1 Luther speaks excellently to Melancthon, who was apt to be discouraged with doubts and difficulties, and fear from foes, and to cease the service they had undertaken. ' If the work be not good, why did we ever own it ? If it be good, why should we ever de- cline it ? Why, saith he, should we fear the conquered world, that have Christ the conqueror on our side ' ? [From the Reformer's Letters during the diet of Augsburg, a.d. 1530. Cf. D'Aubigne, Hist, of Ref. ; c. xiv. § 10, c. 6.— G.]
2 It is not fit, since the Head was crowned with thorns, that the members should be crowned with rosebuds, saith Zanch[ius]. 3 Qu. 'sip of? — Ed.
4 Godfrey of Bullen [Bouillon], first king of Jerusalem, refused to be crowned with a crown of gold, saying, it became not a Christian there to wear a crown of gold, where Christ for our salvation had sometime worn a crown of thorns. [Cf. Tasso. — G.]
76 PRECIOUS REMEDIES [2 COR II. 11.
Remedy (4). The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is to consider, That religious duties, holy and heavenly exercises, are only difficult to the worse, to the ignoble, part of a saint. They are not to the noble and better part of a saint, to the noble part, the soul, and the renewed affections of a saint. Holy exercises are a heavenly pleasure and recreation, as the apostle speaks: 'I delight in the law of God, alter the inward man : with my mind I serve the law of God, though with my flesh the law of sin,' Rom. vii. 22. To the noble part of a saint, ( Ihrist's 'yoke is easy, and his burden is light,' Mat. xi. :>().' All the commands and ways of Christ (even those that tend to the ] lulling out of right eyes and cutting off of right hands) are joyous, and not grievous, to the noble part of a saint.2 All the ways and ser- vices of Christ are pleasantness, in the abstract, to the better part of a saint. A saiut, so far as he is renewed, is always best when he sees must of God, when he tastes most of God, when he is highest in his enjoyments of God, and most warm and lively in the service of God. Oh, saith the noble part of a saint, that it might be always thus! Oh that my strength were the strength of stones, and my flesh as brass, that my worser part might be more serviceable to my noble part, that I might act by an untired power in that service, that is a pleasure, a paradise, to me.
Remedy (5). The fifth remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider, That great reward and glorious recommence that doth attend those that cleave to the service of the Lord in the face of all difficulties and discouragements. Though the work be hard, yet the wages is great. Heaven will make amends for all. Ay, one hour's being in heaven will abundantly recompense you for cleaving to the Lord and his ways in the face of all difficulties. This carried the apostle through the greatest difficulties. He had an eye ' to the recompence of reward ;' he looked for ' a house that had founda- tions, whoso builder and maker was God,' and for 'a heavenly country.' Yea, this bore up the spirit of Christ in the face of all difficulties and discouragements : ' Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith ; who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God,'Heb. xii. 2.3
Christians that would hold on in the service of the Lord, must look more upon the crown than upon the cross, more upon their future glory than their present misery, more upon their encouragements than upon their discouragements. God's very service is wages ; his ways are strewed with roses, and paved 'with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory/ and with 'peace that passeth understanding.' Some degree of comfort follows every good action, as heat accompanies fire,
1 xzwr'f, ie- my yoke is a benign, a gracious, a pleasant, a good, and a gainful yoke, < pposed to Tovroo:, painful, tedious.
2 As every Bower hath its sweet savour, so every good duty carries meat in the mouth,
i in the performance of it. 8 Basil Bpeaka of some martyrs that were cast out all night naked in a cold, frosty time, ami were to I": burned the next day, how they comforted themselves in this manner: 'I lie winter is sharp, bul paradise is sweet ; here we shiver for cold, but the bosom of A.1 raham will make amends for all.
2 Cor. II. 11.] against satan's devices. 77
as beams and influences issue from the sun : ' Moreover, by them is thy servant warned, and in keeping of them there is great reward,' Ps. xix. 11. Not only for keeping, but in keeping of them, there is great reward.1 The joy, the rest, the refreshing, the comforts, the con- tents, the smiles, the incomes2 that saints now enjoy in the ways of God, are so precious and glorious in their eyes, that they would not exchange them for ten thousand worlds. Ah ! if the vails3 be thus sweet and glorious before pay-day comes, what will be that glory that Christ will crown his saints with for cleaving to his service in the face of all difficulties ; when he shall say to his Father, 'Lo, here am I, and the children which thou hast given me,' Isa. viii. 18. If there be so much to be had in a wilderness, what then shall be had in para- dise % &c.
The fourth device that Satan hath to keep souls off from holy exer- cises, from religious services, is,
Device, (4). By working them to make false inferences from those blessed and glorious things that Christ hath done. As that Jesus Christ hath done all for us, therefore there is nothing for us to do but to joy and rejoice. He hath perfectly justified us, and fulfilled the law, and satisfied divine justice, and pacified his Father's wrath, and is gone to heaven to prepare a place for us, and in the mean time to intercede for us ; and therefore away with praying, and mourning, and hearing, &c. Ah ! what a world of professors hath Satan drawn in these days from religious services, by working them to make such sad, wild, and strange inferences from the sweet and excellent things that the Lord Jesus hath done for his beloved ones.
Now, the remedies against this device are these :