Watchfulness is nothing else but the soul running up and down, to and fro, busy everywhere ; it is the heart busied and employed with diligent observation of quid inde, what comes from within us, and of quid inde, what comes from without us and into us. Ah, souls ! you are no longer safe and secure than when you are upon your watch. While Antipater kept the watch, Alexander was safe; and while we
1 Ps. xxv. 9 ; Isa. lvii. 15 ; James iv. 6.
2 We must not be like Agrippa's dormouse, that would not awake till cast into boil- ing lead, but effectually mind lliese following scriptures, wherein this duty of watchful- ness is so strictly enjoined : — Mat. xxvi. 40 ; Mark xiii. 33, 34, 35, 37 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 13 ; Col. iv. 2 ; 1 Peter iv. 7 ; Rev. ii. 3.
8 Hannibal never rested, whether he did conquer or was conquered. It is so with Satan. Learn, for shame of the devil, said blessed Latimer, to watch, seeing the devil is so watchful.
2 Cor. II. 11.] against satan's devices. 161
keep a strict watch, we are safe. A watchful soul is a soul upon the wing, a soul out of gun-shot, a soul upon a rock, a soul in a castle, a soul above the clouds, a soul held fast in everlasting arms.
I shall conclude this seventh head with this advice, Remember the dragon is subtle, and bites the elephant's ear, and then sucks his blood, because he knows that to be the only place which the elephant cannot reach with his trunk to defend ; so our enemies are so subtle, that they will bite us, and strike us where they may most mischief us, and there- fore it doth very much concern us to stand always upon our guard.
The eighth help. If you would not be taken with any of Satan's snares and devices, then keep up your communion with God.1 Your strength to stand and withstand Satan's fiery darts is from your com- munion with God. A soul high in communion with God may be tempted, but will not easily be conquered. Such a soul will fight it out to the death. Communion with God furnisheth the soul with the greatest and the choicest arguments to withstand Satan's temptations. Communion is the result of union. Communion is a reciprocal ex- change between Christ and a gracious soul. Communion is Jacob's ladder, where you have Christ sweetly coming down into the soul, and the soul, by divine influences, sweetly ascending up to Christ. Com- munion with Christ is very inflaming, raising and strengthening. While Samson kept up his communion with God, no enemy could stand before him, but he goes on conquering and to conquer ; but when he was fallen in his communion with God, he quickly falls before the plots of his enemies. It will be so with your souls. So long as your com- munion with God is kept up, you will be too hard for ' spiritual wicked- ness in high places ;' but if you fall from your communion with God, you will fall, as others, before the face of every temptation.2 David, so long as he kept up his communion with God, he stands, and triumphs over all his enemies ; but when he was fallen in his communion with God, then he falls before the enemies that were in his own bosom, and flies before those that pursued after his life. It will be so with your souls, if you do not keep up your communion with God. Job keeps up his communion with God, and conquers Satan upon the dunghill ; Adam loses his communion with God, and is conquered by Satan in paradise. Communion with God is a shield upon land, as well as an anchor at sea ; it is a sword to defend you, as well as a staff to support you ; therefore keep up your communion.
The ninth help. If you would not be taken in any of Satan's snares, then engage not against Satan in your own strength, but be every day drawing new virtue and strength from the Lord Jesus.3 Cer- tainly that soul that engages against any old or new temptation without
1 1 Cor. vi. 19. The words are very significant in the original. There are two ins, as though God could never have near enough communion with them.
2 The sea ehhs and flows, the moon increases and decreases; so it is with saints in their communion with God. Plutarch tells of Eudoxus, that he would be willing to be burnt up presently by the sun, so he might be admitted to come so near it as to learn the nature of it. What! should not we be content to suffer for the keeping up communion with Christ? — [Eudoxus : Delambre, Hist. Astron. Anc, 1. 107. — G.]
3 There is a remarkable saying of Moses, Exod. xv., God is fortitudo mea, et laxts mea, et salus mea, my strength, and my praise, and my salvation, all in the abstract. It is but look up and live ; look unto me, and be saved, from the ends of the earth, Isa. xlv. 22.
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new strength, new influences from on high, will fall before tbe power of the temptation. You may see this in Peter ; he rested upon some old received strength — ' Though all men should deny thee, yet will not I,' Mat. xx vi. 35 — and therefore he falls sadly before a new temptation. He curses and swears, and denies him thrice, that had thrice appeared gloriously to him. Ah, souls ! when the snare is spread, look up to Jesus Christ, who is lifted up in the gospel, as the brazen serpent was in the wilderness, and say to him, Dear Lord ! here is a new snare laid to catch my soul, and grace formerly received, without fresh supplies from thy blessed bosom, will not deliver me from this snare. Oh ! give me new strength, new power, new influences, new measures of grace, that so I may escape the snares. Ah, souls ! remember this, that your strength to stand and overcome must not be expected from graces received, but from the fresh and renewed influences of heaven.1 You must lean more upon Christ than upon your duties ; you must lean more upon Christ than upon spiritual tastes and discoveries ; you must lean more upon Christ than upon your graces, or else Satan will lead you into captivity, &c.