Part 56

2. To consider how he endeavours to prevent our being brought under conviction of sin; or, if we are convinced thereof, to hinder its making any deep or lasting impression on us; and this he does various ways,

(1.) By dissuading others, who ought to deal faithfully with us, from reproving sin committed by us. Thus Ezekiel, speaking concerning the false prophets, says, that they _strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life_, Ezek. xiii. 22. Sometimes he improves the consideration of our circumstances in the world, to dissuade us from reproving sin in others, especially if they are our superiors, or those whom we are dependent on, or have some expectations from, lest we should make them our enemies, and thereby lose some advantages, which we hope to receive from them. And there are others whom he does not wholly dissuade from reproving of sin; but there are some circumstances attending the reproof, or the person that gives it, that he lays hold of, which hinders it from taking effect, whereby his end is no less answered than if sin had not been reproved at all. As,

[1.] When we reprove those that are notorious offenders, and ought to be treated with a greater degree of sharpness, with too much lenity, as though it were only a sin of infirmity, by which means they are more hardened in the commission of it. This was Eli’s fault in dealing with his sons, when he said unto them, _Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil dealings by all this people: Nay, my sons, for it is no good report that I hear; ye make the Lord’s people to transgress_, 1 Sam. ii. 23, 24. Whereas, he ought to have restrained them by those acts of severity, which the nature of the crime demanded.

[2.] Satan often prevents the reproof from taking effect, by inclining the reprover to use indecent behaviour in expressing the haughtiness of his temper, as though there were no respect due to superiors, as such, because they are worthy of reproof; or else by expressing a kind of hatred against the person that committed the sin; whereas, hatred ought to be principally directed against the crime itself, while we convince those whom we are reproving, that it is love to them, as well as zeal for the glory of God that moves us to do this.

[3.] Satan often hinders reproofs from taking effect, either by tempting those who give them to commit the same sin, or, at least, by persuading those against whom they are directed, that there are other sins equally great, which they are chargeable with, and therefore they ought to look to themselves, rather than take notice of what is done by others.

(2.) Satan hinders the work of conviction, by endeavouring to suppress the preaching of the word, or prevent the success thereof when preached. As to the preaching of the word, this is God’s ordinary way by which he convinces of sin; and Satan sometimes stirs up those that are under his power and influence to persecute or suppress the preaching of the gospel. Thus the apostles were _commanded_ by the Jews, _not to speak at all, nor teach in the name of Jesus_, Acts iv. 18. and when they refused to obey this command, they _put them in prison_, chap. v. 18. This method has been taken, in all ages, by Satan’s instigation, with a design to hinder the spreading of Christ’s interest in this world, which, by the blessing of providence, has been, notwithstanding, continued unto this day. Therefore, there are other methods which he uses to hinder the success of the word. Sometimes he does this by perverting them that preach it; so that they endeavour to corrupt the word of God, whereby the minds of men are turned away from that simplicity that is in Christ; at other times he tempts them to be very sparing in reproving sin, or to do this in a more general way, as though their only design was to let their hearers know that there are some sinners in the world, and not that they should be brought under conviction of sin themselves. This is done sometimes in compliance with the corruptions of those whom they do not care to disoblige hereby; and others shun to declare some of the most important truths of the gospel, and affect such a method of preaching as has not a tendency to bring that real advantage to the souls of men, as when it is delivered with more zeal and faithfulness.

Moreover, Satan endeavours to hinder the success of the word, by stirring up the corruptions of those that attend upon it; for which reason he is represented, by our Saviour, in the parable of the _seed which fell by the way-side_, which the _fowls came and devoured_, as _catching away_ the word, Matt. xiii. 4, 19. By this means they are not much affected with it, nor endeavour to retain it in their memories; and, sometimes he injects vain thoughts under the word preached. This our Saviour compares, in the parable but now mentioned, to the _seed that fell among thorns_; and explains it of _the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choaking the word_, ver. 7, 22. And sometimes he endeavours to raise prejudices in the minds of men, against what is delivered; so that the plainness of expression, when addressed to the consciences of men, in such a way, as that it has a tendency to bring them under conviction, is contemned, and called a low, mean way of address, and disliked, because it is not delivered with that elegancy of style, or ingenious turn of thought, that is adapted rather to please the ear, than affect the hearts of those that hear it. By those methods Satan endeavours to hinder persons from being brought under conviction: But if their consciences are, notwithstanding this, awakened under the word, or, by some providences which God often makes use of for that end; then there are methods of another kind, which Satan uses, to prevent convictions from making any deep or lasting impression on them. As,

[1.] By endeavouring to make the soul easy, from the consideration of the universal depravity of human nature; and accordingly he insinuates, that all have reason to accuse themselves of sins that would tend to their disquietude, if they made so narrow a search into their hearts as these do, or had such formidable thoughts of the consequences thereof as they have. Here he produces many examples of those who have been quiet and easy in their own minds, though they had as much ground to perplex and torment themselves with such-like melancholy thoughts as they have; yet they go on in a course of sin, without any checks of conscience, and, as Job speaks, _spend their days in wealth_, or, as it is in the margin, in mirth, _and in a moment go down to the grave_, Job vii. 22. being resolved to give way to nothing that shall disturb their peace, or render their lives uncomfortable.

[2.] If this stratagem will not take effect, inasmuch as they are sensible, that while they remain in an unconverted state, they can have no solid foundation for peace, then he endeavours to persuade them, _that the work of conversion is over, and that conviction of sin, though destitute of faith, is true repentance_, or that a partial reformation, and abstaining from some gross and scandalous sins, or engaging in the external duties of religion, especially with some degree of raised affections therein, is a sufficient ground for them to conclude, that they are in a state of grace; and if they resolve to go on in this way, he puts them upon depending and relying on their own righteousness, and expecting to be justified thereby, without seeing a necessity of laying hold on what Christ has done and suffered, in order to the removing the guilt of sin; and, so long as they continue in this way, they shall meet with no disturbance from Satan, this not being the method which God has prescribed for our attaining justification, or that peace which flows from it.

[3.] He puts them _upon making vows and resolutions in their own strength_, that they will perform several religious duties with the greatest exactness, and abstain from those sins which he is sensible they will commit, if not prevented by the grace of God, that so, by too great confidence in their own strength, they may provoke him to leave them to themselves; and, as the consequence thereof, they soon break their resolutions, and bring themselves under greater perplexities than they were in before: And, then to make them easy, he endeavours to persuade them, that God does not require them to lead so strict a life as they seemed determined to do, but has allowed them some innocent liberties, as he calls them, in giving way to those sins which their condition in life renders necessary; and, as he had before tempted them to rely on their own strength, now he tempts them to carnal security, and a slothful, stupid frame of spirit, whereby they will be rendered more receptive of those temptations he has to offer, to turn them aside from that strictness in religion, which they before resolved to maintain.

[4.] Satan dazzles _their eyes with the glittering vanities of this world_, that he might divert their minds from serious thoughts about, or any concern for a better; and if their secular callings are attended with some incumbrances, through the multiplicity of business, or the constant care they are obliged to take to live in the world; then he alleges the inconsistency hereof, with their giving way to those convictions of sin which will be an hindrance to the necessary business of life. Thus concerning the method which Satan uses to prevent conviction of sin, or to hinder the efficacy thereof: But inasmuch as this does not always take effect; especially when convictions make a deep impression upon us. We proceed to consider,

3. Those methods that are used by Satan, to hinder persons from closing with Christ, and believing in him. And this he does,

_1st_, By endeavouring to _keep them in ignorance_ of the great doctrines of the gospel; and, as the consequence thereof, turning them aside to embrace those errors, which are inconsistent with faith in Christ; and in order thereto, he suggests, that it does not belong to them, to press after the knowledge of the sense of scripture, but to persons of learning, or those who are called to preach or defend the truth; and that it is enough for them to have some general notions of the doctrines of religion, whereby they may be induced to practise those moral virtues which their station in life engages them to, and to leave the more abstruse parts thereof, to those whose inclination leads them thereunto.

Moreover, he improves the different sentiments of men about the doctrines of the gospel, to answer this end, and infers from thence, that since one asserts one thing for truth, and another the contrary, that therefore there is nothing certain in religion; so that they are safest who keep clear of all these controverted matters; and among them he includes the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ. This method of temptation leads men to scepticism, and, if complied with, is inconsistent with faith in Christ; and the consequence hereof is, their imbibing those doctrines that tend to sap the very foundation of revealed religion. And if they pretend to adhere to any scheme of doctrine, it is generally such an one, as has a tendency to strike at the divinity and glory of Christ, the necessity of his satisfaction, or of our justification, by his imputed righteousness, or denying the divinity of the Holy Ghost, and the need we have of his powerful operations in the work of regeneration, conversion, and sanctification. These are the doctrines on which our faith is built; therefore, to deny them, is not only inconsistent with our closing with Christ, as being the result of the alienation of our minds from God; but it is agreeable to the working of Satan in the children of disobedience, whereby he answers his character, as a deceiver, as well as a tempter.

_2dly_, Satan endeavours to hinder men from believing in Christ, by _persuading them to hope for salvation from the mercy of God_, without any regard to the display of this attribute in Christ, as our Mediator, or faith in him, without which we have no ground to conclude, that we shall obtain mercy from him: Or, since faith is necessary to salvation, he persuades them to take up with such a kind of faith as consists only in a general assent to some things contained in scripture, without the exercise of other graces that are inseparably connected with, and flow from it; and if they have no other notion of saving faith than this, it is no wonder that Satan, by his false reasoning, carries on the temptation yet farther, and persuades them, that this is in their own power, and that it is an easy matter to believe, which is a certain indication that they are destitute of saving faith. Thus we have considered Satan as endeavouring to strengthen the habits of sin, hinder the work of conviction, or prevent its taking effect; and using methods to keep those who are under convictions, from closing with Christ by faith. We now proceed to consider,

4. His injecting atheistical and blasphemous thoughts into the minds of men, and using his utmost endeavours to despair.

(1.) He sometimes _injects atheistical and blasphemous thoughts into the minds of men_. His nature inclines him to hate and oppose God; and his malice breaks forth in tempting men to blaspheme his perfections: Thus some are represented as _opening their mouths in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven_, Rev. xiii. 6. which they do by the instigation of Satan: However, there is a vast difference between those blasphemous thoughts, which are injected into the minds of wicked men, and those which are oftentimes complained of by the believer. In the former, the Devil enstamps his own image upon them, and they are like a spark falling into combustible matter, which immediately sets it on fire: The latter is like a flash of fire that lights upon water, without doing any execution. We read of some who are entirely under his dominion, who _blaspheme the God of heaven, because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds_, chap. xvi. 11. But there are others into whom he injects such-like thoughts, which are a grief and burden to them. Some are tempted to deny the being or providence of God; and others to have unworthy and injurious thoughts of the divine perfections; which cannot be reckoned any other than blasphemy, and, so far as they proceed from, us, bring with them a very great degree of guilt. That believers themselves have been sometimes guilty hereof, appears from what the Psalmist utters in words, when he says, _Is his mercy clean gone for ever? Hath God forgotten to be gracious_, Psal. lxxvii. 8, 9. And, indeed, it is no uncommon thing for believers to complain of their having such injurious and unworthy thoughts of the divine perfections, that they dare not utter in words; which fills them with the greatest uneasiness; Therefore it is necessary for us to enquire, when these blasphemous suggestions take their rise from ourselves, and when from Satan?

It is certain, that sometimes they proceed from ourselves: Thus our Saviour says, _Out of the heart proceed blasphemies that defile a man_, Matt. xv. 19. and we have reason to charge ourselves therewith, when they arise from, or are accompanied with other presumptuous sins; or when we do not strive against, but rather give way to them, and other suggestions of Satan, which tends to God’s dishonour, grieves the Holy Spirit, and defiles our own consciences.

But, on the other hand, we may humbly hope and trust, that they are rather to be charged on Satan than ourselves, when they are the result of some bodily distemper, as in those that are under the prevailing power of melancholy, in whom it may be observed, that when by the use of natural means, the distemper is abated, and the constitution mended, these blasphemous suggestions cease. Moreover, when our souls tremble at the temptation, and oppose it with the utmost abhorrence, as our Saviour did, when the Devil tempted him to _fall down and worship him_; to whom he immediately replies, _Get thee hence, Satan_, chap. iv. 9, 10. Again, when we confess, and can appeal to the heart-searching God, that we are so far from having any inclination to comply with the suggestion, that nothing is more grievous to us, than to be assaulted with it: and especially when we take occasion from hence, to exercise that reverential fear of the divine Majesty, that is opposite thereunto.

(2.) As Satan gives disturbance by blasphemous suggestions, so he uses endeavours to _drive persons to despair_. We observed, under a foregoing head, that so long as he can persuade any one to take up with a false peace, and fancy himself secure though going on in a course of rebellion against God, he gives him but little uneasiness, endeavouring rather to increase his stupidity, than awaken his fears. Before this, he attempted to bring ruin upon him, by suggesting those temptations that led to presumption, and pretended to him, that all things were well, when the ground was sinking under him, and his hope built on a sandy foundation: But, when the frame of his spirit is somewhat altered, and he is brought to a sense of his miserable condition; so that none of those stupifying medicines that have been used, will heal the wound; then Satan endeavours to persuade him, that his condition is hopeless, or that there is no help for him in God. This temptation believers, as well as the unregenerate, are sometimes liable to; of which, we have many instances in scripture, besides those that are matter of daily experience. But it may be observed, that there is this difference between the one and the other, in that we scarce ever read of a believer’s despair; but we have, at the same time, something added, which either argues his faith in God, or, that there was a mixture of hope, which was like a beam of light shining in darkness: Thus the Psalmist, in Psal. lxxxviii. expresses himself like one in the depths of despair; yet it may be observed, that he addresses himself to God, in ver. 1. as _the Lord God of his salvation_. And when the church is represented in Lam. iii. 18. as saying, _My hope is perished from the Lord_; it is considered afterwards as encouraging itself in him, as in ver. 24. _The Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in him_; and, in ver. 31. _For the Lord will not cast off for ever_. But when unbelievers are tempted to despair, it is attended with an obstinate resolution to go on in a course of sin, and a total withdrawing themselves from the ordinances, or instituted means of grace. Thus when Cain complains that his _punishment was greater than he could bear_; it is said concerning him, that _he went out from the presence of the Lord_, Gen. iv. 13, 16. In this case despair, especially if it does not proceed from a bodily distemper, as it sometimes does, is a sad mark of a person’s being under the dominion of Satan, who was before a tempter, but now proves a tormentor to him.

Here we may take occasion to consider how Satan proceeds against men in tempting them to despair.

_1st._ He _takes the fittest opportunity_, when we are most like to be overcome by his temptation; _he observes our constitution when most addicted to melancholy_, and therefore more easily led to despair: He also takes notice of some circumstances of providence that we are brought under, which are more than ordinarily afflictive, and tend to deject and render us more receptive of this temptation, in which he endeavours to add weight to our burden, and depress our spirits under it: He also lays hold on those times, more especially _when we are under divine desertion_; and, as the consequence hereof, our faith is weak, and very much indisposed to seek help from God. Moreover, he often takes occasion, _from some great fall and miscarriage_ which we have been guilty of, whereby we have grieved the Holy Spirit, and wounded our own consciences, to aggravate our crime, so far that from hence we may conclude our state to be altogether hopeless.

_2dly_, He endeavours _to stop all the springs of comfort_, that might fortify us against, or afford us any relief under this temptation; and accordingly he turns our thoughts from the promises of the covenant of grace, and persuades the soul to conclude that they are not made to himself; therefore he ought not to apply them to himself for his comfort; and to determine peremptorily against himself, that he is not elected to salvation; not from any marks of reprobation that he finds in himself, but by entering into God’s secret counsels, and pretending to search the records of heaven, which he has no warrant to look into, (in which respect despair contains in it a mixture of sinful presumption,) and, at the same time, he has a secret aversion to converse with those who are able to speak a word in season to him; and if any endeavours are used to convince him that the mercy of God is infinite, his thoughts are not as our thoughts, and that the merit of Christ extends itself to the chief of sinners, it is all to no purpose, for his general reply, to this and all other arguments of the like nature, is that this belongs not to him, or his iniquities have excluded him from the divine favour.

_3dly_, Satan endeavours to _hinder a soul at this time, from waiting on God in ordinances_. As for the Lord’s supper, he not only dissuades him from attending on it, but endeavours to insinuate, that, in partaking of it in times past, he has _eat and drunk_ his own _damnation_, giving a perverse sense of that scripture, 1 Cor. xi. 29. which, as appears from the context, is not to be applied to weak believers, but to such as engage in this ordinance, in a profane and irreverent manner, as though it were not a divine institution, and without any desire of obtaining spiritual mercies from God therein; and the word which we render _damnation_, ought to be rendered _judgment_, denoting that they expose themselves to temporal, as well as spiritual judgments in this world for this wickedness; not that they are from hence to conclude, that their eternal damnation will unavoidably ensue hereupon: And therefore the design of this scripture, is to lead to repentance, and not to despair. As for the word preached, he concludes, that every thing which is delivered therein, contains an indictment against him, and there he cannot endure to hear it: And, as for prayer, Satan discourages him from it, by pretending that he is not in a right frame for the performance of this duty, and by giving a false sense of such scriptures as these, in Prov. xxviii. 9. _He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination_; and, in chap. xxi. 27. _The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination_; the meaning of which is, not that the duty itself is sinful because performed by sinners, or that God hates them the more for praying, but that he hates the hypocrisy, formality, and other sins committed by them, when engaged in this duty; so that they should rather strive and pray against this unbecoming frame of spirit, than lay aside the duty itself, as they are tempted to do.

_4thly_, Satan also makes use of false reasoning, by which he endeavours to answer this end; as,

[1.] He puts them upon concluding, that _because they have no grace, therefore they never shall have it_; which method of reasoning, if it were just, must be applied to all unregenerate sinners; and then we must conclude, that the whole work of conversion in this world, is at an end; which, blessed be God, it is not.