2. If he can prevail thus far, if he can damp our joy, he will soon attack our peace also. He will suggest, “Are you fit to see God? He is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. How then can you flatter yourself, so as to imagine he beholds _you_ with approbation? God is holy: You are unholy. What communion hath light with darkness? How is it possible that _you_, unclean as you are, should be in a state of acceptance with God? You see indeed the mark, the prize of your high calling. But do you not see, it is afar off? How can you presume then to think, that all your sins are already blotted out? How can this be, until you are brought nearer to God, until you bear more resemblance to him?” Thus will he endeavour, not only to shake your peace, but even to overturn the very foundation of it: to bring you back by insensible degrees, to the point from whence you set out first: even to seek for justification by works, or by your own righteousness; to make something in _you_ the ground of your acceptance, or at least necessarily previous to it.
3. Or if we hold fast, _other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, even Jesus Christ_; and I am _justified freely by God’s grace, through the redemption which is in Jesus_: yet he will not cease to urge, “But _the tree is known by its fruits_. And have you the fruits of justification? Is _that mind in you which was in Christ Jesus_? Are you _dead unto sin and alive unto_ righteousness? Are you made conformable to the death of Christ, and do you know the power of his resurrection?” And then, comparing the small fruits we feel in our souls, with the fullness of the promises, we shall be ready to conclude, “Surely God hath not said, that my sins are forgiven me! Surely I have not received the remission of my sins; for what lot have I among them that are sanctified?”
4. More especially in the time of sickness and pain, he will press this with all his might. “Is it not the word of him that cannot lie, without holiness no man shall see the Lord? But you are not holy. You know it well; you know holiness is the full image of God. And how far is this above, out of your sight? You cannot attain unto it. Therefore all your labour has been in vain. All these things you have suffered in vain. You have spent your strength for nought. You are yet in your sins and must therefore perish at the last.” And thus, if your eye be not steadily fixt on him who hath borne all your sins, he will bring you again under that _fear of death_, whereby you was so long _subject unto bondage_: and by this means impair, if not wholly destroy, your peace as well as joy in the Lord.
5. But his master-piece of subtility is still behind. Not content to strike at your peace and joy, he will carry his attempts farther yet: he will level his assault against your righteousness also. He will endeavour to shake, yea, if it be possible, to destroy the holiness you have already received by your very expectation of receiving more, of attaining all the image of God.
6. *The manner wherein he attempts this, may partly appear from what has been already observed. For, first, By striking at our joy in the Lord, he strikes likewise at our holiness: seeing joy in the Holy Ghost is a precious means of promoting every holy temper; a choice instrument of God whereby he carries on much of his work in a believing soul. And it is a considerable help not only to inward, but also to outward holiness. It strengthens our hands to go on in the work of faith and in the labour of love: manfully to _fight the good fight of faith, and_ to _lay hold on eternal life_. It is peculiarly designed of God to be a balance both against inward and outward sufferings: to _lift up the hands that hang down and_ confirm _the feeble knees_. Consequently, whatever damps our joy in the Lord, proportionally obstructs our holiness. And therefore so far as Satan shakes our joy, he hinders our holiness also.
7. *The same effect will ensue, if he can by any means either destroy or shake our peace. For the peace of God is another precious means of advancing the image of God in us. There is scarce a greater help to holiness than this, a continual tranquility of spirit, the evenness of a mind stayed upon God; a calm repose in the blood of Jesus. And without this, it is scarce possibly to grow in grace, and in the vital knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For all fear (unless the tender, filial fear) freezes and benumbs the soul. It binds up all the springs of spiritual life, and stops all motion of the heart toward God. And doubt, as it were, bemires the soul, so that it sticks fast in the deep clay. Therefore in the same proportion as either of these prevail, our growth in holiness is hindered.