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May it sink deep into our minds, and fill us with that salutary fear which shall keep us ever mindful of the foe's devices.

a solemn lesson of perpetual watchfulness, | self-confident greatness of the adversary. and careful sifting of whatever is suggested to our minds, whether by outward circumstances, the counsel of friends, or the seemingly intuitive suggestions of our own minds: for he who assailed the Master will not spare the servant.

The Lord's reply was strongly indignant; "Get thee hence, Satan!" But now this holy indignation, this desire to be freed from the presence of the archfiend, who had been harassing him for forty days and nights, this detestation of his odious suggestions, was next laid hold of as the ground-work of a third temptation. By the exercise of that mysterious power, of the nature of which we must remain ignorant, but ought never to be forgetful, the devil placed his destined conqueror on a pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem, and calling to his aid the Scriptures, which had been successfully opposed to his preceding attempts, he invited the Saviour to cast himself down; "for it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone." Luke iv. 10, 11. To be at once delivered from the immediate presence of Satan, and received into the arms of the

Again, the object of our Lord's incarnation was to wrest from Satan the kingship of the world; to cast him out of his possessions, to take the prey from the mighty, and deliver the lawful captive. This was to be accomplished by exceeding bitter sufferings, of which a foretaste was then present, in the pangs of extreme hunger. Humanity shrank from what Deity foreknew; and we have very touching statements from the evangelists, of the anguish that overwhelmed the blessed Jesus on the near approach of the climax of his woes. He was even brought to pray, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me!" Matt. xxvi. 39. Yet in all this not a taint of evil existed; it was the innocent shrinking of innocent, holy flesh, from intense tortures. Of this Satan seems to have taken his next advantage; for he exhibited to the divine object of his infernal artifices all the king-holy angels; while to decline it was apdoms of the world, with a reference to his own acknowledged sovereignty over them, and proposed terms on which he would consent to abdicate in favour of his dreaded opponent, so rendering needless the terrific conflict in which the Lord must engage to effect his expulsion by force. This was a most refined temptation: it proposed a single momentary act of homage, in acknowledgment of the exist-in our Lord's experience: the Holy Ghost ing supremacy of that enthroned rebel and traitor, to be followed by the instantaneous resignation of his usurped dominion into the hands of the rightful King. He saw the mortal frame drooping under prolonged inanition; he knew how closely the human mind naturally sympathized with the body's feebleness: he calculated on the effect of forty days' endurance of hunger, thirst, weariness, solitude, and unsheltered exposure; and he, the Devil, the liar and the murderer, boldly ventured on a proposition, the nature of which sends a shudder through the heart of the Chris-men-"the travail of his soul"-the "sortian, for whose sake the Lord of Glory was exposed to such an indignity as this! But it gives a very terrible view of the

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parently to shrink not only from the proof of his divinity, but also from a test of individual faith in the promise of God: this was a snare, the craft and subtlety of which are not always sufficiently considered; nor the practical use of the lesson regarded. For, be it remembered, it was no necessary part of our redemption to made us acquainted with such a passage

has very sparingly revealed to us the particulars of what was by far the most grievous portion of his sufferings: we are not told what took place during the forty days, throughout the whole period of which St. Luke tells us, he was tempted of the devil. The thorny crown, the scourge, the nails, the spear, were the lot of many others, whose physical frames suffered, perhaps, no less exquisitely the pangs of a torturing death; but here we have a glimpse of mental and spiritual endurances, such as would crush the whole mass of guilty

rows" and the "grief;" the heavy pressure wherewith "it pleased the Lord to bruise him." Isaiah liii. 10. We know

not what ensued, when, just previous to this fearful agony in the garden, the Lord said, "The Prince of this world cometh." John xiv. 30. Neither can we penetrate what was implied in the expression used to the wretched men who seized on him"This is your hour, and the power of darkness." Luke xxii. 53. Hereafter we shall doubtless know what in their present burdened state our spirits could not support: we shall better comprehend the nature and intensity of sufferings undergone by Him who poured out his soul unto death for us; but since what is given by inspiration is written for our learning, we may be assured that the scene so distinctly sketched of the mysterious encounter between the Son of righteousness and the prince of darkness, is intended to fill us with godly fear; to keep us watchful against the tremendous foe, and to endear to us the written word of the Old Testament, which some Christians are apt to slight; but which furnished the Captain of our salvation with weapons wherewith to repel the bold assailant. The deity of Jesus is the sword, from which Satan shrinks; and even in the brief, but inexpressibly momentous narrative referred to, there is observable a constant reference, on our Lord's part, to the eternal God, which appears calculated to remind the rebel that He, with whom he was presumptuously dealing, was yet the Lord his God. Some have represented this assault as planned by the evil one, to satisfy himself as to the fact of Jesus being the Christ: we cannot subscribe to this view: surely the prince of the devils was not worse informed than his subordinates, who, on the approach of our Lord, evermore yelled forth their confessions of his deity, and deprecating the visitation of his wrath. Satan knew full well, that the elect angels were no liars, like himself: and when in songs of joy and praise they announced to the shepherds the birth of "a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." he could not disbelieve their testimony. The particulars of that miraculous birth were not concealed from him; neither was the promise which God gave to Eve, or the prediction declared to Ahaz unknown. Still less can we for a moment suppose that the testimony given just before, at the Lord's baptism, had escaped him. No; Satan knew with whom

he had to do; and well may we tremble, when we find him taking advantage of the purest concomitants of undefiled humanity, and with them tempting the Lord his God.

Scripture likewise unfolds to us many instances in which God's servants have been assailed by the enemy, under the feigned character of a divine influence, to confirm which he has put forth all his powers, and wrought wonders. A very remarkable instance of this is found in the story of Israel's deliverance: and though it is a part of his craft to lead men so to explain away the passages touching himself, as to neutralize in a great degree God's gracious purpose in dictating them, we are not bound to follow their glosses,-we may venture to take Scripture as we find it, and to believe that when the Holy Ghost says a thing, he means what he says, and not something else. The marvels that Satan wrought by means of Pharaoh's magicians were calculated not only to harden the heart of the tyrant against the truly miraculous manifestations of God's power, but also to stagger the faith of Moses and Aaron in the divine origin of their mission. We are not at liberty to call them juggling deceptions, as some do; mere sleight of hand tricks, performed by court conjurors: the word of God declares them to have been realities: and most instructive they are to us, who, looking for the national redemption and final restoration of Israel, acording to the Lord's promise, now very near at hand, may expect to witness fearful things done in opposition to it by the power of Satan, who hates the Jew with an implacable hatred. We find the magicians of Egypt doing what man, without supernatural aid could never have accomplished. "Now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments; for they cast down every man his rod, and they became (not they seemed to become) serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods." Exod. vii. 11, 12. Here was a great wonder wrought by the power of Satan, but overruled to the fuller proof of the mighty work of God. When Moses turned the water into blood, the magicians did the same, but of course on a very small scale, since there could be but little left for them to practise upon.

Again, they were able to imitate a miracle, by bringing up frogs upon the land; but now the power of Satan ended; the next wonder was one of creation, and life, even the lowest order of animal life is not his to bestow. He can kill, when permitted; but to make alive was never given to him. His agents essayed to bring up frogs, from the recesses where they were hidden, and succeeded; but when they attempted to bring forth lice from the dust of the earth, they utterly failed. It does not appear that after this they ventured on increasing the swarms of flies, as they had done that of frogs; or to smite the cattle of the children of Israel, when the Lord had destroyed those of the Egyptians and the next visitation drove them out of the royal presence, covered with loathsome sores which their infernal master had no power to heal.

How encouraging is this to us! Satan may do much to terrify, to perplex, and to afflict us; but as soon as he touches on a single attribute of the Most High, he fails, and is put to flight. Yet to make it appear that what he does is done immediately by the Lord, is almost always his plan. Thus we find, when destroying the flocks of Job and their attendants, he so managed his elements of destruction, that the terrified messenger of evil tidings described it as a divine visitation: "The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them." Job 1. 16. It could not but dreadfully aggravate the affliction of the righteous man, to regard these sore trials as marks of the Lord's indignation, proceeding directly from Him: and no doubt it was so arranged to add power to the detestable suggestion conveyed through his wife. But though Job believed the lie, his faith in God's love failed not; by faith he endured, and through faith he triumphed. If we do not distinctly see in what manner faith acts as a shield, or how effectually it quenches all the fiery darts of the wicked it is because we do not sufficiently search the Scriptures. They abound with glorious illustrations: and the path of safety is so clearly laid down that the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein, if they simply attend to the indications given. To those who study it with prayer, as a book writ

ten not for the learned, but for “the poor of this world," the "fools," the "babes," to whom the Lord has declared that he will make his wonders of salvation known, the Bible is of all works the most intelligible: only rendered otherwise by the foolish "wisdom of this world," holding up its moonlight to make the sun visible. Satan owes much even to the best of commentators; for they have frequently assisted to veil both his person and his devices, by their ill-judged attempts at elucidation, which taken in their literal sense, God's words would have revealed important practical truths respecting him.

We are dwelling principally on the display of satanic presumption as the usurping god of this world: the means by which that usurpation was effected, present a fearful view of his daring self-reliance. In his very first approach to our unhappy race, then rejoicing, in sinless felicity, he deliberately contradicted the express declaration of the Most High God; and appealing, as afterwards, in the case of the second Adam, to a perfectly innocent, laudable desire, he stirred up Eve to seek higher attainments in knowledge, a clearer. perception of good, as opposed to evil; then stimulating this thirst for information beyond due bounds-leading it to overpass the landmark of submission to the Divine will, he accomplished at once what must have appeared to himself a most hazardous undertaking. God as a liar could not but be congenial to the diabolical nature of the accursed spirit of evil; but that a creature so formed to know, to love, and to serve the Lord, surrounded on all sides with the profusion of his bounty, and continually drinking from the fountain of all spiritual, all intellectual, all physical enjoyment, under His paternal hand,—that such a creature should at the first word be persuaded to credit the lie, and to rush into open transgression, must have been marvellous in the eyes of the tempter. How marvellous in ours must be the extreme daring that prompted him to the enterprise.

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After such a proof of the weakness of human nature, while yet wholly untainted with sin, and the observation during many ages of the frightful depravity into which a being, originally created after the image

SECTION IV.

SATANIC CUNNING.

BOLD as he is, and potent as he is, Satan rarely goes to work in a straightforward manner. He is still the old serpent, accomplishing by craft his insiduous purposes, gliding stealthily on the path of his intended victim, and concealing himself beneath the innocent flowers with which the Creator has bountifully clad that path. In some parts of the world he does indeed enforce upon his bond-slaves the horrible service of worshipping him openly and by name, in order to deprecate the temporal mischief that they know he is able and willing to do them; but, generally, he veils himself under fictitious names and forms, so obtaining to himself and his angels the honor and service that are due to God alone. St. Paul tells us this:

of God, might easily be led, it becomes less inconceivable that Satan should have availed himself of the permission given to assault the man, Christ Jesus; for be it always remembered, that only by permission could he approach the Saviour. We are distinctly told, that after the baptism and public recognition from heaven of our blessed Lord, preparatory to his ministerial, or prophetical work upon earth, "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil." Matt. iv. 1. However high, however powerful, however privileged the great adversary may be, during the time of his yet remaining unbound, still, in the sight of God, he is equally helpless and contemptible, as he is hateful. He durst not even utter an extenuating word when his doom was pronounced, together with that of his wretched victims: he cannot hurt a hair on the head of one of Christ's meanest followers, without a special leave so to do; and then he cannot overpass the pre-"What say I then? that the idol is anycise boundary of his permitted machinations. "Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days." Rev. ii. 10. Some, not all, he should have leave to cast into prison, and they only that they might be tried, not destroyed; and their trial should continue ten days, not a minute longer. His commission, no doubt, is much larger with respect to those who are still in "the snare of the devil; who are taken captive by him at his will," (2 Tim. ii. 26,) and who will ultimately share his burning abode for ever, if they turn not to Christ for deliverance; but the blessed work of the Gospel preached unto man is "to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith which is in Christ;" Acts xxvi. 18; and when this is once accomplished, the devil is compelled to recognize the indwelling power and presence of his conqueror in them; and without a special leave, granted for some wise purpose, "That wicked one toucheth them not."

thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is anything? But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, not to God; and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils; ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils." 1 Cor. x. 19, 20, 21. Satan persuades the poor heathen that some divine power resides in a beast, a reptile, a stone or the stock of a tree; and having induced him to worship it, takes to himself and to his gang of devils the honours paid to the senseless idol. Well may he be termed the god of this world! Το all of its successive empires, crumbling into dust as they have done, he has been the object of supreme homage. The Babylonian might fall prostrate before his gigantic idol of gold; the Persian breathe his devout aspirations to the fiery orb of day; the Greek rejoice in his sculptured forms of exquisite beauty, and in the endless mysteries of an impure worship; the stern Roman night crowd his pantheon with the captured idols of every nation, and enlarge his unholy creed for the reception of each foreign fable; but in all, and over all, Satan ruled. Wherever idolatry is found, there is Satan the god of the worshippers. His voice was heard

in the lowing of the Egyptian abomina- | the artful adaptation to their circumstantion, in the decree that prostrated the ces of the idolatrous abominations that glory of the Chaldeans on the plain of they had seen in Egypt no doubt origiDura, and in every incentive to creature-nated in the same quarter: while the conworship under whatsoever form observed, tinual outbursts of discontent, disobediand by whatsoever sanctions confirmed. The voice that from the Minaret proclaims the true prophetic character of Mahomet, is his; the bell that tinkles forth a signal for the admiration of a wafer-god, is sounded by him: yea, the secret whisper from within that withholds the hand about to extend the gift of charity, is the voice of his power too, for "covetousness is idolatry." Col. iii. 5. By fraudful cunning, under a thousand manifestations, he upholds his unseen, acknowledged dominion; never to be overthrown till the Stone, cut out without hands, shall smite the huge image of universal idolatry, and gathering to itself the little, faithful band of protesters against his multifarious devilworship, so fill the earth as to thrust out of it whatsoever resists the extension of that Stone's triumphant kingdom.

ence, strife, and open rebellion against their leader, that marked the progress of the rescued tribes through the wilderness, all bear witness to his influence among them. Recollecting, as it has already been observed, that the Holy Ghost declares idol-worship to be devil-worship, we have positive proof that Satan and his legions presided over the heathen nations who surrounded the camp of Israel; and all the seductive arts practised by Balaam and others, to ensnare the Lord's people into forbidden paths, were certainly of his devising. Moses, when writing, as he is supposed to have done, the book of Job, must have received a very clear revelation concerning the power and activity of this fearfu! foe, although the record that he was commissioned to leave of his own people's history, makes precise mention of the evil one, as personally interfering with them: but he says, in the Lord's name, of the Israelites, "They shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring;" Lev. xvii. 7; and again, They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.” Deut. xxxii. 17. While against the sin of witchcraft, the acquirement of power or knowledge by means of Satanic communications, the law was very strict. "A man, also, or woman, that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them." Lev. xx. 27. By this we see, that Satan had contrived to obtain a footing among God's peculiar people; that he had seduced them into holding intercouse with his subordi

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To adduce instances of all the devices of Satan's cunning recorded by or to be clearly inferred from the Holy Scriptures would be little less than to transcribe the Bible itself: we may however mention some few, where diabolical interference is expressly spoken of. The Scriptures do not often explain the part that the tempter and his hosts took in the toils, the struggles, the sins of the Old Testament church: but under the gospel dispensation, enough is revealed to enable us to trace his workings in former times, even where he was not specified by name. Who can fail to see this in the touching history of Joseph? When the youth declared his dream, the meaning was evident to his father, and his brothers were compelled to see it in the same light, galling as it was to their pride. Their envious, angry dispositions gave occasion for the tempter to assail them, and to suggest the cruel ex-nates for the purpose of sharing such supedient by which, as they hoped, the "dreamer" was finally put out of their way; and in the varied persecutions that followed the blameless young believer, the malice of an adversary, potent and crafty, like Satan, may be plainly discerned. When the children of Israel corrupted themselves and made a golden calf, and worshipped it in the name of the Lord,

pernatural gifts as he could impart; and secretly, by fraud and cunning, maintained this ground in the bosom of the visible Church. Most earnestly were they warned against this, the great condemning sin of the nations of Canaan: "There shall not be found among you any one... that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a

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