The Saint and Satan’s Accusations (Gurnall)

Posted at The Reformed Reader:

Sometimes – by God’s grace and his Spirit at work in us – the Christian doesn’t give in to Satan’s crafty temptations. One tactic the devil often resorts to in this situation is accusation. That is, if he can’t get the Christian to sin, he tries to get the Christian to wallow in guilt. William Gurnall explained it well:

“The devil is the blasphemer, but the poor Christian, because he will not join with him in the fact, shall have the name and bear the blame of it. As the Jews compelled Simon of Cyrene to carry Christ’s cross, so Satan would compel the tempted Christian to carry the guilt of his sin for him. And many time Satan doth so craftily, and with such sleight of hand, shift it [guilt] from himself to the Christian’s back, that he, poor creature, doesn’t realize the juggler’s art of conveying the guilt unto him, but goes complaining only of the baseness of his own heart.”

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