and brings hell with it. Now let Satan come, if he please, and present a lust never so enticing, the Christian's answer is ready : Be not cheated, O my soul, saith faith, with a lying spirit. He shews thee a fair Rachel, hut he intends thee a blear-eyed Leah; he promises joy, but he will pay thee soitow. The clothes that make this lust so comely are not its own. The sweetness thou takest is not native, but borrowed to deceive thee withal. ' Thou art Saul,' said the witch of Endor, ' why hast thou deceived me?' Thus faith can call sin and Satan by their own names, when they come in a disguise ; Thou art Satan, saith faith, why wouldst thou deceive me ? God hath said, sin is bitter as gall and wormwood, and wouldst thou make me believe I can gather the sweet fruits of true delight from this root of bitterness ? grapes from these thorns ?
Secondly, Faith doth not only enable the soul to see the nature of all sin void of true pleasure, but also how transient its false pleasures are ; I will not lose, saith faith, sure mercies for transient, uncertain pleasures. This made Moses leap out of the pleasures of the Egyptian court into the fire of affliction, Heb. xi. 25, because he saw them ' pleasures for a season.' Should you see a man in a ship throw himself overboard into the sea, you might at first think him out of his wits, but if a little while after you should see him stand safe on the shore, and the ship swallowed up of the waves, you would then think he took the wisest course. Faith sees the world and all the pleasures of sin sink- ing ; there is a leak in them which the wit of man cannot stop. Now, is it not better to swim by faith through a sea of trouble, and get safe to heaven at last, than to sit in the lap of sinful pleasiu'es, till we drown in hell's gulph ? It is im- possible the pleasure of sin should last long. First, Because it is not natural. Whatever is net natural soon decays ; the nature of sugar is to be sweet, and therefore it holds its sweetness, but sweeten beer or wine never so much with sugar, in a few days they will lose their sweetness. The pleasure of sin is extrinsical to its nature, and therefore will corrupt. None of that sweetness which now bewitches sinners will be tasted in hell. The sinner shall have his cup spiced there by his hand that will have it a bitter draught. Secondly, The pleasures of sin must needs be short, because life cannot be long, and they both end together. Indeed, many times the pleasure of sin dies before the man dies : sinners live to bury their joy in this woi-ld. The worm breeds in their con- science before it breeds in their flesh by death. But be sure the pleasure of sin never survives this world. The word is gone out of God's mouth, every sinner shall ' lie down in sorrow, and wake in sorrow.' Hell is too hot a climate for wanton delights to live in. Now, faith is a provident, wise grace, and makes the soul bethink itself how it may live in another world ; whereas, the cai-nal heart is all for the present; his snout is in the trough, and while his draught lasts, he thinks it will never end. But faith hath a large stride : at one pace it can reach over a whole life of years, and see them done while they are but begin- ning. ' I have seen an end of all perfection,' saith David; he saw the wicked when growing on their bed of pleasure, cut down, and burning in God s oven, as if it were done already, Psa. xxxvii. 2 ; and faith will do the same for every Christian, according to its strength and activity. And who would envy the condemned man his feast which he hath in his way to the gallow^s ?
Thirdly, Faith outvies Satan's profiers, by shewing the soul where choicer enjoyments are to be had at a cheaper rate. Indeed, best is best cheajJ. Who will not go to that shop where he may be best served? This law holds in force among sinners themselves : the drunkard goes Avhere he "may have the best wine ; the glutton, where he may have the best cheer. Now faith presents such enjoyments to the soul, that are beyond all compare best ; it leads to the pro- mise, and entertains it there at Christ's cost, with all the rich dainties of the gospel ; not a dish that the saints feed on in heaven, but faith can set it before the soul, and give it, though not a full meal, yet such a taste as shall melt it in joy vmspeakable and full of glory. This sure must needs quench the tempt- ation. When Satan sends to invite the Christian to his gross fare, will not the soul say. Should I forsake those pleasures that cheered, yea, ravished my heart, to go and debase myself with sin's polluted bread, where I shall be but a fellow- commoner with the beast, (who shares in sensual pleasures with man,) yea, become worse than the beast ; a devil, like Judas, who aro^e from his Master's table to sit at the devil's.
ABOVE ALL, TAKING THE SHIELD OF FAITH. 48 J