2. Satan, by troubling the saints' peace, hath this advantage of laying a stumbling block in the way of others; by this policy, the devil gets an occasion to render the ways of God unlovely to those who are looking heaven-ward. He sets before new- beginners, the perplexing thoughts, the tears, the groans of them who are wounded in sj)irit, to scar them quite off from all se- riousness in religion. He will object to new beginners, " Do you not see how these sad souls torture themselves with melan- choly thoughts, and will you change the comforts and pleasures of this life to sit al- wavs in the house of mourninjr ? Will you espouse that religion, which makes you a terror to yourselves, and a burden to oth- ers? Can you be in love with such a reli- gion, as is ready to fright you out of your wits?" This advantiige the devil gets by troubling the saints' peace, — he would dis- courage others wlio are looking towards heaven, — he would beat them off from prayer, and heariiiff all soul-awakening ser- mons, lest they fall into this black humour of melancholy, and end their days in des- pair.
3. By this subtle policy of Satan, in dis- turbing the saints' peace, and making theiu believe God doth not love them, he hath
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tills aflvantage, he sometimes so fai* prevails over tliem, as to make tliem beijin to enter- tain hard thoughts of God. Through the black sjiectacles of melancholy, God's deal- ings look sad and ghastly. Satan tempts the godly to have strange thoughts of God, — to think he hath cast off all pity, and hath forgotten to be gracious, Ps. Ixxvii., and to make sad conclusions, Isa. xxxviii. 13., " I reckoned, that as a lion, so will he break all my bones : from day, even to night, wilt thou make an end of me." The devil set- ting in with melancholy, causeth a sad e- clipse in the soul ; it begins to think, God hath shut up the springs of mercy, and there is no hope. Hereupon Satan getteth further advantage of a troubled spirit ; sometimes he puts the troubled soul upon sinful wishes and execrations against itself; Job, in distemper of mind, cursed his birth- day. Job. iii. 3. Job, though he did not Gurse his God, yet he cursed his birth-day. Thus you see what advantages the devil gets by raising storms, and troubling the saints' peace ; and let me tell you, if the devil is capable of any delight, it is to see the saints' disquiets, — their groans ai'e his music, — 'tis a sport to him to see them tor- ture themselves upon the rack of melan- choly, and almost drown themselves in tears. When the godly have unjust surmises of God, — question his love, — deny the work of grace, and fall to wishing they had ne- ver been born, — now Satan is ready to clap Lis hands, and shout for a victory.
Having shewn you the advantages the devil gets by this temptation of disturbing the saints' peace, I shall answer a question, By what arts and methods doth Satan^ in templing, disturb the saints' peace ?
Ans. 1. Satan slily conveys evil thoughts, and ihen makes a Christian believe they come from his own heart. The cup was found in Benjamin's sack, but it was of Jo- sej)h's putting in : so a child of God often finds atheistical, blasphemous thoughts in his mind, but Satan hath cast them in. The devil doth as some, lay their children at another's door : so Satan lays his temp- tations at our door, — fathers them upon us, — and then we trouble ourselves about them, and nurse them, as if they were our own.
A. 2. Satan disturbs the saints' peace* by drawing forth their sins in the most black colours, to affright them, and make them ready to give up the ghost. Satan is called the accuser of the brethren, not only because he accuscth them to God, but ac- cuseth them to themselves ; he tells them they are guilty of such sins, and they are hypocrites ; whereas the sins of a believer shew only that grace is not perfect, not th.it he hath no grace. When Satan comes with this temptation, shew him that scrip- ture, 1 John. i. 7., " The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."