The Christian in Complete Armor - Choice Extracts!

have defied. Give no place to Satan! no, not an inch in his first motions! He
who is a beggar, and a modest one without doors, will command the house if
let in.
The devil teaches sinners to cover foul practices with fair names:
superstition, must be called devotion;
covetousness, must be called thrift;
pride in apparel, must be called keeping up with the times;
looseness, must be called liberty;
and foolishness, must be called mirth.
The Devil's wiles. Satan makes choice of such as have a great name for
holiness. None like a live bird, to draw other birds into the net. Abraham
tempts his wife to lie: "Say you are my sister." The old prophet leads the man
of God out of his way (1 Kings 13).
Under the skirt of Christian liberty, Satan conveys in libertinism; by crying
up the Spirit — he decries and vilifies the Scripture; by magnifying faith —
he labors to undermine repentance and blow up good works.
If Satan gets into your spirit and defiles it, O, how hard will you find it to stay
there? You have already sipped of his broth, and now are more likely to sit
down and make your full meal of that, which by tasting has vitiated your
palate already!
When you hear one commend another for a wise or good man, and at last
come in with a "but" that dashes all, you will easily think he is no friend to
the man — but some sly enemy, that by seeming to commend, desires to
disgrace the more.
Thus, when you find God represented to you as merciful and gracious — but
not to such a great sinner as you; to have power and strength — but not able
to save you; you may say, Avaunt, Satan, your speech betrays you.
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