Remedy (3). The third remedy against this device of Satan is, seriously to consider, That those precious souls which Jesus Christ hath done and suffered as much for as he hath for you, have been exceeding active and lively in all religious services and heavenly performances.2 He did as much and suffered as much for David as for you, and yet who more in praying and praising God than David ? ' Seven times a day will I praise the Lord,' Ps. cxix. 174. Who more in the studying and meditating on the word than David ? 'The law is my meditation day and night/ Ps. cxix. 97. The same truth you may run and read in Jacob, Moses, Job, Daniel, and in the rest of the holy prophets and apostles, for whom Christ hath done as much for as for you. Ah, how have all those worthies abounded in works of righteous- ness and holiness, to the praise of free grace ? Certainly Satan hath got the upper hand of those souls that do argue thus. Christ hath done such and such glorious things for us, therefore we need not make any care and conscience of doing such and such religious services as men say the word calls for. If this logic be not from hell, what is ? Ah, were the holy prophets and apostles alive to hear such logic come out of the mouths of such as profess themselves to be interested in the great and glorious things that Jesus Christ hatb done for his chosen ones, how would they blush to look upon such souls ! and how would their hearts grieve and break within them to hear the language and to observe the actings of such souls.3
Remedy (4). The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is, seriously to consider this, That those that do not walk in the ways of righteousness and holiness, that do not wait upon God in the several duties and services that are commanded by him, cannot have that evidence to their own souls of their righteousness before God, of their fellowship and communion with God, of their blessedness here, and their happiness hereafter, as those souls have, that love and de- light in the ways of the Lord, that are always best when they are most in the works and service of the Lord} ' Little children/ saith
1 Tace, lingua ; loquere, vita, talk not of a good life, hut let thy life speak. Your actions in passing pass not away ; for every good work is a grain of seed for eternal life.
2 The saints' motto in all ages hath been Laboremus, let us be doing. God love?. Curristas, not Quairistas, the runner, not the questioner or disputer, saith Luther.
3 The day is at hand when God will require of men, Nonquidlegerint, sedquid egerint. nee quid dixcrint, sed quomodo vixeriat. He that talks of heaven, but doth not the will of God, is like him that gazed upon the moon, but fell into the pit.
4 Certainly it, is one thing to judge by our graces, another thing to rest or put our trust in them. There is a great deal of difference betwixt declaring and de- serving. As David's daughters were known by their garments of divers colours, so are God's children by their piety and sanctity. A Christian's emblem should be an house walking towards heaven. High words surely make a man neither holy nor just ; but a virtuous life, a circumspect walking, makes him dear to God. A tree that is not fruitful is for the fire. Christianity is not a talking, but a walking with
80 PRECIOUS REMEDIES [2 COR. II. 11.
the apostle, 'lit do man deceive you: he that doth righteousness is righteous, even as be is righteous,' 1 John iii. 7. ' In this,' saith the same apostle, ' the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil ; whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth qoI his brother,' ver. 10. ' If ye know that he is righteous/ Baith t he same apostle, ' ye know that every one that dotli righteousness, is born <>f him. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his com- mandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whosoever keepeth Ins word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know wo that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also to walk, even as he walked/ ' If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth ; hut it' we walk in the light, as he is in the light, Ave have fel- lowship one with another ; and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin/ saith the same apostle, 1 John ii. 4-G, and i. G, 7. So James ii. 14, '20, ' What cloth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have no works ; can faith save him V i. o. it cannot. 'For as the body without spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.' To look after holy and heavenly works, is the best way to preserve the soul from being deceived and deluded by Satan's delusions, and by sudden flashes of joy and comfort ; holy works being a more sensible1 and constant pledge of the precious Spirit, begetting and maintaining in the soul more solid, pure, clear, strong, and lasting joy. Ah souls ! As you would have in yourselves a constant and a blessed evidence of your fellowship with the Father and the Son, and of the truth of grace, and of your future happiness, look that you cleave close to holy services ; and that you turn not your backs upon religious duties.
Remedy (5). The fifth remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider, That there are other choice and glorious ends for ll/>' saint's performance of relicjioiis duties, than for the justifying of their persons before God, erfortheir satisfying of the law or justice of God, or for the purchasing of the pardon of sin, &c. viz., totestify their justification.2 ' A good tree cannot but bring forth good fruits/ Mat. vii. 17, to testify their love to God, and their sincere obedience to the commands of God ; to testify their deliverance from spiritual bond- age, to evidence the indwellings of the Spirit, to stop the mouths of the worst of men, and to glad those righteous souls that God would not have sadded. These, and abundance of other choice ends there be, why those that have an interest in the glorious doings of Christ, should, notwithstanding that, keep close to the holy duties and religiqus ser- vices that are commanded by Christ. And if these considerations will not prevail with you, to wait upon God in holy and heavenly
God, who will not be put off with words ; if lie miss of fruit, lie will fake up his axe, and then tin' soul is cut off for ever. — [Query, ' horse' ? But prefixed to a volume of 1656, called 'Sacred Principles, Services and Soliloquies, or a Manual of Devotions,' is a singular frontispiece, having this very emblem of a 'house' ascending upward, re- presentative, as explained in quaint accompanying verse, of the Church. So that the mixed metaphor belongs to the period. — G.] 1 ' Conscious.' — G.
2 It is a precious truth, never to he forgotten. Quod non actilus, sed finibus pensanlur officio,, that duties are esteemed not by their acts, but by their cuds.
2 Cor. II. 11.] against satan's devices. 81