Chapter 5. In Which Is Showed the Subtlety of Satan as a Troubler and an Accuser for Sin, Where Many of His Wiles and Policies to Disquiet the Saints' Spirits Are Discovered

THe second General in which Satan appears such a subtile enemy; is in molesting the Saints peace, and disquieting the Saints spirit. As this holy Spirits work is not only to be a Sanctifier, but also a Comforter, whose fruits are righteousnesse and peace, so the evil spirit Satan is both a seducer unto sin, and an accuser for sin, a Tempter and a Troubler, and indeed in the same order. As the Holy Ghost is first a Sanctifier, and then a Comforter; so Satan first a Tempter, then a Troubler. Josephs Mistresse first tries to draw him to gratifie her lust, that string breaking she has another to trounce him and charge him, and for a plea she has his coat to cover her malice, nor is it hard for Satan to pick some hole in the Saints coat, when he walks most circumspectly. The proper seat of sin is the Will, of comfort the Conscience; Satan has not absolute knowledge of, or power over these, (being lock't up from any other but God; and therefore what he does, either in defiling temptations, or disquieting, is by wiles more than by open force, and he is not inferiour in troubling, to himself in tempting. Satan has as the Serpent, away by himself; other beasts, their motion is direct, right on, but the Serpent goes a skue (as we say) winding and wreathing its body, that when you see a serpent creeping along, you can hardly discerne which way it tends; thus Satan in his vexing temptations has many intricate policies, turning this way and that way, the better to conceale his designe from the Saint, which will appear in these following methods.

SECT. I.

First, he vexeth the Christian by laying his brats at the Saints door, and charging him with that which is his own creature, and here he has such a notable Art, that many dear Saints of God are wofully hampered and dejected, as if they were the vilest blasphemers, and veriest Atheists in the world: whereas indeed the cup is of his own putting into the sack, but so slily conveyed into the Saints bosome, that the Christian, though amazed and frighted at the sight of them, yet being jealous of his own heart, and unacquainted with Satans tricks of this kind, cannot conceive how such motions should come there, (if not bred in, and vomited out by his own naughty heart) and so bears the blame of the sin himself, because he cannot finde the right father, mourning as one that is forlorn and cast off by God, or else (says he) I should never have such vermine of hell creeping in my bosome, and here Satan has his end he proposs; for he is not so silly as to hope he should have welcome with such a horrid crue of blasphemous and atheistical thoughts in that soul, where he has been denied when he came in an enticing way; no, but his designe is by way of revenge, because the soul will not prostitute it selt to his lust otherways, therefore to haunt it and scare it with those imps of blasphemy; As he served Luther to whom he appeared, and when repulsed by him, went away and left a noisome stinch behinde him in the room. Thus when the Christian has worsted Satan in his more pleasing temptations, being madded, he belchs forth this stinch of blasphemous motions to annoy and affright him, that from them the Christian may draw some sad conclusion or other; and indeed the Christians sin lies commonly more in the conclusion, which he draws from them (as that he is not a child of God) then in the motions themselves. All the counsel therefore I shall give you in this case, is to do with these motions, as you use to serve those vagrants and rogues that come about the countrey, whom, though you cannot keep from passing through your town, yet you look they settle not there, but whip them and send them to their owne home: Thus give these motions the Law, in mourning for them, resisting of them, and they shall not be your charge, (yea, 'tis like you shall seldomer be troubled with such guests,) but if once you come to entertain them, and be Satans nurse to them, then the Law of God will cast them upon you.

SECT. II.

Secondly, another wile of Satan as a troubler, is in aggravating the Saints sins, (against which he has a notable declamatory faculty) not that he hates the sin, but the Saint; now in this, his chief subtilty is so to lay his charge, that it may seem to be the act of the holy Spirit; he knowes an arrow out of Gods quiver wounds deep; and therefore when he accuss he comes in Gods Name: as suppose a child were conscious to himselfe of displeasing his father, and one that owes him a spite (to trouble him) should counterfeit a letter from his father, and cunningly conveyes it into the sons hand, who receives it as from his father, wherein he chargs him with many heavy crimes, disownes him, and threatens he shall never come in his sight, or have penny portion from him, the poor son (conscious to himself of many undutiful carriages, and not knowing the plot) takes on heavily, and can neither eate nor sleep for grief, here is a real trouble begot from a false and imaginary ground: Thus Satan observes how the squares go between God and his children, such a Saint he sees tardy in this duty, faulty in that service, and he knows the Christian is conscious of this, and that the Spirit of God will also show his distaste for these, both which prompts Satan to draw a charge at length, raking up all the bloody aggravations he can think of, and give it in to the Saint as sent from God. Thus he taught Jobs friends to pick up those infirmities, which drop't from him in his distress, and shoot them back in his face, as if indeed they had been sent from God to declare him an hypocrite, and denounce his wrath for the same.

Quest. But how should we know the false accusations of Satan from the rebukes of God and his Spirit?

Answ. First if they crosse any former act or work of the Spirit in your soul, they are Satans, not the Holy Spirits. Now you shall observe, Satans scope in accusing the Christian, and aggravating his sin, is to unsaint him, and perswade him he is but an hypocrite. O, says Satan, now you have shewen what you art, see what a foule spot is on your coat, this is not the spot of a child; whoever that was a Saint commited such a sin after such a sort? All your comforts and confidence which you have bragg'd of, were false, I warrant you; thus you see Satan at one blow dashs all in pieces. The whole fabrick of grace which God has been rearing up many years in the soul, must now at one puffe of his malicious mouth be blown down, and all the sweet comforts with which the Holy Spirit has seal'd up Gods love, must be defaced with this one blot, which Satan drawes over the faire copy of the Saints evidence. Well, soul, for your comfort know, if ever the Spirit of God has begun a sanctifying or comforting work, causing you to hope in his mercy, he never is, will, or can be the messenger to bring contrary newes to your soul, his language is not yea and nay, but Yea and Amen for ever. Indeed when the Saint playes the wanton, he can chide, yea, will frown and tell the soul roundly of its sin, as he did David by Nathan, You are the man, this you have done, and paints out his sin with such bloody colours, as made Davids heart melt, as it were, into so many drops of water: but that shall not serve his turn, he tells him what a rod is steeping for him (that shall smart to purpose,) one of his own house, no other than his darling son shall rise up against him, that he may the more fully conceive how ill God took the sin of him, a child, a Saint, when he shall know what it is to have his beloved child traiterously invade his Crown, and unnaturally hunt for his precious life; yet not a word all this while is heard from Nathan teaching David to unsaint himself, and call in question the work of God in his soul. No, he had no such commission from God, he was sent to make him mourne for his sin, not from his sin to question his state which God had so oft put out of doubt.

Secondly, when they asperse the riches of Gods grace, and so charge the Christian, that withal they reflect upon the good Name of God, then they are not of the Holy Spirit, but from Satan. When you finde your sins so represented and aggravated to you, as exceeding either the mercy of Gods nature, or the grace of his Covenant, Hic se aperit diabolus: this comes from that foule liar. The Holy Spirit is Christs Spokesman to commend him to souls, and to wooe sinners to embrace the grace of the Gospel, and can such words drop from his sacred lips, as should break the match, and sink Christs esteem in the thoughts of the creature? you may know where this was minted. When you hear one commend another for a wise or good man, and at last come in with a but that dashs all, you will easily think he is no friend to the man, but some slie enemy that by seeming to commend, desires to disgrace the more: Thus when you finde God represented to you as merciful and gracious, but not to such a great sinner as you, to have power and strength, but not able to save you, you may say, Avant Satan, your speech bewrays you.

SECT. III.

Thirdly, another wile of Satan lies in cavilling at the Christians duties and performances, by which he puts him to much toil and trouble. He is at Church assoon as you can be, Christian, for your heart, yea, he stands under your closet-window, and heares what you sayest to God in secret, all the while studying how he may commence a suit against you from your duty; like those that come to Sermons to carp and catch at what the Preacher says, that they may make him an offender for some word or other mis-placed; or like a cunning Opponent in the Schooles, while his adversary is busie in reading his position, he is studying to confute it; and truly Satan has such an Art at this, that he is able to take our duties in pieces, and so disfigure them that they shall appear formal, though never so zealous, hypocritical, though enricht with much sincerity. When you have done your duty, Christian, then stands up this Sophister to ravel out your work, there (will he say) you playedst the hypocrite, zealous, but serving your self, here wandring, there nodding; a little further puft up with pride, and what wages can you hope for at Gods hands, now you have spoil'd his work, and cut it all out into chips? Thus he makes many poor souls lead a weary life, nothing they do but he has a fling at, that they know not whether best pray or not, heare or not; and when they have prayed and heard, whether it be to any purpose or not: Thus their souls hang in doubt, and their days passe in sorrow, while their enemy stands in a corner, and laughs at the cheat he has put upon them; as one, who by putting a counterfeit spider into the dish, makes those that sit at table either out of conceit with the meat, that they dare not eat, or afraid of themselves if they have eaten, lest they should be poisoned with their meat.

Quest. But you will say, What will you have us do in this case to withstand the cavils of Satan, in reference to our duties?

First, let this make you more accurate in all you doest: 'tis the very end God aimes at in suffering Satan thus to watch you, that you his children might be the more circumspect, because you have one over-looks you, that will be sure to tell tales of you to God, and accuse you to your own self. Does it not behove you to write your Copy faire, when such a Critick reades and scans it over? Does it not concern you to know your heart well, to turn over the Scriptures diligently, that you may know the state of your soul-controversie in all the cases of conscience thereof, when you have such a subtile Opponent to reply upon you?

Secondly, let it make you more humble. If Satan can charge you with so much in your best duties, O what then can your God do! God suffers sometimes the infirmities of his people to be known by the wicked, (who are ready to check and frump them for them) for this end, to humble his people, how much more low should these accusations of Satan, which are in a great part too true, lay us before God?

Thirdly, observe the fallacy of Satans argument, which discovered, will help you to answer his cavil: the fallacy is double.

First, he will perswade you that your duty and your self are hypocritical, proud, formal, &c, because something of these sins are to be found in your duty: Now, Christian, learn to distinguish between pride in a duty, and a proud duty, hypocrisie in a person and an hypocrite, wine in a man and a man in wine. The best of Saints have the stirrings of such corruptions in them and in their services; these birds will light on an Abrahams sacrifice, but comfort your self with this, that if you findest a party within your bosome pleading for God, and entering its protest against these, you and your services are Evangelically perfect. God beholds these as the weaknesses of your sickly state here below, and pities you, as you wouldest do your lame child; how odious is he to us that mocks one for natural defects, a blear eye, or a stammering tongue? such are these in your new nature. Observable is that in Christs prayer against Satan, Zechariah 3:3. The Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke you, is not this a brand pluck't out of the fire? As if Christ had said, Lord, will you suffer this envious spirit to twit your poor child with, and charge him for those infirmities that cleave to his imperfect state? he is but new pluck't out of the fire. No wonder there are some sparks unquencht, some corruption unmortified, some disorders unreformed in his place and calling, and what Christ did for Joshuah, he does uncessantly for all his Saints, apologizing for their infirmities with his Father.

Secondly, his other fallacy is in arguing from the sin that is in our duties, to the non-acceptance of them. Will God, says he, think'st you, take such broken groates at your hand? Is he not a holy God? Now here, (Christian) learn to distinguish and answer Satan. There is a double acceptance. There is an acceptance of a thing by way of payment of a debt, and there is an acceptance of a thing offered as a token of love, and testimony of gratitude. He that will not accept of broken money, or half the summe for payment of a debt: the same man, if his friend sends him, though but a bent six pence, in token of his love, will take it kindly. 'Tis true (Christian) the debt you owest to God must be paid in good and lawful money, but (for your comfort) here Christ is your Pay-master; send Satan to him, bid him bring his charge against Christ, who is ready at Gods right hand to clear his accounts, and show his discharge for the whole debt; but now your performances and obedience come under another notion, (as tokens of your love and thankfulnesse to God,) and such is the gracious disposition of your heavenly Father, that he accepts your mite: Love refuss nothing that love sends. 'Tis not the weight or worth of the gift, but the desire of a man is his kindness.

SECT. IV.

A fourth wile of Satan as a troubler, is to draw the Saint into the depths of despair, under a specious pretense of not being humbled enough for sin. This we finde singled out by the Apostle for one of the devils fetches. We are not ignorant (says he) of his devices.[illegible], his Sophistical reasonings. Satan sets much by this slight; no weapon oftener in his hand: where is the Christian that has not met him at this door? here Satan findes the Christian easie to be wrought on, the humours being stirr'd to his hand, while the Christian of his own accord complains of the hardness of his heart, and is very prone to believe any, who comply with his musing thoughts; yea, thinks every one flatters him, that would perswade him otherwise. 'Tis easier to die that soul into black, which is of a sad color already, then to make such a one take the lightsome tincture of joy and comfort.

Quest. But how shall I answer this subtile enemy, when he thus perplexs my spirit, with not being humbled enough for sin, &c?

Answ. I answer as to the former, labor to spie the fallacy of his argument, and his mouth is soon stop't.

First, Satan argues thus: There ought to be a proportion between sin and sorrow: But there is no proportion between your sins and your sorrow: Therefore you are not humbled enough. What a plausible argument is here at first blush? For the major, that there ought to be a proportion between sin and sorrow, this Satan will show you Scripture for.Manasseh was a great sinner, and an ordinary sorrow will not serve his turne; He humbled himself greatly before the Lord. Now (says Satan) weigh your sin in the balance with your sorrow; are you as great a Mourner as you have been a sinner? so many years you have waged war against the Almighty, making havock of his lawes, loading his patience till it groaned again, raking in the sides of Christ with your bloody dagger (while you did grieve his Spirit, and reject his grace▪) and doest think a little remorse (like a rolling cloud letting fall a few drops of sorrow) will now be accepted? no, you must steep in sorrow as you have soak't in sin. Now to show you the fallacy, we must distinguish of a twofold proportion of sorrow.

First, an exact proportion of sorrow to the inherent nature and demerit of sin.

Secondly, there is a proportion to the Law and Rule of the Gospel. Now the first is not a thing feasible, because the injury done in the least sin is infinite, because done to an infinite God; and if it could be feasible, yet according to the tenour of the first Covenant it would not be acceptable; because it had no clause to give any hope for an after-game by repentance; but the other which is a Gospel-sorrow, this is indeed repentance unto life, (both given by the Spirit of the Gospel, and to be tried by the Rule of the Gospel.) This is given for your relief. As you see sometimes in the high-way (where the waters are too deep for travellers,) you have a foot-bridge or Causey, by which they may scape the flood, and safely passe on; so that none but such as have not eyes, or are drunk, will venture to go through the waters, when they may avoid the danger. You are a dead man, if you think to answer your sin with proportionable sorrow, you will soon be above your depth, and quackle your self with your own teares, but never get over the least sin you committedst; go not on therefore as you lovest your life, but turn aside to this Gospel-path, and you escapest the danger. O you tempted souls, when Satan says you are not humbled enough, see where you may be relieved; I am a Romane, (says Paul,) I appeal to Cesar. I am a Christian, (say) I appeal to Christs law; and what is the Law of the Gospel concerning this? Heart-sorrow is Gospel-sorrow; They were pricked in their heart, and Peter (like an honest Chirurgion) will not keep these bleeding Patients longer in pain with their wounds open; but presently claps on the healing plaister of the Gospel; Believe in the Lord Jesus. Now a prick to the heart is more than a wound to the conscience. The heart is the seat of life. Sin wounded there lies a dying. To do any thing from the heart makes it acceptable, Ephesians 6:6. Now▪ poor soul, had you sate thus long in the devils stocks, if you had understood this aright? does your heart clear or condemn you, when in secret you are bemoaning your sin before God? if your heart be false I cannot help you, no, not the Gospel it self, but if sincere, you have boldness with God.

A second argument Satan useth, is this: He whose sorrow falls short of theirs, that never truly repented, he is not humbled enough: But, soul, your sorrow falls short of some, that never truly repented; Ergo. Well, the first Proposition is true, but how will Satan prove his minor? Thus, Ahab he took on for his sin, and went in sack-cloth. Judas he made bitter complaint. O (says Satan) did you not know such a one that lay under terrour of conscience, walking in a sad mournful condition so many moneths, and every one took him for the greatest Convert in the countrey? and yet he at last fell foully, and proved an Apostate; but you never did feel such smart, passe so many weary nights and days in mourning and bitter lamentation as he has done, therefore you fallest short of one that fell short of repentance. And truly this is a sad stumbling block to a soul in an hour of temptation. Like a ship sunk in the mouth of the harbour, which is more dangerous to others then if it had perisht in the open sea. There is lesse scandal by the sins of the wicked, who sink (as it were) in the broad sea of profanenesse, then in those who are convinced of sin, troubled in conscience, and miscarry so near the harbour, within sight, as it were, of saving grace. Tempted souls can hardly get over these without dashing. Am I better than such a one that proved naught at last? Now to help you a little to finde out the fallacy of this argument, we must distinguish between the terrours that accompany sorrow, and the intrinsecal nature of this grace. The first which are necessary may be separated from the other, as the raging of the sea, which is caused by the winde from the sea, when the winde is down. From this distinction take two Conclusions.

First, one may fall short of an hypocrite in the terrours that sometimes accompany sorrow, and yet have the truth of this grace, which the other with all his terrours wants. Christians run into many mistakes, by judging rather according to that which is accessary, then that which is essential to the nature of duties and graces. Sometimes you hearest one pray with a moving expression (while you can hardly get out a few broken words in duty,) and you are ready to accuse your self and to admire him; as if the gilt of the Key made it open the door the better; you seest another abound with joy which you wantest, and are ready to conclude his grace more and yours lesse, whereas you may have more real grace, only you wantest a light to show you where it lies. Take heed of judging by accessaries, perhaps you have not heard so much of the ratling of the chains of hell, nor in your conscience the out-cries of the damned, to make your flesh tremble, but have you not seen that in a bleeding Christ which has made your heart melt and mourne, yea, loath and hate your lusts more than the devil himself? Truly (Christian) 'tis strange, to hear a Patient complain of his Physician, (when he findes his Physick work effectually, to the evacuating of his distempered humours, and the restoring his health) meerly because he was not so sick as some others with the working of it; soul, you have more reason to be blessing God that the convictions of his Spirit wrought so kindly on you, to effect that in you, without those terrours which have cost others so dear.

Secondly, this is so weak an argument, that contrariwise the more the terrours are, the lesse the sorrow is for sin while they remain. These are indeed preparatory sometimes to sorrow, they go before this grace, as austere John before meek Jesus. But as John went down when Christ went up, his increase was Johns decrease; so as true godly sorrow goes up, these terrours go down. As the winde gathers the clouds, but those clouds seldom melt into a set rain, until the winde falls that gathered them: so these terrours raise the clouds of our sins in our consciences, but when these sins melt into godly sorrow, this layes the storme presently; indeed, as the loud windes do blow away the raine, so these terrours do keep off the soul from this Gospel-sorrow. While the creature is making an out-cry, 'tis damn'd▪ 'tis damn'd, it is taken up so much with the feare of hell, that sin as sin, (which is the proper object of godly sorrow) is little look't on or mourned for. A Murderer condemned to die, is so possest with the feare of death, and thought of the gallowes, that there lies the slaine body (it may be) before him, unlamented by him: but when his pardon is brought, then he can bestow his teares freely on his murdered friend; They shall look on him whom they have pierced, and mourne. Faith is the eye, this eye (beholding its sin piercing Christ, and Christ pardoning its sin) affects the heart, the heart affected sighes, these inward clouds melt and run from the eye of faith in tears: and all this is done when there is no tempest of terrour upon the spirit, but a sweet serenity of love and peace: and therefore, Christian, see how Satan abuss you, when he would perswade you you are not humbled enough, because your sorrow is not attended with these legal sorrowes.

The second major area in which Satan proves himself such a subtle enemy is in troubling the saints' peace and disturbing their spirits. Just as the Holy Spirit's work is not only to sanctify but also to comfort — His fruit being righteousness and peace — so the evil spirit Satan is both a seducer to sin and an accuser for sin, both a tempter and a troubler. And he works in the same order. As the Holy Spirit first sanctifies and then comforts, so Satan first tempts and then accuses. Potiphar's wife first tried to get Joseph to gratify her lust; when that failed, she turned to charging him — using his coat as evidence to cover her malice. Nor is it hard for Satan to find some opening in the saint's coat when he is walking most carefully. The proper seat of sin is the will; the proper seat of comfort is the conscience. Satan has no direct access or absolute power over either, since they are locked to all but God. Therefore everything he does — whether defiling temptations or unsettling distress — is by schemes rather than open force. And he is no less skilled at troubling the saints than at tempting them. Satan moves like a serpent. Other creatures move in a direct line, but the serpent winds and twists its body as it travels, so that when you watch it, you can hardly tell which way it is actually heading. So Satan, in his tormenting temptations, works through many twisting and complex strategies, turning this way and that to conceal his design from the saint. These methods are set out below.

Section 1.

First, Satan troubles the Christian by laying his own children at the saint's door — charging him with what is actually Satan's own creation. He has such remarkable skill at this that many dear saints of God are terribly tormented and crushed, as though they were the vilest blasphemers and most complete atheists in the world. Yet in reality, Satan has put the cup in their sack — only so secretly slipped it into the saint's heart that the Christian, though horrified and frightened by these thoughts, and distrustful of his own heart, cannot understand how such movements could have come to him — if not bred within and thrown up by his own corrupt heart. And so he bears the guilt himself, unable to identify the true source, mourning as one who is abandoned and rejected by God: "Surely," he says, "if God had not forsaken me, I would never have such filth of hell crawling in my heart." This is exactly what Satan aimed for. He is not foolish enough to hope that truly blasphemous and atheistic thoughts would be welcomed in a soul that has already turned him away when he came with enticing offers. His design is revenge — since the soul will not give itself over to his other lusts, he haunts it and terrifies it with these imps of blasphemy. He did something similar with Luther: when Luther drove him off, Satan left a foul stench behind him in the room. So when the Christian has beaten Satan back in his more pleasant temptations, Satan in his fury belches out this stench of blasphemous impulses to torment and horrify him — hoping the Christian will draw some dark conclusion from them. And in fact, the Christian's fault lies more in the conclusion he draws from them (such as that he must not be a child of God) than in the impulses themselves. The counsel I give in this case is to treat these impulses as you would treat vagrants and troublemakers who pass through your town. You cannot stop them from passing through, but you can make sure they do not settle there — you drive them out and send them back where they came from. Deal with these impulses the same way: mourn over them, resist them, and they will not be charged to your account. In fact, you will likely be troubled by such visitors less often. But if you begin to entertain them and nurture them as though they were your own, then God's law will hold you responsible for them.

Section 2.

Second, another scheme of Satan as a troubler is exaggerating the saints' sins. He has a remarkable talent for this kind of attack — not because he hates the sin, but because he hates the saint. His chief subtlety here is to frame his accusation so that it appears to come from the Holy Spirit. He knows that an arrow from God's quiver wounds deeply — so when he accuses, he comes in God's name. Imagine a child who knows he has displeased his father, and an enemy who wants to torment him forges a letter from the father and cunningly places it in the son's hands. The son receives it as genuinely from his father — a letter charging him with serious offenses, disowning him, and threatening to cut him off entirely. The poor son, already aware of his many failures, not knowing it is a forgery, is devastated, unable to eat or sleep for grief. A real torment is produced from a completely false and invented cause. This is exactly how Satan operates. He observes the state of things between God and His children. He sees a particular saint falling short in one duty, failing in another — and he knows the Christian is aware of this, and that the Spirit of God will also show His displeasure over these things. Both of these facts prompt Satan to draw up a long indictment, gathering every aggravating circumstance he can find, and then present it to the saint as if it came from God. This is how he taught Job's friends to gather the weaknesses Job had shown in his distress and throw them back in his face — as though they had been sent from God to declare him a hypocrite and announce divine judgment against him.

Question: How can we tell Satan's false accusations apart from the genuine rebukes of God and His Spirit?

Answer. First, if the accusations contradict a previous work of the Spirit in your soul, they are from Satan, not from the Holy Spirit. Observe what Satan is actually trying to do when he accuses the Christian and exaggerates his sin: his goal is to make the Christian feel he is not a true saint at all, and to convince him he is merely a hypocrite. "Now you have shown your true colors," Satan says. "Look at that foul spot on your coat — that is not the mark of a child of God. What genuine saint ever committed such a sin in such a way?" "All those assurances and joys you boasted about were false, I promise you." So at one blow Satan tries to shatter everything. The entire structure of grace that God has been building in the soul for many years must be blown down at one breath from his malicious lips, and all the sweet comforts by which the Holy Spirit has sealed God's love in the heart must be erased by this single blot that Satan draws across the clean page of the saint's evidence. But take comfort in this: if the Spirit of God has ever begun a work of sanctification or comfort in you — causing you to hope in God's mercy — He has never been, and never can be, the one to bring you opposite news. His language is not yes and no — it is yes and amen, forever. When a saint strays, the Spirit can rebuke — He will show His displeasure and plainly confront the soul about its sin, as He did with David through Nathan: "You are the man — you have done this." And He described David's sin in such vivid and piercing terms that David's heart melted like water. But that was not all — the Spirit also told David what punishment was coming, one that would cut deeply: a member of his own household, his own beloved son, would rise up against him. By this God wanted David to understand how grievously He viewed that sin, committed by a child of His, a saint — to experience what it means to have his own dear son treacherously rebel against him and ruthlessly hunt for his life. Yet through all of this, not a single word from Nathan told David to consider himself no longer a saint, or to question the work God had done in his soul. Nathan had no such commission from God. He was sent to make David mourn for his sin — not to make him question his standing with God, which God had established so clearly so many times before.

Second, when the accusations attack the richness of God's grace and reflect poorly on God's own character, they are not from the Holy Spirit but from Satan. When your sins are presented and magnified to you as exceeding either the mercy of God's nature or the grace of His covenant — here the devil reveals himself. This comes from that foul liar. The Holy Spirit is Christ's advocate, sent to commend Him to souls and draw sinners to embrace the grace of the gospel. Could such words fall from His sacred lips as would break off that match and lower Christ in the thoughts of a person? You can easily identify where that voice is coming from. When you hear someone praise another man as wise and good, but then add a "but" that overturns everything — you can tell immediately that this is no friend, but a subtle enemy who uses apparent praise to make the man look worse. In the same way, when you hear God described as merciful and gracious, but "not to a great sinner like you" — as powerful, but "not strong enough to save you" — you can say: Away with you, Satan. Your words give you away.

Section 3.

Third, another strategy of Satan is picking apart the Christian's prayers and spiritual duties, putting him to enormous toil and distress. Satan is at church before you are, Christian — he is literally standing beneath your closet window listening to what you say to God in private, all the while working out how to bring a charge against you based on your own prayers and devotions. He is like those who attend sermons only to find fault with the preacher, to make him an offender for a misplaced word. He is like a clever debater who, while his opponent is still presenting his argument, is already studying how to tear it apart. Satan has such skill at this that he can take our spiritual duties apart piece by piece and distort them so badly that they appear merely formal — no matter how earnest they were — and hypocritical, no matter how much genuine sincerity was in them. When you have finished a duty, Christian, this deceiver stands up to unravel your work: "There you were playing the hypocrite — zealous, but serving yourself. Here your mind wandered, there you nearly fell asleep; a little further on you swelled with pride. What reward can you expect from God now that you have ruined His work and cut it all to pieces?" This way he drives many poor souls to live an exhausted and miserable life. Nothing they do escapes his attack, until they do not know whether they should pray or not, listen to preaching or not, and whether — when they have done so — it has amounted to anything at all. Their souls hang in uncertainty and their days pass in sorrow, while their enemy stands in a corner laughing at the trick he has played on them — like someone who drops a fake spider in the dish, making those at the table either too disgusted to eat or afraid they have been poisoned after eating.

Question: What should we do in this case to resist Satan's attacks against our spiritual duties?

First, let this make you more careful and diligent in everything you do. This is exactly the purpose God has in allowing Satan to watch over you so closely — that you, as His children, would be more careful, knowing you have a watcher who will report your failures to God and accuse you to your own conscience. Does it not make sense to write your letter carefully when you know such a sharp critic will read and scrutinize every word? Does it not make sense to know your own heart well, to study Scripture diligently, and to understand your soul's standing in every case of conscience — when you have such a cunning opponent ready to challenge every answer you give?

Second, let this make you more humble. If Satan can find so much to charge you with in your best duties — what could God Himself find? God sometimes allows the weaknesses of His people to be noticed by the ungodly, who are quick to jeer at them for it — and His purpose is to humble His people. How much more should Satan's accusations — which are, in large part, all too accurate — drive us low before God?

Third, identify the logical errors in Satan's argument — and once you see through them, you will be able to answer his challenge. The errors are twofold.

First, Satan tries to convince you that you and your duties are hypocritical, proud, and merely formal, simply because some of those sins can be found in your duty. But, Christian, learn to distinguish between pride in a duty and a proud duty, between hypocrisy in a person and a hypocrite, between wine in a man and a man in wine. Even the best saints have these corruptions stirring within them and in their prayers. These birds will land on Abraham's sacrifice — but take comfort in this: if you find within your heart a party that pleads for God and registers its protest against those corruptions, then you and your duties are spiritually acceptable before God. God sees these things as the weaknesses of your frail and imperfect state here below, and He pities you — as you would pity your own lame child. How offensive we find someone who mocks a person for a natural disability, a clouded eye, or a halting tongue. These corruptions in your new nature are exactly like that. Notice what Christ does in His prayer against Satan in Zechariah 3:2: "The Lord said to Satan, 'The Lord rebuke you' — is this not a brand plucked from the fire?" It is as if Christ said: Lord, will You allow this envious spirit to taunt Your poor child and charge him for the weaknesses that cling to his imperfect state? He has only just been pulled out of the fire. It is no wonder there are still some sparks unquenched, some corruption unmortified, some disorder unreformed in his life. And what Christ did for Joshua, He does without ceasing for all His saints — constantly pleading with His Father for their weaknesses.

Second, his other error is arguing from the sin that is in our duties to their rejection by God. "Do you really think," Satan asks, "that God will accept such broken payment from you? Is He not a holy God?" Here, Christian, learn the distinction and answer Satan directly. There are two kinds of acceptance. There is acceptance as payment of a debt, and there is acceptance of a gift offered as a token of love and gratitude. A man may refuse counterfeit money or a partial payment when a debt is owed — yet the same man, if a friend sends him even a bent coin as a sign of affection, will receive it warmly. It is true, Christian, that the debt you owe to God must be paid in full and lawful currency — but your comfort is that Christ is your paymaster. Send Satan to Him; tell Satan to bring his charges against Christ, who stands at God's right hand ready to settle the accounts and show the full discharge of the entire debt. Your personal duties and obedience fall under a completely different category — they are tokens of your love and gratitude to God. And such is the gracious nature of your heavenly Father that He accepts your mite. Love refuses nothing that love sends. It is not the weight or value of the gift — it is the heart behind it that makes it kindness.

Section 4.

A fourth strategy of Satan as a troubler is to drag the saint into deep despair under the plausible pretense that he has not been sufficiently broken over his sin. The apostle specifically identifies this as one of the devil's schemes: "We are not ignorant of his devices" — his deceptive arguments (2 Corinthians 2:11). Satan places great stock in this tactic; it is one of his most frequently used weapons. What Christian has not encountered him at this door? Satan finds the Christian easily worked on here, since the conditions are already in his favor — the Christian is on his own complaining of his hardness of heart, and is very prone to believe anyone who agrees with his gloomy thoughts. He tends to think that anyone who tries to tell him otherwise is just flattering him. It is far easier to deepen the shade of a soul that is already dark with sorrow than to bring it into the light of joy and comfort.

Question: How should I answer this subtle enemy when he troubles my spirit with the accusation that I have not mourned enough for sin?

Answer. As with the previous cases: identify the logical error in his argument, and his mouth is quickly stopped.

First, Satan argues like this: There should be a proportion between sin and sorrow. But there is no proportion between your sins and your sorrow. Therefore you have not mourned enough. At first glance, what a compelling argument. For the major premise — that there should be a proportion between sin and sorrow — Satan will show you Scripture. Manasseh was a great sinner, and ordinary sorrow was not enough for him: "He humbled himself greatly before the Lord" (2 Chronicles 33:12). "Now," says Satan, "weigh your sin against your sorrow. Are you as great a mourner as you have been a sinner? For so many years you have waged war against the Almighty, trampling His laws, straining His patience to the breaking point, piercing the side of Christ with your bloody dagger — while you were grieving His Spirit and rejecting His grace. Do you think a little remorse, like a cloud dropping a few tears, will now be accepted? No — you must steep in sorrow as long as you soaked in sin." Now let me show you the error in this argument. We must distinguish between two kinds of proportion in sorrow.

First, an exact proportion of sorrow matching the inherent nature and full weight of the sin committed.

Second, there is a proportion measured by the standard of the gospel. The first kind — exact proportion matching the full weight of sin — is not actually achievable, because the injury done in even the smallest sin is infinite, since it is committed against an infinite God. And even if it could be achieved, it would still not be acceptable according to the terms of the old covenant, which contained no clause offering hope through later repentance. But the second kind — gospel sorrow — is genuine repentance that leads to life. It is both given by the Spirit of the gospel and measured by the rule of the gospel. This is the path provided for your relief. You know how on a road that is flooded in places, there is sometimes a footbridge or a raised causeway alongside, so travelers can bypass the flood and pass safely. No one with eyes and good sense would wade through the waters when they can walk around the danger. If you try to match your sorrow exactly to the weight of your sin, you are a dead man. You will quickly find yourself in over your head — drowning in your own tears and never getting past even one sin you have committed. Do not go down that path if you value your life. Turn instead to this gospel path, and you will escape the danger. O you tempted souls — when Satan says you have not mourned enough, remember where your relief is to be found. "I am a Roman citizen," Paul said, "I appeal to Caesar." Say: "I am a Christian. I appeal to Christ's law." And what is the law of the gospel on this matter? Heart-sorrow is gospel sorrow. "They were pierced to the heart" (Acts 2:37) — and Peter, like a good surgeon, did not leave those bleeding patients in pain with their wounds open. He immediately applied the healing remedy of the gospel: "Believe in the Lord Jesus." A wound to the heart is more than a wound to the conscience. The heart is the seat of life. Sin wounded there is a dying sin. Doing anything from the heart makes it acceptable (Ephesians 6:6). Poor soul, would you have sat this long in the devil's prison if you had understood this clearly? Does your heart clear you or condemn you when you are alone before God, mourning over your sin? If your heart is false, I cannot help you — not even the gospel can. But if it is sincere, you have confident access to God.

A second argument Satan uses runs like this: If your sorrow falls short of someone who never truly repented, you have not mourned enough. And your sorrow does fall short of some who never truly repented. Therefore you have not mourned enough. The first premise is true enough. But how will Satan prove the second? This way: Ahab grieved over his sin and put on sackcloth. Judas made a bitter confession. "Did you not know," Satan says, "someone who was under the terror of a troubled conscience for many months, going about in a mournful condition — and everyone thought he was the greatest convert in the area? Yet in the end he fell badly and became an apostate. But you have never felt such sharp conviction, never passed so many weary days and nights in mourning and bitter lamentation as he did. So your sorrow falls short of someone whose sorrow still fell short of genuine repentance." And truly this is a painful stumbling block for a soul in a moment of temptation. It is like a ship sunk right at the harbor mouth — more dangerous to others than if it had gone down in the open sea. The sins of the openly wicked cause less damage to others, because they sink in the broad sea of godlessness far from shore. But those who are convicted of sin, troubled in conscience, and then fall apart so close to the harbor — within sight, as it were, of saving grace — these cause far more damage to those who see them. Tempted souls can hardly navigate past these examples without being shaken. "Am I any better than that person who turned out to be nothing in the end?" Now, to help you see through the error in this argument, we must distinguish between the terrors that can accompany sorrow and the essential nature of the grace of repentance itself. Terrors, while they sometimes accompany sorrow, can be separated from it — just as the rage of the sea driven by the wind can be separated from the sea itself when the wind dies down. From this distinction, draw two conclusions.

First, a person may have less terror than a hypocrite who had intense terror accompanying his sorrow, and yet possess the genuine grace of repentance — which the hypocrite with all his terror lacked. Christians make many mistakes by judging by what is incidental to a grace rather than by what is essential to it. Sometimes you hear someone pray with moving expression — while you can barely get out a few broken words yourself — and you are ready to condemn yourself and admire him, as though the gilded handle makes the key open the lock better. You see another person overflowing with joy that you do not have, and are quick to conclude his grace is greater and yours is less — when in reality you may have more genuine grace, but simply lack the light to see where it lies. Be careful about judging by incidentals. Perhaps you have not heard the rattling of hell's chains, or felt the outcries of the condemned thundering through your conscience until your body trembled. But have you not seen in the bleeding Christ something that melted and broke your heart — indeed, that made you loathe and hate your sins more deeply than the devil himself? It is strange, Christian, to hear a patient complain about his doctor simply because, when the medicine worked effectively — clearing out the disorder and restoring his health — he was not made as sick as other patients by it. You have far more reason to bless God that the convictions of His Spirit worked so gently in you, accomplishing in you without all that terror what has cost others so dearly.

Second, this is actually a very weak argument — and in fact, the opposite is true: the greater the terror, the less the genuine sorrow for sin tends to be, while that terror remains. Terrors are sometimes preparatory to true sorrow. They precede this grace the way the austere John the Baptist preceded the gentle Jesus. But just as John decreased when Christ increased, so as true godly sorrow increases, these terrors decrease. Wind gathers clouds — but those clouds rarely fall as steady rain until the wind that gathered them dies down. In the same way, these terrors raise the clouds of our sins in our consciences, but when those sins melt into godly sorrow, the storm is quickly calmed. Indeed, as strong winds blow the rain away, so these terrors actually keep the soul from reaching gospel sorrow. When a person is crying out, "I am condemned, I am condemned!" — he is so consumed with the fear of hell that sin as sin, which is the proper object of godly sorrow, is barely looked at or mourned for. A murderer condemned to death is so gripped by the fear of dying and the thought of the gallows that the body of his victim may lie before him unlamented. But when his pardon arrives, then he can weep freely for the one he killed. "They will look on Him whom they have pierced, and mourn" (Zechariah 12:10). Faith is the eye. That eye, seeing its sin as the thing that pierced Christ, and seeing Christ pardoning that sin, moves the heart. The heart moved sighs; those inward clouds melt and run from the eye of faith in tears. And all of this happens not in a storm of terror but in the calm atmosphere of love and peace. So, Christian, see how Satan deceives you when he tries to convince you that you have not mourned enough because your sorrow was not accompanied by this kind of legal terror.