covenant with my eyes, why then should I look upon à maid, Job xxxi. 1. And turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity, and quicken thou me in thy way, Pfal. cxix. 36. And put a knife to thy mouth if thou be a man given to ap petite, Prov. xxiii. 2. And I faid, I will take heed to my ways, that I fin not with my tongue, Pfal. xxxix. 1. And let not corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, - but that which is good to the ufe of edifying, that may minifier grave unto the bearers, Eph. iv. 29.

2. The heart. This of all parts is the moft fubtil and crafty, The heart is deceitful and defperately wicked above all things, who can know it, Jer. xvii. 9. The counsel of the wife man is therefore good, Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life, Prov. iv. 23. Indeed the heart is the chief monarch in this little world of man, which rules and commands all other parts; it is the guide and captain which leads and directs them in all their courfes, it is as the primum mobile which moves all inferior pheres, or as the chief wheel in the clock which fets all the reft of the wheels a-going; it is the fpring and foun

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