The Witchcraft Delusion in New England: Its Rise, Progress, and Termination, (Vol 1 of 3)

THE DEVIL DISCOVERED

2 Cor. II. ii. We are not Ignorant of His Devices

OUR Blessed Saviour has blessed us, with a counsil, as Wholsome and as Needful as any that can be given us, in Math. 26. 41. Watch and Pray, that yee Enter not into Temptation. As there is a Tempting Flesh, and a Tempting World, which would seduce us from Our Obedience to the Laws of God, so there is a Busy Devil, who is by way of Eminency called, The Tempter; because by him, the Temptations of the Flesh and the World are managed.

It is not One Devil alone, that has Cunning or Power enough to apply the Multitudes of Temptations, whereby Mankind is daily diverted from the Service of God; No, the High Places of Our Air, are Swarming full of those Wicked Spirits, whose Temptations trouble us; they are so many, that it seems no less than a Legion, or more than twelve thousands may be spared, for the Vexation of one miserable man. But because those Apostate Angels, are all United under one Infernal Monarch, in the Designs of Mischief, 'tis in the Singular Number, that they are spoken of. Now, the Devil whose Malice and Envy, prompts him to do what he can, that we may be as unhappy as himself, do's ordinarily use more Fraud than Force, in his assaulting of us; he that assail'd our First Parents, in a Serpent, will still Act Like a Serpent, rather than a Lion, in prosecuting of his wicked purposes upon us, and for us to guard against the Wiles of the Wicked One, is one of the greatest cares, with which our God ha's charged us.

We are all of us liable to various Temptations every day, whereby if we are carried aside from the strait Paths of Righteousness, we get all sorts of wounds unto our selves. Of Temptations, I may say, as the Wise Man said, of Mortality; there is no discharge from that war. The Devils fell hard upon both Adams, nor may [52] any among the Children of both, imagine to be excused. The Son of God Himself, had this Dog of Hell, barking at Him; and much more may the Children of Men, look to be thus Visited; indeed, there is hardly any Temptation, but what is, Common to Man. When I was considering, how to spend one Hour in Raising a most Effectual and Profitable Breastwork, against the inroads of this Enemy, I perceived it would be done, by a short answer to this

Case

What are those Usual Methods of Temptation, with which the Powers of Darkness do assault the Children of Men?

The Corinthians, having upon the Apostles Direction, Excommunicated one of their Society, who had married his Mother-in-law, & this, as it is thought, while his own Father was Living too; the Apostle encourages them to Re-admit that man, upon his very deep and sharp Repentance. He gives divers Reasons of his propounding this unto them; whereof one is, Lest Satan should get advantage of them; for, had the man miscarried, under any Rigour of the Sentence continued upon him, after his Repentance, 'tis well if the Church itself had not quickly fallen to pieces thereupon; besure, the Success of the Gospel had been more than a little Incommoded. The Apostle upon this Occasion, intimates, That Satan has his Devices; by which word are meant, Artifices or Contrivances used for the Deceiving of those that are Treated with them well, But what shall we do that we may come to this Corinthian Attainment, We are not Ignorant of Satan's Devices? [Non cuivis homini Contingit!]

Truly, the Devil has Mille Nocendi Artes; and it will be impossible for us, to run over all the Stratagems and Policies of our Adversary. I shall only attempt a few Observations upon the Temptations of our Lord Jesus Christ: who was Tempted in all things like unto us, except in our Sins. When we read the Temptations of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Fourth Chapter of Matthew There, Thence, you will understand, what was once counted so difficult; Even, The way of a Serpent upon the Rock. There are certain Ancient and Famous Methods which the Devil in his Temptations, does mostly accustome himself unto; which is not so much from any Barrenness, or Sluggishness in the Devil, but because he has had the Encouragement of a, Probatum est, upon those horrid Methods. How did the Devil assault the First Adam? It was with Temptations drawn from Pleasure, and Profit, and Honour, which, as the Apostle notes, in 1 Joh. 2, 16. are, All that is in the World. [53] With the very same temptations it was, that he fell upon the Second Adam too. Now, in those Temptations, you will see the more Usual Methods, whereby the Devil would be Ensnaring of us; and I beseech you to attend unto the following Admonitions, as those Warnings of God, which the Lives of your souls depend upon your taking of.

There were especially Three Remarkable Assaults of Temptations, which the Devil it seems, visibly made upon our Lord; after he had been more invisibly for Forty dayes together Tempting of that Holy One; and we may make a few distinct Remarks upon them all.

§ The first of our Lords three Temptations is thus related, in Mat. 4, 3. He was an Hungry; and when the Tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, Command that these Stones be made Bread.

From whence, take these Remarks.

I. The Devil will ordinarily make our Conditions, to be the Advantages of his Temptations. When our Lord was Hungry, then Bread! Bread! shall be all the Cry of his Temptation; the Devil puts him upon a wrong step, for the getting of Bread. There is no Condition, but what has indeed some Hunger accompanying of it; and the Devil marks what it is, that we are Hungry for. One mans Condition makes him Hunger for Preferments, or Employments, another mans makes him Hunger for Cash or Land, or Trade; another mans makes him Hunger for Merriments, or Diversions: And the Condition of every Afflicted Man, makes him Hunger with Impatience for Deliverance. Now the Devil will be sure to suit his Perswasions with our Conditions. When he has our Condition to speak with him, & for him, then thinks he, I am sure this man will now hearken to my Proposals! Hence, if men are in Prosperity, the Devil will tempt them to Forgetfulness of God; if they are in Adversity, he will tempt them to Murmuring at God; in all the expressions of those impieties. Wise Agur was aware of this; in Prov. 30, 9. says he, if a man be Full, he shall be tempted, to deny God, and say who is the Lord? if a man be Poor, he shall be tempted, to steal, and take the Name of God in vain. The Devil will talk suitably; if you ponder your Conditions, you may expect you shall be tempted agreeably thereunto.

II. The Devil does often manage his temptations, by urging of our Necessities. Our Lord, was thus by the Devil bawl'd upon; You want Bread, and you'll starve, if in my way you get it not. The Devil will show some forbidden thing unto us, and plead concerning it, as of Bread we use to say, it must be had. Necessity has a wonderful compulsion in it. You may see what Necessity will do, if you read in Deut. 28. 56. the tender and the delicate Woman among you, her eye shall be evil towards the Children that she shall bear, for she shall eat them for want of all things. The Devil will perswade us that there is a Necessity of our doing what he does propound unto us; and then tho' the Laws of God about us were so many Walls of Stone, yet we shall break [54] through them all. That little inconvenience, of our coming to beg our Bread, O what a fearful Representation does the Devil make of it! and when once the Devil scares us to think of a sinful thing, it must be done, we soon come to think, it may be done. When the Devil has frighted us into an Apprehension, that it is a Needful thing which we are prompted unto, he presently Engages all the Faculties of our Souls, to prove, that it may be a Lawful one; the Devil told Esau, You'll dye if you don't sell your Birthright; the Devil told Aaron, You'll pull all the people about your ears, if you do not countenance their superstitions; and then they comply'd immediately. Yea, sometimes if the Devil do but Feign a Necessity, he does thereby Gain the Hearts of Men; he did but feign a Need, when he told Saul, the Cattel must be spared, and the sacrifice must be precipitated, and he does but feign a Need, when he tells many a man, if you do no servile work on the Sabbath-day, and if you don't Rob God of his evening,²⁰⁶ you'll never subsist in the world. All the denials of God, in the world, use to be from this Fallacy impos'd upon us. It never can be necessary for us to violate any Negative Commandment in the Law of our God; where God says, thou shalt not, we cannot upon any pretence reply, I must. But the Devil will put a most formidable and astonishing face of necessity upon many of those Abominable things, which are hateful to the soul of God. He'll say nothing to us about, the one thing needful; but the petite and the sorry Need-nots of this world, he'll set off with most bloody Colours of Necessity. He will not say, 'tis necessary for you to maintain the Favour of your God, and secure the welfare of your Soul; but he'll say, 'tis necessary for you to keep in with your Neighbours; and that you and yours may have a good Living among them.

III. The Devil does insinuate his most Horrible Temptations, with pretence, of much Friendship and Kindness for us. He seemed very unwilling that our Lord should want any thing that might be comfortable for him; but, he was a Devil still! The Devil flatters our Mother Eve, as if he was desirous to make her more Happy than her Maker did; but there was the Devil in that flattery. Sub Amici fallere Nomen, – to Salute men with profers to do all manner of Service for them; and at the same time to Stab them as Joab did Abner of old; this is just like the Devil, and the Devil truly has many Children that Imitate him in it. Some very Affectionate Things were spoken once unto our Lord; Lord, be it far from thee, that thou shouldest suffer any Trouble! But our Lords Answer was, in Mat. 16. 23. Get thee behind me Satan. The Devil will say to a man, I would have thee to Consult thy own Interest, and I would have Trouble to be far from thee. He speaks these Fair Things, by the Mouths of our professed Friends unto us, as he did by the Tongue of a Speckled Snake unto our Deluded Parents at the first. But all this while, 'tis a Direction that has been wisely given us; When he speaks fair, Believe him not, for there are seven Abominations in his Heart.

IV. Things in themselves Allowable and Convenient, are oftentimes turned into sore Temptations by the Devil. He press'd our Lord unto the mak[55]ing of Bread; Why, that very thing was afterwards done by our Lord, in the Miracles of the Loaves; and yet it is now a motion of the Devil, Pray, make thy self a little Bread. The Devil will frequently put men by, from the doing of a seasonable Duty; but how? Truly by putting us upon another Duty, which may be at that juncture a most Unseasonable Thing. It is said in Eccl. 8. 5. A Wise Mans heart discerns both Time and Judgment. The Ill-Timing of good Things, is One of the chief Intregues, which the Devil has to Prosecute. The Devil himself, will Egg us on to many a Duty; and why so? But because at that very Time a more proper and Useful Duty, will have a Supersedeas given thereunto. And, thus there are many Things, whereof we can say, though no more than this, yet so much as this, They are Lawful ones, by which Lawful Things —Perimus Omnes. Where shall we find that the Devil has laid our most fatal Snares? Truly, our Snares are on the Bed, where it is Lawful for us to Sleep; at the Board, where it is Lawful for us to Sit; in the Cup, where 'tis Lawful to Drink; and in the Shops, where we have Lawful Business to do. The Devil will decoy us, unto the utmost Edge of the Liberty that is Lawful for us; and then one Little push, hurries us into a Transgression against the Lord. And the Devil by Inviting us to a Lawful thing, at a wrong time for it, Layes us under further Entanglement of Guilt before God. 'Tis Lawful for People to use Recreations; but in the Evening of the Lords Day, or the Morning of any Day, how Ensnaring are they! The Devil then too commonly bears part in the Sport. If Promiscuous Dancing were Lawful; though almost all the Christian Churches in the World, have made a Scandal of it; yet for Persons to go presently from a Sermon to a Dance, is to do a thing, which Doubtless the Devil makes good Earnings of.

V. To distrust Gods Providence and Protection, is one of the worst things, into which the Devil by his Temptations would be hurrying of us. He would fain have driven our Lord unto a Suspicion of Gods care about Him, said the Devil, You may dy for lack of Bread, if you do not look better after your self, than God is like to do for you. It is an usual thing for Persons to dispair of Gods Fatherly Care Concerning them; they torture themselves with distracting and amazing Fears, that they shall come to want before they dy; Yea, they even say with Jonas, in Chap. 2. 4. I am cast out of the sight of God; He wont look after me! But it is the Devil that is the Author of all such Melancholly Suggestions in the minds of men. It is a thought that often raises a Feaver in the Hearts of Married Persons, when Charges grow upon them; God will never be able in the way of my calling, to feed and cloath all my Little Folks. It is a Thought with which Aged persons are often tormented, Tho' God has all my dayes hitherto supplied me, yet I shall be pinched with Straits before I come to my Journeys end. 'Tis a malicious Devil that raises these Evil surmisings in the hearts of Men. And sometimes a distemper of Body affords a Lodg[56]ing for the Devil, from whence he shoots the cruel Bombs of such Fiery Thoughts into the minds of many other persons. With such thoughts does the Devil choose to persecute us; because thereby we come to Forfeit what we Question. We Question the Care of God, and so we Forfeit it, until perhaps the Devil do utterly drown us in Perdition. Our God says, Trust in the Lord, and do good, and verily thou shalt be fed. But the Devil says, don't you trust in God; be afraid that you shall not be fed; and thus he hinders men from the doing of Good.

VI. There is nothing more Frequent in the Temptations of the Devil, then for our Adoption to be doubted, because of our Affliction. When our Lord was in his Penury, then says the Devil, If thou be the Son of God; he now makes an If, of it; What? the Son of God, and yet not be able to Command a Bit of Bread! Thus, when we are in very Afflictive Circumstances, this will be the Devils Inference, Thou art not a Child of God. The Bible says in Heb. 12. 7. If you are Chastened, it is a shrow'd sign that you can't be Children. Since he can't Rob us of our Grace, he would Rob us of our Joy; and therefore having Accused us unto God, he then Accuses God unto us. When Israel was weak and faint in the Wilderness, then did Amalek set upon them; just so does the Devil set upon the people of God, when their Losses, their Crosses, their Exercises have Enfeebled their Souls within them; and what says the Devil? E'en the same that was mutter'd in the Ear of the Afflicted Job, Is not this the Uprightness of thy Ways? Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being Innocent? If thou wert a Child of God, He would never follow thee, with such Testimonies of his Indignation. This is the Logic of the Devil; and he thus interrupts that patience and that Chearfulness wherewith we should suffer the will of God.

VII. To dispute the Divine Original and Authority of Gods Word, is not the least of those Temptations with which the Devil troubles us. God from Heaven, had newly said unto our Lord, this is my Beloved Son; but now the Devil would have him to make a dispute of it, If thou be the son of God. The Devil durst not be so Impudent, and Brasen fac'd, as to bid men use Pharaohs Language, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice? But he will whisper into our Ears, what he did unto our Mother Eve of old, It is not the Lord that hath spoken what you call his Word. The Devil would have men say unto the Scripture, what they said unto the Prophet, in Jer. 43. 2. Thou speakest falsely; the Lord our God hath not sent thee to speak what thou sayest unto us; & he would fain have secret & cursed Misgivings in our hearts, that things are not altogether so as the Scripture has represented them. The Devil would with all his heart make one huge Bonefire of all the Bibles in the world; & he has got Millions of persecutors to assist him in the suppression of that miraculous book. It was the devil once in the tongue of a Papist, that cry'd out, A plague on this bible; this 'tis that [89] does all our mischief. But because he can't Suppress this Book, he sets himself, to Disgrace it all that he can. Altho' the Scripture carries its own Evidence with it, and be all over, so pure, so great, so true, and so powerful, that it is impossible it should proceed from any but God alone; yet the Devil would gladly bring some Discredit upon it, as if it were but some Humane Contrivance; Of nothing, is the Devil more desirous, than this; That we should not count, Christ so precious, Heaven so Glorious, Hell so Dreadful, and Sin so odious, as the Scripture has declared it.

§. The Second of our Lords Three Temptations, is related after this manner, in Mat. 4. 5, 6. Then the Devil taketh him up, into the Holy City, and setteth him upon a Pinacle of the Temple; and saith unto him, if thou be the Son of God, cast thy self down; for it is written, He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee, and in their Hands, they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy Foot against a Stone.

From whence take these Remarks.

I. The places of the greatest Holiness will not secure us from Annoyance by the Temptations of the Devil, to the greatest wickedness. When our Lord was in the Holy City, the Devil fell upon him there. Indeed, there is now no proper Holiness of Places in our Days; the Signs and Means of Gods more special Presence are not under the Gospel, ty'd unto any certain places: Nevertheless there are places, where we use to enjoy much of God; and where, altho' God visit not the Persons for the sake of the Places, yet he visits the Places for the sake of the Persons. But, I am to tell you that the Devil will visit those Places and best Persons there. No Place, that I know of, has got such a Spell upon it, as will always keep the Devil out. The Meeting-House wherein we Assemble for the Worship of God, is fill'd with many Holy People, and many Holy Concerns continually; but if our Eyes were so refined as the Servant of the Prophet had his of old, I suppose we should now see a Throng of Devils in this very place. The Apostle has intimated, that Angels come in among us; there are Angels it seems that hark, how I Preach, and how you Hear, at this Hour. And our own sad Experience is enough to intimate, That the Devils are likewise Rendevouzing here. It is Reported, in Job 1. 5. When the Sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, Satan came also among them. When we are in our Church-Assemblies, O how many Devils, do you imagine, [90] croud in among us! There is a Devil that rocques one to Sleep, there is a Devil that makes another to be thinking of, he scarce knows what himself; and there is a Devil, that makes another, to be pleasing himself with wanton and wicked Speculations. It is also possible, that we have our Closets, or our Studies, gloriously perfumed with Devotions every day; but alas, can we shut the Devil out of them? No, Let us go where we will, we shall still find a Devil nigh unto us. Onely, when we come to Heaven, we shall be out of his reach for ever; O thou foul Devil; we are going where thou canst not come! He was hissed out of Paradese, and shall never enter it any more. Yea, more than so, when the New Jerusalem comes down into the High Places of our Air, from whence the Devil shall then be banished, there shall be no Devil within the Walls of that Holy City. Amen. Even so Lord Jesus, Come quickly.

II. Any other acknowledgments of the Lord Jesus Christ, will be permitted by the Temptations of the Devil, provided those Acknowledgments of him, which are True and Full, may be thereby prevented. What was it, that the Devil hurried our Lord Jesus Christ unto the Top of the Temple for? Surely it could not meerly be to find Precipices; any part of the Wilderness would have afforded Them. No, it was rather to have Spectators. And why so, Why, the carnal Jews had an Expectation among them; that Elias was to fly from Heaven to the Temple; and the Devil seems willing, that our Lord should be cry'd up for Elias, among the giddy multitude; or any thing in the World, tho never so considerable otherwise, rather than to be received as the Christ of God. The Devil will allow his Followers to think very highly of the Lord Jesus Christ; O but he is very lothe to have them think, All. We read in Col. 1. 19. It has pleased the Father, that in him there should all Fullness dwell. But it is pleasing to the Devil that we deny something of the Immense Fullness, which is in our Lord. The Devil would confess to our Lord, Thou art the Holy one of God! but then he claps in, Thou art Jesus of Nazareth; which was to conceal our Lords being Jesus of Bethlehem, and so his being, The True Messiah. All the Heresies, and all the Persecutions, that ever plagued the Church of God, have still been, to strike at some Glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. A Christ Entirely Acknowledged, will save the Souls of them that so Acknowledge Him; but, says the Devil, Whatever I must not give way to that. As they say, the Devil [91] makes Witches unable to utter all the Lords Prayer, or some such System of Religion, without some Deprevations of it; thus the Devil will consent that we may make a very large Confession of the Lord Jesus Christ; only he will have us to deprave it, at least in some one Important Article. Some one Honour, some one Office, and some one Ordinance of the Lord Jesus Christ, must be always left unacknowledged, by those that will do as the Devil would have them.

III. High Stations in the Church of God, lay men open to violent and peculiar Temptations of the Devil. When our Lord was upon the Pinacle, that is not the Fane, or Spire, but the Battlements of the Temple, there did the Devil pester him, with singular Molestations, and he therein seems to intend an Entanglement for the Jews, as well as for our Lord. Believe me they that stand High, cannot stand safe. The Devil is a Nimrod, a mighty Hunter; and common or little Game, will not serve his Turn: he is a Leviathan, of whom we may say, as in Job. 41. 34. He beholds all high things. Men of high Attainments, and Men of high Employments, in the Church of God, must look, like Peter to be more Sifted, and like Paul, to be more Buffeted than other Men. Feriunt Summos Fulmina Montes.– The Devil can raise a Storm, when God permitteth it, but as for those Men that stand near Heaven, the Devil will attack them with his most cruel storms of Thunder and Lightening. It was said, let him that stands take heed; but we may say, They that stand most high, have cause to take most heed. The Devil is a Goliah; and when he finds a Champion, he'l be sure most fiercely to Combate such a Man. He is for, Killing many Birds with one stone; and he knows that he shall hinder a world of Good, and produce a world of Ill, if once he can bring a Man Eminently Stationed into his Toyls. Hence 'tis that the Ministers of God, are more dogg'd by the Devil, than other persons are. Especially such Ministers, as move in the highest Orb of Serviceableness; and most of all such Ministers as have spent many years in Laudable Endeavours to be serviceable; Those Ministers are the Stars of Heaven, at which the Tayl of the Dragon, will give the most sweeping and most stinging strokes; the Devil will find that for them, that shall make them Walk softly all their Days. These are the Men, that have creepled, and vexed the Devil more than other Men; for which the Devil has an old Quarrel with them. O Neighbours, little do you think, what black Days of Mourning, and Fasting, and Praying before the Lord, a Raging Devil does fill the lives of such Men of God withall.

[92] IV. The Devil will make a deceitful and unfaithful use of the Scriptures to make his Temptations forceable. When the Devil Solicited our Lord, unto an evil thing, he quoted the Ninty First Psalm unto him, tho' indeed he fallaciously clip'd it, and maim'd it, of one clause very material in it. O never does the Devil make such dangerous Passes at us, as when he does wrest our own Sword out of our Hands, and push That upon us. We have to defend us, that Weapon in Eph. 6. 16. The Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; but when the Devil has that very Weapon to fight us with, he makes terrible work of it. When the Devil would poyson men with false Doctrines, he'l quote Scriptures for them; a Quaker himself, will have the First Chapter of John always in his mouth. When the Devil would perswade men to vile Actions, he'l quote Scriptures for them; he'l encourage men to go on in Sin, by showing them, where 'tis said, The Lord is ready to Pardon. I say this, The one story of Davids Fall, in the Scripture, has been made by the Devil an Engine for the Damnation of many Millions. The Devil will fright men from doing those things, that are, the Things of their Peace; but How? He'l turn a Scripture into a Scarecrow for them. The Devil will fright them from all constant Prayer to God, by quoting that Scripture, The Sacrifice of the Wicked, is an Abomination to the Lord; the Devil will fright them from the Holy Supper of God, by quoting that Scripture, He that Eats and Drinks unworthily, Eats and Drinks damnation to himself. And thus the Devil will by some abused Scripture, Terrifie the Children of God; the Scripture is written as we are told, For our Comfort; but it is quoted by the Devil, for our terror. How many Godly Souls have been cast into sinful Doubts and Fears, by the Devils foolish glosses upon that Scripture, He that doubts is damned; and that, the fearful shall have their portion in the burning Lake: The Devil sometimes has play'd the Preacher, but I say, Beware all silly Souls when such a Fool is Preaching.

V. Grievous and Pulling Hurries to Self-Murder are none of the smallest outrages, which the Devil in his Temptations commits upon us. Why, did the Devil say to our Lord, Cast thy self down, but in hopes that our Lord would have broke his Bones, in the fall? The Devil is an Old Murtherer; and he loves to Murder men; but no Murder gives him so much satisfaction, as that which at his instigation, men perpetrate upon themselves. We [93] see that such as are Bewitched and Possessed by the Devil, do quickly lay violent hands upon themselves, if they be not watched continually, and we see that when persons have begun that Unnatural business of killing themselves, there is a Preternatural Stupendious Prodigious Assistance, by the Devil given thereunto. When people are going to Harm themselves, we call upon them, like those to the Jailor, in Acts 16. 28. Do thy self no harm! And we have this Argument for it, It is the Devil that is dragging of you to this mischief; but will you believe, will you obey such an one as the Devil is? What was it that made Judas to strangle himself? We read it was when the Devil was in him. I suppose there are few self-murderers, but what are first very strangely fallen into the Devils hands; and possibly, 'tis by some Extraordinary Discontent, against God, or back-sliding from him, that the Devil first entred into those disturbed Souls. Indeed, some very great Saints of God, have sometimes had hideous Royls raised by the Devil in their minds; untill they have e'en cry'd out with Job, I choose strangling rather than life; and sometimes the ill Humours or Vapours in the Bodies of such Good Men, do so harbour the Devil that they have this woful motion every day thence made unto them; You must kill your self! you must! you must! But it is rarely any other than a Saul, an Abimelek, an Achitophel, or a Judas; rarely any other, than a very Reprobate, whom the Devil can drive, while the man is Compos Mentis, to Consummate such a Villany. Yea, no Child of God, in his Right Senses can go so far in this impiety, as to be left without all Time and Room for true Repentance of the Crime; 'tis thus done, by none but those that go to the Devil. A self-murder, acted by one that is upon other accounts a Reasonable man, is but such an attempt of Revenge upon the God that made him, as none but one full of the Devil can be guilty of. If any of you are Dragoon'd by the Devil, unto the murdering of your selves, my Advice to you is, Disclose it, Reveal it, make it known immediately. One that Cut his own Throat among us, Expired crying out, O that I had told! O that I had told. You may spoil the Devil, if you'l Tell what he is a doing of.

VI. Presumptuous and Unwarrantable Trials of the Blessed God, are some of those things whereinto the Devil would fain hook us with his Temptations. This was that which the Devil would have brought our Lord unto, even, A tempting of the Lord our God. It is the charge of our God upon us, in Deut. 6. 16. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. But that which the Devil Tries, is, to put us upon Trying in a sinful way whether God be such a God as indeed he is. [94] 'Tis true as to the ways of Obedience, our God says unto us, Prove me, in those ways; Try, whether I won't be as good as my Word. But then there are ways of Presumption, wherein the Devil would have us to trie, what a God it is, With whom we have to do. The Devil would have us to trie the Purpose of God, about our selves or others; but how? By going to the Devil himself; by Consulting Astrologers, or Fortune Tellers; or perhaps by letting the Bible fall open, to see what is the first Sentence we light upon. The Devil would have us trie the Mercy of God, but how? By running into Dangers, which we have no call unto. He would have us trie the Power of God; but how? By looking for good things, without the use of Means for the getting of them. He would have us trie the Justice of God; but how? By venturing upon Sin in a Corner, with an Imagination that God will never bring us out. He would have us trie the Promise of God; but how? By Limiting the Lord, unto such or such a way of manifesting Himself, or else believing of nothing at all. He would have us trie the Threatning of God; but how? By going on impenitently in those things, for which the Wrath of God comes upon the Children of Disobedience. Thus would the Devil have us to affront the Majesty of Heaven every day.