§. XII.
II. This silent Waiting the Devil cannot counterfeit. But Secondly, The Excellency of this silent Waiting upon God doth appear, in that it is impossible for the Enemy, viz. the Devil, to counterfeit it, so as for any Soul to be deceived or deluded by him in the Exercise thereof. Now in all other Matters he may mix himself with the natural Mind of Man, and so by transforming himself he may deceive the Soul, by busying it about Things perhaps innocent in themselves, while yet he keeps them from beholding the pure Light of Christ, and so from knowing distinctly their Duty, and doing of it. For that envious Spirit of Man’s eternal Happiness knoweth well how to accommodate himself, and fit his Snares for all the several Dispositions and Inclinations of Men; if he find one not fit to be engaged with gross Sins, or worldly Lusts, but rather averse from them, and religiously inclined, he can fit himself to beguile such a one, by suffering his Thoughts and Imaginations to run upon spiritual Matters, and so hurry him to work, act, and meditate in his own Will. For he well knoweth that so long as Self bears Rule, and the Spirit of God is not the principal and chief Actor, Man is not put out of his Reach; Altar, Prayers, Pulpit, Study, cannot shut the Devil out.so therefore he can accompany the Priest to the Altar, the Preacher to the Pulpit, the Zealot to his Prayers, yea, the Doctor and Professor of Divinity to his Study, and there he can chearfully suffer him to labour and work among his Books, yea, and help him to find out and invent subtile Distinctions and Quiddities, by which both his Mind, and others through him, may be kept from heeding God’s Light in the Conscience, and waiting upon him. There is not any Exercise whatsoever, wherein he cannot enter, and have a chief Place, so as the Soul many Times cannot discern it, except in this alone: For he can only work in and by the natural Man, and his Faculties, by secretly acting upon his Imaginations and Desires, &c. and therefore, when he (to wit, the natural Man) is silent, there he must also stand. And therefore when the Soul comes to this Silence, and as it were is brought to Nothingness, as to her own Workings, then the Devil is shut out; for the pure Presence of God and Shining of his Light he cannot abide, because so long as a Man is thinking and meditating as of himself, he cannot be sure, but the Devil is influencing him therein; but when he comes wholly to be silent, as the pure Light of God shines in upon him, then he is sure that the Devil is shut out; for beyond the Imaginations he cannot go, which we often find by sensible Experience. For he that of old is said to have come to the Gathering together of the Children of God, is not wanting to come to our Assemblies. And indeed he can well enter and work in a Meeting, that is silent only as to Words, either by keeping the Minds in various Thoughts and Imaginations, or by stupifying them, so as to overwhelm them with a Spirit of Heaviness and Slothfulness: But when we retire out of all, and are turned in, both by being diligent and watchful upon the one Hand, and also silent and retired out of all our Thoughts upon the other, as we abide in this sure Place, we feel ourselves out of his Reach. Yea, oftentimes the Power and Glory of God will break forth and appear, just as the bright Sun through many Clouds and Mists, to the Dispelling of that Power of Darkness; which will also be sensibly felt, seeking to cloud and darken the Mind, and wholly to keep it from purely waiting upon God.