Chapter I: Front Matter

and causes of that malice—The greatness of it proved; and
instances of that greatness given, 10-14

CHAPTER III.—Of Satan’s power—His power as an angel considered—That
he lost not that power by his fall—His power
as a devil—Of his commission—The extent of his authority—The
efficacy of his power—The advantages which he hath for
the management of it, from the number, order, place, and
knowledge of devils, 14-20

CHAPTER IV.—That Satan hath a great measure of knowledge proved, by
comparing him with the knowledge of Adam in innocency, and by his
titles—Of his knowledge, natural, experimental, and accessory—Of his
knowledge of our thoughts—How far he doth not know them, and how
far he doth, and by what means—Of his knowledge of things future,
and by what ways he doth conjecture them—The advantages in point of
temptation that he hath by his knowledge, 21-26

CHAPTER V.—Instances of Satan’s power—Of witchcraft, what it
is—Satan’s power argued from thence—Of wonder—Whether
Satan can do miracles—An account of what he can do that
way—His power argued from apparitions and possessions, 27-35

CHAPTER VI.—Of Satan’s cruelty—Instances thereof in his dealing
with wounded spirits in ordinary temptations of the
wicked and godly, in persecutions, cruelties in worship—His
cruel handling of his slaves, 35-44

CHAPTER VII.—Of Satan’s diligence in several instances—The
question about the being of spirits and devils handled—The
Sadducees’ opinion discovered—The reality of spirits proved, 45-52

CHAPTER VIII.—Of Satan’s cunning and craft in the general—Several
demonstrations proving Satan to be deceitful; and
of the reasons why he makes use of his cunning, 52-58

CHAPTER IX.—Of Satan’s deceits in particular—What temptation
is—Of tempting to sin—His first general rule—The consideration
of our condition—His second rule—Of providing
suitable temptations—In what cases he tempts us to things
unsuitable to our inclinations—His third rule—The cautious
proposal of the temptation, and the several ways thereof—His
fourth rule is to entice—The way thereof in the general,
by bringing a darkness upon the mind through lust, 58-63

CHAPTER X.—That Satan enticeth by our lust—The several ways
by which he doth it—Of the power and danger of the violence
of affections, 63-68

CHAPTER XI.—That lust darkens the mind—Evidences thereof—The
five ways by which it doth blind men: (1.) By preventing
the exercise of reason—The ways of that prevention:
(1.) Secrecy in tempting; Satan’s subtlety therein;
(2.) Surprisal; (3.) Gradual entanglements, 68-72

CHAPTER XII.—Of Satan’s perverting our reason—His second
way of blinding—The possibility of this, and the manner of
accomplishing it directly, several ways; and indirectly, by
the delights of sin, and by sophistical arguments; with an
account of them, 72-76

CHAPTER XIII.—Of Satan’s diverting our reason, being the third
way of blinding men—His policies for diverting our thoughts—His
attempts to that purpose in a more direct manner;
with the degrees of that procedure—Of disturbing or distracting
our reason, which is Satan’s fourth way of blinding
men—His deceits therein—Of precipitancy, Satan’s fifth way
of blinding men—Several deceits to bring men to that, 77-83

CHAPTER XIV.—Of Satan’s maintaining his possession—His first
engine for that purpose is his finishing of sin, in its reiteration
and aggravation—His policies herein, 83-86

CHAPTER XV.—Of Satan’s keeping all in quiet, which is his second
engine for keeping his possession, and for that purpose his
keeping us from going to the light by several subtleties; also
of making us rise up against the light, and by what ways he
doth that, 86-91

CHAPTER XVI.—Of Satan’s third grand policy for maintaining his
possession; which is his feigned departure: (1.) By ceasing
the prosecution of his design; and the cases in which he doth
it—(2.) By abating the eagerness of pursuit; and how he doth
that—(3.) By exchanging temptations; and his policy therein—The
advantage he seeks by seeming to fly—Of his fourth
stratagem for keeping his possession, which is his stopping
all ways of retreat; and how he doth that, 91-100

CHAPTER XVII.—Satan’s deceits against religious services and
duties—The grounds of his displeasure against religious duties—His
first design against duties is to prevent them—His
several subtleties for that end, by external hindrances, by
indispositions bodily and spiritual, by discouragements; the
ways thereof, by dislike; the grounds thereof, by sophistical
arguings—His various pleas therein, 100-118

CHAPTER XVIII.—Satan’s second grand design against duties is
to spoil them—(1.) In the manner of undertaking, and how
he effects this—(2.) In the act or performance, by distracting
outwardly and inwardly—His various ways therein, by vitiating
the duty itself—How he doth that—(3.) After performance,
the manner thereof, 118-125

PART II.

CHAPTER I.—That it is Satan’s grand design to corrupt the minds
of men with error—The evidences that it is so—and the
reasons of his endeavours that way, 127-140

CHAPTER II.—Of the advantages which Satan hath, and useth, for
the introduction of error—(1.) From his own power of
spiritual fascination—That there is such a power, proved from
Scripture, and from the effects of it—(2.) From our imperfection
of knowledge; the particulars thereof explained—(3.)
From the bias of the mind—What things do bias it, and the
power of them to sway the understanding—(4.) From curiosity
(5.) From atheistical debauchery of conscience, 140-158

CHAPTER III.—Of Satan’s improving these advantages for error—1.
By deluding the understanding directly: which he doth,
(1.) By countenancing error from Scripture—Of his cunning
therein—(2.) By specious pretences of mysteries; and what
these are—Of personal flatteries—(3.) By affected expressions—Reason
of their prevalency—(4.) By bold assertions—The
reasons of that policy—(5.) By the excellency of the
persons appearing for it, either for gifts or holiness—His
method of managing that design—(6.) By pretended inspiration—(7.)
By pretended miracles—His cunning herein—(8.)
By peace and prosperity in ways of error—(9.) By lies against
truth, and the professors of it, 158-189

CHAPTER IV.—Of Satan’s second way of improving his advantages,
which is by working upon the understanding indirectly
by the affections—This he doth, (1.) By a silent, insensible
introduction of error—His method herein—(2.) By entangling
the affections with the external garb of error, a gorgeous
dress, or affected plainness—(3.) By fabulous imitations of
truth—The design thereof—(4.) By accommodating truth to a
compliance with parties that differ from it—Various instances
hereof—(5.) By driving to a contrary extreme—(6.) By
bribing the affections with rewards, or forcing them by fears—(7.)
By engaging pride and anger—(8.) By adorning error
with the ornaments of truth, 190-208

CHAPTER V.—Satan’s attempts against the peace of God’s children
evidenced—(1.) From his malice—(2.) From the concernment
of peace to God’s children—What these concerns
are, explained—(3.) From the advantages which he hath
against them by disquieting their minds—1. Confusion of
mind—2. Unfitness for duty, and how—3. Rejection of
duty—4. A stumbling-block to others—5. Preparation of
the mind to entertain venomous impressions, and what they
are—6. Bodily weakness—7. Our miseries Satan’s contentment, 209-218

CHAPTER VI.—Of the various ways by which he hinders peace—First
way, By discomposures of spirit—These discomposures
explained: by shewing, (1.) What advantage he takes from
our natural temper, and what tempers give him this advantage—(2.)
By what occasions he works upon our natural tempers—(3.)
With what success—[1.] These occasions suited
to natural inclinations, raise great disturbance—[2.] They
have a tendency to spiritual trouble—The thing proved, and
the manner how discovered—[3.] These disturbances much
in his power—General and particular considerations about
that power, 219-237

CHAPTER VII.—Of the second way to hinder peace—Affrightments,
the general nature and burden of them, in several particulars—What
are the ways by which he affrights—1. Atheistical
injections—Observations of his proceeding in them—2.
Blasphemous thoughts—3. Affrightful suggestions of
reprobation—Observations of his proceedings in that course—4.
Frightful motions to sin—5. Strong immediate impressions
of fear—6. Affrightful scrupulosity of conscience, 238-254

CHAPTER VIII.—Of his third way to hinder peace, by spiritual
sadness—Wherein, 1. Of the degrees of spiritual sadness—2.
Of the frequency of this trouble, evidenced several ways—Of
the difference betwixt God and Satan in wounding the
conscience—3. Of the solemn occasions of this trouble—4.
The engines by which Satan works spiritual sadness:—(1.)
His sophistry—His topics enumerated and explained—[1.]
Scriptures perverted—[2.] False notions—[3.] Misrepresentations
of God—[4.] Sins: how he aggravates them—[5.]
Lessening their graces: how he doth that—(2.) His second
engine, fear: how he forwards his design that way, 254-286

CHAPTER IX.—Of his fourth way to hinder peace, by spiritual
distresses—1. The nature of these distresses—The ingredients
and degrees of them—Whether all distresses of soul
arise from melancholy—2. Satan’s method in working
them; the occasions he makes use of; the arguments he
urgeth, the strengthening of them by fears—3. Their weight
and burden explained in several particulars—Some concluding
cautions, 287-311

PART III.

CHAPTER I.—The first circumstance of the combat, the time
when it happened—The two solemn seasons of temptation—The
reasons thereof, 313-316

CHAPTER II.—The second circumstance, Christ’s being led by
the Spirit—What hand the Spirit of God hath in temptations—and
of running into temptations when not led into it, 316-321

CHAPTER III.—The third circumstance, the place of the combat—The
advantage given to temptations by solitude, 321-322

CHAPTER IV.—The fourth circumstance, the end wherefore
Christ was led to the wilderness—Holiness, employment,
privileges, exempt not from temptation—Of temptations
that leave not impressions of sin behind them—How Satan’s
temptations are distinguished from the lusts of our own
heart, 322-328

CHAPTER V.—Of Christ’s fast, with the design thereof—Of
Satan’s tempting in an invisible way—Of his incessant
importunities, and how he flies when resisted—Of inward
temptations, with outward afflictions—Several advantages
Satan hath by tempting in affliction, 328-336

CHAPTER VI.—That Christ’s temptations were real, and not in
vision—That temptation is Satan’s employment, with the
evidences and instances thereof—Of Satan’s tempting visibly,
with the reasons thereof, 337-341

CHAPTER VII.—The general view of these temptations—Of
Satan’s gradual proceeding in temptations—Of reserving a
great temptation last—What a great temptation is; in what
cases to be expected—Of Satan’s using a common road, in
comparing these temptations with the ordinary temptations
of men—Of the advantage Satan takes of natural appetite,
sense, and affections, 341-346

CHAPTER VIII.—The rise of Christ’s first temptation—Of Satan’s
suiting his temptations to the conditions of men—Of tempting
men upon the plea of necessity—The reasons and cheats
of that plea—His pretences of friendship in tempting, with
the danger thereof, 346-350

CHAPTER IX.—A particular consideration of the matter of the
first temptation, what Satan aimed at in bidding him turn
stones into bread—Of Satan’s moving us to things good or
lawful—The end of such a motion—How to know whether
such motions are from Satan or the Spirit—What to do in
case they be from Satan—Of his various aims in one temptation—What
they are, and of his policy therein—Of his artificial
contrivement of motions to make one thing infer
another, 350-355

CHAPTER X.—Of Satan’s chief end in this temptation—His skill
in making the means to sin plausible—The reasons of that
policy, with his art therein—Men’s ignorance his advantage—Of
the differences of things propounded to our use, 355-359

CHAPTER XI.—Of the temptation to distrust upon the failure of
ordinary means—Of the power of that temptation, and the
reasons of its prevalency—Of unwarrantable attempts for
relief, with the causes thereof—Of waiting on God, and
keeping his way—In what cases a particular mercy is to be
expected, 360-367

CHAPTER XII.—Of Satan’s proceeding to infer distrust of sonship
from distrust of providences—Instances of the probability
of such a design—The reasons of this undertaking—Of
Satan’s endeavour to weaken the assurance and hopes of
God’s children—His general method to that purpose, 367-376

CHAPTER XIII.—The preparation to the second temptation—Of
his nimbleness to catch advantages from our answers to
temptation—That Satan carried Christ in the air—Of his
power to molest the bodies of God’s children—How little
the supposed holiness of places privilegeth us from Satan—Of
Satan’s policy in seeming to countenance imaginary
defences—Of his pretended flight in such cases, with the
reasons of that policy—Of his improving a temptation to
serve several ends, 376-382

CHAPTER XIV.—That presumption was the chief design of this
temptation—Of tempting to extremes—What presumption is—The
several ways of presuming—The frequency of this
temptation, in the generality of professors, in hypocrites, in
despairing persons, and in the children of God—The reasons
of Satan’s industry in this design—His deceitful contrivance
in bringing about this sin—Preservatives against it, 382-390

CHAPTER XV.—Self-murder, another of his designs in this
temptation—How he tempts to self-murder directly, and
upon what advantage he urgeth it—How he tempts to it
indirectly, and the ways thereof—Of necessary preservatives
against this temptation, 390-396

CHAPTER XVI.—Of pride, Satan’s chief engine to bring on
presumption—What pride is, and how it prepares men for sinning
presumptuously—Considerations against pride—The
remedies for its cure—Pride kindled by a confidence of
privileges and popular applause, 397-401

CHAPTER XVII.—Of Satan’s subtlety in urging that of Psalm xci.
11, 12, to Christ—Of his imitating the Spirit of God in
various ways of teaching—Of his pretending Scripture to
further temptation—The reasons of such pretendings, and
the ends to which he doth abuse it—Of Satan’s unfaithfulness
in managing of Scripture—Cautions against that deceit—The
ways by which it may be discovered, 402-415

CHAPTER XVIII.—The manner of Satan’s shewing the kingdoms
of the world—Of Satan’s preparations before the motion of
sin—Of his confronting the Almighty by presumptuous imitation,
and in what cases he doth so—Of his beautifying the
objects of a temptation, and how he doth it—His way of
engaging the affections by the senses—Of his seeming shyness, 415-423

CHAPTER XIX.—Satan’s end in tempting Christ to fall down and
worship him—Of blasphemous injections—What blasphemy
is—The ways of Satan in that temptation, with the advantages
he takes therein, and the reason of urging blasphemies
upon men—Consolations to such as are concerned in such
temptations—Advice to such as are so afflicted, 424-430

CHAPTER XX.—The nature of idolatry—Satan’s design to corrupt
the worship of God—The evidences thereof, with the reasons
of such endeavours—His general design of withdrawing the
hearts of men from God to his service—The proof that this
is his design—Upon whom he prevails—That professions and
confidences are no evidences to the contrary—His deceit of
propounding sin as a small matter—The evidences of that
method, and the reason thereof, 430-437

CHAPTER XXI.—Of worldly pleasure—Proofs that this is Satan’s
great engine—What there is in worldly delights that make
them so—Counsels and cautions against that snare, 438-444

CHAPTER XXII.—Of Christ’s answer in the general—That these
temptations were upon design for our instruction—Of the
agreement betwixt Eph. vi. and Mat. iv.—The first direction,
of courageous resolves in resisting temptations—Its
consistency with some kind of fear—The necessity of this
courage—Wherein it consists; and that there is a courage in
mourning spirits, 445-450

CHAPTER XXIII.—The second direction, that temptations are not
to be disputed—The several ways of disputing a temptation—In
what cases it is convenient and necessary to dispute
with Satan—In what cases inconvenient, and the reasons
of it, 451-458

CHAPTER XXIV.—The third direction, of repelling a temptation
without delay—The necessity of so doing—What a speedy
denial doth contain, 459-462

CHAPTER XXV.—The fourth direction, of repelling a temptation
by Scripture arguments—Of several things implied in the
direction—The necessity of answering by Scripture arguments—The
excellency of the remedy—How Scripture arguments
are to be managed, 462-469