Oh! to how alarming an extent has Satan corrupted the church by means of trade! Not to mention the many cases in which, by successful speculations, he has induced professors to exchange a more scriptural profession for a more fashionable one, and that for no profession at all; and those in which, by unsuccessful speculations, he has induced irregular attendance on the means of grace, and, hence, utter neglect of them; how little sympathy exists between the various members of the church; how much distrust and suspicion is there in it; how little effort to bring in those that are without; how much calculation of cost before any instrumentality is put into operation for the conversion of the world; how great a propensity is there to expect, and estimate the success, according to according to the proThe propagation of the efforts made, and not mise and Spirit of God! religion seems to be treated, not merely as a commercial speculation, but as an unpromising speculation it is entered upon with reluctance, it is pursued with niggardliness, and, if there be not a speedy return, it is gradually or more speedily abandoned! 6. But any object to which we are devoted may, in like manner, and does too, become a suare to us—whether it be literature, or science, or the arts, or patriotism, or the amelioration of the condition of our fellow-creatures. Although the subjects of Divine grace, we are still in danger of being ensnared by it. Our devotedness to that object leads us to attend to it, either at improper seasons, or with undue ardour; and thus we either intrude on seasons which ought to be sacred to other and higher engagements; or, at the arrival of those seasons, we bring to those engagements but divided, and enfeebled powers; so that our attention to them is equally insufficient. Where is the Christian even that is not obliged to confess that, by some pursuit or other, allowable and even laudable, in itself, he has occasionally been induced to neglect, or make light of, the service of God? By the pursuit itself, therefore, Satan has gained an advantage over him. Hence the importance of moderation, even in praiseworthy practices. CHAPTER IV. TEMPTATIONS PECULIAR TO THE CHILDREN of god, OR ESPECIALLY AFFECTING THEM. WHEN We speak of temptations peculiar to the children of God, we do not wish it to be supposed that the children of God are not assailed by the temptations that are common to men in general. Satan accosts the children of God with the same temptations with which he accosts the children of this world; but with less frequency, because there is less probability of success -they having been renewed in the spirit of their minds, and thus feeling a dislike to sin in general as sin, and an abhorrence and dread of the more gross sins. And here Satan displays his sagacity in accommodating his temptations to the constitution and circumstances of those whom he is tempting. In some of the temptations with which Satan 66 attacks the children of God, his object is rather to annoy and distress, than corrupt. The tendency of the temptations is indeed to corrupt, as is the tendency of every temptation, and it is Satan's wish to corrupt by them; but, from the little hope he has of corrupting, he aims rather at annoying and distressing by them. In some cases, as he is well aware, he acts under the special permission and vigilant control of God, when, whatever else he may be able to effect, he is certain that he will not be able to induce to commit sin. This was the case of the peculiar temptation of the apostle Paul, which he describes as a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet him." Whatever this peculiar temptation was, it is certain that Paul was exercised by it by the special permission of God; for he declares that "it was given to him ;" and that God permitted it for some very important purpose in connexion with his Christian character, and his work as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ; for he further declares that this thorn in the flesh, this messenger of Satan to buffet him, was given him, "lest he should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations." Now a temptation which God so especially superintended as he did this, and by which he so especially intended to promote the holiness and usefulness of the subject of it, seems most unlikely to succeed in seducing to the commission of sin but Paul is in : effect assured of security against it, in the declaration made by the Lord in answer to his prayer for the removal of it from him,-that his grace was sufficient for him moreover, the action of this temptation is described by Paul as buffeting, and hence the only effect of it would appear to be the infliction of suffering. Now the knowledge of Satan that he is permitted merely to buffet,-merely to harass and annoy, will lead him to aim principally at buffeting; and, hence he will buffet the more continuously and the more severely. In other cases, if he be acquainted with the character of the persons he tempts, he must be certain, before he tempts them, that he will not succeed in inducing them to commit sin. This would be the case of his temptation of our Lord. If he knew that Jesus was the Son of God, and, from the readiness with which, in cases of persons possessed by him, he recognised him, even before he was ejected, it |