Chapter 7. Containing Some Directions Tending to Entrench and Fortify the Christian Against the Assaults and Wiles of the Devil as a Troubler of the Soul's Peace

Quest. HOw shall I stand in a defensive posture (may the Christian say) against these wiles of Satan as a Troubler?

SECT. I.

First, if you wouldest be guarded from him as a Troubler, take heed of him as a seducer. The have of Satans hatchet, (with which he lies chopping at the root of the Christians comfort) is commonly made of the Christians wood: First, he tempts to sin, and then for it. Satan is but a creature, and cannot work without tooles, he can indeed make much of a little, but not any thing of nothing (as we see in his assaulting of Christ, where he troubled himself to little purpose, because he came and found nothing in him. Though the devil throws the stone, yet 'tis the mud in us which royles our comforts. 'Twas in vaine for the Philistines to fall on Samson till his lock was cut: take heed therefore of yielding to his enticing motions; these are the stumbling block, at which he hopes you'lt break your shins, and bruise your conscience, which once done, let him alone to spin out the cure. Indeed a Saints flesh heals not so easily as others: drink not of the devils wassel, there is poison in the cup, his wine is a mocker, look not on it as it sparkles in the temptation; what you drinkest down with sweetnesse, you will be sure to bring up again as gall and wormwood. Above all sins, take heed of presumptuous ones, you are not out of the danger of such. Sad stories we have of Saints falls, and what follows? then, Take him Jailor, (says God,) Deliver such a one unto Satan; and if a Saint be the Prisoner, and the devil the Keeper, you may guesse how he shall be used. O how he will teare and rend your conscience! Though that dreadful Ordinance is not used (as it should be) in the Church, yet Gods Court sits, and if he excommunicate a soul from his presence, he falls presently into Satans clutches. Well, if through his subtilty you have been overtaken, take heed you stayest not in the devils quarters: shake the viper off your hand, ply you to your Chirurgeon: green wounds cure best, but if you neglectest, and the winde get to it, your conscience will soon fester.Ahab (we read) was wounded in battel, and was loath to yield to it, (it is said) he was held up in his chariot, but he died for it: when a soul has received a wound, committed a sin, Satan labors to boulster him up with flattering hopes, holds him up, as it were, in his chariot against God; what yield for this? afraid for a little scratch, and lose the spoile of your future pleasure for this? O take heed of listening to such counsel, the sooner you yieldest, the fairer quarter you shalt have. Every step in this way sets you further from your peace. A rent garment is catch't by every naile, and the rent made wider. Renew therefore your repentance speedily, whereby this breach may be made up, and worse prevented, which else will befall you.

SECT. II.

2ly, study that grand Gospel-truth of a souls justification before God, acquaint your self with this in all its causes; the moving cause, the free mercy of God, Being justified freely by his grace, the meritorious, which is the blood of Christ; and the instrumental, faith, with all the sweet priviledges that flow from it. An effectual door once open'd to let the soul into this truth, would not only spoil the Popes market (as Gardner said) but the devils also; when Satan coms to disquiet the Christians peace, (for want of a right understanding here) he is soon worsted by his enemy: as the silly hare which might escape the dogs in some covert or burrough that is at hand, but (trusting to her heels) is by the print of her owne feet and sent, which she leaves behinde, followed, till at last (weary and spent) she falls into the mouth of them. In all that a Christian does, there is a print of sinful infirmity, and a sent by which Satan is enabled to trace and pursue him over hedge and ditch, this grace and that duty, till the soul, not able to stand before the accusation of Satan, is ready to fall down in despair at his feet: whereas here's a hiding place, where the enemy durst not come, the clefts of the rock, the hole of the staires, which this truth leads unto. When Satan chargs you for a sinner, perhaps you interposest your repentance and reformation, but soon are beaten out of those works, (when you are shewen the sinful mixtures that are in them) whereas this truth would choak all his bullets, that you believest on him who has said, Not unto him that works,but unto him that believes on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is imputed for righteousnesse. Get therefore into this tower of the Gospel-Covenant, and rowle this truth, (as she that stone on the head of Abimelech) on the head of Satan.

SECT. III.

Thirdly, be sure (Christian) you keepest the Plains. Take heed that Satan coop you not up in some straits, where you can neither well fight, nor flie. Such a trap the Egyptians hoped they had the Israelites in, when they cried, They are entangled, they are entangled. There are three kindes of straits wherein he labors to entrap the Christians; Nice Questions, obscure Scriptures, and dark Providences.

First, he labors to puzzle him with nice and scrupulous questions, (on purpose to retard the work, and clog him in his motion) that meeting with such intricacies in his Christian course, which he cannot easily resolve, thereby he may be made, either to give over, or go on heavily: therefore we have particular charge not to trouble the weak heads of young Converts with doubtful disputations. Sometimes Satan will be asking the soul, how it knowes its election: and where he findes one not so fully resolved, as to dare to own the same, he frames his Argument against such a ones closing with Christ and the promise; as if it were presumption to assume that, (which is the only portion of the Elect) before we know our selves of that number. Now, Christian, keep the Plains and you are safe. 'Tis plain; we are not to make Election a ground for our faith, but our faith and calling a medium or argument to prove our Election. Election indeed is first in order of divine acting. God chooss before we believe; yet faith is first in our acting. We must believe before we can know we are elected, yea, by believing we know it. The Husbandman knowes 'tis Spring by the sprouting of the grasse, though he has no Astrology to know the Position of the Heavens; you may know you are Elect, as surely by a work of grace in you, as if you had stood by Gods elbowe when he writ your name in the book of life. It had been presumption for David to have thought he should have been King, till Samuel anointed him, but then none at all; when you believest first, and closest with Christ, then is the Spirit of God sent to anoint you to the Kingdom of Heaven: this is that holy oyle which is poured upon none but heires of glory; and 'tis no presumption to reade what Gods gracious purpose was towards you of old, when he prints those his thoughts, and makes them legible in your effectual calling; here you doest not go up to heaven, and pry into Gods secrets, but heaven comes down to you, and reveals them. Again, he will ask the Christian what was the time of his Conversion; Art you a Christian (will he say) and do you not know when you commencedst? now keep the Plains, & content your self with this, that you seest the streams of grace, though the time of your Conversion be like the head of Nylus, not to be found. God oft comes betimes, before grosse sins have deflowered the soul, and steals into the creatures bosome without much noise. In such a case Satan does but abuse you when he sends you on this errand; you may know the Sun is up, though you did not observe when it rose. Again, what will become of you (says Satan) if God should bring you into such an affliction on trial, when you must burn or turn, or when all your outward estate shall be rent from you, no meal in the barrel, no money in the purse; darest you have so good an opinion of your selfe, as to think that your faith will hold out in such an hour of temptation? It you have but half an eye, Christian, you may see what Satan drives at: this is an ensnaring question; by the feare of future troubles he labors to bring you into a neglect of your present duty, and indispose you also for such a stare whenever it falls. If a man has much businesse to do on the morrow, 'tis his wisdom to discharge his minde thereof, (when composing to sleep) lest the thoughts thereof break his rest, and make him the more unfit in the morning. The lesse rest the soul has in God and his promise concerning future events, the lesse strength it will finde to beare them when the pinch comes. When therefore you are molested with such feares, pacifie your heart with these three plain Conclusions.

First, every event is the product of Gods Providence, not a sparrow, much lesse a Saint falls to the ground by poverty, sicknesse, persecution, &c. but the hand of God is in it.

Secondly, God has put in caution he will never leave you, nor forsake you. He that enables you in one condition, will in another. God learns his servants their whole trade. Grace is an universal principle. At the first moment of your spiritual life suffering grace was infused as well as praying grace.

Thirdly, God is wise to conceale the succours he intends in the several changes of your life, that so he may draw your heart into an entire dependance on his faithful promise. Thus to try the mettal of Abrahams faith he let him go on, till his hand was stretch't forth, and then he comes to his rescue. Christ sends his disciples to sea, but stayes behinde himself, on a design to try their faith, and show his love. Comfort your self therefore with this, though you seest not your God in the way, yet you shalt finde him in the end.

Secondly, Satan perplexs the tender consciences of doubting Christians with obscure Scriptures, whose sense lies too deep for their weak and distempered judgements, readily to finde out, and with these he hampers poor souls exceedingly; indeed as melancholy men delight in melancholy walks, so doubting souls most frequent such places of Scripture in their musing thoughts, as encrease their doubts; how many have I known that have look't so long on those difficult places, Hebrews 6:7. Hebrews 10:26. (which passe the understanding, as a swift stream the eye, so that the sense is not perceived without great observation,) till their heads have turned round, and they at last (not able to untie the difficulties,) have fallen down into despairing thoughts and words of their own condition, crying out, O they have sinned against knowledge of the truth, and therefore no mercy remains for them; who if they would have refreshed their understandings by looking off these places, (whose engraving is too curious to be long pored on by a weak eye,) they might have found that in other Scriptures plainly exprest, which would have enabled them, as through a glasse, more safely to have viewed these? Therefore, Christian, keepe the Plaines; you may be sure 'tis yours enemy that gives you such stones to break your teeth, when your condition calls rather for bread and wine, such Scriptures, I mean, as are most apt to nourish your faith, and cheere your drooping spirit. When you meetest such plain Scriptures which speak to your case, go over where it is fordable, and do not venture beyond your depth. Art you afraid because you have sinned since the knowledge of the truth, and therefore no sacrifice remains for you? See David and Peters case, how it patterns yours, and left upon record that their recovery may be a Key in yours hand to open such places as these; may you not safely conclude from these, this is not their meaning, that none can be saved that sin after knowledge? Indeed in both those places, it is neither meant of the falls of such as ever had true grace, nor of a falling away in some particular acts of sin, but of a total universal falling away from the Faith, (the doctrine of it as well as seeming practice of it.) Now if the root of the matter were ever in you, other Scriptures will first comfort you against those particular apostasies into which you have relapsed, by sweet promises inviting such to return, and Precedents of Saints, who have had peace spoken to them after such folly, and also they will satisfie you against the other, by giving full security to your faith, that your little grace shall not die, being immortal, though not in its proper essence, because but a creature, yet by Covenant, as it is a child of Promise.

Thirdly, Dark Providences. From these Satan disputes against Gods love to, and grace in a soul. First, he got a commission to plunder Job of his temporal estate, and bereave him of his chilchildren, and then labors to make him question his spiritual estate and sonship: his wife would have him entertain hard thoughts of God, (saying, Curse God and die,) and his friends as hard thoughts of himself, (as if he were an hypocrite) and both upon the same mistake, as if such an afflicted condition and a gracious state were inconsistent. Now (Christian) keep the Plaines, and neither from this charge God foolishly for yours enemy, nor your self as his. Reade the saddest Providence with the Comment of the Word, and you can not make such an harsh interpretation. As God can make a streight line with a crooked stick, be righteous when he useth wicked instruments; so also gracious when he dispenss harsh Providences. Joseph kept his love, when he spoke roughly to his brethren. I do not wonder that the wicked think they have Gods blessing, because they are in the warme Sun: Alas, they are strangers to Gods counsels, void of his Spirit, and sensual, judging of God and his Providence, by the report their present feeling makes of them; like little children, who think every one loves them that gives them plums. But 'tis strange, that a Saint should be at a losse for his afflicted state, when he has a Key to decipher Gods character: Christian, has not God secretly instructed you by his Spirit from the Word, how to reade the short-hand of his Providence? doest not you know that the Saints afflictions stand for blessings? Every son whom he loves he corrects; and prosperity in a wicked state, must it not be read a curse? does not God damne such to be rich, honorable, victorious in this world, as well as to be tormented in another world? God gives them more of these then they seem to desire sometimes, and all to binde them faster up in a deep sleep of security, as Jael served Sisera, he shall have milk though he asked but water, that she might naile him the surer to the ground. Milk having a property (as some write) to encline to sleep.

SECT. IV.

Fourthly, be careful to keep your old receits which you have had from God for the pardon of your sins. There are some gaudy days, and Jubilee-like Festivals, when God comes forth clothed with the robes of his mercy, and holds forth the Scepter of his grace more familiarly to his children then ordinary, bearing witnesse to their faith, sincerity, &c. and then the firmament is clear, not a cloud to be seen to darken the Christians comfort. Love and joy are the souls repast and pastime, while this feast lasts. Now when God withdrawes, and this chear is taken off, Satans work is how he may deface and weare off the remembrance of this testimony, which the soul so triumphs in for its spiritual standing, that he may not have it as an evidence when he shall bring about the suite again, and put the soul to produce his writings for his spiritual state, or renounce his claim. It behoves you therefore to lay them up safely; such a testimony may serve to non-suit your accuser many years hence; one affirmative from Gods mouth for your pardoned state, carries more weight (though of old date) then a thousand negatives from Satans. Davids Songs of old spring in with a light to his soul in his midnight-sorrowes.

Quest. But what counsel would you give me (says the distressed soul, ) who cannot fasten on my former comforts, nor dare to vouch those evidences, which once I thought true? I finde indeed there have been some treaties of old between God and my soul; some hopes I have had, but these are now so defaced and interlined with back-slidings, repentances, and falls again, that now I question all my evidences, whether true or counterfeit, what should one in this case do?

Answ. First, renew your repentance, as if you had never repented. Put forth fresh acts of faith, as if you had never believed. This seriously done will stop Satans mouth with an unexpected answer. Let him object against your former actings as hypocritical, what can he say against your present repenting and beleeving, which if true, sets you beyond his shot. It will be harder for Satan to disprove the present workings of Gods gracious Spirit, whilest the impressions thereof are fresh, then to pick an hole in your old deeds and evidences. Acts are transient, and as wicked men look at sins committed many years since, as little or none, by reason of that breadth of time which interposs; so the Christian upon the same account stands at great disadvantage, to take the true aspect of those acts of grace, which so long ago passed between God and him, though sometimes even these are of great use. As God can make a sinner possess the sins of his youth, as if they were newly acted to his terrour in his old age; so God can present the comforts and evidences which of old the Saint received, with those very thoughts he had then of them, as if they were fresh and new.

And therefore secondly; If yet he haunts you with the feares of your spiritual estate, ply you to the throne of grace, and beg a new copy of your old evidence, which you have lost. The Original is in the Pardon-Office in Heaven, whereof Christ is Master; if you beest a Saint your name is upon record in that Court; make your moane to God, heare what newes from Heaven, rather than listen to the tales which are brought by yours enemie from hell. Did such reason lesse with Satan, and pray over their feares more to God, they might sooner be resolved. Can you expect truth from a liar, and comfort from an enemy? Did he ever prophesie well of believers? Was not Job the Devils hypocrite, whom God vouch't for a non-such in holiness, and prov'd him so at last? If he knew you wert a Saint, would he tell you so? if an hypocrite, he would be as loath you shouldest know it; turn your back therefore on him, and go to your God: feare not, but sooner or later he will give his hand again to your Certificate. But look you doest not rashly passe a censure on your self, because a satisfactory answer is not presently sent at your desire; the Messenger may stay long, and bring good newes at last.

Thirdly, shun battel with yours enemy while you are in a fitter posture? and that you may draw into your trenches, and make an honorable retreat into those fastnesses and strengths, which Christ has provided for his sick and wounded souldiers. Now there are two places of advantage into which deserted souls may retire; the Name of God, and the absolute Promises of the Gospel; these I may call the faire Havens, which are then chiefly of use, when the storme is so great that the ship cannot live at sea. O, says Satan, doest you hope to see God? none but the pure in heart shall be blest with that vision. Think'st you to have comfort? that is the portion of the Mourners in spirit. Now, soul, though you can not say (in the hurry of temptation) you are the pure and the Mourner in spirit, yet then say you believest God is able to work these in you, yea, has promised such a mercy to poor sinners, 'tis his Covenant, (He will give a new heart, a clean heart, a soft heart,) and here I wait, knowing, as there was nothing in the creature to move the great God to make such Promises; so there can be nothing in the creature to hinder the Almighty his performance of them, where and when he pleass. This act of faith, accompanied with a longing desire after that grace you can not yet finde, and an attendance on the meanes, though it will not fully satisfie all your doubts, (may be) yet will keep your head above water, that you despairest not; and such a shore you need'st in this case, or the house falls.

Fourthly, If yet Satan dogs you, call in help, and keep not the devils counsel. The very strength of some temptations lies in the concealing of them, and the very revealing of them to some faithful friend, (like the opening and pricking of an imposthume) gives the soul present ease: Satan knowes this too well; and therefore, as some thieves, when they come to rob an house, either gagge them in it, or hold a pistol to their breast, frighting them with death, if they cry or speak: Thus Satan that he may more freely rifle the soul of its peace and comfort, over-awes it so, that it dares not disclose his temptation. O, says Satan, if your brethren or friends know such a thing by you, they'l cast you off, others will hoote at you. Thus many a poor soul has been kept long in its pangs by biting them in; you losest (Christian) a double help by keeping the devils secret, the counsel and prayers of your fellow-brethren; and what an invaluable losse is this?

Question: How can I take a defensive posture against Satan's schemes as a troubler of the soul?

Section 1.

First, if you want to be guarded against him as a troubler, take care to guard against him as a seducer. The handle of Satan's ax — the one he uses to chop at the roots of the Christian's peace — is typically made from the Christian's own wood. First he tempts to sin, then he accuses for it. Satan is only a creature and cannot work without materials. He can make much out of little — but he cannot make something out of nothing, as we see in his assault on Christ, where he accomplished nothing because he came and found nothing in Him to work with. Though the devil throws the stone, it is the mud in us that muddies our peace. It was pointless for the Philistines to attack Samson until his hair was cut. Therefore take care not to give in to Satan's enticing impulses. These are the stumbling blocks over which he hopes you will trip and bruise your conscience — and once that is done, he can take his time making the cure as slow as possible. A saint's conscience does not heal as easily as others. Do not drink Satan's cup — there is poison in it. His wine is a mocker; do not be drawn by how it sparkles in the temptation. What you swallow with sweetness, you will bring back up as bitterness and grief. Above all, beware of presumptuous sins. You are not beyond the danger of them. We have sad stories of saints who fell — and what followed? Then God said, in effect, "Take him, jailer" — "Deliver such a one to Satan." And if a saint is the prisoner and the devil is the keeper, you can imagine what treatment will follow. How Satan will tear and rend a wounded conscience! Even though that solemn act of church discipline is rarely exercised as it should be, God's own court is always in session — and when He withdraws His presence from a soul, that soul immediately falls into Satan's hands. But if through Satan's subtlety you have been caught, do not stay in his territory. Shake the viper off your hand and go quickly to your physician. Fresh wounds heal best — but if you neglect it and let it get air, your conscience will soon fester. Ahab was wounded in battle and was reluctant to give in to it — he was held upright in his chariot — but he died from the wound. When a soul has been wounded by sin, Satan tries to prop it up with flattering reassurances, holding it up, as it were, in its chariot against God. "Give in to this? You're going to lose all the pleasure ahead of you over this little scratch?" Do not listen to such counsel. The sooner you yield to repentance, the more favorable treatment you will receive. Every step you take in the direction of delay puts you further from your peace. A torn garment catches on every nail and the tear only grows wider. Renew your repentance quickly, so that this breach may be repaired and worse damage prevented — which will surely come if it is not.

Section 2.

Second, study carefully this great gospel truth: a soul's justification before God. Acquaint yourself with it in all its parts — the moving cause, which is God's free mercy: "Being justified freely by His grace" (Romans 3:24); the meritorious cause, which is the blood of Christ; and the instrumental cause, which is faith — together with all the precious privileges that flow from it. If this truth were truly opened to the soul, it would not only ruin the pope's market — as Gardiner once said — but the devil's as well. When Satan comes to disturb the Christian's peace, a lack of clear understanding here leaves the Christian easily beaten. He is like the hare that could escape the hounds by ducking into a nearby thicket or burrow, but trusting to her own legs, is tracked by her own footprints and scent until she falls exhausted into their jaws. In everything a Christian does there are traces of sinful weakness, and a trail by which Satan can track and chase him across every hedge and ditch, through this grace and that duty — until the soul, unable to stand under Satan's accusations, is ready to fall down in despair at his feet. But here is a hiding place where the enemy dares not come: the clefts of the rock, the shelter of the stairway, to which this truth leads. When Satan charges you as a sinner, perhaps you put forward your repentance and changed behavior — but you will quickly be driven out of those works when Satan shows you the sinful impurities mixed in with them. This truth, however, would stop all his bullets: you believe in Him who said, "Not to the one who works, but to the one who believes in Him who justifies the ungodly — his faith is credited as righteousness" (Romans 4:5). Get into the tower of the gospel covenant, and roll this truth — like the woman who dropped the millstone on Abimelech's head — onto the head of Satan.

Section 3.

Third, make sure, Christian, that you keep to open ground. Take care that Satan does not force you into a narrow pass where you can neither fight nor escape. That is the trap the Egyptians thought they had the Israelites in when they cried, "They are hemmed in, they are hemmed in!" There are three kinds of narrow passes in which Satan tries to trap Christians: difficult questions, obscure scriptures, and dark providences.

First, Satan tries to confuse the Christian with difficult and complicated questions — deliberately meant to slow him down and obstruct his movement. When he runs into such puzzles in his Christian walk that he cannot easily resolve, he may either give up entirely or press on with great heaviness. This is exactly why we are told not to burden young converts with debatable theological disputes (Romans 14:1). Sometimes Satan will ask a soul how it knows it is elect — and wherever he finds someone not fully settled enough to claim that certainty, he uses it as an argument against that person's coming to Christ and His promises. As if it were presumption to embrace what belongs only to the elect before you know you are among their number. Christian, stay on open ground and you are safe. The plain truth is this: we are not to make our election the basis of our faith — rather, our faith and our calling are the evidence that proves our election. Election is first in God's acting — God chooses before we believe. But faith is first in our acting — we must believe before we can know we are elected. Indeed, by believing, we come to know it. The farmer knows it is spring by the grass coming up, even though he has no knowledge of astronomy. You can know you are elect, just as surely through the work of grace in you, as if you had stood at God's shoulder when He wrote your name in the book of life. It would have been presumptuous for David to assume he would be king before Samuel anointed him — but not afterward. When you first believe and receive Christ, the Spirit of God is sent to anoint you for the kingdom of heaven. This is the holy oil poured out only on heirs of glory — and it is no presumption to read what God's gracious purpose toward you was from of old, when He has printed those thoughts and made them legible in your effectual calling. You are not climbing up to heaven and prying into God's secrets — heaven is coming down to you and revealing them. Satan will also ask the Christian when exactly he was converted: "You call yourself a Christian — and you can't even tell me when you began?" Stay on open ground, and be content with this: you can see the streams of grace flowing, even if the time of your conversion — like the source of the Nile — cannot be located. God often comes early, before gross sins have violated the soul, slipping quietly into a person's heart without great commotion. In such a case, Satan is simply trying to deceive you when he sends you on that search. You can know the sun is up even if you did not observe the exact moment it rose. Satan will also ask: "What will become of you if God brings you into a trial where you must choose between betraying your faith or burning for it, or when everything you own is stripped away — no food, no money? Do you really think well enough of yourself to believe your faith would hold out in such a test?" If you have any discernment at all, Christian, you can see what Satan is after. This is a trap. By stirring fear of future trouble, he tries to get you to neglect your present duty and to be ill-prepared for such a trial if it ever comes. If a man has much to do the next day, it is wise to clear his mind of it before sleep — otherwise anxious thoughts will break his rest and leave him less fit in the morning. The less rest the soul finds in God and His promises concerning future events, the less strength it will have to bear them when they actually arrive. When you are troubled by such fears, calm your heart with these three plain conclusions.

First, every event is the product of God's providence. Not a sparrow — and certainly not a saint — falls to the ground through poverty, sickness, persecution, or any other cause, without the hand of God in it.

Second, God has given His firm pledge that He will never leave you or forsake you. The One who equips you for one condition will equip you for another. God teaches His servants their whole trade. Grace is a comprehensive principle. At the very first moment of your spiritual life, enduring grace was given alongside praying grace.

Third, God in His wisdom hides from you the help He intends for the various changes of your life, so that He may draw your heart into complete dependence on His faithful promise. This is how He tested Abraham's faith — letting him go all the way to the point where his hand was raised, and then coming to his rescue. Christ sent His disciples out to sea while He remained behind — deliberately, to test their faith and reveal His love. Take comfort in this: even though you cannot see your God on the road, you will find Him at the end.

Second, Satan troubles the tender consciences of doubting Christians with obscure scriptures — passages whose meaning lies too deep for their weakened and troubled minds to easily find. With these he traps poor souls terribly. Just as melancholy people are drawn to melancholy places, doubting souls tend to dwell repeatedly on those difficult passages of Scripture that only increase their doubts. I have known many who have stared so long at Hebrews 6:4-6 and Hebrews 10:26 — passages that rush past the understanding like a swift current past the eye, so that the meaning cannot be grasped without great careful study — until their heads were spinning. Unable to untangle the difficulties, they fell into despairing thoughts about their own condition, crying out that they had "sinned against the knowledge of the truth" and therefore no mercy remained for them. If they had given their minds rest by looking away from those passages — whose fine engraving is too intricate to be studied long by a weak eye — they might have found in other scriptures what is plainly expressed there, which would have helped them, as through a lens, to understand these safely. Therefore, Christian, keep to open ground. When your condition calls for bread and wine, you can be sure it is your enemy who is handing you stones to break your teeth on — I mean, scriptures that are most suited to nourish your faith and lift your drooping spirit. When you find plain scriptures that speak to your situation, cross the river where it is shallow — do not wade beyond your depth. Are you afraid because you have sinned since coming to know the truth, and therefore think no sacrifice remains for you? Look at the cases of David and Peter — see how they match yours, and how their recovery was left on record so that it might be a key in your hand to open such passages as these. Can you not safely conclude from their examples that these texts do not mean no one who sins after knowing the truth can be saved? In fact, in both those passages, the meaning is neither of someone who once had true grace falling away, nor of individual acts of sin, but of a total and universal departure from the faith — both the doctrine of it and the appearance of practicing it. If the root of grace was ever genuinely in you, other scriptures will first comfort you against those individual acts of backsliding you have committed, through sweet promises inviting such people to return and examples of saints who received peace after similar failures. They will also settle your heart against those harder passages, by giving your faith full assurance that your small measure of grace will not die — it is immortal, not in its own nature, because it is a created thing, but by covenant, as a child of promise.

Third, dark providences. From these, Satan argues against God's love toward a soul and grace within it. He obtained permission to strip Job of his earthly estate and bereave him of his children — and then worked to make him question his spiritual standing and his status as God's son. Job's wife pressed him to think harshly of God ("Curse God and die"), and his friends pressed him to think harshly of himself — as though he must be a hypocrite. Both rested on the same mistaken assumption: that severe affliction and a state of grace could not coexist. Christian, keep to open ground. Do not let Satan's misreading of dark providences lead you either to charge God foolishly or to condemn yourself as His enemy. Read the darkest providence with the commentary of Scripture, and you will not draw such a harsh conclusion. Just as God can draw a straight line with a crooked stick — remaining righteous while using wicked instruments — so He can remain gracious while sending harsh providences. Joseph kept his love even when he spoke roughly to his brothers. I am not surprised that the wicked think they have God's blessing because they are in the warm sunshine. They are strangers to His counsels, without His Spirit, and they judge God and His providence entirely by how things feel to them at the moment — like small children who think everyone loves them who gives them sweets. But it is remarkable that a saint should be confused by his afflicted condition, when he has the very key to decode God's handwriting. Christian, has not God privately taught you through His Spirit and Word how to read the shorthand of His providence? Do you not know that the saints' afflictions stand for blessings? "For those He loves He disciplines" (Hebrews 12:6). And prosperity in an ungodly state — must that not be read as a curse? Does not God, in a sense, condemn the wicked to wealth, honor, and victory in this world, as well as torment in another? He sometimes gives them more than they seem to want, all to bind them more securely in a deep sleep of false security — just as Jael served Sisera: he asked for water but she gave him milk, to put him more soundly to sleep before she drove the peg through his head. Milk, as some write, has a property that inclines toward sleep.

Section 4.

Fourth, take care to preserve the assurances of pardon you have received from God. There are bright seasons — special times, almost like festival days — when God comes clothed in His mercy and holds out the scepter of His grace more openly to His children than usual, bearing witness to their faith and sincerity. At those times the sky is clear, not a cloud in sight to darken the Christian's comfort. Love and joy are the soul's feast and delight while that season lasts. But when God withdraws and that gladness is taken away, Satan's work begins — to erase and wear down the memory of that testimony, in which the soul gloried as proof of its spiritual standing. He wants to make sure the soul cannot produce it as evidence when Satan brings his charges again and demands to see the documents proving the soul's spiritual state — or forces the soul to abandon its claim. It is therefore vital that you store these assurances safely. A single testimony of that kind may silence your accuser many years later. One affirmative word from God's mouth about your forgiven state — even if long ago — carries more weight than a thousand accusations from Satan. David's old songs of praise broke in with light to his soul in the dark nights of his sorrow.

Question: But what counsel do you give to the distressed soul who says, "I cannot lay hold of my former comforts, and I dare not claim those assurances I once thought were genuine. I can see that there were some dealings between God and my soul in the past — some hope I once had — but now these have been so crossed out and overwritten by backslidings, repentances, and fresh falls that I question all my evidences, whether they were ever real. What should someone in this condition do?"

Answer. First, renew your repentance as if you had never repented. Act fresh faith as if you had never believed. Done sincerely, this will stop Satan's mouth with an unexpected reply. Let him object that your former acts were hypocritical — what can he say against your present repenting and believing? If those are genuine, they put you entirely beyond his reach. It will be harder for Satan to disprove the present workings of God's gracious Spirit while those impressions are fresh than to find fault with old deeds and past evidences. Past acts are transient. Just as unbelievers tend to view sins committed many years ago as small or meaningless because of the distance of time, so the Christian stands at a real disadvantage trying to clearly recall acts of grace that passed between God and him long ago — though even those old evidences are sometimes of great use. Just as God can make a sinner feel the sins of his youth as though they were freshly committed, to his terror in old age — so God can bring back to the saint the comforts and assurances of former years with those very thoughts he had of them then, as fresh and vivid as if they were new.

Second, if Satan still haunts you with fears about your spiritual standing, go to the throne of grace and ask for a fresh copy of the assurance you have lost. The original is kept in the pardon office of heaven, of which Christ is the Master. If you are a saint, your name is on record in that court. Bring your grief to God, and hear what comes from heaven — rather than listening to the reports your enemy brings from hell. If doubting souls would reason less with Satan and pray more to God over their fears, they would find their answers sooner. Can you expect truth from a liar, or comfort from an enemy? Did Satan ever speak well of believers? Was not Job the devil's hypocrite — while God declared him without equal in holiness and proved it true in the end? If Satan knew you were a saint, would he tell you? If you were a hypocrite, he would be just as reluctant for you to know that too. Turn your back on him and go to your God. Do not fear — sooner or later He will sign your certificate again. But take care not to rush into a verdict against yourself simply because the answer is not given immediately when you ask. The messenger may take a long time, but may still arrive with good news.

Third, avoid engaging the enemy while you are in a weakened state. Instead, pull back to the defenses and make an honorable retreat into the fortifications Christ has prepared for His sick and wounded soldiers. There are two positions of strength into which abandoned souls can withdraw: the name of God, and the unconditional promises of the gospel. These are the safe harbors that are most useful precisely when the storm is too severe for the ship to survive at sea. "Do you hope to see God?" says Satan. "Only the pure in heart will have that vision." "Do you think you will have comfort? That belongs to those who mourn in spirit." Now, soul — even if in the heat of temptation you cannot claim to be the pure in heart or the mourner in spirit, you can still say: I believe God is able to work these things in me — indeed, He has promised such mercy to poor sinners. It is His covenant: He will give a new heart, a clean heart, a soft heart. And here I wait, knowing that just as there was nothing in any human being to move the great God to make such promises, there is nothing in any human being that can prevent the Almighty from keeping them wherever and whenever He chooses. This act of faith, accompanied by a deep longing for the grace you cannot yet find and a continued use of the means of grace — though it may not resolve all your doubts — will at least keep your head above water so that you do not despair. And you need that shore in this condition, or the house will fall.

Fourth, if Satan still follows you, call in help — and do not keep the devil's secret. The very strength of some temptations lies in their concealment. Simply revealing them to a faithful friend — like lancing an abscess — often brings immediate relief to the soul. Satan knows this all too well. And so, like a thief who breaks into a house and either gags the occupants or holds a pistol to their chest threatening death if they cry out — Satan, wanting to rob the soul freely of its peace and comfort, intimidates it into silence. "If your brothers or friends know this about you," Satan says, "they will turn on you — others will mock you." In this way many a poor soul has been kept long in its pain by holding it in. By keeping the devil's secret, Christian, you forfeit a double help: the counsel and prayers of your fellow believers. And what an immeasurable loss that is.