deterring from sin in Gen. xxxix. 9. Hist. Susanna 23.
III. Satan quotes Scripture for his own vile purposes, to screen himself under the semblance of piety. We have a warning here against those renegade Catholic priests and monks who desert the Church and the authority of the Bishops, that they may give themselves up to heresy and to unclean living, sheltering themselves all the while under Scripture texts distorted to serve their own purposes.
IV. Satan garbles Scripture in quoting it.
1. He distorts the sense. Christ needed not angelic hands to sustain Him, and therefore the passage is not applicable to Him, but refers to His people. (Acts i. 9. Heb. i. 3.)
2. He omits passages which did not suit his purpose. The words are, They shall keep Thee in all Thy ways, i.e. in the ways of God’s commandments, not in breaking those commands. He also omits, Thou shalt go upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt Thou tread under Thy feet, because those words referred to himself as overcome by Christ.
V. Note also how great is the dignity of the true servant of God, upon whom, by God’s command, the angels wait. Hence we may learn:—
1. Not to regard ourselves as of no value, for
