to the yoke. Turn tliou me, and I shall be turned ; for thou art the Lord my God. Surely, after that I was returned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh ; I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did hear the reproach of my youth. Ephraim is my dear Son, lie is a pleasant child; for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still. Therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord,' Jer. xxxi. 18-20.1
God can look sourly, and chide bitterly, and strike heavily, even where and when he loves dearly. The hand of God was very much against Job, and yet his love, his heart, was very much set upon Job, as you may see by comparing chaps, i. and ii. with xli. and xlii. The hand of God was sore against David and Jonah, when his heart was much set upon them. He that shall conclude that the heart of God is against those that his hand is against, will condemn the generation of the just, whom God unjustly would not have condemned.
Remedy (3). The third remedy against this device of Satan, is, to consider, That all the cross providences tin it befall the saints arebut in order to some noble good that God doth intend to prefer2 upon them. Providence wrought cross to David's desire, in taking away the child sinfully begotten, but yet not cross to more noble good ; for was it not far better for David to have such a legitimate heir as Solomon was, than that a bastard should wear the crown, and sway the sceptre ?
Joseph, you know, was sold into a far country by the envy and malice of his brethren, and afterwards imprisoned because he would not be a prisoner to his mistress's lusts ; yet all these providences did wonder- fully conduce to his advancement, and the preservation of his father's family, which was then the visible church of Christ. It was so handled by a noble hand of providence, that what they sought to decline;' they did promote. Joseph was therefore sold by his brethren that he might not be worshipped, and yet he was therefore worshipped because he was sold.4
David was designed to a kingdom, but oh ! the straits, troubles, and deaths that he rims through before he feels the weight of the crown ; and all this was but in order to the sweetening of his crown, and to the settling of it more firmly and gloriously upon his head. God did so contrive it that Jonah's offence, and those cross actings of his that did attend it, should advantage that end which the}7- seemed most directly to oppose. Jonah he flies to Tarshish, then cast into the sea, then saved by a miracle. Then the mariners, as it is very probable, who cast donah into the sea, declared to the Ninevites what had happened ; there- fore he must be a man sent of God, and that his threatenings must be believed and hearkened to, and therefore they must repent and humble themselvts, that the wrath threatened might not be executed, &c.5
Remedy (4). The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is,
1 God's providential hand may be with persons when his heart is Bet againsl them. Clod's providential hand was for a time with Saul, Hainan, Asshnr, and Jehu, and ye1 his heart was set against him. ' No man knoweth love or hatred by all that is before him,' Eccles. ix. 1, 2. 2 = confer. — G. 3 ' Lower' = injure. — G.
* Cf. Genesis xxxvii. 7, &c. — G.
■ The motions of divine providence are so dark, so deep, so changeable, that the wisest and noblest souls cannot toll what conclusions to make.
2 Cor. II. 11.] against satan's devices. 09
seriously to consider, That all the strange, dark, deep, and changeable providences that believers meet with, shall further them in their way to heaven, in their journey to happiness. Divine wisdom and love will so order all things here below, that they shall work for the real, internal, and eternal good of them that love him. All the rugged providences that David met with, did contribute to the bringing of him to the throne ; and all the rugged providences that Daniel and the ' three children' met with, did contribute to their great advancement. So all the rugged providences that believers meet with, they shall all contribute to the lifting up of their souls above all things, below God. As the waters lifted up Noah's ark nearer heaven, and as all the stones that were about Stephen's ears did but knock him the closer to Christ, the corner-stone, so all the strange rugged providences that we meet with, they shall raise us nearer heaven, and knock us nearer to Christ, that precious corner-stone.1
The fourth device that Satan hath to keep souls in a sad, doubting, and questioning condition is,
Device (4). By suggesting to them that their graces are not true, but counterfeit, Saith Satan, All is not gold that glitters, all is not free grace that you count grace, that you call grace. That which you call faith is but a fancy, and that which you call zeal, is but a natural heat and passion ; and that light you have, it is but common, it is short, to what many have attained to that are now in hell, &c. Satan doth not labour more mightily to persuade hypocrites that their graces are true when they are counterfeit, than he doth to persuade precious souls that their graces are counterfeit, when indeed they are true, and such as will abide the touchstone of Christ, &c.2
Now the remedies against this device are these :
Remedy (IV The first remedy against this device of Satan is, seriously to consider, Thai grace is taken two ways.
[1.] It is taken for the gracious good-ivill and favour of God, whereby he is pleased of his own free love to accept of some in Christ for his own. This, some call the first grace, because it is the fountain of all other- graces, and the spring from whence they flow, and it is therefore called grace, because it makes a man gracious with God, but this is only in God.
[2.] Grace is taken for the gifts of grace, and they are of two sorts, common or special.
Some are common to believers and hypocrites, as a gift of knowledge, a gift of prayer, &c.
Some are special graces, and they are proper and peculiar to the saints, as faith, humility, meekness, love, patience, &c, Gal. v, 22, 23.
Remedy (2). The second remedy against this device of Satan is, wisely to consider, The differences betwixt renewing grace and, restrawivng grace, betwixt sanctifying grace and temporary grace ; and this I will shew you in these ten particulars.
[1.] True grace makes all glorious within and without : 'The King's
1 Orosius, speaking of Valentinian, saith : He that for Christ's name's sake had lost a tribuneship, within a while after succeeded his persecutor in the empire.
2 Yet it must be granted that many a fair flower may grow out of a stinking root, and many sweet dispositions and fair actions may be where there is only the corrupt root of nature.
100 PRECIOUS REMEDI IS [2 COR. II. 11.