[6.] The conflict that is in the saints, is a more blessed, successful, and prevailing conflict. A saint, by his conflict with sin, gains ground upon his sin : ' They that are Christ's/ saith the apostle, ' have crucified the world with the affections and lusts/ Gal. v. 24<. Christ puts to his hand and helps them to lead captivity captive, and to set their feet upon the necks of those lusts that have formerly trampled upon their souls and their comforts. As the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker, and the house of David stronger and stronger, so the Lord, by the dis- coveries of his love, and by the influences of his Spirit, he causeth grace, the nobler part of a saint, to grow stronger and stronger, and corrup- tion, like the house of Saul, to grow weaker and weaker. But sin in a wicked heart gets ground, and grows stronger and stronger, notwith- standing all his conflicts. His heart is more encouraged, emboldened, and hardened in away of sin, as you may see in the Israelites, Pharaoh, Jehu, and Judas, who doubtless found many strange conflicts, tumults, and mutinies in their souls, when God spake such bitter things against them, and did such justice upon them, 2 Tim. iii. 13.1
But remember this by way of caution : Though Christ hath given sin its death -wound, by his power, Spirit, death, and resurrection, yet it will die but a lingering death.2 As a man that is mortally wounded dies by little and little, so doth sin in the heart of a saint. The death of Christ on the cross was a lingering death, so the death of sin in the soul is a lingering death ; now it dies a little, and anon it dies a little, &c, as the psalmist speaks, ' Slay them not, lest my people forget : scatter them by thy power ; and bring them down, O Lord our shield,' Ps. lix. 11. He would not have them utterly destroyed, but some relics preserved as a memorial. So God dealeth in respect of sin ; it is wounded and brought down, but not wholly slain ; something is still left as a monument of divine grace, and to keep us humble, wakeful, and watch- ful, and that our armour may be still kept on, and our weapons always in our hands.
The best men's souls in this life hang between the flesh and the spirit, as it were like Mahomet's tomb at Mecca, between two loadstones ; like Erasmus, as the papists paint him, betwixt heaven and hell ; like the tribe of Manasseh, half on this side of Jordan, in the land of the Amorites, and half on that side, in the Holy Land ; yet, in the issue, they shall overcome the flesh, and trample upon the necks of their spi- ritual enemies.3
The sixth device that Satan hath to keep souls in a sad, doubting, questioning condition is,
Device (tj). By suggesting to the soul, that surely his estate is not
1 These two, grace and sin, are like two buckets of a well, when one is up. the other is down. They are like the two laurels at Rome, when one flourishes the other withers. The more grace thrives in the soul, the more sin dies in the soul. From naught they grow to be very naught, and from very naught to be stark naught. Lactant[ius] said of Lucian, Nee Diis, nee hominibus pepercit, he spared neither God nor man.
2 Mortification is a continued act, it is a daily dying to sin, ' I die daily.' A crucified man will strive and struggle, yet, in the eyes of the law, and in the account of all that see him, lie is dead. It is just so with sin.
3 There is no such pleasure, saith Cyprian, as to have overcome an offered pleasure ; neither is there any greater conquest than that that is gotten over a man's corruptions. The Romans lost many a battle, and yet in the issue were conquerors in all their wars ; it is just so with the saints.
108 PilECIOUS REMEDIES [2 COR. II. 11.
good, beca/use he cam/not joy cmd rejoice in Christ as once he could ; /> cause he hath lost that comfort cmd joy that once wax m his spirit Saith Satan, Thou knowest the time was when thy heart was much tallied out to joying and rejoicing in Christ ; thou dost not forget the time when thy heart used to be full of joy and comfort; but now, how ait thou fallen in thy joys and comforts ! Therefore, thy estate is not good ; thou dost but deceive thyself to think that ever it was good, for surely if it had, thy joy and comfort would have continued. And here- upon the soul is apt to take part with Satan, and say, It is even so ; I se dl is naught, and I have but deceived my own soul, &c.
Now the remedies against this device are these :
Remedy (1). The first remedy against this device of Satan is, to con- sider, Thai /he loss of comfort is a separable adjunct from grace. The soul may be full of holy affections when it is empty of divine consola- tions.1 There may be, and often is, true grace, yea, much grace, where there is not a drop of comfort, nor dram of joy. Comfort is not of the being, but of the well-being, of a Christian. God hath not so linked these two choice lovers together, but that they may be put asunder. That wisdom that is from above will never work a man to reason thus : I have no comfort, therefore I have no grace ; I have lost that joy that once I had, therefore my condition is not good, was never good, &c. But it will enable a man to reason thus : Though my comfort is gone, yet the God of my comfort abides ; though my joy is lost, yet the seeds of grace remain. The best men's joys, are as glass, bright and brittle, and evermore in danger of breaking.2
Remedy (2). The second remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider, That /he precious thi/ngs that thou still enjoyest arc for better than the joys and comforts that thou Joist lust. Thy union with Christ, thy communion with Christ, thy sonship, thy saint- ship, thy heirship, thou still enjoyest by Christ, are far better than the comforts thou hast lost by sin. What though thy comforts be gone, yet thy union and communion with Christ remains, Jer. xxxi. 18, 19, 20. Though thy comforts be gone, yet thou art a son, though a com- fortless son ; an heir, though a comfortless heir ; a saint, though a comfortless saint. Though the bag of silver, thy comforts, be lost, yet the box of jewels, thy union with Christ, thy communion with Christ, thy sonship, thy saintship, thy heirship, which thou still enjoyest, is far better than the bag of silver thou hast lost ; yea, the least of those precious jewels is more worth than all the comforts in the world. Will ! let this be a cordial to comfort thee, a star to lead thee, and a staff to support thee, that thy box of jewels are safe, though thy bag of silver be lost.3
Remedy (3). The third remedy against this device of Satan is, to consider, That thy coin/ it ion is no other titan what hath l>e<'n /he con* dition of those precious souls whose names were written upon thehea/ti of Christ, and who arc now at rest in the bosom of Chris/. One day
1 Ps. lxiii. 1, 2, 8, Isa. 1. 10, Micah vii. 8, 9, Pa. xlii. 5.