Worthy Devices – Seventh Device and Remedies
I haven’t posted one of these in a while, but here is the subsequent chapter’s thoughts that I have noted.
Device (7) – By making the soul bold to venture upon the occasions of sin. Saith Satan, ‘You may walk by the harlot’s door though you won’t go into the harlot’s bed; you may sit and sup with the drunkard, though you won’t be drunk with the drunkard…’
Remedy (1) – Solemnly dwell upon those scriptures that do expressly command us to avoid the occasions of sin, and the least appearance of evil (1 Thess. 5:22)… So in Proverbs 4:14,15 you have another command: ‘Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men: avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.’ This triple gradation of Solomon showeth with a great emphasis, how necessary it is for men to flee from all appearance of sin, as the seaman shuns sands and shelves, and as men shun those that have the plague-sores running upon them.
Remedy (2) – The second remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider, That ordinarily there is no conquest over sin, without the soul turning from the occasion of sin. God will not remove the temptation, except you turn from the occasion…As long as there is fuel in our hearts for a temptation, we cannot be secure. He that hath gunpowder about him had need keep far enough off from sparkles. To rush upon the occasions of sin is both to tempt ourselves, and to tempt Satan to tempt our souls.
Ah, souls, often remember how frequently you have been overcome by sin, when you have boldly gone upon the occasions of sin: look back, souls, to the day of your vanity, wherein you have been as easily conquered as tempted, vanquished as assaulted, when you have played with the occasions of sin. As you would for the future be kept from the acting of sin, and be made victorious over sin, oh! flee from the occasions of sin.
Remedy (3) – Seriously consider, That other precious saints, that were once glorious on earth, and are now triumphing in heaven, have turned from the occasions of sin, as hell itself; as you may see in Joseph (Gen. 39:10).
The devil counts a fit occasion half a conquest, for he knows that corrupt nature hath a seed-plot for all sin, which being drawn forth and watered by some sinful occasion, is soon set-a-work to the producing of death and destruction. The shunning the occasions of sin renders a man most like the best of men.
The eye is the window of the soul, and if that should be always open, the soul might smart for it. It is best and safest to have the eye always fixed upon the highest and noblest objects…He that shooteth at the sun, though he be far short, will shoot higher than he that aimeth at a shrub. It is best, and it speaks out much of Christ within, to eye the highest and the worthiest examples.
Remedy (4) – The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider, That the avoiding of the occasions of sin, is an evidence of grace, and that which lifts up a man above most other men in the world.
Nothing but grace can fence a man against the occasions of sin.
– Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices (pp. 66 – 70)
Worthy Lessons… Sixth Device and Remedies
This is the second part of quotations from this long chapter. Below is the sixth Device retyped and the third and following Remedies:
Device (6) – By persuading the soul that the work of repentance is an easy work, and that therefore the soul need not make such a matter of sin. Why! Suppose you do sin, saith Satan, it is no such difficult thing to return, and confess, and be sorrowful, and beg pardon, and cry, ‘Lord, have mercy upon me!’ and if you do but this, God will cut the score, and pardon your sins, and save your souls.
By this device Satan draws many a soul to sin, and makes many millions of souls servants or rather slaves to sin.
Remedy (3) – The third remedy against this device of Satan is seriously to consider, That repentance is a continual act. A true penitent must go on from faith to faith, from strength to strength; he must never stand still nor turn back. Repentance is a grace, and must have its daily operation as well as other graces. True repentance is a continued spring, where the waters of godly sorry are always flowing: ‘My sin is ever before me’ (Psalm 51:3). A true penitent is often casting his eyes back to the days of his former vanity, and this makes him morning and evening to ‘water his couch with tears.’
A true penitent hath ever something within him to turn from; he can never get near enough to God; no, not so near him as once he was; and therefore he is still turning and turning that he may get nearer and nearer to him, that is his chiefest good and his only happiness, optimum maximum, the best and the greatest. They are crying every day a -crying out, ‘O wretched man that we are, who shall deliver us from this body of death! Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!’ (Romans 7).
A Jewish Rabbi, pressing the practice of repentance upon his disciples, and exhorting them to be sure to repent the day before they died, one of them replied, that the day of any man’s death was very uncertain. ‘Repent, therefore, every day,’ said the Rabbi,’ and then you shall be sure to repent the day before you die.’ You are wise, and know how to apply it to your own advantage.
Remedy (4) – Solemnly consider, That if the work of repentance were such an easy work as Satan would make it to be, then certainly so many would not lie roaring and crying out of wrath and eternal ruin under the horrors and terror of conscience, for not repenting; yea, doubtless, so many millions would not go to hell for not repenting, if it were such an easy thing to repent.
Remedy (5) – Seriously consider, That to repent of sin is as great a work of grace as not to sin. By our sinful falls the powers of the soul are weakened, the strength of grace is decayed, our evidences for heaven are blotted, fears and doubts in the soul are raised (will God once more pardon this scarlet sin, and show mercy to this wretched soul?), and corruptions in the heart are more advantaged and confirmed; and the conscience of a man after falls is the more enrageds and more benumbered. Now, for a soul, notwithstanding all this, to repent of his falls, this shows that it is as great a work of grace to repent of sin as it is not to sin.
Remedy (6) – Seriously consider, That he that now tempts thee to sin upon this account, that repentance is easy, will, ere long, to work thee to despair, and for ever to break the neck of the soul, present repentance as the difficultest and hardest work in the world, and to this purpose he will set thy sins in order before thee, and make them to say, ‘We are thine, and we must follow thee.’ Now, Satan will help to work the soul to look up, and see God angry, and to look inward, and to see conscience accusing and condemning, and to look downwards and see hell’s mouth open to receive the impenitent soul…
Now, saith Satan, do but a little consider thy numberless sins, and the greatness of they sins, the foulness of they sins, and thou shalt easily see that those sins that thou thoughtest to be but motes, are indeed mountains; and is it not now in vain to repent of them! For such a wretch as thou aret to attempt repentance is to attempt a thing impossible!
Ah, souls! he that now tempts you to sin, by suggesting to you the easiness of repentance, will at last work you to despair, and present repentance as the hardest work in all the world, and a work as far above man as heaven is above hell, as light is above darkness. Oh, that you were wise, to break off your sins by timely repentance.
– Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices (pp. 60-65)
Worthy Lessons… Sixth Device and Remedies
Device (6) – By persuading the soul that the work of repentance is an easy work, and that therefore the soul need not make such a matter of sin. Why! Suppose you do sin, saith Satan, it is no such difficult thing to return, and confess, and be sorrowful, and beg pardon, and cry, ‘Lord, have mercy upon me!’ and if you do but this, God will cut the score, and pardon your sins, and save your souls.
By this device Satan draws many a soul to sin, and makes many millions of souls servants or rather slaves to sin.
Remedy (1) – The first remedy is, seriously to consider, That repentance is a mighty work, a difficult work, a work that is above our power. There is no power below that power that raised Christ from the dead, and that made the world, that can break the heart of a sinner or turn the heart of a sinner.
Repentance is a gift that comes down from above. Men are not born with repentance in their hearts, as they are born with tongues in their mouths: (Acts 5:31).
Remedy (2) – Solemnly consider the nature of true repentance. Repentance hath in it three things:
- The formal act of repentance is changing and converting.
- The subject changed and converted is the whole man; it is both the sinner’s heart and life: first his heart, then his life; first his person, then his practice and conversation.
- The terms of this change and conversion, from which and to which both heart and life must be changed; from sin to God. The heart must be changed from the state and power of sin, the life from the acts of sin, but both unto God; the heart to be under his power in a state of grace, the life to be under his rule in all new obedience; as the apostle speaks, ‘To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God’ (Acts 26:18).
Thus much of the nature of evangelical repentance. Now, souls, tell me whether it be such an easy thing to repent, as Satan doth suggest. Beside what hath been spoken, I desire that you will take notice, that repentance doth include turning from the most darling sin… a sensibleness of sin’s sinfulness…a sensibleness of sin’s mischievousness, how it cast angels out of heaven, and Adam out of paradise…
Further, true repentance doth include sorrow for sin, contrition of heart. It breaks the heart with sighs, and sobs, and groans, for that a loving God and Father is by sin offended, a blessed Savior afresh crucified, and the sweet Comforter, the Spirit, grieved and vexed.
Again, repentance doth include, not only a loathing of sin, but also a loathing of ourselves for sin… [and] not only [to] loathe himself for his sins, but it makes him ashamed of his sin also. ‘What fruit had ye in those things whereof ye are now ashamed?’ saith the apostle (Rom. 6:21).
When a penitent soul sees his sins pardoned, the anger of God pacified, the divine justice satisfied, then he sits down and blushes, as the Hebrew hath it, as one ashamed. Yea, true repentance doth work a man to cross his sinful self, and to walk contrary to sinful self, to take a holy revenge upon sin, as you may see in Paul, the jailor, Mary Magdalene, and Manasseh…
Now souls, sum up all these things together and tell me whether it would be such an easy thing to repent as Satan would make the soul to believe, and I am confident that your heart will answer that it is as hard a thing to repent as it is to make a world, or raise the dead.
– Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices (pp. 55-60)
Those are many wonderful, sobering words, and I only typed out half of the ones I have underlined! In fact, that is only the first two of six Remedies for this Device of Satan. It is such a long post that I will continue and conclude this chapter in the next post.
I think something really important that I glean from this chapter is that it is normal and expected for our souls to be heavy and eyes full of tears over our sins. In this present day and culture we are deceived often into thinking that something is “wrong” with us if we are sorrowful. We have to be happy all the time, and if we aren’t, we have pills and books and all kinds of stuff to wipe away our discomfort and sadness. No, this is not what Scripture teaches, nor is it what Brooks lays out for us here. We should have times in which we groan and cry over our heart’s condition to the point of tears. This should be a regular exercise of the believer, one that drives us in humble desperation to the cross of Christ, our hope. If this is not part of our lives, then we should step back and carefully question where we are in the great battle between God and self.
Worthy Lessons…Fifth Device and Remedies
This next look at Device and Remedies from Brooks concentrates on the ways Satan can convince believers to trivialize and excuse our sin by abusing God’s mercy in order to do what we want.
Device (5) – To present God to the soul as one made up all of mercy. Oh! saith Satan, you need not make such a matter of sin, you need not be so fearful of sin, not so unwilling to sin; for God is a God of mercy, a God full of mercy, a God that delights in mercy, a God that is ready to show mercy, a God more prone to pardon his people than to punish his people; and therefore he will not take advantage against the soul; and why then, saith Satan, should you make such a matter of sin?
Remedy (1) – Seriously consider, That it is the sorest judgment in the world to be left to sin upon any pretence whatsoever. O unhappy man! when God leaveth thee to thyself, and doth not resist thee in thy sins. Woe, woe to him at whose sins God does not wink… Ah Lord! this mercy I humbly beg, that whatever thou givest me up to, thou wilt not give me up to the ways of my own heart; if thou wilt give me up to be afflicted, or tempted, or reproached, I will patiently sit down, and say, it is the Lord; let him do with me what seems good in his own eyes. Do anything with me, lay what burden thou wilt upon me, so thou dost not give me up to the ways of my own heart.
“A me, me salva Domine; Deliver me, O Lord, from that evil man myself” (Augustine).
Remedy (2) – The second remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider, that God is just as he is merciful. As the Scriptures speak him out to be a very merciful God, so they speak him out to be a very just God (2 Peter 2:4, Matt. 27:46).
Remedy (3) – The third remedy against this device of Satan is, seriously to consider, that sins against mercy will bring the greatest and sorest judgments upon men’s heads and hearts. When mercy is despised, then justice takes the throne.
For as our Saviour prophesied concerning Jerusalem, ‘that a stone should not be left upon a stone,’ so it was fulfilled forty years after his ascension, by Vespasian the emperor and his son Titus, who, having besieged Jerusalem, the Jews were oppressed with a grievous famine, in which their food was old shoes, leather, old hay, and the dung of beasts. There [they] died, partly of the sword and partly of the famine…
You slight souls that are so apt to abuse mercy, consider this, that in the gospel days, the plagues that God inflicts upon the despisers and abusers of mercy are usually spiritual plagues; as blindness of mind, hardness of heart, benumbedness of conscience, which are ten thousand times worse than the worst of outward plagues that can befall you.
Oh! therefore, whenever Satan shall present God to the soul as one made up all of mercy, that he may draw thee to do wickedly, say unto him, that sins against mercy will bring upon the soul the greatest misery; and therefore whatever becomes of thee, thou wilt not sin against mercy.
Remedy (4) – Seriously consider, that though God’s general mercy be over all his works, yet his special mercy is confined to those that are divinely qualified…to them that love him and keep his commandments, to them that trust in him, that by hope hang upon him, and that fear him; and that thou must be such a one here, or else thou canst never be happy hereafter. (Exodus 34: 6,7, Exodus 20:6, Psalm 25:10, Psalm 32:10, Psalm 33:18, Psalm 103:11).
Remedy (5) – Seriously consider, that those that were once glorious on earth, and are now triumphing in heaven, did look upon the mercy of God as the most powerful argument to preserve them from sin, and to fence their souls against sin, and not as an encouragement to sin (Psalm 26:3-5). So Joseph strengthens himself against sin from the remembrance of mercy (Gen. 39:9). Satan knocked at the door, but the sight of mercy would not suffer him to answer to open. Joseph, like a pearl in a puddle, keeps virtue still.
So Paul: ‘Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid! How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therin?’ (Romans 6: 1-2).
So John: ‘These things I write unto you, that ye sin not’ (1 John 2: 1-2). What was it that he wrote? He wrote: ‘That we might have fellowship with the Father and his Son; and that the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin; and that if we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins; and that if we do sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.’ These choice favours and mercies the apostle holds forth as the choicest means to preserve the soul from sin, and to keep at the greatest distance from sin; and if this will not do it, you may write the may void of Christ and grace, and undone forever.
– Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices (pp. 50-53)
Worthy Lessons… Fourth Device and Remedies
Device (4) – By presenting to the soul the best men’s sins, and by hiding from the soul their virtues; by showing the soul their sins, and by hiding from the soul their sorrows and repentance; as by setting before the soul the adultery of David, the pride of Hezekiah, the impatience of Job, the drunkenness of Noah, the blasphemy of Peter, etc. and by hiding from the soul the tears, the sighs, the groans, the meltings, the humblings, and repentings of these precious souls.
Remedy (1) – The first remedy against this device of Satan is, seriously to consider, That the Spirit of the Lord hath been as careful to note the saints’ rising by repentance out of sin, as he hath to note their falling into sings. David falls fearfully, but by repentance he rises sweetly… It is true, Job curses the day of his birth, and it is as true that he rises by repentance: ‘Behold, I am vile,’ saith he; ‘what shall I answer thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth.’
Peter falls dreadfully, but rises by repentance sweetly; a look of love from Christ melts him into tears… Some say that, after his sad fall, he was ever and anon weeping, and that his face was even furrowed with continual tears… Clement notes that Peter so repented, that all his life after, every night when he heard the cock crow, he would fall upon his knees, and weeping bitterly, would beg pardon of his sin. Ah, souls, you can easily sin as the saints, but can you repent with the saints? Theodosius the emperor, pressing that he might receive the Lord’s supper, excuses his own foul act by David’s doing the like: to which Ambrose replies, ‘Thou hast followed David’s transgressing; follow David’s repenting, and then think of the table of the Lord.’
Remedy (2) – Solemnly consider, That these saints did not make a trade of sin. They fell once or twice, and rose by repentance, that they might keep the closer to Christ for ever. They fell accidentally, occasionally, and with much reluctancy, and thou sinnest presumptuously, obstinately, readily, delightfully, and customarily… If thou wilt make a trade of sin, and cry out, ‘Did not David sin thus, and Noah sin thus, and Peter sin thus?’ No! their hearts turned aside to follow one day, but thy heart turns aside to folly every day (2 Peter 2:14, Proverbs 4:16); and when they were fallen, they rise by repentance, and by the actings of faith upon a crucified Christ…
Remedy (3) – Seriously consider, That though God doth not, nor never will, disinherit his people for their sins, yet he hath severely punished his people for their sins… Though God will not utterly take from them his loving-kindness, nor suffer his faithfulness to fail, nor break his covenant, nor alter the thing that is gone out of his mouth, yet will he ‘visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes’ (Ps. 89: 30-35).
God is most angry when he shows no anger. God keep me from this mercy; this kind of mercy is worse than all other kind of misery…
When Satan shall tell thee of other men’s sins to draw thee to sin, do thou then think of the same men’s sufferings to keep thee from sin. Lay thy hand upon thy heart, and say, O my soul! If thou sinnest with David, thou must suffer with David.
Remedy (4) – The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider, That there are but two main ends of God’s recording of the falls of his saints.
And the one is, to keep those from fainting, sinking, and despair, under the burden of their sins, who fall through weakness and infirmity.
And the other is, that their falls may be as landmarks to warn others that stand, to take heed lest they fall.
– Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices (pp. 45-49)
These are so true! Satan attempts to pull us down by encouraging us to sin, knowing that we could look to the saints throughout history (and all around us, for that matter) as excuses to go our own ways. Satan wants us to look at their downfalls and totally miss the lessons of their sin, to ignore the repentance and restoration that God worked through his power in them.
I admit I’ve had those “Romans 6″ moments many times, thinking to myself, “If God has given the grace so freely before, what is the big deal?” That reality should break my heart into pieces, but I know how it makes me sad and zealous in this moment and how easily I am prone to wander in the next. Our hearts can be so deceived by lies!
“Ah, souls, you can easily sin as the saints, but can you repent with the saints?”
Ouch! My prayers after reading this chapter are, “O, Lord, please don’t let me fall and just be a lesson and warning for others! Keep me firm, standing on Jesus, my Rock, and trusting You. Let my heart not run willfully into sin but be a daily stream of humble repentance and faith!”
Worthy Lessons… Third Device and Remedies
This is a really long chapter, so I think I’ll just go for it with the quotes:
Device (3) – By extenuating and lessoning of sin. Ah! saith Satan, it is but a little pride, a little wordliness, a little uncleanliness, a little drunkenness, etc. As Lot said of Zoar, ‘It is but a little once, and my soul shall live’ (Gen. 19:20). Alas! saith Satan, it is but a very little sin that you stick so at. You may commit it without any danger to your soul.
Remedy (1) – First, solemnly consider, That those sins which we are apt to account small, have brought upon men the greatest wrath of God, as the eating of an apple, gathering a few sticks on the Sabbath day, and touching of the ark… Oh! therefore, when Satan says it is but a little one, do thou say, Oh!, but those sins that thou callest little, are such as will cause God to rain hell out of heaven upon sinners as he did upon the Sodomites.Remedy (2) – Seriously to consider, That the giving way to a less sin makes way for the committing of a greater… If we commit one sin to avoid another, it is just we should avoid neither, we having not law nor power in our own hands to keep off sin as we please; and we, by yielding to the lesser, do tempt the tempter to tempt us to the greater. Sin is of an encroaching nature; it creeps on the soul by degrees, step by step, till it hath the soul to the very height of sin. David gives way to his wandering eye, and this led him to those foul sins that caused God to break his bones, and to turn his day into night, and to leave his soul in great darkness… Satan will first draw thee to sit with the drunkard, and then to sip with the drunkard, and then at last to be drunk with the drunkard. He will first draw thee to be unclean in thy thoughts, and then to be unclean in thy looks, and then to be unclean in thy words, and at last to be unclean in thy practices…
Remedy (3) – The third remedy against this third device that Satan haith to draw the soul to sin, is solemnly to consider, That is sad to stand with God for a trifle… It is the greatest unkindness that can be showed to a friend, to adventure the complaining, bleeding, and grieving of his soul upon a light and a slight occasion. So it is the greatest unkindness that can be shown to God, Christ, and the Spirit, for a soul to be put God upon complaining, Christ upon bleeding, and the Spirit upon grieving, by yielding to little sins. Therefore, when Satan says it is but a little one, do thou answer, that oftentimes there is the greatest unkindness showed to God’s glorious majesty, in the acting of the least folly, and therefore thou wilt not displease thy best and greatest friend, by yielding to his greatest enemy.
Remedy (4) – The fourth remedy against this device of Satan, is seriously to consider, That there is great danger, yea, many times most danger, in the smallest sins. ‘A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump’ (1 Cor. 5:6). Greater sins do sooner startle the soul, and awaken and rouse up the soul to repentance, than lesser sins do… There is oftentimes greater danger to our bodies in the least diseases that hang upon us, because we are apt to make light of them, and to neglect the timely use of means of removing them, till they are grown so strong that they prove mortal to us…
Remedy (5) – The fifth remedy against this device of Satan, is solemnly to consider, That other saints have chosen to suffer the worst of torments, rather than they would commit the least sin, i.e. such as the world accounts. So as you may see in Daniel and his companions, that would rather choose to burn, and be cast to the lions, than they would bow to the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up… that they must either fall into sin, or be cast into the fiery furnace, such was their tenderness of the honour and glory of God, and their hatred and indignation against sin, that they would rather burn than sin; they knew that it was far better to burn for their not sinning, than that God and conscience should raise a hell, a fire in their bosoms for sin.
Remedy (6) – The sixth remedy against this device of Satan, is, seriously to consider, That the soul is never able to stand under the guilt and weight of the least sin, when God shall set it home upon the soul…
… Some who have but projected adultery, without any actual acting it; and others, having found a trifle, and made no conscience to restore it, knowing, by the light of natural conscience, that they did not do as they would be done by; and others, that have had some unworthy thought of God, have been so frightened, amazed, and terrified for those sins, which are small in men’s account, that they have wished they had never been; that they could take no delight in any earthly comfort, that they have been put to their wits’ end, ready to make away themselves, wishing themselves annihilated…
Remedy (7) – The seventh remedy against this device is, solemnly to consider, That there is more evil in the least sin than in the greatest affliction; and this appears as clear as the sun, by the severe dealing of God the Father with his beloved Son, who let all the vials of his fiercest wrath upon him, and that for the least sin as well as for the greatest. Oh! how should this make us tremble, as much at the least spark of lust as at hell itself; considering that God the Father would not spare his bosom Son, no, not for the least sin, but would make him drink the dregs of his wrath!
– Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices (pp. 38-45)
There are so many worthwhile thoughts to ponder here. For me, the most sobering ones are in Remedies 2 and 6: tempting Satan to tempt me more by giving in to ‘little sins,’ and realizing that a very real cause for depression can be the giving way to ‘little sins’ in our hearts, and then seeing the reality of how it can (or could have) been our downfall.
Often, as with many things, the battle with a sin gets worse before it gets better, and that can be a depressing place to be. I am convinced that too often we try to “wash away” depression in the heart
and soul by making light of circumstances and altogether ignoring a great possible root of it. The bottom line is that giving in to small sins and thus opening the door to Satan’s work in our hearts can cause terrible, terrible agony of mind and spirit! In these situations our typical “earthly solutions” can possibly be the very enemies to healing because what we need is to see how, in our “small sin,” we are really playing with fire, dancing toward a cliff, standing over a deep well. I am ever learning: it is the disease of our stubbornness to put away small sins, not another disease, that can cause us such pain and turmoil.
Another thought… This is when, in my humble opinion, true Christian friends are needed the very most. A falling Christian who is beginning to grieve the Holy Spirit and wander away desperately needs a good friend, whether a spouse, friend, or both, to speak truth to him and pull him back and help put your eyes back on Jesus where they belong.
Of course it is up to us to be honest about our struggle with sin. A good friend will see how you are hurting (even if you are defensive) and love you back to the Cross. A good friend really takes the time and energy to listen, see where you are, and patiently prays with you and for you. A good friend understands that you may be very depressed from the guilt and accusations that Satan is throwing at you, and they love you with firmness and tenderness, rooted in confidence in the Christ. (And sometimes a good friend tells you to JUST STOP IT, and that may be exactly what you need!)
Remedy (3) – The third remedy against this device of Satan is seriously to consider, That repentance is a continual act. A true penitent must go on from faith to faith, from strength to strength; he must never stand still nor turn back. Repentance is a grace, and must have its daily operation as well as other graces. True repentance is a continued spring, where the waters of godly sorry are always flowing: ‘My sin is ever before me’ (Psalm 51:3). A true penitent is often casting his eyes back to the days of his former vanity, and this makes him morning and evening to ‘water his couch with tears.’
Repentance is a gift that comes down from above. Men are not born with repentance in their hearts, as they are born with tongues in their mouths: (Acts 5:31).
Remedy (4) – Seriously consider, that though God’s general mercy be over all his works, yet his special mercy is confined to those that are divinely qualified…to them that love him and keep his commandments, to them that trust in him, that by hope hang upon him, and that fear him; and that thou must be such a one here, or else thou canst never be happy hereafter. (Exodus 34: 6,7, Exodus 20:6, Psalm 25:10, Psalm 32:10, Psalm 33:18, Psalm 103:11).

