The Trial and Triumph of Faith, Sermon 5
SERMON V.
VExed with a Devil. Satan worketh as a naturall agent, without moderation.foreign She is Devilled, that is, fully possessed: The malice of the Devill is a naturall agent, and worketh as intently and bently as he can, as agens maximum quod sic, the fire putteth forth all its strength in burning, the Sun heateth and inlightneth as vehemently as it can: A Milstone fallen from the sphere of the Moon down to the earth, useth no moderation or abetment in its motion: The malice of Hell being let loose, it worketh mischief by nature, not by will. Satans possession is full, Peter saith to Ananias, Acts 5.3. Why hath Satan filled thy heart to lye against the Holy Ghost? As there is a fulnes of God, Eph. 3.19. so there's a fulnesse of the Devil, as Rom. 1.29. being filled with all unrighteousnesse. It is no wonder that Cavaliers and Malignants work as their Father, the nature of the Father is in the son, modus operandi sequitur modum essendi, the manner of working, is sutable to the nature of the worker, hel works like Hell, Ier. 3.5. Behold thou hast spoken, and done evil as thou couldst, Esa. 5.18. They draw sin and iniquity, not with a rush or a threed, but with …ords of vanity, and with a cart rope, Mic. 7.3. They do evil with both hands earnestly. All that malice and Hell could do of cruelty to young & old, to women & sucking infants, hath been done in Ireland and England: The Devil in his element is twice a Devil, he is in his own when he formeth and actuateth bloodie instruments, and he aboundeth in his own sphere; Satans malice, its alone, is great, and a sinners wrath is heavier then stones and sand: but when they are conjoyned (as united force is stronger) who can stand before them? Christs Lambs have been preserved amidst Devils and men, since the Creation, amongst Wolves, by no humane power and strength.
Observe, That all that came to Christ have been forced through some one necessity or other, either a leaprous body, blind eyes, a palsey, a bloody issue, a withered arme, or a dying son, and that some have been brought to Christ, at least their Parents or Friends have come to Christ through reason of bodily possession by the Devil; but we read of none that came through reason of the Devil's spirituall possessing of them,Spiritual … chase …ew or none to Christ. either by themselves or others. 1. There is much flesh and much nature in us, and so much sense and little spirit, and little of God; a blinde eye will chase thee to Christ, a soul under the Prince of darknesse will not. 2. We are all body, and life, and time; but we are not all Soul, and Spirit, and Eternity: Heaven is far from being the master Element in us. 3. Misplaced love is much, Ioh. 8.44. Ye are of your Father the Devil, saith Christ to the Jews; every childe loveth the Father. Why? And men love not the Devil; doth not every wretch through natures instinct, abhor the Devil? Is not this the Mother-devotion of any wretch that knoweth nothing of God from the womb? God save me from the Devil, and all his works, How men naturally love the Devil.I have nothing to do with that fowl spirit. Its true, There's a physicall hatred of the Devil; as he is a spirit, an Angel and the Pursevant of divine justice, inflicting evil of punishment on all men naturally; but there's in all men an inbred morall love of the Devil, as he is a fallen spirit, tempting to sin; here every prisoner loveth this keeper, like loveth like, broken men and Bankrupt flee together to Woods and Mountains; an Out-law loveth an Out-law, Fowls of a feather flock together, the Devil and sinfull men are both broken men, and Out-laws of Heaven, and of one blood; wicked men are, 1 Ioh. 3.10. The children of the Devil, they have that naturall relation of Father and Son: There's of the Devils seed in sinners, there's a spirituall concupiscence in Devils, to lust against Gods Image and Glory, and Satan findeth his own seed in us by nature, to wit, concupiscence, a stem, a sprouting, and childe of the house of Hell. It were good we knew our own misery, the man resolveth a prisoner has a sweet life, who loveth his own chains because made of gold, and hateth them not because chains, and falleth to Paint the walls of his Dungeon, and to put up Hangings in his Prison, and will but over-gild with gold his Iron Fetters: Oh! are we not in love with our own Dungeon of sin? and do we not bear a kinde love to our Father the Devill? We bring in provision for the flesh, and nourish the Old man, as old as since Adam-first sinned: Alas, we never saw our Father in the face, we love the Devill as the Devill fallen in sin, but we see him not as a Devill, but only under the embroderies of golden and silken temptations, we sow to the flesh, we Inne our Crop to the Devill, but we know not our Land-lord; and because sense and flesh is nearer to us then God, we desire more the Liberties of State, free commerce, and peace with the King, then Christs Liberties, the power, and purity of the Gospel, that we may negotiate with Heaven, and have peace with God.
Vnclean spirit] This is the quality of this Devil:Satan how an uncleane Spirit. An unclean Devil. Now whether he be called so, because he tempted the Maid to some prodigious acts of uncleannesse, or because in generall he tempteth to uncleannesse of sins; so as uncleannesse is but a generall Epithet of all the Devils; I professe my ignorance, how ever all devils have this general name, unclean spirits, because of their spirituall uncleannesse: Its certain, Devils are, 1. Black, now they being fallen in a smoky Hell, and kept under the power and chains of darknesse, they are but lumps of black Hell, and darknesse, whereas they are created fair Angels: 1. Truth is the fairest thing that is, obedience to God is truth, Ioh. 3.21. Sin is the most ugly, and deformed thing in the world: and therefore sinners can have no communion with God, while they be washed: 2. Devils were once pure and clean spirits, their understandings were made clear, to see God and his beauty; now these fair spirits are darkned, for their fellow-Angels who sinned not, are yet Seraphims, and Lamps of light, and these Angels (saith Christ, Mat. 18.10.) Do alwayes behold the face of my Father which is in Heaven.
Then the more Grace of Christ, the more clearnesse of saving knowledge and sound reason; Grace maketh more solid wisdom then Art or Learning; by this David excelled all his Teachers, and the Ancient ones: In Satans fools the right principle of wisdom is extinguished; the Prophet spake it of States-men, or rather State fools, Jer. 8.9. Lo they have rejected the word of the Lord, and what wisdome is in them? As there be pollutions of the flesh, so are there pollutions of the minde and spirit, 2 Tim. 3.8. Men of corrupt minde, Its true wisdom, to know GOD savingly.are men of rotten mindes; false opinions of God are rottennesse in the understanding. 1 Tim. 1.7. The spirit of a sound minde, vers. 13. Hold fast the form of sound words: There are some words that come from a sick minde, as Tit. 1.13. The Apostle holdeth forth, that there be some sick of the Faith, as there be some sound of the Faith, Prov. 2.7. The Lord giveth sound wisdome foreign its Essence and being: Tushija, Pagnin, Substantiam: R. Levi, reservabit rectis id quod est; Ra. David saith, Because wisdom and the Law of God is an abiding, and (as Aben Ezra saith) A living thing that endureth to eternity; whereas indeed humane wisdome, and false opinions of God, are passing-away things, the lye liveth not a long age: wisdom is a Tree of Life, Psal, 119.80. Let my heart be sound in thy Statutes: foreign perfect, wanting nothing, a fool wanteth the best part of his heart: State-wisdom, not lying levell to Christs ends, but commensurated with carnall projects, is but folly.
Hearing of him] What had she heard? that Jesus was the Son of God, Art. 5 Mark 7the Messiah of Israel, and could, and was willing to heal her daughter: two things are here observable, hearing of Christ drew her to Christ: 2. Its good to border with Christ, and to be near hand to him: There is a necessity that we hear of Christ, before we come to him. This is Gods way, Rom. 10. Faith cometh by hearing: Christ is not in us from the womb, Faith is not a flower that groweth out of such a sowre and cold ground as nature; its a stem and a birth of heaven: 2. None can come to Christ, except they heer a good report of him. How shall they believe in him, of whom they have not heard? Those who come aright to Christ, must have noble, high, long, deep, and broad thoughts of Iesus, What hearing bringeth souls to Christ.and know the Gospel. Now what is the Gospel? Nothing but a good report of Christ; you must hear a Gospel-report of Christ, ere you come to him: Ill principled thoughts of Christ keepeth many from him, 1 Kin. 8.42. Strangers shall hear of thy great name, and of thy strong hand. Christ was to be heard by the deaf Gentiles, Is. 29.18. In that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book: We hear, and we hear not, because the Lord wakeneth not the ear, morning by morning, that we may hear as the learned: Many hear, but they have not the learned ear, nor the ear of such as have heard and learned of the Father: Many hear of Christ, a voice, and no more but a voice, they know not that Prophesie, Isa. 30.21. Thine ears shall hear a word behinde thee, saying, This is the way walk ye in it: There's another vice in our hearing men do not hear, that they may hear, Isa. 42.18. Hear ye deaf, and behold ye blinde, that ye may see: That is, hear that ye may hear, see that ye may see: the Lord giveth Grace, that he may give Grace, and we are to receive Grace, that we may receive Grace: Grace is the only reward of Grace: 3. We hear, and we hear not; we see, but we have no reflect-act upon our seeing: Many open their ears to Christ, but they hear not, they want a spirituall faculty of observing, Esa. 42.20. Seeing many things, but thou observest not; opening the ear, but he heareth not. 4. Many put Christ in an ear without a bottome, or in ear with a hole in its bottom; we hear of Christ, Heb. 2. but we are as leaking and running-out vessels, Esa. 42.23. Who among you will give ear to this, and hear for the time to come? Physicians give their three causes of Deafnesse: 1. When there's a carnosity on the Tympanum auris, Three vices in hearing.the drum, this is Extrinsicall, the world is another lover, and the care of it, and that hindereth hearing. 2. When the organ of hearing is hurt and distempered, as a lame hand cannot apprehend: now when there be false fancies, & principles contrary to the Gospel in the heart, the ear cannot hear. 3. When there is abundance of humors in the brain, and they raise a noise, and tumult in tympano, in the drum, and hinder sounds to be heard. When Pride, and Principles of Sensuality and vain pleasures make a noise within, that neither Christ knocking, nor his voice without can be heard, men are deaf.
But why do we not hear and see Christ revealing himself in his wayes and works? Reason would say,Simile. If Hell and Judgement were before our eyes, we should hear and come to Christ: Suppose we saw with our eyes for twenty or thirty yeers together, a great furnace of fire, of the quantity of the whole earth, and saw there, Cain, Judas, Ahitophel, Saul, and all the damned, as lumps of red fire, and they boyling and louping for pain in a dungeon of everlasting brimstone, and the black and terrible devils with long and sharp-tooth'd whips of Scorpions, lashing out scourges on them; and if we saw there our Neighbours, Brethren, Sisters, yea our dear Children, Wives, Fathers and Mothers,A sight of Hell should not work Faith without Graces efficacious action. swimming and sinking in that black Lake, and heard the yelling, shouting, crying of our young ones and fathers, blaspheming the spotlesse Justice of God; if we saw this, while we are living here on Earth, we should not dare to offend the Majesty of God, but should hear, come to Christ, and believe and be saved. But the truth is, If we believe not Moses and the Prophets, neither should we believe for this, because we see with our eyes, and hear with our ears, even while we are in this life daily, pieces and little parcels of Hell, for we see and hear daily some tumbling in their blood, thousands cut down of our Brethren, Children, Fathers, Malefactors hanged and quartered, Death in every house: These, these be little hells, and little coals and sparkles of the great fire of hell, and certain Documents to us, that there is a Hell. Yet we neither hear nor come to Christ.
Nay, suppose a Preacher come from Hel to the rich Gluttons five brethren, Luk. 16. and should bring with him all the lashes, and print of the whips of Satans Scorpions, on back and side, on thighs, arms and legs; and though he should bring up to us out of hell, ten thousand damned, and bring with him the fire, the red coals of the Fury of God, every coal as great as a mountain, and offer them all to our eyes and ears & senses, such is the power of our deafnesse and blindnes, that we should not believe: For when many little hells work so little by length of time, this one great hell should never bring us to hear, and come to Christ. See how little we are affected with the blood of so many thousands of our own flesh in the three Kingdoms: Alas! our senses are confined within time.
Its good to border neer to Christ.The other thing observable, is, That it is good to be neer the place where Christ is. It was advantage, that the woman dwelt upon the borders of the Land where Christ was; Its good for the poor to be a Neighbour beside the rich, and for the thirsty to take up house and dwell at the Fountain, and for the sick to border with the Physician. O love the ground that Christ walketh on; To be born in Sion is an honour, Psal 87.6. because there the Lord dwelleth. Its a blessing to hear and see Christ, Mat. 13.16. we do not weigh, nor duely esteem what a favour it is, that Christ walketh in the midst of the golden Candlesticks, that the voice of the Turtle is heard in our Land; its ours, to build him a pallace of Silver.
For the sixth Article, which is, Her adoring of Christ; it shall be spoken of in another place: I hasten therefore to her Prayer.