Page:Comer's conflict, or, The beginner's battle with the devil, when essaying to come to Christ by faith.pdf/13

 The Beginner's Battle with the Devil. 13 the rebuke of God. And by the way, ſee the excel- lency of Chriſt above the archangel; Chriſt rebukes Satan by his own power and authority. For he ſaid not, The Lord rebuke tbee, but, Get thee behind me Satan. 2dly. There are temptations of Satan with reference to heart wanderings in duty. Satan knows, if he can get theſe flies to come and reſt in this precious ointment, they will putrify it. He knows if the thoughts wander, God regards not what the tongue ſays; and if he can ſpoil your prayers, he fears not any ordinance what good it can do to thee. If your thoughts be earthly, he cares not how heavenly your words are. Herein Satan gets aſſiſtance from the evil heart ; Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, Matt. xv. 19. They ariſe out of the heart as pſarks out of the furnace ; they ſtay not in the heart, but are active and aſcend up to the head; and they come out of the heart, not as ſparks out of a flint, by the concuſſion and violence forced out of it, but they proceed out of it, ſays Chriſt; they come out of themſelves, and they proceed always in a continued act.-Satan's temptations to heart-wandering in duty, are alſo furthered by a mul- titude of buſineſs, and that two ways. (1.) If we come from a multitude of buſineſs ; for our hearts are like the troubled ſea, it muſt have ſome conſi- derable time before it be compoſed, tho' the winds that raiſed the ſtorms ceaſe; ſo when we come from buſineſs, there muſt be ſome time after our buſineſs is ended before Lour hearts be fedate and fit for prayers nay, in this our hearts are worſe than the ſea, becauſe, ( 2.) Future buſineſs will diſtract us before it come. The ſea is not tumultuous before the wind blow! but the buſi- ineſs we have to do will trouble us before it comes to be done. It is a hard thing to keep buſineſs out of our thoughts when we pray, and make it ſtay till our prayer is ended. Now, to fortify againſt theſe, I offer the following dour advices ſhortly. 1. O ſtudy to mortify the love of the world: where our love is, there will our thoughts be. To ſet your love on the world, and your thoughts on God, you will find alto- gether impoſſible: He that loveth the world, the love of the Father is not in im. O ſeek to mortify this. 2. Lay up your treaſure in heaven; for where your trea-