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Ahimaaz. Why, the devil is an excellent pleader.

Cushi. In one sense he is; but not in another: he can plead against us; but he is too proud to plead guilty before God, too vile to plead innocent; and without a foundation to plead for mercy. The devil brought all these things to Prodigalis, in order to prejudice his mind against the truth of God, that he might raise rebellion in his heart. Nor was Satan's attempt without effect; for Prodigalis did not expect a temptation with so mild a bait: he expected that every appearance of Satan would be in a storm; and therefore he listened to him; carnal reason approved of the suggestions; flesh and blood also gave into it; and, by the assistance of unbelief, Satan carried all before him.

Now was Prodigalis filled with carnal reasonings about the sovereign grace of his Maker; the perilous path to heaven; and the few, the very few, that seemed to be travelling on that singular way. He soon found the government of the world, and the salvation of all the human race, to lay with an intolerable weight upon his shoulders; and he was impiously led to infringe upon the prerogative of his Lord, whose undoubted right it is to do as he will with his own, Matt. xx. 15; without giving an account of any of his matters, Job xxxiii. 13.

Ahimaaz. There is one thing in Satan's plea that I am amazed at; and that is, that those who were singular in their religion were exposed to all

the shafts of men and devils: can Satan speak against himself?

Cushi. Satan is not divided against himself in the management of his kingdom; if he was, how could his kingdom stand? But he can speak against himself, deny himself, and rebuke himself, when these things will serve his turn. He speaks against himself in every false prophet that rebukes sin; he denies himself in every deist that denies the being or existence of fallen angels; and he rebuked himself, when some of his own children, in mockery of Paul, were commanding an evil spirit to leave the heart of a sinner; whose answer was, Paul I know, but who are you? and then overcame them, and sent them out of the house wounded and naked, Acts xix. 16.

Poor Prodigalis began to be timorous about the difficult way to the kingdom; he yielded to the carnal fear of man, and trembled at persecution; flesh and blood was consulted about the doctrine of particular redemption; and carnal reason bore violently against the doctrines of election and predestination; which influenced Prodigalis with a spirit of murmuring and rebellion against the discriminating grace of his God; but he soon found, like Paul, that it was hard work to kick against the pricks: he found his mind began to be confused; fear and horror laid a fresh hold of his conscience; no peace of mind was enjoyed; his mouth at a throne of grace was stopped; a sense of the divine favour was sensibly suspended; and

shame and confusion covered his face. And as the state of his own soul began to be perilous, he was obliged to employ the powers of his mind nearer home, and leave the salvation and management of the world to God; whose infinite wisdom needs no counsel of ours, nor will his supreme power, and absolute prerogative, ever be yielded or given up to us.

Ahimaaz. How subtle an adversary is Satan! who would have thought that such an one as Prodigalis, a man so wonderfully delivered, and who had experienced such superabounding grace, could be so easily led from an humble submission to the will of God, even to rebel in his heart against him, and against those very truths that had made him free; but, alas! what is man if left to himself? Pray, how was he delivered out of that snare?

Cushi. As he was one day reasoning and disputing in his heart against the doctrines of election and particular redemption, and impiously censuring the sovereignty of his Maker, these words came to his mind with power, and full fraught with divine reproof: "Produce your cause, said the Lord, bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob," Isaiah xli. 21. This made Prodigalis tremble; he thought within himself, that if he justified all the world it would be of no force against the judgment of God; and if he held the whole system of natural religion, that would afford him no salvation below the grave; for if God was his enemy, who could be his friend in eternity? He went at

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last with an humble confession of his folly to his Lord, and intreated him to undertake for him, and extricate him out of this puzzling, this soul-distressing labyrinth of confusion; and the blessed Saviour was intreated of him, and gave him a wonderful deliverance; he sent such light and comfort into his soul as he thought he never had experienced before; the darkness and confusion of his troubled heart, and his carnal reasonings against the sovereign will of his Lord, vanished, and his love and zeal burned stronger for truth than

ever.

Ahimaaz. I evidently see that there is no growth in grace nor in knowledge without crosses and trials; for, as Hezekiah saith, "By these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirits." A child of God often gains ground by such stumblings, and gets fresh discoveries out of confusion; for God" discovereth deep things out darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death."

Cushi. Very true; and this was the case with Prodigalis: he had been for some time in the business of an Attorney, and had learnt many curious quibbles of law, and had formerly entertained no small opinion of his nervous logic. Satan knew this, therefore he swelled his pride of that talent, exalted his former applauded reason to the decisive chair, and then shewed the inconsistency of his new religion with his former rules of logic. Prodigalis, having lost a sense of his com

fort, and the sight of his Advocate, displayed his former talent; but as reason was too stiff to submit to a superior power, pride called in rebellion; flesh and blood was conferred with concerning the mysteries of heaven; and the more reason laboured, the more she was confounded; unbelief, getting the upper hand, gave the lie to all that was divine; and thus, between a confounding devil, and confounded reason, the trial ended in wind and confusion, and Prodigalis, with all his natural abilities, was found in the balance of the sanctuary to be lighter than vanity.

Ahimaaz. Nevertheless I dare say this trial turned out to a good account to poor Prodigalis, for it must teach him the insufficiency of natural reason to determine divine matters, and must undoubtedly convince him of the need of God's promised Spirit to guide him into all truth.

Cushi. Yes, my brother, Prodigalis lost nothing but dross in this fiery trial; he was effectually convinced that the Spirit of God was the only allsufficient arbitrator in divine causes, and that reason must submit even to faith, instead of dictating to God. This was displayed to him in his aftercontemplations on the faith of Abraham, whose obedience is set forth as our example, after whose footsteps we are to copy, and who is called the father of us all. Hence we are commanded to look to Abraham our father, and to Sarah that bare us, Isaiah li. 2; and to tread in the steps of our father Abraham, who is the father of us all, Rom. iv.

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