ware (errors I mean that have laid long upon his hand) only turning them a little after the mode of the times, and they go for new light; under the skirt of Cln-istian liberty, he conveys in libertinism ; 1)y crying up the Spirit, ha decries and vilifies the Scripture"; by magnifying faith, he labours to undermine repentance, and blow up goojj works ; by bewailing the corruption of the church in its administration, he draws unstable souls from it, and amuseth them, till at last they fall into a vertigo, and can see no church at all in being. And he prevails no less on the hearts and lives of men by this wile, than on their judg- ments. Under the notion of zeal, he kindles sometimes a dangerous flame of passion and wrath in the heart, which, like a rash fire, makes the Christian's spirit boil over into unchristian desires of and prayers for revenge where he should forgive, of which we have an instance in the disciples, Luke ix. 55 ; where two holy men are desiring that ' fire may come down from heaven.' Little did they think from whence they had their coal that did so heat them, till Christ told them, ' Ye know not what spirit ye are of.' Sometimes he pretends pity and natural affection, which in some cases may be good counsel, and all tlie while he desires to promote cowardice and sinful self love, whereby the Christian may be brought to fly from his colours, shrink from the truth, or decline some necessai-y duty of his calling ; this his wile Christ soon spied, when he got Peter to be his spokesman, saying, 'Master, pity thyself;' who stopped his mouth with that sharp rebuke, ' Get thee behind me, Satan.' O what need have we to study the Scriptures, our hearts, and Satan's wiles, that we may not bid this enemy welcome, and all the while think it is Christ that is our guest !_
A second policy he useth is, to get intelligence of the saints' affairs. This is one great wheel in the politicians' clock, to have spies in all places, by whom tliey are acquainted with the counsels and motions of their enemies, and this gives them advantage, as to disappoint their designs, so more safely to com- pass their ovm. It is no hard matter for him to play his game well that sees his enemy's hand. David knew how the squares went at court; Jonathan's arrows carried him the news, and accordingly he removed his quarters, and was too hard for his great enemy Saul. Satan is the greatest intelligencer in the world ; he makes it his business to inquire into the inclinations, thoughts, affections, puqjoses of the creature, that finding which humour abounds, he may apply himself accordingly which way the stream goes, that he may open the passage of temptation, and cut the channel to the fall of the creature's affections, and not force it against the torrent of nature. Now, if we consider but the piercing apprehension of the angelical nature, how quick he is to take the scent which way the game goes, by a word dropped, the cast of an eye, or such a small matter, signal enough to give him the alarm, his experience in heart-anatomy, having inspected, and (as it were) dissected so many in his long practice, whereby his knowledge is much perfected ; as also his great diligence to add to both these, being as close a student as ever, considering the saints and studying how he may do them a mischief, as we see in Job's case, whom he had so observed, that he was able to give an answer ex tempore to God, what Job's state and present posture was, and what might be the most probable means of obtaining his will of him ; and besides all this, the correspondence that he hath with those in and about the Christian, from whom he learns much of his state, as David by Hushai, in Absalom's council, — all these considered, it is almost impossible for the creature to stir out of the closet of his heart, but it will be known whither he inclines : some corrupt passion or other will bewray the sold to him, as they did David to Saul, who told him where he might find him, 'in the wilderness of Engedi,' 1 Sam. xxiv. 1. Thus will these give in- telligence to Satan ; and say. If thou wouldest surprise such a one, he is gone that way, you shall have him in the wood of worldly employments, over head and ears in the desires and cares of this life ; see where another sits, under such a bower, delighting himself in this child, or that gift, endowment of mind, or the like ; lay but the lime-twig there, and you sludl soon have him in it. Now Satan, having this intelligence, lets him alone to act his part ; he sure cannot be at a loss himself, when his scholars (the Jesuits, I mean,) have such agility of mind, to wreathe and cast themselves into any form becoming the persons they would seduce. Is ambition the lust the heart favoiu's? O the pleasing projects
2Q THAT YE MAY BE ABLE TO STAND