But we will proceed to mark more distinctly,
II. Their use —
A variety of uses are mentioned in the preceding context : but the text comprehends them all under two particulars :
1. They warn us against much evil — [We could have had no conception of the deceitfulness and depravity of the heart, if God had not revealed it to us. But from the insight into it which the Scriptures afford us, we learn that to trust in one's own heart is the most consummate folly '^, since it is sure to mislead us, and to betray us into some evil.
From the same fountain of knowledge also we learn that there is an invisible, but mighty, agent, "whose malice is most inveterate, whose devices are most subtle, and whose labours to destroy us are incessant. Against his ^viles we are put upon our guard : we are taught how to distinguish his agency, and to defeat his plots.
There is yet another danger, of which we could have formed no idea, if God had not instructed us respecting it. We are told of another invisible power, even the Holy Ghost himself, who strives with us, and endeavours to establish the kingdom of God in our hearts. But we may " grieve," and " vex" that divine Agent, and may so "resist" him as to "quench" his sacred motions. Against this therefore, as the greatest of all evils, we are frequently and strongly warned.
It is no small advantage to us that every duty, and every
a Ps. cxix. 140. ^ Rom. vii. 12. - <= jgr. xv. 16.
'' Job xxiii. 12. ^ Prov. xxviii. 26.