CH. XI capable of doing any mifchief to the eftate, body or mind, 1 Sam. xvi. 14. Job. i. 12, &c. ii. 6, 7. Mark iii. 23, 26. Luke xiii. 16. 1 Cor. v: 5. 1 Tim. i. 20. Nor is there any abfurdity, any thing inconfiftent with the Divine Goodnefs, in fuppofing that evil fpirits may inflict calamities and diforders upon mankind. For they are only inftruments in God's hands, under his direction and controul, as much as any other cause whatever; and so must come under the fame rules, as any other means, which Providence may imploy in diftreffing or destroying human life, as ftorms, inundations, the paffions and powers of wicked men, a putrid air, vitiated humors in the body, &c. In all these cafes, whatever is the inftrumental, God is the appointing and directing caufe; and it would have been all one, whether he had fent a good or evil angel, or had only changed the temperature of the air, to deftroy the Ifraelites by peftilence, 2 Sam. xxiv. 15, 16. Or to flay Sennacherib's army. 2 King. xix. 35. 2. Chron. xxxii. 21. In correcting or punishing by diseases, or other diftreffes, God may use what inftruments he pleases.

Thus far we may go upon this part of the subject, and not much further. The world of fpirits lies fo far out of our fight, that we can know no more of them, than what is reveled. Nor have we principles fufficient to inable us to form clear and compleat notions of every thing faid concerning them even in revelation.

That which most of all requires our attention, is, that the Devil delighteth in feducing mankind to fin against God, and takes every advantage, and uses every wile to effect his wicked purpose. Rev. xii. 9. The great dragon, called the Devil and Satan, deceiveth the whole world. Mat. xiii. 39. The enemy that fowed them, the tares, i. e. wicked men, is the Devil. Of which we have a fpecimen in his temptation of our first parents. He concealed himself in the body, or fhape of a Serpent, probably, at that time, a creature admired by Adam and Eve for it's beauty and fagacity. He firft addreffed the woman, when alone, and at a diftance from her husband; and firft endevored to weaken her sense of the obligation of the Divine Prohibition, by reprefenting it as uncertain or unreasonable, ver. 1. Yea, hath God faid, ye shall not eat of every tree in the garden? "Surely you mistake him; it can never be fo; for why should "God debar you of any of the innocent and delightful fruits this gar"den yields?" The woman expofed herfelf to the greatest danger by deliberating with the Tempter, upon a matter which the should not have heard fo much as called in queftion without abhorrence. But she was not aware of his wicked defign; and therefore, in much fimplicity, gave him a full account of the law they were under, ver. 2, 3. Which only gave him, on the other hand, an opportunity of contradicting it by a moft bold and impudent lie, ver. 4. Ye shall not surely die. Yea, he affures her, they should receive great advantage by eating the forbidden fruit, ver. 5. For God doth know, that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes fhall be opened; and ye shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil. To favor his affertion, he perverts the word of God, by wrefting the name God had given the tree; as if it had been called, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, because God was aware it would endow them with the most exalted and extensive knowledge; whereas it had its name upon a very different account.

Thus

Thus Satan perfuades men to have hard thoughts of God, as if he envied our happiness, and laid the restraints of his law upon our appetites out of ill-will; but infinite Goodnefs is not capable of envy. Thus he tempteth us to be uneafy in the condition Providence has alloted us, and prompts us to be ambitious of things too high for us. And thus he deludeth with falfe hopes of benefit and advantage from fin; and, when this last point is gained, we fall an eafy prey to the Tempter. ver. 6. And when the woman faw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleafant to the eyes, and a tree to be defired to make one wife, fhe took of the fruit "She faw it was to be defired to make one wife. thereof and did eat. What wrought this opinion in Eve was, poffibly, the affurance the Serpent gave her, that he which, fhe very well knew, before was, like other brutes, dumb and irrational, was, by the admirable virtue of the fruit," advanced in fpeech and reafon, as the faw, to an equality with hertelf, the most excellent creature in the earth; and, therefore, the needed not doubt but it would, in the fame proportion, exalt the human nature to the high perfection of the angelic order. This would pass for demonftration with her, who knew not that it was an evil fpirit that acted and fpake in the Serpent. But this is only my own conjecture. And the gave alfo unto her husband with her, and he did eat: being, probably, perfuaded (befides the arguments the Serpent ufed with Eve) by the strong affection they had for each other. Thus the Devil, by tempting our first parents to tranfgrefs the law, fubjected them, and their pofterity in them, to eternal death. Thus he was a murtherer, and may be faid to have had the power of death. Heb. ii. 14.

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CHA P. XII.

Reflections on the DEVIL'S TEMPTATIONS.

Y fearching the Scriptures we have found, that there is a malicious Spirit which, by Divine Permiffion, ranges about this Cxx world, attended with many more of the fame depraved nature; and, as any opportunity offers, is endeavouring to draw men from the practice of virtue, into all wickedness and alienation from the truth.

To prevent any cavils against the fcriptural account of this wicked Spirit, let it be well obferved,

I. That we cannot be fure, from any unaffifted knowledge or obfervation of our own, that this earth is not frequented by numerous fpirits of a nature much-fuperior to the human. Our knowledge even of the animals, which naturally belong to our globe, hath been, and probably ftill is, very defective. Without the help of microfcopes we could never have difcerned vaft tribes of infects, which we now plainly fee do live

and move even in our own bodies, and in all parts of the earth and water. And even with this advantage of fight, there may ftill be a world of fmaller animals, which our fenfes cannot reach. Much more may myriads of fpirits be mixed amongst us, which come not under our obfervation. Therefore, as without the aid of microscopes we should never have discovered the moft numerous part of the inhabitants of our earth; fo neither, without the light of revelation, can we be ascertained, what fpirits are and act in the region of our air, And revelation is a mean as proper, at leaft, for difcovering the one, as our own artificial inventions for difcovering the other. But revelation informs us, that angels, both good and bad, are converfant in this world; which may be true, though we have no diftinct, fenfible perceptions of their exiftence and operations. Under former difpenfations of religion they might appear, and act in a fenfible manner; but under the prefent difpenfation they may, for wife reafons, (particularly, because we are now fufficiently inftructed in their nature and agency,) be wholly invifible: nor may we be capable of diftinguishing their fecret internal impreffions from the fuggeftions of our own minds; or the external, kind affiftances of good angels, or the malicious injuries of evil angels, from the common courfe of Providence.

II. That we are now upon trial hath been already proved; and that our trial is well and wifely adjufted, cannot be doubted. We ourselves are by no means capable of judging what kind of trials are moft fuitable to our own spirits, because we know but little of the nature of them. To fettle the kind and degree of our Trials, belongs entirely to him, who alone understands the nature of our minds, and the defigns of his own wifdom, Therefore, if we are fhocked when we hear God hath permitted many evil fpirits to range our world, and to exercife their malice in tempting mankind, we are really fhocked at our own ignorance; feeing this method of trial, as well as the reft, is under regulations of infinite wisdom, and defigned for the purposes of infinite goodnefs.

OBJECTION. Suppofe God hath for wife ends permitted fuch beings to mingle among mankind, is it not very ftrange that any fhould "be found fo malicious as to imploy that permiffion to the worst of pur"poses? How can we fuppofe any fpirits, any intelligences, especially "of a fuperior nature, fo far abandoned to all fenfe of goodness and "virtue, as to indeavor without ceafing the corruption and perâition of their fellow-creatures ?"

ANSWER. That wickedness exists in the univerfe is too plain from the ftate of things in that part of it, which we inhabit; where we fee great numbers, in fpight of their own reason and understanding, and of all the intances of God's love and goodness, and of all the most evident and powerful arguments to virtue and piety, who not only are very vicious themselves, but take an unnatural pleasure in tempting and corrupting others, and making them as bad as themfelves. It cannot then be hard to fuppofe, that there are other fpirits, in other circumftances, who, in the fame manner, oppofe God; that is to fay, oppofe truth and virtue. For the Devil oppofeth and feteth himself againft God, not by might power, as if he were able to contend with the Almighty, but only

and

as

as he oppofeth virtue and truth; just as wicked men do among ourfelvess Indeed, we men are under ftrong temptations from the flesh, and the objects that relate to it; but the fpirits we are speaking of, may be under as ftrong temptations of fome other kind, that we are not acquainted with; they may, by fome finful pursuits and compliances, have funk themselves into the laft degrees of moral pravity, and even be more wicked than the wickedeft man in the earth, more blind to the goodness of God, and more fearless of his wrath. Nor are fuperior natural abilities an abfolute fecurity against the very worst moral corruption. For we do actually find, that great knowledge and understanding are so far from always making men good and virtuous, that, on the contrary, these are often in a high degree the inftruments of fin and difobedience; being wholly imployed in finding out pleas and pretexts for the moft abandoned iniquity.

Thus you fee it is very poffible fuch vicious fpirits may be, may be mixed among us, and permited to tempt us; and, according to Scripture representations, they are very dangerous enemies. For,

I. Satan is continually going about feeking all advantages against us, Job i. 7. The Lord faid unto Satan, Whence comeft thou? Satan anfwered, and faid, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And from the query in the next verfe, Haft thou confidered my fervant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and efcheweth evil? And alfo from what our Saviour faith to Peter, Luke xxii. 31. Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath defired to have you, that he may fift you as wheat; it appears, that he is inquifitive into the characters of men, and bufily feeks, and gladly lays hold of any occafion to try, and, if poffible, to overthrow their integrity. 1 Cor. vii. 5. Defraud you not one the other, except it be with confent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fafting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.

II. We may suppose a spirit of fuperior faculties to be very fubtil in understanding our various conftitutions and inclinations, and the particular fins to which our circumstances do expofe us; and in laying his baits, and addreffing his temptations accordingly.

III. Such a tempter can apply a great variety of machinations, devices, [vonala, 2 Cor. ii. 11.] and wiles [bodas, Ephef. vi. 11,] to deceive. This is feen in the cafe of Eve. And in tempting our Lord, it is very obfervable, how he varied his devices, and shifted the scene of temptation, to fix, if poffible, fome ftain upon his fpotlefs mind. He can put himself into any shape, either of terror, or pleafing allurement; either as a roaring lion, or an angel of light, [2 Cor. xi. 14.] Sometimes he works by his agents, imploying those who are already infnared to draw in others; fo Eve was his tool to tempt Adam: fometimes injecting into our minds unrighteous, impure fuggeftions, [Luke xxii. 3. Acts v. 3.] fometimes taking the word out of our heart, [Luke viii. 12.] or mixing tares with the good feed, [Mat. xiii. 25.] and corrupting our minds from the fimplicity that is in Christ.

But then, all this must be understood under the following reftric.tions.

1. That the Devil can neither hurt us, nor fa much as attempt to hurt

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1

hurt us, further than God permits. He is not like the pretended evil god of the Manichees, eternal, felf-exiftent, almighty, and independent, but as much under the power of God as the weakest reptile under our feet. When God gives him a commiffion, he cannot act beyond it; and when he has no commiffion, he is chained up and can do nothing. He is therefore no other than an agent, entirely and always in God's hand, to be used as he fees fit.

2. Nor can he any ways pollute our minds, further than we ourselves do confent. If God permits, poffibly he may work upon the humors of the body, he may inflame our paffions, abufe our imaginations, or fuggeft evil things to our thoughts; but unless we willingly admit those impreffions, he cannot poffibly ftain our confciences with fin.

3. God hath not only furnished means and ftrength to refift him, but hath appointed that, if we do refift him, he fhall be conquered and van→ quifhed. Fam. iv. 7. Refit the Devil, and he will, he fhall, he muft, flee from you; not by his own choice, but by the will and power of God. The God of our peace and fafety shall bruife Satan under our feet. And fuch a victory fhall turn to the praife and glory and establishment of our virtue. Hence it follows,

1. That it must be our own act and deed if we are overcome by the temptations of the Devil. It is common for people to confider themselves as altogether paffive in this cafe, and to afcribe the wickedness they commit to the power of temptation; whereas, in truth, so far as we are tempted effectually we are active, we consent and agree to the temptation, we are drawn away of our own luft and enticed, Jam. i. 14. Satan tempts, yet can have no advantage over us but what we chufe to give him. And therefore,

2. It must be an aggravation of any crime that it was done under the power and influence of this wicked fpirit. For we must be the children of difobedience, we must have abandoned ourselves to wickedness, before Satan can work in us. If Satan can fill our hearts, confider in what a wretched condition we muft be. We must have abused the faculties of our minds, we must have despised all the riches of Divine Goodnefs, we must have shut our eyes against the light of faving truth, hardened our hearts against the fear of God, feared our confciences, ftifled many and ftrong convictions, done despite to the Spirit of Grace; we must have withdrawn ourselves from God, till he hath forfaken us; we must have advanced from one degree of iniquity to another, till our hearts are prepared to be the feat and refidence of the unclean fpirit, the murtherer, the father of lies, the prince of darkness. A condition unspeakably deplorable!

With men of virtue and piety he hath no power, though he may vex and affault them, but only with the vicious. And they not only imitate his wickedness, which is bad enough, and conftitutes him their father, but likewife are under his government, which is still worse, and conftitutes him their prince and ruler. Moft dreadful cafe, to be the children of such a father, the subjects of fuch a prince, the children of perdition, the fubjects of the enemy of all righteoufnefs! To have the powers of our minds, defigned for the nobleft acts and enjoyments, under the daminion of error and luft; to have the fpirits created for eternal happiness