Thirdly, With respect to the double faculty the devil seeketh to work upon, which is our irascible or concupiscible faculty, our eschewing or pursuing power ; the flesh with its Trddij ml e-widv^ilai, Gal. v. 24, it is passions and lusts, what we render affections ; and these are suited to the temptations that most men are usually over- come by. Such are the terrors and allurements of the world : the terrors of the world, that works upon our passions ; the allurements of the world, that works upon our lusts.
1. The terrors of the world are apt to draw men to dislike God, and distaste the way of godliness. Certainly by these the devil seeketh to get us into his power and reach. Therefore it is said, 1 Peter v. 9, ' Whom resist, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.' Satan's temptations are conveyed to the godly through afflictions, hoping by these to prevail with them to make them quit the truth and their duty
VER. 165.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 213
to Christ, and grow weary of the ways of Grod ; and it doth the more prevail when they think they are the only sufferers. This should not be, for the drift of Christianity is to take us off from the hopes and fears of the world, and a full third part of the scriptures serveth to comfort us in tribulations and afflictions for the gospel's sake ; and if we were not exposed to troubles, these would be as unsuit- able and needless as bladders and arts of swimming were to a man that standeth on dry land, and never meaneth to go into the deep waters ; but yet they are a usual stumbling-block to those that have not overcome the sensual inclination, and are not dead to a worldly interest.
2. The allurements of the world, or the baits of sense. Present things have a strange infatuation upon us : 2 Tim. iv. 10, 'And Demas hath forsaken us, having loved the present world.' The troubles of the world are not so dangerous as the snares of the world. Though many be discouraged by troubles, yet many times others are gained by the patience, courage, and constancy of God's servants in persecutions. The offence may be more easily disproved as not justifiable ; for men may have a secret liking of the truth, and a purpose to own it in better times ; but by the baits of sense men are inveigled and tempted to dislike religion itself, as contradicting their lusts, and nourish a base opinion of it in their hearts. In troubles and persecutions there is not a dislike of religion itself, but of the hard terms upon which it must be received and cherished. And besides, the mischief is greater. They that cast off the profession and practice of godliness upon some great earthly hopes, involve themselves in a more heinous sin than they that shrink from it out of some great fear ; for those things we fear, as afflictions, torments, nnd death, they are in themselves de- structive of our felicity, and therefore it cannot be said how much nature abhorreth them. But those things which we hope for and desire are such that nature may easily and without great inconveniency be without them, as great riches, splendour of life, noble affinities and marriages ; for these things are not absolutely necessary to the worldly life, but only conduce to the greater conveniency and felicity thereof. Not our worldly being, but our well-being is concerned in them. Our being may be kept up and supported in a far meaner condition. Thence it is that great dangers, when they are at hand, and difficulties sustained, and the fear of them, doth often sway us against the con- science of our duty ; but if we lose our great worldly hopes, or be cut short in our condition and worldly expectations, it is no great matter. Wise and gracious men may easily bear it with a quiet and well-com- posed mind. The sin of those that stumble at great and worldly hopes is questionless the greater transgression, for they are only enticed and drawn away by their pleasures and lusts, which all good Christians are obliged to deaden and mortify. But though to fall out of fear be not so heinous a sin, yet a great and heinous sin it is, for grace should govern fear as well as hope. If the coercion and bridling of it be difficult, it doth not excuse a toto, but a tanto only ; and it is hard to set a Christian in joint again that is fallen by fear. Witness those terrors that do haunt men when once they are gotten into the snare. As ' Peter went out and wept bitterly ; ' it cost him much sorrow at
214 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. CLXXX.
heart. Christ is fain to direct a special message to him by name, Mark xvi. 7. Though it doth not exclude all hopes of repentance and pardon, yet it needeth great mercy on God's part, and repentance on ours. Indeed, the church is bound to consider men's weaknesses, and to judge of the fault according to the violent shock and incursion of the temptation ; because we know not our own strength, and how soon we may be surprised in like kind, and need indulgence ourselves, Gal. vi. 1. But God is not in our condition, nor obliged to recover all that lapse in this kind, and therefore useth his mercy according to his own pleasure. Sometimes he recovereth them and sometimes not ; but for the other temptations, what excuse is it capable of ? Heb. xii. 16, 17.