He hides the hook! – Thomas Brooks

“Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.” 2 Corinthians 2:11

Satan has his several devices to deceive, entangle, and undo the souls of men. Satan has . . .
snares for the wise, and snares for the simple;
snares for hypocrites, and snares for the upright;
snares for brave, and snares for the timorous;
snares for the rich, and snares for the poor;
snares for the aged, and snares for youth.
Happy are those souls which are not captured and held in the snares that he has laid!

Satan’s first device to draw the soul into sin is, to present the bait and hide the hook; to present the golden cup and hide the poison; to present the sweet, the pleasure, and the profit that may flow in upon the soul by yielding to sin and to hide from the soul the wrath and misery that will certainly follow the committing of sin!

By this device he deceived our first parents, “And the serpent said unto the woman, You shall not surely die for God knows, that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened; and you shall be as gods.” Your eyes shall he opened, and you shall be as gods! Here is the bait, the sweet, the pleasure, the profit. Oh but he hides the hook the shame, the wrath, and the loss that would certainly follow! So Satan cheats them giving them an apple in exchange for a paradise!

Satan with ease pawns falsehoods upon us, by his golden baits, and then he leads us and leaves us in a fool’s paradise. He promises the soul honor, pleasure, profit but pays the soul with the greatest contempt, shame, and loss that can be!

Alas! Many have fallen forever by this vile strumpet, the world, who, by showing forth her two fair breasts of PROFIT and PLEASURE, has wounded their souls, and cast them down into utter perdition! She has, by the glistening of her pomp and preferment, slain millions!