Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

thoughts, in all their approaches to God: vain thoughts will intrude themselves upon him that lives in a crowd of business. The stars which have the least circuit are nearest the pole; and men that are the least perplexed with business, are often nearest to God.

CHAPTER VIII.

The eighth Device that Satan hath to hinder souls from religious services and holy performances, is,

ances.

BY persuading them to rest in their performTo rest in prayer, and to rest in hearing, reading, and the communion of saints, &c. And when Satan hath drawn the soul to rest upon the service done, then he will help it to reason thus: Why, it were as good never to pray, as to pray, and rest in prayer; as good never to hear, as to hear, and rest in hearing; as good never to be in the communion of saints, as to rest in the communion of saints. And by this device he stops many in their heavenly race, and takes them off from those services that should be their joy and delight.-Now the remedies against this device are these:

Remedy 1. Against this device of Satan, dwell much upon the imperfections and weaknesses that attend your choicest services.* O, the spots and blemishes that are to be seen upon the face of our fairest duties! When thou hast done all thou canst, thou hast need to close up all with this petition, O enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord, for the weaknesses that cleave to my best services! We may all say with the church, All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags,' Is. lxiv. 6. If God should be strict to mark what was done amiss in our best actions, we are undone. Oh! the water that is mingled with our wine, the dross that cleaves unto our gold.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Rem. 2. Consider the impotence and inability of any of your best services, divinely to comfort, refresh, and bear your souls up from fainting, and sinking in the day of trouble, when darkness is round about you, when God shall say unto you as he did once to the Israelites, Go and cry unto the gods that you have chosen, let them save you in the time of your tribulation,' Judg. x. 4. So when God shall say in the day of your trouble, Go to your prayers, to your hearing, and to your fasting,' &c. and see if they can help you, if they can support you, if they can deliver you. If God in that day doth but withhold the

* Pride and high confidence are most apt to creep in upon duties well done, saith one.

influence of his grace from thee, thy former services will be but poor cordials to comfort thee:* and then thou must, and wilt cry out, 'Oh! none but Christ, none but Christ. Oh! my prayers are not Christ, my hearing is not Christ, my fasting is not Christ,' &c. Oh! one smile of Christ, one glimpse of Christ, one good word from Christ, one token of love from Christ in the day of trouble and darkness, will more revive and refresh the soul, than all former services in which your souls rested, as if they were the bosom of Christ, which should be the only centre of our souls. Christ is the crown of crowns, the glory of glories, and the heaven of heavens!

Rem. 3. Solemnly consider, that good things rested upon, will as certainly undo us, and everlastingly destroy us, as the greatest enormities that can be committed by us. Those souls who, after they have done all, do not look up as high as Christ, and rest, and centre alone in him, laying down their services at his footstool, must lie down in sorrow, their bed is prepared for them in hell, Is. 1. ult. Behold all ye that kindle a fire, and compass yourselves with the sparks, walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled, this ye shall have at mine hands, ye shall lie down in sorrow,'. Is it good

"All good is the chiefest good."

"Neither Christ nor heaven will bear an hyperbole."

dwelling with everlasting burnings, with a devouring fire? If it be, why then rest in your duties still; if otherwise, then see that you centre only in the bosom of Christ.

Rem. 4. Dwell much upon the necessity and excellency of that resting place that God hath provided for you, above all other resting places.Himself, his free mercy, and love, is your resting place; the pure, glorious, matchless, and spotless, righteousness of Christ, is your resting place. Ah! it is sad to think, that most men have forgotten their resting place, as the Lord complains, Jer. 1. 6. My people have been as lost sheep, their shepherds have caused them to go astray, and have turned them away to the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill, and forgotten their resting place.' So poor souls that see not the excellency of that resting place that God hath appointed for their souls to lie down in, they wander from mountain to hill, from one duty to another, and here they will rest, and there they will rest; but those who see the excellency of that resting place that God hath provided for them, will say, Farewel prayer, farewel hearing, farewel fasting, &c. I will rest no more in you, but now I will rest only in the bosom of Christ, the love, the righteousness of Christ.'

PART III.

The third thing to be shewed, is, the several Devices that Satan hath to keep souls in a sad, doubting, questioning, and uncomfortable condition.

THOUGH he can never rob believers of their crown, yet such is his malice and envy, that he will leave no stone unturned, no means unattempted, to rob them of their comfort and peace, to make their life a burthen and a misery unto them, to cause them to spend their days in sorrow and mourning, in sighing and complaining, in doubting and questioning: surely we have no interest in Christ, our graces are not true; our hopes are the hopes of hypocrites; our confidence is our presumption; our enjoyments are our delusions, &c.

I shall shew you this in some particulars, &c.

*Blessed Bradford in one of his epistles saith thus, O Lord, sometimes methinks I feel it so with me, as if there were no difference between my heart and the wicked; I have as blind a mind as they, as stout, stubborn, rebellius, and hard heart as they, &c.

[graphic]
« PreviousContinue »