Chapter 2. Showing That the Armor We Use Against Satan Must Be Divine in the Institution, Such Only as God Appoints

FIrst, the Christians Armour which he weares must be of divine Institution and appointment. The souldier comes into the field with no armes, but what his General commands, 'tis not left to every ones fancie to bring what weapons he please, this will breed confusion. The Christian souldier is bound up to Gods order, though the army be on earth, yet the Councel of War fits in Heaven; This duty ye shall do, that means ye shall use; and to do more or use other than God commands, though with some seeming success against sin; such shall surely be call'd to account for this boldness. The discipline of war among men is strict in this case. Some have suffered death by a Councel of war, even when they have beaten the enemie, because out of their place, or beside their order. God is very precise in this point, he will say to such as invent ways to worship him of their own, coyne meanes to mortifie corruption, obtain comfort in their own mint; Who has required this at your hands? this is truly to be righteous over-much, (as Solomon speaks) when we will pretend to correct Gods Law, and adde supplements of our own to his rule. Who will pay that man his wages that is not set on work by God? God tells Israel, the false Prophets shall do them no good, because they come not of his errand; so neither will those ways and meanes help, which are not of Gods appointing; Gods thoughts are not as mans, nor his ways as ours, which he useth to attain his ends by. If man had been to set forth the Israelitish army, now to march out of Egypt; surely his wisdom would have directed rather to have plundered the Egyptians of their horse and armes, (as more necessary for such an expedition) then to borrow their jewels and eare-rings, but God will have them come out naked and on foot; and Moses keeps close to his order; yea, when any horses were taken in battel, because God commanded they should be houghed, they obeyed, though to their seeming disadvantage. It was Gods war they waged, and therefore but reasonable they should be under his command, they encamp't and march't by his order; as the Ark moved or rested, they fought by his command, the number appointed by him, the means and weapons they should use, all prescribed by God, as in the assault of Jericho: and what is the Gospel of all this? (for surely God had an eye in that to our marching to heaven, and our fighting with these cursed spirits and lusts that stand in our way) but that we should fight lawfully, using those means, which we have from his mouth in his Word?

Use 1 This reprovs two sorts:

First, those that fight Satan in Armour, that has no divine Institution, as

First, the Papist. Look into his armoury, and hardly a piece that will be found Armour of God. They fight in the Popes armour: his authority is the shop, wherein their weapons are forged; It were a kinde of pennance to your patience, to repeat all the several pieces of armour, with which they load silly souls, too heavy indeed for the broadest shoulders among them to bear; yea, more than the wiser sort of them mean to use, their masses, mattens, vigils, pilgrimages, Lent-fasts, whippings, vowes of chastity, poverty, with a world of such trash; where is a Word of God for these? who has required these things at their hands? a thousand woes will one day fall upon those Impostors, who have strip't the people of the true Armour of God, and put these reeds and bulrushes in their hands. This may justifie us in the sight of God and men, for our departure from them, who will force us to venture the life of our souls in such, paper-armour, when God has provided better.

Secondly, the carnal Protestant, who fights in fleshly armour. 2 Corinthians 10:3. the Apostle speaks there of warring after the flesh, that is, with weapons or means, which mans carnal wisdom prompts to, and not God commands, and so are weak. How few are clad with other in the day of battel; First, when Satan tempts to sin, if he has not presently a peaceable entrance; yet the resistance commonly made is carnal; the strength carnal they rest on, their own, not Gods; the motives carnal, as the fear of man more than of God. Where one says, How shall I do this and sin against God? many in their hearts say, How shall I do this and anger man, displease my Master, provoke my Parents, and lose the good opinion of my Minister? Herod feared John, and did many things: had he fear'd God, he would have laboured to have done every thing. The like may be said of all other motives, which have their spring in the creature, not in God; they are armour which will not out-stand shot. If your strength lie in a creature-lock, it may be soon cut off; if in God it will hold, as his command; It is written: I cannot do it, but I must set my foot on the Law of my Maker. Or the love of Christ; I cannot come at my lust, but I must go over my bleeding Saviour, and therefore away, foule Tempter, I hate you and your motion. This foundation is rock, and will stand; but if it be some carnal respect that balancs you, another more weighty may be found of the same kinde, which will cast the scales another way. She that likes not the man because of his dresse only, may soon be gain'd when he comes in another habit. Satan can change his suit, and then your mouth will be stop't when your carnal argument is taken off. Secondly, when the Word or Conscience rebuke for sin, what is the armour that men commonly cover their guilty souls withal? truly no other than carnal. If they cannot evade the charge that these bring, then they labor to mitigate it, by extenuating the fact. 'Tis true, will they say, I did (I confesse) commit such a fault, but I was drawen in; The woman gave me, and I did eate, was Adams fig-leaf armour: 'tis but once or twice, and I hope that breaks no such squares, was this such a great businesse? I know jolly Christians will do as much as this comes to; I thank God, I cannot be charged for whore or thief: This is the armour that must keep off the blow. But if Conscience will not be thus taken off, then they labor to divert their thoughts, by striking up the loud musick of carnal delights, that the noise of one may drown the other, or with Cain, they will go from the presence of the Lord, and come no more at those Ordinances which make their head ake, and hinder the rest of their raving consciences. If yet the ghost haunts them, then they labor to pacifie it, with some good work or other, which they set against their bad; their almes and charity in their old age, must expiate the oppression and violence of their former days: as if this little frankincense were enough to aire and take away the plague of Gods curse, which is in their ill gotten goods. Thus poor creatures catch at any sorry covering, which will not so much as hide their shame, much lesse choak the bullet of Gods wrath, when God shall fire upon them; this must he Armour of Gods appointing. Adam was naked for all his fig-leaves, while God taught him to make coats of skins, covertly (as some think) shadowing out Christ the true Lambe of God, whose righteousnesse alone was appointed by him to cover our shame, and arme our naked souls from the sight and stroke of his justice.

Secondly, it reproves those who use the Armour of God, but not as God has appointed, which appears in three sorts.

First, when a person useth a duty appointed by God, not as Armour of defense against sin, but as a cover for sin. Who would think him an enemie that weares Christs colours in his hat, and marches after Christ in the exercise of all the duties of his worship? such a one may passe all the Courts of guard, without so much as being bid stand, all take him for a friend; and yet some such there are, who are fighting against Christ all the while. The hypocrite is the man, he learnes his postures, gets the Word, has his tongue tip'c with Scripture-language, and walks in the habit of a Christian, meerly on a design to drive his trade the more closely; Like some high-way men in our days, who rob in the habit of souldiers, that they may be the lesse suspected; this is desperate wickedness indeed, to take up Gods armes, and use them in the devils service; of all sinners such shall finde least mercy; false friends shall speed worse then open enemies.

Secondly, they use not the Armour of God, as God has appointed, who put a carnal confidence therein. We must not confide in the Armour of God, but in the God of this Armour, because all our weapons are only mighty through God, 2 Cor. 10. The Ark was the meanes of the Jewes safety, but carnally applauded and gloried in, hastened their overthrow: so duties and Ordinances, gifts and graces in their place, are means for the souls defense; Satan trembles as much as the Philistines at the Ark, to see a soul diligent in the use of duty, and exercise of grace; but when the creature confides in them, this is dangerous. As some, when they have prayed, think they please God for all day, though they take little heed to their steps. Others have so good an opinion of their faith, sincerity, knowledge, thut you may assoon make them believe they are dogs, as that they may ever be taken in such an errour or sinful practice. Others, when assisted in duty, are prone to stroak their own head with a Bene fecisti Bernarde, and so promise themselves to speed, because they have done their errand so well. What speak such passages in the hearts of men, but a carnal confidence in their armour to their ruine? Many souls (we may safely say) do not only perish praying, repenting and believing after a sort, but they perish by their praying and repenting &c. while they carnally trust in these. As it falls out sometimes, that the souldier in battel loseth his life by means of his own Armour, it is so heavy he cannot flie with it, and so close buckled to him, that he cannot get it off, to flie for his life without it. If we be saved, we must come naked to Christ for all our duties, we will not flie to Christ while confiding in them, and some are so lock't into them, that they cannot come without them, and so in a day of temptation are trampled under the feet of Gods wrath, and Satans fury. The poor Publican throwes down his armes, (that is, all confidence in himself) cries for quarter at the hands of mercy; God be merciful unto me a sinner, and he comes off with his life, he went away justified: but the Pharisee, loaden with his righteousnesse, and conceited of it, stands to it, and is lost.

Thirdly, they do not use the Armour of God as such, who in the performing of divine duties, eye not God through them, and this makes them all weak and uneffectual. Then the Word is mighty, when read as the Word of God, then the Gospel preach't, powerful to convince the conscience, and revive the drooping spirit, when heard, as the appointment of the great God, and not the exercise of a mean creature. Now it will appear in three things, whether we eye divine appointment in the meanes.

First, when we engage in a duty, and look not up to God for his blessing. Didst you eye Gods appointment in the means, you wouldest say, Soul, if there come any good of your present service, it must drop from heaven, for it is Gods appointment, not mans: And can I profit whether God will or no? or think to finde and bring away any soul-enriching treasure from his Ordinance without his leave? had I not best look up to him, by whose blessing I live more than by my bread?

Again, Secondly, it appears we look not at Gods appointment, when we have low thoughts of the means. What is Jordan that I should wash in it? what is this preaching that I should attend on it, where I heare nothing but I knew before? what these beggarly elements of water, and bread, and wine? Are not these the reasonings of a soul that forgets who appoints these? Didst you remember who commands, you wouldest not question what the command is; what though it be clay, let Christ use it, and it shall open the eyes, though in it self more like to put them out. Hadst you your eye on God, you wouldest silence your carnal reason with this; 'Tis God sends me to such a duty, whatsoever he says unto me I will do it, though he should send me (as Christ them) to draw wine out of pots fill'd with water.

Thirdly, when a soul leaves off a duty, because he has not in it what he expected from it. O, says the soul, I see it is in vain to follow the means as I have done; still Satan foiles me, I will even give over. Doest you remember, soul, 'tis Gods appointment? surely then you wouldest persevere in the midst of discouragements. He that bids you pray, bids you pray without ceasing. He that bids you hear, bids you wait at the posts of wisdom: you wouldest reason thus, God has set me on duty, and here I'le stand, till God takes me off and bids me leave praying.

First: the armor the Christian wears must be of divine institution and appointment. A soldier comes into the field with no weapons but those his general commands. It is not left to each person's fancy to bring whatever weapons he pleases — that would breed confusion. The Christian soldier is bound by God's orders. Though the army is on earth, the war council sits in heaven. These duties you shall perform; these means you shall use. To do more, or to use means other than what God commands — even with some apparent success against sin — is boldness for which such a person will surely be called to account. Military discipline among men is strict on this point. Some have been put to death by a court-martial even for beating the enemy, because they were out of their place or acting contrary to orders. God is very exacting on this point. He will say to those who invent their own ways to worship Him, coin their own means to kill corruption, or seek comfort from their own mint: "Who has required this of you?" This is truly being righteous beyond measure, as Solomon speaks — when we presume to correct God's law and add our own supplements to His rule. Who will pay a man wages for work he was not assigned by God? God told Israel that the false prophets would do them no good because they did not come on His errand. So neither will those ways and means help that God has not appointed. God's thoughts are not like man's, nor His ways like ours. If man had been set to organize the Israelite army marching out of Egypt, his wisdom would surely have directed them to plunder the Egyptians of their horses and arms — more suited to such an expedition — rather than to borrow their jewelry and earrings. But God would have them come out on foot and without weapons, and Moses kept strictly to that order. Indeed, when horses were captured in battle, because God had commanded that they be hamstrung, they obeyed — though it seemed to their disadvantage. It was God's war they were waging, and it was therefore reasonable that they should be under His command. They camped and marched by His direction; as the ark moved or rested, they fought by His command. The numbers appointed, the means and weapons to be used — all were prescribed by God, as in the assault on Jericho. And what is the lesson of all this for us — for surely God had our march to heaven and our fight with these cursed spirits and lusts in view — but that we should fight lawfully, using only the means we have from His mouth in His Word?

First application: This reproves two groups.

First, those who fight Satan in armor that has no divine institution.

First: the Roman Catholic. Look into that armory, and you will find hardly a piece that qualifies as armor of God. They fight in the pope's armor — his authority is the forge where their weapons are made. It would be a kind of punishment to your patience to list all the various pieces of armor with which they burden poor souls — far too heavy indeed for the broadest shoulders among them to bear, and more than the wiser among them mean to use: their masses, matins, vigils, pilgrimages, Lenten fasts, self-flagellations, vows of chastity and poverty, and a world of such things. Where is a word of God for any of these? Who has required them? A thousand judgments will one day fall on those imposters who have stripped the people of the true armor of God and put these reeds and bulrushes in their hands. This may vindicate us before God and men for our departure from those who would force us to risk the life of our souls in such paper armor, when God has provided something far better.

Second: the carnal Protestant, who fights in fleshly armor. 2 Corinthians 10:3 speaks of warring according to the flesh — that is, with weapons or means that a person's carnal wisdom suggests, not ones God commands, and which are therefore weak. How few people are clothed with anything else on the day of battle. First, when Satan tempts to sin: if he does not get an immediate welcome, whatever resistance is offered is usually carnal. The strength they rely on is their own, not God's. The motives are carnal — the fear of men more than the fear of God. Where one says, "How can I do this and sin against God?" many say in their hearts, "How can I do this and anger my employer, displease my parents, or lose the good opinion of my minister?" Herod feared John and did many things because of it — had he feared God, he would have labored to do everything. The same applies to all motives that spring from the creature rather than from God. They are armor that will not withstand a shot. If your strength rests in a creature-lock, it can easily be cut off. If in God, it will hold — just as His command holds. "It is written" — I cannot come to my lust without setting my foot on my Maker's law. Or the love of Christ: I cannot reach my lust without stepping over my bleeding Savior — so away with you, foul tempter, I hate you and your suggestion. This foundation is rock and will stand. But if it is some carnal consideration that is keeping the scale tipped, a heavier weight of the same kind can be found that will tip it the other way. A woman who dislikes a man only because of his clothes may easily be won when he comes in a different outfit. Satan can change his suit, and then your mouth will be stopped when your carnal argument is removed. Second, when the Word or conscience rebukes for sin: what armor do people commonly use to cover their guilty souls? None but carnal. If they cannot escape the charge brought by these, they try to soften it by minimizing what they did. "It is true, I did — I admit — commit that fault, but I was drawn in." "The woman gave me and I ate" was Adam's fig-leaf armor. "It was only once or twice — surely that does not matter too much. Was this such a serious thing? I know fine Christians who do as much as this. I thank God I cannot be charged with being a whore or a thief." This is the armor meant to deflect the blow. But if conscience cannot be put off this way, they try to redirect their thoughts by striking up the loud music of carnal pleasures, so that its noise may drown out conscience. Or like Cain they go away from God's presence and stay away from those ordinances that give them a headache and disturb the rest of their raging conscience. If the ghost still haunts them, they try to pacify it with some good deed or other, setting it against their bad ones. Their charity and alms in old age must atone for the oppression and violence of their earlier years — as if this little incense were enough to air out and remove the plague of God's curse that lies in their ill-gotten goods. So poor souls catch at any sorry covering that will not even hide their shame, much less stop the bullet of God's wrath when God fires at them. This armor must be of God's own appointing. Adam was still naked for all his fig leaves — until God taught him to make coats of skins, which (as some believe) were a veiled picture of Christ, the true Lamb of God, whose righteousness alone was appointed by God to cover our shame and armor our naked souls from the sight and stroke of His justice.

Second, this also reproves those who use the armor of God but not as God has appointed — which appears in three ways.

First: when a person uses a God-appointed duty not as armor against sin, but as a cover for sin. Who would think him an enemy who wears Christ's colors in his hat and follows Christ in all the outward exercises of worship? Such a person may pass every checkpoint without being challenged — everyone takes him for a friend. Yet there are some who are all the while fighting against Christ. The hypocrite is that man. He learns his moves, acquires the Word, has his tongue tipped with Scripture language, and walks in the habit of a Christian — purely as a scheme to carry on his trade more effectively. Like highwaymen in our day who commit robbery dressed as soldiers so they will be less suspected. This is desperate wickedness indeed — to take up God's arms and use them in the devil's service. Of all sinners, such will find the least mercy. False friends will fare worse than open enemies.

Second: those who do not use the armor of God as God intends are those who place a carnal confidence in it. We must not trust in the armor of God, but in the God of this armor, because all our weapons are only "mighty through God" (2 Corinthians 10:4). The ark was the means of Israel's safety, but when it was carnally applauded and gloried in, it hastened their overthrow. So duties and ordinances, gifts and graces, are in their proper place means for the soul's defense. Satan trembles, just as the Philistines trembled at the ark, when he sees a soul diligently using the means of duty and exercising grace. But when the soul trusts in those things themselves, that is dangerous. Some, when they have prayed, think they have pleased God for the whole day, even though they take little care over their steps. Others have such a high opinion of their faith, sincerity, and knowledge that you might as soon convince them they are dogs as persuade them they could ever fall into such an error or sinful practice. Still others, when they have been especially helped in a duty, are prone to pat themselves on the back — "Well done, Bernard" — and expect to prosper because they have performed their errand so well. What do such attitudes reveal but a carnal confidence in their armor that will prove their ruin? Many souls, we may safely say, perish not only while praying, repenting, and believing after a fashion — they actually perish by their praying and repenting while trusting carnally in those acts. Just as sometimes in battle a soldier loses his life because of his own armor — it is so heavy he cannot run with it, and so tightly buckled that he cannot shed it in time to flee for his life. If we are to be saved, we must come naked to Christ, stripped of all reliance on our duties. We will not flee to Christ while trusting in our duties. And some are so locked into them that they cannot come without them — and so in the day of temptation they are trampled under the feet of God's wrath and Satan's fury. The poor tax collector threw down his arms — that is, every confidence in himself — and cried for quarter at the hand of mercy: "God, be merciful to me, the sinner." He came away with his life. He went home justified. But the Pharisee, loaded with his own righteousness and proud of it, stood on it and was lost.

Third: those who do not use the armor of God as such are those who, in performing divine duties, do not look to God through them. This makes all their efforts weak and ineffective. The Word becomes powerful when read as the Word of God. The preached Gospel is powerful to convict the conscience and revive the drooping spirit when it is heard as the appointment of the great God, and not merely as the exercise of a frail creature. Whether we are keeping the divine appointment in view will be revealed by three things.

First: when we enter into a duty and do not look up to God for His blessing. If you were keeping God's appointment in view, you would say: "Soul, if any good comes out of this present service, it must drop from heaven — for it is God's appointment, not man's. Can I profit whether God wills it or not? Can I think to find and carry away any soul-enriching treasure from His ordinance without His blessing? Would I not do well to look up to Him, by whose blessing I live more than by my bread?"

Second: it appears we are not keeping God's appointment in view when we have a low opinion of the means. "What is the Jordan, that I should wash in it? What is this preaching, that I should attend it, when I hear nothing I did not know before? What are these poor elements — water, bread, and wine?" Are these not the reasonings of a soul that has forgotten who appoints these things? If you remembered who commands, you would not question what the command is. What though the instrument is clay — let Christ use it, and it will open the eyes, though in itself it seems more likely to shut them. If you had your eye on God, you would silence your carnal reasoning with this: "God sends me to this duty. Whatever He says to me, I will do it — though He should send me, as He sent the servants at Cana, to draw wine out of pots filled with water."

Third: when a soul gives up a duty because it has not obtained from it what it expected. "I can see it is useless to continue pursuing the means as I have done," the soul says. "Satan still defeats me — I will just give up." Soul, do you remember it is God's appointment? Surely then you would persevere in the midst of discouragement. He who tells you to pray tells you to pray without ceasing. He who tells you to hear tells you to wait at wisdom's doorposts. You would reason this way: "God has set me on this duty, and here I will stand until God takes me off and tells me to stop praying."