fure; which are the very Expreffions of St. Paul, concerning fuch Perfons: So that even as to bad Men, the Devil hath not always the fame Power, but over fome he hath a greater, and over others a lefs, ftill in Proportion to their Degrees of their Wickednefs and Degeneracy. As the Operations of the holy Spirit are various, according to the Capacity and Difpofition of the Subject he works upon, there being fome who are not yet in the State of Regeneration, whom he only invites and folicits by his holy Motions to amend their Lives, and to become holy and virtuous: But, others, that are actually regenerate, he dwells within them as in a Temple, and is a conftant Principle in them of holy and virtuous Actions: So it is in fome Measure as to the Devil's Operations upon Men; fome Men he only tempts, but others he hath fo great a Dominion over, that tho', it may be, he cannot properly be faid to poffefs them, or to dwell in them, yet they are as much his own, as if he did. Thus as St. Stephen, in the 6th of the Acts, is faid to be filled with the good Spirit, fo Ananias in the 5th of the Acts, after he had fet his Heart to do that Wickedness, for which St. Peter ftruck him dead, is faid to be filled with the bad Spirit. Why bath Satan (faith St. Peter filled thine Heart to lye to the Holy Ghoft?

And as it is thus with refpect to bad Men compared one with another, fo it is with Refpect to the fame Perfons at feveral Times,

as

as they grow more wicked. When Judas first entered upon a Defign of betraying our Saviour, then it is only faid, That the Devil put it into his Heart; he only tempted him to it, John xiii. 2. But when he had given his intire Consent to the Action, and, notwithstanding our Saviour's Discovery of him at Supper, still perfifted in that wicked Defign, having his Heart fully bent upon it; then it is told us, that Satan entered into him, as you have it in the 27th Verfe; he had now gotten full Dominion over him, and from henceforward made him act as he pleased.

The Reason, for which I infift upon this Point, and the Ufe I make of it, is this; that it infinitely concerns all of us to keep clofe to God and our Duty; and as we love our Souls, to have a care of all wilful open Crimes, that do wound our Confciences, and dishonour our Religion. For all fuch Crimes, as they grieve the Holy Spirit, and drive him away from us, fo do they put us out of the particular Protection of the good Angels, and leave us more expofed to the Affaults and Temptations of wicked Spirits, that bear us evil Will.

So long as we walk uprightly before God, and in all our Actions do heartily endeavour to approve ourselves to him, we need net fear the leaft Mifchief or Damage from any of the Powers of Darkness; and though they may now and then be permitted to fpread their Temptations before us, yet this

Chall

shall redound to our own greater Benefit and Comfort. But every great and wilful Departure from God and our Duty, gives the Devil an Advantage over us; and that Advantage he may fo manage and improve, (unless we, by our timely Repentance, and return to our Duty, prevent the ill Confequences) that he will more and more get us under his Power, 'till at laft God give us over, and we be wholly reduced among the Number of the Devil's Children and Servants: And when we are once come to this fad Condition, he is (without an extraordinary Interpofition of Divine Mercy) fo fure of us, that he will not need to throw away much of his Time and Pains, in tempting us to this or the other particular evil Action; for, being acted by his Principle, we shall run faft enough on, in doing his Bufinefs, without his immediate Inftigation: Nay, as I faid in my former Difcourfe, we shall take his Office out of his Hands, and prove Devils to those about us, by tempting them to be as bad as we ourfelves are; but God Almighty preferve us all from this deplorable State.

My fifth Inquiry upon this Argument, is this; Whether it be poffible for us, ordinarily to diftinguish the Devil's particular Temptations, from those that come to us other ways; as for Inftance, from our own vicious Inclinations, or from the Men of the World.

In answer to this, I fay, that as far as we can judge by Reason and Experience, it is hardly poffible for us to diftinguish them. My Reason is, that tho' the Devil hath a Power of making Application to our Minds, in a more immediate way, than by the Means of our outward Senfes, yet fuch is the Conftitution of our Natures, that he can convey nothing to our Minds, but juft in fuch a Manner as our own Thoughts and Reasoning are occafioned in us; and thofe Things he reprefents, will make just fuch Impreffions upon our Minds, as the Things that are reprefented by other Caufes, upon other Occafions. So that it will be impoffible for us to distinguish between these Suggestions that he caufeth in us, and those that arife from the Temperament and Complexion of our own Bodies.

To give a fairer Account of this. The Motions which are made in our Bodies to that which is good, and the Temptations which are fuggefted to that which is evil, are, without Doubt,, prefented and performed in the fame way. There is no doubt, but alliChriftians have a great deal of Affistance from the Spirit of God, and his holy Angels, in the way of Godliness. It is to the working of the Holy Spirit in our Hearts, that every good. Man owes his fpiritual Regeneration, or new Birth; and it is likewife to the Influences of the fame Spirit, that he owes his Proficiency and Growth in Grace and Virtue. VOL. III. H

Nay,

Nay, even thofe, that are not in a State of Grace, that are not yet regenerate, but live loosely and carelefly; yet fo long as there are any Hopes of them, fo long the Spirit of God ftrives with them; fo long he takes occafion to folicit and tempt them; (if I may ufe the Word in that Senfe) to leave that Courfe of Life they are engaged in, and to become seriously pious and religious. In a Word, both the Good and the Bad do receive a great many good Motions, from the Divine Spirit: A thousand holy Thoughts are fuggefted to our Minds by him, and by the holy Angels that act under him for the Good of the Church of God. But yet all these Motions and Suggeftions, nay, all the Operations of these heavenly Spirits upon us, are performed in fo natural, fo familiar, fo imperceptible a way, that it will be hard for any Man to fay that he can diftinguish them from the Actings of his own Mind. We feel them no otherwife, than we do our own Thoughts and Meditations; nor can we in the leaft diftinguish them, by the manner of their affecting us, from our natural Reafonings, and the natural Operations of Arguments and Motives upon our Minds.

And this Imperceiveableness of the Impreffions made upon our Souls by the Holy Spirit, was that which our Saviour fignified to Nicodemus, in the 3d of St. John, by the Similitude of a Wind, which, faith he, we bear the Sound of; but we know not whence