3 When the noble General Zedislaus had lost his hand in the wars of the king of Poland, the king sent him a golden hand for it. What we lose in Christ's service he will make up, by giving us some golden mercies. Though the cross be bitter, yet it is but short ; a little storm, as one said of Julian's persecution, and an eternal calm follows.
74 PRECIOUS REMEDIES [2 CoR. II. 11.
thou slmlt be in heaven presently/ said the martyr.1 Oh, therefore, let not afflictions or troubles work thee to shun the ways of God, or to quit thai service that should be dearer to thee than a world, yea, than thy very life, &c.
The third device that Satan hath to hinder souls from holy and heavenly services, and from religious performances, is,
Device (3). By presenti/ng to the soul the difficulty of jMrformi/ng them. Saith Satan, it is so hard and difficult a thing to pray as thou Bhouldst, and to wait on God as thou shouldst, and to walk with God as thou shouldst, and to be lively, warm, and active in the communion of saints, as thou shouldst, that you were better ten thousand times to neglect them, than to meddle with them ; and doubtless by this de- vice Satan hath and doth keep off thousands from waiting on God, and from giving to him that service that is due to his name.
Now, the remedies against this device of Satan are these :
Remedy (1). The first remedy against this device of Satan is, To dwell more upon the necessity of the service and duty, titan on the difficulty that doth attend the duty. You should reason thus with your souls : O our souls, though such and such services be hard and difficult, yet are they not exceeding necessary for the honour of God, and the keeping up his name in the world, and the keeping under of sin, and the strengthening of weak graces, and so the reviving of lan- guishing comforts, and for the keeping clear and bright your blessed evidences, and for the scattering of your fears, and for the raising of your hopes, and for the gladding the hearts of the righteous, and stopping the mouths of unrighteous souls, who are ready to take all advantages to blaspheme the name of God, and throw dirt and con- tempt upon his people and ways. Oh, never leave thinking on the necessity of this and that duty, till your souls be lifted up far above all the difficulties that do attend religious duties.2
Remedy (2). The second remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider, That the Lord Jesus will make his services easy to you, by the sweet discovery of himself to your souls, whilst you are in his service. ' Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh right- eousness, those that remember thee in thy ways,' as the prophet Isaiah saith, Isa. lxiv. 5.3 If meeting with God, who is goodness it- self, beauty itself, strength itself, glory itself, will not sweeten his service to thy soul, nothing in heaven or earth will.
Jacob's meeting with Rachel, and enjoying of Rachel, made his hard service to be easy and delightful to him ; and will not the soul's enjoying of God, and meeting with God, render his service to be much more easy and delightful? Doubtless it will. The Lord will give that
1 Paulisper 0 senex, oculos claude, nam statim lumen Dei videbis.— Sozomen, lib. ii. cap. ii. — G.
- The necessity of doing your duty appears by tins, that you are his servants by a threefold right ; you are his servants (jure creationis, jure suslentationis, jure redemptiunu) by right of creation, ami by right of sustentation, aud by right of redemption.
:l nyjD, Paganta, is diversely taken ; but most take the word here, to meet a soul with those bowels of love and tenderneSB as the fattier of the prodigal met the prodigal with. God is lJaler miserationum, ho i3 all bowels ; he is swift to shew mercy, as he is slow to anger.
2 Cor. II. 11.] against satan's devices. 75
sweet assistance by his Spirit and grace, as shall make his service joyous and not grievous, a delight and not a burden, a heaven and not a hell, to believing souls.1 The confidence of this divine assistance raised up Nehemiah's spirit far above all those difficulties and dis- couragements that did attend him in the work and service of the Lord, as you may see in Nehemiah ii. 19, 20, ' But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do 1 will ye rebel against the king ? Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us ; therefore we his servants will arise and build : but you have no right, nor portion, nor memorial, in Jerusalem/ Ah, souls, while you are in the very service of the Lord, you shall find by ex- perience, that the God of heaven will prosper you, and support you, and encourage and strengthen you, and carry you through the hardest service, with the greatest sweetness and cheerfulness that can be. Remember this, that God will suit your strength to your work, and in the hardest service you shall have the choicest assistance.
Remedy (3). The third remedy against this device of Satan is, To dwell upon the hard and difficult things that the Lord Jesus hath passed through for your temporal, spiritual, and eternal good. Ah, what a sea of blood, a sea of wrath, of sin, of sorrow and misery, did the Lord Jesus wade through for your internal and eternal good ! 2 Christ did not plead, This cross is too heavy for me to bear; this wrath is too great for me to lie under ; this cup, which hath in it all the in- gredients of divine displeasure, is too bitter for me to sup off,3 how much more to drink the very dregs of it ? No, Christ stands not upon this; he pleads not the difficulty of the service, but resolutely and bravely wades through all, as the prophet Isaiah shews: 'The Lord God hath opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away my back. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair ; I hid not my face from shame and spitting/ chap. 1. 6. Christ makes nothing of his Father's wrath, the burden of your sins, the malice of Satan, and the rage of the world, but sweetly and trium- phantly passes through all. Ah, souls ! if this consideration will not raise up your spirits above all the discouragements that you meet with, to own Christ and his service, and to stick and cleave to Christ and his service, I am afraid nothing will. A soul not stirred by this, not raised and lifted up by this, to be resolute and brave in the service of God, notwithstanding all dangers and difficulties, is a soul left of God to much blindness and hardness.4