To prevent alarm, he will suggest every mitigating circumstance respecting their guilt; represent that it is an easy matter to repent and obtain mercy at the last moment of life; or, if he cannot compose the alarmed conscience with such opiates, he will change his course, and represent their sins as peculiarly aggravated; their case as singular and desperate; their day of grace as past; and that, having committed the sin against the Holy Ghost, it is in vain for them to repent, or expect forgiveness! Thus, from the pinnacle of presumption, he will precipitate them into the gulf of despondency. Were it in his power to prevent it, there would be no more joy in heaven at the repentance of a sinner, and the light of hope, on earth, would be extinguished for ever. Nor does he rest with having misrepresented the character and condition of the sinner to himself; he will distort and conceal the true character of God: at one time representing him as too merciful to punish any one eternally for such faults as theirs; at another, that the insulted Majesty of heaven meditates vengeance, and his holiness and justice would be dishonoured if their multiplied and heinous offences were forgiven; diverting their attention from the peculiar discoveries of the gospel, he will, as in the conflict of our blessed Lord, bring the Scriptures themselves to confirm his wicked suggestions, and, by a false application of difficult and detached passages, hide from us the divine perfections, as harmonizing and glorified in our redemption by Jesus Christ. One other stratagem may be mentioned, which, for the subtlety of its nature, and the frequency of its use, requires especial notice. Satan will often transform himself into an angel of light, and by means of some popular minister, or talkative professor, promise a speedy growth in divine life, but, in reality, will _divert from all proper thoughts of God, and of themselves_. He will draw the young convert into some matter of doubtful disputation, either of doctrine or discipline in the church. He will either explode some important truth, or carry it into an improper extreme, turning spirituality into mysticism, or liberty into licentiousness. Having thus entangled the inexperienced in some labyrinth of error, Satan cares not, if, under a profession of religion he can but lead away from the simplicity that is in Christ; and substitute for the spirit of the gospel a spirit of pride, and of discord, in which all the angry passions find their element, and the souls of men are lost for ever, amidst furious contentions about religion. "Where-fore, take unto you the whole armour of God." Seeing you are placed in circumstances that will require the faithful use of every part of it, see that nothing be wanting to your steadfastness. The armour is chiefly of the defensive kind, by which we may maintain our standing in the Christian warfare.