Table of Contents:

Thomas Brooks : a Brief Biography The Epistle Dedicatory
A Word to the Reader Introduction
I. THE PROOF OF THE POINT
II. SATAN'S DEVICES TO DRAW THE SOUL TO SIN [12 devices and their remedies]

I By presenting the bait and hiding the hook: For remedies, consider that
1) we ought to keep at the greatest distance from sin and from playing with the bait
2) sin is but a bitter sweet
3) sin will usher in the greatest and the saddest losses 4) sin is very deceitful and bewitching

2 By painting sin with virtue's colors: For remedies, consider that
1) sin is never the less vile by being so painted
2) the more sin is so painted the more dangerous it is
3) we ought to look on sin with that eye with which within a few hours we shall see it
4) sin cost the life-blood of the Lord Jesus

3 By the extenuating and lessening of sin: For remedies, consider that
1) sin which men account small brings God's great wrath on men
2) the giving way to a less sin makes way for the committing of a greater
3) it is sad to stand with God for a trifle
4) often there is most danger in the smallest sins
5) the saints have chosen to suffer greatly rather than commit the least sin
6) the soul can never stand under the guilt and weight of sin when God sets it home upon the soul
7) there is more evil in the least sin than in the greatest affliction

4 By showing to the soul the best men's sins and by hiding from the soul their virtues, their sorrows, and their repentance: For remedies, consider that
1) the Spirit of God records not only the sins of the saints, but also their repentance
2) these saints did not make a trade of sin
3) though God does not disinherit his sinning people, He punishes them severely
4) God has two main ends in recording the falls of His saints

5 By presenting God to the soul as One made up all of mercy: For remedies, consider that
1) it is the sorest of judgments to be left to sin upon any pretence whatsoever
2) God is as just as He is merciful
3) sins against mercy will bring the greatest and sorest judgments on men
4) though God's general mercy is over all His works, yet His special mercy is confined to those that are divinely qualified
5) the saints now glorified regarded God's mercy as a most powerful argument against, and not for, sin

6 By persuading the soul that repentance is easy and that therefore the soul need not scruple about sinning: For remedies, consider that
1) repentance is a difficult work above our own power
2) repentance changes and converts the whole man from sin to God
3) repentance is a continued act
4) if repentance were easy, the lack of it would not strike millions with terror and drive them to hell
5) to repent of sin is as great a mark of grace as not to sin
6) Satan now suggests that repentance is easy, but shortly he will drive his dupes to despair by presenting it as the hardest work in the world

7 By making the soul bold to venture upon the occasions of sin: For remedies, consider that
1) certain scriptures expressly command us to avoid occasions of sin and the least appearance of evil
2) there is no conquest over sin unless the soul turns from the occasions of sin
3) saints now glorified have turned from the occasions of sin as from hell itself
4) to avoid the occasions of sin is an evidence of grace

8 By representing to the soul the outward mercies enjoyed by men walking in sin, and their freedom from outward miseries: For remedies, consider that
1) we cannot judge of how the heart of God stands towards a man by the acts of His providence
2) nothing provokes God's wrath so much as men's abuse of His goodness and mercy
3) there is no greater curse or affliction in this life than not to be in misery or affliction
4) the wants of evil men are far greater than their outward blessings
5) outward things are not as they seem, nor as they are esteemed
6) God has ends and designs in giving evil men outward mercies and present rest from sorrows and sufferings that cause saints to sigh
7) God often plagues and punishes those whom others think He most spares and loves
8) God will call evil men to a strict account for all the outward good that they have enjoyed

9 By presenting to the soul the crosses, losses, sorrows and sufferings that daily attend those who walk in the ways of holiness:
For remedies, consider that
1) all afflictions suffered by Christians turn to their profit
2) all such afflictions only reach their worst, not their best, part
3) all such afflictions are short and momentary
4) all such afflictions proceed from God's dearest love
5) it is our duty and glory to measure afflictions not by the smart but by the end
6) God's design in saints' afflictions is to try, not to ruin, their souls
7) the afflictions, wrath and misery consequent upon wickedness are far worse than those linked with holiness

10 By causing saints to compare themselves and their ways with those reputed to be worse than themselves: For remedies, consider that
1) to be quick-sighted abroad and blind at home proves a man a hypocrite
2) it is far better to compare our internal and external actions with the Word than to compare ourselves with others worse than ourselves
3) though our sins may not appear as great as those of others, yet without repentance responding to mercy, we shall be as certainly damned as others

11 By polluting the souls and judgments of men with dangerous errors that lead to looseness and wickedness: For remedies, consider that
1) an erroneous vain mind is as odious to God as a vicious life
2)  it is needful to receive the truth affectionately and plenteously
3) error makes its owner suffer loss
4) it is needful to hate and reject all doctrines that are contrary to godliness, that lead to self-righteousness, and that make good works co-partners with Christ
5) it is needful to hold fast the truth
6) it is needful to keep humble
7) errors have been productive of great evils

12 By leading men to choose wicked company: For remedies, consider that
1) there are express commands of God to shun such company
2) wicked company is infectious and dangerous
3) it is needful to look upon the wicked in such terms as Scripture describes them
4) the company of wicked men was once a grief and burden also to saints now glorified

III. SATAN'S DEVICES TO KEEP SOULS FROM HOLY DUTIES, TO HINDER SOULS IN HOLY SERVICES, TO KEEP THEM OFF FROM RELIGIOUS PERFORMANCES [8 devices and their remedies]

I By presenting the world in such a garb as to ensnare the soul: For remedies, consider that
1) all things here below are impotent and weak
2) they are also full of vanity
3) all things under the sun are uncertain and mutable
4) the great things of the world are hurtful to men owing to the corruption of their hearts
5) all the felicity of this world is mixed
6) it is needful to get better acquainted with, and assurance of, more blessed and glorious things
7) true happiness and satisfaction does not arise from worldly good
8) the value and dignity of the soul is to be a subject of contemplation

2 By presenting to the soul the dangers, losses and sufferings that accompany the performance of certain religious duties: For remedies, consider that
1) all such troubles cannot harm the true Christian
2) saints now glorified encountered such dangers, but persevered to the end
3) all such dangers are but for a moment, whereas the neglect of the service of God lays the Christian open to spiritual and eternal dangers
4) God knows how to deliver from troubles by troubles, from dangers by dangers
5) In the service of God, despite troubles and afflictions, the gains outweigh the losses

3 By presenting to the soul the difficulty of performing religious duties:
For remedies, consider that
1) it is better to regard the necessity of the duty than the difficulty of it
2) the Lord Jesus will reveal Himself to the obedient soul and thus make the service easy
3) the Lord Jesus has Himself engaged in hard service and in suffering for your temporal and eternal good
4) religious duties are only difficult to the worse, not to the more noble part of a saint
5) a glorious recompense awaits saints who serve the Lord in the face of difficulties and discouragements

4 By causing saints to draw false inferences from the blessed and glorious things that Christ has done: For remedies, consider that
1) it is as needful to dwell as much upon scriptures that state Christian duty as upon those that speak of the glorious things that Christ has done for us
2) the glorious things that Christ has done and is now doing for us should be our strongest motives and encouragements for the performance of our duties
3) other precious souls who have rested on Christ's work have been very active and lively in religious duties
4) those who do not walk in God's ways cannot have such evidence of their righteousness before God as can those who rejoice in the service of the Lord
5) duties are to be esteemed not by their acts but by their ends

5 By presenting to view the fewness and poverty of those who hold to religious practices. For remedies, consider that
1) though saints are outwardly poor, they are inwardly rich
2) in all ages God has had some that have been rich, wise and honorable
3) spiritual riches infinitely transcend temporal riches, and satisfy the poorest saints
4) saints now appear to be 'a little flock', but they belong to a company that cannot be numbered
5) it is but as a day before these despised saints will shine brighter than the sun
6) the time will come even in this life when God will take away the reproach and contempt of His people, and make those the 'head' who have been the 'tail'

6 By showing saints that the majority of men make light of God's ways and walk in the ways of their own hearts: For remedies, consider that
1) certain scriptures warn against following the sinful examples of men
2)  those who sin with the multitude will suffer with the multitude
3) the soul of a man is of more worth than heaven and earth

7 By casting in vain thoughts while the soul is seeking God or waiting on God:For remedies, consider that
1) the God with whom we have to do is great, holy, majestic and glorious
2) despite wandering thoughts it is needful to be resolute in religious service
3) vain and trifling thoughts that Satan casts into our souls are not sins if they are abhorred, resisted and disclaimed
4) watching against, resisting and lamenting sinful thoughts evidences grace and the sincerity of our hearts
5) we must labor to be filled with the fullness of God and enriched with all spiritual blessings
6) we must labor to keep up holy and spiritual affections
7) we must labor to avoid multiplicity of worldly business

8 By tempting Christians to rest in their performances: For remedies, consider that
1) our choicest services have their imperfections and weaknesses
2) our choicest services are unable to minister comfort and aid in days of trouble
3) good works, if rested upon, will as certainly destroy us as the greatest sins that we commit
4) God has met our need of a resting place in Christ Himself
 

IV. SATAN'S DEVICES TO KEEP SAINTS IN A SAD, DOUBTING, QUESTIONING AND UNCOMFORTABLE CONDITION [8 devices and their remedies]

1 By causing saints to remember their sins more than their Saviour, yea, even to forget and neglect their Saviour: For remedies, consider that
1) though Jesus Christ has not freed believers from sin's presence, He has freed them from its damnatory power
2) though Jesus Christ has not freed believers from the vexing and molesting power of sin, He has freed them from the reign and dominion of sin
3) it is needful to keep one eye on the promise of remission of sin, and the other eye on the inward operations of sin
4) believers' sins have been charged to the account of' Christ as debts which He has fully satisfied
5) the Lord has good reasons for allowing His people to be troubled with sinful corruptions
6) believers must repent of their being discouraged by their sins

2 By causing saints to make false definitions of their graces: For remedies, consider that
1) there may be true faith, even great faith, where there is no assurance
2) the Scriptures define faith other than Satan tempts the saints to define it
3) there may be true faith where there is much doubting 4) assurance is an effect of faith, not faith itself

3 By causing saints to make false inferences from the cross actings of Providence: For remedies, consider that
1) many things, though contrary to our desires, are not contrary to our good
2) God's hand may be against a man when His love and His heart are set upon him
3) Cross providences are sent by God to work some noble good for saints
4) all the strange and deep providences that believers meet with further them in their way to heaven

4 By suggesting to saints that their graces are not true, but counterfeit: For remedies, consider that
1) grace may mean either the good will and favor of God, or the gifts of grace
2) there are differences between renewing grace and restraining grace, between sanctifying and temporary grace (to particulars given)

5 By suggesting to saints that the conflict that is in them is found also in hypocrites and profane souls: For remedies, consider that
1) the whole frame of a believer's soul is against sin
2)  a saint conflicts against sin universally, the least sin as well as the greatest
3) the conflict in a saint is maintained for several reasons 4) the saint's conflict is constant
5) the saint's conflict is within the same faculties
6) the saint's conflict is blessed, successful and prevailing

6 By suggesting to the saint who has lost joy and-comfort that his state is not good: For remedies, consider that
1) the loss of comfort is a separable adjunct from grace
2) the precious things still enjoyed are far better than the joys and comforts lost
3) the glorified saints were once in the same condition
4) the causes of joy and comfort are not always the same 5) God will restore the comforts of His people

7 By reminding the saint of his frequent relapses into sin formerly repented of and prayed against: For remedies, consider that
1) many scriptures show that such relapses have troubled saints
2 )  God nowhere promises that such relapses will not happen
3) the most renowned of glorified saints have, on earth, experienced such relapses
4) relapses into enormities must be distinguished from relapses into infirmities
5) involuntary and voluntary relapses must be distinguished
6) no experience of the soul, however deep or high, can in itself secure the soul against relapses

8 By persuading saints that their state is not good nor their graces sound: For remedies, consider that
1) the best of Christians have been most tempted by Satan
2)  all the saints' temptations are sanctified to them by a hand of love
3) temptations cannot harm the saints as long as they are resisted by them
 

V. SATAN'S DEVICES TO DESTROY AND ENSNARE ALL SORTS AND RANKS OF MEN IN THE WORLD
[5 devices and their remedies]

I DEVICES AGAINST THE GREAT AND HONOURABLE OF THE EARTH
I By causing them to seek greatness, position, riches and security For remedies, consider that

1) self-seeking sets men upon sins against the Law, the Gospel, and Nature itself
2) self-seeking exceedingly abases a man
3) the Word pronounces curses and woes against self-seekers
4) self-seekers are self-losers and self-destroyers
5) saints have denied self and set public good above personal advantage
6) self hinders the sight of divine things : hence prophets and apostles, when seeing visions, were carried out of themselves

2 By causing them to act against the people of the Most High: For remedies, consider that
1) all who have acted against the saints have been ruined by the God of saints
2)  the Scriptures show that God gives victory to His people against their enemies
3) to fight against the people of God is to fight against God Himself
4) men of the world owe their preservation from instant ruin, under God, to the saints

II DEVICE AGAINST THE LEARNED AND THE WISE
By moving them to pride themselves on their parts and abilities, and to despise men of greater grace but inferior abilities: For remedies, consider that
I) men have nothing but what they have received, gifts as well as saving grace coming alike from Christ
2) men's trusting to their parts and abilities has been their utter ruin
3) you do not transcend others more in parts and abilities than they do you in grace and holiness
4) men who pride themselves on their gifts and set themselves against the saints will find that God blasts and withers their gifts

III DEVICE AGAINST THE SAINTS
By dividing them and causing them to 'bite and devour one another' For remedies, consider that
1) it is better to dwell on the saints' graces rather than on their weaknesses and infirmities
2)  love and union best promote safety and security
3) God commands and requires the saints to love one another
4) it is better to eye the things in which saints agree rather than those things wherein they differ
5) God is the God of peace, Christ the Prince of peace, and the Spirit the Spirit of peace
6) it is needful for the saints to make more care and conscience of maintaining their peace with God
7) it is needful to dwell much upon the relationship and union of the people of God
8) discord is productive of miseries
9) it is good and honorable to be the first in seeking pea and reconcilement
l0) saints should agree well together, making the Word the only touchstone and judge of their words and actions
11) saints should be much in self-judging 12) saints should labor to be clothed with humility

IV DEVICE AGAINST POOR AND IGNORANT SOULS
By causing them to affect ignorance and to neglect and despise the means of knowledge: for remedies, consider that
1) an ignorant heart is an evil heart
2) ignorance is the deformity of the soul
3) ignorance makes men objects of God's hatred and wrath
4) ignorance is a sin that leads to all sins
 

APPENDIX
I. TOUCHING FIVE MORE OF SATAN'S DEVICES
1 By suggesting to men the greatness and vileness of their sins [Eight Remedies]
2 By suggesting to sinners their unworthiness [Four Remedies]
3 By suggesting to sinners their want of certain preparations and qualifications (Three Remedies]
4 By suggesting to sinners that Christ is unwilling to save them [Six Remedies]
S By causing sinners to give more attention to the secret decrees and counsels of God than to their own duty [Two Remedies]

II SEVEN CHARACTERS OF FALSE TEACHERS

III SIX PROPOSITIONS CONCERNING SATAN AND HIS DEVICES
[Five reasons of the point added]

IV CONCLUSION: CHIEFLY, TEN SPECIAL HELPS AND RULES AGAINST SATAN'S DEVICES
 

If readers of Puritan literature were set the task of listing thirty of the 'mighties' among Puritan preachers, the name of Thomas Brooks would certainly appear among them, though few would be inclined to include him among 'the first three'. His name and his works are sufficiently esteemed to secure for him an enduring place in the hearts of knowledgeable Christians, and some few might even award him a topmost niche among the choicest spirits of the seventeenth century. His reputation as a writer of treatises for the heart has never been clouded. His literary style is always lively. Like many of his contemporaries he drew his sermon-illustrations from the Scriptures themselves, from everyday life, and from ancient classical literature and history. The amalgam is invariably interesting and edifying.

Brooks is a preacher and writer whose biography, had it been written by himself or by a contemporary, would have possessed no small measure of interest. Unfortunately what can be gleaned of his life-story is scanty in the extreme. Alexander B. Grosart, in the Memoir printed in the Nichol's reprint of Brooks' Works (1866) spins it out to sixteen pages, but he had to search far and wide for elusive information, and the basic facts which he brings to light are few indeed. College and ecclesiastical records - all too brief - can be supplemented by an occasional personal reference in Brooks' own writings, and Grosart, to his considerable joy, discovered and printed the Last Will and Testament of our Puritan. Then, too, Brooks' various treatises survive in their earliest editions and are dated. No portrait of him is known to exist. Of the man himself and his strong personality a clear picture is readily formed in the reader's mind. Our author lives in his writings. Apart from these he is a mere shadow.

Born in 1608 - place and county unknown - he matriculated as a 'pensioner' at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, that 'nest of the Puritans', on the 7th July, 1625, the year of Charles I's accession to the throne of England and Scotland. The term 'pensioner' does not indicate poverty and there is reason to believe that the youth was the son of well-to-do parents. In Emmanuel College he would probably rub shoulders with such men as John Milton and the famed New England trio - Thomas Shepard, John Cotton and Thomas Hooker. His love for and skill in Hebrew, Greek and Latin was nurtured, if not inculcated, during his College days.

After 1625 the veil falls again and for twenty or more years nothing is known of our writer beyond the fact that, before he re-emerges from obscurity, he had become a preacher of the Gospel. London seems to have been the sphere of his ministry. There is little doubt that he held strongly with the Parliamentary cause during the stormy Civil War (1642-48), and it is virtually certain that he acted as chaplain to Parliamentary commanders both on land and sea during this period. There is reason to think that he was on terms of some intimacy with Thomas Fairfax, the Commander-in-Chief of the Parliament's military forces. His horizons were greatly extended during these fateful years, for he lets fall the remark in one of his treatises that he had been abroad 'in other nations and countries'. And again : 'I have been some years at sea, and through grace I can say that I would not exchange my sea experiences for England's riches'. 'Some terrible storms I have been in', he adds.

By the end of the Civil War, Parliament or rather the New Model Army being victorious - Parliament and Army fell apart - Brooks was Preacher of the Gospel at Thomas Apostles, London. He was accounted sufficiently outstanding as a man of God to preach before the House of Commons (the Rump of the Long Parliament) in the same year (December 26). His sermon was afterwards published under the title, 'God's Delight in the Progress of the Upright', the text being Psalm 44. 18: 'Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from Thy way'. His second sermon before Parliament was preached on the 8th October, 1650, a thanksgiving day for Cromwell's victory over the Scots at Dunbar on September 3rd. On this occasion the text was, significantly, Isaiah 10. 6, which we forbear to quote.

Two years later Brooks transferred from Thomas Apostles to another London Church, St. Margaret's, Fish-Street Hill, not without much opposition from some members of his future congregation. Those who objected to his settlement complained that he had refused to administer the sacraments to certain folk whom he judged to be unworthy, an oblique testimony to Brooks' firmness of conscience. St. Bartholomew's gloomy Day (1662) found him among the ministers evicted from their livings and driven into nonconformity. But he did not leave London, and apparently managed to reside and preach, as occasion offered, not far from St. Margaret's. He escaped imprisonment, was eminent among ministers who refused to flee in the Year of Plague (1665), and was at his post to comfort the afflicted during and after the Great Fire of 1666. A lengthy treatise entitled London's Lamentations (based upon Isaiah 42. 24-5) appears in Vol. VI of Brooks' Works (Nichol's Series). It runs to 312 pages and 'is perhaps the most remarkable contemporary memorial' of the calamitous event. It is described on its title-page as 'A serious discourse concerning that late fiery dispensation that turned our (once renowned) city into a ruinous heap : also the several lessons that are incumbent upon those whose houses have escaped the consuming flames'.

Little of a biographical nature remains to be added. The years 1652-80 were occupied by preaching and writing, a succession of treatises appearing at frequent intervals, of which Precious Remedies against Satan's Devices (1652) was the first. In 1676 his wife Martha (nee Burgess) died. To her he bore the eloquent testimony : 'She was always best when she was most with God in a corner. She has many a whole day been pouring out her soul before God for the nation, for Sion [Zion-Jerusalem], and the great concerns of her own soul, when them about her did judge it more expedient that she had been in her bed, by reason of some bodily infirmity that did hang upon her; but the divine pleasures that she took in her [corner] did drown the sense of pain'. We may judge that much of the success of Brooks' ministry assuredly resulted from his wife's support of him in prayer. Let Puritan wives be given their due; assuredly the 'price' of some of them was 'above rubies'. There seem to have been no children of the marriage.

After Martha's death three more years of life remained to Thomas. In the course of them he contracted a second marriage. His 'dear and honored' second wife was a certain Patience Cartwright of whom he says that she made 'all relations to meet in one', by which we may judge that, despite her youthfulness (and perhaps because of it), she was a not unworthy successor to Martha. Six months after making his Will in March, 1680, Brooks entered into the joy of his Lord, gathered 'like as a shock of corn ascendeth in his season'.

Brooks' works certainly follow him. Not only did he serve his own generation by the will of God, but all generations since have seen reason to call him blessed. His writings have 'built up in their most holy faith' not a few of the Lord's stalwarts, besides the many who have made less impact on the Church of God. An admixture of 'salt' (in the apostolic sense) has given outlet to their savor. The first printed work which Spurgeon gave to the Church, his Sermons apart, was Smooth Stones taken from Ancient Brooks, a compilation from Brooks' writings in the choosing of which his fiancée, Susannah Thompson, had collaborated. It may well be judged that something of the spiritual wealth of the 'heir of the Puritans' (as Spurgeon is entitled in a recent biography) was derived from this quarter.

Grosart, in an Editorial Postscript which prefaces Vol. VI of Brooks' Works, quotes Calamy as saying that our author was 'a very affecting preacher and useful to many'. To this somber word of praise he adds his own weighty verdict : 'His slightest "Epistle" is "Bread of Life"; his most fugitive "Sermon" a full cup of "Living Water": ... his one dominating aim to make dead hearts warm with the Life of the Gospel of Him who is Life; his supreme purpose to "bring near" the very Truth of God. Hence his directness, his urgency, his yearning, his fervor, his fullness of Bible citation, his wistfulness, his intensity, his emotion. . . . His desire to be "useful" to souls, to achieve the holy success of serving Christ, to win a sparkling crown to lay at His feet, breathes and burns from first to last'.

Few who know Brooks' writings will wish to quarrel with Grosart. Our author is one of the select circle whose praise is 'in all churches of the saints', or at least in those churches which place value upon legacies of abiding spiritual worth. John Milton is often quoted as saying in his Areopagitica that 'a good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life'. Better still can we say of Thomas Brooks that, if not a master spirit, he possessed (which is of much greater worth) the Spirit of his Master.
 
 

THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY

To his most dear and precious ones, the sons and daughters of the Most High God, over whom the Holy Ghost hath made him a Watchman.
Beloved in our dearest Lord,

Christ, the Scripture, your own hearts, and Satan's devices, are the four prime things that should be first and most studied and searched. If any cast off the study of these, they cannot be safe here, nor happy hereafter. It is my work as a Christian, but much more as I am a Watchman, to do my best to discover the fullness of Christ, the emptiness of the creature, and the snares of the great deceiver; which I have endeavored to do in the following discourse, according to that measure of grace which I have received from the Lord. God once accepted a handful of meal for a sacrifice (Lev. 2. 2; 5. 12), and a gripes of goat's hair for an oblation; and I know that you have not so 'learned the Father,' as to despise 'the day of small things' (Zech. 4.10).

Beloved, Satan being fallen from light to darkness, from felicity to misery, from heaven to hell, from an angel to a devil, is so full of malice and envy that he will leave no means unattempted, whereby he may make all others eternally miserable with himself; he being shut out of heaven, and shut up 'under the chains of darkness till the judgment of the great day' (Jude 6), makes use of all his power and skill to bring all the sons of men into the same condition and condemnation with himself. Satan hath cast such sinful seed into our souls, that now he can no sooner tempt, but we are ready to assent; he can no sooner have a plot upon us, but he makes a conquest of us. If he doth but show men a little of the beauty and bravery 2 of the
 

1. GRIPE OR 'HANDFUL'. CL EXOD. 25.4 ; 35. 26.

2. FINERY.

Whatever sin the heart of man is most prone to, that the devil will help forward. If David be proud of his people, Satan will provoke him to number them, that he may be yet prouder (2 Sam. 24).

If Peter be slavishly fearful, Satan will put him upon rebuking and denying of Christ, to save his own skin (Matt. 16. 22; 26. 69-75). If Ahab's prophets be given to flatter, the devil will straightway become a lying spirit in the mouths of four hundred of them, and they shall flatter Ahab to his ruin (1 Kings 22). If Judas will be a traitor, Satan will quickly enter into his heart, and make him sell his master for money, which some heathens would never have done (John 13. 2). If Ananias will lie for advantage, Satan will fill his heart that he may lie, with a witness, to the Holy Ghost (Acts 5. 3). Satan loves to sail with the wind, and to suit men's temptations to their conditions and inclinations. If they be in prosperity, he will tempt them to deny God (Proverbs. 30. 9); if they be in adversity, he will tempt them to distrust God; if their knowledge be weak, he will tempt them to have low thoughts of God; if their conscience be tender, he will tempt to scrupulosity; if large, to carnal security; if bold spirited, he will tempt to presumption; if timorous, to desperation; if flexible, to inconstancy; if stiff, to impenitency.

From the power, malice and skill of Satan, doth proceed all the soul-killing plots, devices, stratagems and machinations, that be in the world. Several devices he bath to draw souls to sin, and several plots he bath to keep souls from all holy and heavenly services, and several stratagems he bath to keep souls in a mourning, staggering, doubting and questioning condition.

He hath several devices to destroy the great and honorable, the wise and learned, the blind and ignorant, the rich and the poor, the real and the nominal saints.

One while he will restrain from tempting, that we may think ourselves secure, and neglect our watch; another while he will seem to fly, that he may make us proud of the victory; one while he will fix men's eyes on others' sins than their own, that he may puff them up; another while he may fix their eyes more on others' graces than their own, that he may overwhelm them.

A man may as well tell the stars, and number the sands of the sea, as reckon up all the Devices of Satan; yet those which are most considerable, and by which he doth most mischief to the precious souls of men, are in the following Treatise discovered, and the Remedies against them prescribed.

Beloved, I think it necessary to give you and the world a faithful account of the reasons moving me to appear in print, in these days, wherein we may say, there was never more writing and yet never less practicing, and they are these that follow

Reason 1. Because Satan hath a greater influence upon men, and higher advantages over them (having the wind and the hill, as it were), than they think he hath, and the knowledge of his high advantage is the highway to disappoint him, and to render the soul strong in resisting, and happy in conquering.

Reason 2. Your importunity, and the importunity of many other 'precious sons of Sion' (Lam. 4. 2), hath after much striving with God, my own heart, and others, made a conquest of me, and forced me to do that at last, which at first was not a little contrary to my inclination and resolution.

Reason 3. The strange opposition that I met with from Satan, in the study of this following discourse, hath put an edge upon my spirit, knowing that Satan strives mightily to keep those things from seeing the light, that tend eminently to shake and break his kingdom of darkness, and to lift up the kingdom and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the souls and lives of the children of men.'

Reason 4. Its exceeding usefulness to all sorts, ranks and conditions of men in the world. Here you have salve for every sore, and a plaster for every wound, and a remedy against every disease, especially against those that tend most to the undoing of souls, and the ruin of the State.

Reason 5. I know not of any one or other that have writ of this subject; all that ever I have seen have only touched upon

3. PIRATES MAKE THE STRONGEST AND THE HOTTEST OPPOSITION AGAINST THOSE VESSELS THAT ARE MOST RICHLY LADEN. SO DOTH SATAN, THAT ARCH-PIRATE, AGAINST THOSE TRUTHS THAT HAVE MOST OF GOD, CHRIST, AND HEAVEN IN THEM.

Reason 6. I have many precious friends in several countries, who are not a little desirous that my pen may reach them, now my voice cannot. I have formerly been, by the help of the mighty God of Jacob, a weak instrument of good to them, and cannot but hope and believe that the Lord will also bless these labors to them; they being, in part, the fruit of their desires and prayers.

Reason  7. Lastly, Not knowing how soon my glass may be out, and how soon I may be cut off by a hand of death from all opportunities of doing further service for Christ or your souls in this world, I was willing to sow a little handful of spiritual seed among you; that so, when I put off this earthly tabernacle, my love to you, and that dear remembrance of you, which I have in my soul, may strongly engage your minds and spirits to make this book your companion, and under all external or internal changes, to make use of this heavenly salve, which I hope will, by the blessing of the Lord, be as effectual for the healing of all your wounds, as their looking up to the brazen serpent was effectual to heal theirs that were bit and stung with fiery serpents. I shall leave this book with you as a legacy of my dearest love, desiring the Lord to make it a far greater and sweeter legacy than all those carnal legacies that are left by the high and mighty ones of the earth to their nearest and dearest relations.

Beloved, I would not have affection carry my pen too much beyond my intention. Therefore, only give me leave to signify my desires for you, and my desires to you, and I shall draw to a close.

My desires for you are, `That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ that passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God' (Eph. 3. 16-I9); and 'That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering, with joyfulness' (Col. I. to, II); 'That ye do no evil' (2 Cor. 13. 7); 'That your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge, and in all judgment;' 'That ye may approve things that are excellent, that ye may be sincere, and without offence till the day of Christ' (Phil. I. 27, 4. 1); and that 'our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power'; That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ' (2 Thess. I. II, 12). And that you may be eminent in sanctity, sanctity being Zion's glory (Ps. 93. 5); that your hearts may be kept upright, your judgments sound, and your lives unblameable. That as ye are now 'my joy', so in the day of Christ you may be 'my crown'; that I may see my labors in your lives; that your conversation may not be earthly, when the things you hear are heavenly; but that it may be 'as becomes the gospel' (Phil. I. 9, 10). That as the fishes which live in the salt sea yet are fresh, so you, though you live in an uncharitable world, may yet be charitable and loving; that ye may, like the bee, suck honey out of every flower; that ye may shine in a sea of troubles, as the pearl shines in the sky, though it grows in the sea; that in all your trials you may shine like the stone in Thracia, that neither burneth in the fire nor sinketh in the water; that ye may be like the heavens, excellent in substance and beautiful in appearance; that so you may meet me with joy in that day wherein Christ shall say to his Father, 'Lo, here am I, and the children that thou hast given me' (Is. 8. I8).

My desires to you are, That you would make it your business to study Christ, his word, your own hearts, Satan's plots, and eternity, more than ever; That ye would endeavor more to be inwardly sincere than outwardly glorious; to live, than to have a name to live; That ye would labor with all your might to be thankful under mercies, and faithful in your places, and humble under divine appearances, and fruitful under precious ordinances; That as your means and mercies are greater than others', so your account before God may not prove a worse than others'; That ye would pray for me, who am not worthy to be named among the saints, that I may be a precious instrument in the hand of Christ to bring in many souls unto him, and to build up those that are brought in in their most holy faith; and 'that utterance may be given to me, that I may make known all the will of God' (Eph. 6. r9); that I may be sincere, faithful, frequent, fervent and constant in the work of the Lord, and that my labor be not in vain in the Lord; that my labors may be accepted in the Lord and his saints, and I may daily see the travail of my soul.

But, above all, pray for me, that I may more and more find the power and sweet of those Things upon my own heart, that I give out to you and others; that my soul may be so visited with strength from on high, that I may live up fully and constantly to those truths that I hold forth to the world; and that I may be both in life and doctrine 'a burning and a shining light,' that so, when the Lord Jesus shall appear, 'I may receive a crown of glory which he shall give to me in that day, and not only to me, but to all that love his appearing.' (John 5. 35 and 2 Tim. 1. 8).

For a close, remember this, that your life is short, your duties many, your assistance great, and your reward sure; therefore faint not, hold on and hold up, in ways of well-doing, and heaven shall make amends for all.

I shall now take leave of you, when my heart hath by my hand subscribed, that I am,

Your loving pastor under Christ, according to all pastoral affections and engagements in our dearest Lord,
THOMAS BROOKS
 
 

A WORD TO THE READER
DEAR FRIEND !

Solomon bids us buy the truth (Proverbs. 23. 23), but doth not tell us what it must cost, because we must get it though it be never so dear. We must love it both shining and scorching. Every parcel of truth is precious as the filings of gold; we must either live with it, or die for it. As Ruth said to Naomi, 'Whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge, and nothing but death shall part thee and me' (Ruth 1. 16, 17); so must gracious spirits say, Where truth goes I will go, and where truth lodges I will lodge, and nothing but death shall part me and truth. A man may lawfully sell his house, land and jewels, but truth is a jewel that exceeds all price, and must not be sold; it is our heritage : 'Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever' (Ps. 119:111). It is a legacy that our forefathers have bought with their bloods, which should make us willing to lay down anything, and to lay out anything, that we may, with the wise merchant in the Gospel (Matt. 13. 45), purchase this precious pearl, which is more worth than heaven and earth, and which will make a man live happily, die comfortably, and reign eternally.
And now, if thou pleasest, read the work, and receive this counsel from me.

First, Thou must know that every man cannot be excellent, that yet may be useful. An iron key may unlock the door of a golden treasure, yea, iron can do some things that gold cannot.

Secondly, Remember, it is not hasty reading, but serious meditating upon holy and heavenly truths, that make them prove sweet and profitable to the soul. It is not the bee's touching of the flower that gathers honey, but her abiding for a time upon the flower that draws out the sweet. It is not he that reads most, but he that meditates most, that will prove the choicest, sweetest, wisest and strongest Christian.

Thirdly, Know that it is not the knowing, nor the talking, nor the reading man, but the doing man, that at last will be found the happiest man. 'If you know these things, blessed and happy are you if you do them.' 'Not every one that saith, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father that is in heaven' (John 13. 17, Matt.7. 21). Judas called Christ Lord, Lord, and yet betrayed him, and is gone to his place. All! how many Judases have we in these days, that kiss Christ, and yet betray Christ; that in their words profess him, but in their works deny him; that bow their knee to him, and yet in their hearts despise him; that call him Jesus, and yet will not obey him for their Lord.

Reader, If it be not strong upon thy heart to practice what thou readest, to what end dost thou read? To increase thy own condemnation?' If thy light and knowledge be not turned into practice, the more knowing man thou art, the more miserable man thou wilt be in the day of recompense; thy light and knowledge will more torment thee than all the devils in hell. Thy knowledge will be that rod that will eternally lash thee, and that scorpion that will for ever bite thee, and that worm that will everlastingly gnaw thee; therefore read, and labor to know, that thou mayest do, or else thou art undone for ever.' When Demosthenes was asked, what was the first part of an orator, what the second, what the third? he answered, Action; the same may I say. If any should ask me, what is the first, the second, the third part of a Christian? I must answer, Action; as that man that reads that he may know, and that labors to know that he may do, will have two heavens - a heaven of joy, peace and comfort on earth, and a heaven of glory and happiness after death.

Fourthly and lastly, If in thy reading thou wilt cast a serious eye upon the margent,3 thou wilt find many sweet and precious
 

1. THE HEATHEN PHILOSOPHER, SENECA, LIKED NOT SUCH AS ARE TEMPER VICTURI, ALWAYS ABOUT TO LIVE BUT NEVER BEGIN.

2. GOD LOVES, SAITH LUTHER, CURISTAS, NOT QUARISTAS, THE RUNNER, NOT THE QUESTIONER... .

3. MARGIN; TRANSFERRED HERE AND THROUGHOUT IN THIS EDITION TO THE FOOT OF PAGE.

notes, that will oftentimes give light to the things thou readest, and pay thee for thy pains with much comfort and profit. So desiring that thou mayest find as much sweetness and advantage in reading this Treatise as I have found, by the over shadowings of heaven, in the studying and writing of it, I recommend thee 'to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build thee up, and to give thee an inheritance among them which are sanctified' (Acts 20. 32). And rest, reader,

Thy soul's servant in every office of the gospel,
THOMAS BROOKS
 
 

INTRODUCTION
2 Cor. 2. 11

In the fifth verse, the apostle shows, that the incestuous person had by his incest sadded those precious souls that God would not have sadded.1 Souls that walk sinfully are Hazaels to the godly (2 Kings 8. 12-15), and draw many sighs and tears from them. Jeremiah weeps in secret for Judah's sins (Jer. 9. 1); and Paul cannot speak of the belly-gods with dry eyes (Phil. 3. 18, 19). And Lot's righteous soul was burdened, vexed and racked by the filthy Sodomites (2 Peter 2. 7, 8). Every sinful Sodomite was a Hazael to his eyes, a Hadad-rimmon to his heart (Zech. 12. 11). Gracious souls use to mourn for other men's sins as well as their own, and for their souls and sins who make a mock of sin, and a jest of damning their own souls. Guilt or grief is all that gracious souls get by communion with vain souls (Ps. 119. 136, 158).

In the 6th verse, he shows that the punishment that was inflicted upon the incestuous person was sufficient, and therefore they should not refuse to receive him who had' repented and sorrowed for his former faults and follies. It is not for the honor of Christ, the credit of the gospel, nor the good of souls, for professors to be like those bloody wretches, that burnt some that recanted at the stake, saying, 'That they would send them into another world whiles they were in a good mind.’

In the 7th, 8th, 9th, and l0 th verses, the apostle stirs up the church to forgive him, to comfort him, and to confirm their love towards him, lest he should be 'swallowed up with overmuch sorrow,' Satan going about to mix the detestable darnel (Matt. 13. 25) of desperation with the godly sorrow of a pure penitent heart. It was a sweet saying of Jerome, 'Let a man grieve for his sin, and then joy for his grief.' That sorrow for

1. 'SADDENED'.

In the 11th verse, he lays down another reason to work them to show pity and mercy to the penitent sinner, that was mourning and groaning under his sin and misery; i.e. lest Satan should get an advantage of us : for we are not ignorant of his devices. A little for the opening of the words.

Lest Satan should get an advantage of us; lest Satan overreach us. The word in the Greek signifieth to have more than belongs to one. The comparison is taken from the greedy merchant, that seeketh and taketh all opportunities to beguile and deceive others. Satan is that wily merchant, that devoureth, not widows' houses, but most men's souls.

'We are not ignorant of Satan's devices,' or plots, or machinations, or stratagems. He is but a titular Christian that hath not personal experience of Satan's stratagems, his set and composed machinations, his artificially molded methods, his plots, darts, depths, whereby he outwitted our first parents, and fits us a pennyworth still, as he sees reason.

The main observation that I shall draw from these words is this

That Satan hath his several devices to deceive, entangle, and undo the souls of men. I shall -
1. Prove the point.
2. Show you his several devices.
3. Show the remedies against his devices.
4. Show how it comes to pass that he hath so many several devices to deceive, entangle, and undo the souls of men.
5. Lay down some propositions concerning Satan's devices.
 
 

For the proof of the point, take these few Scriptures : (Eph. 6. 11), 'Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.' The Greek word that is here rendered 'wiles,' is a notable emphatical word.

(1) It signifies such snares as are laid behind one, such treacheries as come upon one's back at unawares. It notes the methods or waylayings of that old subtle serpent, who, like Dan's adder 'in the path,' biteth the heels of passengers, and thereby transfuseth his venom to the head and heart (Gen. 49. 17). The word signifies an ambushment or stratagem of war, whereby the enemy sets upon a man at unawares.

(2) It signifies such snares as are set to catch one in one's road. A man walks in his road, and thinks not of it; on the sudden he is catched by thieves, or falls into a pit, etc.

(3) It signifies such as are purposely, artificially,' and craftily set for the taking the prey at the greatest advantage that can be. The Greek signifies properly a waylaying, circumvention, or going about, as they do which seek after their prey. Julian 3 by his craft, drew more from the faith than all his persecuting predecessors could do by their cruelty. So doth Satan more hurt in his sheep's skin than by roaring like a lion.

Take one scripture more for the proof of the point, and that is in 2 Tim. 2. 26, 'And that they might recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.' The Greek word that is here rendered recover themselves, signifies to awaken themselves. The apostle alludeth to one that is asleep or drunk, who is to be awakened and re-

2. 'ARTIFICIALLY'. HERE USED WITH THE SENSE OF 'BY THE USE OF AN ARTIFICE OR TRICK'.

3. JULIAN THE APOSTATE, ROMAN EMPEROR IN THE 4TH CENTURY, SHORTLY AFTER CONSTANTINE.

Take one proof more, and then I will proceed to the opening of the point, and that is in Rev. 2. 24, 'But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak, I will put upon you no other burden but to hold fast till I come.' These poor souls called their opinions the depths of God, when indeed they were the depths of Satan. You call your opinions depths, and so they are, but they are such depths as Satan hath brought out of hell. They are the whisperings and hissings of that serpent, not the inspirations of God.
 
 

SATAN'S DEVICES TO DRAW
THE SOUL TO SIN

Now, the second thing that I am to show you is, his several devices; and herein I shall first show you the several devices that he hath to draw the soul to sin. I shall instance in these twelve, which may bespeak our most serious consideration.

DEVICE I To present the bait and hide the hook; to present the golden cup, and hide the poison; to present the sweet, the pleasure, and the profit that may flow in upon the soul by yielding to sin, and by hiding from the soul the wrath and misery that will certainly follow the committing of sin. By this device he took our first parents : `And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die : for God doth know, that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened; and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil' (Gen. 3. 4-S). Your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods ! Here is the bait, the sweet, the pleasure, the profit. Oh, but he hides the hook, - the shame, the wrath, and the loss that would certainly follow! 4

There is an opening of the eyes of the mind to contemplation and joy, and there is an opening of the eyes of the body to shame and confusion. He promiseth them the former, but intends the latter, and so cheats them - giving them an apple in exchange for a paradise, as he deals by thousands now-a-days.

4. SO TO REDUCE DR ROWLAND TAYLOR, MARTYR, THEY PROMISED HIM NOT ONLY HIS PARDON, BUT A BISHOPRIC. ACTS & MON., FOXE.

Remedy (1). First, Keep at the greatest distance from sin, and from playing with the golden bait that Satan holds forth to catch you; for this you have (Rom. 12. 9), 'Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good.' When we meet with anything extremely evil and contrary to us, nature abhors it, and retires as far as it can from it. The Greek word that is there rendered `abhor,' is very significant; it signifies to hate it as hell itself, to hate it with horror.

Anselm used to say, 'That if he should see the shame of sin

5. THIS WORLD AT LAST SHALL BE BURNT FOR A WITCH, SAITH ONE. MANY ARE MISERABLE BY LOVING HURTFUL THINGS, BUT THEY ARE MORE MISERABLE BY HAVING THEM. AUGUSTINE IN PS. 16. MEN HAD NEED PRAY WITH BERNARD, GRANT US, LORD, THAT WE MAY SO PARTAKE OF TEMPORAL FELICITY, THAT WE MAY NOT LOSE ETERNAL.

Sin is a plague, yea, the greatest and most infectious plague in the world; and yet, ah ! how few are there that tremble at it, that keep at a distance from it ! (I Cor. 5. 6) : 'Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?' As soon as one sin had seized upon Adam's heart, all sin entered into his soul and overspread it. How hath Adam's one sin spread over all mankind! (Rom. 5. 12): 'Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.' Ah, how doth the father's sin infect the child, the husband's infect the wife, the master's the servant! The sin that is in one man's heart is able to infect a whole world, it is of such a spreading and infectious nature.

The story of the Italian, who first made his enemy deny God, and then stabbed him, and so at once murdered both body and soul, declares the perfect malignity of sin; and oh! that what hath been spoken upon this head may prevail with you, to stand at a distance from sin !

6. 'WITH A WITNESS' - USED IN THE SENSE OF, 'AND NO MISTAKE!'

7. IT WAS A DIVINE SAYING OF A HEATHEN, 'THAT IF THERE WERE NO GOD TO PUNISH HIM, NO DEVIL TO TORMENT HIM, NO HELL TO BURN HIM, NO MAN TO SEE HIM, YET WOULD HE NOT SIN FOR THE UGLINESS AND FILTHINESS OF SIN, AND THE GRIEF OF HIS OWN CONSCIENCE' (SENECA).

When the asp stings a man, it doth first tickle him so as it makes him laugh, till the poison, by little and little, gets to the heart, and then it pains him more than ever it delighted him. So doth sin; it may please a little at first, but it will pain the soul with a witness at last; yea, if there were the least real delight in sin, there could be no perfect hell, where men shall most perfectly be tormented with their sin.

Remedy (3). Solemnly to consider, That sin will usher in the greatest and the saddest losses that can be upon our souls. It will usher in the loss of that divine favor that is better than life, and the loss of that joy that is unspeakable and full of glory, and the loss of that peace that passeth understanding, and the loss of those divine influences by which the soul hath
 

8. WHEN THE GOLDEN BAIT IS SET FORTH TO CATCH US, WE MUST SAY AS DEMOSTHENES THE ORATOR DID OF THE BEAUTIFUL LAIS, WHEN HE WAS ASKED AN EXCESSIVE SUM OF MONEY TO BEHOLD HER, `I WILL NOT BUY REPENTANCE SO DEAR'; I AM NOT SO ILL A MERCHANT AS TO SELL ETERNALS FOR TEMPORALS. IF INTEMPERANCE COULD AFFORD MORE PLEASURE THAN TEMPERANCE HELIOGABALUS SHOULD HAVE BEEN MORE HAPPY THAN ADAM IN PARADISE (PLUTARCH).

It was a sound and savoury reply of an English captain at the loss of Calais, when a proud Frenchman scornfully demanded, When will you fetch Calais again, replied, When your sins shall weigh down ours. Ah, England! my constant prayer for thee is, that thou mayest not sin away thy mercies into their hands that cannot call mercy mercy, and that would joy in nothing more than to see thy sorrow and misery, and to see that hand to make thee naked, that hath clothed thee with much mercy and glory.

Remedy (4). Seriously to consider, That sin is of a very deceitful and bewitching nature.10 Sin is from the greatest deceiver, it is a child of his own begetting, it is the ground of all the deceit in the world, and it is in its own nature exceeding deceitful. 'But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.' Heb. 3.13. It will kiss the soul, and pretend fair to the soul, and yet betray the soul for ever. It will with Delilah smile upon us, that it may betray us into the hands of the devil, as she did Samson into the hands of the Philistines. Sin gives Satan a power over us, and an advantage to accuse us and to lay claim to us, as those that wear his badge; it is of a very bewitching nature; it bewitches the soul, where it is upon the throne, that the soul cannot leave it, though it perish eternal by it." Sin so bewitches the soul, that it makes the soul call evil good, and good evil; bitter sweet and sweet bitter, light darkness and darkness light; and a soul thus bewitched with sin will stand it out to the death, at the sword's point with God; let God strike and wound, and cut to the very bone, yet the bewitched soul cares not, fears not, but will still hold on in a course of wickedness, as you may see in Pharaoh, Balaam, and

9. 2 CHRON. I5. 3, 4; PS. 51. 12; IS.59. 8;; JER. 5. 2 & 17. 18.

10. IN SARDIS THERE GREW AN HERB, CALLED APPIUM SARDIS, THAT WOULD MAKE A MAN LIE LAUGHING WHEN HE WAS DEADLY SICK; SUCH IS THE OPERATION OF SIN.

11. WHICH OCCASIONED CHRYSOATOM TO SAY WHEN EUDOXIA THE EMPRESS THREATENED HIM, GO TELL HER, "NIL NISI PECCATUM TIMEO, " I HEAR NOTHING BUT SIN.'

When the physicians told Theotimus that except he did abstain from drunkenness and uncleanness he would lose his eyes, his heart was so bewitched to his sins, that he answered, 'Then farewell, sweet light'; he had rather lose his eyes than leave his sin. So a man bewitched with sin had rather lose God, Christ, heaven, and his own soul than part with his sin. Oh, therefore, for ever take heed of playing with or nibbling at Satan's golden baits.

DEVICE 2  By painting sin with virtue's colors. Satan knows that if he should present sin in its own nature and dress, the soul would rather fly from it than yield to it; and therefore he presents it unto us, not in its own proper colors, but painted and gilded over with the name and show of virtue, that we may the more easily be overcome by it, and take the more pleasure in committing of it. Pride, he presents to the soul under the name and notion of neatness and cleanliness, and covetousness (which the apostle condemns for idolatry) to be but good husbandry; 12 and drunkenness to be good fellowship, and riotousness under the name and notion of liberality, and wantonness as a trick of youth.

Remedy (1). Consider, That sin is never a whit the less filthy, vile, and abominable, by its being colored and painted with virtue's colors. A poisonous pill is never a whit the less poisonous because it is gilded over with gold; nor a wolf is never a whit the less a wolf because he hath put on a sheep's skin; nor the devil is never a whit the less a devil because he appears sometimes like an angel of light. So neither is sin any whit the

12. 'THRIFT', `ECONOMY'.

Remedy (2). That the more sin is painted forth under the color of virtue, the more dangerous it is to the souls of men. This we see evident in these days, by those very many souls that are turned out of the way that is holy - and in which their souls have had sweet and glorious communion with God - into ways of highest vanity and folly, by Satan's neat coloring over of sin, and painting forth vice under the name and color of virtue. This is so notoriously known that I need but name it. The most dangerous vermin is too often to be found under the fairest and sweetest flowers, the fairest glove is often drawn upon the foulest hand, and the richest robes are often put' upon the filthiest bodies. So are the fairest and sweetest names upon the greatest and the most horrible vices and errors that be in the world. Ah that we had not too many sad proofs of this amongst us !

Remedy (3). To look on sin with that eye [with] which within a few hours we shall see it. Ah, souls! when you shall lie upon a dying bed, and stand before a judgment-seat, sin shall be unmasked, and its dress and robes shall then be taken off, and then it shall appear more vile, filthy, and terrible than hell itself; then, that which formerly appeared most sweet will appear most bitter, and that which appeared most beautiful will appear most ugly, and that which appeared most delightful will then appear most dreadful to the soul." Ah, the shame, the pain, the gall, the bitterness, the horror, the hell that the sight of sin, when its dress is taken off, will raise in poor souls! Sin will surely prove evil and bitter to the soul when its robes are taken off. A man may have the stone who feels no fit of it. Conscience will work at last, though for the present one may feel no fit of accusation. Laban showed himself at parting. Sin will be bitterness in the latter end, when it shall appear to
 

13. TACITUS SPEAKS OF TIBERIUS, THAT WHEN HIS SINS DID APPEAR IN THEIR OWN COLOURS, THEY DID SO TERRIFY AND TORMENT HIM THAT HE PROTESTED TO THE SENATE THAT HE SUFFERED DAILY.

Remedy (4). Seriously to consider, That even those very sins that Satan paints, and puts new names and colours upon, cost the best blood, the noblest blood, the life-blood, the heart-blood of the Lord Jesus." That Christ should come from the eternal bosom of his Father to a region of sorrow and death; that God should be manifested in the flesh, the Creator made a creature; that he that was clothed with glory should be wrapped with rags of flesh; he that filled heaven and earth with his glory should be cradled in a manger; that the power of God should fly from weak man, the God of Israel into Egypt; that the God of the law should be subject to the law, the God of the circumcision circumcised, the God that made the heavens working at Joseph's homely trade; that he that binds the devils in chains should be tempted; that he, whose is the world, and the fullness thereof, should hunger and thirst; that the God of strength should be weary, the judge of all flesh condemned, the God of

14- SATAN, THAT NOW ALLURES THEE TO SIN, WILL ERE LONG MAKE THEE TO SEE THAT PECCATUM EST DEICUDIUM, SIN IS A MURDERING OF GOD; AND THIS WILL MAKE THEE MURDER TWO AT ONCE, THY SOUL AND THY BODY, UNLESS THE LORD IN MERCY HOLDS THY HANDS.

15. 2 SAM. 17. 23, AND MATT. 27. 5.

16. UNA GUTTULA PLUS VALET QUAM CCELUM ET TERRA; I.E. ONE LITTLE DROP (SPEAKING OF THE BLOOD OF CHRIST) IS MORE WORTH THAN HEAVEN AND EARTH (LUTHER).

After Julius Caesar was murdered, Antonius brought forth his coat, all bloody and cut, and laid it before the people, saying, 'Look, here you have the emperor's coat thus bloody and torn' : whereupon the people were presently in an uproar, and cried out to slay those murderers; and they took their tables and stools that were in the place, and set them on fire, and ran to the houses of them that had slain Caesar, and burnt them. So that when we consider that sin hath slain our Lord Jesus, ah, how should it provoke our hearts to be revenged on sin, that
 

17. ONE OF THE RABBINS, WHEN HE READ WHAT BITTER TORMENTS THE MESSIAS SHOULD SUFFER WHEN HE CAME INTO THE WORLD, CRIED OUT, VENIAT MESSIAS ET EGO NON VIDEAM, I.E. LET THE MESSIAS COME, BUT LET NOT ME SEE HIM! DIONYSIUS BEING IN EGYPT AT THE TIME OF CHRIST'S SUFFERING, AND SEEING AN ECLIPSE OF THE SUN, AND KNOWING IT TO BE CONTRARY TO NATURE, CRIED OUT, AUT DEUS NATUR¢ YARIRUR, OUR MUNDI MACHINA DISSOLVITUR, EITHER THE GOD OF NATURE SUFFERS, OR THE FRAME OF THE WORLD WILL BE DISSOLVED.

DEVICE 3 By extenuating and lessening of sin. Ah saith Satan, it is but a little pride, a little worldliness, a little uncleanness, a little drunkenness, etc. As Lot said of Zoar, 'It is but a little one, and my soul shall live' (Gen. 19. 20). Alas! saith Satan, it is but a very little sin that you stick so at. You may commit it without any danger to your soul. It is but a little one; you may commit it, and yet your soul shall live.

Remedy (I). First, Solemnly consider, That those sins which we are apt to account small, have brought upon men the greatest wrath of God, as the eating of an apple, gathering a few sticks on the Sabbath day, and touching of the ark. Oh ! the dreadful wrath that these sins brought down upon the heads and hearts of men ! 20 The least sin is contrary to the law of God, the nature of God, the being of God, and the glory of God; and therefore it is often punished severely by God; and do not we see daily the vengeance of the Almighty falling upon the bodies, names, states, families, and souls of men, for those sins that are but little ones in their eyes? Surely if we are not utterly left of God, and blinded by Satan, we cannot but see it. Oh ! therefore, when Satan says it is but a little one, do thou say, Oh! but those sins that thou callest little, are such as will cause God
 

18, IT IS AN EXCELLENT SAYING OF BEMARD,QUANTO PRO NOBIS VILIOR, RANTO NOBIS CHARIOR. THE MORE VILE CHRIST MADE HIMSELF FOR US, THE MORE DEAR HE OUGHT TO BE TO US.

19. NOLO VIVERE SINE VULNERE CUM TO VIDEO VULNERATUM. (0 MY GOD!) AS LONG AS I SEE THY WOUNDS, I WILL NEVER LIVE WITHOUT WOUNDS, SAID BONAVENTURA.

20. DRACO, THE RIGID LAWGIVER, BEING ASKED WHY, WHEN SINS WERE NOT EQUAL, HE APPOINTED DEATH TO ALL, ANSWERED, HE KNEW THAT ALL SINS WERE NOT EQUAL, BUT HE KNEW THE LEAST DESERVED DEATH. SO, THOUGH THE SINS OF MEN BE NOT ALL EQUAL, YET THE LEAST OF THEM DESERVES ETERNAL DEATH.

Remedy (2). Seriously to consider, That the giving way to a less sin makes way for the committing of a greater. He that, to avoid a greater sin, will yield to a lesser, ten thousand to one but God in justice will leave that soul to fall into a greater. If we commit one sin to avoid another, it is just we should avoid neither, we having not law nor power in our own hands to keep off sin as we please; and we, by yielding to the lesser, do tempt the tempter to tempt us to the greater. Sin is of an encroaching nature; it creeps on the soul by degrees, step by step, till it hath the soul to the very height of sin." David gives way to his wandering eye, and this led him to those foul sins that caused God to break his bones, and to turn his day into night, and to leave his soul in great darkness. Jacob and Peter, and other saints, have found this true by woeful experience, that the yielding to a lesser sin hath been the ushering in of a greater. The little thief will open the door, and make way for the greater, and the little wedge knocked in will make way for the greater. Satan will first draw thee to sit with the drunkard, and then to sip with the drunkard, and then at last to be drunk with the drunkard. He will first draw thee to be unclean in thy thoughts, and then to be unclean in thy looks, and then to be unclean in thy words, and at last to be unclean in thy practices. He will first draw thee to look upon the golden wedge, and then to like the golden wedge, and then to handle the golden wedge, and then at last by wicked ways to gain the golden wedge, though thou runnest the hazard of losing God and thy soul for ever; as you may see in Gehazi, Achan, and Judas, and many in these our days. Sin is never at a stand (Ps. i. i), first ungodly, then sinners, then scorners. Here they go on from sin to sin, till they come to the top of sin, viz. to sit in the seat of scorners, or as
 

21. PS. 137. 9, 'HAPPY SHALL HE BE THAT TAKETH AND DASHETH THY LITTLE ONES AGAINST THE STONES.' HUGO'S GLOSS IS PIOUS, SIT NIHIL IN TO BABYLONICUM, LET THERE BE NOTHING IN THEE OF BABYLON; NOT ONLY THE GROWN MEN, BUT THE LITTLE ONES MUST BE DASHED AGAINST THE STONES; NOT ONLY GREAT SINS, BUT LITTLE SINS MUST BE KILLED, OR THEY WILL KILL THE SOUL FOR EVER.

Austin,22 writing upon John, tells a story of a certain man, that was of an opinion that the devil did make the fly, and not God. Saith one to him, If the devil made flies, then the devil made worms, and God did not make them, for they are living creatures as well as flies. True, said he, the devil did make worms. But, said the other, if the devil did make worms, then he made birds, beasts, and man. He granted all. Thus, saith Austin, by denying God in the fly, became to deny God in man, and to deny the whole creation 23

By all this we see, that the yielding to lesser sins, draws the soul to the committing of greater .24 Ah! how many in these days have fallen, first to have low thoughts of Scripture and ordinances, and then to slight Scripture and ordinances, and then to make a nose of wax of Scripture and ordinances, and then to cast off Scripture and ordinances, and then at last to advance and lift up themselves, and their Christ-dishonoring and soul-damning opinions, above Scripture and ordinances. Sin gains upon man's soul by insensible degrees (Eccles. 10. 13) : 'The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness, and the end of his talking is mischievous madness.' Corruption in the heart, when it breaks forth, is like a breach in the sea, which begins in a narrow passage, till it eat through, and cast down all before it. The debates of the soul are quick, and soon ended, and that may be done in a moment that may undo a man for ever. When a man bath begun to sin, he knows not where, or when, or how he shall make a stop of sin. Usually the soul goes on from evil to evil, from folly to folly, till it be ripe for eternal misery. Men usually grow from being naught to be very naught, and from very naught to be stark naught, and then God sets them at nought for ever.
 

22. AUSTIN - A SHORTENED FORM OF AUGUSTINE.

23. AN ITALIAN HAVING FOUND HIS ENEMY AT ADVANTAGE, PROMISED HIM IF HE WOULD DENY HIS FAITH, HE WOULD SAVE HIS LIFE. HE, TO SAVE HIS LIFE, DENIED HIS FAITH, WHICH HAVING DONE HE STABBED HIM, REJOICING THAT BY THIS HE HAD AT ONE TIME TAKEN REVENGE BOTH ON BODY AND SOUL. DRUNK HEUNBEING LONG TEMPTED TO KILL HIS FATHER, OR LIE WITH HIS MOTHER, OR BE THOUGHT TO YIELD TO THE LESSER, VIZ. TO BE DRUNK, THAT HE MIGHT BE RID OF THE GREATER; BUT WHEN HE WAS DRUNK, HE DID BOTH KILL HIS FATHER, AND LIE WITH HIS MOTHER.

Remedy (3). The third remedy against this third device that Satan hath to draw the soul to sin, is solemnly to consider, That it is sad to stand with God for a trifle. Dives would not give a crumb, therefore he should not receive a drop (Luke 16. 2I). It is the greatest folly in the world to adventure the going to hell for a small matter. 'I tasted but a little honey,' said Jonathan, 'and I must die' (I Sam. 14. 29). It is a most unkind and unfaithful thing to break with God for a little. Little sins carry with them but little temptations to sin, and then a man shows most viciousness and unkindness, when he sins on a little temptation. It is devilish to sin without a temptation; it is little less than devilish to sin on a little occasion. The less the temptation is to sin, the greater is that sin." Saul's sin in not staying for Samuel, was not so much in the matter, but it was much in the malice of it; for though Samuel had not come at all, yet Saul should not have offered sacrifice; but this cost him dear, his soul and kingdom.

It is the greatest unkindness that can be showed to a friend, to adventure the complaining, bleeding, and grieving of his soul upon a light and a slight occasion. So it is the greatest unkindness that can be showed to God, Christ, and the Spirit, for a soul to put God upon complaining, Christ upon bleeding, and the Spirit upon grieving, by yielding to little sins. Therefore, when Satan says it is but a little one, do thou answer, that oftentimes there is the greatest unkindness showed to God's glorious majesty, in the acting of the least folly, and therefore thou wilt not displease thy best and greatest friend, by yielding to his greatest enemy.

Remedy (4). The fourth remedy against this device of Satan, is seriously to consider, That there is great danger, yea, many times most danger, in the smallest sins. 'A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump (I Cor. S. 6). If the serpent wind in his head, he will draw in his whole body after. Greater sins do sooner startle the soul, and awaken and rouse up the soul to

25. IT WAS A VEXATION TO KING LYSIMACHUS, THAT HIS STAYING TO DRINK ONE SMALL DRAUGHT OF WATER LOST HIM HIS KINGDOM; AND SO IT WILL ETERNALLY VEX SOME SOULS AT LAST THAT FOR ONE LITTLE SIN, COMPARED WITH GREAT TRANSGRESSIONS, THEY HAVE LOST GOD, HEAVEN, AND THEIR SOULS FOREVER. (PLUTARCH.)

Remedy (5). The fifth remedy against this device of Satan, is solemnly to consider, That other saints have chosen to suffer the worst of torments, rather than they would commit the least sin, i.e. such as the world accounts.28 So as you may see in Daniel and his companions, that would rather choose to burn, and be
 

26. CAESAR WAS STABBED WITH BODKINS. POPE ADRIAN WAS CHOKED WITH A GNAT. A SCORPION IS LITTLE, YET ABLE TO STING A LION TO DEATH. A MOUSE IS BUT LITTLE, YET KILLETH AN ELEPHANT, IF HE GETS UP INTO HIS TRUNK. THE LEOPARD BEING GREAT, IS POISONED WITH A HEAD OF GARLIC. THE SMALLEST ERRORS PROVE MANY TIMES MOST DANGEROUS. IT IS AS MUCH TREASON TO COIN PENCE AS BIGGER PIECES.

27. ONE LITTLE MISCARRIAGE DOTH, IN THE EYES OF THE WORLD, OVERSHADOW ALL A CHRISTIAN'S GRACES, AS ONE CLOUD DOTH SOMETIMES OVERSHADOW THE WHOLE BODY OF THE SUN.

28. IT IS BETTER TO DIE WITH HUNGER, THAN TO EAT THAT WHICH IS OFFERED TO IDOLS (AUGUSTINE).

I have read of that noble servant of God, Marcus Arethusius, minister of a church in the time of Constantine, who in Constantine's time had been the cause of overthrowing an idol's temple; afterwards, when Julian came to be emperor, he would force the people of that place to build it up again. They were ready to do it, but he refused; whereupon those that were his own people, to whom he preached, took him, and stripped him of all his clothes, and abused his naked body, and gave it up to the children, to lance it with their pen-knives, and then caused him to be put in a basket, and anointed his naked body with honey, and set him in the sun, to be stung with wasps. And all this cruelty they showed, because he would not do anything towards the building up of this idol temple; nay, they came to this, that if he would do but the least towards it, if he would give but a halfpenny to it, they would save him. But he refused all, though the giving of a halfpenny might have saved his life; and in doing this, he did but live up to that principle that most Christians talk of, and all profess, but few come up to, viz., that we must choose rather to suffer the worst of torments that men and devils can invent and inflict, than to commit the least sin whereby God should be dishonored, our consciences wounded, religion reproached, and our own souls endangered.

Remedy (6). The sixth remedy against this device of Satan is, seriously to consider, That the soul is never able to stand under the guilt and weight of the least sin, when God shall set it home upon the soul. The least sin will press and sink the

29. MANY HEATHENS WOULD RATHER DIE THAN COZEN OR CHEAT ONE ANOTHER, SO FAITHFUL WERE THEY ONE TO ANOTHER. WILL NOT THESE RISE IN JUDGMENT AGAINST MANY PROFESSORS IN THESE DAYS, WHO MAKE NOTHING OF OVER-REACHING ONE ANOTHER?

William Perkins mentions a good man, but very poor, who, being ready to starve, stole a lamb, and being about to eat it with his poor children, and as his manner was afore meat, to crave a blessing, durst not do it, but fell into a great perplexity of conscience, and acknowledged his fault to the owner, promising payment if ever he should be able.

Remedy (7). The seventh remedy against this device is, solemnly to consider, That there is more evil in the least sin than in the greatest affliction; and this appears as clear as the sun, by the severe dealing of God the Father with his beloved Son, who let all the vials of his fiercest wrath upon him, and that for the least sin as well as for the greatest.

'The wages of sin is death' (Rom. 6. 23); of sin indefinitely,
 

30. THE TYRANT MAXIMINUS, WHO HAD SET FORTH HIS PROCLAMATION ENGRAVEN IN BRASS FOR THE UTTER ABOLISHING OF CHRIST AND HIS RELIGION, WAS EATEN OF LICE.

31. ONE DROP OF AN EVIL CONSCIENCE SWALLOWS UP THE WHOLE SEA OF WORLDLY JOY. HOW GREAT A PAIN, NOT TO BE BORNE, COMES FROM THE PRICK OF THIS SMALL THORN, SAID ONE.

And so much for the remedies that may fence and preserve our souls from being drawn to sin by this third device of Satan.
 

D E V ICE 4 By presenting to the soul the best men's sins, and by hiding from the soul their virtues; by showing the soul their sins, and by hiding from the soul their sorrows and repentance: as by setting before the soul the adultery of David, the pride of Hezekiah, the impatience of job, the drunkenness of Noah, the blasphemy of Peter, etc., and by hiding from the soul the tears, the sighs, the groans, the meltings, the humblings, and repentings of these precious souls.

Remedy (I). The first remedy against this device of Satan is, seriously to consider, That the Spirit of the Lord hath been as careful to note the saints' rising by repentance out of sin, as he hath to note their falling into sins. David falls fearfully, but by repentance he rises sweetly : 'Blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, cleanse me from my sin; for I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow; deliver me from blood guiltiness, 0 God, thou God of my salvation.' It is true, Hezekiah's heart was lifted up under the abundance of mercy that God had cast in upon him; and it is as true that Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, so that the wrath
 

32. DEATH IS THE HEIR OF THE LEAST SIN; THE BEST WAGES THAT THE LEAST SIN GIVES HIS SOLDIERS IS, DEATH OF ALL SORTS. IN A STRICT SENSE, THERE IS NO SIN LITTLE, BECAUSE NO LITTLE GOD TO SIN AGAINST.

Clement notes that Peter so repented, that all his life after, every night when he heard the cock crow, he would fall upon his knees, and, weeping bitterly, would beg pardon of his sin. Ah, souls, you can easily sin as the saints, but can you repent with the saints? Many can sin with David and Peter, that cannot repent with David and Peter, and so must perish for ever.

Theodosius the emperor, pressing that he might receive the Lord's supper, excuses his own foul act by David's doing the like: to which Ambrose replies, Thou hast followed David transgressing, follow David repenting, and then think thou of the table of the Lord.

Remedy (2). The second remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider, That these saints did not make a trade
 

33. TERTULLIAN SAITH THAT HE WAS (NULLI REI NATUS NISI PARNITENTI¢) BORN FOR NO OTHER PURPOSE BUT TO REPENT.

34. LUTHER CONFESSES THAT, BEFORE HIS CONVERSION, HE MET NOT WITH A MORE DISPLEASING WORD IN ALL HIS STUDY OF DIVINITY THAN REPENT, BUT AFTERWARD HE TOOK DELIGHT IN THE WORD.

Remedy (3). The third remedy against this device of Satan is, seriously to consider, That though God doth not, nor never will, disinherit his people for their sins, yet he hath severely punished his people for their sins. David sins, and God breaks his bones for his sin: `Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice' (Ps. 51. 8). `And

35. THE SAINTS CANNOT SIN WITH A WHOLE WILL, BUT, AS IT WERE, WITH A HALF WILL, AN UNWILLINGNESS; NOT WITH A FULL CONSENT, BUT WITH A DISSENTING CONSENT.

36. THOUGH SIN DO (HABITARE) DWELL IN THE REGENERATE, AS AUSTIN NOTES, YET IT DOTH NOT (REGNARE) REIGN OVER THE REGENERATE; THEY RISE BY REPENTANCE.

The Jews have a proverb, 'That there is no punishment comes upon Israel in which there is not one ounce of the golden calf'; meaning that that was so great a sin, as that in every plague God remembered it; that it had an influence into every trouble that befell them. Every man's heart may say to him in his sufferings, as the heart of Apollodorus in the kettle, 'I have been the cause of this.' God is most angry when he shows no anger. God keep me from this mercy; this kind of mercy is worse than all other kind of misery.

One writing to a dead friend hath this expression : 'I account it a part of unhappiness not to know adversity; I judge you to be miserable, because you have not been miserable.' 38 It is mercy that our affliction is not execution, but a correction .39 He that hath deserved hanging, may be glad if he escape with a whipping. God's corrections are our instructions, his lashes our lessons, his scourges our schoolmasters, his chastisements our advertisements; 40 and to note this, both the Hebrews and the Greeks express chastening and teaching by one and the same word (Musar, Paideia 41), because the latter is the true end of the former, according to that in the proverb, 'Smart makes wit, and vexation gives understanding.' Whence Luther fitly calls affliction 'The Christian man's divinity.' So saith Job (Chap.33. 14-19)
 

37. JOSEPHUS REPORTS THAT, NOT LONG AFTER THE JEWS HAD CRUCIFIED CHRIST ON THE CROSS, SO MANY OF THEM WERE CONDEMNED TO BE CRUCIFIED, THAT THERE WERE NOT PLACES ENOUGH FOR CROSSES, NOR CROSSES ENOUGH FOR THE BODIES THAT WERE TO BE HUNG THEREON.

38. QUI NON EST CRUCIATUS NON EST CHRISTIANUS, SAITH LUTHER, THERE IS NOT A CHRISTIAN THAT CARRIES NOT HIS CROSS.

39. PS. 94. 12; PROVERBS. 3.12, 13, 16; OBAD. 6, 13; IS. 9. 1, ET SEQ.

40. ADMONITIONS.

41. PROVERBS. 3. 11; AND HEB. 12. 5, 7, 8, 11.

'God speaketh once, yea, twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, that he may withdraw man from his purpose and hide pride from man. He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword.' When Satan shall tell thee of other men's sins to draw thee to sin, do thou then think of the same men's sufferings to keep thee from sin. Lay thy hand upon thy heart, and say, 0 my soul ! if thou sinnest with David, thou must suffer with David.

Remedy (4). The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider, That there are but two main ends of God's recording of the falls of his saints.

And the one is, to keep those from fainting, sinking, and despair, under the burden of their sins, who fall through weakness and infirmity.

And the other is, that their falls may be as landmarks to warn others that stand, to take heed lest they fall. It never entered into the heart of God to record his children's sins, that others might be encouraged to sin, but that others might look to their standings, and hang the faster upon the skirts of Christ, and avoid all occasions and temptations that may occasion the soul to fall, as others have fallen, when they have been left by Christ. The Lord hath made their sins as landmarks, to warn his people to take heed how they come near those sands and rocks, those snares and baits, that have been fatal to the choicest treasures, to wit, the joy, peace, comfort, and glorious enjoyments of the bravest spirits and noblest souls that ever sailed through the ocean of this sinful troublesome world; as you may see in David, Job, and Peter. There is nothing in the world that can so notoriously cross the grand end of God's recording of the sins of his saints, than for any from thence to take encouragement to sin; and wherever you find such a soul, you may write him Christ-less, graceless, a soul cast off by God, a soul that Satan hath by the hand, and the eternal God knows whither he will lead him⁴²

DEVICE 5 To present God to the soul as one made up all of mercy. Oh ! saith Satan, you need not make such a matter of sin, you need not be so fearful of sin, not so unwilling to sin; for God is a God of mercy, a God full of mercy, a God that delights in mercy, a God that is ready to show mercy, a God that is never weary of showing mercy, a God more prone to pardon his people than to punish his people; and therefore he will not take advantage against the soul; and why then, saith Satan, should you make such a matter of sin?

Remedy (I). The first remedy is, seriously to consider, That it is the sorest judgment in the world to be left to sin upon any pretence whatsoever. 0 unhappy man! when God leaveth thee to thyself, and doth not resist thee in thy sins." Woe, woe to him at whose sins God doth wink. When God lets the way to hell be a smooth and pleasant way, that is hell on this side hell, and a dreadful sign of God's indignation against a man; a token of his rejection, and that God doth not intend good unto him. That is a sad word, 'Ephraim is joined to idols : let him alone' (Hosea 4. I7); he will be uncounsellable and incorrigible; he hath made a match with mischief, he shall have his bellyful of it; he falls with open eyes; let him fall at his own peril. And that is a terrible saying, 'So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lusts, and they walked in their own counsels' (Ps. 81. 12). A soul given up to sin is a soul ripe for hell, a soul posting to destruction. Ah Lord ! this mercy I humbly beg, that whatever thou givest me up to, thou wilt not give me up to the ways of my own heart; if thou wilt give
 

42. I HAVE KNOWN A GOOD MAN, SAITH BERNARD, WHO, WHEN HE HEARD OF ANY THAT HAD COMMITTED SOME NOTORIOUS SIN, HE WAS WONT TO SAY WITH HIMSELF, `ILLE HODIE ET EGO CRASS HE FELL TO-DAY, SO MAY I TO-MORROW.

43. HUMANUM EST PECCARE, DIABOLICUM PERSEVERARE, ET ANGELICUM RESURGERE (AUGUSTINE); I.E. IT IS A HUMAN THING TO FALL INTO SIN, A DEVILISH TO PERSEVERE THEREIN, AND AN ANGELICAL (OR SUPERNATURAL) TO RISE FROM IT.

Remedy (2). The second remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider, That God is as just as he is merciful. As the Scriptures speak him out to be a very merciful God, so they speak him out to be a very just God. Witness his casting the angels out of heaven (2 Peter 2. 4) and his binding them in chains of darkness 45 till the judgment of the great day; and witness his turning Adam out of Paradise, his drowning of the old world, and his raining hell out of heaven upon Sodom; and witness all the crosses, losses, sicknesses, and diseases, that be in the world; and witness Tophet, that was prepared of old; witness his 'treasuring up of wrath against the day of wrath, unto the revelation of the just judgments of God; but above all, witness the pouring forth of all his wrath upon his bosom Son, when he did bear the sins of his people, and cried out, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' (Matt. 27. 46).

Remedy (3). The third remedy against this device of Satan is, seriously to consider, That sins against mercy will bring the greatest and sorest judgments upon men's heads and hearts. Mercy is Alpha, justice is Omega. David, speaking of these attributes, placeth mercy in the foreward, and justice in the rearward, saying, 'My song shall be of mercy and judgment' (Ps. zoi. i). When mercy is despised, then justice takes the throne.46 God is like a prince, that sends not his army against rebels before he hath sent his pardon, and proclaimed it by a herald of arms : he first hangs out the white flag of mercy; if this wins men in, they are happy for ever; but if they stand out, then God will put forth his red flag of justice and judgment; if the one is despised, the other shall be felt with a witness.47

44. A ME, ME SALVA DOMINE; DELIVER ME, 0 LORD, FROM THAT EVIL MAN MYSELF (AUGTINE).

45, GOD HANGED THEM UP IN GIBBETS, AS IT WERE, THAT OTHERS MIGHT HEAR AND FEAR, AND DO NO MORE SO WICKEDLY.

46. QUANTO GRADERS ALTIOR, CANTO CASES GRAVIOR; THE HIGHER WE ARE IN DIGNITY, THE MORE GRIEVOUS IS OUR FALL AND MISERY.

See this in ,the Israelites. He loved them and chose them when they were in their blood, and most unlovely. He multiplied them, not by means, but by miracle; from seventy souls they grew in few years to six hundred thousand; the more they were oppressed, the more they prospered. Like camomile, the more you tread it, the more you spread it; or to a palm-tree, the more it is pressed, the further it spreadeth; or to fire, the more it is raked, the more it burneth. Their mercies came in upon them like Job's messengers, one upon the neck of the other : He put off their sackcloth, and girded them with gladness, and 'compassed them about with songs of deliverance'; he 'carried them on the wings of eagles'; he kept them 'as the apple of his eye,' etc.48 But they, abusing his mercy, became the greatest objects of his wrath. As I know not the man that can reckon up their mercies, so I know not the man that can sum up the miseries that are come upon them for their sins. For as our Saviour prophesied concerning Jerusalem, 'that a stone should not be left upon a stone,' so it was fulfilled forty years after his ascension, by Vespasian the emperor and his son Titus, who, having besieged Jerusalem, the Jews were oppressed with a grievous famine, in which their food was old shoes, leather, old hay, and the dung of beasts. There died, partly of the sword and partly of the famine, eleven hundred thousand of the poorer sort; two thousand in one night were embowelled; six thousand were burned in a porch of the temple; the whole city was sacked and burned, and laid level to the ground; and ninety-seven thousand taken captives, and applied to base and miserable service, as Eusebius and Josephus saith.49 And to this day, in all parts of the world, are they not
 

47. DEUS RARDUS EST AD IRAM, SED TARDITATEM GRAVITATE PANTS COMPENSAT: GOD IS SLOW TO ANGER, BUT HE RECOMPENSETH HIS SLOWNESS WITH GRIEVOUSNESS OF PUNISHMENT. IF WE ABUSE MERCY TO SERVE OUR LUST, THEN, IN SALVIAN'S PHRASE, GOD WILL RAIN HELL OUT OF HEAVEN, RATHER THAN NOT VISIT FOR SUCH SINS.

48. PS. 32. 7; EXOD. 19- 4; DEUT. 32. TO.

49. VESPASIAN BRAKE INTO THEIR CITY AT KEDRON, WHERE THEY TOOK CHRIST, ON THE SAME FEAST DAY THAT CHRIST WAS TAKEN; HE WHIPPED THEM WHERE THEY WHIPPED CHRIST; HE SOLD TWENTY JEWS FOR A PENNY, AS THEY SOLD CHRIST FOR THIRTY PENCE.

the off-scouring of the world? None less beloved, and none more abhorred, than they.50

And so Capernaum, that was lifted up to heaven, was threatened to be thrown down to hell. No souls fall so low into hell, if they fall, as those souls that by a hand of mercy are lifted up nearest to heaven. You slight souls that are so apt to abuse mercy, consider this, that in the gospel days, the plagues that God inflicts upon the despisers and abusers of mercy are usually spiritual plagues; as blindness of mind, hardness of heart, benumbedness of conscience, which are ten thousand times worse than the worst of outward plagues that can befall you. And therefore, though you may escape temporal judgments, yet you shall not escape spiritual judgments : 'How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?' (Heb. 2. 3) saith the apostle. Oh! therefore, whenever Satan shall present God to the soul as one made up all of mercy, that he may draw thee to do wickedly, say unto him, that sins against mercy will bring upon the soul the greatest misery; and therefore whatever becomes of thee, thou wilt not sin against mercy.

Remedy (4). The fourth remedy against this device of Satan, is seriously to consider, That though God's general mercy be over all his works, yet his special mercy is confined to those that are divinely qualified." So in Exodus 34. 6, 7: 'And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty.' Exodus 20. 6, 'And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.' Ps. 25. 10, 'All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth, unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.' Ps. 32. 10, 'Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.' Ps. 33.18  'Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him,
 

50  SO. MEN ARE THEREFORE WORSE, BECAUSE THEY OUGHT TO BE BETTER; AND SHALL BE DEEPER IN HELL, BECAUSE HEAVEN WAS OFFERED UNTO THEM; BUT THEY WOULD NOT. GOOD TURNS AGGRAVATE UNKINDNESSES, AND MEN'S OFFENCES ARE INCREASED BY THEIR OBLIGATIONS.

51. AUGUSTUS, IN HIS SOLEMN FEASTS, GAVE TRIFLES TO SOME, BUT GOLD TO OTHERS THAT HIS HEART WAS MOST SET UPON. SO GOD, BY A HAND OF GENERAL MERCY, GIVES THESE - POOR TRIFLES - OUTWARD BLESSINGS, TO THOSE THAT HE LEAST LOVES; BUT HIS GOLD, HIS SPECIAL MERCY, IS ONLY TOWARDS THOSE THAT HIS HEART IS MOST SET UPON.

Remedy (5). The fifth remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider, That those that were once glorious on earth, and are now triumphing in heaven, did look upon the mercy of God as the most powerful argument to preserve them from sin, and to fence their souls against sin, and not as an encouragement to sin. Ps. 26. 3-5: 'For thy loving-kindness is before mine eyes, and I have walked in thy truth; I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers. I have hated the congregation of evildoers, and will not sit with the wicked.' So Joseph strengthens himself against sin from the remembrance of mercy : 'How then can I,' saith he, 'do this great wickedness, and sin against God?' (Gen. 39. 9). He had his eye fixed upon mercy, and therefore sin could not enter, though the irons entered into his soul; his soul being taken with mercy, was not moved with his mistress's impudence. Satan knocked oft at the door, but the sight of mercy would not suffer him to answer or open. Joseph, like a pearl in a puddle, keeps his virtue still." So Paul: "Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that
 

52. THE STONE CALLED PONTAURUS, IS OF THAT VIRTUE, THAT IT PRESERVES HIM THAT CARRIES IT FROM TAKING ANY HURT BY POISON. THE MERCY OF GOD IN CHRIST TO OUR SOULS IS THE MOST PRECIOUS STONE OR PEARL IN THE WORLD, TO PREVENT US FROM BEING POISONED WITH SIN.

DEVICE 6 By persuading the soul that the work of repentance is an easy work, and that therefore the soul need not make such a matter of sin. Why ! Suppose you do sin, saith Satan, it is no such difficult thing to return, and confess, and be sorrowful, and beg pardon, and cry, 'Lord, have mercy upon me!' and if you do but this, God will cut the score,53 and pardon your sins, and save your souls.
By this device Satan draws many a soul to sin, and makes many millions of souls servants or rather slaves to sin.

Remedy (I). The first remedy is, seriously to consider, That repentance is a mighty work, a difficult work, a work that is above our power. There is no power below that power that raised Christ from the dead, and that made the world, that can break the heart of a sinner or turn the heart of a sinner. Thou art as well able to melt adamant, as to melt thine own heart; to turn a flint into flesh, as to turn thine own heart to the Lord; to raise the dead and to make a world, as to repent. Repentance is a flower that grows not in nature's garden. 'Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil' (Jer. 13:23). Repentance is a gift that comes down from above."' Men are not born with repentance in their hearts, as they are born with tongues in their mouths : (Acts 5. 3I) : 'Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.' So in 2 Tim. 2. 25: 'In meekness instructing them that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.' It is not in the power of any mortal to repent at pleasures" Some ignorant deluded souls vainly conceit that these five words, 'Lord! have mercy upon me,' are efficacious to send them to heaven; but as many are undone by buying a counterfeit jewel, so many are in hell by mistake of their repentance. Many rest in their repentance, though it may be but the shadow of repentance, which caused one to say, 'Repentance damneth more than sin.'

Remedy (2). The second remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider of the nature of true repentance. Repentance is some other thing than what vain men conceive
 

54. Fallen man hath lost the command of himself, and the command of the creatures. And certainly he that cannot command himself cannot repent of himself.

55. It was a vain brag of king Cyrus, that caused it to be written upon his tomb I could do all things'; so could Paul too, but it was 'through Christ, which strengthened him'

56. The Hebrew word for repentance signifies to return, implying a going back from what a man had done. It notes a turning or converting from one thing to another, from sin to God. The Greeks have two words by which they express the nature of repentance one signifies to be careful, anxious, solicitous, after a thing is done; the other word denotes afterwit, or after-wisdom, the mind's recovering of wisdom, or growing wiser after our folly. True repentance is a thorough change both of the mind and manners. Repentance for sin is nothing worth without repentance from sin. If thou repentest with a contradiction, saith Tertullian, God will pardon thee with a contradiction; if thou repentest and yet continuest in thy sin, God will pardon thee, and yet send thee to hell; there is a pardon with a contradiction. Negative goodness serves no man's turn to save him from the axe.

The act, subject, terms.

(I) The formal act of repentance is a changing and converting. It is often set forth in Scripture by turning. 'Turn thou me, and I shall be turned,' saith Ephraim; 'after that I was turned, I repented,' saith he (Jer. 31. 18, I9). It is a turning from darkness to light.

(2) The subject changed and converted is the whole man; it is both the sinner's heart and life : first his heart, then his life; first his person, then his practice and conversation. 'Wash you. make you clean,' there is the change of their persons; 'Put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do well' (Is. I. 16, I7); there is the change of their practices. So 'Cast away,' saith Ezekiel, 'all your transgressions whereby you have transgressed;' there is the change of the life; 'and make you a new heart and a new spirit' (18. 31); there is the change of the heart.

(3) The terms of this change and conversion, from which and to which both heart and life must be changed; from sin to God. The heart must be changed from the state and power of sin, the life from the acts of sin, but both unto God; the heart to be under his power in a state of grace, the life to be under his rule in all new obedience; as the apostle speaks, 'To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God' (Acts 26. I8). So the prophet Isaiah saith, 'Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord' (55. 7).

Thus much of the nature of evangelical repentance. Now, souls, tell me whether it be such an easy thing to repent, as Satan doth suggest. Besides what hath been spoken, I desire that you will take notice, that repentance Both include turning from the most darling sin. Ephraim shall say, 'What have I to do any more with idols?' (Hosea 14. 8). Yea, it is a turning from all sin to God (Ezek. 18. 30) : 'Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.' Herod turned from many, but turned not from his Herodias, which was his ruin. Judas turned from all visible wickedness, yet he would not cast out that golden devil covetousness, and therefore was cast into the hottest place in hell. He that turns not from every sin, turns not aright from any one sin. Every sin strikes at the honour of God, the being of God, the glory of God, the heart of Christ, the joy of the Spirit, and the peace of a man's conscience; and therefore a soul truly penitent strikes at all, hates all, conflicts with all, and will labor to draw strength from a crucified Christ to crucify all. A true penitent knows neither father nor mother, neither right eye nor right hand, but will pluck out the one and cut off the other. Saul spared but one Agag, and that cost him his soul and his kingdom (i Sam. IS. 9). Besides, repentance is not only a turning from all sin, but also a turning to all good; to a love of all good, to a prizing of all good, and to a following after all good (Ezek. 18. 2T): 'But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die;' that is, only negative righteousness and holiness is no righteousness nor holiness."' David fulfilled all the will of God, and had respect unto all his commandments, and so had Zacharias and Elizabeth. It is not enough that the tree bears not ill fruit; but it must bring forth good fruit, else it must be 'cut down and cast into the fire' (Luke 13. 7). So it is not enough that you are not thus and thus wicked, but you must be thus and thus gracious and good, else divine justice will put the axe of divine vengeance

57. It is said of Ithacus, that the hatred of the Priscilian heresy was all the virtue that he had. The evil servant did not riot out his talent (Matt. 25. t8). Those reprobates (Matt. 25. 41-45), robbed not the saints, but relieved them not; for this they must eternally perish.

Also true repentance includes a sensibleness of sin's mischievousness; how it cast angels out of heaven, and Adam out of paradise; how it laid the first corner stone in hell, and brought in all the curses, crosses, and miseries, that be in the world; and how it makes men liable to all temporal, spiritual and eternal wrath; how it hath made men Godless, Christless, hopeless and heavenless.

Further, true repentance doth include sorrow for sin, contrition of heart. It breaks the heart with sighs, and sobs, and groans, for that a loving God and Father is by sin offended, a blessed Saviour afresh crucified, and the sweet Comforter, the Spirit, grieved and vexed.

Again, repentance doth include, not only a loathing of sin, but also a loathing of ourselves for sin. As a man doth not only loathe poison, but he loathes the very dish or vessel that hath the smell of the poison; so a true penitent doth not only loathe his sin, but he loathes himself, the vessel that smells of it; so Ezek. 20. 43: 'And there shall ye remember your ways and all your doings, wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed.' True repentance will work your hearts, not only to loathe your sins, but to loathe yourselves."

Again, true repentance doth not only work a man to loathe himself for his sins, but it makes him ashamed of his sin also 'What fruit had ye in those things whereof ye are now ashamed?' saith the apostle (Rom. 6. 21). So Ezekiel: 'And thou shalt be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more, because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all

58. True repentance is a sorrowing for sin, as it is an offence to God and against God. This both comes from God, and drives a man to God, as it did the church in the Canticles, and the prodigal.

I shall conclude this second remedy with a worthy saying of a precious holy man : 'Repentance,' saith he, 'strips us stark naked of all the garments of the old Adam, and leaves not so much as a shirt behind.' In this rotten building it leaves not a stone upon a stone. As the flood drowned Noah's own friends and servants, so must the flood of repenting tears drown our sweetest and most profitable sins.

Remedy (3). The third remedy against this device of Satan is seriously to consider, That repentance is a continued act. The word repent implies the continuation of it." True repentance inclines a man's heart to perform God