A Christian Directory Volume I Part 24

_Direct._ IX. Bestow your first and chiefest labour to kill sin at the root; to cleanse the heart, which is the fountain; for out of the heart cometh the evils of the life.--Know which are the master-roots; and bend your greatest care and industry to mortify those: and they are especially these that follow; 1. Ignorance. 2. Unbelief. 3.

Inconsiderateness. 4. Selfishness and pride. 5. Fleshliness, in pleasing a brutish appet.i.te, l.u.s.t, or fantasy. 6. Senseless hardheartedness and sleepiness in sin.

_Direct._ X. Account the world and all its pleasures, wealth, and honours, no better than indeed they are, and then Satan will find no bait to catch you.--Esteem all as dung with Paul, Phil. iii. 8; and no man will sin, and sell his soul, for that which he accounteth but as dung.

_Direct._ XI. Keep up above in a heavenly conversation, and then your souls will be always in the light, and as in the sight of G.o.d, and taken up with those businesses and delights which put them out of relish with the baits of sin.

_Direct._ XII. Let christian watchfulness be your daily work; and cherish a preserving, though not a distracting and discouraging fear.

_Direct._ XIII. Take heed of the first approaches and beginnings of sin. Oh how great a matter doth a little of this fire kindle! And if you fall, rise quickly by sound repentance, whatever it may cost you.

_Direct._ XIV. Make G.o.d's word your only rule; and labour diligently to understand it.

_Direct._ XV. And in doubtful cases, do not easily depart from the unanimous judgment of the generality of the most wise and G.o.dly of all ages.

_Direct._ XVI. In doubtful cases be not pa.s.sionate or rash, but proceed deliberately, and prove things well, before you fasten on them.

_Direct._ XVII. Be acquainted with your bodily temperature, and what sin it most inclineth you to, and what sin also your calling or converse doth lay you most open to, that there your watch may be the stricter.

(Of all which I shall speak more fully under the next Grand Direction.)

_Direct._ XVIII. Keep in a life of holy order, such as G.o.d hath appointed you to walk in. For there is no preservation for stragglers that keep not rank and file, but forsake the order which G.o.d commandeth them.--And this order lieth princ.i.p.ally in these points: 1.

That you keep in union with the universal church. Separate not from Christ's body upon any pretence whatever. With the church as regenerate, hold spiritual communion, in faith, love, and holiness: with the church as congregate and visible, hold outward communion, in profession and wors.h.i.+p. 2. If you are not teachers, live under your particular, faithful pastors, as obedient disciples of Christ. 3. Let the most G.o.dly, if possible, be your familiars. 4. Be laborious in an outward calling.

_Direct._ XIX. Turn all G.o.d's providences, whether of prosperity or adversity, against your sins.--If he give you health and wealth, remember he thereby obligeth you to obedience, and calls for special service from you. If he afflict you, remember that it is sin that he is offended at, and searcheth after; and therefore take it as his physic, and see that you hinder not, but help on its work, that it may purge away your sin.

_Direct._ XX. Wait patiently on Christ till he have finished the cure, which will not be till this trying life be finished.--Persevere in attendance on his Spirit and means; for he will come in season, and will not tarry. "Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning, and he shall come unto us as the rain: as the latter and former rain upon the earth," Hos. vi.

3. Though you have oft said, "There is no healing," Jer. xiv. 19; "he will heal your backslidings, and love you freely," Hos. xiv. 4. "Unto you that fear his name, shall the Sun of righteousness arise, with healing in his wings," Mal. iv. 2: "and blessed are all they that wait for him," Isa. x.x.x. 18.

Thus I have given such directions as may help for humiliation under sin, or hatred of it, and deliverance from it.

[Sidenote: Our warfare under Christ against the tempter.]

_Grand Direct._ IX. Spend all your days in a skilful, vigilant, resolute, and valiant war against the flesh, the world, and the devil, as those that have covenanted to follow Christ the Captain of your salvation.

The flesh is the end of temptation,[104] for all is to please it, Rom.

xiii. 14, and therefore is the greatest enemy; the world is the matter of temptation; and the devil is the first mover, or efficient of it: and this is the trinity of enemies to Christ and us, which we renounce in baptism, and must constantly resist. Of the world and flesh I shall speak chap. 4. Here I shall open the methods of the devil. And first I shall prepare your understanding, by opening some presupposed truths.

1. It is presupposed, that there is a devil. He that believeth not this, doth prove it to others, by showing how grossly the devil can befool him. Apparitions, witchcrafts, and temptations are full proofs of it to sense; besides what Scripture saith.

2. It is supposed that he is the deadly enemy of Christ and us.[105]

He was once an angel, and fell from his first estate by sin, and a world of evil spirits with him; and it is probable his envy against mankind might be the greater, as knowing that we were made to succeed him and his followers, in their state of glory: for Christ saith, that we shall "be equal with the angels," Luke xx. 36. He showed his enmity to man in our innocency, and by his temptation caused our fall and misery. But after the fall, G.o.d put an enmity into the nature of man against devils, as a merciful preservative against temptation: so that as the whole nature of man abhorreth the nature of serpents, so doth the soul abhor and dread the diabolical nature. And, therefore, so far as the devil is seen in a temptation now, so far it is frustrated; till the enmity in nature be overcome by his deceits: and this help nature hath against temptation, which it seems our nature had not before the fall, as not knowing the malice of the devil against us.

There is a natural enmity to the devil himself put into all the woman's natural seed: but the moral enmity against his sinful temptations and works, is put only into the spiritual seed by the Holy Ghost (except what remnants are in the light of nature). I will be brief of all this and the next, having spoken of them more largely in my "Treatise against Infidelity," Part iii.

The devil's names do tell us what he is.[106] In the Old Testament he is called, 1. The "serpent," Gen. iii. 2. The Hebrew word, translated "devils," in Lev. xvii. 7, and Isa. xiii. 21, signifieth hairy, as satyrs are described; and sometimes he-goats; because in such shapes he oft appeareth. 3. He is called "Satan," Zech. iii. 1. 4. "An evil spirit," 1 Sam. xviii. 10. 5. "A lying spirit," 1 Kings xxii. 22; for he "is a liar, and the father of it," John viii. 44. 6. His offspring is called "a spirit of uncleanness," Zech. xiii. 2. 7. And he (or his sp.a.w.n) is called "a spirit of fornication," Hos. iv. 12; that is, idolatry. 8. "A perverse spirit, causing staggering and giddiness as a drunken man," Isa. xix. 14.

In the New Testament, 1. He is sometimes called simply "a spirit,"

Mark ix. 20, 26; Luke ix. 39; x. 20. 2. Sometimes, p?e?ata a?a?a?ta, "unclean spirits," Luke vi. 18; as contrary to the Holy Spirit; and that from their nature and effects. 3. And after, da?????, "demons,"

a word taken in a good sense in heathen writers, but not in Scripture; because they wors.h.i.+pped devils under that name, (unless perhaps Acts xvii. 18; 1 Tim. iv. 1.) And, da??? with respect to their knowledge, and, as some think, to the knowledge promised to Adam, in the temptation. 4. ?e??a???, "the tempter," Matt. iv. 5. "Satan," Matt.

iv.; 1 Pet. v. 8. 6. ??????, "an enemy," Matt. xiii. 28, 39. 7. "The strong man armed," Matt. xii. 8. "Angels," 1 Cor. vi. 3; 2 Pet. ii. 4.

"Angels which kept not their first state," Jude 6. 9. "A spirit of divination," Acts xvi. 16. 10. "A roaring lion," 1 Pet. v. 8. 11. "A murderer," John viii. 44. 12. "Belial," 2 Cor. vi. 15. 13.

"Beelzebub," Matt. xii. the "G.o.d of flies." 14. "The prince of this world," John xii. 21, from his power over wicked men. 15. "The G.o.d of this world," 2 Cor. iv. 5, because the world obey him. 16. "The prince of the power of the air," Eph. ii. 2. 17. "The ruler of the darkness of this world," Eph. vi. 12. "Princ.i.p.alities and powers." 18. "The father of the wicked," John viii. 44. 19. "The dragon, and the old serpent," Rev. xii. 20. ??a????, "the calumniator," or "false accuser," often. 21. ? p?????? "the evil one," Matt. xxiii. 19. 22.

"An evil spirit," Acts xix. 15. 23. ?p??????, "the destroyer," and "Abaddon," the "king of the locusts," and "angel of the bottomless pit," Rev. ix. 11, (unless that speak of antichrist).

3. He is too strong an enemy for lapsed sinful man to deal with of himself. If he conquered us in innocency, what may he do now? He is dangerous, (1.) By the greatness of his subtlety. (2.) By the greatness of his power. (3.) By the greatness of his malice. And hence, (4.) By his constant diligence, watching when we sleep, Matt. xiii. 25; and "seeking night and day to devour," 1 Pet. v. 8; Rev. xii. 4.

4. Therefore Christ hath engaged himself in our cause, and is become the "Captain of our salvation," Heb. ii. 10.[107] And the world is formed into two armies, that live in continual war: the devil is the prince and general of one, and his angels and wicked men are his armies: Christ is the King and General of the other, and his angels (Heb. ii. 14) and saints are his army. Between these two armies are the greatest conflict in the world.

5. It is supposed also, that this war is carried on, on both sides, within us, and without us; by inward solicitations, and outward means, which are fitted thereunto.

6. Both Christ and Satan work by officers, instruments, and means.

Christ hath his ministers to preach his gospel, and pull down the kingdom of Satan. And Satan hath his ministers to preach licentiousness and lies, and to resist the gospel and kingdom of Christ, 1 Cor. iii. 5; iv. 1; 2 Cor. xi. 15; Acts xiii. 8-10. Christ hath his church, and the devil hath his synagogue. Christ's soldiers do every one, in their places, fight for him against the devil. And the devil's soldiers do every one, in their places, fight against Christ. The generals are both unseen to mortals; and the unseen power is theirs; but their agents are visible. The soldiers fight not only against the generals, but against one another; but it is all, or chiefly, for the generals' sakes. It is Christ that the wicked persecute in his servants, Acts ix. 4; and it is the devil whom the G.o.dly hate and resist in the wicked.

But yet here are divers notable differences. 1. The devil's servants do not what they do in love to him, but to their own flesh; but Christ's servants do what they do in love to him, as well as to themselves. 2. The devil's army are cheated into arms and war, not knowing what they do; but Christ doth all in the open light, and will have no servants but those that deliberately adhere to him, when they know the worst. 3. The devil's servants do not know that he is their general; but Christ's followers do all know their Lord. 4. The devil's followers disown their master and their work; they will not own that they fight against Christ and his kingdom, while they do it: but Christ's followers own their Captain, and his cause, and work; for he is not a master to be ashamed of.

7. Both Christ and Satan work persuasively, by moral means, and neither of them by constraint and force. Christ forceth not men against their wills to good, and Satan cannot force them to be bad; but all the endeavour is to make men willing; and he is the conqueror that getteth and keepeth our own consent.

8. Their ends are contrary, and therefore their ways are also contrary. The devil's end is, to draw man to sin and d.a.m.nation, and to dishonour G.o.d; and Christ's end is, to draw man from sin to holiness and salvation, and to honour G.o.d. But Christ maketh known his end, and Satan concealeth his end from his followers.

9. There is somewhat within the good and bad for the contrary part to work upon; and we are, as it were, divided in ourselves, and have somewhat in us that is on both sides. The wicked have an honourable acknowledgment of G.o.d, and of their greatest obligation to him; a hatred to the devil; a love of themselves; a willingness to be happy, and an unwillingness to be miserable; and a conscience which approveth of more good than they do, and condemneth much of their transgression.

This is some advantage to the persuasions of the ministers of Christ to work upon; and they have reason capable of knowing more.

The soldiers of Christ have a fleshly appet.i.te, and the remnants of ignorance and error in their minds, and of earthliness, and carnality, and averseness to G.o.d in their wills, with a nearness to this world, and much strangeness to the world to come. And here is too much advantage for Satan to work on by his temptations.

10. But it is the predominant part within us, and the scope of our lives, which showeth which of the armies we belong to. And thus we must give up our names and hearts to Christ, and engage under his conduct against the devil, and conquer to the death, if we will be saved. Not to fight against the bare name of the devil; for so will his own soldiers, and spit at his name, and hang a witch that makes a contract with him: but it is to fight against his cause and work, which is by fighting against the world and the flesh, and for the glory of G.o.d.

[Sidenote: The method.]

In opening to you this holy war, I shall, First, Shew you what we must do on the offensive part. Secondly, What on the defensive part. And here I shall show you, I. What it is that the tempter aimeth at as his end. II. What matter or ground he worketh upon. III. What are his succours and a.s.sistance. IV. What kind of officers and instruments he useth. V. What are his methods and actual temptations, 1. To actual sin, 2. Against our duty to G.o.d.

First, Our offensive arms are to be used, 1. Against the power of sin within us; and all its advantages and helps: for while Satan ruleth and possesseth us within, we shall never well oppose him without. 2.

Against sin in others, as far as we have opportunity. 3. Against the credit and honour of sin in the world: as the devil's servants would bring light and holiness into disgrace, so Christ's servants must cast disgrace and shame upon sin and darkness. 4. Against all the reasonings of sinners, and their subtle fallacies, whereby they would deceive. 5. Against the pa.s.sions and violent l.u.s.ts which are the causes of men's other sins. 6. Against the holds and helps of sin, as false teachers, profane revilers, ignorance, and deceit. Only take heed that on this pretence we step not out of our ranks and places, to pull down the powers of the world by rebellions: "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal," 2 Cor. x. 4.

Secondly, As to our defence, I. The ends of the tempter which must be perceived, are these: In general, his aim is at our utter ruin and d.a.m.nation, and to draw us here to dishonour G.o.d as much as he can.

But, especially, his aim is to strengthen the great heart sins, which are most mortal, and are the root, and life, and sp.a.w.ners of the rest: especially these: 1. Ignorance, which is the friend and cloak to all the rest. 2. Error, which will justify them. 3. Unbelief, which keeps off all that should oppose them. 4. Atheism, profaneness, unholiness, which are the defiance of G.o.d and all his armies. 5. Presumption, which emboldeneth them, and hides the danger. 6. Hardness of heart, which fortifieth them against all the batteries of grace. 7.

Hypocrisy, which maketh them serve him as spies and intelligencers in the army of Christ. 8. Disaffection to G.o.d and his ways and servants, which is the devil's colours. 9. Unthankfulness, which tends to make them unreconcilable and unrecoverable. 10. Pride, which commandeth many regiments of lesser sins. 11. Worldliness, or love of money and wealth, which keepeth his armies in pay. 12. Sensuality, voluptuousness, or flesh-pleasing, which is the great commander of all the rest.[108] For selfishness is the devil's lieutenant-general, which consisteth chiefly in the three last named, but especially in pride and sensuality. Some think that it is outward sins that bring all the danger; but these twelve heart sins, which I have named to you, are the twelve gates of the infernal city, which Satan loveth above all the rest.

II. The matter and grounds of his temptations are these: 1. The devil first worketh upon the outward sense, and so upon the sensitive appet.i.te: he showeth the cup to the drunkard's eye, and the bait of filthy l.u.s.t to the fornicator, and the riches and pomp of the world to the covetous and proud. The glutton tasteth the sweetness of the dish which he loveth. Stage-plays, and tempting sports, and proud attire, and sumptuous buildings, and all such sensual things, are the baits by which the devil angleth for souls. Thus Eve first saw the fruit, and then tasted, and then did eat. Thus Noah, and Lot, and David sinned.

Thus Achan saith, Josh. vii. 21, "I saw (the garments, silver, and gold) I coveted them, and I took them." The sense is the door of sin.

2. The tempter next worketh on the fantasy or imagination, and prints upon it the loveliest image of his bait that possibly he can, and engageth the sinner to think on it, and to roll it over and over in his mind, even as G.o.d commandeth us to meditate on his precepts.

3. Next he worketh by these upon the pa.s.sions or affections: which fantasy having inflamed, they violently urge the will and reason; and this according to the nature of the pa.s.sion, whether fear or hope, sorrow or joy, love or hatred, desire or aversion; but by none doth he work so dangerously as by delight, and love, and desire of things sensual.

4. Hence he proceedeth to infect the will, (upon the simple apprehension of the understanding,) to make it inordinately cleave to the temporal good, and to neglect its duty in commanding the understanding to meditate on preserving objects, and to call off the thoughts from the forbidden thing: it neglecteth to rule the thoughts and pa.s.sions according to its office and natural power.

5. And so he corrupteth the understanding itself, first to omit its duty, and then to entertain deceit, and to approve of evil: and so the servant is put into the government, and the commanding powers do but serve it. Reason is blinded by sensuality and pa.s.sion, and becomes their servant, and pleads their cause.