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tain of all our thoughts, words and actions, which being defiled, defileth them, or being purified, communicates its purity unto them. As the heart directeth, the tongue fpeaketh, the hand worketh, the eye feeth, the foot walketh; A good man out of the good treasure of his heart, bring eth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart, bringeth forth that which is evil; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh, Lake viii. 45

1. Ah! poor foul, doth the flesh interpofe to hinder thy confideration or thoughts of change? Doth it tell thee of its nearness and dearnefs to thee, of its antient acquaint ance with thee even from the womb, of those many plea fores and incomes of delight it hath provided? Tell it again of its ill neighbourhood, of its antient feud, by fo much the worfe, becaufe more antient; and for the pleafures and delights it fpeaks of, tell it, that fuch baits have hooks under them, the harlot's lips drop honey in the greeting, and wormwood in the parting. What is the end of fuch delights but death and damnation For if ye ve after the fefb ye fhall aie, Rom. viii, 1. and therefore fay again, Oh why should I fatisfy my flefh to endanger my foul? Or if thefe reafonings would not fatisfy, confider feriously, and dwell upon thefe confiderations, that God hath commanded thee to depofe it; and that no enemy is fo bad as that in thy bofom: That either thou must weaken it, and watch over it, or it will prevail and lead thee to the chambers of death; for when luft hath conceived, it bringeth forth fin, and fin being finisked, bringeth forth death, James i. 15.

Only one objection remains. Alas! faith the foul, I am unregenerate, and tho' I hear a voice behind me faying, This is the way, walk in it, Ifa. xxx. 21. Ÿet do I want feet and ftrength to walk therein; thefe are good rules of wrestling against the devil, world and fefh, but I cannot Air, nor move, nor meditate: I am not fufficient of myfelf to think, how then should I follow thefe rules? You fing to a deaf man; you prefcribe to a man dead in fins and trefpaffes.

1 anfwer, Indeed I fuppofe no lefs; and yet if I speak

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not to a man fpiritual, I do to one rational; and as a mere rational man, thou mayft fix thy thoughts on this or that object electively, which is a pofture of foul, wherein the Lord may appear and affect thy heart. Come then, and perufe thefe directions, and reafon thus, Why should I not do thus as I am directed? Heart, what hast thou to fay, why thou shouldst not follow this counfel that is given thee? Again, it may be the Lord will come in, whilft thou art endeavouring after him. I will not fay, that God is bound ex congruo, to give grace to thy endeavours. la all the word of God we find not one promife to any mere, ly natural, or moral act of ours; yet as Mr. Ford obferves, God hath feldom been observed, if ever, to fail any in their expectations of grace from him, doing in the way of means, what they by the power of nature can, and what the Spirit of God moves them unto. Hearken then to these rules, and obey.. What if thy endeavours have no immediate influence upon grace, yet are a neceffary way that God hath commanded every one to walk in, and they are as a means wherein God will difpenfe his grace to whom he pleafeth; fo that whofoever doth wilfully ne glect the ufe of fuch means, he cannot promise to himself any converfion; yea, he may certainly conclude God will not convert him. In all the directions which may be hereafter to the unregenerate, I wish this may be fill

remembred.

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CHA P. III. SECT. I.

Of the next Alfaults that Satan makes against ys.

F in the first affiult Satan be foiled, and the foul be refolved to go on, the holy Spirit ufually comes in and works on the foul thefe feveral fteps. As, 1 A fight of fin. 2. A fenfe of mifery. 3. Sorrow for fin. 4. Seeking for comfort. 5. A fight of Chrift. 6. Defire after Chrift 7. Relying on Chrift. 8. Obedience to Chrift. And accordingly Satan counter-works, and in every one of these fteps affaults the foul either lefs or more, to keep it still in his hold. Oh he is loth to leave! and therefore at every step he meets the foul and wrestles with it. I fhall (as the Lord enables) firft obferve his affaults, and then inform the foul of its feveral duties, in repelling of Satan respectively. SECT

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SECT. II.

Of Satan's Affaults upon fight of fin.

O fooner hath the Holy Ghoft opened the eye of the

foul to fee its fin, but prefently Satan comes on with his fiery dars. Sometimes he makes fin little, Is it not a little one? And fometimes he makes fin great, Oh the greatnefs and oh the numerousness of thy fins!

1. Sometimes he makes fins little, and herein he prevails with many fouls. They are loth to hear the worst of themselves, and therefore Satan helps them with fig Jeaves to cover their nakedness. What is it not Satan's language that we hear in men? Surely our fins are not fo great, we are not fo bad, we have fome good, we have fome hopes if God be merciful, what matters it if we be finful? Thus do men flife and refift the first breathings. of the Spirit of God. I believe, faith Shepherd, that all. the powers of hell confpire together to blind men's eyes, and darken men's minds in the firft work of Chrift; principiis obfta: It is the policy of Satan to ftop Chrift in his entrance, in his firft ftroke upon the foul. No wonder then if he put the wrong end of the prospective glass to the eye, that fin appear's very little, if any thing at all.

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2. Sometimes he makes fin great; he draws a charge at length, he takes up all the bloody aggravations he can think of; as partly in refpect of the nature and quality of the fins themselves; and partly in refpect of the circumftances: As being committed against knowlege at such a time, in fuch a place, and by fuch a perfon, as that God is thereby moft difhonoured, his brethren moft offended, &c. It is not to tell how the devil can stretch out fin upon the tenters of his temptations: Yea, of a fmall drop with the blaft of his fuggeftions, he can make a great bub, ble; and which is moft to be admired, he can in this charge present himself as an angel of light; he knows how to imitate thofe convictions of the holy Spirit, whose of fice it is to convince of fin, and therefore many a time in his aggravations of fin, he comes in God's name. He ob ferves well enough how the fquares go between God and the foul, and that the Spirit of God lays fin home, and clofe, g. d. Oh thon wretch, what haft thou done? What

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fins.

fins are thefe that cry up to heaven against thee? So faith Satan, Oh thou damned wretch, what a life haft thou liv. ed upan the earth? What grofs, and grievous, and bloody, and crying fins ftandeft thou guilty of?

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SECT. III.

Of the Duties that concern us in this refpect.

HE duties in wrestling with Satan must be fuitable to his temptations; and therefore,

1. To that temptation, that fin is but little, confi der,

1. That no fin is fo little but it is against a great God. Against thee, thee only have I finned, and have done this evil in thy fight, Pfal. li. 4. As all inditements in criminal pleas are ftiled against the king, his own crown and dignity; fo are fins against God, a great God, be they in our esteem never fo little.

2. No fin is fo little but it deferves death and damnation. The wages of fun is death, Rom. vi. 13. the wages of every fin, whether little or great fin. Indeed great fins may have great punishments, but the ftipend or defert of every fin is formally death, be it never fo little.

3. Every fin, whether little or great, is a ftrong and foul-killing poifon. We may know this by that firft fin that ever the fun faw: No fooner was it committed, but prefently it polluted mankind. All the fons and daughters of Adam that were ever fince, or ever shall be to the world's end, have been, and will be infected by that very fin. And we find to this very day, that any little fa doated on impenitently, like a lump of leaven it fours all the foul, defiles the whole man, and every thing that proceeds from him. It doth not only unhallow his meat, drink, buying, felling, giving, lending, and other dealings in the world, but allo turns all his fpiritual fervices and duties, his praying, hearing, reading, meditating, &c. into abomination.

4. The lefs the fan, the greater folly to commit it. For what is it to fin, but to lay, as it were, in one scale of the balance, the glory of God, the blood of Chrift, the joys of heaven, the lofs of an immortal foul; and in the other, fome rotten pleasure, earthly pelf, worldly prefer

ment,

meat, fleshly luft, fenfual vanity, and to fuffer this to outweigh all those. If Christ could fay, What is a man profited if he gains the whole world and lofe his foul? How much more may I fay, What profit is in this exchange, to lose a foul for a pin, a point, a trifle, a vanity; or confeffedly for a small punctilio peccadillo, a very little fin? Speak no more of fin as little, if we prefer it before the great things of God, and Chrift, and heaven, and fouls of men. O prodigious madness !

2. To that temptation that fin is great, or as Cain cried, My iniquity is greater than can be forgiven, Gen. iv. 13. Confider,

1. The dew of grace hath ordinarily fallen upon moft graceless foule. What if thy fins be great? Was it not the cafe of many a faint whofe fins were forgiven? Haft thou been an idolater? so was Abraham: Haft thou been an adulterer? fo was David: Haft thou been a blafphemer? fo was Paul. What needs more inftances? Poor foul, if thou couldst but peep into heaven, thou fhouldft find there is Rahab the harlot, there is Manaffeh the murderer, that made the ftreets of Jerufalem fwim with blood; there is Mary Magdalene that had feven devils in her. A man or woman that hath many devils may come where there is not one; the devilish, hellish creature may thro' the mercy of God be partaker of heaven; lama and halt, and blind may come in there, and yet still there is room,

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1. It is as easy with God to forgive the greatest fin ups This is a faithful fayon repentance, as the leaft fin. ing, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jefus Chrift came into the world to fave finners, of whom I am the ' chief,' 1 Tim. i. 5. Tho' Paul was the greateft finner. in the world, yet God could, and did forgive him. What! do thy fins cry up to heaven? yet is God's mercy above the heavens. Indeed God's mercy is infinite, for as God is an infinite God, fo every mercy of God is as infinite as himfelf. His attributes and his effençe are but one and the fame; and therefore no wonder if it be all one with infi nite mercy to forgive fins of the greatest fize, as well as the leaft; thy fin is but the fin of a finite creature, but God's mercy is the mercy of an infinite Creator; thy greateft fins

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