happiness of serving a holy God, surely then thou hast an answer ready by thee, against this wicked one comes to draw thee to sin. Canst thou think of fouling thy hands about his base, nasty drudgery, after they have been used to so pure and fine work as the service of thy (iod is ? Listen not to Satan's motions, ex- cept thou hast a mind to be wicked. Secondly, They are called wicked as a name of contempt, for the encouragement of all believers in their combat with them ; as if God had said, Fear them not, they are a wicked company you go against ; cause, and they who defend it, both wicked. And truly, if tlie saints must have enemies, the worse they are tlie better it is. It would put mettle into a coward to fight with such a crew. Wickedness must needs be weak ; the devil's guilt in their own bosoms tells them their cause is lost before the battle is fought. They fear thee, Christian, because thou art holy, and therefore thou needst not be dismayed at them who are wicked. Thou lookest on them as subtile, mighty, and many, and then thy heart fails thee ; but look on all these subtile, mighty spirits as wicked, ungodly wretches, that hate God more than thee, yea, thee for thy kindred to him, and thou canst not but take heart. Whose side is God on, that thou art afraid ? Will he that rebuked kings for touching his anointed ones, and doing them harm in their bodies and estates, stand still, thinkest thou, and suffer these wicked spirits to attempt the life of God himself in thee, thy grace, thy holiness, without coming into thy help? it is impossible.
Secondly, The saints' enemy is set out by their unity ; fiery darts of the wicked, ' of the wicked one ;" as if all were shot out of the same bow and by the same hand ; as if the Christian's fight were a single duel with one single enemy. All the legions of devils, and multitudes of wicked men and women, make but one great enemy ; they are all one mystical body of wickedness, as Christ and his saints one mystical holy body. One spirit acts Christ and his saints ; so one spirit acts devils, and ungodly men his limbs : the soul is in the little toe, and the spirit of the devil in the least of sinners. But I have spoke something of this subject elsewhere.
Thirdly, The saints' enemy is here described by his warlike provision, or weapons he usetli in fight against them : ' darts,' and those of the worst kind, ' fiery darts. '
First, Darts. The devil's temptations are the dai-ts he useth against the soids of men and women^andmay fitly be so called in a threefold respect. First, Darts, or arrows, they are swift ; thence is our usual expression, ' As swift as an arrow out of a bow.' Lightning is called God's arrow, because it flies swiftly, Psa. xviii. 14 : 'He sent out his arrows and scattered them ; he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them ;' that is, lightning like arrows. Satan's temptations fly like a flash of lightning, not long of coming. He needs no more time than the cast of an eye for the dispatch of a temptation. David's eye did hut im- awares fall upon Bathsheba, and the devil's arrow was in his heart before he could shut this casement. Or the hearing of a word or two : thus when David's servants had told what Nabal, the churl, said, David's choler was presently up ; an arrow of revenge wounded him to the heart. What quicker than a thought ? yet how often is that a temptation to us : one silly thought riseth in a duty, and our hearts, before intent upon the work, are on a sudden carried away, like a spaniel after a bird that springs up before him as he goes after his master ; yea, if one temptation speeds not, how soon can he send another after it ! as quick as the nimblest archer ; no sooner than one arrow is delivered, but he hath another on the string. Secondly, Darts or arrows fly secretly, and so do tempt- ations. First, The arrow often comes afar ofi^; a man may be wounded with a dart, and not see who shot it. The wicked are said to ' shoot their arrows in secret at the perfect,' Psa. Ixiv. 4 ; and then ' they say, Who shall see them,' ver. 4. Thus Satan lets fly a temptation so secretly that he is hardly suspected in the thing. Sometimes he useth a wife's tongue to do his errand ; another while he gets behind the back of a husband, friend, servant, Src, and is not seen all the while he is doing his work. Who would have thought to have found a devil in Peter tempting liis Master, or suspected that Abraham should he his instrument to betray his beloved wife into the hands of a sin ? yet it was so. Nay, sometimes he is so secret that he borrows God's bow to shoot his arrows from, and the poor Christian is abused, thinking it is God chides and is angry, when it is the devil that tempts him to think so, and only counterfeits
ABOVE ALL, TAKING THE SHIELD OF FAITH. 477