13. He doth what he can to keep the sinner from intimate acquaintance with any that are truly godly; that he may know them no otherwise than by the image which ignorant or malicious slanderers or scorners do give of such; and that he may know religion itself but by hearsay, and never see it exemplified in any holy, diligent believers. A holy christian is a living image of God, a powerful convincer and teacher of the ungodly; and the nearer men come to them, the greater excellency they will see, and the greater efficacy they will feel. Whereas in the devil's army, the most must not be seen in the open light, and the hypocrite himself must be seen, like a picture, but by a side light, and not by a direct.
14. Those means which are used, the devil labours to frustrate, (1.) By sluggish heedlessness and disregard. (2.) By prejudice, and false opinions which prepossess the mind. (3.) By diversions of many sorts. (4.) By pre-engagements to the contrary interest and way; so that Christ comes too late for them. (5.) By worldly prosperity and delights. (6.) By ill company. (7.) And by molesting and frighting the sinner, when he doth but take up any purpose to be converted; giving him all content and quietness in sin, and raising storms and terrors in his soul when he is about to turn.
_The Methods of Christ against the Tempter._
Before I proceed to Satan's particular temptations, I will show you the contrary methods of Christ in the conduct of his army, and opposing Satan.
I. Christ's ends are, ultimately, the glory and pleasing of his Father and himself, and the saving of his church, and the destroying the kingdom of the devil; and next, the purifying his peculiar people, and calling home all that are ordained to eternal life.
But more particularly, he looketh principally at the heart, to plant there, 1. Holy knowledge. 2. Faith. 3. Godliness, or holy devotedness to God, and love to him above all. 4. Thankfulness. 5. Obedience. 6. Humility. 7. Heavenly-mindedness. 8. Love to others. 9. Self-denial, and mortification, and contentment. 10. Patience. And in all these, 1. Sincerity; 2. Tenderness of heart; 3. Zeal, and holy strength and resolution. And withal to make us actually serviceable, and diligent in our Master's work, for our own and others' salvation.
II. Christ's order in working is direct, and not backward, as the devil's is. He first revealeth saving truth to the understanding, and affecteth the will by showing the goodness of the things revealed; and these employ the thoughts, and passions, and senses, and the whole body, reducing the inferior faculties to obedience, and casting out by degrees those images which had deceived and prepossessed them.
The matter which Christ presenteth to the soul, is, 1. Certain truth from the Father of lights, set up against the prince and kingdom of darkness, ignorance, error, and deceit. 2. Spiritual and everlasting good, even God himself, to be seen, and loved, and enjoyed for ever, against the tempter's temporal, corporal, and seeming good. Christ's kingdom and work are advanced by light: he is for the promoting of all useful knowledge; and therefore, for clear and convincing preaching, for reading the Scriptures in a known tongue, and meditating in them day and night, and for exhorting one another daily; which Satan is against.
III. The means by which he worketh against Satan, are such as these: 1. Sometimes he maketh use of the very temper of the body as a preparative; and (being Lord of all) he giveth such a temperature as will be most serviceable to the soul; as a sober, deliberate, meek, quiet, and patient disposition. But sometimes he honoureth his grace by the conquest of such sins, as even bodily disposition doth entertain and cherish.
2. Sometimes by his providence he withdraweth the matter of temptations, that they shall not be too strong for feeble souls: but sometimes his grace doth make advantage of them all, and leave them for the magnifying of its frequent victories.
3. Sometimes he giveth his cause the major vote among the people, so that it shall be a matter of dishonourable singularity not to be a professed christian; and sometimes, but exceeding rarely, it is so with the life of godliness and practice of christianity also. But ordinarily, in the most places of the world, custom and the multitude are against him, and his grace is honoured by prevailing against these bands of Satan.
4. He maketh his ministers his principal instruments, qualifying, disposing, and calling them to his work, and helping them in it, and prospering it in their hands.
5. He maketh it the duty of every christian to do his part to carry on the work; and furnisheth them with love, and compassion, and knowledge, and zeal in their several measures.