276 Satanspower to Tempt andChrift's love to, That ye never wereObedient, never Fruitful, never profited by the means ofgrace; this blow fats dead upon the foul, this blow is.not to be warded off, this is no temptation. But now, ifye haveever beenfruitful, if ye have ever been obedient, if ye have ever profited by the means of grace; though for the prefent ye may feem dead : yet remember what gob faies, 'There is hopeof a tree, though it be cut down, tbat by the fcent ofwaters it willflourillo again. And fo, there is hope of thy foul, that by the fcent of the Goffiel-waters thou maiefiflourifh again. But though there be no obedi- ence in your own eye, though ye don't profit under the means,in your own eye; yet your obedience may be in the eye of others : and in time of temptation, another mans eye is a better judge than your own. But fuppofe there feem to be no obedience, neither in your own, nor anothers eye; yet the root of the matter maybe in you. Ye know how it is with the fifh, that are in the water, in a windy and a flormy day : ye put many fifh intoa pond ; and in a faire, fun fhiney day, ye fee them playing upon thewater, upon the uppermoft part of the water; but ina rainy, and ;brinyday, ye fee noneof them there, but yet you fay, they are all there, they are in the water, they are at the bottome, though you fee them not. And fo, it may be, in this fiormy time of temptation, your obedience, and profiting is not Peen, but it may be there as heretofore. Satan does never more preffe a child of God, to try himfelf by figns ofgracedrawn from hisown conver- fation, than in the timeof temptation. There is indeed a good ufe of figns drawn from our own converfation, but this isagreed upon byall, That there's no ufe ofthem in the timeoftemptation. And therefore fades Luther : In the time oftemptation, 1. am as if there were no Law, nor no works, but only the righteoufneflofChrifi in the world, andfo Ido reft up- hill:. Does Satan come forth thereforewith this temptati- on,That you havenoobedience, that youdon't profit, that you are Unfruitful ? Anfwer it thus : True Satan, Icon, fere I am very Unprofitable, and therefore I will learn to profit
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