Chapter 2. Satan's Subtlety in Managing His Temptations, Where Several Stratagems Used by Him to Deceive the Christian Are Laid Down

THe second way wherein Satan shows his tempting subtilty, is in those stratagems he useth to deceive the Christian in the act of temptation.

First, he hangs out false colours, and comes up to the Christian in the disguise of a friend, so that the gates are opened to him, and his motions received with applause, before either be discovered; therefore he is said to transform himself into an Angel of light, 2 Corinthians 11:14. Of all plots 'tis most dangerous when he appears in Samuels mantle, and silvers his foul tongue with faire language. Thus in point of errour, he corrupts some in their judgements, by commending his notions for precious Gospel-truths, and like a cunning Chapman puts off his old ware, (errours I mean that have layen long upon his hand) only turkening them a little after the mode of the times, and they go for new light, under the skirt of Christian liberty; he conveys in Libertinisme, by crying up the Spirit; he decries and vilifies the Scripture by magnifying faith: he labors to undermine repentance, and blow up good works; by bewailing the corruption of the Church in its administrations, he drawes unstable souls from it, and amuss them, till at last they fall into a vertigo, and can see no Church at all in being. And he prevails no lesse on the hearts and lives of men by this wile, then on their judgements. Under the notion of zeal, he kindles sometimes a dangerous flame of passion and wrath in the heart, which like a rash fire makes the Christians spirit boile over into unchristian desires of, and prayers for revenge where he should forgive; of which we have an instance in the disciples, Luke 9:55. where two holy men are desiring that fire may come down from heaven. Little did they think from whence they had their coal, that did so heat them, till Christ told them, Ye know not what Spirit you are of. Sometimes he pretends pity and natural affection, which in some cases may be good counsel, and all the while he desires to promote cowardise and sinful self-love; whereby the Christian may be brought to flie from his colours, shrink from the truth, or decline some necessary duty of his calling; this his wile Christ soon spied, when he got Peter to be his spokesman, saying, Master, pity your self: who stop't his mouth with that sharp rebuke, Get you behinde me, Satan. O what need have we to study the Scriptures, our hearts and Satans wiles, that we may not bid this enemy welcome, and all the while think it's Christ that is our guest.

A second policie he useth is to get intelligence of the Saints affairs. This is one great wheele in the Politicians clock, to have Spies in all places, by whom they are acquainted with the counsels and motions of their enemies, and this gives them advantage, as to disappoint their designes, so more safely to compasse their own. 'Tis no hard matter for him to play his game well, that sees his enemies hand. David knew how the squares went at Court, Jonathans arrowes carried him the newes, and accordingly he removed his quarters, and was too hard for his great enemy Saul. Satan is the greatest Intelligencer in the world, he makes it his businesse to enquire into the inclinations, thoughts, affections, purposes of the creature, that finding which humor abounds, he may apply himself accordingly, which way the stream goes, that he may open the passage of temptation, and cut the channel to the fall of the creatures affections, and not force it against the torrent of nature. Now if we consider but the piercing apprehension of the Angelical nature, how quick he is to take the sent which way the game goes by a word drop't, the cast of an eye or such a small matter (signal enough to give him the alarm) his experience in heart-anatomy, having inspected, and (as it were) dissected so many in his long practice, whereby his knowledge is much perfected, as also his great diligence to adde to both these, being as close a Student as ever, considering the Saints, and studying how he may do them a mischief, as we see in Jobs case, whom he had so observed that he was able to give an answer ex tempore to God what Jobs state and present posture was, and what might be the most probable means of obtaining his will of him; and besides all this, the correspondence that he has with those in and about the Christian, from whom he learnes much of his state, as David by Hushai in Absaloms counsel: all these considered, 'tis almost impossible for the creature to stir out of the closet of his heart, but it will be known where he enclines; some corrupt passion or other will bewray the soul to him, as they did David to Saul, who told him where he might finde him,in the wilderness of Engedi. Thus will these give intelligence to Satan, and say, If you wouldest surprize such a one, he is gone that way, you shall have him in the wood of worldly employments, over head and eares in the desires and cares of this life, see where another sits under such a bower, delighting himself in this child, or that gift, endowment of mind, or the like; lay but the lime-twig there, and you shall soon have him in it. Now Satan having this intelligence, lets him alone to act his part; he sure cannot be at a losse himself, when his scholars, (the Jesuites I mean) have such agility of minde, to wreath and cast themselves into any forme becoming the persons they would seduce. Is ambition the lust the heart favours? O the pleasing projects that he will put such upon! how easily having first blown them up with vain hopes, does he draw them into horrid sins? Thus Human, that he may have a monopoly of his Princes favor, is hurried into that bloody plot (fatal at last to himself) against the Jewes. Is uncleannesse the lust after which the creatures eye wanders? Now he'll be the Pander, to bring him and his Minion together. Thus he finding Amnon sick of this disease, sends Jonadah a deep-pated fellow, to put this fine device into his head of feigning himself sick whereby his Sister fell into his snare.

Thirdly, in his gradual approaches to the soul. When he comes to tempt, he is modest & asks but a little, he knows he may get that at many times, which he should be denied if lie ask't all at once. A few are let into a city, when an army coming in a body, would be shut out, and therefore that he may beget no suspition, he presents may be a few general propositions, which do not discover the depth of his plot; these like Scouts goe before, while his whole body lies hid as it were in some swamp at hand. Thus he wrigled into Eves bosome, whom he does not at first dash bid Take and eat, no, he is more mannerly then so, this would have been so hideous, that as the fish with some sudden noise, by a stone cast into the river, is scared from the bait, so would she have been affrighted from holding parley with such a one: no, he propounds a question which shall make way for this, Has God said? are not mistaken? could this be his meaning whose bounty lets you eat of the rest to deny you the best of all? Thus he digs about and loosens the roots of her faith, and then the tree falls the easier the next gust of temptaion. This is a dangerous policy indeed. Many have yielded to go a mile with Satan, that never intended to go two; but when once on the way, have been allured further and further, till at last they know not how to leave his company. Thus Satan leads poor creatures down into the depths of sin by winding staires, that let them not see the bottom where they are going; First he presents an object that ocasions some thoughts, these set fire on the affections, and these fume up into the braine, and cloud the understanding, which being thus disabled, now Satan dares a little more declare himself, and boldly solicite the creature to that it would even now have defied. Many who at this day lie in open profanenesse, never thought they should have roll'd so far from their Profession but Satan beguiled them, poor souls, with their modest beginnings. O Christians, give not place to Satan, no not an inch in his first motions; he that is a beggar and a modest one without doors, will command the house if let in; yield at first, and you givest away your strength to resist him in the rest, when the hem is worne, the whole garment will ravel out, if that be not mended by timely repentance.

The fourth way, wherein Satan shows his subtilty in managing his temptations, is in his Reserves. A wise Captain has ever some fresh troops at hand to fall in at a pinch, when other are worsted. Satan is seldom at a losse in this respect, when one temptation is beat back, he soon has another to fill up the gap, and make good the line. Thus he tempts Christ to diffidence and distrust, by bidding him turne stones into bread, as if it were time now to carve for himself, being so long neglected of his Father, as to fast fourty days, and no supplies heard of; No sooner had Christ quench't this dart with that, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone,but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, but he has another on the string which he let flie at him, tempting him to presumption, v. 5. Then the devil takes and sets him on a pinacle, and bids, Cast your self down headlong, for it is written, He shall give his Angels charge over you, &c. As if he had said, If you have such confidence on God and his Word, as you pretendest, show it by casting your self down, for you have a Word between you and the ground, if you darest trust God; and truly, though Christ had his answer ready, and was prepared to receive his charge on the right hand and on the left, being so compleatly arm'd that no temptation could come amisse, yet note we, Satans temptations on Christ, were like the Serpents motion on a rock, (of which Solomon speaks) that makes no impression, no dint at all, but on us they are as a Serpent on sand or dust, that leaves a print, when not in the heart, yet in the fancy, colours that which is next door to it, and so the object there is ready to slip in, if great care be not observ'd, especially when he does thus change his hand, as when we have resisted one way, fall on afresh another, yea, plant his succeeding temptation upon our very resistance in the former. Now it requires some readinesse in our postures, and skill at all our weapons to make our defense, like a disputant, when he is put out of his road, and has a new question started, or argument unusual brought, now he is tried to purpose. And truly this is Satans way when he tempts the Christian to neglect of duties of Gods worship (from his worldly occasions, the multitude of them or necessity of following them) and this takes not, then he is on the other side, and is drawing the Christian to the neglect of his worldly calling, out of a seeming zeale to promote his other in the Worship of God. Or first, he comes and labors to dead the heart in duty, but the Christian too watchful for him there, then he is puffing of him up with an opinion of his enlargement in it, and ever he keeps his sliest and most sublimated temptations for the last.

Fifthly, in his politick retreats you shall have an enemy flie as overcome, when it is on a design of overcoming; this was Joshua's wile, by which he catcht the men of Ai in a trap, Joshua 3:8. We reade not only of Satans being cast out, but of the uncleane spirits going out, (voluntarily) yet with a purpose to come again, and bring worse company with him, Matth. 12.43. Satan is not alwayes beat back by the dint and power of conquering grace, but sometimes he drawes off, and raiss his own siege, the more handsomely to get the Christian out of his fastnesses and trenches, that so he may snap him on the plaines, whom he cannot come at in his works and Fortifications. Temptations send the Saint to his Castle, as the sight of the dog does the coney to her Burrough; Now the soul walks the rounds, stands upon its guard, dares not neglect duty, because the enemy is under its very walls, shooting in his temptations continually; but when Satan seems to give the soul over, and the Christian finds he is not haunted with such motions as formerly, truly now he is prone to remit in his diligence, faile in his duty, and grow either infrequent or formal therein; As the Romanes, whose valour decayed for want of the Carthaginian troops to alarm them; let Satan tempt or not tempt, assault or retreat, keep you in order, stand in a fighting posture, let his flight strengthen your faith, but not weaken your care. The Parthians do their enemies most hurt in their flight, shooting their darts as they run, and so may Satan do you, if your seeming victory makes you secure.

The second way Satan shows his tempting subtlety is in the strategies he uses to deceive the Christian during the act of temptation.

First, he flies false colors and approaches the Christian disguised as a friend, so that the gates are opened to him and his proposals welcomed before either is recognized for what it is. This is why he is said to disguise himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). Of all his plots, none is more dangerous than when he appears wearing Samuel's cloak, disguising his foul purpose with fine language. In the realm of error, he corrupts people's judgments by passing off his ideas as precious gospel truths. Like a cunning merchant, he offloads his old stock — errors that have been sitting on his shelf for ages — by giving them a fresh look to match the trends of the times, and they are accepted as new light. Under the cover of Christian liberty he smuggles in licentiousness; by exalting the Spirit he pushes aside Scripture; by elevating faith he undermines repentance and discredits good works. By loudly lamenting the corruption in the church's practices, he draws unstable souls away from it and keeps them unsettled until they fall into such confusion that they can see no church at all. His success in swaying people's conduct and lives through this strategy is no less than his success in corrupting their beliefs. Under the guise of zeal, he sometimes ignites a dangerous flame of passion and anger in the heart. Like a fire that has gotten out of control, it makes the Christian's spirit boil over into unchristian desires — even praying for revenge where forgiveness is called for. We see this in the disciples in Luke 9:55, where two godly men ask for fire to fall from heaven. They had no idea where the spark had come from that was heating them so strongly — until Christ told them, "You do not know what kind of spirit you are of." Sometimes Satan pretends to offer pity and natural affection — counsel that might even seem reasonable — while his real aim is to promote cowardice and sinful self-preservation. Through this, the Christian may be led to abandon his post, back away from the truth, or avoid some necessary duty of his calling. Christ quickly saw through this when Satan used Peter as his mouthpiece: "Take care of Yourself, Lord" — and Christ stopped him with the sharp rebuke, "Get behind Me, Satan." How much we need to study Scripture, know our own hearts, and understand Satan's schemes — so that we do not welcome this enemy and all the while imagine it is Christ who has come to visit.

A second strategy Satan uses is gathering intelligence about the saint's situation. This is one of the great wheels in the politician's clockwork: having spies in every place who keep him informed of his enemies' plans and movements. This gives him the advantage both of foiling their designs and more safely accomplishing his own. It is no difficult matter to play the game well when you can see your opponent's hand. David knew how things stood at court — Jonathan's arrows carried him the news, and accordingly he moved his position and stayed well ahead of his great enemy Saul. Satan is the greatest intelligence-gatherer in the world. He makes it his business to study the inclinations, thoughts, emotions, and intentions of people, so that finding which tendency dominates, he can apply himself accordingly. He looks for which way the current flows so he can open the channel of temptation and direct it toward the creature's fall — never forcing it against the natural current. Consider the piercing perception of angelic beings — how quickly Satan picks up the scent by a word dropped, a glance of the eye, or some equally small signal, which is enough to put him on alert. Add to this his years of experience in examining the human heart, having inspected and effectively dissected so many through his long practice — greatly refining his knowledge. Add his tremendous diligence, always studying the saints and thinking through how to harm them, as we see in Job's case, where he had observed Job so closely that he could give God an immediate answer about Job's situation and what might be the most effective means of breaking him. And beyond all this, consider the network of contacts he has among those in and around the Christian — from whom he learns much about the person's state, just as David learned from Hushai while in Absalom's court. With all of this, it is nearly impossible for anyone to move out of the privacy of their own heart without Satan knowing which way they lean. Some corrupt passion or other will give the soul away to him, just as those around David revealed his location to Saul — pointing him toward David in the wilderness of Engedi. These informants say to Satan: "If you want to catch this person, he has gone that way — you will find him buried in worldly business, over his head in the desires and anxieties of this life. Look, another person sits under the shelter of this child, or that gift, or that talent of mind — set your trap there and you will soon have him." Once Satan has this intelligence, he needs no help from anyone else. He certainly will not be at a loss when his own students — the Jesuits, I mean — show such agility of mind in twisting and reshaping themselves into whatever form will most effectively seduce the person they are targeting. Is ambition the lust that grips the heart? Satan will fill such a person with enticing plans. How easily, having first inflated them with empty hopes, does he lead them into terrible sins? This is how Haman, desiring a monopoly on his king's favor, was driven into that bloody plot against the Jews — a plot that ultimately destroyed him. Is sexual sin the lust the person's eye is drawn toward? Satan will become the procurer, arranging the encounter. Finding Amnon sick with this desire, he sent Jonadab — a scheming man — to plant the clever idea of feigning illness in his head, by which his sister Tamar fell into his trap.

Third, Satan shows his subtlety in his gradual approach to the soul. When he comes to tempt, he is modest and asks for very little. He knows he can gain through many small requests what he would be refused if he asked for everything at once. A small group can slip into a city when an army advancing openly would be turned away. So, to avoid raising suspicion, Satan begins by presenting a few general propositions that do not reveal the depth of his plot. These are like scouts sent ahead while his main force lies hidden in the undergrowth nearby. This is how he worked his way into Eve's confidence. He did not immediately say "Take and eat" — he was far too shrewd for that. Such a direct move would have frightened her away from the conversation entirely, just as a fish is scared from the bait by a stone dropped in the water. Instead, he raised a question designed to open the door: "Did God really say that? Are you sure you understood Him? Could the One who lets you eat from all the other trees really mean to deny you the best one of all?" In this way he digs around the roots of her faith and loosens them, so that the tree falls all the more easily at the next gust of temptation. This is a truly dangerous strategy. Many have agreed to walk one mile with Satan who never intended to go two — but once on the road, they were drawn further and further until they no longer knew how to leave his company. This is how Satan leads people down into the depths of sin by a winding staircase that hides the bottom from view. First he presents an object that stirs some thoughts. Those thoughts set the emotions on fire. The emotions cloud the mind. The mind now disabled, Satan dares to show himself more openly, and boldly urges the person toward the very thing they would have refused just moments before. Many people today living in open ungodliness never imagined they would drift so far from their earlier profession — but Satan deceived them with modest beginnings. Do not give Satan even an inch in his first approaches. The beggar who is modest and restrained at the door will take command of the house once he is let in. Yield at the start, and you surrender the strength to resist him later. Once the hem is worn through, the whole garment will unravel if it is not mended by timely repentance.

The fourth way Satan shows his subtlety in managing his temptations is through his reserves. A wise commander always keeps fresh troops nearby, ready to be sent in when others are beaten back. Satan is rarely without this resource. When one temptation is repelled, he quickly brings up another to fill the gap and hold the line. So he tempted Christ first toward unbelief and distrust — suggesting He should turn stones into bread, as if it were time to fend for Himself after being so long neglected by His Father, having fasted forty days with no provision in sight. No sooner had Christ extinguished that arrow with "It is written: 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God'" — than Satan had another loaded and ready. He tempted Christ toward presumption: he set Him on the pinnacle of the temple and said, "Throw Yourself down, for it is written, 'He will command His angels concerning You'" (Matthew 4:5-6). As if to say: if You truly trust God and His Word as You claim, show it by casting Yourself down — for You have a promise standing between You and the ground, if You dare trust God. And while Christ had His answer ready and was fully prepared to receive attack from every direction — being so completely armed that no temptation could find a weak spot — we should note that Satan's temptations against Christ were like a serpent's movement across a rock: they left no mark, no dent at all. But against us they are like a serpent on sand or loose earth, which leaves a clear trail — even when a temptation does not enter the heart, it colors the imagination, which is right next door to it, and the object there is poised to slip in if we are not very careful. This is especially true when Satan shifts his attack: after we have resisted one approach, he comes at us from a fresh angle, actually building his next temptation on our very resistance to the first. This requires real readiness in our defenses and skill with all our weapons — like a debater who, when his planned arguments are countered, must now handle a new and unexpected question. That is when he is truly tested. This is indeed Satan's method when tempting the Christian to neglect the duties of God's worship on account of worldly responsibilities, their number, or their apparent necessity. When that approach fails, he comes from the opposite direction, drawing the Christian to neglect his worldly calling out of a seeming zeal to pursue the worship of God. Or first, he works to deaden the heart in a duty — but finding the Christian too watchful for that, he then puffs the person up with pride over how well the duty went. His subtlest and most refined temptations are always saved for last.

Fifth, Satan shows his subtlety in his strategic retreats. An enemy may appear to flee as though defeated when his actual aim is to gain advantage. This was Joshua's stratagem by which he caught the men of Ai in a trap (Joshua 8). Scripture records not only Satan being driven out, but also the unclean spirit going out voluntarily — yet with the intent to return and bring worse company with him (Matthew 12:43). Satan is not always driven back by the power of conquering grace. Sometimes he withdraws and lifts his own siege — specifically to lure the Christian out from his fortified position into the open field, where he can catch the one he could not reach while still behind his defenses. Temptations drive the saint to his stronghold, just as the sight of a dog sends a rabbit to its burrow. The soul keeps watch, stays on guard, and dares not neglect duty while the enemy is just below the walls firing in temptations constantly. But when Satan seems to abandon the attack and the Christian notices he is no longer troubled by those familiar stirrings — he is prone to relax his diligence, grow careless in duty, and become either inconsistent or merely going through the motions. This is what happened to the Romans, whose courage faded without the Carthaginian army to keep them sharp. Whether Satan is tempting or not, attacking or retreating — stay in order, hold your fighting posture. Let his apparent flight strengthen your faith, but do not let it weaken your watchfulness. The Parthians do their enemies the most damage during their retreat, firing their arrows as they run — and Satan can do the same to you, if an apparent victory makes you careless.