and damning sins ; instigating Judas to betray his Lordm, and Ananias and Sapphira to " lie unto the Holy Ghost"." Well is he called " the god of this world;" for, by blinding some0, and impelling others, he maintains a sway over all " the chil- dren of disobedience p."
Now, to contend with these is, more or less, the lot of all God's people q: but some experience his assaults in a more violent degree than others ; and would be utterly destroyed by his " fiery darts," if God had not furnished them with " the shield of faith, whereby to quench" or ward them offr.]
2. From their own indwelling corruptions —
[All have a " heart full of evil8 :" but there is a " spiritual and a fleshly filthiness ;" and in some the one has the ascen- dant ; and in others, the other. Some, from their very infancy, are swollen with pride, or corroded with envy, or inflamed with passion, or envenomed with malice. Some betray a very early propensity to deceit, and falsehood, and dishonesty, and sel- fishness in all its bearings. In some profaneness and impiety are dominant ; so that, without any interest to serve, or lust to gratify, they will find pleasure in insulting to his face the Most High God. In others, a disposition to lewdness and intem- perance is marked from a very early period of life ; and soon acquires such an entire dominion, that it bids defiance to all the efforts that are made to check it ; nor can all the calamities which it entails on its unhappy victim induce him to withstand its influence. In truth, to such a degree are many subjected to some reigning sin, whether of a spiritual or fleshly nature, that one cannot but regard them as under Satanic influence ; or, to use the words of St. Paul, as " taken in the snare of the devil, and as led captive by him at his will*."]
Now, where men are thus enslaved by any besetting sin, they have difficulties which others have scarcely any idea of: and to them I would declare, II. The extraordinary means which they should use, in order to surmount them —
Resolutions will be of little avail : they will yield to even the smallest temptation. The passionate man may resolve to restrain his anger ; the drunkard to contract a habit of sobriety ; the lewd person to mortify his passions : but he resolves in vain, as long- as his resolutions are formed in dependence on his
m John xiii. 27. " Acts v. 3. ° 2 Cor. iv. 4.
p Eph. ii. 2. <i Eph. vi. 12. * Eph. vi. 16.
s Eccl. ix. 3. * 2 Tim. ii. 26.