Now the way and means whereby indwelling sin doth give advantage to Satan for his return, are all those which dispose them toward a declension which shall afterward be mentioned. Satan is a diligent, watchful, and crafty adver- sary ; he will neglect no opportunity, no advantage that is is offered unto him. Wherein then soever our spiritual strength is impaired by sin, or which way soever our lusts press, Satan falls in with that weakness, and presseth to- wards that ruin. So that all the actings of the law of sin are subservient to this end of Satan. I shall therefore only at present mention one or two, that seem principally to in- vite Satan to attempt a return.
(1.) It entangleth the soul in the things of the world, all which are so many purveyors for Satan. When Pharaoh had let the people go, he heard after awhile that they were entangled in the wilderness, and supposeth that he shall therefore now overtake them and destroy them. This stirs him up to pursue after them. Satan finding those whom he hath been cast out from, entangled in the things of the world, by which he is sure to find an easy access unto them, is encouraged to attempt upon them afresh ; as the spider to come down upon the strongest fly that is entangled in his web. For he comes by his temptations only to impel them unto that whereunto by their own lusts they are in- clined, by adding poison to their lusts, and painting to the objects of them. And oftentimes by this advantage he gets so in upon the souls of men, that they are never well free of him more whilst they live. And as men's diversions in- crease from the world, so do their entanglements from Satan. When they have more to do in the world than they can well manage, they shall have more to do from Satan than
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they can well withstand. When men are made spiritually- faint, by dealing in and with the world, Satan sets on them as Amaiek did on the faint and weak of the people that came out of Egypt.
(2.) It produceth this effect by making the soul neg- ligent, and taking it off from its watch. We have before shewed at large that it is one main part of the effectual de- ceitfulness of indwelling sin, to make the soul inadvertent, to turn it off from the diligent watchful attendance unto its duty, which is required. Now there is not any thing in reference whereunto diligence and watchfulness is more strictly enjoined, than the returning assaults of Satan, 1 Pet. V. 8. 'Be sober, be vigilant;' and why so? 'be- cause of your adversary the devil.' Unless you are exceed- ing watchful, at one time or other he will surprise you. And all the injunctions of our blessed Saviour, to watch, are still with reference unto him and his temptations. Now when the soul is made careless and inadvertent, forgetting what an enemy it hath to deal withal, or is lifted up with the successes it hath newly obtained against him, then is Satan's time to attempt a re-entrance of his old habita- tion, which if he cannot obtain, yet he makes their lives uncomfortable to themselves, and unfruitful to others, in weakening their root, and withering their fruit through his poisonous temptations. He comes down upon our duties of obedience, as the fowls upon Abraham's sacrifice, that if we watch not, as he did, to drive them away (for by resistance he is overcome and put to flight), he will devour them.
(3.) Indwelling sin takes advantage to put forth its efficacy and deceit, to withdraw men from their primitive zeal and holiness, from their first faith, love, and works, by the evil examples of professors amongst whom they live. When men first engage into the ways of God, they have a reverent esteem of those whom they believe to have been made partakers of that mercy before themselves ; these they love and honour, as it is their duty. But after awhile, they find many of them walking in many things unevenly, crookedly, and not unlike the men of the world. Here sin is not w anting to its advantage. Insensibly it prevails with men to a compliance with them. This way, this course of walking, doth well enough with others, why may it not do
176 THE NATURE AND POWER
SO with US also ? Such is the inward thought of many, that works effectually in them. And so, through the craft of sin, the generation of professors corrupt one another. As a stream arising from a clear spring or a fountain, whilst it runs in its own peculiar channel, and keeps its water un- mixed, preserves its purity and cleanness, but when it falls in its course with other streams that are turbid and foul, though running the same way with it, it becomes muddy and discoloured also. So is it in this case. Believers come forth from the spring of the new birth with some purity and cleanness, this for awhile they keep in the course of their private walking with God ; but now when they come some- times to fall into society with others, whose profession flows and runs the same way with theirs, even towards heaven, but yet are muddied and sullied with sin and the world, they are often corrupted with them, and by them, and so decline from their first purity, faith, and holiness. Now lest this may have been the case of any who shall read this dis- course, I shall add some few cautions that are necessary to preserve men from this infection.