such persons it is extremely difficult to guard : and in order to withstand their influence, we need to have from God himself " a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and of might, a spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord, and to be made quick of understanding in the fear of the Lord"."]
2. "Simple concerning evil" —
[The word " simple" may be understood either as opposed to a mixture in our principles, or to an offensiveness in our conduct ; both of which we should with great diligence avoid.
We must indulge then no evil in ourselves : we should have no sinister ends in view, no selfish dispositions to gratify, no personal interests to promote : there should be no allowed guile within us: we should guard to the uttermost against any mix- ture of principle : we should hate sin as sin, irrespective of its consequences ; and determine through grace to mortify it, whatever carnal advantages such conduct may deprive us of, or whatever pains it may entail upon us.
We must be careful also to give no encouragement to evil in others. In no respect whatever should we encourage sin. We should not only " have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but should rather reprove them :" for if we counte- nance sinners in any of their ways, we " make ourselves par- takers of their evil deeds0." This is particularly inculcated in the words before our text. We should " mark those who cause divisions and offences, and should avoid them." In another place the Apostle says, we should " withdraw ourselves from them, and have no company with them, that they may be ashamed11." In truth, if we would " mark" the spirit of such persons, we should soon see how erroneous their ways must be : for they shew by their pride and conceit, their boldness and forwardness, and the constant tendency of their exertions to advance either their own interests or the interests of their party, that " they serve not the Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly." Thus the uniform endeavour of our lives should be, as our Lord has taught us, to be " wise as serpents, and harmless as doves V]
That we may the more earnestly cultivate this spirit, let us consider,
II. Our encouragement to live in the exercise of it —
The evils against which we would guard you arise in great measure from the agency of Satan —
[It was Satan who " beguiled Eve" in Paradise: and from that time has he been incessantly occupied in deceiving the
n Isai. xi. 2, 3. ° 2 John, ver. 11.
P 2 Thess. iii. 6, 14. n Matt. x. 16.