Defensive Armor Against Four of Satans Most Fiery Darts, Chapter 4
CHAP. IV.
By what Seeming Good the Soul tempted to Self-Murther, may be drawn away and inticed. What good greater than Life. Eternal Life a greater good. This can bait no Believer to ſuch an Act why. Immunity from ſome great Evil felt, or imminent, the onelyonly appearing Good in the Caſe. A Caſe ariſing from a Souls being poſſeſt of the Doctrine of Election. Whether that can give this Temptation advantage? It is denied.
BUt it may poſſibly be worthy of our Inquiry, What can be a Bait fitting for ſuch a Trap? He who is tempted (ſaith the Apoſtle) is drawn away by his own luſt and enticed: No Man is enticed, but by ſome appearing Good. None can be drawn away from a Good, nor enticed out of the poſſeſſion of it, but upon the view of a greater Good, poſſible or probable to be obtained by parting with that which is leſſer. Now Life being in the Eye of Nature the greateſt Good, Skin for Skin (ſaith the Devil) and all a man hath, for his Life. One would think the Devil could not ſhew a Man or Woman any thing, for the obtaining of which he ſhould deliberately and voluntarily part with his Life.
To this I Anſwer two things,
1, Though Natural Life, in Pleaſing Circumſtances, be the greateſt Natural Good; yet Life Eternal is a more Excellent Good. So that if it be poſſible that a man ſhould be cheated by his own heart, or by the Devil, ſo as to believe that the diſpoſſeſſion of himſelf of his Natural Life, ſhall bring him into the poſſeſſion of an Eternal Life; he may upon that account be rationally perſwaded to determine his own Life. Thus the Devil impoſed upon ſome of the Heathens; who had by the Light of Nature but a dim Proſpect of that Life and Immortality which the Apoſtle telleth us is brought to Light by the Goſpel: Dreaming that an happy State of the Soul in another Life, was the common portion of all men, or at leaſt of all that lived up in any degree to the Rules of Moral Vertue; and not underſtanding, that the Wages of Sin was Death, nor the right way to Eternal Life; nor that of the Apoſtle, That no Murtherer hath Eternal Life abiding for him, no more than abiding in him; they might eaſily be ſo cheated: as Cleombrotus and others. But it is not poſſible that a Believer (one I mean, who believeth the Scriptures) ſhould be thus enticed: for by Faith he knows, That the Law is, Thou ſhalt do no Murther, That no Murtherer hath Eternal Life. That the Murtherer is one of thoſe Sinners that have their portion in the Second Death: Rev. 21. 8. and therefore not in the Second Life.
2. Secondly, Though Natural Life, in pleaſing Circumſtances, may be the greateſt Natural Good; yet this Natural Life, as to particular perſons, may be ſo ill circumſtanced, that a preſent freedom from ſome Evil, may to a Natural Eye appear a much greater Good; in compariſon of which even Life it ſelf may be an Evil undeſirable and abhorred. Life is much rated by the happy or leſs happy Circumſtances of it. Even Nature it ſelf would not deſire a Life of Continual and Extream pain. And indeed, This Eaſe and Immunity from Evils, which either at preſent oppreſs us, or hang over our heads, ſo that we have, or think we have them in a certain Proſpect, not probable to be avoided, is the onelyonly appearing good that can entice us to determine our own Lives. For Death depriving us of all Poſitive Senſible Good Things, ſuch as Riches, Pleaſures, Profits, Honours, Relations, all kind of Senſual Satisfactions. And this Death being no way or means, and ſuch a thing as cannot poſſibly appear to any but Heathens and Infidels, as any means to bring us to any Eternal Good; there remaineth nothing of any umbrage or Colour of Good in it, by which it is poſſible we ſhould be cheated, but onelyonly a Superſedeas from, or Determination of thoſe Evils, which we either think we have in a near and certain Proſpect hardly avoidable, or under the preſſure of which we groan, being burthened, and ſeek a Releaſe from. And if (as I ſhall have occaſion enough hereafter to ſhew you) Death thus brought upon our ſelves by our own hands, will not be a productive of this Effect, but ſo far as we can poſſibly judge, bring us into a far deeper Gulf of Miſery than what we are already in; and make our Caſe a thouſand times more ſad than it is already: We muſt conclude it is onelyonly an Appearence of Good by which we are cheated.
Obj. But I hear ſome ſay, upon the Hypotheſis of ſome, That there is an Election of Grace, and that thoſe who are choſen unto Eternal Life, cannot periſh; why may not Men and Women deſtroy themſelves, that they may be in Heaven: for if they be Elected, they ſhall he Saved. And if they be not Elected, let them live as long as they can, they ſhall be damned.
Sol. This may be ignorantly ſpoken, by ſuch as know not the Scriptures, nor what they, who aſſert from the Scriptures the Doctrine of Election, do maintain: but it cannot be ſaid by any underſtanding perſons, who knoweth any thing of the Mind and Will of God in the Scriptures, or what they reveal as to the Doctrine of Election.
1. For I beſeech you to conſider, 1. That nothing can be a Temptation to any, to deprive himſelf of the greateſt natural good, but an apprehenſion of a certain enjoyment, of a greater good; though it be granted that Eternal Life be certainly a greater good than a Natural Life, yet if I do not apprehend, that by departing out of this preſent Life, I ſhall certainly be put into the poſſeſſion of that better Life; and by no other way ſo adequate I ſhall never be perſwaded upon that Speculation, to part with this Life; for good as good doth not move our appetite, but as ſo apprehended by us.
2. Secondly that it is impoſſible, that any one ſhould apprehend, that by depriving himſelf of his Natural Life, he ſhould be poſſeſſed of an Eternal Life; for I pray obſerve me; ſuch an apprehenſion muſt be bottomed upon one of theſe things, 1. Either that Eternal Life ſhall be the common Portion of all Men after this Life, which indeed might be the apprehenſion of ſome Heathens, but cannot poſſibly be fancied by any Intelligent Chriſtian; for beſides that, the Notices we have of a State of Eternal Happineſs are very Imperfect, beſides ſuch as we have from the Goſpel, which the Apoſtle ſaith have brought Life and Immortality to Light. I ſay beſides this, the Scriptures plainly reveals, that there is an Hell as well as an Heaven, a State of Miſery as well as Happineſs; that ſome ſhall riſe to Shame and Contempt, as others to Life and Glory. 2. Or elſe Secondly, It muſt be founded upon this. That they know that they are elected unto Life: For I appeal to the Reaſon of any perſon. Suppoſe that I know and am aſſured, that God hath choſen ſome from before the Foundation of the World, to whom he will give Eternal Life; and admit again that I am equally aſſured that no perſon ſo choſen of God unto Eternal Life, can Eternally Periſh; yet what pretence is here for me, unleſs I have alſo an aſſurance or perſwaſion, that I am one of thoſe whom God hath from Eternity ſo choſen, and therefore cannot periſh; to throw away the greateſt temporal good I have (viz. my Life) to obtain that greater ſupernatural good of Life Eternal; whileſt I am in the certain poſſeſſion of the former, and have no aſſurance of the latter. Now it is impoſſible, that any one, that hath deliberations in his heart to commit ſo great an Evil, and ſo ripened as to reſolve to do it; ſhould have any Aſſurance, or any certain apprehenſions, that he is one of the Elect of God, or that he was ever born of God: The Reaſon is this, becauſe all ſuch Aſſurance muſt be from the Word of God, and the Spirit of God; ſetting home the Word of God upon the Soul, and conforming the Soul to the Image of God. Now the Word of God ſaith, No Murtherer hath Eternal Life, it ſaith Murtherers ſhall have their Portion in the Lake which burneth with Fire and Brimſtone; which is the ſecond Death. So far is it from ſaying that any perſons, that deliberate, and do ſuch things, are the Elect of God, and ſhall certainly have Everlaſting Life: So as the Notion of Election and its certainty, and of Effectual Grace, and its abiding in the Soul, cannot poſſibly give any reaſonable advantage to this Temptation; propoſing to the Soul that deliberateth, and is about to do any ſuch thing, any ſuch Supereminent Good as Eternal Life, to be obtained, by parting with this Life, without any direction from God, who is the Lord of it: Nay it rather giveth the greateſt diſcouragement imaginable, by threatning Eternal Death to thoſe who do ſuch things; and barring the Gates of Heaven againſt them.
3. Nay, Thirdly, admitting that Propoſition to be true. That if a Man be Elected, he ſhall certainly be Saved; let him die when, and how he will: and if he be not elected, he ſhall certainly Periſh: Yet neither can this give the leaſt incouragement to ſo vile an Act, for ſo long as his heart is full of ſo great a Wickedneſs, he can have no grounded Apprehenſion, that he is elected; and ſo cannot be allured to the Action, by the apprehenſion of enjoying Eternal Life; which is a far greater good than the life he parteth with. So neither can any be certain that he is not choſen unto Life, and if he could be certain of that, yet no mans reaſon can dictate to him, that infinite Torments and Miſery are a leſſer Evil than any of the Evils of this Life; which in obedience to this Temptation, he would flee from, by putting a period to his days: Or that it is eligible for him to throw himſelf into thoſe Torments before the time. So that it is impoſſible, That the Notions of Election and Pretenſion, or the certain Determination of Man, as to his Eternal Eſtate, ſhould give the leaſt aid, and aſſiſtance unto this Temptation. But the onelyonly appearing good that can entice any to hearken to a Temptation of this Nature, muſt be a freedom from ſome preſent Evil, or ſome imminent Evil.