'Divines observe this to be the method in which temptations are ripened and brought to their full strength. There is the irritation of the object, or that power it has to provoke our corrupt nature; which is either done by the real presence of the object, or by speculation when the object (though absent) is held out to the imagination before the soul. Then follows the motion of the appetite, which is provoked by the fancy representing it as a sensual good. Then there is a consultation in the mind about the best means of accomplishing it. Next follows the election, or choice of the will. And lastly, the desire, or full engagement of the will to it.
All this may be done in a few minutes, for the debates of the soul are quick and soon ended: when it come thus far, the heart is won, Satan hath entered victoriously and disoplayed his colours upon the walls of that royal fort; but, had the heart been well-guarded at first, it had never come to this - the temptation had been stopped in the first or second act. And indeed there it is stopped easily; for it is in the motion of a soul tempted to sin, as in the motion of a stone falling from the brow of a hill - it is easily stopped at first, but when once it is set in motion "it acquires strength by descending."'
John Flavel, Keeping the Heart, p.28.
