most secret actions of sin.
and surprises the mind into thoughts of another nature than those it ought to insist on in its own defence So it seems to have been with Peter: his carnal fear closing with the temptation wherein Satan sought to winnow him, filled his mind with so many thoughts about his own danger, that he could not take consider the love and warning of Christ, nor the evil his temptation led him to, nor anything that he ought to have insisted on for his preservation. So, when he thought of his folly in neglecting those thoughts of God and the love of Christ which, through the assistance of the Holy Ghost, might have kept him from his scandalous fall, he wept bitterly. And this how the deceit of sin commonly works as to particular evils: - It lays hold on the mind with anxiety about the present sin, and so possesses it that either it recovers not itself at all, or if any thoughts of them be suggested, the mind is so preoccupied that they make no impression on the soul. Thus was David surprised in his great sin. Sin and temptation so possessed and filled his mind with the object of his lust, that he utterly forgot those considerations which kept him from his iniquity. Here, therefore, lies the great wisdom of the soul, in rejecting the very first motions of sin, because by parleys with them the mind may be drawn off from attending to its remedies, and so the all rushes into evil.
[3.] It draws away the mind by long and frequent temptations, conquering it at last. This does not happen without neglect of the soul, in want of stirring up itself to rebuke sin, in the strength and by the grace of Christ; which would have prevented its victory.
This is the first way that the law of sin acts its deceit against the soul: - It draws the mind away from attending to its proper work in respect of duty and sin. And so far as this is done, the person is said to be "drawn away". He is "tempted;" every man is tempted, when he is thus drawn away by his own lust, or the deceit of sin dwelling in him. And the effect of this work may be summarised under three heads: -
1. Lack of watchfulness of spirit to every duty, and against even the most secret actions of sin.