2 2 Tim. iv. 17, Isa. xi. 7, Ezek. iii. 10, Mat. vii. 6, Rev. xxii. 15, Luke xiii. 32, Isa. x. 17, Ezek. ii. G, Judges ix. 14, Job xxi. 18, Ps. lxxxiii. 13, Ps. xviii. 42, Ezek. xxii. IS. 19, Isa. lxv. 5, Ezek. xxiv. 6.
3 Lactantius says of Lucian [nee diis, nee hominibvs jiqiereil). he spared neither God nor man ; such monsters are wicked men. which should render their company to all that have tasted of the sweetness of divine love, a burden and not a delight.
4 Vide Bezam, i. c. the Annott. of Beza, in loc. — G.
B 0 Lord, let me not go to hell, where the wicked are ; for Lord, thou knowest I never
2 Cor. II. 11.] against satan's devices. G3
The second thing to be shewed is,
The several devices that Satan hath, as to draw souls to sin, so to keep souls from holy duties, to hinder souls in holy services, and to keep them off from religious performances.
' And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him,' Zech. iii. 1.
The truth of this I shall shew you in the following particulars :
The first device that Satan hath to draw souls from holy duties, and to keep them off from religious services, is,
Device (1). By presenting the world in such a dress, and in such a garb to the soul, as to ensnare the soul, and to win upon the affec- tions of the soul. He represents the world to them in its beauty and bravery,1 which proves a bewitching sight to a world of men.2 (It is true, this took not Christ, because Satan could find no matter in him for his temptation to work upon.) So that he can no sooner cast out his golden bait, but we are ready to play with it, and to nibble at it ; he can no sooner throw out his golden ball, but men are apt to run after it, though they lose God and their souls in the pursuit. Ah! how many professors in these days have for a time followed hard after God, Christ, and ordinances, till the devil hath set before them the world in all its beauty and bravery, which hath so bewitched their souls that they have grown to have low thoughts of holy things, and then to be cold in their affections to holy things, and then to slight them, and at last, with the young man in the Gospel, to turn their backs upon them. Ah ! the time, the thoughts, the spirits, the hearts, the souls, the duties, the services, that the inordinate love of this wicked world doth eat up and destroy, and hath ate up and destroyed. Where one thousand are destroyed by the world's frowns, ten thousand are destroyed by the world's smiles. The world, siren-like, it sings us and sinks us ; it kisses us, and betrays us, like Judas ; it kisses us and smites us under the fifth rib, like Joab. The honours, splendour, and all the glory of this world, are but sweet poisons, that will much endanger us, if they do not eternally destroy us.3 Ah ! the multitude of souls that have sur- feited of these sweet baits and died for ever.
Now the remedies against this device of Satan are these,
Remedy (1). The first remedy against this device of Satan is, To dtvett upon the impotency and weakness of all these things here below. They are not able to secure you from the least evil, they are not able to pro- cure you the least desirable good. The crown of gold cannot cure the headache, nor the velvet slipper ease the gout, nor the jewel about the
loved their company here, said a gracious gentlewoman, when she was to die, heing in much trouble of conscience. 1 ' Finery.' — G.
2 The beauty of the world foils a Christian more than the strength ; the flattering sunshine more than the blustering storm. In storms we keep our garments close about us [as in the fable of the sun and wind. — G].
3 The inhabitants of Nilus are deaf by the noise of the waters ; so the world makes such a noise in men's ears, that they cannot hear the things of heaven. The world is like the swallows' dung, that put out Tobias his eyes. The champions could not wring an apple oat of Milo's hand by a strong hand, but a fair maid, by fair means, got it presently.
G-t PRECIOUS REMEDIES [2 COR. II. 11.
neck cannot take away the pain of the teeth. The frogs of Egypt entered into the rich men's houses of Egypt, as well as the poor. Our daily experience doth evidence this, that all the honours, riches, &c, that men enjoy, cannot free them from the cholic, the fever, or lesser diseases.1 Nay, that which may seem most strange is, that a great deal of wealth cannot keep men from falling into extreme poverty : Judges i. G, you shall find seventy kings, with their fingers and toes cut off, glad, like whelps, to lick up crumbs under another king's table ; and shortly after, the same king that brought them to this penury, is reduced to the same poverty and misery. Why then should that be a bar to keep thee out of heaven, that cannot give thee the least ease on earth ?
Remedy (2). The second remedy against this device of Satan is, To divell upon the vanity of them as well as upon the impotency of all worldly good. This is the sum of Solomon's sermon, 'Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity.' This our first parents found, and therefore named their second son Abel, or vanity. Solomon, that had tried these things, and could best tell the vanity of them, he preacheth this sermon over again and again, ' Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity/ It is sad to think how many thousands there be that can say with the preacher, ' Vanity of vanities, all is vanity/ nay, swear it, and yet follow after these things as if there were no other glory, nor felicity, but what is to be found in these things they call vanity.2 Such men will sell Christ, heaven, and their souls for a trifle, that call these things vanity, but do not cor- dially believe them to be vanity, but set their hearts upon them as if they were their crown, the top of all their royalty and glory. Oh let your souls dwell upon the vanity of all things here below, till your hearts be so throughly convinced and persuaded of the vanity of them, as to trample upon them, and make them a footstool for Christ to get up, and ride in a holy triumph in your hearts 3
Chrysostom said once, ' That if he were the fittest in the world to preach a sermon to the whole world, gathered together in one congre- gation, and had some high mountain for his pulpit, from whence he might have a prospect of all the world in his view, and were furnished with a voice of brass, a voice as loud as the trumpets of the arch- angel, that all the world might hear him, he would choose to preach upon no other text than that in the Psalms,' O mortal men, how long will ye love vanity, and follow after leasing ? Ps. iv. 2.
1 The prior in Melancthon rolled his hand up and down in a basinful of angels, thinking thereby to have charmed his gout, but it would not do. Nugas the Scythian, despising the rich presents and ornaments that were sent unto him by the emperor of Constantinople, asked whether those things could drive away calamities, diseases, or death.