to disturb the peace and retard the progress of the saint; to prevent the repentance, and to secure the destruction of the sinner. Enough has been said to show, that the figure chosen by the sacred writer is in this respect a significant one; and that the lion, in his arts for securing his prey, is a truly, but an imperfectly, descriptive emblem of "him who beguileth Eve through his subtlety", and has deluded, and is deluding, so many millions of her sons into those ways of error and sin which lead down to the chambers of eternal death.

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The

But our great sipritual enemy is not only subtle, he is also active. The lion ranges far and near in quest of his prey. The lion of hell is here represented as walking about, seeking whom he may devour. "Whence comest thou?" said Jehovah to Satan, when he, as the accuser of the brethren, appeared in the midst of the sons of God. Whence comest thou?" The answer was, "From going to and fro through the earth, and from walking up and down in it. malignant exertions of the wicked one seem to be unintermitted. Langour and fatigue appear to be feelings to which he is a stranger. In the book of Revelation, he is represented as "accusing the brethren before God, day and night." He is probably the more assiduous in his labors of malignity, as he knows that the period for his active exertions is limited. We cannot doubt that he is aware of the doom that awaits him; that, after a fixed term of ages, he is to be cast into the lake of fire, in the abyss of woe, and kept there under chains, which no created power can, which the uncreated power will not, unloose for ever. He has nothing approaching to satisfaction but in propagating sin and misery; and he knows that this is to come to a close. The devil is come down among men, having great wrath, knowing that his time is short," or limited.

In realizing to our minds the activity of our great spiritual foe, we are not to think of him merely as an individual. No doubt he is a very active being; but this is not all. He is the chief and prince of unnumbered depraved spirits, who own his authority, prosecute his designs, and obey his commands. Their name is legion; for there are many of them. This gives him a species of ubiquity, and enables him to do what no individual created power and activity could accomplish.

His operations are often really continued when they seem to be intermitted. The mode of conducting them is changed, but the work is not abandoned; and, if he does suspend them for a season, it is but that he may recommence them with a greater probability of success. This remark holds both with respect to those who are yet his willing slaves, and to those who have escaped from under his thrall. "When the unclean spirit goeth out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, but finding none. Then he saith, I will return again to my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he finds this empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself,

1
1 Job i. 7.

2 Rev. xii. 10.

and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first." " We have an instance of his returning to renew his attack with redoubled violence on those over whom he has no power, in the case of our Lord. We read, after the temptation of forty days in the wilderness, that "the devil departed from him ;” but it was only in that form, and but "for a season."2 He was still going about him, seeking an occasion to make attack on him; and we find him in the hour of exhaustion and sorrow springing on his victim, and by his infernal assault drawing forth from the lips of him who was embodied patience and fortitude, those awful words, as if all he had experienced of diabolical attacks hitherto were unworthy of notice, "Now is the hour and power of darkness."

§. 4. He is a cruel adversary.

Cruelty is another feature in the character of our great spiritual enemy, which the statement in the text brings before the mind. The lion is a stranger to pity. Like most ravenous beasts, he seems to have satisfaction in inflicting pain. The bleating of the lamb whom he is about to devour awakens in him no relentings, and he regards not the agonies he occasions to the bleeding, mangled sufferer. Equally ruthless is the great murderer from the beginning, the great destroyer of human souls. He appears to have a savage satisfaction in producing misery. The lion, when he tears to pieces the quivering limbs of the slaughtered kid, has an enjoyment altogether separate from the gratification of the desire to destroy. He satisfies the painful cravings of hunger, and obtains nourishment for his body. But the destroyer of human innocence and peace, the devourer of souls, derives no advantage, can derive no advantage, knows that he can derive no advantage, from the miseries which he inflicts, the ruin which he occasions. On the contrary, every malignant act deepens his guilt, and will aggravate his future condemnation; and he cannot but be aware of this. Yet so deeply is the desire of diffusing misery rooted in his nature, that though conscious that in yielding to it, he is but rendering his miserable condition more miserable, "treasuring up to himself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God," he still, day and night, restlessly seeks for opportunities of making the good bad, and the bad worse, the happy miserable, and the miserable more miserable.

§ 5.-He is a powerful adversary.

The only other idea suggested by the figurative description of our great spiritual enemy is, that he is a being of formidable power. Solomon informs us that the "lion is the strongest among beasts,' and, I believe modern naturalists hold that there is no animal of the same size which possesses so much muscular power. The devil belongs to an order, the angelic, which excels in strength; and though we know his powers are restrained by the Divine providence, we have no reason to think that his moral depravation produced any

1 Matt. xii. 43.

2 Luke iv. 13.

9 Prov. xxx. 30.

diminution of his physical energy. The tempest which overwhelmed the family of Job in the ruins of the house of their elder brother, and the fearful effects produced both on the bodies and the minds of those individuals who were the subjects of demoniac possession, prove both what he can do, and would do, if not restrained by a superior power. To what extent he can and does employ physical agents, what are commonly termed the powers of nature, in executing his malignant designs, we cannot tell. This we know, that the Scripture representations naturally lead us to think of Satan as not weak, but powerful. He is emblematized in the parable by "the strong man;" and the apostle obviously estimates those unseen opponents, of whom the devil is the leader, as far more formidable foes than of the most powerful human enemies.

We need, according to him, divine strength and heavenly armor to resist such enemies. 66 Be strong," says he, "in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil: for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." So much for illustration of the apostle's statement respecting the Christian's great spiritual enemy, so subtle, so active, so cruel, so powerful.

That part of our subject which we have attempted to illustrate, is replete with important practical instruction.

What a striking view does the contrast of the original and the present character and employment of the devil, give us of the malignant nature and tremendous power of moral evil! He who is now

the worst and the most miserable of created beings, was once one of the best and the happiest. He who now prowls about the universe, "a fugitive and a vagabond," restless and miserable everywhere, had his first abode in the region of perfect purity, near to the throne of the Eternal; and, instead of as now going about seeking how he can waste and destroy the best part of God's works, his constant employment and delight was to celebrate the praises and do the commandments of Jehovah, hearkening to the voice of his word. And what has effected the fearful change? What has converted the angel into the devil? It was sin; that only evil in God's universe in which there is no good; that evil, the depths of whose malignity no created mind can sound. Man in his fallen state compared with man in his primeval state, earth in its present state compared with paradise, strikingly show that it is an evil and a bitter thing to depart from God; but still more striking is the illustration we have of this most important truth, when we contrast the accursed fiend with the holy angel, and the bottomless pit and the fiery lake with the palace of the great king, the Lord of Hosts, and the rivers of pleasure that are at his right hand for evermore.

How disgraceful and miserable must be the condition of those who are the slaves of this subtile, active, cruel, powerful, depraved intelligence, in turns the instruments of his detestable designs and the victims of his insatiable cruelty! And this is the situation of all uncon

1 1 Matt. xii. 29. Eph. vi. 11–13.

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verted men, whether they are aware of it or not. They are of their father the devil; and his lusts-the things he desires and delights in— they willingly abuse their powers and degrade their nature in doing. They are taken captive by him at his will." He is their successful tempter now. He will be, if mercy prevent not, their unrelenting tormentor forever. Oh, that they were aware of the horrors of their situation, that they saw its debasement, that they felt its wretchedness, that they realized its dangers!

How grateful should we be to HIM who came to destroy the works of the wicked one, and to deliver men from his usurped dominion and baleful power! The house of the strong man has been entered by one stronger than he. The prey has been taken from the mighty, and the captive of the terrible one delivered. The greatness of the blessing, apart from the manner in which it was procured, calls for lively gratitude; but the claims of our deliverer are felt to be tenfold strong, when we recollect that He, the only begotten, the Holy One, of God, submitted to be tempted of the devil, to have the moral sensibilities of his holy nature shocked and tortured by his loathsome suggestions, that we might be delivered from his power, and be taught, by the example of "the Captain of our salvation," how to conduct the conflict with the enemy, so as to become more than conquerors through him who loved us. Blessed, ever blessed, be he who came in the name of the Lord to bruise the head of the old serpent; and who, through the merit of his atonement and the power of his Spirit, enables the most feeble and timid of his people to "tread on the lion and the adder," and to "trample the young lion and the dragon under foot."

Let Christians rejoice that, if a subtle, cruel, active, and powerful enemy is continually prowling about, the eye of infinite wisdom and love rests ever on them, the arm of never-tiring omnipotence is ever around them to protect and defend them. The lion of hell is a chained lion, a muzzled lion, to Christians. He may alarm, but he shall never devour them. His chain is in the hand of his conqueror and their Lord.

It was very natural for Peter to put his brethren in mind of their great enemy. He must have often thought of the words of our Lord Jesus, "Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have thee, that he may sift thee as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.” His experience is full of warning and encouragement. It It proves that if Christians are not cautious, though the lion of hell shall not be permitted to devour them, he may inflict wounds of which they will bear the marks till the close of life; and it finely illustrates our Lord's declaration,-"I give unto my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall any pluck them out of my hand." Neither their own heedlessness, nor the malignity of their infernal foe, shall be able to accomplish their destruction. Let him, then, that is born of God, "keep himself, that the wicked one touch him not ;" and let his joy, that he has a better keeper than himself, even the keeper of Israel, who never slumbers nor sleeps, not produce security, but encourage vigilance. God keeps his people, not without but through their own watchfulness.

1 2 Tim. ii. 26.

* Luke xxii. 31.

Finally, let all of us who have reason to hope that we have been emancipated from the powers of the wicked one, in our humble station co-operate with our great Deliverer in rescuing our fellow-men from the degrading bondage, from the destroying power, of his and our great enemy; and while the children of the devil are so clearly proving themselves to be so, by imitating him in going about seeking whom they may destroy, let us prove our connection with him whom we claim as our Lord and Master, by going about doing good, endeavoring to pluck the brand from the burning, to pull the prey of the lion of hell from his devouring jaws, to seek and to save what is in extreme hazard, through the craft and activity, the power and cruelty, of the wicked one, of being lost, lost forever.

II. THE CHRISTIAN'S DUTY IN REFERENCE TO HIS GREAT ENEMY.

Let us now consider the apostle's account of the Christian's duty in reference to his great spiritual adversary. His duty is to resist him; and, in order effectually to resist him, to be sober, to be watchful, to be steadfast in the faith.

CHAP. L-WHAT HE MUST DO TO HIS GREAT ENEMY-RESIST HIM.

The attacks of our great spiritual enemy naturally divide themselves into two classes; those which are made on the Christian as an individual, and those which are made on the christian cause. It is the duty of the Christian to resist both.

§ 1.—He must resist his attacks on himself.

Temptation to sin is the manner in which the evil one attacks the individual Christian. Sometimes these tempations are direct; oftener they are indirect; but all temptation to sin, like all sin itself, may be considered as directly or indirectly the work of the devil. It is much more a matter of curiosity than of use, to seek to distinguish accurately the temptations which come immediately from the wicked one, from those in presenting which to the mind he employs intermediate agencies. But it is of great importance to remember, that all solicitations to sin, from whatever quarter they come, are in accordance with his will, and, if not resisted, will contribute to the gaining of his object in warring against the soul. Of all suggestions of this kind, we may say both that they come not, they cannot come, from above; they do, they must, come from beneath. Of some of them we may say they are "earthly," of others they are "sensual," of all they are "devilish."

Generally speaking, it is the duty of the Christian carefully to keep out of the way of temptation, to avoid everything, which can be avoided in consistency with duty, which may afford an opportunity to the great enemy or his agents to assail him with solicitations to sin. It is madness to hold parley with him, or uncalled on to provoke him to combat. Such unnecessary tamperings, such self-confident conflicts, generally end in sin and shame.