Remedy (5). The fifth remedy against this device of Satan is, To labour more and more to be filled with tlie fulness of God, and to be enriched with all spiritual and heavenly things. What is the reason that the angels in heaven have not so much as an idle thought ? It is because they are filled with the fulness of God, Eph. iii. 19.6 Take it for an experienced truth, the more the soul is filled with the fulness of God and enriched with spiritual and heavenly things, the less room
1 Thoughts are the first-born, the blossoms of the soul, the beginning of our strength, whether for good or evil, and they are the greatest evidences for or against a man that can be.
2 Ps. exxxix. 23 ; Isa. lix. 7, lxvi. 18 ; Mat. ix. 4. xii. 25.
8 Zeno, a wise heathen, affirmed God even beheld the thoughts. Mat xv. 15-18.
4 Tears instead of gems were tho ornaments of David's bed when lie had 'sinned; and b I they must be thine, or else thou must lie down in the bed of sorrow forever.
5 Inward bleeding kills man J a man ; so will sinful thoughts, if not repented of.
6 The words are an Hebraism. The, Hebrews, when they would set out many ex- cellent things, they add the name of God to it: city of God, cedars of God, wrestlings of God. So here, ' That ye may be tilled with the fulness of God.'
2 Cor 11.11] against sat an 's devices. 89
there is in that soul for vain thoughts. The fuller the vessel is of wine, the less room there is for water. Oh, then, lay up much of God, of Christ, of precious promises, and choice experiences in your hearts, and then you will be less troubled with vain thoughts. ' A good man, out of the good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth good things,' Mat. xii. 35.
Remedy (6). The sixth remedy against this device of Satan is, To keep up holy and spiritual affections ; for such as your affections are, such will be your thoughts. ' Oh how I love thy law ! it is my meditation all the day,' Ps. cxix. 97. What we love most, we most muse upon. ' When I awake, I am still with thee/ Ps. cxxxix., &c. That which we much like, we shall much mind. They that are fre- quent in their love to God and his law, will be frequent in thinking of God and his law : a child will not forget his mother.
Remedy (7). The seventh remedy against this device of Satan is, To avoid multiplicity of worldly business. Oh let not the world take up your hearts and thoughts at other times. Souls that are torn in pieces with the cares of the world will be always vexed and tor- mented with vain thoughts in all their approaches to God.1 Vain thoughts will be still crowding in upon him that lives in a crowd of business. The stars which have least circuit are nearest the pole ; and men that are least perplexed with business are commonly nearest to God.
The eighth device that Satan hath to hinder souls from religious services, from holy performances, is,
Device (8). By working them to rest in their performances ; to rest in prayer, and to rest in hearing, reading, and the communion of saints, &c. And when Satan hath drawn the soul to rest upon the service done, then he will help the soul to reason thus : Why, thou Avert as good never pray, as to pray and rest in prayer ; as good never hear, as to hear and rest in hearing ; as good never be in the com- munion of saints, as to rest in the communion of saints. And by this device he stops many souls in their heavenly race, and takes off poor souls from those services that should be their joy and crown, Isa. lviii. 1-3, Zech. vii. 4-6, Mat, vi. 2, Rom. i. 7.
Now the remedies against this device are these :
Remedy (1). The first remedy against this device of Satan is, To dwell much upon the imperfections and weaknesses that do attend your choicest services. Oh the spots, the blots, the blemishes that are to be seen on the face of our fairest duties ! 2 When thou hast done all thou canst, thou hast need to close up all with this, ' Oh enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord,' Ps. cxliii. 2, for the weak- nesses that cleave to my best services. We may all say with the church, ' All our righteousnesses are as a menstruous cloth/ Isa. lxiv. 6. If God should be strict to mark what is done amiss in our best actions, we are undone. Oh the water that is mingled with our wine, the dross that cleaves unto our gold !
1 2 Tim. ii. 4, l^vxtxtrat, is entangled ; it is a comparison which St Paul borroweth from the custom of the Roman empire, wherein soldiers were forbidden to be proctors of other men's causes, to undertake husbandry or merchandise.
2 Pride and high confidence is most apt to creep in upon duties well done, saith one.
90 PRECIOUS REMEDIES [2 COR. II. 11.
Remedy (2). The second remedy against this device of Satan is, to consider The impotence and inability of any of your best services, divinely to comfort, refresh, and bear your souls up from faint- ing, and sinking in the days of trouble, when darkness is round about you, when God shall say to you, as he did once to the Israelites, 1 Go and cry unto the gods that you have chosen ; let them save you in the time of your tribulation,' Judges x. J 4. So, when God shall say in the day of your troubles, Go to your prayers, to your hearing, and to your fasting, &c, and see if they can help you, if they can support you, if they can deliver you.1 If God in that day doth but withhold the influence of his grace, thy former services will be but poor cordials to comfort thee ; and then thou must and will cry out, Oh, 'none but Christ, none but Christ.' Oh my prayers are not Christ, my hearing is not Christ, my fasting is not Christ, &c. Oh ! one smile of Christ, one glimpse of Christ, one good word from Christ, one nod of love from Christ in the day of trouble and darkness, will more revive and refresh the soul than all your former services, in which your souls rested, as if they were the bosom of Christ, which should be the only centre of our souls. Christ is the crown of crowns, the glory of glories, and the heaven of heavens.
Remedy (3). The third remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider, That good things rested upon will as certainly undo us, and everlastingly destroy us, as the greatest enormities that can be committed by us. Those souls that after they have done all, do not look up so high as Christ, and rest, and centre alone in Christ, laying down their services at the footstool of Christ, must lie down in sorrow ; their bread is prepared for them in hell. ' Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, compass yourselves with the sparks : and walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks ye have kindled. This shall ye have at mine hands ; ye shall lie down in sorrow,' Isa. 1. 11. Is it good dwelling with everlasting burnings, with a devouring fire ? If it be, why then rest in your duties still ; if otherwise, then see that you centre only in the bosom of Christ.