Remedy (1). The first remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider, That none have engaged against the saints, but have been ruined by the God of saints. Divine justice hath been too hard for all that have opposed and engaged against the saints, as is evident in Saul, Pharaoh, Hainan, &c : ' He reproved kings for their sakes, saying, Touch not mine anointed, nor do my prophets no harm,' Ps. cv. 15. When men of Balaam spirits and principles have been engaged against the saints, how hath the angel of the Lord met them in the way, and justled their bones against the wall ! how hath he broke their backs and necks, and by his drawn sword cut them off in the prime of their days, and in the height of their sins I1 Ah ! what a harvest hath hell had in our days, of those who have engaged against the Lamb, and those that are called chosen and faithful! Ah! how hath divine justice poured out their blood as water upon the ground ! how hath he laid their honour and glory in the dust, who, in the pride and madness of their hearts, said, as Pharaoh, ' We will pursue, we will overtake, we will divide the spoil, our lusts shall be satisfied upon them. We will draw our sword, our hand shall destroy them/ Exod. xv. 9. In the things wherein they have spoken and done proudly, justice hath been above them. History abounds in nothing more than in instances of this kind, &c.
Remedy (2). The second remedy against this device of Satan is, To dwell some time every morning upon the following scriptures, wherein God hath engaged himself to stand by his people and for his people, and to make them victorious over the greatest and wisest of their enemies.2 Associate yourselves, saith the Lord by the prophet, ' O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces ; and give ear, all ye of far countries : gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought ; speak the word, and it shall not stand : for God is with us.' ' Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel : I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Re- deemer, the holy One of Israel. Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth : thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them, and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in the holy One of Israel/ ' No weapon that is formed against thee shall
1 As they said once of the Grecians in the epigram, whom they thought invulnerable, "We shoot at them, but they fall not down ; wo wound them, and not kill them, &c. Tanto plus glorice referemus, quoniam eo plures superabimus. The number of opposers makes the Christian's conquest the more illustrious, said Pedarelus in Erasmus.
8 Ucciai poterunl, sed vinci non poterant, said Cyprian of the Christians in his time.
1 24? PRECIOUS REMEDIES [2 COR. II. 11.
prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.' ' Now also many nations are gathered together against thee that say, Let us be defiled, and let our eye look upon Sion. But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel ; for he shall gather them as sheaves into the floor. Arise and thresh, 0 daughter of Sion : I will make thy horn iron, and I will make thy hoof brass, and thou shalt beat in pieces many people, and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth/ 'Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege, both against Judab and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people : all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it/1
Remedy (3). The third remedy against this device of Satan is, to con- sider, That you cannot engage against the saints, but you must engage against God liimself by reason of ' that near and blessed union that is between God and them. You cannot be fighters against the saints, but you will be found in the casting up of the account to be fighters against God himself.2 And what greater madness than for weakness itself to engage against an almighty strength ! The near union that is between the Lord and believers, is set forth by that near union that is betwixt a husband and his wife. ' They two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery : but I speak concerning Christ and the church ; we are mem- bers of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones,' saith the apostle, Eph. v. 32. This near union is set forth by that union that is between the head and the members, which make up one body, and by that union that is betwixt the graff and the stock, which are made one by insition.3 The union between the Lord and a believer is so near, that you cannot strike a believer, but the Lord is sensible of it, and takes it as done to himself. ' Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me V Acts ix. 4 ; and ' in all their afflictions he was afflicted,' &c, Isa. lxiii. 9. Ah. souls ! who ever engaged against God and prospered ? who ever took up the sword against him but perished by it ? God can speak you to bell and nod you to hell at pleasure. It is your greatest concernment to lay down your weapons at his feet, and to ' Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the midway/ Ps. ii. 12.
Remedy (4). The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider, That you are much engaged to the saints, as vtistruments for the mercies that you do enjoy, and for the preventing and removing of many a judgment that othenvise might have been your rain before tJris day. Were it not for the saints' sake, God would quickly make the heavens to be as brass and the earth as iron ; God would quickly strip thee of thy robes and glory, and set thee upon the dunghill with Job. They are the props that bear the world from falling about thy cars, and that keep the iron rod from breaking of thy bones. 1 Isa. viii 9, 10 ; xli. 14, 15, and liv. 17 ; Micah iv. 11-13 ; Zecli. xii. 2, 3.— G. * Acts-v. 39. It seems to bo drawn from the fable of the giants, which were said to make war with the gods.
3 The soul's happiness consists not in anything, but in its union with God; nor iti misery lies uot so much in anything, as in its disuuiou from God.
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' Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them/ Ps. cvi. 23.