Brooks treated the seductive influence and terrible power of Satan in a way greatly more full and suggestive than in the literature of the present day. Brooks lists seven reasons for writing this book. The first reason is enough...Brooks says, "Satan hath a greater influence upon men, and higher advantages over them than they think he hath, and the knowledge of his high advantage is the highway to disappoint him, and to render the soul strong in resisting, and happy in conquering.

Author  Thomas Brooks (1608–1680) was an English non-conformist Puritan preacher and author.