“1. Ought we to ascribe any part of our conduct which is not absolutely sinful to the agency of Satan? There appears to have been nothing ‘absolutely sinful’ in the conduct of the Corinthians towards the incestuous.

“2. How are we to know, in all cases, whether our actions be produced by the force of Satan’s temptations, operating on the depravity of our will and affections, or whether those actions be the effects of our depravity merely, without Satanic influence?”

I freely confess that I am unable to speak to the second question in any case.Neither do I know what to ascribe to the Holy Spirit, or to holy angels, as being conscious of the influence of either. It is only the effect produced of which I am conscious. I am taught in the Scriptures to ascribe whatever is good to the Holy Spirit. I am also taught in the Scriptures, especially in the prophecies of Daniel, that holy angels have great influence on the minds even of princes, and consequently on the great events of the world. But no one, I suppose, is conscious of any thing of the kind. We all know that the minds of men are influenced by thousands of causes without themselves. Man is a leaf shaken by every wind; the least accident may so affect him as to give a turn to the most important concerns of his life. We also know that no influence from without us destroys our agency or accountableness. If we were to take away a man’s life, in order to obtain his property, we should not think of excusing ourselves by alleging that we were influenced to do so by some person having told us that he was very rich.

I apprehend we are not so much to consider Satan as working immediately as mediately. He is “the god of this world;” the riches, pleasures, and honours of it, together with the examples of the wicked, are the means by which he ordinarily works upon the souls of men. The bird need not fear the fowler, if it avoid the snare; nor the fish the fisherman, if it do but shun the bait.

Respecting the occasion of the question, I beg leave to say that the extraordinary exertions of the late excellent minister referred to have, in my judgment, been noticed by some persons with undue severity. Had they properly attended to the account which Mr. Pearce himself has given of this matter, every unfavourable idea would have vanished; and pity, blended with love and admiration, would have superseded every complaint. In the Memoirs of this dear man, p. 197, when writing to an intimate friend, he thus expresses himself:—“Should my life be spared, I and my family, and all my connexions, will stand indebted, under God, to you. Unsuspecting of danger myself, I believe I should have gone on with my exertions till the grave had received me. Your attention sent the apothecary to me, and then first I learned, what I have since been increasingly convinced of—that I was rapidly destroying the vital principle. And the kind interest you have taken in my welfare ever since has often drawn the grateful tear from my eye. May the God of heaven and earth reward your kindness to his unworthy servant, and save you from all the evils from which your distinguished friendship would have saved me.”—To another of his friends he also declared, very seriously, that, “if ever he incurred guilt of this kind, it was through error of judgment respecting the strength of his constitution, and that he adopted a system of precaution as soon as he apprehended danger.”

It has also been insinuated by some that his persuasion that he ought to be a missionary must have been a delusion, as appeared from the result; for he did not go. But if this be just reasoning, it was delusion also in Mr. Grant; for he was taken away almost immediately after his arrival at the scene of action. The desire likewise of David to build a house for God must have been altogether delusion; though we are assured it was taken well of Him by whom actions are weighed. The truth is, there are but few men who are proper judges of such a character. We are most of us at so great a distance from his spirit as to be in danger of thinking such extraordinary zeal to be a species of extravagance.

Fuller, A. G. (1988). “Satan’s Temptations,” Answers and Quires. The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller: Expositions—Miscellaneous (J. Belcher, Ed.; Vol. 3, pp. 784–785). Sprinkle Publications.