now he labours to set the soul on fire, by his affrighting temptations; much more doth he labour to do it, when Christ hath got the castle out ofhis hands and keeps it by the power ofhis grace. It is very observable, that all the darts shot against Job were of this sort ; he hardly made any use of the other, when God gave him leave to practise his skill. Why did he not tempt him with some golden apple of profit or pleasure, or such-like enticing temptations? Surely, the high testimony God gave to this his eminent servant discouraged Satan from this method : yea, no doubt, he had tried Job's manhood before this, as to those, and found him too hard ; so that now he had no other way left probable to attain his design but this. I shall content myself with three instances of this sort of fiery darts, showing how faith quenches them all : temptations to atheism, blasphemy, and despair.
Skction II. — -The first is, his temptation to atheism, which, for the horrid nature thereof, may well be called a fiery dart; partly because by this he makes so bold an attempt, striking at the being of God himself; as also, because of the consternation he produceth in a gracious soul wounded with it. It is true, the devil, who cannot himself tiu-n atheist, is much less able to make a child of God an atheist, who hath not only, in common with other men, an indelible stamp of Deity in his conscience, but such a sculpture of the Divhie nature in his heart, as irresistibly demonstrates a God ; yea, lively represents a holy God, whose image it is ; so that it is impossible a holy heart should be fully overcome with this temptation, having an argument beyond all the world of wicked men, and devils themselves, to prove a Deity, that is, a new nature in him, ' created after God in righteousness and true holiness;' by which, even when he is buffeted with atheistical injections, he saith in his heart there is a God, though Satan, in the paroxysm of the temptation, clouds his reasoning faculty for the present with this smoke of hell, which doth more offend and affi-ight, than persuade his gracious heart to espouse such a jirinciple, as it doth in a wicked man ; who, when on the contrary he is urged by his conscience to believe on God, saith in his heart, 'There is no God;' that is, he wisheth there were none. And this may exceedingly comfort a saint, (who, notwithstanding such injections to atheism, clings about God in his affections, and dares not for a world allow liimself to sin against him; no, not when most oppressed with this temptation,) that he shall not pass for an atheist in God's account, whatever Satan makes him believe. As the wicked shall not be cleared from atheism by their naked profession of Deity, so long as those thoughts of God are so loose and weak, as not to command them into any obedience to his commands, Psa. xxxvi. I : ' The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes;' the holy prophet argues from the wickedness of the sinner's life, to the atheism of his heart; so on the contrary, the holy life of a gracious person, saith in mine heart, that the fear of God is before his eyes : it appears plainly, that he believes a God, and reveres that God whom he believes to be. Well, though a gracious heart can never be overcome, yet he may be sadly disquieted with it. Now in the next place, I am to show you how the Christian may quench this fiery dart, and that is, by faith alone.
Quest. But what need of faith ? Will not reason serve the turn to stop the devil's mouth in this point? Cannot the eye of reason espy a Deity except it look through the spectacles of faith ? Ans. I grant that this is a piece of natural divinity, and reason is able to demonstrate the being of a God ; whei'e the Scriptures never came, a Deity is acknowledged : Micah iv. 5, ' All people will walk, every one in the name of his god:' where it is supposed, that every nation owns some deity, and hath a worship for that god which they own : yet in a furious assault of temptation, it is faith alone that is able to keep the field, and quench the fire of this dart. First, That light which reason affords, is duskish and confused, serving for little more than in general to shew there is a God ; it will never tell who or what this God is. Till Paul bi-ought the Athenians acquainted with the true God, how little of this first principle in religion was known among them, though that city was then the very eye of the world for learning ! And if the world's eye was so dark, as not to know the God they worshipped, what then was the world's darkness itself, — those barbarous places, which wanted all tillage and cvdturc of human literature, to .idvanco and perfect their understandings? This is a Scripture notion, and so is the object of faith.
490 ABOVE ALL, TAKING THE SHIELD OF FAITH.