The Wiles of Satan, Discourse · Chapter 1
ΣΑΤΑΝΑ ΝΟΗΜΑΤΑ: OR, The Wiles OF SATAN IN A DISCOURSE Upon 2 Cor. 2. 11.
By William Spurſtow D. D. Late Miniſter at Hackney.
Be ſober, be vigilant; becauſe your Adverſary the Devil, as a roaring Lion, walketh about ſeeking whom he may devour. Whom reſist ſtedfaſt in the faith,
1 Pet. 5. 8, 9.
LONDON, Printed in the Year, 1666.
The Wiles of Satan.
2 Cor. 2. 11.
Leaſt Satan ſhould get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
Chapter I.
Containing an Introduction to the words, and diviſion of them.
SEldom or never do Judges become Advocates; they give Sentence on the Crime, but they never plead the Cauſe of the Offender. In doing the one, they diſcharge the moſt ſolemn duty of their place: But in undertaking the other, they deſcend as it were from the Throne to the Bar. and go both below themſelves, and beſides the Rule: A pleading Judge being no well-tuned Cymbal. And yet if we look into theſe two Epiſtles of Paul, we ſhall find him exerciſing both theſe diſtinct Offices towards the ſame Perſon in one and the ſame Cauſe. In the firſt we may behold him as a juſt, and ſevere Judge, drawing forth the ſpiritual Sword of the Church, and ſmiting with it the Inceſtuous perſon, in as great an height of zeal as Samuel did Agag, to the cutting of him off from all Communion with that body, of which he was a Member. He being the firſt (as Calvin expreſſeth it) Quinitorens Eccleſiae tam turpi not â maculaſſet. who ſtained the beauty of that Church with ſo foul a Sin and Scandall. And if we turn our eyes again to this Second Epiſtle and Chap…er, we may ſee the ſame Apoſtle performing the Office of a moſt Compiſſionate Advocate, in pleading the Cauſe of him to the Corinthians, who by his Command was cut off, and caſt out from among them. He who was the ſubject of his Cenſure as a Judge, is now the object of his entreaties as an Advocate. And the Arguments which he uſeth for his reception into the boſome of their love are not more numerous than weighty. A brief view of ſome of which will not be impertinent, in regard they lead us in an orderly way unto the Text, which is the laſt, but not the leaſt of thoſe many perſwaſive Pleas which he urgeth on his behalf.
The firſt is drawn from the Law of Equity, which is, as Philo calls it, foreign, the Nurſe of Juſtice. Sufficient to ſuch a man is the puniſhments which was inflicted of many, Ver. 6. Rewards and Puniſhments, though they be the golden hinges, upon which the vvelfare of every ſtate turns, yet are they to be regulated by a juſt, and ſi… meaſure. No Cenſures are to be exceſſive, much leſs Church Cenſures, vvhoſe end is chiefly medicinal, they being (as Auſtin ſpeaks of the Corrections of God) Caſtigationes Emendatoriae, non interfectoriae; Chaſtiſements to procure amendment, not to work ruine.
A ſecond Plea is from the preſent danger, Leaſt perhaps ſuch an one ſhould be ſwallowed up with overmuch ſorrow, Verſ. 7.
Inward troubles and perplexities of mind are far more corroſive and waſting then outward: The Wheeles of a Clock, whoſe motion is ſtrong, wears ſooner then the Finger which moves gently without. They are oftentimes like a tempeſtuous and angry Sea, which doth not onelyonly toſs the Ship but ſink it. And it became not them to be Spectators of any Mans ruine, without caſting forth ſome Cord or Plank, by the help of which he might reach the Shore. It is Jobs Cenſure of him who ſheweth not pitty to the afflicted, that he hath forſaken the fear of the Almighty, Job 6. 14.
A third is, That he might have a Proof of them, whether they be obedient in all things, Verſ. 9. Spiritual Fathers, as well as Natural delight in the reiterated acts of their Childrens Obedience, as being the moſt legible Characters of a Son-like Diſpoſition: And therefore the Apoſtle, who had onelyonly a ſingle triall of their willing complyance to his commands, ſeekes the confirmation of it by a ſecond Teſtimony: that as they had ſhewed themſelves forward in putting away from among them that Perſon, whoſe ſin was not to be paralelled among the Heathen; ſo now they would, at his entreaties, ſhew the like readineſs in the readmiſſion of him into their love and favour who of a preſumptuous Sinner, was become an humble and broken Penitentiary.
A fourth Plea is from his own practiſe; He had for their ſales forgiven him, as in the ſight or Perſon of Chriſt, verſ. 10. That is, as he firſt awakened them to judge the ſin, with which for a time they were not affected; ſo now, by his example, in his ſincere Pardoning of it, as in Chriſts ſight, he did induce them to do the like, and alſo teach them how to temper their zeale aright, in being neither too remiſs in uſing the Cenſures of the Church, nor yet too rigorous in retaining of them when inflicted: both extreames being alike prejudicial to the beauty of their zeale. It being with it, as with the Blood in the Body, which if it be dilutus, watrie, through phlegme; or ſublimatus nimis, too fiery through Choller, makes the Complexion too wan and ſallow, or too red and high coloured.
A fifth Plea is that that comes under preſent Conſideration, and is to be inſiſted on as the Subject of this preſent Diſcourſe: Leſt Satan ſhould get an advantage of us, &c.
In this Verſe there are two principal parts, which do equally divide and ſhare it between them.
Firſt, A uſefull Caution of Circumſpection; Leſt Satan ſhould get an advantage: The general Concernment of which is implyed in the relative Particle Us. For in this matter, Satan, as a Common Adverſary, did endeavour more then a ſingle Supplantation; he did not Bait a Hook, but Spread a Net. For ſhould the Inceſtuous Perſon through deſpair miſcarry, it might occaſion a Rent between the Apostle and the Corinthians, that would hardly be made up: It might render the Goſpel leſs amiable to thoſe upon whom it had newly dawned; and cauſe it to be as unwelcome and offenſive, as light is to weak and ſore eyes. It might blemiſh the Cenſures of the Church, as having too deep a Tincture of Phariſaicall Rigor: and having their whole Power tending rather to deſtruction then to edification. Therefore it is that the Apoſtle, like a wiſe Phyſitian, is more then ordinary anxious, that the Patient die not under their hands, and Satan get the advantage of them both by his ſin, and ſorrow. In the Original it is foreign, which by Interpreters is diverſly expounded. The Vulgar reades it, Ne Circumveniamur: That we be not Circumvented by Satan, who like a cunning Wreſtler, or Fencer, is various, and uncertain in his Motions, that he may take the better hold, or ſtrike his Adverſary with the greater advantage. Beza, Ne ſuperemur; That Satan get not by far the better of us: not by open Force, but by unfore-ſeen artifices, and ſlights. Eraſmus, Ne occupemur à Satanâ: Leſt Satan ſhould uſurp upon us; that is, leſt he who hath nothing of right, ſhould by fraud obtain a kind of poſſeſſion among us, by ſnatching and taking him from us as his own, who is a member of our body; the entire union of which we ought to preſerve from ſuch Ruptures and Avulſions, by the due tempering of our zeale and charity towards thoſe, who by the ſtrength of Temptation fall into ſin, and by their deep ſorrow teſtifie their unfeigned Repentance for ſin. Others again (Etymologically enough) conceive it to be a Metaphor taken from Avaritious and greedy Perſons, that for Gaines-ſake do in their Contracts and Bargaines, by guile and fraud over-reach thoſe whom they deale with. In all theſe Expoſitions there is ſo full a Concurrence and agreement to the Circumſtances of the Place, and the Practiſes of Satan; as that I ſhall not, by giving a preheminence unto any one above the other, determine the Judgment of the intelligent Reader which to take, but wholly leave him to his free Choice. This onelyonly I ſhall intimate, that our Tranſlation ſeemes …o favour the laſt.
The ſecond is the forcible and prevailing Motive to ſtir up their Circumſpection: For we are not ignorant of his devices. The Greek word for deviſes, is foreign: which in its general acceptation doth ſignifie the thoughts, and muſings of the minde (as Eſtius obſerves) but in a more ſtrict and confined ſenſe it is applyed unto ſuch thoughts that are on purpoſe framed to deceive; and by ſtudied artifices to bring about deſigned ends in any kind whatſoever: Such are Ambuſhments in War, Slights in Wreſtling, Deceits in Gaming, Pollicies in State, Fallacies in Diſputing, Dark and covered Sentences in Rhetorick, in which one thing is ſpoken and another intended: theſe Quintilian in his Inſtitutions calls Noemata. When therefore the Apoſtle ſaith, that he was not ignorant of Satans Cogitations (as the Vulgar and others alſo render the words) it is not to be underſtood of any intuitive power and ability which he aſſumed to himſelf, of diſcerning and prying into the moſt retired thoughts of the Prince of darkneſs, which are onelyonly open and naked to the eye of God, whoſe Sacred Royalty it is to ſearch the hearts both of Men and Angells; but of a practical and experimental knowledge, which he, and other Belivers alſo attain unto, by a diligent obſervance of their wayes and actions, in which they diſcover the miſterious arts and ſnares of the Tempter, ſpread like the Nets of a cunning Fowler, to intrap them in every motion and ſtep that they make, not onelyonly by his various allurements unto ſin, but alſo by his perverting of their beſt Duties, ſo as to make them to be loſers thereby, and himſelf to be the onelyonly gainer. And this was it in which he ſought to get the better of the Corinthians, turning their juſt zeale againſt the ſin of the inceſtuous Perſon, into an inexorable ſeverity againſt his Repentance, though he was well nigh ſwallowed up of Sorrow.