Armor of Proof 2, Chapter 23
CHAP. XXIII.
FIrſt, It may ſerve to inform every man whether he be of the Serpents ſeed, a childe of the devil, as he came into the world: Or regenerate, and ſo become of the womans ſeed, a childe of God, and member of Chriſt. For as our Saviour ſaith, ſpeaking of falſe Prophets, By their fruits ye ſhall know them, ſo I of the ſeed of the Serpent, and children of the devil; by theſe two and twenty fruits or properties of enmity before ſpoken of, you ſhall know them, as well as you ſhall know the life by breathing, or the day by its light. Wherefore all ye that reade reflect and caſt your eyes on theſe examples, which are ſuch lively emblemes and repreſentations of your ſelves: if you be the Serpents ſeed, and yet in your ſins. Yea, let it make you tremble; For know aſſuredly, that if this ſpawn of enmity remain in you, if any of theſe waies, you perſecute Chriſt in his members, or but hate the good, becauſe they will not be ſo evill as you are, you have not caſt off this Serpentine quality, which you drew from the loins of old Adam: but it is an infallible ſign that you are of the Serpents ſeed, and children of the devil; enemies to, and haters of God and all goodneſſe, the brethren of Cain, or Cain himſelf in another perſon, and without anſwerable repentance, your portion ſhall be with Cain, and the reſt of that curſed crew. I have ſhewn you what God in his word ſpeaks, and proved that your condition is no whit better then the condition of Cain, and Iſhmael, and Haman, and Doeg, and Shemy, and Rahſheke, and their fellows; yea, no glaſſe can more lively repreſent your faces, then this Book doth your hearts. Only this is the miſery, as when a childe beholds his own face in a glaſſe; he thinks he ſees another childes face, and not his own, ſo fares it with you. What do you look that Chriſt Jeſus himſelf from heaven ſhould call to you ſeverally by name as he did to Saul; and ſay, Ho Iſhmael ſuch an one, or Ho Elimas ſuch an one: Why doſt thou perſecute me? I am Jeſus whom thon perſecuteſt, Acts 9.4, 5. Which yet if he ſhould, it were no more in effect then he hath often done: nor would you be any more warned or reclaimed by it, as is evident by the example of Hazael, 2 King. 8.12, 13, &c. And by what Abraham told Dives, Luk. 16.31. For God in his word tels every one of you plainly, that Satan is the God of all unbeleevers, 2 Cor. 4.4. And their King Joh. 14.30. and 12.31. And their father, Gen. 3.15. John 8.44. And that they are all his ſervants, kept by the devil in a ſnare, and taken captive of him at his will, 2 Tim. 2.26. And that he ruleth by and worketh his pleaſure in all the children of diſobedience, Eph. 2.2, 3. And makes it manifeſt to all (whom the devil hath not blinded) that you of all men in the world, are thoſe unbeleevers, and children of diſobedience in whom he rules. And yet poor ſouls you know it not. As thoſe four hundred of Ahabs Prophets, in whom this evil ſpirit ſpake, did not know that Satan ſpake by them, 1 King. 22.22. Neither did Judas know when he eat the ſop, that Satan entred into him, and put it into his heart to betray Chriſt, Joh. 13.2. Neither do Magiſtrates (when they caſt the ſervants of God into priſon) once imagine, that the devil makes them his jaylors, but he doth ſo; whence that phraſe of the holy Ghoſt, The devil ſhall caſt ſome of you into priſon, Revel. 2.10. They are his inſtruments, but he is the principall Authour. Neither did Ananias and Saphira once think, that Satan had filled their hearts, or put that lye into their mouths which they were ſtrook dead for, Act. 5. yet the holy Ghoſt tels us plainly that he did ſo, ver. 3. No, Eve in Paradiſe had not the leaſt ſuſpition that it was Satan that ſpake to her by the Serpent; nor Adam that it was the devils minde in her mouth, his heart in her lips, when tempted to eat the forbidden fruit. Nor did David once dream, that it was Satan which moved him to number the people, 1 Chron. 21.1. Much leſſe did Peter, who ſo dearly loved Chriſt, imagine that he was ſet on by Satan to tempt his own Lord and Maſter with thoſe affectionate words, Maſter, pity thy ſelf, for if Chriſt had pitied himſelf, Peter and all the world had periſhed: yet he was ſo, which occaſioned Chriſt to anſwer him, Get thee behinde me Satan, Mat. 16.22, 23. But conſider, For hence we may argue, that if Satan can make the beſt and wiſeſt of Gods children and ſervants (who have the very appearance of evil, 1 Theſ. 5.22. Jude 23. Epheſ. 5.27. 2 Pet. 3.14. Jam. 1.27. have the eye of faith, and the ſpirits direction, and know the minde of Chriſt above others, 1 Cor. 2.12, 13, 15, 16. Joh. 10.14.) do him ſuch ſervice unwittingly, and beſides their intention: how much more can he prevail with, and make uſe of his own ſervants and children, that delight only in wickedneſſe, and have not the leaſt knowledge of, or ability to diſcern ſpirituall things, 1 Cor. 2.14. 2 Cor. 4.4. yea, if Satan can perſwade you (as he hath done millions) that you do God good ſervice in perſecuting his children as the Jews formerly did, in putting his Prophets to death; as Chriſt himſelf expreſly tels us, Joh. 16.2. What can he not perſwade them to? what work or ſervice can he not put them upon? without letting them know, that he their God, Father, and Maſter, ſpeaks in and acts by them. Whence that of Solomon, There is a way that ſeemeth, right unto a man, but the iſſues thereof are the waies of death, Proverbs 14.12. Whence ſo many have been ſo ſtrangely, and ſo wofully deluded: whereof a few inſtances very remarkable. There was a Monk poyſoned Henry the ſeventh Emperour of Germany with the ſacramentall bread, and thought he did God good ſervice in ſo doing. So did the Powder-Traitors, when they intended to blow up the whole State. Maximinian thought the bloud of Chriſtians would be an acceptable ſacrifice to his gods. So Francis the ſecond of France, and Philip the ſecond of Spain, thought of the Lutherans bloud in their Dominions. In the 6th Council of Toledo it was enacted, that the King of Spain ſhould ſuffer none to live in his dominions that profeſſed not the Roman Catholike Religion: Whereupon King Philip having hardly eſcaped ſhipwrack, as he returned from the Low Countries, ſaid, he was delivered by the ſingular providence of God to root out Lutheraniſm, which he preſently began to do: profeſſing that he had rather have no ſubjects then ſuch; In which opinion many depart, but as men go to a Lottery, with heads full of hopes, but return with hearts full of blanks: ſo will it one day fare with you.