Macrobius writes of Augustus Csesar, in whose time Christ was born, that he carried such an entire and fatherly affection to the common- wealth, that he called it filiam suam, his own daughter ; and therefore refused to be called Dominus, the lord or master of his country, and would only be called Pater patriae, father of his country, because he governed it not by fear, per timorem, sed per amorem, but by love ; the senate and the people of Borne jointly saluting him by the name of Pater patriot, father of his country. The people very much lamented his death, using that speech, ' Would he had never been born, or never died.'3
So Marcus Begulus, to save his country from ruin, exposed himself to the greatest sufferings that the malice and rage of his enemies could inrlict.
So Titus and Aristides, and many others, have been famous for their preferring the public good above their own advantage. My prayer is,
1 A certain great emperor coming into Egypt, to shew the zeal he had for the public good, saith to tho Egyptians, Draw from me as from your river Nilus. The Counsellor saith, a statesman should be thus tripartited : his will to God, his love to his master, his heart to his country, his secret to his friend, his time to business.
2 Solomon's tribunal was underpropped with lions, to shew what spirit and metal a magistrate should be made of. 8 Utinam aut non nasceretur, aut [nori] morerctur.
122 PRECIOUS REMEDIES [2 COR. II. 11.
and shall be, that all our rulers may be so spirited by God, that they may be willing to be anything, to be nothing, to deny themselves, and to tram])!.' their sinful selves under feet, in order to the honour of God, and a public good ; that so neither saints nor heathens may be wit- nesses against them in that day, wherein the hearts and practices of all the rulers in the world shall be open and bare before him that judges the world in righteousness and judgment.
Remedy (6). The sixth remedy against this device of Satan is, seriously to consider, That self is a great let to divine things,- therefore the pro- phets 'fm/ apostles were usually ca/rried out of themselves, when they had the clearest, choicest, highest, and most glorious visions. Self- seeking blinds the soul that it cannot see a beauty in Christ, nor an excellency in holiness ; it distempers the palate that a man cannot taste sweetness in the word of God, nor in the ways of God, nor in the society of the people of God. It shuts the hand against all the soul-enriching offers of Christ ; it hardens the heart against all the knocks and en- treaties of Christ ; it makes the soul as an empty vine, and as a barren wilderness : ' Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit to himself,' Hosea x. 1. There is nothing that speaks a man to be more empty and void of God, Christ, and grace, than self-seeking. The Pharisees were great self-seekers, and great undervalues of Christ, his word and Spirit. There is not a greater hindrance to all the duties of piety than self- seeking. Oh ! this is that that keeps many a soul from looking after God and the precious things of eternity. They cannot wait on God, nor act for God, nor abide in those ways wherein they might meet with God, by reason of self. Self-seeking is that which puts many a man upon neglecting and slighting the things of his peace. Self-seekers will neither go into heaven themselves, nor suffer others to enter, that are ready to take the kingdom by violence, as you may see in the Scribes aud Pharisees. Oh ! but a gracious spirit is acted quite other ways, as you may see in that sweet scripture, Cant. vii. 13, 'At our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O beloved.' All the church hath and is, is only for him. Let others bear fruit to themselves, and lay up for themselves, gracious spirits will hide for Christ and lay up for Christ.1 All the divine endeavours and productions of saints fall into God's bosom, and empty themselves into his lap. As Christ lays up his merits for them, his graces for them, his comforts for them, his crown for them, so they lay up all their fruits, and all their loves, all their graces, and all their experiences, and all their services, only for him who is the soul of their comforts, and the crown and top of all their royalty and glory, &c.
The second device that Satan hath to ensnare and destroy the great and honourable of the earth is,
Device (2). By engaging them against the people of the Most High, again t those that are lew jewels, his pleasant 'portion, the delight of h is eye and the joy of his heart Thus he drew Pharaoh to engage against the children of Israel, and that was his overthrow, Exod. xiv. So he
1 Self-seekers, with Esau, prefer a mess of pottage above their birthright, aud with the men of Shecheru, esteem the bramble above the vine, the olive, and the lig-treo, yea, empty things above a full Christ, and base things above a glorious Christ. The saints' motto is, ]' ropier te, Dominc, propter te. The saints' motto is, iYo/j nobis, Domine.
2 Cor. II. 11.] against satan's devices. 123
engaged Hainan against the Jews, and so brought him to hang upon that gallows that he had made for Mordecai, Esther vii. So he engaged those princes and presidents against Daniel, which was the utter ruin of them and their relations, Dan. vi. So in Rev. xx. 7-9, ' And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison. And he shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. And they went up upon the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city ; and fire came down from heaven and consumed them.'
Now the remedies against this device are these :