VeR. 15.] SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. 397
men let loose themselves to a carnal liberty at such a time. Satan, to be sure to be welcome, bringeth his dish with him, a bait for every humour : 1 Tim. iv. 5, * The creatures must be sanctified by the word of God and by prayer.' We must not only ask God's leave, but his blessing. So pleasures, if not sanctified, bring a brawn and deadness upon the heart : 1 Tim. v. 6, ' She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.' So also in all places; in company, and when we are alone, we are still in danger. In company, we are in danger to be provoked to wrath or tempted to sin ; though open excesses manifest their own odiousness, yet secretly we learn of one another to be cold, careless, less mortified. In good company, nature is very susceptible of evil, and we imitate their weaknesses sooner than their graces : Gal. ii. 13, ' Barnabas was carried away with their dissimulations.' So in privacy, when we are alone, the devil often abuseth our solitude ; Christ was tempted in the wilderness, Mat. iv. 1. In the vast world there is no corner where a man can be privileged from temptations ; how hard a matter is it to be alone when we are alone, or to have none v^^ith us but God and our own souls ! It is good to be alone with God, but not with Satan : John xvi. 32, ' Ye shall leave me alone, and yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.' Now few can say so. Alas ! we have cause to say, Here I am alone, but I am not alone, for Satan is with me. So also there is danger from the men of the world, and the things of the world. The men of the world are apt to ensnare us by their counsels or threatenings. Sin is as earnest to propagate itself as grace. Wicked men would have the whole world to be all of a piece; they are panders and bawds to wickedness, to draw others into the same snare with which they are held themselves ; they are the devil's factors, and when they cannot prevail, then they rage, and slander, and persecute : ' They think strange that you do not run with them into the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you,' 1 Peter iv. 4. The wills of men are ranked with the lusts of the flesh ; ver. 2, 3, ' That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh, to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we lived in lascivious- ness, lusts, excess of wine,' &c. Then the things of the world. There are several baits for every temper, pleasures, honours, profits. Satan is well skilled in tempers ; he dresseth the temptation in that livery which suiteth with every man's humour and complexion, and plieth that object which suiteth with the distemper. He knoweth every dis- temper loveth the diet that feedeth it ; hath honours for the ambitious, wealth for the covetous, pleasures for the sensual; and God by a righteous dispensation permitteth it: Jer. vi. 21, ' Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will lay stumbling-blocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them.' As when we suspect a servant to be given to filching, we leave loose money about the house to try if he will steal it ; so God, to try us, may suffer Satan to ply us with a diet suitable to our distemper.
Secondly, The next reason is our own weakness. There are not only snares and temptations in the world, but there is a flexibleness in the party tempted : James i. 14, ' Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.' The fire burneth in our
398 SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. [Sek. XXIV.
own hearts ; Satan doth but blow up the flame. There is had liquor in the vessel ; Satan giveth it vent, and sets it abroach with violence : Mat. v. 28, ' He that looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.' There is an intrinsical flexibleness in the heart, a treacherous party within. The evils of the world were tolerable, if there were not lust in the heart : 2 Peter i. 4, ' Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.' We carry the worst enemy in our own bosom ; Satan could not prevail against us were it not for our own lusts ; as the Philistines could not prevail against Samson if Delilah had not lulled him to sleep, or as Balaam first corrupted Israel before he could curse them. Nay, when there is grace wrought, still there is a trea- cherous party within : Mat. xxvi. 41, ' The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.' The will hath a proneness still, and in your affections there is a suitableness to carnal baits. It is as with a garrison be- sieged ; though the treacherous party be weakest in the town, yet they may do much hurt ; so there is still corruption enough to open the door to Satan.