Defensive Armor Against Four of Satans Most Fiery Darts, Chapter 3
CHAP. III.
No ſeeming good propounded to ſuch Souls as are thus Tempted, to whom the Temptations are Afflictive. Nor doth the Tempter always uſe Arguments, not ſo much hoping to prevail with ſuch ſouls, as to trouble them to that degree, as to put them upon deſtroying themſelves. To others he uſeth Arguments, From the No Evidence of the Divine Being to our Senſe: The Incomprehenſibleneſs of it, and the Perfections of it by our Reaſon: The many Diſorders which the Divine Wiſdom thinketh fit to permit in the World. Theſe are the uſual Topicks of Tempters that tempt ſouls unto Atheiſme.
EVery Man when he is tempted is drawn away by his own Luſt and enticed, ſaith St. James (1 Jam.) He is enticed by ſome glimmerings of good, and ſo he is drawn away; but it is vain for us to enquire what ſeeming good enticeth a Soul, who looketh upon his motions and ſolicitations, and the things to which the Soul is ſo ſolicited, as the greateſt Evils in the world. St. James therefore is there ſpeaking not of Temptations in the general, but of ſuch Temptations as flow and proceed from our innate Luſt: There muſt in all Temptations of that nature, be a Bait upon which the Luſt in our hearts may feed; and tho it be not neceſſary that that Bait be a real Good, yet it muſt have ſome appearance of good in it; for the principles of Humane Nature will not allow it to move into the Embrace… of any thing which it apprehendeth Evil; but this is not neceſſary in Temptations which flow ſolely from the Devil: the eternal ruin of the Soul is the Deſign of that Envious One, and it is all one whether he can affright or intice the Soul into Hell, whether he can deſtroy it by Poiſon or by a more certain Stabb. It may be more worthy our Enquiry, what Arguments the Devil can poſſibly uſe with a Soul ſo far prejudiced againſt impr…ſſions of this nature, that he can hope ſhould prevail with it to receive any ſuch impreſſions: For the Soul of Man being a rational being, is not like, without ſomething of Reaſon, or a ſhew of it, to be brought over to agree to any ſuch impreſſion.
1. What if we ſhould ſay that poſſibly the Tempter promiſeth himſelf no ſuch ſucceſs, what if his deſign be not to proſelyte a Religious Soul to the Propoſition which is contrived in his Suggeſtion, but meerly to weary the Chriſtian out of his life by the conſtant trouble of his importunity; and indeed I believe that generally ſo it is, and that theſe are but preparative Temptations to Self-murther and Deſpair, if he cannot by theſe Suggeſtions perſwade the Soul to blaſpheme God, or to deny Gods Infinite Beng and Perfections; yet if he can but ſtir up in the Soul ſuch a degree of Impatience, under this ſore affliction, as will put the man upon determining his own life deliberately, he hath done his work. Hence it is that in all the Courſe of my Miniſtry I never obſerved Man or Woman long under theſe Temptations, but they fell into Temptations of the later Nature; which I the rather hint to you, that you may watch upon, and pray for perſons, who are brought under theſe moſt ſad and diſmal circumſtances. They are ordinary Praeludiums and Prologues to ſuch Tragedies, and in this caſe he is not much concerned to bring Arguments before the Soul, it is to be deſtroyed another way.
2. But indeed as to other Souls, to whom theſe Temptations are not Afflictions, but meer Diverſions and Recreations, he muſt uſe Arguments, and he may offer them even to Pious and Religious Souls, how little ſoever they avail. The Arguments cannot be many which can be brought in ſuch a Cauſe. They are uſually brought from one of theſe three Heads:
1. From the want of the Evidence of Senſe to prove a Divine Being. Spiritual Beings are in this diſtinguiſhed from thoſe that are bodily, that having no Accidents, no Qualities, ſuch as Colour, or the like; they are not evident to our External Senſes. God is called the Inviſible and who (ſaith the Holy Ghoſt) hath ſeen God at any time? Indeed no Spiritual being can be ſeen, who ever ſaw the Soul of a Man, or an Angel (unleſs in an aſſumed Shape) and I look upon the queſtioning of any ſuch beings, as Spirits, in our age, a fair Argument of the Atheiſme that is in thoſe Philoſophers Hearts. Yet are we Creatures ſo much made up of Fleſh and Blood, that we are hard to believe any thing but what we ſee; that is indeed to believe any thing at all: for ſeeing and believing are two things very diverſe one from another. Who ever ſaw God (faith the Devil) or who at any time hath heard his Voice, &c? But this is an Argument fit only for Senſual Brutes, and not for any deliberate Soul to be catched by.
2. He will, therefore (Secondly) argue from Reaſon, which is not able by ſearching to find out God unto perfection. It is uſually ſaid, Animal nihil plus Animali ſapit. That a living creature knows nothing beyond a living creature of its own ſize and perfection. Upon this account it is reaſonably ſaid, That if a brute Creature could deſcribe a Man, it would deſcribe him as a Brute, not being able to conceive of a Creature beyond its degree of Perfection. It is eaſie for a man, if he will but make uſe of his own reaſon, to conclude that there muſt be a God, a Firſt Being, and a Firſt Cauſe; for that nothing can give a being to, or be the firſt cauſe of it ſelf, is a principle ſo connatural unto us, as we cannot out-face it, nor by our higheſt debauchery is extinguiſht; but however the Firſt Being ſhould give a being to it ſelf, or the Firſt Cauſe be its own cauſe, this is very hard to conceive, until the Soul be aſſiſted by a Divine Light. And the Divine Being being ſo far tranſcendent in its perfections to all the perfections that are found in the greateſt and wiſeſt of the Sons of Men, it is yet harder to conceive of it aright and not to blaſpheme it in our thoughts: We are Creatures that are Limited by Time, Circumſcribed by Air and Certain Meaſures, and it is very hard to us to conceive that there ſhould be a Being without theſe boundaries, The Immenſity, Omnipotence, Omniſcience, Infiniteneſs of any Being, are things tranſcending the reach of our Conceptions, and tho we can by Reaſon argue our ſelves ſometimes into an appearing neceſſity of theſe Aſſertions, yet we can hardly give credit to the Eyes of our Minds, they are perfections beyond our graſp. Hence the Great Wits of the World are generally Atheiſtical, and it ſeems almoſt neceſſary that men ſhould be fools, that they might be wiſe: Hence is the Socinians denial of the Trinity, and others denial of Gods Omniſcience, &c. This gives the Devil a great advantage, putting the Soul upon reflections, How can theſe things be? Luther ſaith Non amo hos Curiſtas & Quaeriſtas (he might have ſaid Quomodiſtas too) Audi Verbum Dei & tace. I do not love theſe Inquirers in Divine things. Why ſo, or Wherefore, or How are thoſe things? Hear the Word of God, and hold thy peace.
3. A Third Argument that Satan ordinarily uſeth in theſe Temptations, is from the ſeeming diſorders and confuſions which the Wiſdom of Divine Providence permits in the World. Were there a God (ſaith the Devil) and were he ſuch a God as thou fancieſt, would he ſuffer his Enemies ſo to proſper, and his Servants to be ſo trampled upon? This is an Argument which our own feeble Reaſon, in compliance with our Luſts, doth often trouble us with; even David, Jeremy, and Habakkuk, were moleſted with it. As we are naturally prone to meaſure the Almighty's Power by the ſtrength of our created Arms, and his Omniſcience by the Fathom of our pitiful Comprehenſions, and his Eternity by the Span of our own Duration; ſo we are as prone to determine concerning his Wiſdom by our Policies. We cannot ſee to the bottom of his depths, nor look up to the top of his heights, but judge of the Infinite Wiſe God, as if we were to determine concerning a ſhallow Politician amongſt men; ſo that whether the Argument be concluſive or no (which doubtleſs it is not) yet it is good enough for the Devil to trouble us with, to tell us, That if indeed there were a God, and ſuch a God as we have heard of, Abel ſhould not have periſhed by the hands of a bloody Cain, nor the Iſraelites been oppreſſed by ſuch a one as Pharaoh; nor Job put to ſcrape himſelf with a pot-ſheard. The wicked ſhould not walk on every ſide, nor the vileſt men be exalted. It ſhould not happen to the righteous after the manner of the wicked, nor yet to the wicked according to the deſert of the righteous; nothing but blind Fortune could ſhut its Eyes and wink at ſuch diſorders. Theſe now are the greateſt advantages which I can fancy the Devil to have upon any Soul, to induce it to think there is no God, or at leaſt no ſuch God as the Scripture ſpeaks of, and we ordinarily preach to you; and perſons ſolicited to ſuch a belief, will find ſome ſuch thoughts as theſe ordinarily either praevious to or concomitant with the other. But as I ſaid before, in ſuch caſes as I am ſpeaking to, he ſeldom uſeth much argument, little hopeing to work over the Soul into ſuch a belief, onelyonly deſigning to give it trouble, in order to a further end: And this is enough to have ſpoken to this Queſtion, both concerning the want of a bait that ſhould intice the Soul into this Net, and the Arguments which the Tempter ordinarily uſeth with Such Souls.