mine the interests of true religion ; and, if St. Paul had not authoritatively interposed to regulate the conduct of that Church by the Gospel-standard, Satan would soon have prevailed to root out of it all vital godliness.
The Apostle's interposition was extremely painful to him. It was " with much anguish of heart and many tears" that he had written the former epistle : and the thought of having, however reluctantly, oc- casioned grief to those whom he had reproved, was so painful to him, that nothing but an assurance of good having accrued from it to them, and a conse- quent restoration of peace to their souls, could com- pose his mind^ Still however he was bound to proceed in the discharge of his high office, and to urge upon them that duty which they were so back- ward to perform. And this he does, requesting them to " confirm their love towards the offender, (whose name from delicacy he forbears to mention,) lest Satan should get a further advantage over them ;" for, adds he, " we are not ignorant of his devices." This was a weighty argument : and, that we may enter more fully into it, I propose to shew,
I. The devices of Satan —
It is but little that we know of them : yet, as far as we do know them, it will be profitable to consider, 1. Their number —
[This is great beyond all that we are able to conceive. I doubt whether the sands upon the sea-shore form such a countless multitude as do the devices of this great adversary. There is not a person of any age, or any condition, or under any circumstances, for whom he has not devices peculiarly fitted, as a key to the wards of a most ingenious and compli- cated lock. For every successive variation in their circum- stances, he can in an instant adapt his temptations, and so modify them to the occasion, as to give them the greatest possible influence over the mind of his victim.
It must not be forgotten, that, though we speak of Satan as one, he has millions of other spirits at his command, all co- operating with him with an activity inconceivable, and an energy
a ver. 2 — 4.