Chapter 5. Of the Time When, the Place Where, and the Subjects Whom Satan Rules

THese words contain the third Branch in the Description of our great enemy the devil; and they hold forth the proper seat of his Empire, with a threefold boundary; he is not Lord over all, that is, the incommunicable title of God, but a Ruler of the darkness of this world, where the time, place, and subjects of his Empire are stinted.

1. The time when this Prince has his rule, In this world, that is, now, not hereafter.

2. The place where he rules, In this world, that is, here below, not in heaven.

3. The subjects or persons whom he rules, not all in this lower world neither: and they are wrap't up in these words: The darkness of this world. First, of the first boundary.

SECT.

The time when he rules: so this word (world) may be taken in the text for that little spot of time, which (like an inconsiderable parenthesis) is clasp't in on either side with vast eternity; call'd sometimes the present world. On this stage of time this mock-King acts the part of a Prince, but when Christ comes to take down this scaffold at the end of this world, then he shall be degraded, his crown taken off, his sword broke over his head, and he hist off with scorne and shame; yea, of a Prince become a close prisoner in hell; no more than shall he infest the Saints, no nor rule the wicked: but he with them, and they with him, shall lie under the immediate execution of Gods wrath, for this very end Christ has his Pattent and Commission, which he will not give up, till he shall have put down all rule, then and not till then will he deliver up his Oeconomical Kingdom to his Father, when he shall have put down all rule; for he must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet. Satan is cast already, his doom is past upon him, as Adams was upon his first sin, but full execution is stayed till the end of the world. The devil knows it, it is an Article in his Creed, which made him trembling ask Christ why he came to torment him before his time.

Use 1 First, this brings ill newes to the wicked. Your Prince cannot long sit in his throne, sinners at present have a merry time of it, if it would hold; they rejoyce, while Christs disciples weep and mourne; they ruffle in their silkes, while the Saint goes in his rags. Princes are not more careful to oblige their Courtiers with pensions and preferments, then the devil is to gratifie his followers. He has his rewards also; All this will I give you; Am not I able to promote you, says Balak to Balaam? O 'tis strange, (and yet not strange, considering the degeneracy of mans nature) to see how Satan carries sinners after him with this golden hook. Let him but present such a bait as honor, pelfe or pleasure, and their hearts skip after it, as a dog would at a crust; he makes them sin for a morsel of bread: O the naughty heart of man loves the wages of unrighteousnesse, (which the devil promiss) so dearly, that it feares not the dreadful wages which the great God threatens. As sometimes you shall see a Spaniel so greedy of a bone, that he'll leap into the very river for it, if you throw it there, and by that time he comes with much ado there, 'tis sunk, and he gets nothing but a mouth-full of water for his pains; Thus sinners will after their desired pleasures, honours and profits, swimming through the very threatenings of the Word to them, and sometimes they lose even what they gaped for here. Thus God kept Balaam, (as Balak told him) from honor, Numb. 24.11. But however they speed here, they are sure to lose themselves everlastingly without repentance. They that are resolved they will have these things, are the men that fall into the devils snare, and are led into those foolish and hurtful lusts, which will drown them in destruction and perdition, 1 Timothy 6:9. O poor sinners! were it not wisdom before you truck with the devil, to enquire what title he can give you to these goodly vanities? will he settle them as a free estate upon you? can he secure your bargain and keep you from suits of law? or is he able to put two lives into the purchase, that when you die, you may not be left destitute in another world? Alas, poor wretches! you shall ere long see what a cheat he has put on you, from whom you are like to have nought but Caveat emptor, Let the buyer look to that; yea, this great Prince that is so brag, to tell what he will give you, must down himself: and a sad Prince must needs make a sad Court; O what howling will there then be of Satan and his vassals together! O but, says the sinner, the pleasures and honours sin and Satan offer are present, and that which Christ promiss we must stay for: This indeed is that which takes most. Demas, says Paul, forsook me, having loved this present world, 2 Timothy 4:10. 'Tis present indeed (sinners,) for you cannot say it will be yours the next moment; your present felicity is going, and the Saints (though future,) is coming never to go; and who for a gulpe of pottage, and sensual enjoyments at present, would part with a reversion of such a Kingdom? except you are of his minde, who thought he had nothing, but what he had swallowed down his throat. Haec habeo quae edi, quaeque exaturata libido —Hausit. which Cicero could say, was more fit to be writ on an oxes grave then a mans. Vile wretch, that thinkest 'tis not better to deale with God for time, then the devil for ready pay. Tertullian wonders at the folly of the Romanes ambition, who would endure all manner of hardship in field and fight, for no other thing but to obtain at last the honor to be Consul, which he calls unius anni volaticum gaudium, a joy that flies away at the years end. But O what desperate madnesse is it of sinners then, not to endure a little hardship here, but entaile on themselves the eternal wrath of God hereafter, for the short feast, and running banquet their lusts entertain them here withal: which often is not gaudium unius horae, a joy that lasts an hour.

Use 2 Secondly, let this encourage you, O Christian, in your conflict with Satan, the skirmish may be sharp, but it cannot be long. Let him tempt you, and his wicked instruments trounce you, 'tis but a little while, and you shalt be rid of both their evill neighbourhoods. The cloud while it drops is rolling over your head, and then comes faire weather, an eternal Sunshine of glory. Canst you not watch with Christ one hour or two? keep the field a few days? if yield, you are undone for ever; persevere but while the battel is over, and yours enemy shall never rally more; bid faith look through the Key-hole of the promise, and tell you what it sees there laid up for him that overcomes: bid it listen and tell you whether it cannot hear the shout of those crowned Saints, as of those that are dividing the spoile, and receiving the reward of all their services and sufferings here on earth: and doest you stand on the other side, afraid to wet your foot with those sufferings and temptations, which like a little plash of water, run between you and glory?

SECT. II.

Secondly, the devils Empire is confined to place as well as time: he is the Ruler of this lower world, not of the heavenly. The highest the devil can go is the aire, call'd the Prince thereof, as being the utmost marches of his Empire, he has nothing to do with the upper world. Heaven feares no devil, and therefore its gates stand alwayes open; never durst this fiend look into that holy place since he was first expell'd, but rangs to and fro here below as a vagabond creature, excommunicated the presence of God, doing what mischief he can to Saints in their way to heaven; but is not this matter of great joy, that Satan has no power there, where the Saints happiness lies? What have you (Christian) which you needest value that is not there? Your Christ is there, and if you lovest him, your heart also, which lives in the bosome of its beloved. Your friends, and kindred in Christ are there, or expected; with whom you shalt have a merry meeting in your Fathers house, notwithstanding the snare on Tabor, the plots of Satan which lie in the way. O friends get a title to that Kingdom, and you are above the flight of this Kite. This made Job a happy man indeed, who when the devil had plundered him to his skin, and worried him almost out of that too, could then vouch Christ in the face of death and devils to be his Redeemer, whom he should with those eyes, that now stood full with brinish teares, behold, and that for himself as his own portion. It is sad with him indeed, who is robbed of all he is worth at once, but this can never be said of a Saint. The devil took away Jobs purse, (as I may say) which put him into some straits, but he had a God in Heaven that put him into stock again. Some spending money you have at present in your purse, in the activity of your faith, the evidence of your son-ship, and comfort flowing from the same, enlargement in duty and the like, which Satan may for a time disturb, yea, deprive you of but he cannot come to the rolls, to blot your name out of the book of life; he cannot null your faith, make void your relation, dry up your comfort in the Spring, though dam up the stream; nor hinder you a happy issue of your whole war with sin, though worst you in a private skirmish; these all are kept in Heaven, among Gods own Crown-Jewels, who is said to keep us by his power through faith unto salvation.

SECT. III.

The third boundary of the devils Principality is in regard of his subjects, and they are described here to be the darkness of this world, that is, such who are in darkness. This word is used sometimes to express the desolate condition of a creature in some great distress, Isa 150. He that walks in darkness, and sees no light; sometimes to express the nature of all sin; so, Ephesians 5:1. sin is called the work of darkness; sometimes the particular sin of ignorance; often set out by the darkness of the night, blindness of the eye, all these I conceive may be mean't, but chiefly the latter; for though Satan makes a foule stir in the soul; that is, in the dark of sorrow, whether it be from outward crosses or inward desertions; yet if the creature be not in the darkness of sin at the same time, though he may disturb his peace as an enemy, yet cannot be said to rule as a Prince. Sin only sets Satan in the Throne; so that I shall take the words in the two latter Interpretations.

First, for the darkness of sin in general.

Secondly, for the darkness of ignorance in special; and the sense will be, that the devils rule is over those that are in a state of sin and ignorance, not over those who are sinful or ignorant, so he would take hold of Saints as well as others; but over those who are in a state of sin, which is set out by the abstract, Ruler of the darkness, the more to express the fulnesse of the sin and ignorance that possesss Satans slaves; and the Notes will be two.

First, Every soul in a state of sin is under the rule of Satan.

Secondly, Ignorance above other sins enslaves a soul to Satan, and therefore all sins are set out by that which chiefly expresss this, viz. darkness.

Every soul in a state of sin is under the rule of Satan; under which point these two things must be enquired.

First, the reason why sin is set out by darkness.

Secondly, how every one in such a state appears to be under the devils rule. For the first,

First, sin may be called darkness, because the spring and common cause of sin in man is darkness. The external cause Satan, who is the great promoter of it, he is a cursed spirit held in chaines of darkness. The internal is the blindness and darkness of the soul: we may say when any one sins, he does he knowes not what, as Christ said of his murtherers. Did the creature know the true worth of the soul, (which he now sells for a song,) the glorious amiable nature of God and his holy ways, the matchlesse love of God in Christ, the poisonfull nature of sin, and all these not by a sudden beam darted into the window at a Sermon, and gone again, like a flash of lightning, but by an abiding light; this would spoile the devils market, and poor creatures would not readily take this toad into their bosomes; sin goes in a disguise, and so is welcome.

Secondly, it is darkness, because it brings darkness into the soul, and that naturally and judicially.

First Naturally. There is a noxious quality in sin offensive to the understanding, which is to the soul what the eye and palate are to the body; It discernes of things, and distinguishs true from false, as the eye white from black: It tries words as the mouth tasts meats. Now as there are some things bad for the sight, and others bad for the palate vitiating it, so that it shall not know sweet from bitter; so here sin besots the creature, and makes it injudicious, that he who could see such a practice absurd and base in others before, when once he has drunk of this inchanting cup himself, (as one that has for done his understanding) is mad of it himself, not able now to see the evil of it, or use his reason against it. Thus Saul before he had debauch't his conscience, thinks the Witch worthy of death; but after he had trodden his conscience hard with other foule sins, goes to ask counsel of one himself.

Again, sin brings darkness judiciously; such have been threatened, whose eare God has been trying to open and instruct, and have run out of Gods school into the devils, by rebelling against light, that they shall die without knowledge, Iob 36.10, 12. What should the candle burn were, when the creature has more minde to play then work?

Thirdly, Sin runs into darkness. Impostors bring in their damnable Heresies privily, like those who sell bad ware, loath to come to the Market, where the Standard tries all; but put it off in secret: so in moral wickedness, sinners like beasts go out in the night for their prey, loath to be seen, afraid to come where they should be found out. Nothing more terrible to sinners then light of truth, John 3:19. because their deeds are evil. Felix was so netled with what Paul spoke, that he could not sit out the Sermon, but flings away in haste, and adjourns the hearing of Paul till a convenient season, but he never could finde one. The Sun is not more troublesome in hot Countreys, then truth is to those who sit under the powerful preaching of it; and therefore as those seldome come abroad in the heat of the day, and when they must, have their devices over their heads to skreene them from the Sun; so sinners shun as much as may be the preaching of the Word; but if they must go to keep in with their relations, or for other carnal advantages, they, if possible, will keep off the power of truth, either by sleeping the Sermon away, or prating it away with any foolish imagination which Satan sends to beare them company and chat with them at such a time: or by choosing such a coole Preacher to sit under, whose toothlesse discourse shall rather flatter then trouble, rather tickle their fancy then prick their consciences; and then their sore eyes can look upon the light. Froreseentem amant veritatem qui non redarguentem: they dare handle and look on the sword with delight when in a rich scabbard, who would run away to see it drawn.

Fourthly, Sin is darkness for its uncomfortab'enesse, and that in a threefold respect.

First, Darkness is uncomfortable, as it shuts out of all imployment. What could the Egyptians do under the plague of darkness but sit still? and this to an active spirit is trouble enough. Thus in a state of sin man is an unserviceable creature, he can do his God no service acceptably, spoiles everything he takes in hand, like one running up and down in a shop when windows shut, does nothing right. It maybe writ on the grave of every sinner, who lives and dies in that state, Here lies the man, that never did God an hours work in all his life.

Secondly, Darkness is uncomfortable in point of enjoyment; be there never such rare pictures in the roome, if dark, who the better? A soul in a state of sin may possess much, but enjoyes nothing: this is a sore evil, and little thought of. One thought of its state of enmity to God, would drop bitternesse into every cup; all he has smells of hell fire, and a man at a rich feast would enjoy it sure but little, if he smelt fire, ready to burn his house and himself in it.

Thirdly, Darkness fills with terrours, fears in the night are most dreadfull; a state of sin is a state of fear. Men that owe much, have no quiet, but when they are asleep, and not then neither, the cares and fears of the day sink so deep, as makes their rest troublesome and unquiet in the night. The wicked has no peace, but when his conscience sleeps, and that sleeps but brokenly, awaking often with sick fits of terrour: when he has most prosperity, he is scared like a flock of birds in a corn-field at every piece going off He eats in fear, and drinks in fear; when afflicted, he expects worse behinde, and knows not what this cloud may spread to, and where it may lay him; whether in hell or not he knows not, and therefore trembles (as one in the dark) not knowing but his next step may be into the pit.

Fifthly, sin leads to utter darkness; utter darkness is darkness to the utmost. Sin in its full height, and wrath in its full heat together; both universal, both eternal. Here's some mixture, peace and trouble, paine and ease; sin and thoughts of repenting, sin and hopes of pardon; there the fire of wrath shall burn without slacking, and sin run parallel with torment; hell-birds are no changelings; their torment makes them sin, and their sin feeds their torment, both unquenchable, one being fuel to another.

Secondly, let us see how it appears, that such as are under a state of sin, are under the rule of Satan. Sinners are call'd the children of the devil, 1 John 3:10. and who rules the child but the Father? they are slaves; who rules the slave but the Master? they are the very mansion-house of the devil; where has a man command, but in his own house? I will go to my house, Matthew 12:44. As if the devil had said, I have walk't among the Saints of God, to and fro, knocking at this door and that, and none will bid me welcome, I can finde no rest; well. I know where I may be bold; I'le even go to my own house, and there I am sure to rule the roste without controul; and when he comes, he findes it empty, swept and garnished; that is, all ready for his entertainment. Servants make the house trim and handsom against their Master come home, especially when he brings guests with him, as here the devil brings seven more. Look to the sinner, there is nothing he is or has, but the devil has dominion over it: He rules the whole man, their mindes blinding them. All the sinners apprehension of things are shaped by Satan: he looks on sin with the devils spectacles: he reads the Word with the devils comment: he sees nothing in its native colours, but is under a continual delusion. The very wisdom of a wicked man is said to be devillish, James 3:15. [illegible], or devil-like, because taught by the devil, and also such as the devils is, wise only to do evil. He commands their Wills, though not to force them, yet effectually to draw them. His work (says Christ) ye will do. You are resolved on your way, the devil has got your hearts, and him you will obey: and therefore when Christ comes to recover his throne, he findes the soul in an uproare, as Ephesus at Pauls Sermon, crying him down, and Diana up. We will not have this man reigne over us, what is the Almighty that we should serve him? He rules over all their members, they are call'd weapons of unrighteousness, all at the devils service; as all the armes of a Kingdom, to defend the Prince against any that shall invade. The head to plot, the hand to act, the feet swift to carry the body up and down about his service; He rules over all he has. Let God come in a poor member, and beseech him to lend him a penny, or bestow a morsel to refresh his craving bowels; and the covetous wretch his hand of charity is withered, that he cannot stretch it forth; but let Satan call, and his purse flies open and heart also. Nabal that could not spare a few fragments for David and his followers, this churle could make a feast like a Prince, to satiate his own lust of gluttony and drunkennesse. He commands their time, when God calls to duty, to pray, to hear, no time all the week to be spared for that; but if the sinner hears there is a merry meeting, a knot of good fellows at the Alehouse; all is thrown aside to wait on his Lord and Master; calling left at six and sevens, yea, wife and children crying, (may be starving) while the wretch is pouring out their very blood, (in wasting their livelihood) at the foot of his lust. The sinner is in the bond of iniquity, and being bound he must obey. He is said to go after his lust, as the fool to the stocks, Proverbs 7:22. The pinion'd malefactour can assoon untie his own armes and legs, and so run from his Keeper, as he from his lusts. They are servants, and their members instruments of sin: even as the Workman takes up his axe and it resists not; so does Satan dispose of them, except God says nay.

See here the deplored condition of every one in a state of sin. He is under the rule of Satan, and government of hell, What tongue can utter, what heart can conceive the misery of this state? It was a dismal day which Christ foretold, Matth. 24. When the abomination of desolation should be seen, standing in the Holy place; then (says Christ) let him that is in Judea flee into the mountains. But what was that to this? they were but men, though abominable; these devils. They did but stand in the material Temple, & defile and deface that: but these display their banners in the souls of men, pollute that throne, which is more glorious then the material heaven it self, made for God alone to sit in. They exercised their cruelties at furthest on the bodies of men, killing and torturing them: here the precious souls of men are destroyed. When David would curse to purpose the enemies of God, he prayes, that Satan may be at their right hand. 'Tis strange sinners should no more tremble at this, who should they see but their swine, or a beast bewitch't and possest of the devil run headlong into the sea, would cry out as half undone: and is not one foul more worth then all these? what a plague is it to have Satan possess your heart and spirit, hurrying you in the fury of your lusts to perdition? O poor man! what a sad change have you made? You who wouldest not sit under the meek and peaceful Government of God your rightful Lord, are paid for your rebellion against him, in the cruelty of this Tyrant who writes all his Lawes in the blood of his subjects, and why will you sit any longer, (O sinners) under the shadow of this Bramble, from whom you can expect nothing but eternal fire, to come at last and devoure you? Behold, Christ is in the field, sent of God to recover his right, and your liberty. His royal Standard is pitch't in the Gospel, and Proclamation made, that if any poor sinners, weary of the devils Government, and heavy laden with the miserable chaines of his spiritual bondage, (so as these irons of his sins enter into his very soul to afflict it with the senfe of them) shall thus come, and repair to Christ: he shall have protection from Gods justice, the devils wrath, and sins dominion; In a word,he shall have rest, and that glorious. Usually when a people have been ground with the oppression of some bloody Tyrant, they are apt enough to long for a change, and to listen to any overture that gives them hope of liberty, though reached by the hand of a stranger, who may prove as bad as the other, yet bondage is so grievous, that people desire to change, (as sick men their beds) though they finde little ease thereby. Why then should deliverance be unwelcome to you, sinners? Deliverance brought not by a stranger whom you need feare, what his designe is upon you; but your near Kinsman in blood, who cannot mean you ill, but he must first hate his own flesh; and whoever did that? To be sure not he, who though he took part of our flesh, that he might have the right of being our Redeemer: yet would have no kindred with us in the sinfulnesse of our nature. And 'tis sin that makes us cruel, yea, to our own flesh. What can you expect from him but pure mercy, who is himself pure? They are the mercies of the wicked which are cruel. Believe it (Sirs) Christ counts it his honor, that he is a King of a willing people, and not of slaves. He comes to make you free, not to bring you into bondage; to make you Kings, not vassals. None give Christ an evil word, but those who never were his subjects. Enquire but of those who have tried both Satans service and Christs; they are best able to resolve you what they are. You see when a soul comes over from Satans quarters unto Christ, and has but once the experience of that sweetnesse which is in his service, there is no getting him back to his old drudgery, as they say of those, who come out of the North, (which is cold and poor) they like the warme South so well, they seldome or never go back more. What more dreadful to a gracious soul then to be delivered into the hands of Satan? or fall under the power of his lusts? It would choose rather to leap into a burning furnace, then be commanded by them. This is the great request a child of God makes, that he would rather whip him in his house, then turne him out of it to become a prey to Satan. O sinners, did you know (which you cannot till you come over to Christ and embrace him as your Lord & Saviour) what the priviledges of Christs servants are, & what gentle usage Saints have at Christs hands, you would say those were the only happy men in the world, which stand continually before him. His lawes are writ, not with his subjects blood, (as Satans are) but with his own. All his commands are acts of grace; 'tis a favor to be employed about them. To you 'tis given to believe, yea, to suffer. Such an honor the Saints esteem it to do any thing he commands, that they count God rewards them for one piece of service, if he enables them for another. This I had, (says David) because I kept your Precepts, Psalms 119:56. what was the great reward he got? see, v. 55. I have remembred your Name, O Lord, in the night, and kept your Law; then followes, This I had: He got more strength and skill to keep the Law for the future, by his obedience past, and was he not well paid (think you for his pains? There's fruit even in holiness, the Christian has in hand, which he eats while he is at work, that may stay his stomach until the full reward comes, which is eternal life, Romans 6:22. Jesus Christ is a Prince that loves to see his people thrive, and grow rich under his Government. This is he whom sinners are so afraid of, that when he sets open their prison, and bids them come forth, they choose rather to bore their eares to the devils post, then enjoy this blessed liberty. It is no wonder that some of the Saints have indeed) when tortured, not accepted deliverance,that they might obtain a better resurrection. But what a riddle is this, that forlorne souls bound with the chaines of their lusts, and the irresistible decree of God for their damnation, (if they believe not on the Lord Jesus,) should, as they are driving to execution, refuse deliverance? This may set heaven and earth on wondring. Surely, dying in their sins, they cannot hope for a better resurrection then they have a death. I am afraid rather, that they do not firmly believe they shall have any resurrection; and then no wonder they make so light of Christs offer, who think themselves safe, when once earth't in this burrough of the grave. But let sinners know, 'tis not the grave can hold them, when the day of Assize comes, and the Judge calls for the prisoners to the bar. The grave was never intended to be a Sanctuary to desend sinners from the hand of justice, but a close Prison to secure them against the day of trial, that they may be forth-coming. Then sinners shall be digg'd out of their burroughs, and dragg'd out of their holes to answer their contempt of Christ and his grace. O how will you be astonish't to see him become your Judge, whom you now refuse to be your King? to heare that Gospel witnesse against you for your damnation, which at the same time shall acquit others for their salvation? what think you to do, sinners, in that day? will you cry and shream for mercy at Christs hands? Alas, when the sentence is past, your face will immediately be covered: condemned prisoners are not allowed to speak: teares then are unprofitable, when no place left for repentance, either in Christs heart or yours own. Or meanest you to apply your self to your old Lord, in whose service you have undone your soul, and cry to him, as she to Ahab, Help, O King: Alas, yours eye shall see him in the same condemnation with your self. Hadst you not better now renounce the devils rule, while you may be received into Christs Government? pour out your tears and cries now for mercy and grace when they are to be had, then to save them for another world to no purpose?

Quest. But possibly, you will say, How may I that am a home-borne slave to sin, yea, who have lived so many years under his cursed rule, get out of his dominion and power, and be translated into the Kingdom of Christ?

Answ. The difficulty of this great work lies not in prevailing with Christ to receive you for his subject, who refuss none that in truth of heart desire to come under his shadow. It does not stand with his designe to reject any such. Do Physicians use to chide their Patients away? Lawyers their Clients? or Generals discourage those who fall off from the enemy, and come to their side? surely no. When David was in the field, 'tis said, 1 Samuel 22:2. Every one that was in distress, in debt, or in discontent gathered themselves to him, and he became a Captain over them. And so will Christ be to every one that is truly discontented with Satans Government, and upon an inward dislike thereof repairs to him. But the maine businesse will be to take you off from your engagements to your lusts and Satan, till which be done, Christ will not own you as a subject, but look on you as a Spy. It fares with sinners as with servants. There may be fallings out between them and their Masters, and high words passe between them, that you would think they would take up their pack and be gone in all haste: but the fray is soon over, and by next morning all is forgot, and the servants are as hard at their work as ever. O how oft are sinners taking their leave of their lusts, and giving warning to their old Masters, they will repent and reform, and what not? but in a few days they have repented of their repentance, and deformed their reformings, which shewes they were drunk with some passion, when they thought or spoke this; and no wonder they reverse all when they come to their true temper. Now because Satan has many policies, by which he useth to keep his hold of sinners; I shall discover some of them, which if you can withstand, it will be no hard matter to bring you out of his power and rule.

First, Satan does his utmost, that sinners may not have any serious thoughts of the miserable state they are in, while under his rule; or heare any thing from others, which might the least unsettle their mindes from his service. Consideration (he knowes) is the first step to repentance: He that does not consider his ways what they are, and where they lead him, is not like to change them in haste. Israel stirr'd not, while Moses came, and had some discourse with them about their woful slavery, and the gracious thoughts of God towards them; and then they begin to desire to be gone. Pharaoh soon bethought him what consequence might follow upon this, and cunningly labors to prevent by doubling their task: Ye are idle, ye are idle, therefore ye say, Let us go, and do sacrifice to the Lord. Go thorefore and work, Exodus 5:17, 18. As if he had said, Have you so much spare time to think of gadding into the wilderness, and have you your seditious Conventicles, (Moses and you) to lay your plots together? I'le break the knot, give them more work, scatter them all over the land to gather straw, that they may not meet to entice one anothers hearts from my service. Thus Satan is very jealous of the sinner, afraid every Christian that speaks to him, or Ordinance he hears should inveigle him. By his good-will he should come at neither, no, nor have a thought of heaven or hell from one end of the week to the other, and that he may have as few as may be, he keeps him full-handed with work. The sinner grindes, and he is filling the hopper, that the Mill may not stand still. He is with the sinner as soone as he wakes, and fills his wretched heart with some wicked thoughts, which as a morning draught may keep him from the infection of any favor of good, that may be breathed on him by others in the day-time. All the day long he watches him, as the Master would do his man, that he feares will run away. And at night he like a careful Jayler locks him up again in his chamber with more bolts and fetters upon him, not suffering him to sleep as he lies on his bed, till he has done some mischief. Ah, poor wretch! was ever slave so look't to? as long as the devil can keep you thus, you are his own sure enough. The Prodigal came to himselfe, before he came to his Father. He considered with himself what a starving condition he was in, his huskes were poor meat, and yet he had not enough of them neither, and how easily he might mend his commons, if he had but grace to go home and humble himself to his Father. Now and not till now he goes: Resolve thus poor sinner to sit down and consider what your state is, and what it might be, if you wouldest but change the bondage of Satan for the sweet Government of Jesus Christ. First, ask your soul, whether the devil can, after you have worne out your miserable life herein his drudg'ry, prefer you to a happy state in the other world, or so much as secure you from a state of torment and wo? If he cannot, whether there be not one Iesus Christ, who is able and willing to do it? and if so, whether it be not bloody cruelty to your precious soul, to stay any longer under the shadow of this bramble, when you may make so blessed a change? A few of these thoughts abidingly laid home to your soul, (may God striking in with them) shake the foundations of the devils prison, and make you haste as fast from him, as one out of a house on fire about his eares.

2ly. Satan has his instruments to oppose the messengers and overtures, which God sends by them to bring the sinner out of Satans rule. When Moses comes to deliver Israel out of the Egyptian bondage, up start Iannes and Iambres to resist him. When Paul preaches to the Deputy, the devil has his Chaplain at Court to hinder him: Elymas, one that was full of all subtilty and mischief. Some or other (to be sure) he will finde, when God is parlying with a sinner, and perswading him to come over to Christ, that shall labor to clog the work. Either carnal friends, these he sends to plead his cause, or old companions in wickedness, these bestir them, one while labouring to jeer him out of his new way, or if that take not, by turning their old love into bitter wrath against him for playing the Apostate, and leaving him so. Or if yet he will not be stopt in his way, then he has his daubing Preachers, (still like Iobs messengers the last the worst) who with their soul-flattering, or rather murdering doctrine shall go about to heal his wound slightly. Now as ever you desire to get out of Satans bondage, have a care of all these, harden your self against the entreaties of carnal friends and relations. Resolve, that if your children should hang about your knees to keep you from Christ, you will throw them away. If your father and mother should lie prostrate at your foot, rather than not go to Christ, to go over their very backs to him. Never can we part with their love upon such advantageous termes as these. And for your brethren in iniquity, I hope you doest not mean to stay while you have their good will, then even ask the devils also. Heaven is but little worth if you have not a heart to despise a little shame, and beare a few frumps from prophane Ishmaels for your hopes of it. Let them spit on your face, Christ will wipe it off; let them laugh so you winnest. If they follow not your example before they die, the shame will be their own; God himself shall spit it on their face before men and Angels, and then kick them into hell. And lastly, scape but the snare of those flatterers, who use their tongues only to lick sinners consciences whole with their placentia's soothing doctrine, and you are faire for a Christ; ask not counsel of them, they may go about to give you ease, but all those stitches with which they sowe up your wounds, must be ripp't open, or you diest for it.

Thirdly, Satan labors to while off the sinner with delayes. Floating, flitting thoughts of repenting he feares not, he can give sinners leave to talk what they will do; so he can beg time, and by his Art keep such thoughts from coming to a head, and ripening into a present resolution; few are in hell but thought of repenting; but Satan so handled the matter, that they could never pitch upon the time in earnest when to do it. If ever you meanest to get out of his clutches, flie out of his doors, and run for your life, whereever this warning findes you stay not, though in the midst of your joyes, with which your lusts entertain you: As the paper which came to Brentius, (from that Senatour his dear friend) took him at supper with his wife and children, and bade him flee citò, citiùs, citissimè; which he did, leaving his dear company and sweet cheere; so do you or else you may repent your stay when 'tis too late. A vision charged the wise men to go back another way, and not so much as see Herod, though he had charged them otherwise. O go not back, drunkard, to your good fellows; adulterer to your Queanes; covetous wretch, to your usury and unlawful gaine: turne another way, and gratifie not the devil a moment. The command says, now repent; the Imperative has no future tense. God says, To day, while it is to day: The devil says, To morrow; which will you obey, God or him? You sayest, you meanest at last to do it, then why not now? Will you stand with God for a day or two, huckle with him for a penny? Heaven is not such a hard pennyworth, but you may come up to his termes: And which is the morrow you meanest? you have but a day in your life for ought you knowest, where then can you find a morrow for repentance? but shouldest you have as many days to come is Methuselah lived, yet know, sin is hereditary, and such sort of diseases grow more upon us with our years. 'Tis with long accustomed sinners, as with those who have sate long under a Government, they rather like to be as they are, (though but ill on it) then think of a change, or like those who in a journey have gone out of their way all the day, will rather take any new way, overhedge and ditch, then think of going so far back to be set right.

Fourthly, Satan labors to comprimise the businesse, and bring it to a composition between him and Christ: when conscience will not be pacified, then Satan for quiets sake will yield to something, as Pharaoh with Moses: after much ado he is willing they should go, Exodus 8:28. And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness. But then comes in his caution, only you shall not go very farre away. Thus Satan will yield the sinner may pray, and heare the Word, and make a goodly Profession, so he does not go very far, but that he may have him again at night. If God has the mattins, he looks for the vigils, and thus he is content the day should be divided. Does conscience presse a reformation and change of the sinners course, rather than faile, he'll grant that also: yet as Pharaoh when he yielded they should go, he meant their little ones should stay behinde as a pledge for those that went, Exodus 10:11. So Satan must have some one sin that must be spared, and no matter though it be a little one. Now if ever you would get out of the devils rule, make no composition with him. Christ will be King or no King. Not a hoofe must be left behinde, or any thing which may make an errand for you afterwards to return. Take therefore your everlasting farewel of every sin, as to the sincere and fixt purpose of your heart, or you doest nothing. Paul joynes his faith and his purpose togethes, 2 Timothy 3:10. not the one without the other. At the promulgation of the Law in Sinai, God did, as it were, give Israel the oath of Allegiance to him; then he told them what law he would rule them by, and they gave their consent: this was the espousal which God puts them in minde of, Jerem. 2. in which they were solemnly married together, as King and subjects. Now mark, before God would do this, he will have them out of Egypt. They could not obey his lawes, and Pharaoh's idolatrous customs also, and therefore he will have them out, before he solemnly espouss them to be a Nation peculiarly his. You must be a widow before Christ marry you, he will not lie by the side of anothers wife. O that it were come to this! then the match would soon be made between Christ and you. Let me ask you, poor soul, have you seriously considered who Christ is, and what his sweet Government is? and couldest you finde in your heart (out of an inward abhorrency of sin and Satan, and a liking to Christ) to renounce sin and Satan, and choose Christ for your Lord? Does your soul say as Rebecca, I will go, if I could tell how to get to him. But alas, I am here a poore prisoner, I cannot shake off my fetters, and set my self at liberty to come unto Christ. Well, poor soul, can you groan heartily under your bondage? then for your comfort know, your deliverance is at the door; he that heard the cry of Israel in Egypt, will hear yours also, yea, come and save you out of the hands of your lusts. He will not, as some, who entangle your affections by making love to you, and then give over the suit, and come at you no more. If Christ has won your heart, he'll be true to you, and be at all the cost to bring you out of your prison-house also, yea, take the paines to come for you himselfe, and bring with him these wedding-garments in which he will carry you from your prison to his Fathers house with joy, where you shalt live not only as a subject under his Law, but as a Bride in the bosome of his love, and what can be added to your happiness more? when your Prince is your husband, and that such a Prince to whom all other are vassals, even the Prince of the world himself; and yet so gracious, that his Majesty hinders not his familiar converse with you a poor creature, but addes to the condescent thereof, therefore God chooss to mixe names of greatness and relation together; the one to sweeten the other: Your Maker is your husband, your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel. The God of the whole earth shall he be called, Isaiah 54:5. And to usher in those promises with titles of greatest dread and terrour to the creature, that hold forth the greatest condescensions of love; How can God stoop lower than to come and dwell with a poor humble soul? which is more, then if he had said such a one should dwell with him; for a beggar to live at Court is not so much as the King to dwell with him in this cottage. Yet this promise is usher'd in with the most magnificent titles; Thus says the high and lofty one, that inhabits eternity, whose Name is holy, I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, Isaiah 57:15. and why such titles? but to take away the feares, which his Saints are prone to take up from them. Will the high and lofty One, (says the humble soul) look on me a poor worme? will the Holy God come near such an unclean creature, (says the contrite one?) Isaiah himself cried he was undone at the sight of God, and this attribute proclaim'd before him, Isa. 6. Now God prefixs these, that the creature may know his Majesty and holiness, which seems so terrible to us, are no prejudice to his love; yea, so gracious a Prince is your husband, that he delights rather his Saints should call him by names of love, then state. You shalt call me Ishi, and shalt no more call me Baali, Hosea 2:16. that is, my Husband, not my Lord.

SECT. IV.

The second point follows. Ignorance above other sins enslaves a soul to Satan, a knowing man may be his slave, but an ignorant one can be no other. Knowledge does not make the heart good, but it is impossible that without knowledge it should be good. There are some sins which an ignorant person cannot commit, there are more which he cannot but commit: Knowledge is the Key, Luke 11:52. Christ the door, John 15. Christ opens Heaven, Knowledge opens Christ. In three particulars the Point will appear more fully.

First, ignorance opens a doore for sin to enter.

Secondly, as ignorance lets sin in, so it locks it up in the soul, and the soul in it.

Thirdly, as it locks it up, so it shuts all meanes of help out.

First, Ignorance opens the door for Satan to enter in with his troops of lusts; where the watch is blinde, the City is soon taken: an ignorant man sins, and like drunken Lot, he knowes not when the tempter comes, nor when he goes: he is like a man that walks in his sleep, knowes not where he is, nor what he does. Father, forgive them, (said Christ) they know not what they do. The Apostle, 1 Cor. 15. having reproved the sensuality of some, verse 32. who made the consideration of death, by which others are awed from sin, a provocative to sin, Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die, he gives an account of this absurd reasoning; All have not the knowledge of God. An ignorant person is a man in shape, and a beast in heart. There is no knowledge in the land, says the Prophet, Hosea 4:2: and see what a regiment followes this blinde Captain, swearing; lying, killing, stealing, and what not? We reade, 2 Timothy 3:5. of some laden with sins; here are trees full of bitter fruit, and what dung shall we finde at the root, that makes them so fruitfull but ignorance? silly women, and such who never come to the knowledge of the truth.

Secondly, ignorance as it lets sin in, so it locks it up, and the soul in it, such a one lies in Satans inner dungeon, where no light of conviction comes, darkness inclines to sleep, a blinde minde and a drowsie conscience go together. When the storme arose, the mariners who were awake fell a praying to their God; but the sleeper feares nothing. Ignorance layes the soul asleep under the hatches of stupidity. God has planted in the beast a natural feare of that which threatens hurt to it. Go to thrust a beast into a pit, and it hangs back, nature shewes its abhorrency. Man being of a nobler nature, and subject to more dangers, God has set a double guard on him, as a natural feare of danger, so a natural shame that covers the face at the doing of any unworthy action. Now an ignorant man has slipt from both these his Keepers: he sins and blushs not, because he knowes not his guilt: he wants that Magistrate within, which should put him to shame; neither is he afraid, because he knowes not his danger; and therefore he playes with his sin; as the child with the waves, that by and by will swallow him up. Conscience is Gods alarm to call the sinner up; It does not alwayes ring in his eare that has knowledge, being usually set by God to go off at some special hour; when God is speaking in an Ordinance, or striking in a Providence; but in an ignorant soul, this is silent. The Clock cannot go when the weights are taken off; Conscience is only a witnesse to what it knows.

Thirdly, ignorance shuts out the means of recovery. Friends and Ministers, yea, Christ himself stands without, and cannot help the creature, as such threatenings and promises, all of no use; he feares not the one, he desires not the other, because he knows neither: Heaven-way cannot be found in the dark, and therefore the first thing God does, is to spring in with a light, and let the creature know where he is, and what the way is to get out of his prison-house, without which all attempts to escape are in vain. There is some shimmering light in all, Non dantur purae tenebrae, I think, is good Divinity as well as Philosophy: and this night-light may discover many sins, produce inward prickings of conscience for them, yea, stir up the creature to step aside, rather than drown in such broad waters. There are some sins so cruel and costly, that the most prostrate soul may in time be weary of their service for low ends: but what will all this come to, if the creature be not acquainted with Christ the true way to God, faith and repentance the only way to Christ? such a one after all this busle, in stead of making an escape from Satan, will run full into his mouth another way. There are some ways, which at first seem right to the traveller; yet winde about so insensibly, that when a man has gone far, and thinks himself near home, he is carried back to the place from whence he set forth. This will befall every soul ignorant of Christ, and the way of life through him; after many years travel, as they think, towards heaven by their good meanings, blinde devotions and reformation, when they shall expect to be within sight of heaven, they shall finde themselves even where they were at first, as very slaves to Satan as ever.

Use 1 This speaks to you that are Parents, see what need you have of instructing your children, and training them up betimes in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Till these chaines of darkness be knockt off their mindes, there is no possibility of getting them out of the devils prison; he has no such tame slave as the ignorant soul: such a one goes before Satan (as the silly sheep before the butcher) and knows not who he is, nor where he carries him; and can you see the devil driving your children to the shambles and not labor to rescue them out of his hands? Bloody parents you are, that can thus harden your bowells against your own flesh. Now the more to provoke you to your duty, take these considerations.

1. Your relation obligs you to take care of their precious souls. 'Tis the soul is the child rather than the body: and therefore in Scripture put for the whole man. Abraham and Lot went forth with all the souls they had gotton in Haran, Gen. 12. so All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, that is, all the persons. The body is but the sheath; and if one should leave his sword with you to be kept safely for him, would you throw away the blade, and onely preserve the scabbard? And yet parents do commonly judge of their care and love to their children by their providing for the outward man, by their breeding, that teaching them how to live like men (as they say) when they are dead and gone, and comport themselves to their civil place and rank in the world, These things indeed are commendable, but is not the most weighty businesse of all forgotten in the meane time, while no endeavour is used that they may live as Christians, and know how to carry themselves in duty to God and man as such? and can they do this without the knowledge of the holy rule they are to walk by? I am sure David knew no means effectual without this, and therefore propounds the question, Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? and he resolves it in the next words, By taking heed thereto according to your word, Psalms 119:9. And how shall they compare their way and the Word together, if not instructed? our children are not borne with Bibles in their heads or hearts. And who ought to be the instructer if not the parent? yea, who will do it with such natural affection? As I have heard sometimes a mother say in other respects, Who can take such pains with my child, and be so careful as my self that am its Mother? Bloody parents then they are who acquaint not their children with God or his Word; what do they but put them under a necessity of perishing, if God stirre not up some to show more mercy then themselves to them. Is it any wonder to hear that ship to be sunk, or dasht upon the rock, which was put to sea without card or compasse? no more is it, they should ingulph themselves in sin and perdition, that are thrust forth into the world (which is a sea of temptation) without the knowledge of God or their duty to him. In the fear of God think of it parents: your children have souls, and these God set you to watch over; It will be a poor account at the last day, if you can only say, Lord, here are my children. I bred them compleat Gentlemen, left them rich and wealthy. The rust of that silver you left them will witnesse your folly and sin, that you would do so much for that which rusts, and nothing for the enriching their mindes with the knowledge of God, which would have endured for ever; happy if you had left them lesse money and more knowledge.

2. Consider it has ever been the Saints practice to instruct and teach their children the way of God. David we finde dropping instruction into his sonne Solomon, 1 Chronicles 28:9. Know you the God of your Father, and serve him with a perfect heart, and with a willing minde. Though a King, he did not put it off to his Chaplins, but whetted it on him with his own lips. Neither was his Queen Bathsheba forgetful of her duty, her gracious counsel is upon record, Prov. 31. and that she may do it with the more seriousnesse and solemnity, we finde her stirring up her motherly bowels, to let her sonne see, that she fetcht her words deep, even from her heart. What my son! and what the sonne of my womb! and what the sonne of my vows? Ver. 2. Indeed that counsel is most like to go to the heart, which comes from thence. Parents know not what impression such melting expressions of their love mingled with their instructions leave on their children. God bids draw forth our souls to the hungry, that is more than draw our purse, which may be done, and the heart hard and churlish. Thus we should draw forth our souls with our instructions. What need I tell of Timothy's Mother and Grandmother who acquainted him with the Scripture from his youth? And truly I think, that man calls in question his own Saintship, that takes no care to acquaint his child with God, and the way that leads to him. I have known some, that though prophane themselves, have been very solicitous, their children should have good education; but never knew I a Saint that was regardlesse whether his child knew God or not.

3. It is an act of great unrighteousnesse not to instruct our children. We read of some that hold the truth in unrighteousnesse: among others those Parents do it, that lock up the knowledge of these saving truths from their children, which God has imparted to themselves. There is a double unrighteousnesse in it.

First they are unrighteous to their children, who may lay as much claime to their care of instructing them, as to their labor and industry in laying up a temporal estate for them. If he should do unrighteously with his child, that should not endeavour to provide for his outward maintenance, or having gathered an estate, should lock it up, and deny his child necessaries, then much more he that lives in ignorance of God, whereby he renders himself incapable of providing for his childes soul; but most of all, he that having gather'd a stock of knowledge, yet hides it from his child.

Secondly, they are unrighteous to God.

First, in that they keep that talent in their own hands which was given to be paid out to their children. When God reveal'd himself to Abraham, he had respect to Abraham's children, and therefore we finde God promising himself this at Abraham's hands, upon which he imparts his minde to him concerning his purpose of destroying Sodom; Shall I hide from Abraham (says God) that thing Which I do? I know that he will command his children, and his houshold after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, Genesis 18:17, 19. The Church began at first in a family, and was preserv'd by the godly care of Parents in instructing their children and houshold in the truths of God, whereby the knowledge of God was transmitted from generation to generation; and though now the Church is not confined to such strait limits, yet every private family is as a little nursery to the Church; if the nursery be not carefully planted, the Orchard will soon decay. O could you be willing, Christians, that your children when you are laid in the dust, should be turn'd into the degenerate plant of a strange vine; and prove a generation that do not know God? Atheisme needs not be planted, you do enough to make your children such, if you do not endeavour to plant Religion in their mindes. The very neglect of the Gardner to sowe and dresse his garden, gives advantage enough to the weeds to come up. This is the difference between Religion and Atheisme, Religion does not grow without planting, but will die even where it is planted without watering. Atheisme, irreligion, and profanenesse are weeds will grow without setting, but they will not die without plucking up, all care and means little enough to stub them up. And therefore you that are Parents, and do not teach your children, deale the more unrighteously with God, because you neglect the best season in their whole life for planting in them the knowledge of God, and plucking up the contrary weeds of atheisme and irreligion. Young weeds come up with most ease, simple ignorance in youth becomes wilful ignorance, yea, impudence in age, you will not instruct them when young, and they will scorne their Ministers should when they are old.

Secondly, you deale unrighteously with God, that traine not up your children in the knowledge of God, because your children, if you be Christian Parents are Gods children; they stand in a foederal relation to him, which the children of others do not; and shall Gods children be nurtured with the devils education? Ignorance is that which he blindes the mindes of the children of disobedience withal. Shall Godschildren have no better breeding? The children of a Jew God made account were borne to him; Your sons and daughters whom you have borne to me, Ezekiel 16:20. God had by the Covenant which he made with that people, married them unto himself, and therefore as the wife bears her children to her husband, (they are his children) so God calls the children of the Jews his, and complains of it as an horrible wickedness in them, that they should not bring them up as his: but offer them up to Molech, They have slain my children, (says God) v. 21. And are not the children of a Christian his children as well as the Jewes were? has God recall'd or altered the first Covenant, and cut off the entaile; and darest you slay not only your children, but the Lords also? and is not ignorance that bloody knife that does it? My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, Hosea 4:6. Do you not tremble to offer them not to Molech, but the devil, whom before you had given up to God, when you brought them to that solemn ordinance of Baptisme, and there desired before God and man that they might become Covenant-servants to the Lord? and have you bound them to him, and never teach them, either who their Lord and Master is, or what their duty is as his servants? of your own mouth God will condemn you.

Fourthly, consider you who are Parents, that by not instructing your children, you entitle your selves to all the sins they shall commit to their death. We may sin by a proxy, and make anothers fact our own. You have (says God by Nathan to David concerning Uriah,) slaine him with the sword of the children of Ammon, 2 Samuel 12:9. So you may pierce Christ, and slay him over and over with the bloody sword of your wicked children▪ if you beest not the more careful to train them up in the feare of God: There might be something said for that Heathen, who when the Scholar abused him, fell upon the Master and struck him. Indeed 'tis possible he might be in the most fault. When the child breaks the Sabbath, it is his sin; but more the fathers, if he never taught him what the command of God was. And if the Parent be accessary to the sin of the child, it will be hard for him to escape a Partnership, yea, a Precedency in the punishment. O what a sad greeting will such have of their children at the great day! will they not then accuse you to be the murderers of their precious souls, and lay their blood at your door, cursing you to your face that taught them no better? But grant, that by the interposition of your timely repentance, you securest your soul from the judgement of that day; yet God can scourge you here for the neglect of your duty to them. How oft do we see children become heavy crosses to such Parents? It is just that they should not know their duty to you, who did not teach them their duty to God; or if you shouldest not live so long to see this, yet sure you can not but go in sorrow to your grave, to leave children behind you that are on their way to hell. Some think, that Lots lingring so long in Sodom, was his loathnesse to leave his sons in law behinde him, to perish in the flames. No doubt (good man) it was very grievous to him, and this might make him stay pleading with them, till the Angel pull'd him away. And certainly nothing makes holy Parents more loath to be gone out of this Sodomitical world, then a desire to see their children out of the reach of that fire, (before they go) that God will rain upon the heads of sinners. You know not how soon the messenger may come to pluck you hence; do your best while you are among them to win them home to God.

Use. 2 To the Ministers of the Gospel. Let this stir up your bowels of compassion towards those many ignorant souls in your respective Congregations, who know not the right hand from the left. This, this is the great destroyer of the countrey, which Ministers should come forth against with all their care and strength. More are swept to hell with this plague of spiritual darkness then any other. Where the light of knowledge and conviction is, there commonly is a sense and pain that accompanies the sinner when he does evil, which forcs some now and then to enquire for a Physician, and come in the distress of their spirits to their Minister or others for counsel, but the ignorant soul feels no such smart; if the Minister stay till he sends for him to instruct him, he may sooner hear the bell go for him, then any messenger come for him; you must seek them out, and not expect that they will come to you. These are a sort of people that are afraid more of their remedy, then their disease, and study more to hide their ignorance, then how they may have it cured, which should make us pity them the more, because they can pity themselves so little. I confesse, it is no small unhappinesse to some of us, who have to do with a multitude, that we have neither time nor strength to make our addresses to every particular person in our Congregations, and attend on them as their needs require, and yet cannot well satisfie our consciences otherwise. But let us look to it, that though we cannot do to the height of what we would, we be not found wanting in what we may. Let not the difficulty of our Province make us like some, who when they see they have more work upon their hands then they can well dispatch, grow sick of it, and sit down out of a lazy despondency, and do just nothing. He that has a great house running to ruine, and but a small purse; 'tis better for him to repair now a little, and then a little then let all fall down, because he cannot do it all at once. Many Ministers may complain of their Predecessours, that they left them their people more out of repair then their houses, and this makes the work great indeed. As the Jewes, who were to revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, before they could build the wall, yet it went up, because the people had a minde to work. Nehem. 4. O if once our hearts were but fill'd with zeal for God, and compassion to our peoples souls, we would up and be doing, though we could but lay a brick a day, and God would be with us. May be you who finde a people rude and sottishly ignorant, like stones in the quarry, and trees unfell'd, shall not bring the work to such perfection in your days as you desire; yet as David did for Solomon, you may by your paines in teaching and instructing them, prepare materials for another who shall rear the Temple. Its very ordinary for one Minister to enter into the labors of another; to reap those by a work of Conversion, in whom a former Minister has cast the seed of knowledge and conviction: And when God comes to reckon with his Workmen, the Plough-man and Sower shall have his penny, as well as the Harvest-man and Reaper. O its a blessed thing to be (as Job says he was,) eyes to the blinde, much more to blinde souls; such are the Ministers. God himself calls Pastours after his own heart, that feed his people with knowledge and understanding, Jeremiah 3:15. But wo to those that are accessary to their peoples ignorance. Now a Minister may be accessary to the ignorance of his people,

First, by his own ignorance. Knowledge is so fundamental to the work and calling of a Minister, that he cannot be one without it. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you shalt be no Priest to me: seeing you have forgotten the Law of your God, I will also forget your children, Hosea 4:6. The want of knowledge in a Minister is such a defect, as cannot be supplied by any thing else; be he never so meek, patient, bountiful, unblameable, if he has not skill to divide the Word aright, he is not cut out for a Minister. Every thing is good, as its good for the end it is appointed to; a knife, though it had a haft of diamonds, yet if it will not cut 'tis no knife. A bell, if not sound, is no bell. The great work of a Minister is to teach others, his lips are to preserve knowledge, he should be as conversant in the things of God, as others in their particular trades. Ministers are called Lights; if the light then be darkness, how great is the darkness of that people like to be? I know these stars in Christs hands are not all of the same magnitude; there is a greater glory of gifts and graces shines in some then others; yet so much light is necessary to every Minister, as was in the star the wise men saw at Christs birth, to be able out of the Word to direct sinners the safe and true way to Christ and salvation. O Sirs, it is a sad way of getting a living by killing of men, as some unskilful Physicians do; but much more to get a temporal livelihood by ruining souls, through our ignorance. He is a cruel man to the poor Passengers, who will undertake to be Pilot, when he never so much as learn't his Compasse.

Secondly, by his negligence. Its all one if the Nurse has no milk in her breasts, or having, drawes it not forth to her child. There is a wo to the Idol-shepherd, Zech. 11. such as have mouthes, but speak not; lips, but not to feed the people with knowledge. It shall be the peoples sin, if they feed not when bread is before them, but wo to us if we give them not meat in due season. O Sirs, what shall we say to our Lord that trusts us, if those abilities which he has given us as market-money to buy bread for our people, be found wrapt up in a napkin of sloth? if that time wherein we should have been teaching and instructing them, shall appear to be wasted in our pleasures, or employed about our carnal profits. That servant shall have but a sad welcome of his Master when he comes home, that shall be found out of the way with the Key, and the family starving in the mean time for want of provision.

Thirdly, by his unedifying preaching, when he preaches unsound doctrine, which does not perfect the understanding, but corrupt it. Better he did leave them in simple ignorance, then color their mindes with a false die; or when that he preaches is frothy and flashy, no more fit to feed their souls, then husks the Prodigals belly, which when they know they are little the wiser for their souls good. Or when his discourses are so high flown, that the poor people stand gazing, as those who have lost the sight of their Preacher, and at the end of the Sermon cannot tell what he would have. Or those who preach only truths, that are for the higher forme of Professours, who have their senses well exercised, excellent may be for the building up three or four eminent Saints in the Congregation; but in the mean time, the weak ones in the family, (who should indeed chiefly be thought on, because least able to guide themselves, or carve for themselves) these are forgotten. He sure is an unwise builder, that makes a Scaffold as high as Pauls steeple, when his work is at the bottom, and he is to lay the foundation, whereas the Scaffold should rise as the building goes up. So Paul advancs in his doctrine, as his hearers do in knowledge; Hebrews 6:1. Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection. Let us. It is well indeed when the people can keep pace with the Preacher, To preach truths and notions above the hearers capacity, is like a Nurse, that should go to feed the child with a spoon too big to go into its mouth. We may by such preaching please our selves, and some of higher attainments, but what shall poor ignorant ones do in the mean time. He is the faithful steward that considers both. The Preacher is (as Paul says of himself) a debt or both to the Greek and to the Barbarian, to the wise and to the unwise, Romans 1:14. to prepare truths suitable to the degree of his hearers. Let the wise have their portion, but let them be patient to see the weaker in the family served also.

Fourthly, a Minister may be accessary to the ignorance of his people, when through the scandal of his life he prejudiced his doctrine, as a Cook, who by his nastiness makes others afraid to eat what comes out of his foule fingers; Or when through his supercilious carriage, his poor people dare not come to him. He that will do any good in the Ministers calling, must be as careful as the Fisher, that he does nothing to scare souls away from him, but all to allure and invite, that they may be toll'd within the compasse of his net.

Use. 3 Is the ignorant soul such a slave to Satan? Let this stirre you up that are ignorant from your seats of sloth, whereon like the blinde Egyptians you sit in darkness, speedily come out of this darkness, or resolve to go down to utter darkness. The covering of Hamans face did tell him, that he should not stay in the Kings presence. If you livest in ignorance, it shows you are in Gods black bill; he puts this cover before their eyes in wrath, whom he means to turne off into hell, 2 Cor. 4. If our Gospel be hid, it is to those that perish. In one place sinners are threatened, they shall die without knowledge; in another place,they shall die in their sins, John 8. He indeed that dies without knowledge, dies in his sins: and what more fearful doome can the great God passe upon a creature then this? better die in a prison, die in a ditch, then die in ones sins. It you die in your sins, you shalt rise in your sins: as you fallest asleep in the dust, so you awakest in the morning of the resurrection; if an ignorant Christlesse wretch, as such you shalt be araigned and judged. That God whom now sinners bid depart from them, will then be worth their acquaintance (themselves being Judges;) but alas! then he will throw their own words in their teeth, and bid them depart from him, he desires not the knowledge of them. O sinners, you shall see at last, God can better be without your company in heaven, then you could without his knowledge on earth: Yet, yet 'tis day, draw your curtains, and behold Christ shining upon your face with Gospel-light; hear wisdom crying in the streets, and Christ piping under your window in the voice of his Spirit and Messengers,How long will ye simple ones love simplicity, and fools hate knowledge? Turne you at my reproof; behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you, and make known my words unto you. What can you say (sinners) for your sottish ignorance? Where is your cloak for this sin? the time has been when the Word of the Lord was precious, and there was no open vision, not a Bible to be found in town or Countrey; when the tree of knowledge was forbidden fruit, and none might taste thereof without licence from the Pope; happy he that could get a leaf or two of the Testament into a corner, afraid to tell the wife of his bosome. O how sweet were these waters, when they were forced to steal them? but you have the Word, or may in your houses; you have those that open them every Sabbath in your Assemblies, many of you at least have the offers of your Ministers to take any paines with you in private, passionately beseeching you to pitie your souls, and receive instruction: yea, 'tis the lamentation they generally take up, you will not come unto them that you may receive light. How long may a poor Minister sit in his study, before any of the ignorant sort will come upon such an errand? Lawyers have their Clients, and Physicians their Patients: these are sought after, and call'd up at midnight for counsel: but alas! the soul, which is more worth then raiment and body too, that is neglected, and the Minister seldom thought on, till both these be sent away. Perhaps when the Physician gives them over for dead, then we must come and close up those eyes with comfort, which were never opened to see Christ in his truth, or be counted cruel, because we will not sprinkle them with this holy water, and anoint them for the Kingdom of Heaven, though they know not a step of the way which leads to it. Ah, poor wretches! what comfort would you have us speak to those, to whom God himself speaks terrour? Is heaven ours to give to whom we please? or is it in our power to alter the lawes of the most High, and save those whom he condemns? Do you not remember the curse that is to fall upon his head, that makes the blinde to wander out of the way? Deuteronomy 27:18. what curse then would be our portion, if we should confirm such blinde souls, that are quite out of the way to heaven, encouraging you to go on and expect to reach heaven at last, when God knows your feet stand in those paths that lead to eternal death? No, 'tis written, we cannot, and God will not reverse it; you may reade your very names among those damned souls which Christ comes in flaming fire to take vengeance on, who the Apostle tells us are such, that know not God, and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 Thes. 1.8. And therefore in the feare of God, let this provoke you, of what age or sexe, rank or condition soever in the world, to labor for the saving knowledge of God in Christ, whom to know is life eternal. Are you young? Enquire after God betimes, while your parts are fresh, and memory strong, before the throng of worldly cares divert you, or lusts of youth debauch you. The feet of those lusts which have buried millions of others in perdition, stand ready to carry you the same way, if preventing grace come not and deliver you out of their hands, by seasoning your mindes with the knowledge of God. This morning-draught may prevent your being infected with the ill savours you may receive from the corrupt examples of others. Nay, how long your stay may be in the world you knowest not, see whether you can not finde graves of your length in the burial place; and if you shouldest die ignorant of God and his Law, what would then become of you? The small brush and the old logs, young sinners, and those that are withered with age meet and burn together. Or if you shouldest stay a while longer here, may be because you will not learn now, God will not teach you then: Or if you shouldest in your old age get acquaintance with God, yet 'tis sad to be sowing your seed, when you shouldest be reaping your sheaves, learning to know God, when you might be comforting your self from the old acquaintance you have enjoyed with him. Are you old and ignorant? Alas, poor creatures! your life in the socket, and this candle of the Lord not set up and lighted in your understanding? your body bowing to the dust, and nature tolling the passing bell, as it were, and you (like one going into the dark) know not where death will lead you or leave you. 'Tis like the infirmities of age, make you wish your bones were even laid at rest in the grave: but if you should dye in this condition, your poor souls would even wish they were here again with their old burdens on their back; aches and diseases of old age are grievous, but damned souls would thank God, if he would blesse them with such a heaven, as to lie in these paines to escape the torments of the other: O bethink you before you go hence; the lesse time you have, the more diligence you must use to gain knowledge; we need not be earnest, (one would think) to bid the poor prisoner learne his book, that cannot reade, when he knows he shall be hang'd if he read not his neck-verse. 'Tis not indeed the bare knowing the truths of the Gospel, saves; but the grosse ignorance of them to be sure will damn souls. Are you poor? It is not your poverty is your sin or misery, but your ignorance where the true treasure lies. Were you Gods poor, rich in knowledge and faith, you were happy, Eccles. 4.13. Better is a poor and wise child, then a foolish King, who will no more be admonish't; yea, so happy, that did the Princes of the world understand themselves aright, they would wish themselves in your clothes, how ragged soever they are, rather than be in their own robes; there are better making for you in heaven which you shall put on, when theirs shall be pull'd off to their shame: It will not then trouble you that you were, while in the world, poor; but it will torment them that they were so rich and great, and so poore to God and beggarly in their souls.

Are you rich? Labor for the knowledge of the most high. Solomon had more of the worlds treasure then a thousand of you have, and yet we finde him hard at prayer, tugging with God for knowledge, 1 Chronicles 1:10. All these outward enjoyments are but vaginae bonorum, as afflictions are vaginae malorum. I am afraid many men think themselves priviledged by their worldly greatness from this duty, as if God were bound to save them, because rich. Alas, Sirs, there are not so many of you like to come there. I must confesse, it would make one tremble to think what a small number those among the great ones that shall be saved, are summed up into. Not many great, not many rich; Why so few saved? Because so few have saving knowledge. O the Atheisme, the ignorance, the sottish barbarisme that is to be found even in those that the world applaud, and even worship because of their lands and estates, who yet are not able to give any account of their faith? A poore leather-coat Christian will shame and catechize a hundred of them. If heaven were to be purchased with house and lands, then these would carry it away from the poore Disciples of Jesus Christ, they have their hundreds and thousands ly by them for a purchase alwayes, but this money is not currant in heavens exchange. This is life eternall, to know you, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

Quest. But how may an ignorant soul attaine to knowledge?

Answ. First, Be deeply affected with the ignorance. Some are blind, as Ladicea, and know it not. Revelation 3:17. As Ignorance blinds the minde, so pride is a blind before their ignorance, that they know it not. These have such a high opinion of themselves, that they take it ill any should suspect them as such; these of all men are most out of the way, to knowledge they are too good to learne of man as they think, and too bad to be taught of God. The gate into Christs Schoole is low, and these cannot stoop. The Master himselfe is so humble and lowly, that he will not teach a proud Scholar. Therefore first become a foole in your owne eye. A wiser man then your selfe has confessed as much, Proverbs 30:2, 3. I am more brutish then any man, and have not the understanding of a man. I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the Holy. When you are come to your selfe to owne and blush at the brutish ignorance of your minde, you are fit to be admitted into Christs School. If they be ashamed, then show them the patterne of the house, Ezekiel 43:10.

Secondly, be faithful with that little knowledge you have. Art you convinced this is a sin, and that is a duty? Follow the light close, you know not what this little may grow to; We use to set up our children with a little stock at first, and as they use it, so we adde. The Kingdom of God comes of small beginnings. God complains of Israel, they were brutish in their knowledge, Jeremiah 10:14. he does not say brutish in their ignorance, had they sinned because they did not know better, this would have excused à tanto, but they did that which was brutish and unreasonable, as their worshiping graven images notwithstanding they knew to the contrary. That man shall not excel in knowledge who prostitutes it to sin, Job 36:12. If they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and shall die without knowledge. A candle pent up close in a dark lanthorn, swailes out apace: and so does light shut up in the conscience, and not suffered to come forth in the conversation. Those Heathens that are charged for holding the truth in unrighteousnesse, Romans 1:18. the next news you hear of them is, that they became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkned, ver. 21.

Thirdly, ply the throne of grace. Bene orasse est bene studuisse; he is the best student in divinity, that studies most upon his knee. Knowledge is a divine gift, all light is from heaven. God is the Father of light, and prayer puts the soul under the pupillage of God. If any one lack wisdom, let him ask it of God. This is more than naked knowledge, wisdom how to use it. Study may make one a great Scholar in the Scriptures, but prayer makes a wise Christian, as it obtains sanctified knowledge, without which it is no perfect gift, but [illegible], a gift and no gift. Pray then with an humble boldness, God gives it to all that ask, and that [illegible], candidly, liberally; not like proud man who will rather put one to shame who is weak for his ignorance, then take the paines to teach him. Your petition is very pleasing to God. Remember how Solomon sped upon the like occasion, and promise your self the same success. Christs School is a free School; he denies none that come to him, so they will submit to the orders of the School; and though all have not an answer in the same degree of knowledge (it is not needful that all should be Solomons in knowledge, except all were to be Solomons in place) yet the meanest disciple that Christ sends forth shall be furnished with saving knowledge, enough to fit him for his admittance into heavens Academy. You shalt guide me with your counsel, and after bring me to glory.

Fourthly, you must bestow some time for your diligent search after truth. Truth lies deep, and must be digged for. Since man was turned out of Paradise he can do nothing without labor, except sin (this follows his hand indeed) but this treasure of knowledge calls for spade and Mattock. We are bid search the Scripture, and Daniel 12:4. Many shall runne to and fro, and knowledge shall be encreased; a Metaphor from Merchants, who bestirre themselves to get an estate, runne to and fro, first in one land, then in another, where-ever they hear of any thing to be got, there they post, though to the ends of the earth: Thus must the soul runne from one duty to another, one while read, and anon meditate of what he has read, then pray over his meditations, and aske counsel after all. What is the meaning of this, and how understand you that? Non schola Epicuri fecit magnos viros sed contubernium. There is more light got sometimes by a short conference with the Preacher, then by his whole Sermon. Be sure you compasse all the means for knowledge within the walk of your endeavour. In this your search for knowledge observe three things.

First, the end you proposest that it be pure and holy, not meerly to know, as some do, who labor for knowledge, as many for estates, and when they have got it look on their notions, as they on their bags of money, but have not a heart to use their knowledge for their own or others good; this is a sore evil. Speculative knowledge like Rachel is faire, but barren. Not to be known and admired by others for your stature in knowledge above your Brethren, verily it is too base an end to aime at in seeking knowledge, especially such as is the knowledge of God and Christ. To see a Heathen study for knowledge in Philosophy, and then carry all his labor to this market, and think himself rewarded with obtaining the name for a wise man, is though base, yet more tolerable: but for one that knows God, and what it is to enjoy him, for such a one to content himself with a blast or two of sorry mans vain breath, this is folly with a witnesse, look you fliest higher in your end then so. Labor for knowledge that you may fear God whom you knowest, thus David, Psalms 119:33. Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes, and I shall keep it unto the end. The Word of God is called a light unto our feet, not to our tongues meerly to talk of, but feet to walk by; Endeavour for it, not that you may'st spread your own name, but celebrate Gods As David promiss, when he understands the precepts of God, then he will talk of his wondrous works, he will trumpet the fame of them, and thereby awaken others to enquire after God.

Secondly, when your end is right set, then you must be constant in your endeavour after it. The mysteries of Christ are not learnt in a day. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord, Hosea 6:3. Some are in a good mood (may be) and they will look into the Bible, and read a chapter or two, and away they go for a week, and never practise it more; like some boyes if at School one day truant all the week after: is it any wonder such thrive not in knowledge? It is a good speech of Bernard, Tantum distat studium à lectione, quantum amicitia ab hospitio, socialis affectio à fortuit â salutatione. The study of the Word, and the reading of it differs as much, as the friendship of such who every day converse lovingly together, does from the acquaintance one has with a stranger at an Inne, or whom he salutes as he passs by in the street. If you will get knowledge indeed, you must not onely salute the Word now and then, but walk with it, and enter into daily converse with it. The three men (who were indeed Angels) that stood by Abraham, as he sat at his Tent-door, were reserved, and strange, till Abraham invited them into his Tent, and entertain'd them friendly; and then Christ who was one among them (as appears by the Name Jehovah given him in several verses, and also by what he promised he would do for Sarah, ver. 10. not what God would do, which if a created Angel he would) begins to discover himself to Abraham, and reveale his secrets to him. That soul above others shall be acquainted with the secrets of God in his Word, that does not slightly read the Word, and as it were complement with it, at his tent-doore, but desires more intimacy with it, and therefore entertaines it within his soul by frequent meditating of it. David compares the Word for sweetnesse to the honey and the honey-combe. Indeed it is so full, that at first reading some sweetnesse will now and then drop from it, but he that does not presse it by meditation, leaves the most behinde.

Thirdly, Be sure you takest the right order and method. Arts and Sciences have their rudiments, and also their more abstruse and deep notions; and sure the right end to begin at, is first to learn the principles: he (we say) is not like to make a good Scholar in the University, that never was good Grammar-Scholar. And they cannot be solid Christians, that are not instructed in the grounds of Christianity. The want of this is the cause why many are so unstedfast. First, of this way and then of that, blown like glasses into any shape, as false Teachers please to breath. Alas, they have no center to draw their lines from; think it no disgrace you who have runne into error, and lost your selves in the labyrinths of deep points (which now are the great discourse of the weakest professors) to be set back to learn the first principles of the Oracles of God better; too many are as Tertullian says in another case, pudoris magìs memores quàm salutis, more tender of their reputation then their salvation, who are more ashamed to be thought ignorant, then careful to have it cured.

Fifthly, If you would attain to divine knowledge, wait on the Ministery of the Word. As for those who neglect this, and come not where the Word is Preacht, they do like one that should turn his back on the Sunne that he may see it; if you would know God, come where he has appointed you to learn. Indeed, where the meanes is not, God has extraordinary ways, as a Father if no School in Town, will teach his child at home, but if there be a publick School, there he sends him: God makes manifest (says Paul) the savor of his knowledge by us in every place, 2 Corinthians 2:14. Let men talk of the Spirit what they please. He will at last be found a quencher of the Spirit, that is, a despiser of Prophecy; they both stand close together, 1 Thes. 5.19, 20. Quench not the Spirit. Despise not Prophesying. But it is not enough, to sit under the meanes; Wofull experience teaches us this, there are some no Sun will tan, they keep their old complexion under the most shining and burning light of the Word preached, as ignorant and prophane as those that never saw Gospel-day; and therefore if you will receive any spirituall advantage by the Word, take heed how you hearest.

First, Look you beest a wakefull hearer. Is it any wonder he should go away from the Sermon no wiser than he came, that sleeps the greatest part of it away, or heares betwixt sleeping and waking? It must be in a dreame sure, if God reveales any thing of his mind to him. So indeed God did to the Fathers of old, but it was not as they prophanely slept under an Ordinance. O take heed of such irreverence. He that composs himselfe to sleep (as some do) at such a time, or he that is not humbled for it, and that deeply; both of them betray a base and low esteeme they have of the Ordinance. Surely you thinkest but meanly of what is delivered, if it will not keep you awake, yea, of God himselfe, whose message it is. See how you are reproved by the awfull carriage of a Heathen, and that a King. Ehud did but say to Eglon, I have a message from God unto you, And he arose out of his seate, Judge 3.20. And you clapest downe on your seat to sleep; O how darest you put such an affront upon the great God? How oft did you fall asleep at dinner, or telling your money? And is not the Word of God worth more than these? I should wonder if such Sermon-sleepers do dreame of any thing but hell-fire. 'Tis dangerous you know to fall asleep with a candle burning by our side; some have been so burnt in their beds; but more dangerous to sleep while the candle of the Word is shining so neare us. What if you should sinke downe dead like Eatychus? here is no Paul to raise you as he had; and that you shall not, where is your security?

Secondly, You must be an attentive hearer. He that is awake, but wanders with his eye or heart, what does he but sleep with his eyes open? It were as good the servants should be asleep in his bed, as when up, not to minde his Masters businesse. When God intends a soul good by the Word, he drawes such a one to listen and hearken heedfully to what is delivered; as we see in Lydia, who ('tis said) attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And those, Luke 1948. The people were attentive to heare him. They did hang on him as you shall see Bees on some sweet flower, or as young birds on the bills of their dammes as they feed them; that is, the soul which shall get light and life by the Word. Heare ye children, and attend to know understanding, Proverbs 4:1. Labor therefore in hearing the Word to fixe your quicksilver-minde, and set your selfe to heare, as 'tis said Jehosaphat did to pray; and that you maiest, before you goest, get your heart into some deep sense of your spirituall wants, especially of your ignorance of the things of God, and your deplored condition by reason of it; till the heart be toucht, the minde will not be fixt. Therefore you may observe, 'tis said, God open'd the heart of Lydia, that she attended, Acts 16:14. The Minde goes of the Wils errand; we spend our thoughts upon what our hearts propose. If the heart has no sense of its ignorance, or no desires after God, no wonder such a one listens not what the Preacher says; his heart sends his mind another way. They sit before you as my people (says God) but their heart goes after their covetousnesse; They do not come out of such an intent or desire to heare for any good to their souls, then they would apply themselves wholly to the work; no, it is their covetousnesse has their hearts; and therefore as some idle servant, when he has waited on his Master; brought him to his pew, then he goes out to his good fellowes at the Alehouse, and comes no more till Sermon be almost done: so do the thoughts of most when they go to the Ordinance, they slip out in the street, market or shop, you may finde them any where but about the duty before them, and all because these have their hearts more than God and his Word.

Thirdly, You must be a retentive hearer, without this the worke will ever be to begin againe. Truths to a forgetfull hearer are as a seale set on water, the impression lasts no longer than the seale is on; the Sermon once done, and all is undone; be therefore very carefull to fasten what you hearest on your memory; which that you maiest do,

First, receive the truth in the love of it, An affectionate hearer will not be a forgetfull hearer. Love helpes the memory; Can a woman forget her child, or a maide her ornaments, or a bride her attire? No, they love them too well: Were the truths of God thus precious to you, you wouldest with David, think of them day and night. Even when the Christian through weakness of memory cannot remember the very words he heares, to repeate them; yee then he keeps the power and savor of them in his spirit; as when sugar is dissolved in wine, you cannot see it, but you may taste it; when meat is eaten and digested, it is not to be found as it was received, but the man is cheered and strengthened by it, more able to walke and work then before, by which you may know it is not lost: so you may taste the truths the Christian heard in his spirit, see them in his life. Perhaps if you aske him what the particulars were the Minister had about faith, mortification, repentance, and the like, he cannot tell you; yet this you may finde, his heart is more broken for sin, more enabled to rely on the promises, and now weaned from the world. As that good woman answered one, that coming from Sermon, ask't her what she remembred of the Sermon? said, she could not at present recal much, but she heard that which should make her reforme some things as soon as she came home.

Secondly, meditate on what you hearest; by this David got more wisdom then his teachers. Observe what truth, what Scripture is cleared to you in the Sermon more than before, take some time in secret to converse with it, and make it thereby familiar to your understanding. Meditation to the Sermon is what the harrow is to the seed, it covers those truths, which else might have been pickt or washt away. I am afraid there are many proofs turned down at a Sermon, that are hardly turned up, and lookt on any more, when the Sermon is done; and if so, you make others believe you are greater traders for your souls, then you are indeed; as if one should come to a shop and lay by a great deal of rich ware, and when he has done, goes away, and never calls for it. O take heed of such doings. The hypocrite cheats himself worst at last.

Thirdly, discharge your memory of what is sinful. We wipe our table-book, and deface what is there scribled, before we can write new. There is such a contrariety betwixt the truths of God and all that is frothy and sinful, that one puts out the other; if you would retain the one, you must let the other go.

These words contain the third branch in the description of our great enemy the devil, setting forth the proper seat of his empire with a threefold boundary. He is not lord over all — that title belongs to God alone and cannot be shared. He is a ruler of the darkness of this world, with his empire bounded by time, place, and subjects.

First, the time when this prince holds his rule: in this world — that is, now, not hereafter.

Second, the place where he rules: in this world — that is, here below, not in heaven.

Third, the subjects he rules: not all people in this lower world, either. They are described by the phrase 'the darkness of this world.' First, the first boundary.

Section.

The time when he rules: the word 'world' in the text can refer to that small stretch of time which — like an insignificant parenthesis — is bracketed on both sides by vast eternity. It is sometimes called 'the present world.' On this brief stage of time, this mock-king plays the part of a prince. But when Christ comes to tear down this stage at the end of the age, Satan will be stripped of all rank — his crown removed, his sword broken over his head, driven off in scorn and shame. He will go from being a prince to being a close prisoner in hell, no longer able to trouble the saints or even rule the wicked. He and they together will lie under the direct execution of God's wrath. For this very purpose Christ holds His commission, which He will not surrender until He has put down all rule. Only then will He hand over His mediatorial kingdom to the Father, when He has put all enemies under His feet. Satan is already condemned — his doom was passed upon him just as Adam's was on his first sin — but full execution is being held until the end of the age. The devil knows it. It is an article in his creed, which is why he trembled and asked Christ why He had come to torment him before his time.

First application: This is bad news for the wicked. Your prince cannot remain on his throne much longer. Sinners have a merry time of it now — if only it would last. They laugh and celebrate while Christ's disciples weep and mourn. They dress in luxury while the saint goes in rags. No prince takes more care to reward his courtiers with pensions and positions than the devil does to satisfy his followers. He too has his rewards: 'All this I will give You' (Matthew 4:9). 'Am I not able to promote you?' Balak asked Balaam (Numbers 22:37). It is remarkable — though not surprising, given how corrupt human nature is — to see how Satan leads sinners along on this golden hook. Let him dangle a bait of honor, money, or pleasure, and their hearts leap after it like a dog at a crust of bread. He gets them to sin for a scrap of food. The corrupt human heart loves the wages of unrighteousness — which the devil promises — so dearly that it does not fear the dreadful wages that God threatens. As you sometimes see a spaniel so eager for a bone that he will leap into a river if you throw it there — and by the time he struggles to reach it, it has sunk, and he comes away with nothing but a mouthful of water for his trouble — so sinners chase their desired pleasures, honors, and profits, swimming right through the warnings of God's Word, and sometimes they do not even get what they were reaching for. So God kept Balaam from honor, as Balak told him (Numbers 24:11). But however things go for them here, they are certain to lose themselves eternally without repentance. Those who are determined to have these things at any cost are the ones who fall into the devil's snare and are dragged into those foolish and harmful desires that will drown them in destruction and ruin (1 Timothy 6:9). O poor sinners! Would it not be wise, before you strike a deal with the devil, to ask what title he can actually give you to these glittering vanities? Will he settle them on you as a secure estate? Can he guarantee the bargain and protect you from legal disputes? Or can he put two lives into the purchase, so that when you die you will not be left destitute in another world? Alas, you will soon discover what a cheat he has run on you. From him you can expect nothing but 'buyer beware.' And this boastful prince who promises so much must come down himself — and a ruined prince makes for a ruined court. What howling there will be when Satan and his subjects are brought down together! But the sinner says: 'The pleasures and honors sin and Satan offer are here now, while what Christ promises we must wait for.' And that is indeed what carries the most weight with people. 'Demas has deserted me,' Paul wrote, 'having loved this present world' (2 Timothy 4:10). Present, yes — but you cannot be sure it will still be yours the next moment. Your present happiness is slipping away, while the saints' future joy is coming and will never leave. Who in their right mind would trade a kingdom that lasts forever for a bowl of soup and a moment of pleasure? Only someone who thought he had nothing worth having except what he had already swallowed. Cicero quoted a line that expressed this view — one he said was fitter to be written on an ox's grave than a man's. What a wretched soul it is that thinks it is not better to deal with God for lasting good than with the devil for payment on the spot. Tertullian marveled at the folly of Roman ambition — men who endured every kind of hardship in camp and battle for no other prize than the honor of being consul for a year, which he called 'a joy that flies away at the year's end.' But how much more desperate is the madness of sinners, who will not endure a little hardship here, but entail on themselves the eternal wrath of God hereafter — and all for the short feast and fleeting pleasures their lusts provide them, which often do not last even an hour.

Second application: Let this encourage you, O Christian, in your conflict with Satan. The skirmish may be sharp, but it cannot last long. Let Satan tempt you and his instruments harass you — it is only for a little while, and then you will be rid of both troublesome neighbors. The cloud is passing over your head even as it drops its rain, and then comes fair weather — an eternal sunshine of glory. Can you not keep watch with Christ for an hour or two? Hold the field for a few more days? If you give up now, you are undone forever. But if you persevere until the battle is over, your enemy will never regroup again. Let faith peer through the keyhole of the promise and tell you what it sees laid up there for the one who overcomes. Let it listen and tell you whether it cannot hear the shouts of those crowned saints — like men dividing the spoil and receiving the reward of all their service and suffering here on earth. And do you stand on the other side, afraid to get your feet wet crossing those sufferings and temptations that, like a shallow puddle, stand between you and glory?

Section 2.

Second, the devil's empire is confined not only in time but in place: he is the ruler of this lower world, not of the heavenly one. The highest the devil can reach is the air, which is why he is called its prince — that is the outer boundary of his empire. He has nothing to do with the world above. Heaven has nothing to fear from the devil, which is why its gates always stand open. This enemy has never dared look into that holy place since he was first expelled, but roams here below like a vagrant, banished from the presence of God, doing whatever harm he can to the saints on their way to heaven. Is it not a matter of great joy that Satan has no power over the place where the saints' happiness truly lies? What do you have, Christian, that is worth keeping that is not already there? Your Christ is there — and if you love Him, your heart is there too, living in the embrace of your Beloved. Your friends and fellow believers in Christ are there, or soon will be, and you will have a joyful reunion in your Father's house — despite the snares at every Tabor, despite all of Satan's plots that lie along the way. O friends, secure a title to that kingdom, and you are beyond the reach of this hawk. This is what made Job truly a happy man. When the devil had stripped him to his skin and nearly torn that away too, Job could still — in the face of death and devils — declare Christ to be his Redeemer, whom he would see with his own eyes, those very eyes that now stood full of bitter tears, and see Him for himself as his own portion. It is a terrible thing to be robbed of everything at once — but that can never truly be said of a saint. The devil took Job's purse, so to speak, which put him in great difficulty — but he had a God in heaven who replenished his supply. You have some spending money in your purse right now — in your active faith, the assurance of your sonship, the comfort flowing from it, your freedom in prayer and other duties — and Satan may for a time disturb or even take these away. But he cannot access the records to blot your name from the book of life. He cannot annul your faith, void your relationship with God, or dry up your comfort at its source — though he may dam up the stream. He cannot prevent a happy outcome to your whole war with sin, even if he beats you in a particular skirmish. All of these are kept in heaven, among God's own crown jewels, guarded by Him who is said to keep us by His power through faith to salvation.

Section 3.

The third boundary of the devil's principality concerns his subjects: they are described here as 'the darkness of this world' — that is, those who are in darkness. This word is used in several senses: sometimes to describe the desolate condition of a soul in great distress (Isaiah 50:10, 'He who walks in darkness and has no light'); sometimes to describe the nature of sin itself (Ephesians 5:11, where sin is called the works of darkness); and sometimes the particular sin of ignorance, which is often pictured by the darkness of night or the blindness of the eye. All of these meanings may be intended here, but chiefly the last. For even though Satan can stir up great trouble in a soul that is in the darkness of sorrow — whether from outward hardship or inward desertion — if the person is not also in the darkness of sin, Satan may disturb their peace as an enemy, but cannot be said to rule them as a prince. Sin alone places Satan on the throne. So I will take this phrase in its two latter senses.

First, the darkness of sin in general.

Second, the darkness of ignorance in particular. The meaning, then, is that the devil rules over those who are in a state of sin and ignorance — not simply those who sin or struggle with ignorance (that would include the saints), but those who are in a state of sin. The abstract phrasing 'ruler of the darkness' is used to express the fullness of the sin and ignorance that possesses Satan's slaves. Two teachings follow.

First: every soul in a state of sin is under Satan's rule.

Second: ignorance, above other sins, enslaves a soul to Satan — which is why all sin is described by the word that most clearly expresses this enslavement: darkness.

Every soul in a state of sin is under Satan's rule. Two questions need to be considered under this point.

First, why is sin described by darkness?

Second, how does every person in such a state appear to be under the devil's rule? For the first:

First, sin may be called darkness because the root and common cause of sin in humanity is darkness. The external cause is Satan, the great promoter of sin — a cursed spirit held in chains of darkness. The internal cause is the blindness and darkness of the soul. We can say of anyone who sins that he does not know what he is doing, just as Christ said of His murderers. If a person truly understood the real worth of his soul — which he now sells for nothing — the glorious and lovely nature of God and His holy ways, the incomparable love of God in Christ, and the poisonous nature of sin — and if he understood all this not by a sudden flash of insight at a sermon that vanishes like lightning, but by a lasting, settled light — it would ruin the devil's market. Poor souls would not so readily take this toad to their hearts. Sin works in disguise, and that is why it is welcome.

Second, sin is called darkness because it brings darkness into the soul — both naturally and as a judgment.

First, naturally. Sin has a corrupting effect on the understanding, which is to the soul what the eye and palate are to the body. The understanding perceives and distinguishes true from false the way the eye distinguishes white from black, and tests words the way the mouth tastes food. Now just as some things are harmful to the eye, and others to the palate — corrupting it so that it can no longer tell sweet from bitter — sin does the same to the person. It dulls judgment so that the very thing a person could once see as absurd and shameful in others, once he has drunk from this enchanting cup himself, he becomes unable to see the evil of it or reason against it at all. Saul, before he had ruined his conscience, judged the medium of Endor worthy of death. But after he had trampled his conscience underfoot through other foul sins, he went to consult one himself.

Sin also brings darkness as a judgment. Those who have heard God's voice trying to open and teach them, and have run out of God's school into the devil's by rebelling against the light, will die without knowledge (Job 36:10-12). Why should the candle keep burning when the student is more interested in playing than working?

Third, sin runs toward darkness. False teachers bring in their destructive heresies secretly — like merchants selling bad goods who avoid the market where everything is tested by the standard, and prefer to offload their wares in private. The same is true in moral wickedness: sinners go out at night for their prey like animals, wanting to avoid being seen and afraid of being exposed. Nothing is more threatening to sinners than the light of truth (John 3:19), because their deeds are evil. Felix was so stung by what Paul said that he could not sit through the sermon, but rushed away and postponed the hearing until a 'convenient time' — which never came. The sun is no more oppressive in hot countries than the truth is to those who sit under powerful preaching. Just as those in hot climates seldom venture out in the midday heat — and when they must, cover their heads against the sun — sinners avoid the preaching of the Word as much as possible. If they must attend to keep up appearances with family or for some other worldly advantage, they try to neutralize the power of truth: by sleeping through the sermon, or by filling their mind with idle thoughts that Satan sends to keep them company and chatter with them during the service. Or they choose a tepid preacher whose toothless talk flatters rather than challenges, tickles the imagination rather than pierces the conscience — and then their sensitive eyes can tolerate the light. People love truth that enlightens but not truth that convicts. They will admire and handle a sword with pleasure when it is in a fine scabbard, but run at the sight of it drawn.

Fourth, sin is darkness because of the misery it brings — and this in three ways.

First, darkness is miserable because it shuts out all productive work. What could the Egyptians do under the plague of darkness but sit still? For an active spirit, that is torment enough. So in a state of sin, a person is an utterly useless creature. He can do nothing acceptable in God's service and ruins everything he touches — like someone stumbling around a shop in the dark, doing nothing right. It could be written on the grave of every sinner who lives and dies in that state: 'Here lies a man who never did God an hour's work in all his life.'

Second, darkness is miserable in terms of enjoyment. No matter how beautiful the paintings in a room, if it is dark, who benefits from them? A soul in a state of sin may possess much but enjoys nothing — a serious evil that is rarely thought about. One clear look at its condition of enmity toward God would drop bitterness into every cup. Everything such a person has smells of hellfire. A man at a rich feast would enjoy it very little if he could smell smoke from a fire about to consume the house — and him in it.

Third, darkness fills with terror. Fears in the night are most dreadful, and a state of sin is a state of fear. A person deeply in debt has no peace except when asleep — and not even then, because the anxieties and fears of the day sink so deep that even sleep is restless and troubled. The wicked has no peace except when his conscience is asleep — and that sleep is broken, waking often in sick fits of terror. In his most prosperous times he is startled like a flock of birds in a cornfield at every shot. He eats in fear and drinks in fear. When afflicted, he dreads something worse to come, not knowing how far this cloud may spread or where it may bring him. Whether he will end in hell or not he cannot tell, and so he trembles in the dark, never knowing but that his very next step may be into the pit.

Fifth, sin leads to utter darkness — darkness pushed to its absolute limit. Sin at its fullest height combined with wrath at its fullest heat: both total, both eternal. Here in this life there is some mixture — peace and trouble, pain and relief, sin and thoughts of repentance, sin and hopes of pardon. But there, the fire of wrath will burn without any slackening, and sin will run alongside torment forever. The inhabitants of hell do not change. Their torment drives them to sin, and their sin feeds their torment — each one fueling the other, both inextinguishable.

Second, let us see how it is evident that those in a state of sin are under Satan's rule. Sinners are called the children of the devil (1 John 3:10). And who rules the child but the father? They are slaves — and who rules the slave but the master? They are the devil's own dwelling place. Where does a man have authority but in his own house? 'I will return to my house,' the devil says (Matthew 12:44) — as if he had said: I have been ranging among the saints of God, knocking at one door after another, and none will let me in. I can find no rest. But I know where I am welcome. I will go to my own house, and there I am sure to have complete command. And when he arrives, he finds it empty, swept, and in order — ready for his return. Servants prepare the house and make it presentable when their master comes home, especially when he brings guests — as the devil does here, bringing seven more with him. Look at the sinner: everything he is and has is under the devil's control. Satan rules the whole person — beginning with the mind, which he blinds. The sinner's perception of everything is shaped by Satan. He looks at sin through the devil's glasses, reads the Word with the devil's commentary, and sees nothing in its true colors — he lives under a continual delusion. The wisdom of the wicked is actually called demonic (James 3:15) — because it is taught by the devil and resembles the devil's wisdom: capable only of doing evil. Satan commands the will — not by forcing it, but by drawing it effectively. 'His works you will do,' Christ said (John 8:44). You are set on your course; the devil has your heart and him you will obey. So when Christ comes to reclaim His throne, He finds the soul in an uproar — like Ephesus at Paul's preaching — shouting Christ down and lifting up its idol. 'We will not have this man reign over us' (Luke 19:14). 'Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him?' (Job 21:15). Satan rules over all the sinner's physical members — they are called weapons of unrighteousness (Romans 6:13), all in the devil's service, like a kingdom's weapons defending the prince against any invader. The head plots, the hand acts, the feet carry the body wherever his service requires. He rules over all the sinner's possessions. Let God come as a poor member of the church and ask for a small gift to relieve someone's hunger — the miser's hand of charity goes lame; he cannot stretch it out. But let Satan call, and both his purse and his heart fly open. Nabal, who could not spare even scraps for David and his men, could throw a feast like a prince to satisfy his own greed and drunkenness. He commands the sinner's time. When God calls to prayer and worship, there is never a spare hour all week. But when the sinner hears about a good time with friends at the tavern, everything is dropped to wait on his lord and master — work abandoned, wife and children crying, perhaps starving, while the wretch pours out their very livelihood at the altar of his lust. The sinner is bound by iniquity, and being bound, he must obey. Scripture says he follows his lust as a fool follows the path to death (Proverbs 7:22). The prisoner in chains cannot untie his own arms and legs and run from his keeper — no more can the sinner run from his lusts. They are slaves, and their bodies are instruments of sin. Just as a workman picks up his axe and it does not resist, so Satan uses them — unless God says otherwise.

See here the wretched condition of everyone in a state of sin. He is under Satan's rule and hell's government. What tongue can describe, what heart can grasp, the misery of this condition? Christ foretold a dreadful day (Matthew 24) when the abomination of desolation would stand in the holy place, and told those in Judea to flee to the mountains. But what was that compared to this? Those were only men, though abominable. These are devils. The abomination of desolation only stood in the physical temple and defiled and damaged that building. But these plant their flag in the souls of human beings — defiling that throne which is more glorious than the physical heavens themselves, made for God alone to occupy. Those invaders exercised their cruelty at most on the bodies of men, killing and torturing. Here, the precious souls of men are destroyed. When David wanted to curse God's enemies to the deepest degree, he prayed that Satan would stand at their right hand. It is astonishing that sinners are not more terrified by this. They would cry out as though half-ruined if they saw one of their pigs or animals possessed by the devil and running headlong into the sea. But is not one human soul worth more than all of those? What a plague it is to have Satan take possession of your heart and spirit, driving you in the fury of your lusts toward destruction. O poor soul! What a terrible exchange you have made. You would not live under the gentle and just government of God, your rightful Lord. You are now being repaid for your rebellion against Him by the cruelty of this tyrant, who writes all his laws in the blood of his subjects. Why will you stay any longer, O sinners, under the shadow of this bramble, from whom you can expect nothing in the end but the eternal fire that will consume you? Look up — Christ is in the field, sent by God to reclaim His right and your freedom. His royal standard is raised in the Gospel, and the proclamation is made: any poor sinner weary of the devil's government, heavy-laden with the miserable chains of his spiritual bondage — so much so that the irons of his sin have entered into his very soul and he feels their weight — let him come to Christ. He will receive protection from God's justice, from the devil's wrath, and from sin's dominion. In a word, he will have rest — and a glorious rest at that. Usually when a people have been ground down under a bloody tyrant, they are ready enough to long for change and to listen to any offer that holds out hope of freedom — even if it comes from a stranger who might prove no better than the tyrant they left. Bondage is so crushing that people will take any change, like a sick man changing his bed even when it brings little relief. Why, then, should this deliverance be unwelcome to you, sinners? This deliverance is brought not by a stranger whose intentions you have cause to fear, but by your nearest kinsman in blood, who cannot mean you harm without hating his own flesh — and who has never done that. He who took part of our flesh so that He might have the right to be our Redeemer would have no kinship with us in the sinfulness of our nature. And it is sin that makes us cruel even to our own flesh. What can you expect from One who is pure but pure mercy? Believe it — Christ counts it His honor to be king of a willing people, not of slaves. He comes to make you free, not to put you into bondage; to make you kings, not servants. No one speaks ill of Christ except those who have never been His subjects. Ask those who have experienced both Satan's service and Christ's — they are best qualified to tell you what each is like. When a soul crosses over from Satan's side to Christ, and has even one taste of the sweetness of His service, nothing can drag that person back to the old drudgery. It is like those who come out of the cold and barren North — they love the warm South so well that they seldom or never return. What is more dreadful to a gracious soul than to be handed over to Satan's control, or to fall under the power of its own lusts? It would rather leap into a burning furnace than be governed by them. The great request of a child of God is that God would sooner discipline him within His own house than turn him out to become Satan's prey. O sinners! If you knew — which you cannot know until you come to Christ and receive Him as your Lord and Savior — what the privileges of Christ's servants are, and how gently the saints are treated at His hands, you would say that those who stand continually before Him are the only truly happy people in the world. His laws are written not in His subjects' blood, as Satan's are, but in His own. All His commands are acts of grace. It is a privilege to be employed in them. 'To you it has been granted not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake' (Philippians 1:29). The saints count it such an honor to do anything He commands that they consider God rewards them for one act of service when He equips them for the next. 'This I have had,' David said, 'because I kept Your precepts' (Psalm 119:56). And what was this great reward? Look at verse 55: 'I have remembered Your name in the night, O Lord, and kept Your law.' The reward was that through past obedience he received more strength and ability to keep the law in the future. Was that not well worth the effort? There is fruit even in holiness — a present reward the Christian enjoys while still at work, enough to sustain him until the full reward comes, which is eternal life (Romans 6:22). Jesus Christ is a prince who loves to see His people flourish and grow rich under His government. And yet sinners are so afraid of Him that when He opens their prison and calls them out, they choose rather to bore their ears to the devil's post and remain his slave than to enjoy this blessed freedom. It is no wonder that some of the saints have, when faced with torture, refused to be delivered — that they might obtain a better resurrection. But what a mystery it is that ruined souls, bound in the chains of their lusts and facing God's irrevocable condemnation if they do not believe in the Lord Jesus, should refuse deliverance even as they are being driven to execution. This should astonish heaven and earth. Surely, dying in their sins, they cannot hope for a better resurrection than they have a death. I fear rather that they do not truly believe they will have any resurrection at all — and then it is no surprise they make so little of Christ's offer, thinking themselves safe once they are buried in the grave. But let sinners know: the grave cannot hold them when the day of judgment arrives and the Judge calls for the prisoners to the bar. The grave was never intended as a sanctuary to protect sinners from justice — it is a holding cell to ensure they appear for trial. Sinners will be dug out of their hiding places and dragged to answer for their contempt of Christ and His grace. How astonished you will be to see as your Judge the very One you now refuse as your King — to hear the Gospel that acquits others for their salvation testify against you for your condemnation. What do you intend to do on that day, sinners? Will you cry and plead for mercy from Christ's hands? Alas — when the sentence is passed, your face will immediately be covered. Condemned prisoners are not allowed to speak. Tears are useless then, when there is no longer any room for repentance — either in Christ's heart or in your own. Or will you turn to your old master, in whose service you destroyed your soul, and cry to him as the woman cried to Ahab: 'Help, O king!' Alas — your eyes will see him in the same condemnation as yourself. Would it not be far better to renounce the devil's rule now, while you can still be received into Christ's kingdom? Pour out your tears and cries for mercy and grace now, while they can still be obtained — rather than saving them for another world where they will be of no use at all.

Question: But you might ask, "How can I -- a lifelong slave to sin who has lived so many years under Satan's cursed rule -- escape his dominion and power, and be brought into the kingdom of Christ?"

Answer. The difficulty of this great work does not lie in persuading Christ to receive you as His subject. He refuses no one who sincerely desires to come under His protection. It would go against His whole purpose to reject anyone like that. Do physicians chase their patients away? Do lawyers turn away their clients? Do generals discourage soldiers who desert the enemy and come over to their side? Of course not. When David was in the field, 1 Samuel 22:2 tells us that everyone who was in distress, in debt, or discontent gathered to him, and he became their captain. Christ will do the same for everyone who is truly dissatisfied with Satan's government and comes to Him because of a genuine inner rejection of it. But the main challenge will be getting you to break free from your attachments to your sins and to Satan. Until that is done, Christ will not claim you as a subject but will view you as a spy. It is the same with sinners as with servants. There may be falling outs between servants and their masters, with heated words exchanged, until you would think they were about to pack up and leave immediately. But the quarrel is soon over, and by the next morning everything is forgotten. The servants are back at their work as hard as ever. Oh, how often sinners take their leave of their sins, giving notice to their old master that they will repent and reform and change everything! But within a few days they have repented of their repentance and undone their reforms. This shows they were carried away by some passing emotion when they thought or said these things. No wonder they reverse it all when they return to their normal state. Now, because Satan has many strategies that he uses to keep his hold on sinners, I will expose some of them. If you can resist these, it will not be hard to bring you out from under his power and rule.

First, Satan does everything he can to keep sinners from having any serious thoughts about the miserable condition they are in while under his rule -- or from hearing anything from others that might unsettle their minds even slightly from his service. He knows that reflection is the first step toward repentance. A person who never considers what his ways are and where they are leading him is not likely to change them anytime soon. Israel did not stir until Moses came and talked with them about their terrible slavery and God's gracious plans for them. Then they began to desire to leave. Pharaoh quickly realized what might follow from this, and he cleverly worked to prevent it by doubling their workload: "You are idle, you are idle! That is why you say, 'Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.' Go now and work!" (Exodus 5:17-18). It was as if he said, "Do you have so much free time that you can dream about running off into the wilderness? Are you holding your secret meetings with Moses to hatch your plots together?" "I will break up this conspiracy. Give them more work. Scatter them across the land to gather straw, so they cannot meet and lure each other's hearts away from my service." Satan is just as jealous over the sinner. He is afraid that every Christian who talks to the sinner, or every sermon the sinner hears, might win him over. If Satan had his way, the sinner would never come near a Christian or a church service -- not even have a single thought about heaven or hell from one end of the week to the other. And to make sure the sinner has as few such thoughts as possible, Satan keeps him busy with constant work. The sinner grinds away, and Satan keeps filling the hopper so the mill never stops. Satan is with the sinner as soon as he wakes, filling his wretched heart with wicked thoughts. These serve as a morning dose to keep him immune to any good influence that someone else might breathe on him during the day. All day long Satan watches him, the way a master would watch a servant he fears will run away. And at night, like a careful jailer, he locks him up again with even more chains and bars, not letting him fall asleep until he has done some mischief. What a pitiable wretch! Was ever a slave so closely guarded? As long as the devil can keep you like this, you are certainly his. The prodigal son came to himself before he came to his father. He thought about the starving condition he was in. His husks were poor food, and he did not even have enough of them. Yet he could easily improve his situation if he just had the sense to go home and humble himself before his father. Now -- and not until now -- he went. So make up your mind, poor sinner, to sit down and consider what your condition is and what it could be if you would trade the slavery of Satan for the sweet government of Jesus Christ. First, ask your soul whether the devil can -- after you have worn out your miserable life in his hard service -- bring you to a happy state in the next world, or even protect you from a state of torment and misery. If he cannot, then ask whether there is not one Jesus Christ who is both able and willing to do it. And if so, is it not cruel beyond measure to your precious soul to stay any longer under the shadow of this thorn bush when you could make such a blessed exchange? A few of these thoughts, seriously and persistently pressed home to your soul -- with God adding His power to them -- can shake the very foundations of the devil's prison and send you running from him as fast as someone fleeing a house that is collapsing in flames around them.

Second, Satan uses instruments to oppose God's messengers and the offers of grace they bring — working to keep sinners under his rule. When Moses came to deliver Israel from Egyptian bondage, Jannes and Jambres arose to resist him. When Paul preached to the deputy, the devil had his own chaplain at court to hinder him — Elymas, a man full of cunning and evil. Whenever God is speaking to a sinner and urging him to come to Christ, Satan will always find someone to obstruct the work. Sometimes he sends carnal friends to plead his case. Sometimes he stirs up old companions in wickedness — working sometimes to mock the person out of his new way, and if that fails, turning their old affection into bitter anger at him for abandoning them. Or if the sinner still presses forward, Satan has his flattering preachers — always like Job's messengers, the last being the worst — who with their soul-soothing, soul-destroying doctrine attempt to heal the wound without treating it properly. Now, if you ever desire to escape Satan's bondage, guard yourself against all of these. Steel yourself against the pleas of carnal friends and family. Resolve that if your own children clung to your knees to keep you from Christ, you would tear yourself away. If your father and mother lay prostrate at your feet, you would step over them to go to Christ rather than stay behind. We never give up their affections on better terms than these. As for your old companions in sin — surely you do not intend to wait for their blessing. You might as well ask the devil's permission too. Heaven is worth very little to you if you cannot find it in your heart to endure a little shame and bear a few taunts from scoffing Ishmaels for the hope of it. Let them spit in your face — Christ will wipe it off. Let them laugh, as long as you win. If they do not follow your example before they die, the shame will be entirely their own. God Himself will spit it back in their faces before men and angels, and then cast them into hell. Finally, escape the snare of those flatterers who use their tongues only to smooth over sinners' consciences with their soothing doctrine, and you stand a real chance of coming to Christ. Do not seek their counsel. They may offer you comfort, but every stitch they sew to close your wound will have to be torn open again — or you will die from it.

Third, Satan works to lead the sinner astray through delay. Vague, drifting thoughts about repenting do not frighten him at all — he can allow sinners to talk all day about what they intend to do. As long as he can buy time and use his skill to prevent those thoughts from taking root and ripening into an immediate decision, he is satisfied. Nearly everyone in hell once thought about repenting. But Satan managed things so skillfully that they could never settle on a specific time to actually do it. If you ever mean to escape his grip, flee out of his house and run for your life. Wherever this warning finds you, do not delay — not even in the middle of pleasures your desires are feeding you. Think of Brentius, who received a note from a trusted senator friend while sitting at supper with his wife and children, urging him to flee — quickly, more quickly, most quickly. He left his dear company and warm meal at once. Do the same, or you may regret your delay when it is too late. A vision warned the wise men to return home by a different route and not to visit Herod again, even though Herod had commanded them to return. So do not go back, drunkard, to your drinking companions. Adulterer, do not return to your immorality. You who are consumed by greed — do not return to your dishonest gain. Turn another way, and do not give the devil even a moment's advantage. God's command says, repent now. The imperative tense has no future form. God says, today, while it is still today. The devil says, tomorrow. Which will you obey — God or him? You say you mean to do it eventually — then why not now? Will you bargain with God over a day or two, haggling over the smallest terms? Heaven is not so costly that you cannot meet His terms. And which tomorrow do you mean? For all you know, you may have only one day left in your life — where then will you find a tomorrow for repentance? But even if you had as many days ahead of you as Methuselah had, understand this: sin is hereditary, and diseases of this kind only grow stronger with age. It is with those who have long lived in sin as it is with those who have long lived under one government: they would rather stay as they are — even if things are not going well — than think about change. Or like a traveler who has been walking the wrong road all day: he would rather take any new path, jumping hedges and ditches, than turn back the long way to find the right road.

Fourth, Satan tries to negotiate a compromise — to broker a deal between himself and Christ. When a conscience cannot be quieted, Satan will, for the sake of peace, agree to give up something. This is how Pharaoh dealt with Moses: after much pressure, he was willing to let Israel go — 'I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness' (Exodus 8:28). But then came his condition: 'Only you shall not go very far away.' Satan works the same way. He will allow the sinner to pray, hear the Word, and make a respectable show of religion — as long as he does not go too far, so that Satan can have him back by nightfall. If God gets the morning, Satan expects the evening. He is content to divide the day. If conscience presses for reformation and a change of life, rather than lose the person altogether, Satan will even grant that — but just as Pharaoh, when he finally agreed to let Israel go, intended to keep their little ones behind as a pledge for their return (Exodus 10:11), so Satan must have at least one sin kept back. It does not even have to be a large one. Now, if you ever want to break free from the devil's rule, make no deal with him. Christ will be King completely, or not at all. Not a hoof must be left behind, nor anything that could give you a reason to return. Take your eternal farewell of every sin — at least in the sincere and firm intention of your heart — or you accomplish nothing. Paul joins his faith and his purpose together (2 Timothy 3:10) — never one without the other. When God gave Israel the law at Sinai, He was, in a sense, administering the oath of allegiance. He declared the law by which He would rule them, and they gave their consent. This was the covenant God later calls Israel to remember in Jeremiah 2 — the solemn union in which they were formally joined as King and subjects. Notice: before God would do this, He required them to come out of Egypt. They could not obey His law and Pharaoh's idolatrous customs at the same time — so He brought them out first, before solemnly uniting them to Himself as a people uniquely His own. You must be free from another master before Christ will take you as His own. He will not share you with a rival. Oh, if only it could come to this! Then the union between Christ and you would soon be complete. Let me ask you, poor soul: have you seriously considered who Christ is and how good His rule is? Could you find it in your heart — out of a genuine hatred for sin and Satan and a genuine love for Christ — to renounce sin and Satan and choose Christ as your Lord? Does your soul say, like Rebekah, 'I will go' — if only you could find a way to reach Him? Perhaps you say: 'I am a poor prisoner here. I cannot shake off my chains and set myself free to come to Christ.' Then hear this, poor soul: can you groan sincerely under your bondage? If so, take comfort — your deliverance is near. The One who heard Israel's cry in Egypt will hear yours as well, and will come and save you from the grip of your own desires. He will not be like some who win your affection and then abandon the pursuit and never return. If Christ has won your heart, He will be faithful to you and will bear all the cost of bringing you out of your prison. He will even come for you Himself, bringing with Him the wedding garments in which He will carry you from your prison to His Father's house with joy. There you will live not merely as a subject under His law, but as a bride embraced in His love. What more could be added to your happiness? Your King is your husband — a King to whom all other rulers are subjects, even the prince of this world himself — and yet so gracious that His majesty does not prevent His tender, personal dealings with you, a poor creature. It only deepens the wonder of His condescension. That is why God joins titles of greatness and intimacy together: 'Your Maker is your husband, your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.' 'The God of the whole earth shall He be called' (Isaiah 54:5). These promises are introduced with the most fearsome and majestic titles precisely to show the depths of love they contain. How low does God stoop by coming to dwell with a poor humble soul? This is greater even than saying such a soul shall dwell with God — for a beggar living at court is not as remarkable as the king coming to live with him in his cottage. And yet this promise is announced with the most magnificent titles: 'Thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit' (Isaiah 57:15). Why such titles? To remove the fears that God's saints tend to take up from them. 'Will the high and lofty One look at me, a poor worm?' asks the humble soul. 'Will the Holy God draw near to such an unclean creature?' cries the contrite one. Isaiah himself cried out that he was undone at the sight of God and at the proclamation of this very attribute (Isaiah 6). God places these titles at the front of the promise so that the creature may know that His majesty and holiness — which seem so terrifying to us — do not stand in the way of His love. Indeed, so gracious a Prince is your husband that He delights in His saints calling Him by names of affection rather than titles of state: 'You will call Me my husband, and will no longer call Me my master' (Hosea 2:16).

Section 4.

The second point follows. More than any other sin, ignorance enslaves the soul to Satan. A person with knowledge may still be his slave — but an ignorant person can be nothing else. Knowledge does not make the heart good, but without knowledge the heart cannot become good. There are some sins an ignorant person cannot commit, but there are far more that he cannot help committing. Knowledge is the key (Luke 11:52). Christ is the door (John 15). Christ opens heaven; knowledge opens Christ. This point becomes clearer in three particulars.

First, ignorance opens the door for sin to enter.

Second, just as ignorance lets sin in, it also locks sin inside the soul and locks the soul inside sin.

Third, just as it locks sin in, it also shuts out every means of help.

First, ignorance opens the door for Satan to march in with his whole army of desires. Where the watchman is blind, the city falls quickly. An ignorant person sins and — like drunken Lot — does not know when the tempter comes or when he leaves. He is like a man walking in his sleep: he does not know where he is or what he is doing. 'Father, forgive them,' said Christ, 'for they do not know what they are doing.' In 1 Corinthians 15, the apostle rebukes the sensuality of some who, in verse 32, treated the nearness of death — which ought to sober people away from sin — as a reason to indulge: 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.' He then explains this twisted logic: 'Some have no knowledge of God.' An ignorant person has the shape of a man but the heart of a beast. 'There is no knowledge in the land,' says the prophet (Hosea 4:2), and look at what follows this blind captain: swearing, lying, killing, stealing, and everything else. We read in 2 Timothy 3:5 of some who are loaded down with sins — trees full of bitter fruit. And what do we find at the root that makes them so productive? Ignorance: foolish people who never come to the knowledge of the truth.

Second, just as ignorance lets sin in, it also locks it up — trapping sin in the soul and the soul in sin. Such a person lies in Satan's inner dungeon, where no light of conviction ever penetrates. Darkness invites sleep, and a darkened mind and a drowsy conscience always go together. When the storm arose, the sailors who were awake fell to praying to their God — but the sleeping man felt no fear. Ignorance puts the soul to sleep in the hold of stupidity. God has planted in animals a natural fear of whatever threatens to harm them. Push an animal toward a pit, and it recoils — instinct shows its resistance. Because human beings are of a higher nature and face greater dangers, God has placed a double guard over them: a natural fear of danger, and a natural shame that rises in the face when a person does something unworthy. But an ignorant person has slipped free from both these guardians. He sins without blushing because he does not know his guilt. He lacks the inner magistrate that should put him to shame. He feels no fear because he does not know his danger — and so he plays with his sin like a child splashing in waves that will soon swallow him. Conscience is God's alarm clock to wake the sinner. It does not always ring continuously even for the person who has knowledge — God usually sets it to go off at particular moments, when He is speaking through a sermon or acting through a providence. But in an ignorant soul, this alarm is silent. A clock cannot run when its weights are removed. Conscience can only testify to what it knows.

Third, ignorance shuts out every means of recovery. Friends and ministers — indeed, Christ Himself — stand outside and cannot help the person in this condition. Threats and promises are equally useless: he does not fear the one or desire the other, because he knows neither. Heaven's road cannot be found in the dark. Therefore the first thing God does is break in with light — letting the soul see where it is and what the way out of its prison looks like. Without that light, all attempts to escape are useless. There is some small glimmer of light in everyone — pure inner darkness does not exist, I believe, in theology any more than in philosophy. This faint night-light may expose certain sins, produce inner pangs of conscience over them, and even move a person to step back from the most obviously destructive behaviors. There are some sins so cruel and costly that even the most hardened soul may, over time, grow tired of their company for purely selfish reasons. But what does any of this amount to if the person has never been introduced to Christ — the true way to God — and to faith and repentance as the only way to Christ? Such a person, after all this movement, will escape Satan by one door only to run headlong into his jaws by another. There are roads that seem right to a traveler at first but wind so gradually that when a person has gone a long way and thinks he is nearly home, he finds himself carried back to the very place he started. This is what will happen to every soul ignorant of Christ and the way of life through Him. After what they think are many years of traveling toward heaven through good intentions, uninformed devotion, and outward reformation — just when they expect to be within sight of heaven — they will find themselves exactly where they began, as completely enslaved to Satan as they ever were.

Application 1. This speaks directly to you who are parents. See how urgent it is to instruct your children and raise them from an early age in the nurture and teaching of the Lord. Until these chains of darkness are broken off their minds, there is no possibility of getting them out of the devil's prison. He has no more docile a slave than the ignorant soul. Such a person walks ahead of Satan — like a sheep before the slaughterhouse — without knowing who is leading him or where he is being taken. Can you watch the devil driving your children to ruin and do nothing to rescue them from his hands? You are cruel parents if you can harden your hearts against your own flesh and blood in this way. Now, to stir you further to this duty, consider the following.

First, your relationship to your children obligates you to care for their precious souls. The soul is the real child, not the body — which is why Scripture sometimes uses 'soul' to mean the whole person. Abraham and Lot 'went forth with all the souls they had acquired in Haran' (Genesis 12) — that is, all the persons. The body is merely the sheath. If someone left a sword in your care, would you throw away the blade and keep only the scabbard? And yet parents typically measure their love and care for their children by what they provide for the outward life — by raising them to conduct themselves as respectable members of society after their parents are gone. These things are commendable. But is the most important matter of all forgotten in the process? No effort is made to ensure they may live as Christians, and know how to carry out their duty to God and man as such. And can they do this without knowledge of the holy rule they are to walk by? David certainly knew of no means adequate for this apart from the Word, and so he posed the question: 'How can a young man keep his way pure?' And he answered it immediately: 'By keeping it according to Your word' (Psalm 119:9). And how shall children compare their way with the Word if no one teaches them? Our children are not born with Bibles in their heads or hearts. And who should be the teacher if not the parent? Who else will do it with such natural love? I have heard mothers say in other contexts: 'Who could take such care with my child and be as watchful as I am, his own mother?' Parents who never introduce their children to God or His Word are cruel — they place their children under a kind of necessity of perishing, unless God raises up someone else to show them more mercy than their own parents did. Is it any wonder when a ship sinks or wrecks on a rock if it was sent to sea without a chart or compass? No more is it surprising when children plunge into sin and ruin if they are launched into this world — which is a sea of temptation — without any knowledge of God or their duty to Him. In the fear of God, parents, think on this: your children have souls, and God has set you to watch over them. It will be a poor account at the last day if all you can say is, 'Lord, here are my children. I raised them as proper gentlemen and left them rich and prosperous.' The rust on the silver you left them will testify to your foolishness and sin — that you did so much for what rusts and nothing to enrich their minds with the knowledge of God, which would have endured forever. It would have been better to leave them less money and more knowledge.

Second, consider that it has always been the practice of godly people to instruct and teach their children the ways of God. We find David pouring instruction into his son Solomon: 'Know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and a willing mind' (1 Chronicles 28:9). Though a king, David did not hand this off to his chaplains but pressed it personally on his son with his own lips. Nor was his queen Bathsheba neglectful of her duty. Her gracious counsel is on record in Proverbs 31. And to convey it with the greatest seriousness and weight, she first stirs her motherly heart, letting her son know that her words came from deep within: 'What, my son? And what, son of my womb? And what, son of my vows?' (verse 2). Instruction is most likely to reach the heart when it comes from the heart. Parents do not know what impression expressions of tender love, woven together with instruction, leave on their children. God calls us to draw out our souls to the hungry — which is more than drawing out our purse, since the purse can be opened while the heart remains cold and indifferent. That is how we should give ourselves in our instruction. There is no need to dwell at length on Timothy's mother and grandmother, who introduced him to the Scriptures from his childhood. Truly, I think any man who takes no care to introduce his child to God and the way that leads to Him calls his own faith into question. I have known some who were ungodly themselves yet were very concerned that their children receive a good education. But I have never known a genuine believer who was indifferent to whether his child knew God or not.

Third, failing to instruct our children is a serious injustice. We read of some who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Among others, parents do this when they withhold from their children the saving truths that God has entrusted to them. There is a double injustice in it.

First, they act unjustly toward their children, who have as much right to be taught as they have to benefit from their parents' labor in building up a material inheritance for them. A parent who made no effort to provide for his child's material needs — or who had gathered wealth and then locked it away, refusing his child even the necessities — would be acting unjustly. How much more so the parent who lives in ignorance of God and thereby becomes incapable of providing for his child's soul. And most of all, the parent who has gathered a store of knowledge yet hides it from his child.

Second, they act unjustly toward God.

First, they act unjustly toward God by keeping in their own hands a gift that was meant to be passed on to their children. When God revealed Himself to Abraham, He had Abraham's children in view. We find God counting on Abraham to do exactly this — it is why God chose to tell him about His plan to destroy Sodom: 'Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord' (Genesis 18:17, 19). The church began within a family and was preserved through the faithful care of parents who taught their children and households the truths of God, passing knowledge of Him from generation to generation. Though the church is no longer confined to such narrow limits, every individual family is a small nursery for the church. If the nursery is not carefully tended, the orchard will soon wither. Could you be willing, Christians, that when you are laid in the ground, your children should grow into an alien plant — a generation that does not know God? Atheism does not need to be planted — you do quite enough to produce it in your children if you fail to plant faith in their minds. A gardener's mere failure to sow and tend his garden gives weeds all the room they need to take over. This is the difference between faith and unbelief: faith will not grow without planting, and even where it is planted it will die without watering. Atheism, irreligion, and ungodliness are weeds that spring up without being sown, but they will not die without being actively pulled out — all the effort and means available are barely enough to uproot them. Therefore you who are parents and do not teach your children deal all the more unjustly with God, because you neglect the best season in their entire lives for planting the knowledge of God in them and pulling up the weeds of atheism and irreligion. Young weeds come up most easily. Simple ignorance in youth becomes deliberate ignorance — and even brazen defiance — in old age. You will not instruct them when they are young, and they will despise their ministers when they are old.

Second, you deal unjustly with God if you do not raise your children in the knowledge of Him — because your children, if you are Christian parents, are God's children. They stand in a covenant relationship with Him that the children of unbelievers do not share. Should God's children be raised on the devil's curriculum? Ignorance is the very tool Satan uses to blind the minds of those who do not obey God. Should God's children receive no better upbringing than that? God counted the children of Jewish believers as born to Him: 'Your sons and daughters, whom you bore for Me' (Ezekiel 16:20). Through the covenant God made with that people, He had joined them to Himself — and just as a wife bears children for her husband (they are his children), so God called the children of the Jews His own. He registered it as a horrifying wickedness that they did not raise those children as His, but offered them to Molech: 'They have slain My children,' God says (verse 21). And are not the children of a Christian His children just as the children of the Jews were? Has God revoked or amended the original covenant and cut off its entail? Do you dare to slay not only your own children but the Lord's as well? And is not ignorance the knife that does it? 'My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge' (Hosea 4:6). Do you not tremble? You are offering them — not to Molech, but to the devil — the very children you had previously given to God when you brought them to the solemn ordinance of baptism, where you publicly desired before God and the congregation that they might become covenant servants of the Lord. You bound them to Him, and you have never taught them either who their Lord and Master is or what their duty is as His servants. Out of your own mouth God will condemn you.

Fourth, consider, you who are parents, that by not instructing your children you make yourself responsible for every sin they commit until they die. We can sin through someone else and make their actions our own. 'You have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites,' God said through Nathan to David concerning Uriah (2 Samuel 12:9). In the same way, you may wound Christ and slay Him repeatedly with the sword of your wicked children — if you are not careful to raise them in the fear of God. There was something to be said for the pagan who, when a student mistreated him, turned and struck the teacher. The teacher may well have been most at fault. When a child breaks the Sabbath, it is his sin — but it is even more the father's, if he never taught the child what God commanded. And if the parent is an accomplice in the child's sin, it will be hard to escape being a partner in — or even the primary cause of — the punishment. What a terrible reunion such parents will have with their children at the last day! Will those children not accuse their parents of murdering their precious souls and lay their blood at their door, cursing them to their faces for never teaching them better? But granted — by timely repentance you may secure your own soul from judgment on that day. Even so, God can discipline you here and now for neglecting your duty to your children. How often do we see children become a heavy burden to parents who neglected them? It is only just that children should not know their duty to a parent who never taught them their duty to God. Or if you do not live long enough to see this, surely you cannot help going to your grave in grief, leaving children behind who are on their way to hell. Some think that Lot's lingering in Sodom was partly his unwillingness to leave his sons-in-law behind to perish in the flames. No doubt it was deeply painful for him, and this may be why he stayed arguing with them until the angel physically pulled him away. And certainly nothing makes godly parents more reluctant to leave this sin-filled world than the desire to see their children brought safely out of reach of the fire God will rain down on sinners' heads before they go. You do not know how soon the messenger may come to take you away. Do your best while you are still with your children to win them home to God.

Application 2. To ministers of the Gospel. Let this stir up compassion in you for the many ignorant souls in your congregations who do not know their right hand from their left. This — spiritual darkness — is the great destroyer of communities, and it is what ministers should address with all their care and strength. More people are swept into hell by this plague of ignorance than by any other. Where there is knowledge and conviction, there is usually some sense of pain accompanying a sinner when he does wrong — pain that forces some, now and then, to seek a physician and come to their minister or others in distress of spirit for counsel. But the ignorant soul feels no such sting. If a minister waits for such a person to send for instruction, he may sooner hear the church bell ringing for the man's funeral than see any messenger come for his soul. You must seek them out — do not expect them to come to you. These are people who fear their cure more than their disease, and who work harder to conceal their ignorance than to have it healed. This should increase our compassion for them, precisely because they have so little compassion for themselves. I will admit that it is no small hardship for those of us who serve large congregations that we have neither the time nor the strength to address every individual and attend to each one as their needs require — and yet we cannot easily satisfy our consciences with anything less. But let us see to it that, though we cannot do everything we wish, we are not found failing to do what we can. Let not the difficulty of the task make us like those who, seeing more work before them than they can finish, grow sick of it and sit down in listless despair and do nothing at all. A man who has a large house falling into ruin but a small purse is better off repairing a little now and a little later than letting it all collapse because he cannot fix everything at once. Many ministers may rightly complain that their predecessors left the congregation in worse repair than the building — and this makes the work immense indeed. Think of the Jews who had to clear away heaps of rubble before they could begin to build the wall — and yet the wall went up, because the people had a will to work (Nehemiah 4). If our hearts were truly filled with zeal for God and compassion for our people's souls, we would rise and get to work — even if we could only lay one brick a day — and God would be with us. Perhaps you are serving a people who are rough and deeply ignorant, like stones still in the quarry or timber still uncut. You may not bring the work to the completion you desire in your own day. But as David did for Solomon, your labor in teaching and instructing them may prepare the materials for another who will raise the temple. It is very common for one minister to enter into the labors of another — to see conversion in those whom a previous minister had planted the seed of knowledge and conviction. And when God settles accounts with His workers, the one who plowed and sowed will receive his wage just as surely as the one who harvested and reaped. What a blessed thing it is to be — as Job said of himself — eyes to the blind, and how much more so to the spiritually blind. This is what ministers are. God Himself calls pastors after His own heart those who feed their people with knowledge and understanding (Jeremiah 3:15). But woe to those who contribute to their people's ignorance. A minister can contribute to the ignorance of his people in several ways.

First, through his own ignorance. Knowledge is so foundational to the work and calling of a minister that he cannot fulfill it without it. 'Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children' (Hosea 4:6). A minister's lack of knowledge is a deficiency that nothing else can make up for. No matter how meek, patient, generous, or blameless he may be in other respects, if he does not have the skill to rightly divide the Word, he is not suited for the ministry. Everything is good insofar as it serves the purpose for which it is made. A knife with a handle of diamonds is no knife at all if it will not cut. A bell that is cracked is not a bell. A minister's primary task is to teach others. His lips are to preserve knowledge. He should be as familiar with the things of God as any craftsman is with the tools of his trade. Ministers are called lights. If the light is darkness, how deep will the darkness of that people be? I know that the stars in Christ's hands are not all of the same brightness — some shine with greater gifts and grace than others. Yet every minister needs at least as much light as the star the wise men saw at Christ's birth: enough to direct sinners, from the Word, to the safe and true way to Christ and salvation. It is a terrible way to make a living — to kill men by incompetence, as some unskilled physicians do. But far worse is to earn a temporal wage while ruining souls through ignorance. A man who will take the helm as a pilot without ever having learned to read a compass is cruel to every passenger on the ship.

Second, through negligence. It makes no difference whether a nurse has no milk or simply refuses to draw it out for the child. There is a woe pronounced on the worthless shepherd (Zechariah 11) — those who have mouths but do not speak, lips that are not used to feed the people with knowledge. It will be the people's sin if they do not eat when bread is set before them. But woe to us if we do not give them their food in due season. What shall we say to our Lord who trusts us, if the abilities He gave us as resources to buy bread for our people are found wrapped up in the cloth of laziness? If the time we should have spent teaching and instructing turns out to have been wasted on our own pleasures or used in the pursuit of our own profit? That servant will receive a grim welcome from his master when the master returns to find him away with the key while the household starves for lack of provision.

Third, a minister can contribute to his people's ignorance through preaching that fails to edify — whether by preaching unsound doctrine that corrupts the understanding rather than sharpening it. Better to leave people in plain ignorance than to color their minds with a false dye. Or by preaching that is trivial and empty — no more suited to feed souls than the husks that left the Prodigal famished, leaving hearers no wiser about their souls' good than before. Or by preaching so high above people's heads that the congregation stands staring blankly, having lost the thread entirely, and at the end of the sermon cannot say what the preacher meant. Or by preaching only advanced truths suited to mature believers whose spiritual senses are well exercised — excellent perhaps for building up two or three prominent saints in the congregation, but meanwhile forgetting the weaker members of the family, who in fact need the most attention precisely because they are least able to guide themselves or find their own nourishment. He is surely an unwise builder who erects a scaffold as high as a cathedral spire when his actual work is down at the foundation level. The scaffold should rise as the building goes up. Paul advanced in his teaching as his hearers advanced in knowledge: 'Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about Christ, let us press on to maturity' (Hebrews 6:1). 'Let us' — meaning, when they are ready to keep pace. It is well when the congregation can keep up with the preacher. To preach truths and ideas beyond the hearers' capacity is like a nurse trying to feed a baby with a spoon too large to fit in the child's mouth. We may please ourselves and a few more advanced members by such preaching, but what do the poor ignorant ones gain in the meantime? The faithful steward is the one who considers both groups. The preacher is — as Paul said of himself — in debt to both Greeks and foreigners, to the educated and the uneducated (Romans 1:14), and is responsible to prepare truths suited to his hearers' level. Let the advanced receive their portion — but let them be patient while the weaker members of the family are served as well.

Fourth, a minister can contribute to his people's ignorance when the scandal of his life poisons his teaching — like a cook whose filthiness makes people afraid to eat anything that has passed through his dirty hands. Or when his proud and unapproachable manner keeps his people from ever coming to him. Anyone who wants to accomplish good in the ministry must be as careful as a fisherman — doing nothing to drive souls away, but doing everything to attract and invite them, so that they may be drawn within reach of the net.

Application 3. Is the ignorant soul truly such a slave to Satan? Then let this rouse you who are ignorant — you who sit like the blind Egyptians in darkness. Come out of this darkness quickly, or you are choosing to descend into outer darkness. When Haman's face was covered, it was a sign that he would not be permitted to remain in the king's presence. If you live in ignorance, it shows you are on God's list of those under judgment. He places this covering over the eyes of those whom He intends, in His wrath, to cast into hell: 'If our Gospel is hidden, it is hidden to those who are perishing' (2 Corinthians 4:3). In one place sinners are warned that they will die without knowledge; in another, that they will die in their sins (John 8). Truly, the person who dies without knowledge dies in his sins. And what more terrible sentence can the great God pass on a creature than this? It is better to die in prison, better to die in a ditch, than to die in one's sins. If you die in your sins, you will rise in your sins. As you fall asleep in the dust, so you will wake on the morning of the resurrection. If you die an ignorant, Christless soul, that is how you will stand at judgment. The God from whom sinners now wish to be rid will then be someone whose acquaintance they desperately wish they had sought — as they themselves will be forced to admit. But then He will throw their own words back at them and tell them to depart from Him. He has no desire for their company. O sinners — you will see in the end that God can do without your company in heaven far better than you could do without His knowledge on earth. Yet it is still day! Open your curtains and behold Christ shining on your face with the light of the Gospel. Hear wisdom crying in the streets, and Christ calling outside your window through His Spirit and His messengers: 'How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? And how long will fools hate knowledge? Turn at my rebuke — behold, I will pour out my Spirit on you and make my words known to you.' What excuse can you offer, sinners, for your willful ignorance? Where is your defense for this sin? There was a time when the Word of God was precious precisely because it was so rare — no open vision, not a Bible to be found in town or country. The tree of knowledge was forbidden fruit; no one could read it without a license from the pope. A man was counted blessed who could smuggle a few pages of the New Testament into a corner, afraid even to tell his own wife. How sweet those waters were when people had to steal them. But you have the Word in your homes or can easily obtain it. You have ministers who open it for you every Sunday in your assemblies. Many of you have been personally offered your ministers' time and care in private — ministers who plead with you earnestly to have compassion on your own souls and receive instruction. And their common lament is that you will not come to them for light. How long may a poor minister sit in his study before anyone of the ignorant sort will come to him with such an errand? Lawyers have their clients and physicians their patients — those are sought out and called up at midnight for advice. But the soul, which is worth more than clothing and body combined, is neglected. The minister is rarely thought of until both physician and lawyer have already done their work. Perhaps when the doctor has given up hope, we are then called to come and offer comfort — closing the eyes of those who were never opened to see Christ in His truth. We are counted heartless if we will not sprinkle them with holy water and anoint them for the kingdom of heaven, even though they do not know a single step of the road that leads there. Ah, poor souls — what comfort would you have us speak to those over whom God Himself pronounces judgment? Is heaven ours to hand out as we please? Is it within our power to overturn the laws of the Most High and save those whom He condemns? Do you not remember the curse that falls on the head of anyone who causes a blind person to wander off the road? (Deuteronomy 27:18). What curse then would be our portion if we were to encourage blind souls who are completely off the road to heaven — urging them to press on and expect to arrive there at last, when God knows their feet are on the path to eternal death? No — it is written, and God will not reverse it. You may read your own names among those condemned souls upon whom Christ comes in flaming fire to take vengeance — those who, as the apostle tells us, 'do not know God and do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ' (2 Thessalonians 1:8). Therefore, in the fear of God, let this move you — whatever your age or sex, rank or condition in this world — to seek the saving knowledge of God in Christ, to know whom is eternal life. Are you young? Seek God now, while your mind is sharp and your memory strong, before the press of worldly cares crowds Him out or the passions of youth lead you away. The feet of those same desires that have buried millions of others in ruin stand ready to carry you the same way — unless preventing grace comes and delivers you out of their hands by filling your mind with the knowledge of God. This morning drink may protect you from being infected by the corrupt examples around you. How long you will remain in this world, you do not know. Go and see whether you can find graves your own size in the churchyard. And if you were to die ignorant of God and His law — what would then become of you? The small dry branches and the old logs — the young sinners and those withered with age — meet and burn together. Or if you stay a while longer, perhaps because you will not learn now, God will not teach you then. Or if you do manage to gain some acquaintance with God in old age, it is still sad to be sowing your seed when you should be reaping your harvest — learning to know God when you might instead be drawing comfort from a long and deep familiarity with Him. Are you old and ignorant? Poor soul — your life is nearly spent, and this light of God has never been kindled in your understanding? Your body is bending toward the dust, and nature is tolling the passing bell, as it were, and you — like one walking into darkness — do not know where death will lead you or leave you. The infirmities of age likely make you wish your bones were already at rest in the grave. But if you were to die in this condition, your poor soul would wish it were back here again — bearing its old burdens. The aches and diseases of old age are grievous, but condemned souls would thank God if He would bless them with such a heaven as to lie in those pains and escape the torments of the other place. Think before you go. The less time you have, the more urgently you must use it to gain knowledge. We should hardly need to urge a prisoner who cannot read to learn his letters, when he knows he will hang if he cannot read the verse that could save his neck. It is not bare knowledge of Gospel truths that saves — but gross ignorance of them will certainly condemn. Are you poor? Your poverty is not your sin or your misery — your misery is that you do not know where the true treasure lies. If you were God's poor — rich in knowledge and faith — you would be truly blessed: 'Better is a poor but wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knows how to receive instruction' (Ecclesiastes 4:13). You would in fact be so blessed that if the princes of this world truly understood their own condition, they would rather be in your worn and ragged clothes than in their own robes. There are far better garments being prepared for you in heaven, which you will put on when theirs are stripped from them in shame. It will not trouble you then that you were poor in this world. But it will torment them that they were so rich and great, and yet so destitute in their souls.

Are you rich? Then work hard to gain the knowledge of the Most High. Solomon had more of the world's wealth than a thousand of you, and yet we find him earnestly at prayer, wrestling with God for knowledge (1 Chronicles 1:10). All outward possessions are merely a case for goods, just as afflictions are a case for evils. I am afraid many people think their worldly greatness exempts them from this duty — as if God were obligated to save them because they are wealthy. Sadly, very few of the great will be found there. It would make one tremble to reckon up just how small a number from among the powerful will be saved. Not many great, not many rich — why so few saved? Because so few have saving knowledge. The level of practical atheism, ignorance, and coarse spiritual barbarism found even among those the world applauds and nearly worships on account of their estates and lands — people who cannot give any account of their faith — is astonishing. A poor working Christian could put a hundred of them to shame with the simplest questions about what they believe. If heaven could be bought with houses and land, these would outbid the poor disciples of Jesus Christ every time — they always have hundreds and thousands ready for a purchase. But that currency is not accepted at heaven's exchange. 'This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.'

Question: But how can an ignorant soul come to knowledge?

Answer. First, be deeply affected by your own ignorance. Some are blind, like Laodicea, and do not know it (Revelation 3:17). Just as ignorance blinds the mind, pride acts as a screen over that ignorance so the person cannot even see it. Such people have so high an opinion of themselves that they take offense if anyone suggests they might be ignorant. Of all people, they are furthest from knowledge — too proud to learn from any man, they think, and too hardened to be taught by God. The entrance into Christ's school is low, and these people cannot stoop. The Master Himself is so humble and gentle that He will not teach a proud student. Therefore, first become a fool in your own eyes. A man wiser than you has confessed as much: 'Surely I am more ignorant than any man, and I do not have the understanding of a man. I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One' (Proverbs 30:2-3). When you have come to yourself — owning and blushing at the crude ignorance of your own mind — you are ready to be admitted into Christ's school. 'If they are ashamed, then show them the design of the house' (Ezekiel 43:10).

Second, be faithful with the small amount of knowledge you already have. Are you convinced that this is a sin and that is a duty? Follow that light closely. You do not know what that little may grow into. We commonly set up our children with a small inheritance at first, and as they use it wisely, we add more. The kingdom of God grows from small beginnings. God complained that Israel was 'brutish in their knowledge' (Jeremiah 10:14). He did not say brutish in their ignorance — if they had sinned merely from not knowing better, that would have been some excuse. But their actions were brutish and without reason, such as worshiping carved images even though they knew better. The person who prostitutes his knowledge to the service of sin will not advance in it (Job 36:12): 'If they do not listen, they shall perish by the sword and die without knowledge.' A candle sealed up in a closed lantern burns out quickly. And so does light sealed up in the conscience — not permitted to come out in how a person actually lives. Those who are charged with suppressing the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18) — the very next thing you hear about them is that 'they became futile in their reasoning, and their foolish heart was darkened' (verse 21).

Third, press often to the throne of grace. To have prayed well is to have studied well. The best student of theology is the one who studies most on his knees. Knowledge is a divine gift, and all light comes from heaven. God is the Father of lights, and prayer places the soul under His direct instruction. 'If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God.' This is even more than raw knowledge — it is wisdom in how to use it. Study can make a person a great scholar in the Scriptures, but prayer makes a wise Christian. Prayer obtains sanctified knowledge, and without that sanctification, knowledge is an incomplete gift — a gift that falls short of being truly a gift. Pray then with humble boldness. God gives to all who ask, and He gives generously and without reproach — not like a proud man who would sooner shame someone for not knowing than take the trouble to teach him. Your request is very pleasing to God. Remember how Solomon fared when he asked in just this way, and expect the same result for yourself. Christ's school is a free school. He turns away no one who comes to Him, so long as they are willing to submit to the school's order. And though not all receive the same degree of knowledge — not everyone needs to be a Solomon in knowledge, unless everyone were a Solomon in position — the humblest disciple Christ sends out will be equipped with saving knowledge, enough to fit him for entrance into heaven's academy. 'You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.'

Fourth, you must give real time to a diligent search for truth. Truth lies deep and must be dug for. Since Adam was driven from Paradise, nothing comes to human beings without labor — except sin, which follows the hand readily enough. But this treasure of knowledge calls for the spade and pickax. We are told to search the Scriptures. And Daniel 12:4 says, 'Many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase' — a picture drawn from merchants who exert themselves to build an estate, going back and forth from one land to another, posting off to wherever they hear of something worth gaining, even to the ends of the earth. The soul must move like this — from one means of grace to another: reading for a while, then meditating on what it has read, then praying over those meditations, then seeking counsel afterward. 'What does this mean? How do you understand that?' It is not formal instruction alone that produces great students — it is close, personal engagement with a teacher. A brief conversation with the preacher sometimes brings more light than his entire sermon. Make sure you make use of every means of knowledge within your reach. In your search for knowledge, keep these three things in view.

First, keep your purpose pure and holy — not merely to know for the sake of knowing, as some pursue knowledge the way others chase wealth: once they have it, they sit and admire their ideas the way a miser admires his bags of money, but have no heart to use their knowledge for their own or others' good. This is a serious evil. Speculative knowledge, like Rachel, is beautiful but barren. Do not seek knowledge merely to be admired or recognized by others as having surpassed your fellow believers. That is too low an aim when the knowledge in view is the knowledge of God and Christ. To see a pagan study philosophy and then bring all his labor to that marketplace — content to be called a wise man — is low, yet somewhat understandable. But for one who knows God and what it means to enjoy Him, to settle for a breath or two of empty human praise — this is unmistakable folly. Aim far higher than that. Pursue knowledge so that you may fear the God you come to know — as David did: 'Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes, and I shall keep it to the end' (Psalm 119:33). The Word of God is called a light to our feet — not merely something to talk about with our tongues, but a guide to walk by. Seek it not to spread your own name, but to celebrate God's. As David promised: when he understood God's precepts, he would speak of His wonderful works and sound out His fame, awakening others to seek God as well.

Second, once your purpose is right, you must be consistent in pursuing it. The mysteries of Christ are not learned in a day. 'Then we will know, if we press on to know the Lord' (Hosea 6:3). Some people are in a good frame of mind for a moment — they open the Bible and read a chapter or two, then put it down for a week and do not return to it. Like a schoolboy who plays truant all week after being in class one day. Is it any wonder such people make no progress in knowledge? Bernard put it well: the difference between studying the Word and merely reading it is as great as the difference between the friendship of those who converse together lovingly every day and the acquaintance one has with a stranger at an inn, or someone you nod to as you pass in the street. If you want real knowledge, you must not merely nod at the Word now and then. You must walk with it and enter into daily conversation with it. The three men who stood by Abraham as he sat at his tent door were distant and reserved until Abraham invited them inside and welcomed them warmly. Then Christ — who was one among them, as shown by the name Jehovah given to Him in several verses and by the promise He made concerning Sarah in verse 10, which was His own promise rather than a message from God, as a created angel would have relayed it — began to reveal Himself to Abraham and disclose His secrets to him. The soul that will be most intimately acquainted with the secrets of God in His Word is not the one who skims the text and merely tips his hat to it at his tent door, but the one who desires deeper fellowship with it — and so welcomes it into his soul through frequent meditation. David compared the sweetness of the Word to honey and the honeycomb. And indeed it is so full that even at a first reading some sweetness will occasionally drop from it. But the person who does not press it through meditation leaves most of it behind.

Third, be sure you follow the right order and method. Every field of learning has its basics as well as its more advanced and complex ideas. The right place to begin is always with the fundamentals. A student who was never grounded in grammar is not likely to thrive at the university. And those who have not been instructed in the foundations of the Christian faith cannot build on solid ground. The lack of this is why so many are unstable — today in one camp, tomorrow in another, blown into any shape by false teachers who merely breathe on them. They have no center from which to draw their lines. Do not consider it a disgrace — you who have wandered into error and lost yourselves in the maze of deep theological questions, which are now the great conversation even among the weakest believers — to be sent back to learn the first principles of the oracles of God more thoroughly. Too many people are, as Tertullian said in a different context, more protective of their reputation than their salvation — more ashamed to be thought ignorant than concerned to have it cured.

Fifth, if you want to grow in divine knowledge, attend the ministry of the Word. Those who neglect this and do not come where the Word is preached are like a man turning his back on the sun in order to see it. If you want to know God, come where He has appointed you to learn. Where the ordinary means are not available, God has extraordinary ways — as a father who has no school in his town will teach his child at home. But when a public school is available, he sends his child there. 'God manifests the aroma of the knowledge of Him through us in every place,' Paul says (2 Corinthians 2:14). Let people say what they like about the Spirit. The person who despises preaching will in the end be found to be a quencher of the Spirit — for the two are placed side by side: 'Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophetic utterances' (1 Thessalonians 5:19-20). But simply sitting under the means is not enough — painful experience teaches us this. There are some whom no sun will tan. They keep their old spiritual complexion under the most shining and burning light of the preached Word, as ignorant and ungodly as those who have never seen a day of Gospel light. Therefore if you want to receive any spiritual benefit from the Word, pay close attention to how you listen.

First, be a wide-awake hearer. Is it any wonder that a person goes away from a sermon no wiser than he came when he has slept through most of it, or spent it drifting in and out of consciousness? If God reveals anything of His mind to such a person, it would have to come through a dream. God did indeed speak to the patriarchs that way in ancient times, but not while they were profanely sleeping through an ordinance. Take serious warning against such irreverence. The person who deliberately composes himself to sleep during a service, as some do — or who does so and is not afterward deeply ashamed of it — betrays a very low and contemptuous view of the ordinance. Surely you think very little of what is being delivered, if it will not keep you awake — and very little of God Himself, whose message it is. See how you are put to shame by the conduct of a pagan — and a king at that. Ehud had only to say to Eglon, 'I have a message from God for you,' and Eglon rose from his seat (Judges 3:20). And you sink into your seat to sleep. How dare you put such an insult on the great God? How often do you fall asleep at dinner or while counting your money? Is not the Word of God worth more than these? I would not be surprised if such sermon-sleepers dream of nothing but hellfire. You know it is dangerous to fall asleep with a candle burning beside you — people have been burned in their beds this way. But it is far more dangerous to sleep while the candle of the Word is shining so near you. What if you were to sink down dead like Eutychus? There is no Paul here to raise you as he was raised. And what security do you have that this will not happen?

Second, you must be an attentive hearer. The person who is awake but lets his eyes or mind wander — what is he doing but sleeping with his eyes open? A servant who is out of bed but paying no attention to his master's business might as well still be asleep. When God intends to do a soul good through the Word, He draws that person to listen closely and carefully to what is being delivered — as we see with Lydia, of whom it is said that she 'attended to the things which were spoken by Paul' (Acts 16:14). And in Luke 19:48: 'The people were hanging on His words.' They clung to Him the way bees cling to a sweet flower, or the way young birds stretch toward the beaks of their mothers as they are fed. That is the soul that will receive light and life from the Word. 'Hear, my children, and attend to know understanding' (Proverbs 4:1). Labor therefore, as you sit under the Word, to fix your wandering mind and set yourself to hear — as it is said Jehoshaphat set himself to pray. And to help yourself do this: before you go, get your heart into a deep sense of your spiritual needs, especially your ignorance of the things of God and the desperate condition that ignorance puts you in. Until the heart is touched, the mind will not be fixed. Notice that it is said God opened the heart of Lydia, and then she attended (Acts 16:14). The mind goes where the will sends it. We direct our thoughts toward what our hearts desire. If the heart feels no sense of its ignorance and no longing for God, no wonder such a person does not truly listen to the preacher — the heart has sent the mind somewhere else. 'They come and sit before you as My people,' God says, 'but their heart goes after their own gain.' They do not come with any real desire to hear for the good of their souls — otherwise they would give themselves entirely to the task. No, their hearts belong to their self-interest. And so, like a lazy servant who has escorted his master to his seat in the pew and then slips out to his companions at the tavern and does not return until the sermon is nearly over, so do the thoughts of most people go during a service. They have slipped out to the street, the market, the shop — you can find them anywhere except attending to the duty before them — and all because these things have their hearts more than God and His Word.

Third, you must be a retentive hearer. Without this, the work will forever be starting over. Truths delivered to a forgetful hearer are like a seal pressed into water — the impression lasts only as long as the seal is held there. The sermon ends, and everything is undone. Therefore be very careful to fasten what you hear to your memory.

First, receive the truth with love for it. An affectionate hearer will not be a forgetful hearer. Love strengthens memory. Can a woman forget her child? Can a young woman forget her jewelry, or a bride her wedding clothes? No — she loves them too well. If the truths of God were that precious to you, you would, like David, think on them day and night. Even when a Christian, through weakness of memory, cannot recall the exact words he heard or repeat them — he still keeps the power and savor of them in his spirit. Just as when sugar dissolves in wine: you cannot see it, but you can taste it. When food is eaten and digested, it is no longer visible in the form it was received, but the man is strengthened and refreshed by it — more able to walk and work than before. By that you know it was not lost. So the truths the Christian heard are tasted in his spirit and seen in his life. Perhaps if you ask him what specifically the minister said about faith, mortification, or repentance, he cannot tell you. Yet you find this: his heart is more broken for sin, more enabled to rest on the promises, and now more free from the world's grip. A good woman, coming from a sermon and asked what she remembered, replied that she could not recall much just then — but she had heard something that would make her reform certain things as soon as she got home.

Second, meditate on what you hear. Through this practice, David gained more wisdom than all his teachers. Notice what truth or what Scripture is opened to you in the sermon that was not clear to you before. Take some time in private to dwell on it and make it familiar to your understanding. Meditation is to the sermon what a harrow is to seed — it covers the truths so they are not picked up or washed away. I am afraid there are many passages marked during a sermon that are hardly looked at again once the service is over. If so, you give others the impression you are trading more seriously for your soul than you actually are — like a man who goes to a shop, selects a great deal of fine goods, sets them aside, and then walks away and never comes to collect them. Take careful warning against this. The hypocrite deceives himself worst of all in the end.

Third, clear your memory of what is sinful. We erase our notebooks and wipe out what has been scrawled there before we can write something new. There is such a fundamental opposition between the truths of God and everything that is trivial and sinful that one drives out the other. If you want to keep the one, you must let go of the other.