178 OF SPIRITIIAL MINDEDNESS. from his first temptation, by way of an ensnaring question, ' yea, and hath God said it, ye shall not eat of every tree of thegarden 1' he still proceeds much in the same methods. So he did with our Saviour him- self, if thou be the Son Gad. Is there a God'? How if there should be none l In such a case the rule is given us by the apostle : ' above all, take the shield of faith, whereby ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.' Eph. vi. 16, 'tot ponerou,' of the wicked one, that is, the devil. And two ways will faith act itself on this occasion. (1.) By a speedy rejection of such diabolical sug- gestions with detestation. So did our Saviour in a case not unlike it, Get thee behind me, Satan. Where= fore if any such thoughts are suggested, or seem to arise in our minds, know assuredly that they are no less immediately from the devil, than if he personally stood before you, and visibly appeared to you ; if he did so, there is none of you but would arm yourselves with an utter defiance of what he should offer to you. It isrno less necessary on this occasion, when you may feel him, though you see him not. Suffer not his fiery darts to abide one moment with you ; reject them with indignation; and strengthen your rejection with some pertinent text of .scripture, as our Saviour did. If a man have a grenado or a fire-ball cast into his clothes by his enemy, he doth not consider whether it will burn or not, but immediately shakes it off from him. Deal no otherwise with these fiery darts, lest by their abode with you they inflame your imagination to greater disturbance. (2.) In case they utterly depart not upon this en- deavor for their exclusion and casting out, return im- mediately, without further dispute, to your own expe-
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