duties. I am afraid if one should rise from the dead, his arguments would not win upon you, but you would hold on in your sins, and ne- glect his service, though you lost your souls for ever, &C.1
The fifth device Satan hath to draw souls off from religious ser- vices, and to keep souls off from holy duties, is,
Device (5). By 'presenting to them the 'paucity and poverty of those that walk in the ways of God, that hold on in religious practices. Saith Satan, Do not you see that those that walk in such and such religious ways are the poorest, the meanest, and the most despicable persons in the world ? This took with them in John vii. 47-49, ' Then answered the pharisees, Are ye also deceived ? Have any of the rulers, or of the pharisees, believed on him ? But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed/
Now the remedies against this device are these that follow :
Remedy (1). The first remedy against this device of Satan is, to consider, That though they are outwardly poor, yet they are in- wardly rich. Though they are poor in temporals, yet they are rich in spirituals.2 The worth and riches of the saints is inward. ' The King's daughter is all glorious within/ Ps. xlv. 13. ' Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him ?' saith James ii. 5. ' I know thy poverty, but thou art rich,' saith John to the church of Smyrna,' Rev. ii. 4. What though they have little in possession, yet they have a glorious kingdom in rever- sion. ' Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's pleasure to give you a kingdom,' Luke xii. 32. Though saints have little in hand, yet they have much in hope. You count those happy, in a worldly sense, that have much in reversion, though they have little in possession; and will you count the saints miserable because they have little in hand, little in possession, though they have a glorious kingdom in reversion of this ? I am sure the poorest saint that breathes will not exchange, were it in his power, that which he hath in hope and in reversion, for the possession of as many worlds as there be stars in heaven, or sands in the sea, &c.
Remedy (2). The second remedy against this device of Satan is, to consider, That in all ages God hath had some that have been great, rich, wise, and honourable, that have chosen his ways, and cleaved to his service in the face of all difficulties. Though not many wise men, yet some wise men ; and though not many mighty, yet some mighty have ; and though not many noble, yet some noble have. Witness Abraham, and Jacob, and Job, and several kings, and others that the Scriptures speak of. And ah ! how many have we among ourselves, whose souls have cleaved to the Lord, and who have swum to his service through the blood of the slain, and who have not counted
1 Finis movet ad agendum, the end moves to doing. Tene mensuram et respice finem, keep thyself within compass, and have an eye always to the end of thy life and actions, was Maximilian the emperor's motto.
2 Do not you see, saith Chrysostom, the places where treasures are hid, are rough and overgrown with thorns ? Do not the naturalists tell you, that the mountains that are hig with gold within, are bare of grass without ? Saints have, as scholars, poor com- mons here, because they must 3tudy hard to go to heaven.
82 PRECIOUS REMEDIES [2 COR. II. 11.
their lives dear unto them, that they and others might enjoy the holy things of Christ, according to the mind and heart of Christ, &C.1
Remedy (3). The third remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider, That the spiritual riches of the poorest saints do infinitely transcend the temporal riches of all the wicked men in the world ; their spiritual riches do satisfy them ; they can sit down satisfied with the riches of grace that be in Christ, without honours, and without riches, &c.2 ' He that drinks of that water that I shall give him, shall thirst no more,' John iv. 13. The riches of poor saints are durable ; they will bed and board with them ; they will go to the prison, to a sickbed, to a grave, yea, to heaven with them. The spiritual riches of poor saints are as wine to cheer them, and as bread to strengthen them, and as cloth to warm them, and as armour to protect them. Now, all you that know anything, do know that the riches of this world cannot satisfy the souls of men, and they are as fading as a flower, or as the owners of them are, &c.5
Remedy (4). The fourth remedy against this device is, seriously to consider, That though the saints, considered comparatively, are few; though they be 'a little, little flock,' 'a remnant,' 'a garden enclosed,' ' a spring shut up, a fountain sealed;' though they are as ' the sum- mer gleanings;' thoughthey are ' one of a city, and two of a tribe ;'*■ though they be but a handful to a house fid, a spark to a flame, a drop to the ocean, yet consider them simply in themselves, and so they are an innumerable number that cannot be numbered. As John speaketh : ' After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands,' Rev. vii. 9. So Matthew speaks : ' And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,' Mat. viii. 11. So Paul : ' But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first- born, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect/ Heb. xii. 22.8
Remedy (5). The fifth remedy against this device of Satan is, seriously to consider, That it will be but as a day before these poor despised saints shall shine brighter than the sun in his glory. It will not be long before you will wish, Oh ! that we were now among the poor, mean de- spised ones in the day that God comes to make up his jewels ! It will not be long before these poor few saints shall be lifted up upon their thrones to judge the multitude, the world, as the apostle speaks : ' Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world ?' 1 Cor. vi. 2. And in that
1 Good nobles, saith one, are like black swans ; and [are] tbinly scattered in the fir- mament of a State, even like stars of the first magnitude ; yet some God hath had in all apes, as might be shewed out of histories.
* Alexander's vast mind inquired if there were any moro worlds to conquer.
* Crassus was so rich that he maintained an army with his own revenues ; yet he, his great army, with his son and heir, fell together, and left his great estate to others.