Use Second. Is
Satan so subtle? O then, think not to be too cunning for the devil,
he will be too hard for thee at last. Sin not with thoughts of an
after-repentance; it is possible thou meanest this at present, but dost thou
think, who sits down to play with this cheater, to draw out thy stock when thou
pleasest? Alas, poor wretch! he has a thousand devices to carry thee
on, and engage thee deeper, till he hath not left thee any tenderness in thy
conscience. As some have been served at play, intending to venture
only a shilling or two, yet have by the secret witchery in gaming, played the
very clothes off their back before they had done,—O how many have thus sinned
away all their principles, yea, profession itself, that they have not so much
as this cloak left, but walk naked to their shame! [They are] like
children, who, got into a boat, think to play near the shore, but are unawares
by a violent gust carried down to the wide sea. O how know you that
dally with Satan, but that at last you may (who begin modestly) be carried
down to the broad sea of profaneness? Some men are so subtle to
over-reach, and so cruel when they get men into their hands, that a man had
better beg his bread than borrow of them. Such a merchant is Satan,
cunning to insinuate, and get the creature into his books, and when he hath him
on the hip, [there is] no more mercy to be had at his hand than the lamb may
expect from the ravenous wolf.
Use Third. Study
his wiles, and acquaint thyself with Satan's policy. Paul takes it
for granted, that every saint doth in some measure understand them; ‘We are not
ignorant of his devices,’ II
Cor. 2:11. He is but an ill fencer
that knows and observes nothing of his enemy's play. Many
particular stratagems I have laid down already which may help a little, and for
thy direction in this study of, and inquiry into, Satan's wiles, take the
threefold counsel.
1.
Take God into thy counsel. Heaven overlooks hell. God at
any time can tell thee what plots are hatching there against
thee. Consider Satan as he is God's creature; so God
cannot but know him. He that makes the watch, knows every pin in
it. He formed this crooked serpent, though not the crookedness of
this serpent; and though Satan's way in tempting is as wonderful as the way of
a serpent on a rock, yet God traceth him, yea, knows all his thoughts
together. Hell itself is naked before him; and this destroyer hath
no covering. Again, consider him as God's prisoner, who hath him
fast in chains, and so the Lord, who is his keeper, must needs know whither his
prisoner goes, who cannot stir without his leave. Lastly, consider
him as his messenger, for so he is. An evil spirit from the Lord vexed
Saul, and he that gives him his errand, is able to tell thee what it
is. Go then and plough with God's heifer; improve thy interest with
Christ, who knows what his Father knows, and is ready to reveal all that
concerns thee to thee, John
15:15. It was he who described
the devil coming against Peter and the rest of the apostles, and faithfully
revealed it to them, before they thought of any such matter, Luke 22. Through
Christ's hands passes all that is transacted in heaven hell. We live
in days of great actions, deep counsels, and plots on all sides, and only a few
that stand on the upper end of the world know these mysteries of state; all the
rest know little more than pamphlet intelligence. Thus it is in
regard of those plots which Satan in his infernal conclave is laying against
the souls of men; they are but a few that know anything to purpose of Satan's
designs against them; and those are the saints, from whom God cannot hide his
own counsels of love, but sends his Spirit to reveal unto them here, what he
hath prepared for them in heaven, I
Cor. 2:10, and therefore much less will he
conceal any destructive plot of Satan from them.
2.
Be intimately acquainted with thy own heart, and thou wilt the better know his
design against thee, who takes his method of tempting from the inclination and
posture of thy heart. As a general walks about the city, and views
it well, and then raiseth his batteries where he hath the greatest advantage,
so doth Satan compass and consider the Christian in every part before he
tempts.
3.
Be careful to read the word of God with observation. In it thou
hast the history of the most remarkable battles that have been fought by the
most eminent worthies in Christ's army of saints with this great warrior
Satan. Here thou mayest see how Satan hath foiled them, and how they
have recovered their lost ground. Here you have his cabinet‑counsels
opened. There is not a lust which you are in danger of, but you have
it described; not a temptation which the Word doth not arm you
against. It is reported that a certain Jew should have poisoned
Luther, but was happily prevented by his picture which was sent to Luther, with
a warning from a faithful friend that he should take heed of such a man when he
saw him, by which he knew the murderer, and escaped his hands. The
Word shows thee, O Christian, the face of those lusts which Satan employs to
butcher thy precious soul.
‘By them thy servant is warned,’ saith
David, Ps. 19:11.
