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BELIEVER'S VICTORY

OVER

SATAN'S DEYICES.

REV. wiSi. PARSONS, D.D.,

PROFESSOR OF MENTAL AND MORAL SCIENCE, INGHAM UNIVERSITY, LB ROY, N. Y.

Lest Satan should get an advantage of us : for we are not ignorant of his devices. —

3 Cor. ii, zz.

NEW YORK :
NELSON & PHILLIPS.

CINCINNATI :
HITCHCOCK <fe ^A/^ALDEN.

1876.

•pi I

III-

LI ^»«»

■NO

*. ^ . IONS.

Kntered afooordlng to Act of Oongreaa, in the year 1878, by

NELSON & PHILLIPS,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.

EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION.

This volame has been recommended for republication
at our Book Eooms by a number of leading ministers of
the Methodist Episcopal Church. It comes from another
school of evangelical theology. Its quotations are usu-
ally from thinkers of that school, as Edwards and James
Brainard Taylor. The writer seems to have drawn little
or nothing from Wesley, Fletcher, Watson, or Peck.
His modes of expression, some of his theological assump-
tions and positions, and his inadequate statement of
our views, (p. 211,) indicate a non-Wesleyan very clearly
to one acquainted with both sides» Nevertheless, on the
central point of the book, the doctrine of a higher plane
of Christian life, for which Wesleyanism for a century
found itself nearly or quite the sole unflinching witness,
there is such a coincidence as renders his work rather
the more interesting from its very coming from without
the circle. It is well to compare notes with this in-
comer. Perhaps he will shed some hues of fresh light
on some special sides of the subject He may help
break up our vocabulary where words have lost their
force by effete use. He may aid us in dropping non-
essentials, and broadening our evangelicism, so as that ]

DVP. EXCH. 23 JAl^ 190^

oiuw Theol sem lib

IV EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION.

we may the more easily see identity of essence under
varieties of phrase. At the same time, the work may be
commended for its penetrative force of thought, for its
clear, animated style of language, its variety of practi-
cal illustrations, and the author's strenuous purpose of
bringing his readers by the way of a living faith into the
fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ.
Two or three variations in theology we will note : —
1. On the most distinctive point of difference between
the Arminian and Calvinistic theology, the freedom of
the will, he seems to be Arminian, and is not. lie
therein rejects Edwards's Law of Necessity, according to
which the agent is by absolute causation necessitated to
will one sole, predetermined way. He verbally main-
tains ^^ek power of contrary choice." The will, he would
say, "can choose otherwise than the predetermined way."
But, alas I he would immediately add, " but it never will
choose otherwise than the predetermined way." This
view takes off Edwards's causative necesdty^ to put on a
uniformitarian necessity. It simply rejects the law of
causation^ and lays on the law of invariable sequence.
To "choose otherwise" would be, in either case and
equally, the violation of an inflexible law of being. The
necessity is equally absolute, and the freedom is in
words only. Arminianism denies that there is any such
predetermined way of necessity or uniformity, according
to wliich the agent chooses by invariable law.

EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION. V

3. On page 77 one of the doctrines of an article of the
Church of England, adopted by the Methodist Episcopal
Church, is unwarily pronounced a " lie." Both Churches
do declare that " the sinner does not possess the natural
ability to do what God requires." The doctrine of the
sinner's possession of "natunil ability" is that Pelagian-
ism against which the Church of ages has protested.
The doctrine of, at any rate, the Western Church has
been that for the power of repentance, or any acceptable
or saving work, we are indebted to the grace of Christ,
not to nature. From that Pelagianism, indeed, the
author would practically rescue himself with the usual
formula of his school, "he can, but he never will." This
is again substituting uniformitarianism in the place of
causationalism. If the reader will, on page 77, for nat-
ural ability read adeqiuite ability^ and, page 78, atTter
the word "endowed," read by nature or ffracCy he will
unite both our theologies.

3. On page 211 he gives, we suppose, what he under-
stands to bo the Wesleyan-Arminian view of the sinner^a
acceptance with God. But the phrase "set aside," ap-
plied to the law, seems improperly used, as if we in any
degree invalidated, lowered, or abolished the absolute
law. We suppose (^ perfect agreement between us on
that point. We both maintain that we are not justified
by the deeds of the l£(.w, hxnX by faith in Christ ; and as
we are justifiec}, so we are sanctified, Xhp law still

VI EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION.

remains in nndiminished force and power, as the stand-
ard of absolute right, as the neeessitation of the unceas-
ing application of the atonement, as the measure of the
demerit of onr sin and damnation in apostatizing, and
as the ultimate standard to which grace would bring
us in glory.

4. The infallibility of Christian perseverance in all
cases is a doctrine repeatedly implied or expressed. The
tendency of that doctrine to emphasize the ascertaining
wJietJier we cw$ Christians^ rather t}ian the leing Chris-
tians, and to induce Christians to cultivate doubt of the
genuineness of our conversion, thus rendering a very
simple subject very complex, is exemplified in the mid-
dle paragraph of page 111.

PREFACE.

To comprehend the forces which resist one's
progress in any right du-ection, is a most important
study— an essential condition of success. To know
our enemy, — how, when, where, and with what
weapons he will attack us, — gpes far to insure a
victory.

This principle applies, in all its force, in spiritual
matters. We have, in the Christian warfare, relent-
less and most artful foes to contend with ; and, if we
would not ^ beat the air,** and be shamefully driven
from the field, we must know our enemy, in his
tactics and in his defenses, and how we may
effectually use against him those weapons which are
"mighty through God to the pullmg down of strong-
holds." A successful reconnoissance of the foe is
half the battle.

If this volume has any merit, it lies, in the
author's judgment, in this: that it brings the

(vJi)

Vin PREFACE .

opposing forces which are at work, on the one
hand, to destroy, and, on the other, to save the soul,
into an open field, face to face ; that it exposes the
enemy at his work of death, so that he can be seen
and understood, and so that the powers of the
gospel may be intelligently and effectually brought to
bear against him, till the "prey of the terrible shall
be delivered."

The work aims to be a sort of "hand-book" for all
who would " fight .the good fight of faith," whether

they have or have not, yet entered upon the duty ;
whether they are in the infancy or childhood of the
spiritual life, or whether they have made the highest
attainments known among the saints. It seeks to
meet the wants of men of all denominations, or of
none, who hope to reach heaven through the redemp-
tion of Christ ; to make the way clear from Egypt to
the Land of Promise ; and to show how to enter the
land and gather its precious fruits. The things it
attempts to present are as needful to be known, and
well known, both to the Christian and to him who
would be such, as the fundamental rules of aritH-
metic, to the mathematician*

FBEFAOE. ix

The chapter on the subject of Sanctification aims
to give a more complete and satisfactory view than
would easily be gained from writers who have pre-
sented only some specific phases of that doctrine.
The author entertains the hope that he has presented
it from a stand-point from which alt Christians will
be able to see eye to eye, in respect to it, and to be
quickened to lay hold of "the fullness of the blessing
of the gospel of Christ." The chapter contains, in

its last section, some applications of principles which
may afford some light to •the popular mind, on cer-
tain vexed questions in theology.

Various ''pastor's sketches" are introduced, which,
it is hoped, will make clear some of the more essen-
tial and difficult points, and help to &k them in the
memory.

The work contains no learned disquisitions con-
cerning the existence or nature of Satan. Its object
is entirely practical, and its teachings will be found
scarcely less important to those who deny, than to
those who admit, his personal existence. The author
has followed the simple method of the Bible, and has
felt authorized, wherever he has found lies doing

X PREFACE.

their fatal work, to charge their fatherhood upon
Satan ; and bo on, through aU the catalogue of abom-
inations ascribed to Mm in the Scriptures.

It is needless to say that nothing is claimed for the
viork as a mere literary performance. The object
of the writer has been to communicate, in a simple
way, a kind of instruction, the great need of which
in the churches, his own ministry — spent some-
what largely in revivals of religion — has made him
deeply and painfully feel.

The author would be most happy to have each
of its readers regard the work as affectionately
dedicated to himself, and to have it read with that
peculiar interest which is awakened by a conscious
personal friendship existing between author and
reader.

CONTENTS.

GhaftebL Introductory. — The Case stated. — Its Appli-
cation to those who do and those who do not profess
Christianity ' • . . 11

Chapter n. Personal Existence of Satan* — Bible View

presented. — Objections answered. ••.•••• 15

Chapter IH Character of Satan. •.•...... 21

Chapter IV. The Battle Field surveyed. — The Human

Mind and its Principles <^ Action. ••••••• 24

Chapter V. What must be Satan's Methods of Working,
as indicated by the Changeless Laws of our Mental and
Moral Constitutions «••••«• 83

Chapter VI. Primary Importance to the Christian Life of
the Bight Adjustment of the Will to the Truth, illus-
trated by a "Pastor's Sketch." 37

Chapter Vn. Satan, the '< Author and Finisher" of Un*

belief. ..., • 44

Chapter VIIL Satan, in the Height of his Power, obscur-
ing the Essential Object of Faith, Christ Jesus the Lord;
thus rendering impossible the Exercise of a Living
Faith. 48

Chapter IX. Satan's Second Eclipse of the Object of Faith
— hiding also the Deity of the Spirit, and for a Like
Purpose 66 d

XU CONTENTS.

CuAPTER X. The Mischiefs Satan accomplishes by removing
from before the Eye of Faith the Godhead of Christ and
the Spirit 60

Chapter XL Satan, sowing Tares. — Pastor's Sketch illus-
trating the Necessity of having the Hight Seed-Truth
sown in the Heail, that a True Christian Character may
grow therefrom 64

Chapter XII. Satan, as the Father of Lies. — Principles
premised. L His Object is to destroy the Soul. 2. Lies
received .are held as TnUhSt and thus they have all the
Binding Force of Truth and all the Damaging Effect
of Lies. 8. They exclude Corresponding Truths from
the Mind. 4. To receive them Involves an Impeachment
of the Divine Character. 5. They are anchored pri-
marily in the Senaibilityt not in the Reason. 6. They
are ada])ted to meet the Idiosyncrasies and Prejudices of
Men. 7. Language is not required to ex])ress them.
8. When thoroughly lodged in the Mind, it is difficult,
and often impossible, to remove them 70

Chapter XIII. The Lies whereby Satan keeps Men ftom

becoming Christians 74

Chapter XIV. The Lies by which Satan aims to weaken

and waste the Inner Life of Christians 86

Chapter XV. The Fiery Darts of the Wicked One, illus-
trated by a Sketch of a Remarkable Case. .... 101

Chapter XVI. Satan, as the " Accuser of the Brethren." . 108

Chapter XVn. Wherein Satan is considered as the Tempter. 113

Chapter XVIII. Wherein appears the Christian's Deliverer,

— Method of Victory shown 121

Chapter XIX. Satan, as transformed into an Angel of

Light— Pastor's Sketches 132

• ••

CONTENTS* Xiii

Chapter XX. How to distinguish between Satan, so trans-
formed into an Angel of Light, and Christ, the True
Angel and Messenger of God, whom Satan counterfeits. 146

Chapter XXL Satanic Plots. — Pastor's Sketch. ... 159

Chapter XXn. Satan, the Enemy of Prayer and Vital

Communion with God 168

Chapter XXIIL Satan, as Philosopher, Theologian, and

Logician '. 180

Chapter XXIV. The Allies of Satan 201

Chapter XXV. Satan, the Foe of our Sanctification and

Growth in Grace 209

Section 1. Theories of the Different Schools con-
sidered, and shown to differ only in Speculative, not
Essential Points 210

Section 2. All Attainments in the Divine Life the
Result of knowing God in the Heart 213

Section 3. This Knowledge the Exclusive Gift of the
Spirit — its Positive and Assuring Nature 218

Section 4. Conditions of receiving this Life-giving
Knowledge of God.— A Theological Difficulty met . 223

Section 5. The Belations of Eevealed Truth to our
Growing Sanctification 226

Section 6. The Relation between knowing God by the
Spirit, and the Enjoyment of the Life of Holiness. . . 228

Section 7. The Natural and Life-giving Effect upon
the Mind of knowing, from Heaven, certain Definite
Things concerning God and ourselves — concerning his
Relations to us and ours to him 229

Section 8. The Law of Progress in this Divine, Saving
Knowledge; with a Sketch illustrating the Spirit's
Method. — The "Higher Christian Life" explained. . 241

Section 9. What may we reasonably hope to attain
in this Life, in Respect to the State, (1.) Of the Will;

xiv CONTENTS,

(2.) Of the Intellect; (3.) Of the Sensibility;— orb the
Matter of Purpose, Knowledge, and Emotion P . • « 251

Section 10. The Relation of Faith to the Obtaining of
this Saving Knowledge of God. ..•••••. 259

Section 11. The Duty of Living in the Victorious
Enjoyment of this Life-sustaining Knowledge of God. 261

Section 12. The Guilt of being without this Knowl-
edge and its Saving Power 264

Section 13. The General View here presented, con-
firmed by its Power to harmonize the apparently Con-
flicting Views of the Different Schools of Evangelical
Christians, and to simplify certain Vexed Questions in
Theology 267

Chapteb XXVI. Satan's Methods of Opposing the Chris-
tian's Sanctification 281

Chapter XXVIL Satan's Efforts to Cripple the Ministers of

the Gospel, and render their Preaching powerless. • < 294

Chapteb XXVm. The Great Fight with and Victory over

Satan ; with a Pastor's Sketch of the Battle Scene. • • 302

BELIEVER'S VICTORY

OTBB

SATAN'S DEVICES

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.— THE CASE STATED. — ITS APPLICATION TO
THOSE WHO DO AND THOSE WHO DO NOT PROFESS CHRIS-
TIANITY.

Froye all things ; hold flwt that which is good.— 1 7%es«. 5 : 21.

If the numerous engines which daily leave the
depot of any of our great central railroads, after pro-
ceeding a short distance, should run from the track,
causing great loss of property and life ; if, on coming
to a moderate up-grade, they should fail to draw the
trains ; if their movements were spasmodic, some-
times violent, and, as frequently almost suspended ;
if they exhibited a strange propensity to leave the
rails and make for the carriage road; if, in short,
they failed to obey the will of the engineer, — the
causes of such perverted action would be forthwith

searched out and removed.

12 . Satan's devices and

It evidently does come to pass, that many who ai-e
hopefully converted to Christy soon after leaving the
depot for their heavenly destination, do strangely
leave the track ; they fail on the up-grades of duty ;
their movements are irregular ; the wheels of their
faith slip on the rails of promise; they do not
promptly obey the vdU of the Divine Engineer. It
is the sore grief of the ministry and church, and the
general complaint and stumbling-block of the world,
that professed Christians fall so far below the stan-
dard of character presented in the Bible — that they
so manifestly fail in running the Christian race.
Christ proclaims liberty, and yet many of his people
are slaves to the world and their lusts. The gospel
professes to open fountains in the desert, and rivers
in dry places ; and yet we fail to find " the rivers,
the floods, the brooks of honey and butter," of which
Zophar the Naamathite writes (Job 20:17), and
drink, instead, at those transient streams of which
Job himself speaks, which dry up and vanish when
the heat comes, and go to nothing (6 : 15-18). We
lack the "tongue of fire," the baptism of the Spirit,
''the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ."
And the worst of all is, that the church is extensively
paralyzed with the fatal idea that this state of bondage
and spiritual weakness is practically incurable ; and,
as the inevitable consequence, men abandon them-
selves to a current of most unsatisfactory and bewil-
dering experiences.

THE BELIEYEB'S VICTOBT. 13

The subject has its application to unconverted men.
They know they are involved in sin, and must be
rede^ned from it or be lost. The only way to
heaven is over the highway of holiness (Isa. 35 :
8-10), which the Lord has ordered to be graded
(Isa, 62 : 10) , for his ransomed to pass over. They
see, with scmiewhat distorted vision, the failures and
inconsistencies of Christians, and therefore reject the
• only possible way of salvation — that provided by the
atonement of Christ. They are not going to commit
the ridiculous figure of running from the track, or of
failing on the up-grades of temptation, and so pro-
pose to readi the heavenly destination without pass-
ing over the only road which leads thither.

The majority of professed Christians are evidently
in such bondage that they can not use their powers iu
the service of Christ with the same happy freedom
and efficiency which they exhibit in the affairs of
every day life ; they are little less than prisoners of
war ; and the mass of unconverted men look upon the
whole subjept of experimental Christianity as in-
volved in a mystery tiiey can not imderstand, and
therefore dismiss it as having no valid claims upon
them.

Here is a state of things which ought not to exist.
In its production, we believe Satan has a most subtle
agency and a prodigious power. There are juany,
who, in general, admit this, but who do not see
clearly how he accomplishes his malignant purposes.
2

14 Satan's devices.

They have little hope of being able to understand his
methods so as to escape his devices ; and their state
of mind amounts to a surrender to the adversary.
To many others, not a few in the churches probably,
Satan is a myth ; and such he leads " captive at his
will" with scarce an attempt, on their part, at
resistance.

We believe this great enemy of God and of man
can be successfully exposed, so that men may escape
his ruinous devices. This is the work we shall
attempt in the following chapters.

Satan, in his war upon the throne of God and in
his schemes to corrupt the governments and institu-
tions of men, we will leave to others, aiming only
to expose those malignant processes by which he
seeks to destroy the individual soul.

CHAPTER II.

PERSONAL EXISTENCE OF SATAN. — BIBLE VIEW PRESENTED.

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.

And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil and
Satan, which deceiveth the whole world ; he was cast out into the earth, and
his angels were cast out with him.— Rev. 12 : 9.

As to the origin of Satan, the Scriptures give us
no extended account. We have the testimony of
Peter (2 Pet. 2:4), that certain of the angels of
God sinned, and were cast down from heaven, and
delivered into chains of darkness to be reserved unto
judgment, when they are to be finally doomed to the
lake of fire. This company of fallen spirits are rej3-
resented as in the earth, moving up and down among
its inhabitants to deceive men and destroy their souls.
Their chief is revealed in the Bible by a great variety
of names, which imply his personal existence. He is
often called Satan, which means an enemy or adver-
sary ; the Devil, from a Greek word meaning to
calumniate ; or from two words signifying without
light, making this name nearly synonymous with
"Prince of darkness;" the Father of lies, which, in
some sense, implies that all the falsehoods ever
devised in the world are of his coining ; a murderer,
which indicates his agency in every murder since the

16 Satan's devices and

days of Cain ; the Tempter ; Beekebub ; the Accuser
of the brethren ; the God and Prmce of this world ;
Lucifer; Serpent; Tormentor; Roaring lion; in
Hebrew, Abaddon ; in Greek, ApoUyon, meaning
destroyer. Such are some of the names by which
the Scriptures designate the being of whom we write.

Satan thus stands out upon the inspired page as a
personal being, a conscious, emotional, voluntary
individuality, as much so as Paul or Christ. Arch-
bishop Whately could employ his genius to discredit
the personal existence of Satan no more successfully
than he did to disprove that of Napoleon. The Bible
every where treats him as a great commanding,
ruling, and powerful spirit. Christ was accused of
casting out devils by Beelzebub, the chief of the
devils (Luke 11 : 15). The supremacy of Satan
among fallen spirits is recognized whenever they are
classed together as *^ the devil and his angels." He
is represented as the ^ god of this world," ruling it
as a sovereign to the extent of his power. Christ
recognized the leadership of Satan, and the miity of
his subjects under his control, when he said, ^'If
Satan be divided against himself, how shall his king-
dom stand ? "

Nor need we generalize away this fact by suppos-
ing Satan to be a name for bad spirits in general.
The first necessity of a vast society of evil spirits is
a leader, a chief around whom thev may organize,
V^^^^gough whose one will tho^ ^uny express and

THE believer's VICTORY. 17

enforce their combined power of evil. There may be
organized unity in hell as well as in heaven.

Why, then, should men hesitate to admit the exist-
ence of a personal devil ? The universe is vast ; its
populations are various and numerous. Bad men
exist ; why not bad spirits ? And if they exist, why
may they not exert their malign influence in this
world as well as elsewhere?

The various objections to Satan's personal exist-
ence may be reduced to this one — the difficulty
there is in seeing how a finite being can be every
where, and with every body, carrying on his pro-
cesses of temptation at the same time.

There are several not unreasonable suppositions
which may help to reniove this difficulty, and dis-
pose of the objections which grow out of it.

It may be that evil spirits are sufficiently numer-
ous to supply each of the inhabitants of our world
with such an attendant, or even with a legion of
them.

The so-called clairvoyant power may help to illus-
trate the facility with which spiritual beings are able
to read men's thoughts at a great distance. The
ability to read them may be a power also to influence
them. We know not how great and how varied may
be the agency of disembodied spirits.

Satan's power of locomotion may help to account
for his seeming omnipresence. Even our vast
material sun, with its attendant worlds, is proved by

18 SATAN'S DEVICES AND

astronomy to rush through space at the rate of fifly-
seven miles in a second. If Satan, with his ethereal
vehicle, should make no better time than this, he
could go round our globe in less than eight minutes
?( time. Light travels at the rate of 200,000 miles
in a second ; and if Satan were able to ride on sun-
beams, he would go four times round the earth and
back again in a single second. Shakspeare's imagi-
nation was too slow when he allowed one of his
ethereal spirits forty minutes to " put a girdle round
the earth." Electricity moves still quicker than
light ; and if there be any thing in the realm of
spirits answering to our telegraph, and should Satan
prove to be an "operator" there, he can remain at
his imperial palace in Pandemonium, and send his
dispatches with a terrible rapidity whithersoever and
to whomsoever he will.

And again, if, in the realm of spirits, as the poets
sing and the philosophers say, wishes are wings, we
may dismiss all objection to Satan's existence
and influence in the world, founded on the ideas of
time and space.

And it may be further said, that the constant
presence of Satan with the souls of men may not be
necessary to the accomplishment of his purposes.
*' Going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and
down in it," he may lodge some of his seed-lies in a
man's mind in early life, and leave them to bring
forth their bitter, inevitable fruit. He can give the

THE believer's VICTORY. 19

lie a contagion which will make it catch jfrom mind to
mind, as, in a great conflagration, the flames fly jfrom
roof to roof till a whole city is in ashes. He can
leave the delusion to work on through the organic
relations of the family and of society, from generation
to generation, with very little subsequent agency of
his own.

If it be said that there is *^ no other devil than
man's wicked heail;," how then shall we account for
the temptations of Christ ? Had he a wicked heart
to be his tempter?

It is impossible to harmonize the Bible with the
denial of Satan's personality. Nor is any thing
gained by denying it. To believe a lie has the same
ruinous effect, whether the authorship of it is with
Satan or ourselves. If Satan were to be regarded
as only an impersonation of man's wickedness, so
that each man is, after all, his own Beelzebub, his
own father of lies, his own tempting, tormenting,
and destroying angel, this would not help the mat-
ter. It would be no easier to exorcise this self-devil
than to escape the uifluence of a separate, personal
tempter. On the other hand, to know that Satan
exists, and that he seeks our ruin, is to guard the
mind against him; and to know what his lies are,
unless we are so wicked as to prefer falsehood to
truth, is to dissolve their power over lis.

No doubt Satan, considering the end he has in
view, would gladly persuade us to ignore his person-

20 Satan's devices,

ality, and to account his agency as our own. This
device would enable him to work on unsuspected, and
the influence of his lies would not be hindered by his
own bad personal deputation.

CHAPTER III.

CHABACTER OF SATAN.

He was a murderer firom the beginning, and abode not in the tmthi becanM
there is no truth in him. —John 8 : 44.

Satan is a moral being, and must have character,
good or bad. He is no neuter.

So far as his names are significant, they show him
to be wholly wicked. Being the Father of lies,
being the Enemy of God and man, surely there can
be no virtue in him ; he is without a redeeming trait.
Although he may retain something of the dignity
which belongs to great powers of mind, and may be,
by such

"merit, raised
To that bad eminence "

which Milton awards him, yet the Scriptures no-
where represent him as exhibiting any of that natural
goodness, that genei'osity, candor, forbearance, or
humanity, which, in mankind, often co-exists with
great moral depravity.

Satan has set himself to thwart the will of God
against which he has revolted, and devoted all his
powers to the execution of his dire purpose. He
seeks to subvert men from their allegiance to God*.

22 SATAN'S DEVICES AND

and to lead them captive at his will. He is contend-
ing for the moral supremacy of the race. God claims
it; Satan has usurped it, and will, to the bitter end,
struggle to maintain it. God requires all moral
agents to make tne well-being of all the supreme
object of choice and pursuit. This is right and holy ;
and the divinely secured result is heaven. The doc-
trine of Satan is, that each moral agent shall make
his own individual well-being the object of supreme
choice and effort. This is wrong; it is treason
against God, and rebellion against the whole order
.and nature of tilings ; and its fixed result is hell.

The wickedness of Satan appears in the fact, that
the great object of the incarnation was " to destroy
the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8), and to lib-
erate man from his bondage (Heb. 2:4). It is
shown by the fact, also, that the apostolic commis-
sion was '*to turn men from Satan unto God, that
they might receive forgiveness of sins " (Acts 26 :
15—18). His character is seen, also, in the fact that
the saints are solemnly summoned to put on the
whole armor of God, that they may successfully
wrestle with the devil, and stand against his wiles
(Eph. 6: 11-20).

The Bible represents Satan as engaged in all forms
of evil, and among all generations of men. He
seduced Eve into eating the forbidden fruit. He
tempted Cain to kill his brother, and thus made him-
self "a murderer from the beginning." He perse-

THE BELIEVER'S VICTORY. 23

cuted Job in the eai'liest age of the race. He put it
into the heart of David to number the people, and
of Judas to betray Christ, and of Ananias to lie unto
the Holy Ghost. He did his utmost to foil the Son
of God himself.

We see the character of Satan, moreover, in the
ineaus he 'uses to accomplish his ends. Utterly
unscrupulous, he puts light for darkness, and dark-
ness for light, and thus confounds the fundamental
principles of morals. Infinite Truth is, at his bid-
ding, betrayed to the mob of passions, mocked,
scourged, nailed to the cross, and her tomb guarded
to prevent resurrection. He attacks the babe in its
cradle, and puts lies on infant tongues wherewith to
lead them astray from their birth. To play the wolf
among the lambs of Christ's flock, is his special
delight. He is serpent, wolf, lion, and adder, all in
one. He must know full well that the supreme self-
isj;iness into which he leads men to plunge them-
selves, carries in it all crime, all war, all disorder,
woe, and ruin ; and yet, malignantly and remorse-
lessly, he persists in his course.

Satan's wickedness is all his own, and is as great
as he can make it. The gi*eatness of his sin in
tempting, does not, however, diminish that of men
in yielding to his wicked solicitations. Our adver-
sary can not lead us astray without our own consent.

CHAPTER IV.

THE BATTLE FIELD SURVEYED. — THE HUMAN MIND AND

ITS PRINCIPLES OF ACTION.

So Qod created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him.
— Oen. 1 : 27.

If we would be victorious in the warfare to which
we are called against the powers of darkness, we
can not too well know the field of contest, the human
mind, whereon the struggle centers.

As to our mental constitutions, we are '* made in
the image of God." Our powers are like his in kind,
though not in reach. They qualify us ''to reason
with him" (Isa. 1 : 18 ; Ezek. 18 : 25), to test his
truth (1 Thess. 5: 21), to understand his will, to
know and choose between the right and wrong, to
sympathize with and be '' like him " in character ; in
short, to know, love, and obey him, and, in our
measure, to live the same moral life which he lives.

The various powers of the mind, like those of the
natural universe, sustain important and changeless
relations to each other, which need to be understood.

Satan, doubtless, aims to secure the false and
wicked action of our minds, both toward God and
man. We need, therefore, to survey the ground,

(2*)

THE believer's VICTORY. 25

and learn where the enemy will wheel his columns,
and where he will plant his artillery ; how he will
shield himself from our weapons ; how construct his
plots and manage his surprises ; and how he will
fortify himself, and render his position, if possible,
unassailable. We must study the field, also, that we
may know where are our own " strongholds," where
the "munition of rocks," where the ''hiding place
from the wind and a covert from the tempest," and
where we may make a sure stand against the foe.
Other things being equal, the army which best knows
the field gains the victory. And we must know the
field before we fight; the reporters can study and
describe it after the battle.

We make no apology for asking here the reader's
special attention.

The MincTs Powers.

Of these there are three, a trinity, which are fun-
damental — a knowing power, a feeling power, an
acting power. We know, we feel, we act. We
have thought, we have emotion, we have volition.
The names of these powers are, the Intelle A, the
Sensibility, the Will.

Our knowing faculty, the intellect, is a power to
know a great variety of things, and with different de-
grees and kinds of knowledge. Some things we kno^
positively and beyond all doubt, as, for instance,

26 Satan's devices and

axioms in mathematics. So we know such moral

•

axioms as these : " every event must have a cause ; "
''right and wrong are moral opposites," the one
deserving praise, the other blame ; " virtue ought to
be loved and vice hated." The intellect sees the
truth of such things directly, without any reasoning,
and knows them with a certainty which can not be
diminished nor increased.

Other things we know by evidence which comes to
us from without ; and we know them, confidently or
only probably, according to the evidence we gain.
Some of the things we know are only the possibilities
pictured by the imagination ; some are conclusions of
the judgment ; some are only sensations made upon
us by external objects through the senses ; some are
only reflections awakened by these sensations ; some
are the records upon the tablets of the memory.
The philosophers classify the knowing department
of the mind according to these different forms and
degrees of knowledge which the intellect gives us.

Through the emotional department of our minds
we are the subjects of a great variety of experieijces.
Innumerable feelings throng the sensibility. In this
faculty we may have the rapture of heaven or the
rolling sea of hell. Love, joy, purity, and all asso-
ciated graces here give us their blessing ; and here
also envy, jealousy, revenge, and kindred passions
kindle their lurid flames.

The will is the executive department of our being,

THE believer's VICTORY. 27

and its capacity is wonderful. We can not will the
light into existence, as God did when he said, " Let
there be light," but we can will it to shine through
our lenses, and engrave our pictures, or reveal to us
other worlds innumerable, both above and below the
reach of the naked eye. We can not will matter into
existence, but we can will it into such forms as we
please ; we can level the mountains and fill the
valleys, and turn the wilderness into a fruitful field.
We can not create the forces of the natural world,
but we can harness them to our chariots and make
them do our bidding. We can not create the dis-
tinction between good and evil, right and wrong, but
we can will to do the one and to reject the other.
We can not swerve the will of God in the least, but
we can will our own subordination to it, and so be at
one with the Most High.

Some of the Laws of Mind.

1. The intellect is under the law of necessity.
When certain conditions are fulfilled, to know is
unavoidable. If your open eye is upturned to the
unclouded sun, you can not help knowing that it
shines. Our agency in gaining knowledge lies in the
power which the will has to direct the attention of
the knowing faculty. We can use that in whatever
way we please.

The agency of the will over the intellect has it8|V

28 8ATAN'S DEVICES AND

limitations. The knowledge of good and evil is in
the mind independently of the will. So of all finst
truths. The will can not exclude them. Men have
their senses open, and the world without teems with
thought which it offers to the mind of man; and
much knowledge, therefore, enters the intellect with-
out any apparent agency of the will. But all knowl-
edge, so falling in upon the mind involuntarily, as
well as that which is gained by the voluntary appli-
cation of the intellect, and that which inheres in the
reason itself, constitutes so much material which the
will is free to use for a right purpose or a wrong
one. God holds us responsible to use it as the moral
law prescribes.

2. The same law of necessity pertains to the sensi-
bility. It has no power of choice in itself. K you
put your hand in the flame, the sensation of pain is
inevitable. The emotions will correspond to the
objects before the mind. It does not follow that the
emotions of all persons will be alike in view of the
same objects, for there are constitutional differences
in this power as well as in other faculties of the mind,
and in the bodily senses. Nevertheless, all the control
we can have of the sensibility, we have through the
will.

3. The law of the will is freedom, not necessity.
Not that the will is free in the sense that you can
avoid choosing. Choose you must, one way or the
other, between good and evil. Life and death are

THE believer's VICTORY. 29

set before us, and not to choose the one is to take the
otl^er. But, between the two, the good and the evil,
the right and the wrong, we are, in the very consti-
tution of the will, endowed with the power and
liberty of choice. Here is our moral sovereignty;
and on this sublime prerogative, which makes us
men, all our responsibility hinges.

This freedom we know we have as an essential
attribute of owv being. The thief who stole your
purse knew he could as freely let it alone as take it.
Of this he was as conscious as he was of his existence,
or of the wickedness of taking it. The freedom of
the will, in the sense defined, is known by the highest
possible evidence. It is divinely certified to us
through our own consciousness. We debate with
ourselves whether we shall do this or that, because
we know we have the power to choose between them.
We hold ourselves and others responsible on the
same ground. There ought to be no difference in
opinion on this question among men, as there is
none in practice.

K it be said that we can not choose in the entire
absence of motives, I admit it. Nor are we required
to do so. The law of right is in the reason, and life
and death are there so set before us, that it is impos-
sible to plead the absence of motive. In a subse-
quent chapter, we hope to show the truth in the
apparently opposite theories of freedom and necessity,

and their harmony with each other.
8

30 Satan's devices and

4. The free will has a law of generic action. One
great choice involves many subordinate ones. We
form a purpose to build a house, and in this choice
there will be a multitude of minor volitions which
are required to carry it into execution. A tree has
a number of large branches, a greater number of
limbs, and a still greater number of leaves ; and the
life of the tree comes up from the roots, and diffuses
itself through, and works in all parts of it. Now, the
comprehensive purpose or end for which we have
chosen to live, whether it be to please ourselves on
the one hand, or God on the other, so far as we have
learned to be consistent, will diffuse itself through,
and work in all departments of our being, like the
life of the tree. The current of that purpose, if it be
the one our Savior requires, will carry in it the
grace and blessing of God, and every fiber of our
moral being will be refreshed and will grow by it, as
every part of the tree grows by means of the life
current which circulates through it from root to leaf.
It will carry the divine life to all the powers of our
minds, and set them vibrating in harmony 'with the
will of Heaven. * Our characters are as the one great
comprehensive choice or end for the accomplishment
of which we live ; for that infolds all the rest. K
your great end be right, and you remain true to that,
your life, in all its details, will be well pleasing to
God.

5. It is a law of the mind to form its purposes" and

THE BEUEVER'S VICTOEY. 31

to retain them in view of motives or reasons. These
are of two general classes — good and evil, right and
wrong. We are constituted so as to be able to dis-
tinguish between the two. All the reasons there
are in the universe in favor of right choice and con-
duct, and against wrong, are so many motives to us
to form and forever retain the right governing choice.
All the reasons which God and angels have for recti-
tude, we have. Three worlds are crowded with the
weightiest motives to the right; and not one good
reason can be found, in heaven, earth, or hell, for a
selfish and sinful life.

6. The mind, by all its laws and .powers, is adapted
to the right and true. Reason and conscience are on
the side of God. The soul's deepest outcry is, '' Who
will show us any good ? " and it refuses to be satisfied
till it finds the good which God has provided for it in
himself. It is in the mind to approve truth and
justice, and to shrink from falsehood and wrong.
We are made to appreciate and to be moved by all
manifestations of order, beauty, and benevolence,
and therefore to be drawn toward God by the exhi-
bitions he is constantly giving to the world of all his
perfections. It is not the fault of our constitutions,
therefore, if we alienate ourselves from God, and
destroy our souls.

7. The relation of the mind's powers to each other
is such and so intimate, that the misuse of one
inflicts injury upon tiiem all, just as, *^when one I

32 SATAN'S DEVICES.

member of the body suffers, all the members suffer
with it." Pervert the conscience, pollute the sensi-
bility, warp the judgment, and no man can estimate
the mischievous consequences, both to the mind and
the character.

Conclusion. — The great problem of life must then
be this : How to subordinate the willy and, so, the
whole circle of mind-powers under its control, to the
will of God, and hold it there against all the opposing
influence of Satan and the world.

"Hie labor, hoc opus est." Can it be done? It
can, or the gospel is a lie, and the experience of
Paul a delusion. To this end, God works in us and
with us. Let us learn the way, let us see how to
make use of the gospel as the very "power and
wisdom of God" to this end, and the result shall be
sure.

CHAPTER V.

WHAT MUST BE SATAN'S METHODS OF WOBKING, AS INDI-
CATED BY THE CHANGELESS LAWS OF OUB MENTAL AND
MOBAL CONSTITUTIONS.

After the working of Satan, with all power and signs and Ijing wonders.—
2 The88,2: 9.

An old student of Mental and Moral Philosophy,
Satan doubtless possesses great skill in influencing
mind, and warping it into his service. From what
has been said in the Isst chapter, we may learn some-
thing of his methods of mischief. For, as we must
adapt the machinery we would have driven by steam
to the laws of steam, so Satan must fit his measures
to the laws of the mind he seeks to control by them.

The ultimate purpose of Satan wUl, of course, be
to gain the control of the will, and to bring it into
subjection to his own, instead of the divine will.
K he carries that, he is master of the field.

The will acts in view of motives. The leading
object of the adversary will be that indicated in 3 Cor.
4 : 3, 4 — to hide Christ, in whose character all right
motives are seen in their greatest purity and power,
from the mind's view, " lest the light of his glorious
gospel should shine " home efiectually upon the will,
and fix it in its obedience to God. This would bo

34 Satan's devices and

a game of " cutting off supplies '' from the soul, of
starving the heart by robbing it of that bread which,
alone, can satisfy its mighty hunger. It is an attempt
to extinguish the soul's sunlight, and drive it back,
and hold it in the night of sin — a work well befitting
the Prince of Darkness.

The adversary will next ply the mind with false-
hood, setting before it lies instead of truth. He will
dress them in the garb of truth, and render them as
fascinating and persuasive as possible, thus luring
men to destruction.

He will, in various ways, seek to secure the adop-
tion of a fake general and reigning purpose ; one
that will not, in truth, answer the demand of Chris-
tianity ; one that will be just defective enough to ruin
the soul, though, to appearance, it may be as fair as
that of the men who sat in Moses' seat in the days
of Christ. Too much caution can not be exercised
here.

A comprehensive and fearfiiUy destructive measure
of Satan will be to induce in men a perversion of the
judgment and conscience. What vast ruin Satan
brought upon the Jews by pushing them into the
judgment -that Christ was an impostor and a
deceiver! Love him, henceforth, they could not;
hate him they must. No thought, feeling, or purpose
toward him could be otherwise than wrong. Their
cry, *' Crucify him, crucify him," was the natural
sequence of their misjudgment of Christ. And so,

THE believer's VICTORY. 35

imiversally, the wicked use of this faculty invo es
the most startling and mischievous consequences.
When Saul of Tarsus had perverted his conscience,
he could ^ breathe out threatenings and slaughter " in
the name of the Most High I

Again : Satan will make it a strong point to satisfy
men with a mere religion of the intellect or the sen-
sibility, that he may thereby retain the control of tin
will. It would not be possible for him to extinguish
the religious nature of man ; and probably he does
not waste time in such an undertaking. The next
thing would be to satisfy this religious nature with
something short of God, with a l^ligion of good
thoughts, excellent principles, and even of truth in
the letter; with a religion of good feelings, of warm
desires for the crown of glory and the heavenly
mansion — a religion which shall just fall short of
enthroning God and his truth in the will.

Again : Satan will do his utmost to throw the intel-
lect into utter confusion and bewilderment on the whole
subject of personal religion. There is no more effect-
ual way to prevent the right action of the mind,
than by involving it in such a state. Are not whole
masses of men in just this condition? They know
not^what to believe, which way to turn. They are
held in '* chains of darkness," groping about in a
moral confiision worse than chaos.

Again : as the mind is made for enjoyment, and can
not well live without it, Satan may be expected to

36 satan'8 devices.

promise pleasure in his service. He will invest
worldliness with all possible charms, and render it as
attractive as possible ; and on the other hand, will
insist that religion is joyless and repulsive. By
keeping men pleased with themselves and delighted
with their sinful courses, he will retain the control of
their wills. In the judgment of some philosophers,
if Satan can give the sensibility the impression that
the greatest good is to be found in a selfish life, then
they can not help sinning. It is certain, by all phi-
losophy, that Satan's strongest hold upon the mind
lies in making sin appear as the greatest good — the
greatest source of happiness.

CHAPTER VI.

PBIMABY IMPOBTANCE TO THE CHBISTIAN LITE OF THE
BIGHT ADJUSTMENT OP THE WILL TO THE TBUTH, ILLUS-
TBATED BY A " PAST0B»8 SKETCH."

Seeing je have purified your souls in obeying the truth. — 1 Pei, 1 : 22.

The right working of the will is to the Christian life
what the right application of the power is to the
movement of the machinery. Since all the other
powers of the mind act under the leadership of the
will, its subordination to the truth becomes the indis-
pensable condition of all Christian growth and expe-
rience. K it be in alliance with ideas which are
false, the whole action of the mind must be wrong ;
and the first thing to be done, cost what it may, is
to dissolve that connection, and secure the firm com-
mittal of the will to what is true.

We wish here to draw special attention to a mental
state — the adjustment of the will to truth or false-
hood ; not so much now to the influence of truth or
Q)Tor, as to that state of the mind in which the one
or the other becomes operative in the soul for good
or evil. For this purpose, it is not material what
the false idea which enslaves the will may be, and my
object will be well enough served by using, as an
illustration, the following ^ Pastor's Sketch : ^ —

38 Satan's devices and

A gentleman once called upon the writer, during a
powerful work of the Spirit, for personal religious
conversation. He had never made a profession of
religion, nor was he known in the conmiunity as
entertaining the Christian hope : yet he did secretly
cherish the idea that he was a Christian. He was,
however, ill at ease in his present state of mind, and
wished to know how he might attain a more satisfac-
tory assurance that he was indeed accepted of Christ.
From his delineation of his case, it appeared that he
found the word precious to his soul ; thai he was in
the habit of retiring alone for prayer, without even
allowing his family to know the fact, and that he
loved the sanctuary. He had but poorly learaed the
lessons of faith, and was much in bondage to the
fear of man. His will had no such vigorous alliance
to the truth as to make it to him the power and wisdom
of God for his deliverance. Indeed, it was evidently
enslaved to some false ideas which effectually held
him in bondage. It was evident that a new adjust-
ment of his voluntary powers was demanded, or his
progress in the divine life was out of the question.
Foreseeing the difficulty of dislodging the adversary
and bringing his mind under Christ's sway, I resorted
to the following method : I said to him, " I think I
can make a suggestion which you would do well to
follow." ''And what is it?" he asked. ''I can not
tell you until you pledge yourself to do what I shall
recommend." ''But I dare not promise till I know

THE believer's viotoky. 89

what it is." " Why not? Can you not trust me that
it will be all right? You have had confidence to
come to me for advice. I am a minister of Christ, I
hope, and shall only ask you to do what I most fully
believe he would have you do." ''But perhaps I
can not do it." '' And do you think I would ask you
to do what you can not do? God forbid." ''But it
may not be proper for me to do it." " Would you,
then, impeach my character by assuming that I would
ask you, in the name of Christ, to do an improper
thing?" "O, no, sir, I would not." "K, more-
over, your conscience shall honestly forbid your
doing what I shall propose, I will not then ask you
to do it, nor even consent to your doing it." " Will
you not tell me imless I promise ? " "I can not ; it
would not be best; I want you should trust me.
You do not expect to know all the will of God before
you pledge him universal obedience : you trust him
that his requirements will be right. I want you
should trust me on the same principle." "Well, I
will try to do it." "No, that is not what I want.
Deciding to try to do a thing is often very different
from deciding to do it. If I should ask you to lift a
weight of three thousand pounds, you might well say
you would try, through a suspicion that you could
not lift it ; but if I ask you to lift a weight of ten
pounds, your decision would not be to try^ but to do
it, God requires us to decide to obey him; and if
we merely decide to try to obey him, we shall only

40 Satan's devices and

make a self-righteous use of our powers, and fail.
Now, when you will decide to do the proposed thing,
I will tell you." " You will not ask me to do a hard
thing?" O, no; a very simple thing; I do it every
day, and have great pleasure in it." '* Well^ well^ I
will do iV '' Very well. What I propose is, that,
this night, you erect a family altar in your house, and
call your household about it, and with them worship
God." ^ O, sir, I can not do that ; I am sure I can
not." " Certainly you can do it ; I know you can."
"It is right, I know. I have often felt the duty
pressing heavily upon me, but I have as often sunk
down under the conscious conviction that it was
impossible for me to do it." " Now, let me show you
your difficulty : your will is committed to the idea
that you can not do it, and this binds your mind,
and is the whole secret of your failure. But that
idea is false ; it is a lie of the Devil. The. truth is,
you can pray in yom* family as well as elsewhere.
You tongue will serve you there ; God will help you
even more certainly at the family altar than else-
where, for he loves to be honored there." "I wish
I could do it." "You can, if you will drop the lie,
and let your will adjust itself to what is true, and
cling to that." " But I feel as if I could not possibly
do it." "I know you feel so, but it is because you
are holding a lie in your intellect, and that determines
the feeling ; cast out the falsehood, and take hold of
the truth, and you will not fail." At length the lie

THE BEUEVEB'S VIOTOBY. 41

was wrested from its dominion over the will, and the
truth took its place. The remainder of the day was
delightfully spent, in the quiet confidence that he
had substantially secured the victory, which would be
completely achieved in the evening. Returning from
meeting that night, as he was entering his yard, his
joys forsook him, and his soul seemed overwhelmed
in darkness ; and then the feeling that he could
not erect that altar pressed him to the earth. But
he remembered his promise, and the instruction he
had received. He called the promises of Grod to
his aid. He remembered that He was personally near
who had said, " My grace is suflScient for thee,"
who had bidden a man stretch forth his withered
arm; and, although his depression was terrible, he
insisted that he could and would fulfill his vow. He
called his family together, and established his altar.
The spell was broken ; the lie was now effectually
dethroned, and the truth brought him victory. He
could pray in his family as easily as in his closet.
The principle is universal. If the will be adjusted
to falsehood, the whole mind is so far enslaved
and corrupted ; if to truth, all the powers work in
liberty and righteousness. The gospel of Christ is
indeed the power and wisdom of God unto salvation,
but only when the will, by the grace of God, is
properly adjusted to it. The most essential and
fundamental of all conditions of salvation is, there-
fore, that the will, by faith, grasp the truth in Christ, i

42 SATAN'S DEVICES AND

and Christ in the truth, — for he is " the way, the truth)
and the life," — and hold it fast, even unto the death.
For the want of this proper adjustment, the whole
gospel, including the promises of Christ and the
ministry of the spirit, is rendered completely inoper-
ative. Thousands in our churches, have committed
their wills to the idea that they can not pray in their
families ; and the very altar which stands nearest to
God is banished from their dwellings, and inniunera-
ble households sit in darkness. By the same sort of
misadjustment, multitudes are kept from confessing
Christ; and a large number in om* churches are
utterly powerless for any spiritual and effective
service in the great work of salvation. The helm of
their being is in the hands of the foe. All divine
help is lost to the soul because the mental machinery —
so to speak — is not properly connected with the great
wheel of God's truth, in whose ceaseless rotations lies
the power by which alone salvation is given to the
world.

The intellect may be so adjusted to the truth that
a man may be perfectly orthodox in sentiment ; the
sensibility may be so related to the truth, that the
prophet of God shall be to the soul " as a very lovely
song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play
well on an instrument," yet if the will be not linked
to the word of life, all is lost. This, Satan imder-
stands full well, and acts accordingly.

All the dishonesty, deceit, covetousness, party

THE believer's VICTORY. 43

spirit, and whatever else of sin and selfishness there
is in the church and world, results simply from the
voluntary alliance of men's wills with false and con-
flicting ideas. For the same reason, men find the
exercise of the benevolence which Christ requires a
distasteful duty rather than a blessed luxury, and
the performance of religious services both unwelcome
and unsatisfying.

To introduce the millennium, and fill the world
with the peace of God, it is only necessary that this
ruinous allegiance should be broken up, and that the
wills of men should be indissolubly linked to the
simple truth as it is in Jesus Christ. . And all the
sweet influences which flow down from the heart of
the Father, and all the healing mercies which radiate
from the throne of the heavenly grace, and which are
borne to the very door of our inner being by the
Eternal Spirit, are designed to secure and cement this
glorious union of the soul to Him who is the soui'ce
of all life and glory to fallen man.- Only as this
result is attained can we be such Christians as our
own happiness, the age in which we live, and the
Bible demand we should be. It is one of the unac-
countable mysteries of sin, that the human heart
should rebel against such a heavenly and blessed
consummation.

CHAPTER VII.

SATAN THE «« AUTHOR AND FINISHER »» OF UNBELIEF.

Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of 70a an evil heart of unbelief, in
departing from the living God. — i7e&. 3 : 12.

The Scriptures teach that salvation is by faith
alone. ''He that belie veth shall be saved." ''He
that believeth -not shall be damned." " Whatsoever
is not of faith is sin." " This is the work of God,
that ye believe on Him whom he hath sent." Christ
is the " author and finisher of faith ; " the adversary,
in a sunilar sense, doubtless, is the mspirer of unbe-
lief. In order to understand Satan's power of evil
in this capacity, we need a distinct conception of
what are the elements of faith and unbelief.

Faith, then, implies an object. Without this,
there is nothing on which the mind can repose its
confidence, and faith will be naturally impossible.
This object must be revealed to the mind, the intel-
lect must see it, or faith can not be. To trust in a
person of whom you have no knowledge is impos-
sible. Nor would it help me to trust in you^ reader,
to have some one else bear testimony to me con-
cerning' you. Do you say that, " on the testimony

THE believer's VICTORY. 45

of A, whom I know, to the reliability of B, I
trust my life in the keeping of the latter?" But
your trust is really in A, not in B, although you
have put yourself in his hands. Suppose, before
B is personally known to you, you find that you
have entirely misunderstood A, who meant to as-
sure you that B was wholly untrustworthy. You
would then see that your confidence rested in A,
and not in B. Your trust must repose in the
witness alone, until the third party becomes person-
ally known to you : then it can pass over and rest in
him, if he be found worthy.

Again : the object of faith so presented to the
mind mrist be closed in with by the will. To see the
truth and enthrone it as the law of our voluntary
being, is to believe unto life. To see the truth,
approve it with the reason, and to refuse, by the
soul's voluntary act or state, to enthrone it as our
law of life and conduct, is to be guilty of fatal imbe-
lief. The voluntary element, or the want of it, in
our faith, makes all the diflference between a living
and a dead faith — between a religion of forms and
one of life and power. To see the truth on which
our faith must repose in order to salvation, is not
virtue ; but, seeing it, to will it. The devils see it,
and, rebelling against it, tremble in their guilt before
its majesty. To see the truth does not save. To
see it is condemnation ; but seeing it, and welcoming

it to perfect lordship over us, is to unite the soul
4

46 Satan's devices and

to its Redeemer, and make it a joyful partaker of
his life.

Man, by sin, has lost his confidence in God — not
the sentiment that God is worthy of confidence, not
the knowledge of his truth absolutely and entirely,
for the law is engi'aven on the reason — but that
living faith, the essential element of which, after the
truth is seen, consists in its enthronement in the
will, as the all-governing law of life and duty.

Now, the oflice of Christ as the author and finisher
of faith is, by all divine moral influences, to bring
men to that vital enthronement of the truth in the
will and heart, which must be secured in order to the
possibility of salvation. He is the Logos, the Word,
the Eevealer of God to men. By his manifestation
of the divine object of faith, trust in God becomes
possible. Our cooperating act, not merely of seeing,
but of crowning the truth Imd its Lord, as supreme
in the soul, completes the exercise of saving faith,
and puts us in the kingdom.

On the other hand, Satan becomes the author and
finisher of unbelief, by hiding from the mind the true
object of saving faith, and thus he renders its exer-
cise impossible. When the truth reaches the intellect,
he will obscure, pervert, and distort it, and bring all
possible influences within his reach to bear upon the
mind to prevent the will from so closing in with it as
is indispensable to a vital and saving faith. '' But if
our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost ; in

THE beuevek's victoky. 47

whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds
of them which believe not, lest the light of the glori-
ous gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them " (2 Cor. 4:3,4). This touch of an
apostolic pen gives us Satan's method of counter-
acting the work of Christ as the inspirer of faith, and
of holding the will in its state of ruinous unbelief.

Through the exercise of faith, as here defined, the
whole, gospel becomes operative in the soul for its
salvation.

CHAPTER VIII.

6ATAN, IN THE HEIGHT OP HIS POWER, OBSCURING THE ES-
SENTIAL OBJECT OP FAITH, CHRIST JESUS THE LORD}
THUS RENDERING IMPOSSIBLE THE EXERCISE OF A LIV-
ING FAITH.

In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them whicb be-
Ueye not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of
God, should shine unto them.— 2 Cor. 4 : 4.

Satan's victory is to hold the mind in unbelief.
He wins the battle if he can succeed in hiding from
our interior view faith's proper object, which is
God in Christ, who alone can forgive sin and bestow
the gift of eternal life.

We have already shown that the object of faith
tnust be made known to the mind, in order to the
exercise of a living trust on our part.

Let us advance a step, and show that God alone
tan make this indispensable manifestation of himself
to us. Mind is sovereign in the realm of its own
personality ; it is self-revealing ; one person can not
manifest the personality, the inner life, of another;
much less can a finite reveal the Infinite Spirit. We
may learn something about God from his works, and
from our natm'es, which he has stamped with his own
likeness ; but in order to a new-creating faith, and

(48)

THE believer's VICTORY. 49

the divine life in us, God must manifest himself —
himself as distinct from all other beings — to our
interior consciousness. This truth is reflectetl in, and
illustrated by our human relations. It is when two
individuals fully and mutually reveal themselves to
each other, each inviting the other to repose in him
an imlimited and generous confidence, each giving
himself to the other in a unity of love, that there
springs up a life of joyous and blessed experiences,
which otherwise would have been naturally impos-
sible. So it is, when God personally manifests
himself to us, and takes our willing spirits into all
loving and confidential relations to himself, and
allows us to behold what we are able of his glory,
that there springs up within us a new life indeed, the
very life of God, of which sin had deprived us, and
we are saved.

On all sides it is agreed that the mission of Christ
was to give to the world this needed divine mani-
festation. He was, therefore, '' God manifest in the
flesh " — the object of saving faith. God he must have
been himself, or he could not have manifested him to
the world in a way to restore the life lost by sin.

Our Unitarian friends, who deny the Deity of
Christ, insist that he can yet reveal to us more about
God than we are able to comprehend; and, there-
fore, that his Deity is in no way essential to his mis-
sion as our Savior. But their fallacy lies in the
assumption that to know something about God iP ^^

50 Satan's devices and

equivalent to knowing God himself by his own per^
sonal manifestation, which surely is not true. God,
as personally and lovingly manifested to the soul, is
the object on which our faith must fix itself, not
something concerning him which some other, some
finite being may report to us. The wickedest men
may learn all that is knowable about God by his
works and by the testimony of others ; and yet, lack-
ing his own manifestation, they will remain dead
in trespasses and sins.

Logically, therefore, it will be the masterpiece of
Satanic skill to hide from the world the Deity of
Christ, that he may thus remove from men the pillar
of fire and cloud, and leave them to wander in the
dark wilderness of unbelief.

Consider how effectually he has wrought in this
high place of his power. There are whole denomi-
nations of professed Christians who systematically
deny his Deity. They come with Philip to Christ,
and say, "Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth
us ; " and then fail to apprehend the deep signifi-
cance of those reproving and yet life-giving words of
Christ in reply: ^^ Have I been so long time with
you J and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He
that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how
sayest thou^ then, Show us the Father?** Thus was
Philip rebuked for looking after God as the object of
faith and love elsewhere than in Christ.

Scarcely less successful has he been with multi-

THE believer's VICTORY. 51

tudes who theoretically hold to the Deity of Christ.
Their practical unbelief obscures his divine attributes.
It locates him eighteen hundred years in the distant
past, and they know him not as an ever-present,
Almighty Deliverer. This eclipse of the Sun of Right-
eousness enshrouds the whole matter and method of
their salvation in darkness.

It is difficult to see how Satan should so obscur?
the Deity of Christ from men who have the Bible
and profess to believe it. It is true he was called
the Son of God ; but that title was given him simply
as having been divinely begotten in the flesh (Luke
1 : 35) . He was not known as the Son of God'in his
pre-existent state, and the question is. Who was he
then? Even if he were but the Son of God, we
ought to conclude that, in nature and attributes, he
was the equal of his Father ; for all sons, so far as we
know, are so equal to their fathers. Nor does it
seem good reasoning to conclude that, if there are
three persons in the Godhead, there must be three
Gods. There does not appear to be any more ab-
surdity in the supposition that the one omnipresent,
essential Spirit should manifest himself by a three-
fold personality, in some respects diflferent from each
other, than that the one limited, essential spirit, man,
should manifest himself through a threefold set of
attributes, each in important respects different from
the others, and each having its own department of
the body, — the intellect having the brain, the sensU.

52 Satan's devices and

bility, the nerves of sensation, and the wUl, the
muscular system, — wherewith to perform its assigned
functions. The one fact is no more absurd, scarcely
more incomprehensible, than the other.

Opening our Bibles, the Supreme Being who
stands out on its pages is plainly the Lord Jesus
Christ. That God, who " in the beginning made the
heavens and the earth," the New Testament abun-
dantly shows to Jiave been Christ. The creative
volition was his, even though he issued it under the
direction of the Father; and the heavens must be
regarded as testifying to the ''eternal power and
Godhead" of Christ, their Maker (Rom. 1 : 20).

Again : farther down the line of revelation, some
Being appears to Moses in the burning bush, who
reveals himself as the I Am that I Am, the God of
the fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; who makes
himself known by his hitherto undisclosed and more
sacred name Jehovah, which he thrice repeats. If
the self-existent God of the universe reveals himself
any where in the Bible, it is here. The burning bush
becomes the pillar of cloud and fire, and from this
Shechinah, this same Being leads the people through
the wilderness. But who was this Being? We
have only to read Paul's sketch of this journey ,
of the Israelites (1 Cor. 10), and his statement
(Heb. XI : 26), that Moses esteemed the reproach of
Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt,
to learn that, in his judgment, it was Christ who

THE believer's VICTORY. 53

revealed himself to Moses, and therefore, that the
self-existent Jehovah of the Old Testament, and the
pre-existent Christ of the New, were identically the
same Being.

Again : still later in the Bible, we find nearly a
score of passages in which the one Supreme Being
insists upon his unity in the most j^ositive terms,
declaring that " there is no God beside " him ; " he is
God, and there is none else ; " '' he is God in heaven
above and upon the earth beneath : there is none
else." And yet this one only God characterizes
himself in such a way as absolutely to identify him
as no other than the pre-existent Messiah. He de-
clares that he is ''the King of Israel," and his "Re-
deemer ; " he is " the first and the last ; " he is the God
^ unto whom every knee shall bow and every tongue
swear," and besides whom "there is no Savior;" he is
the Jehovah who " made the earth, and created man
upon it; who stretched out the heavens, and com-
manded all their host;" he it was who chose the
fathers, and " brought their seed out of Egypt with
his mighty power," and made them hear his " voice
out of the midst of the fire." Christ, then, is the
one God of the Bible. The Father and Spirit are
not other Gods, but only separate manifestations of
the same God.

And yet Satan blinds the minds of men to the
Deity of Christ, and holds them in unbelief. His
object is plain. Our salvation demands an Almighty

54 Satan's devices.

Savior. If Moses needed assurance from the I Am
in order to stand before the throne of Pharaoh,
much more do we need it in order to overcome
the foes of our salvation. No finite being in our
pillar of cloud and fire can lead us through the sea
and the wilderness to our Promised Land.

CHAPTEE IX.

SATAN'S SECOND ECLIPSE OF THE OBJECT OP FAITH —
HIDING -ALSO THE DEITY OF THE SPIRIT, AND FOR A
LIKE PURPOSE.

Even so the things of Ood knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.—
1 Cor, 2 : 11.

When Christ, as ^ God manifest in the flesh," left
the world, it was with the promise that he would
send the Comforter, whose ministrations would be
of more value to the disciples than his longer pres-
ence could be (John 16 : 7). While our Lord re-
mained in the body, his Deity was unavoidably
vailed by his flesh. His humanity was, of course,
specially visible, and made its needed impression.
On the human side of the Messiah, the disciples had
become familiar with him, and had learned to
approach him with confidence. Through the vail,
they saw something of his Divinity, something of
the " glory which he had with the Father before the
world was." But the time had come when they
needed to know him more perfectly as to his Divine
nature. Their then knowledge left them too weak
to stand in the hour of temptation. It was, there-
fore, /' expedient " for Christ to withdraw from the
flesh, that their attention might be concentrated upon
his Deity.

56 SATAN'S DEVICES AND

The Spirit would succeed him, and '' take of the
things of Christ, and show them unto them." It was
not the human side of the Redeemer's being which
the Spirit was chiefly to manifest, since, for such a
manifestation, it could not have been expedient for
Christ to leave the flesh and the human conditions
amid which he had shown himself, but rather his
eternal power and Godhead, which had been, thus
far, so thickly vailed by the flesh. The disciples
must know their beloved Leader as very God, or
they can not cope with the hostile powers of earth
and hell which they are soon to meet. On the day of
Pentecost, the Spirit came, and they received a
knowledge of their Redeemer which changed their
weakness into a courage and power fitting them to
revolutionize the world. Henceforward they stood
in the fully apprehended Deity of Christ, and spoke
with the ^* tongue of fire"; and, with '* Emanuel"
on their banner, their course was thenceforward on-
ward and triumphant.

By a logical necessity, then, the Holy Spirit must
be God. According to principles already stated, no
being but God himself could reveal God. In the
performance of his mission, the Spirit did disclose
and show to the inner life of the disciples the
supreme Divinity of their Master, and, consequently,
the infinite value of his words. His mission had a
higher significance, simply because he could make
that exhibition more clearly and powerfully to the

THE believer's VICTORY. 67

mind than Christ could possibly do it through the
vail of his flesh. And it is this which makes the dis-
pensation of the Spirit " excel in glory " all others.
By the Spirit's manifestation, we look through all
vails, all types and shadows, and behold the glorious
reality of God's character and love, and know our
God as the life, the joy, and the infinite portion of
our souls forever.

The disciples evidently had no other idea than that
the Spirit was God. If Ananias *' lied to the Holy
Ghost," it was against God he lied. To be " born
of God" and to be "born of the Spirit" were the
same thing. They were all " taught of God," and
yet the Holy Ghost was their teacher. Christians
are the "temple of God," and yet the God who
dwells in them as his temple is the Holy. Ghost.
Christ, as to his flesh, is the Son of God, of the High-
est, and yet he is begotten by the Holy Ghost. Did
God inspire the prophets? They "spake as they
were moved by the Holy Ghost." Is it God's work
to " convince men of sin " ? It is the office-work of
the Holy Spirit. Is the world in rebellion against
God? It is the Holy Spirit they have resisted. Is
there one offense against God which is unpardonable ?
It is the " blasphemy of the Holy Ghost." Is God
omnipresent 5^ None can fly from the presence of the
Spirit. Is God omniscient? "The Spirit know-
eth all things, even the deep things of God." Must
men be consecrated to God in order to be saved?

68 Satan's devices and

They must be baptized " into the name of the Father,
and of the Sou, and of the Holy Ghost."

The personality of the Spirit is as clearly recog-
nized in the Scriptures as that of the Father or of
Christ.

How obviously, now, it falls in with the purpose
of Satan, in holding men in unbelief, to hide from
them the personality and Deity of the Spirit, by
whom alone the object of saving faith can be eflfect-
ually manifested ! In this way, he obscures the
glory, and essentially sets aside the power of the
New Testament, which obviously lies in the agency
and peculiar ministry of the Spirit ; he robs the be-
liever of the great characteristic promise of the Chris-
tian Dispensation, distinctly and impressively given
by our Lord to his disciples at the closing and most
memorable hour of his ministry, that the Holy Spirit
should come and abide with them forever, as their
Comforter, Teacher, and Sanctifier; he takes away
all that which renders the gospel practically better
than the law, the substance, than the shadow; he
captures the believer's " strongholds," and leaves him
without the saving knowledge of the Deliverer.

There are denominations of Christians by whom
the personality and Deity of the Spirit are systemat-
ically denied. They see in the Spirit.no infinite,
intelligent Being, mighty to save by his owii self-
revealing power, but only an impersonal, indefinable
influence. If men's hearts were not sometimes

THE believer's VICTORY. 59

clearer than their heads, we see not how such could
escape the death of unbelief. Nor docs an orthodox
theory always suffice to save men from the effects of
this second eclipse of the object of saving faith.

When the disciple finds God manifested by the
Spirit, the difficulties in regard to the Divine mode
of existence strangely pass away. Although he may
not be able to solve the mystery of the Trinity, he
finds the wants of his soul wondrously met as he
communes with God, his Father, with the same God,
his Redeemer, and with the same God, his Sanctifier.
He welcomes to his heart the ^ Angel of the Cov-
enant," the Messiah whom the Father has sent ; and
it does not occur to him, that Christ must be less
than God in his nature and attributes, because the
Father appointed him his ''messenger" to a lost
world.

CHAPTER X.

THE MISCHIEFS SATAN ACCOMPLISHES BY REMOVING FEOM
BEFORE THE EYE OF FAITH THE GODHEAD OF CHRIST
AND THE SPIRIT.

But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. — 2 Cor, 4 : 3.

In the first place, the essential object of saving
faith being hidden from the mind, a living trust
therein is rendered impossible. We can not rely
upon one for any thing beyond what he is able to do
with the powers we ascribe to him. K our ''God
manifest in the flesh," in whom we trust, is only a
finite being, we have only a finite Savior, who can
not restore to us the '' life of God " which is lost by
sin. Failing to find Jehovah manifested in Christ,
we do not find him at all, and are left to wander in>
the wilderness of error and unbelief, and, perchance,
betake ourselves to a cold naturalism, and grope
about to find him in his works. Stars and flowers
take the place of the Divine Christ ; religious senti-
mentality and the " works of the flesh " are substi-
tuted for the new birth, and men have a " name to
live " while yet dead in sin.

Again : another consequence of hiding the Deity of
Christ and the Spirit will be, that, although the

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THE believer's VICTORY. 61

intellect may, in some sense, apprehend the truth,
Jret the will, choosing the darkness involved in the
t)ursuit of its own selfish ends, will reject and refuse
to obey it until its unbelief does violence to all rea-
son, and to all the sane practice of men on other sub-
jects, and becomes a *^ marvel" to the Son of God
himself. The will does not surrender the weapons
of its rebellion except to its Creator and Lord.

• Again : in proportion as the true object of faith is
hidden by Satan from the mind, the blessings of faith
are lost. It is blessed to have faith in any being
who is worthy of confidence, and the riches of the
experience of faith will correspond to the perceived
ex<5ellence, the benevolence, and the ability of that
being. The promises of God pledge to believers
eternal and exhaustless good, as great as their
natures will enable them to receive. Thev are all
^ yea and amen in Christ," and can bring in them to
us no more of Divinity than we apprehend in him.
With the eye of our faith open upon God revealed to
us in Jesus, we dwell in that light which can come
only from the Divine Mind ; with our hearts stayed
on Him, ^ the peace of God which passeth all under-
standing, keeps our hearts and minds through Christ
Jesus ; " anchoring our being to Him by faith, we
outride all the storms of earth, and are nearest heaven
when on the crest of the topmost wave ; with our
ear open to Him, his word is a sword which cleaves
down every foe, or a fountain whose living wateiMflp

62 Satan's devices and

well up and lave and refresh our whole being, and
cool the fever of sin ; walking with Him^ we are in
^ ways of pleasantness and paths of peace ; " sitting
at His feet ^ our pride is consumed by the glory of his
meekness and lowliness of mind ; seeing in om* duty
His will^ it is the very elixir of privilege to do it ;
casting the burden of our sins upon His mercy ^ they
are gone forever. But, alas I if our faith does not
find Him manifested, all this is lost ; the frosts of
sin are not dissolved, and the vibrations of heavenly
joy can not reach our hearts.

Again : by hiding the Deity of Christ and the
Spirit, Satan shuts the mind up to its own idea of
God as conceived in the darkness of sin, and deprives
it of the right idea as God himself manifests it, to
inspire a true worship. The result is seen, the world
over, in the chaos of false and spurious religions.
Every man becomes a god unto himself. The ^' gods
many and lords many," thus conceived, are as antago-
nistic us selfish men, and as little in hannouy as the
congress of deities on Olympus. The social and
religious principles becoming allied, men are drawn
together in brotherhoods of selfishness, into hier-
archies, sects, and warring parties ; but their syna-
gogues will be, so far, the "synagogues of Satan."
The Satanic graces of pride, jealousy, hatred,
revenge, and their like, will combine in a common
opposition to that Christianity which derives its life
from the Deity of the despised Nazarenc, and from

THE believer's VICTORY. 68

that cross to which the same opposition nailed the
Son of God.

The idea of God, thus conceived, has no redeem-
ing power in it, but the very opposite. The Phari-
sees were zealously religious under the idea of God
as they found it in their own selfish hearts ; Paul^
under the idea, as God the Holy Spirit manifested it
to him. Their hearts remained as unchanged, and as
fiill of pride and hatred, as his had been before the
Divine manifestation met him on his way to Damas-
cus. As they conceived the character of God, they
felt it their duty to crucify Christ. As he learned it
from God himself, his love for Christ at once became
a passion, and he would henceforth glory in nothing
but in " Christ and him crucified."

By this process, then, "Satan inveigles the mind
into all manner of imbelief, and easily leads it cap-
tive at his will.

CHAPTER XI.

SATAN SOWING TARES. — FA8TOE»S SKETCH ILLUSTRATING
THE NECESSITY OF HAVING THE RIGHT SEED-TRUTH SOWN
IN THE HEART, THAT A TRUE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER
MAY GROW THEREFROM.

The enemy that sowed them is the devil. — Matt, 13 : 39.

When Christ charges Satan with sowing tares
(Matt. 13 : 25-39), we suppose he means to say that
that wicked one disseminates, in the minds of men.
ideas and principles, the effect of which will be to
counteract the growth and influence of the truth
implanted by God himself.

In a large garden, may be found a great variety of
plants, differing in their forms, colors, fragrance, and
in many of their habits of life. Side by side, they
grow from the same soil ; the same sun gives them
light, the same dews and showers refresh them, and
the same hands cultivate them. Whence, then, their
differences ? They are to be foimd in the differing
seeds.

' The seeds of character are ideas and purposes
planted in the mind. Men grow to be what they
are, in all their radical diversities of character, from
certain seed-ideas. Let a youth, just budding into

THE BELIEVER'S VICTORY. 65

manhood, take up the problem of his life. The
future is all before him. What shall he do with the
powers which are already stirring within him, and
which must be exercised? At what shall he aim —
at political eminence, at literary distinction, or
wealth, or, peradventure, the Christian life? He is
absorbed, and his brain aches with the subject. He
ponders it long and anxiously, and finally decides, /
will be rich.

That idea, thus implanted, is the seed of his char-
acter now to be unfolded. It germinates in his
intellect, and his whole thinking force is applied to
the question. How shall I gain wealth? — by what
means, on land or sea, by what business, by what
principles? It expands in his sensibility, and the
entire current of his emotions swells and surges
along the channels of earthly gain. He loves every
thing which will give him wealth. The " price cur-
rent " is his bible. In the strong speech of Carlyle,
" to gain is heaven, to lose is hell." The same seed
matures in his will ; and this mighty central force of
the mind works all possible agencies within its reach
for the one end of amassing the chosen treasiu'e.
This young man thus becomes an apostle Paul in the
opposite direction.

The seed-idea of Paul's character was this : '' Christ
and him crucified," all and in all ; absolute steward-
ship to Jesus ; all things done in his name and for
his glory ; Paul, the '' old man," dead, and Christ, the

66 satak's devices and

" new man,'' alive in him. From this idea grew the
character of the apostle. It completely mastered his
intellect so that he would only know Christ and the
Cross. It possessed his sensibility so that he rejoiced
in tribulation, and wept over lost men, and loved
them the more, the less they loved him. It wrought
with such living power in his will and heart, that his
words, from the moment they were uttered to this
day, have been among the most potent moral forces
the world has ever felt.

A leading and subtle device of Satan, as an eflfect-
ual means of inflicting fatal moral injury, is to get
an imperfect or incomplete seed-idea planted in the
minds of Christian men. As an illustration of the
importance of receiving the ^ good seed " instead of
•* tares," I present the following : —

Pastors Sketch.

An excellent parishioner once gave me the follow-
ing account of his experience, and wished I would
point out the diflSculty under which he was laboring.
He wished to live every day as a Christian should
live. His habit was to enter his closet before going
to his. business in the morning, and not to leave it
till he felt that his sins were forgiven, and the smile
of his Savior rested on his soul. He then went to his
office to transact the business of the day. He soon
found himself drifting from the sweet peace with

•

THE believer's VICTORY. 67

which he left his closet. He was in a different
atmosphere. God did not seem near. Temptation
would sour and vex his spirit, and easily gain the
mastery. In his bargains, he found that he loved
himself much better than his customers. It was not
easy for him there to bear witness for Christ. The
glowing heart, with which he left the closet, became
hardened and insensible; and at night he found
himself far away from Jesus, with his harp unstrung
upon the willows. It required bittet repentings,
and often many tears, to get back to the place from
which he had fallen away. He had gone through the
process till his soul was weary, and he longed to find
a way of retaining his morning blessing through the
day ; and, hence, his inquiries.

My reply to. his diflSiculty was on this wise : Your ^■
radical idea of the Christian life is incomplete — too
narrow. You do not make it include your business.
That is your own^ not the Lord^s, You leave your
Savior in the closet, and go to your office, the ser-
vant of A. H. D. Paul's idea of that life was Christ,
all and in all,-^elf dead, and Christ living in him.
He made tents for the Savior, as truly as he made
sermons. There was no division of himself between
Christ and Mammon. Yours, on the other hand, is
Christ in the closet, and self in the counting-room ;
Christ in your worship, and self in your business.
You have broken in two the very seed-idea of the
Christian life, and thrown away an essential part off :A

68 SATAN'S DEYIGES Ain>

it. That which you cultivate in your closet does as
well as any half-seed can. You must take Paul's
root-idea if you would have complete fruit in your
experience. You need to fail in your business, and
make a full assignment at once to Christ, and take
your position in the business, not as a principal in
the firm, but as the '^ steward," the "confidential
clerk " of your Lord and Master. Then you will
find Christ in his counting-room as well as in the
closet, and his business shall no longer be a snare to
you, but a means of grace.

His eyes were opened; he made the proposed
assignment, and found a blessing richer, every way,
than his pastor predicted. The Master was with him
all the day; his* counting-room was a Bethel; the
Divine Presence kept his soul loyal and true ; his
tongue was loosed ; he could sell goods and preach
Christ at the same time ; and, as he remarked, he
•*was not tempted to cheat any more in selling
leather," for his new Employer did not allow it. At
night, he returned to his closet in advance of his
morning position, and onward he went, day by day,
growing in grace, and in favor with God and with
man. Such were the fruits of the true seed fully
received into the soul.

It makes all difierence, then, in the life of a Chris-
tian, whether or not he has the true seed-idea at bot-
tom, Paul had it ; and he found the grace of God
all-abounding, the power of temptation broken, and

THE belieyeb's viotoky. 69

the service of Christ his highest delight. His expe-
rience was a combiiiatiou of the greatest possible
moral forces, such as hope, love, joy, justice, patience,
meekness, and the like, and carried with it, there-
fore, a living demonstration of the truth of the gos-
pel. But with an essentially defective seed-idea, the
religious life must be correspondingly defective and
powerless. The whole character is a failure, exhibit-
ing to the world a sad combination of the elements
of weakness, sorrow, sighing, doubt, fear, injustice,
impatience, and unbelief, repelling other minds from
Christ, rather than drawing them sweetly to embrace
him.

Thus the ''enemy" scatters broadcast over the
'' field of the world " his tares. What they are, and
how they bear their noxious fruit, will appear as we
progress.

CHAPTER XII.

8ATAH AS THE FATHEB OF LIES.— FBINCIFLES PREMISED.
WImh be jpeakeCh • Ue, be qjieaketii of fal« own : fi>r be is • Uar, and tbe

The tares which Satan sows are the lies which he
impresses upon the minds of men. Before exposing
some of these falsehoods, we will state several impor-
tant principles, which need to be considered in this
connection.

1. The object of Satan in the use of lies is, of
course, to destroy the soul, to confirm it in the dark-
ness, guilt, and ruin of sin.

2. When men accept what are really the lies of
Satan, they hold them as truths; and the consequence
is, that they have all the binding force of truth, and
all the damaging effect of lies. The mind is not
made for falsehood. It first calls it truth, and then
welcomes it to its fia>tal and ruinous work.

3. While lies have possession of the mind, they, of
course, exclude from it the corresponding truths.
There is a natural self*-consistency in our mental

ions. We do not consciously believe that a
both true and false at the same time. To

(70)

THE BEUEYER'S YIOTORT. 71

hold as a tmth that two and two are six, is to hold
as a lie that two and two are four. Some greut lie,
which the mind may adopt us a truth, will inevitably
exclude the whole gospel from the soul as a saving
power. If a man holds that he is not a sinner in
the Bible sense, the whole gospel become:: a nullity,
and can have no significance to him.

4. To believe the lies of Satan against God, involves
an impeachment of the Divine character for veracity.
It is to transfer the character of Satan to God, and
that of God to Satan. It is to account and treat God,
** who can not lie," as a liar; and Satan, who is the
father of liars, and who will not use the truth except
in a way to have the efiect of lies, as worthy of all
confidence. It is, in our conduct, to undeify Jeho-
vah as to his most essential moral attribute ; and
this is the very climax of guilt. Xor is it any valid
excuse for treating God as a liar by our unbelief, that
the promises, in which we refuse to trust, seem "too
good" to belong to persons so unworthy as our-
selves.

5. The lies of Satan are mainly anchored in the
sensibility. The attack of the enemy is not direct
upon the reason, for that affirms, intuitively, the
existence and veracity of God. Nor is the onset
direct upon the will. Satan does not come and
nakedly urge a man to set up his ^vill against his
Maker and Benefactor, against truth and obligation.
He is too wise to fly so palpably in the face of man's

72 Satan's devices and

moral nature. He rather plants his lie, sows his
tares, in the emotional nature. You feel that the
thing is true, though reason may say it is false. The
feeling possesses and haunts you, and you can not
rid yourself of it, that, for example, there is no
mercy for you ; and feeling thus, you allow your
reason to be silenced, and your will to go over to the
feeling^ and accept the lie as truth, and Satan's object
is accomplished. He has hooked his chain into your
will through the lie he planted in your sensibility,
and he thus easily leads you '^captive at his will."
This he will continue to do so long as you will con-
sent to take as true his impressions, instead of the
voice of your reason and the positive testimonies of
God's word. The whole coast here is lined with
wrecks.

6. Satan adapts his lies, varies, changes, multi-
plies and divides them, to meet the idiosyncrasies,
prejudices, and the surroundings of each individual
soul whose destruction he seeks. All his skill and
knowledge and power 6i deception, are doubtless
employed to turn light into darkness and darkness
into light. Fortunately for the world, however, Satan
can not succeed in extinguishing the Sun of Eight-
eousness.

7. That Satan has neither tongue nor voice, does
not prevent his ministration of lies. Language is
one medium of thought in the world, but there is no

>roof that this is at all necessary in the realm of

THE believer's VICTORr. 73

spirit. For aught we know, Satan has the same
power, in kind, to impress men with falsehood, that
the Holy Spirit has to seal truth upon the mind.

8. When lies become thoroughly enthroned in the
will, it is very difficult, and often impossible, to dis-
lodge them. They have possession of all the mind's
powers, so that every avenue is jealously guarded
against the approach of the truth. The whole force
of mental habit and of apparent interest, is on the
side of falsehood. The power of the mind itself to
find and hold the truth is, by the perversion of its
faculties, sadly impaired. The difficulty of casting
out devils is only the difficulty of casting out lies.
No voice but that of the Almighty can effectually
command them.

CHAPTEE XIII.

THE LIES WHEBEBT SATAN KEEFS MEN FBOM BECOIONG

CHEISTIANS.

Why hath Satan filled thine heart, to lie to the Holy Ghost?— ^c^s 5 : 3.

The falsehoods which Satan unpresses upon men

are of two classes. By those of one class, he aims

to keep them from becoming Christians at all; by
those of the other, to prevent Christians from living
a true, earnest, and effective life. In the present
chapter, we wiU consider some of the lies of the first
class.

Lie No. 1.

We name, first, the original falsehood, which, with
serpent tongue, Satan told to Eve — " Ye shall not
surely dieJ^ In other words, ^^ N'o serious conse-
quences are to be apprehended from sin and trans-
gression. The fruit is good; your eyes will be
opened; you will become wise. Go on in disregard
of God; trample on his law and authority; setup
your own wiU^ and live for your own pleasure
supremely y and all will be well at last — ye shall not
surely die.^

This, for substance, is the terrible lie. The

(74)

THE believer's VICTORY. 76

masses of mankind, hearing it in alluring tones, lay
the flattering unction to their souls. They commit
and adjust their wills to it as truth, and thus believe
and convert the lie into a seeming reality. They are
then prepared to cling to the falsehood, notwithstand-
ing the remonstrances of reason, and the teaching of
all analogy and revelation. They live on, transgress-
ing the law of God continually and without a blush.
While the mind clings to this falsehood, the gospel
can not enter. Salvation is impossible. The soul
will take no other gospel but the sophism, ''Ye shall
not surely die." But when the lie is abandoned,
when the will adjusts itself to the truth, and the soul
begins to see and feel that sin brings ruin and death,'
then the inquiry will naturally be made, ''What
shall I do to be saved ? "

Lie JVo. 2.

When the power of the first great lie is .broken, so
that the conviction of the evil of sin is awakened in
any measure, Satan is ready with this monstrous
untruth — " God is a hard Master ^ reaping where
he has not sown^ demanding service which no man
can render^ and therefore it is useless to attempt to
obey him.^^

With thousands, the false impression, is accepted
as truth. The Bible says, "Love God with all your
heart, and your neighbor as yourself." "Impos-

76 Satan's devices and

sible," says Satan. "Love your enemies; bless
them that curse you,*' says God. "No man can do
it," insists the father of lies. " Obey the Sermon on
the Mount," says Christ. " It is out of the question ;
no man ever did it," responds the adversary. " Over-
come the world ; stand up for Jesus against princi-
palities and powers ; die to sin and live unto right-
eousness," says the Word. " It is out of the ques-
tion ; Christians are no better than others," answers
Satan.

Thus the debate goes on, till the falsehood is effect-
ually rooted. Viewed through this lie, the gospel is
only suggestive of perplexing doubts and fears. It
disappoints hope, and involves the soul in a painful
effort to obtain the good it never reaches ; and the
Christian seems a very Sisyphus, forever doomed to
struggle to no purpose between the requirements of
the gospel and the impossibility of performing them.

How effectually does Satan accomplish his mali-
cious purpose with all whom he can persuade, con-
sciously or unconsciously, to accept this falsehood !
No man will truly embrace Christianity, as thus con-
ceived.

But the falsehood is transparent. The gospel pro-
claims "liberty," not a "yoke of bondage." How
completely is this device of the enemy refuted by the
simple word of God ! — "If there be first a willing
mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and
not according to that he hath not."

THE BEULBYEB's VICTORY. 77 -

'^ Why, then, does it seem so hard for even many
honest minds to perform Christian duty ? " There is
but one answer. They have linked their souls to
some falsehood through which they can practically
see Christ only "as a root out of dry ground." The
object of love is hidden. The only way of escape is
to abandon the lie, to cease to make Christ a hard
Master by renouncing the lie that he is so. Cast
away the word of Satan, which brings death, and lay
hold of the truth, the simple fact, that God is the
easiest, most considerate, loving, and sympathizing
Master in the universe ; that he will perform all his
exceeding great and precious promises, and make his
grace abound above all our necessities and infirmi-
ties; wrench the soul at once from the falsehood;
stay it upon the truth, to live or die with that,
and deliverance will come ; new heavens and a new
earth will appear.

•

Lie No, 8.

Another lie of this class is the bold falsehood, that
the sinner does not possess the natural ability to do
what God requires.

The former lie sets the mind to looking at God's
commandments as grievous — too difficult for poor,
weak human nature ; not absolutely impossible to be
performed, but so unreasonable as to discourage
effort. This one, on the other hand, turns the eye^^tf

78 Satan's devices and

within, to the alleged fact that the mind is not
endowed with the power which is necessary to obe-
dience. When the will is committed to this false
persuasion, the consequences are well nigh as disas-
trous as if there were, indeed, no mental power by
which obedience to God could be rendered. No man
undertakes to do what he holds in his will that he can
not perform.

I am not now reasoning with speculative fatalists,
but with those to whom, having committed them-
selves, in spirit, to this falsehood, it seems as if they
lacked the power to obey God ; and it may facilitate
their escape from this device of the enemy to look at
the simple facts as they are. One fact is, that we
can not serve two opposite masters at the same time.
We have no ability to serve God while we persist in
serving Mammon. But the requirement is, that we
abandon the service of the wrong master, and enter
upon that of the right one. Wo are not to accept
the lie that we have no power to serve God at all,
because we can not serve him, while we allow our-
selves to be the servants of sin and Satan. Another
simple fact is, that the power to choose, serve, and
love one object, is a power so to devote ourselves to
another. It does not require different powers of
mind to serve different masters. Taking the truth,
then, as it is in regard to God, — that he does not
require what we can not render ; that his '* grace is
sufficient for us ;" that every thing in the universe,

THE beueyeb's victoby. 79

which is lovable and attractive, centers in him, and
mvites our love and service, — it seems infinitely
absurd to say, we can not love him as he requires.
Away, then, with the falsehood, the belief of which
perverts the mind's powers, and let the soul be
adjusted to the truth. It is not some great thing,
requiring vast capabilities, which God demands, but
simply to receive an ofiered and loving Savior, whose
own eflSiciency will accomplish our salvation, while we
render him the service of grateful, trustful hearts.

Lie No. 4.

*' There is no merer/ for meJ*^ There are many, in
all our congregations, who have given place to this
falsehood. They have been through revivals ; they
have often sought a religious experience ; they have
struggled long against their sins ; they have " done
many things," and yet thdy are '' without hope and
without God in the world." Th.Q feeling that there is
no mercy for them, has pressed itself upon them ;
they have yielded their wills to it as a truth, and thus
closed the door against themselves.

But the falsehood is palpable. The testimony of
God himself is, that " whosoever will " may " come
and take the water of life freely ; " that Jesus has
*' tasted death /or every man; " that '' none who come
to him shall be cast out ; " that where sin abounds, _

grace much more abounds ; that he has given eternal ijt^^^

80 batak'b deyiobs and

life to men, so that it only awaits their reception by
faith. Nothing can exclude a soul from heaven but
a voluntary distrust and rejection of offered mercy.
Let the lie, then, be dislodged, and the soul be
adjusted to the truth as it is in ^esus, and niercy
shall be found as abundant as ocean waters.

Lie No. 5.

^^ lam not elected; or^ if I am^ I shall be saved at
any rate; and if I am not, I shall be lost, do what I
may. He will have mercy on whom fie will have
mercy, and whom he will he hardenethJ^

This device of Satan, one would think, is too worn
to have influence with any honest mind. It is not
lil ely Satan ever saw the catalogue of the elect ; and
if he had, he would not report it truly. God has
said, " He that believeth shall be saved ; " and to
believe is, therefore, to '^ make your election sure."
God is the Creator and Father of all men ; and he
has no preference of some men, as such, over others.
He elects all who will believe, love, and obey him.
He is not willing that any should perish. Only
believe:. God will adjust the doctrines of Election
and Grace.

Lie ITo. 6.

^Experimental religion is all a delusion. A
change of heart is a mere excitement, which soon

THE believer's VICTORY. 81

passes away 9 securing no change of character. It is
safe to risk all on a good^ moral life,^^

Many intelligent persons have so committed them-
selves to this lie of Satan, that those most imperative
words of Christ, " Verily^ verily^ I say unto thee^
Except a man be born again ^ he can not see the king--
dom of Gody^ have ceased to affect them. Admit
that some persons deceive themselves ; that there are
*' stony-ground hearers " who become excited on the
subject of religion without really becoming "new
creatures in Christ Jesus ; " that some, who receive
the seed in good ground, do, at times, under the
pressure of temptation, "leave their first love ;" — is
there any decent reason for believing this broad
denial of the reality of all vital Christian experience ?

When the inebriate signs the pledge, and stands
with the hosts of temperance, is his experience of
joyous exultation a delusion, because such emotions
do not last?

When a parent's loving kindness, tender forbear-
ance, and patient sacrifice for a wayward, rebellious,
and wicked son, have at last broken his proud heart,
and brought him to his knees, confessing and renoun-
cing his grievous sin, and the tokens of parental for-
giveness and favor fill his soul with joy, is there
nothing in his change of heart, because that emotion
must and will soon subside? Was the prodigal's
return to his father's house a delusion, because the
festivities of the occasion ceafied when the fatted calf

82 Satan's devigks and

was eaten ? and was the prodigal still in the same
moral state as when spending his substance in riotovis
living in a stmuge land?

Who does not see the object of Satan in fastening
this lie upon the minds of men ? and how surely he
accomplishes his. malicious purpose by it with all who
consent to receive it as truth I

Lie No. 7.

We have met persons with this strange falsehood
engraven on their hearts : ^^God does not love me; I
am beneath his notice; am nothing in his sight; and
he will not turn aside from his infinite affairs to give
any attention to such a mote or worm of the dust as
I amJ*^

O, how false is all this 1 Satan knows that every
such word is saturated with falsehood. The venom
oozes out at every letter. " God does not love you I "
You are the very person he loves. You may say as
boldly and assuredly, — "who loved me, and gave
himself for me," as did Paul, for he has " tasted death
for every man." "Nothing in his sight ! " You are
more in his sight than the whole universe of material
works. For you they were made. For you his
angels minister. For you he has prepared a man-
sion and a crown. lie calls you to his throne, and to
all the fullness of his own glory and blessedness.
You are a chief object ^ his thought. To save you

THE believer's VICTORY. 88

is his infinite affair; and from this object nothing
ever diverts his attention.

Drop, then, the wretched falsehood, and lay hold
of the truth that God is your Friend, your infinitely
loving Father, who waits to be gracious to you.
Away with the falsehood, that the greatness of God
places him beyond your reach. If his infinitude
does not prevent his " clothing the grass," or " lumi-
bering the hairs upon your head," — if it does not
prevent his creating and providing for innumerable
orders of living existences, invisible to us except
through the most powerful microscopes — surely it
will not prevent his care for your immortal soul, the
noblest specimen of his handiwork.

Lie No. 8.

^^ 1 do not need religion; I am honest and sincere ^
and this is enough J*^ This lie is strongly impressed
on many who would shrink from its avowal. Per-
haps the mass of men have no vivid sense of the
importance to them of the Christian hope and life.
The present life absorbs them. They are honest with
the world ; and, judging themselves by their human
standard, which overlooks their relations to God,
they fail to see their characters as the Bible presents
them. They often conclude they are *^as good as
Christians," accept this falsehood of Satan, and dis-
miss the whole subject of personal religion,

84 Satan's device^ and

This delusion ought to be dissolved by a moment's
consideration of such queries as these : Have I not
a future existence to provide for? Do I not need
pardon for sin ? Do I not need the eternal life which
Christ promises to those who believe and obey him ?
Have I not a nature which is correlated to the nature
of Him who made me, and which will not and can not
be satisfied till it is brought into moral, spiritual, and
eternal harmony with its Author? Have I no need
of such a personal Friend as Jesus Christ ? of the vic-
tory he pledges over sin and the grave ? And do I
know what I need as well as He knows, who said,
"Without me ye can do nothing?"

We might extend this catalogue of Satan's .lies
indefinitely, for "their name is Legion." Every
truth of the Bible which is directly important to the
conversion of the sinner, seems to be contradicted or
covered up in his mind by some false and deceptive
impression. The Scriptures teach that the uncon-
verted are " enemies of God ; " that " the wrath of
God abideth on them ; " that their hearts are " deceit-
ful above all things, and desperately wicked ; " that
" because sentence against an evil work is not exe-
cuted speedily, therefore the hearts of the sous of
men are fully set in them to do evil," as if they were
presuming on the forbearance of God to live on in
sin ; that the unregenerate, supremely selfish heart is
like a sepulcher, "full of all uncleanness and dea4

THE believer's VICTORY. 85

men's bones ; " that he who willfully rejects Christ
participates in all the wickedness of past ages ; and
yet these, and other similar teachings of the Bible,
which, if a man believed them, would make him
quiver to the center of his being, and humble himself
in dust and ashes, are wholly without effect, because
they are hidden from the soul by the falsehoods of
Satan. All the exceeding great and precious prom-
ises of God to the penitent are, in like way, con-
cealed from the sinner by the adjustment of his faith
to the lies of the devil.

To one believing falsehood and not truth, convic-
tion of sin is impossible; and the sinner vainly
imagines that he shall stand acquitted before a holy
God. Looking through the mist and vapor with
which the adversary has enveloped his moral being,
the whole subject of religion appears so complicated,
so unsatisfactory, that he dismisses it as practically
n worthy his attention. These dark clouds of false-
must be dispersed before the Sun of Righteous-
nessVjan be seen, or the soul be delivered from the
guilt and ruin of sin.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE LIES BY WHICH SATAN AIMS TO WEAKEN AND WASTE

THE INNER LIFE OF CHBISTIANS.

If it were possible, they shall deceive the yery elect. — Matt, 24 : 24.

It must be remembered that Christians are still
moral agents, and susceptible to the influence of evil
motives as well as of good ones. Their conversion
does not remove them from the sphere of Satanic
lies. If Satan could present his fictions 'and sophis-
tries to Christ himself, much more can he urge them
upon his followers. Falsehood accepted by the
Christian will work as disastrously for him as for the
unconverted. It may practically exclude saving
truth from the soul, and, while it is believed, annul
the whole power of the gospel.

Satan will aim to cripple the individual disciple,
and to force him into a style of character and living
which will not only destroy his use^'^lness, but make
him a positive stumbling-block to the world.

God has been pleased to constitute his church the
'' light of the world and the salt of the earth." But she
can be neither the one nor the other, except as she
abides in Christ and the truth. Satan will, of course,
seek to dissever that light and life-giving union, to

(86)

THE believer's VICTORY. 87

tiii'n her liffht into darkness, and to make her a false
witness of Christ to men. Thus, by seducing the
leaders into such a state of wickedness that they
could only see, in Christ, ''a prince of devils," — a
" fellow " unfit to live, — he extinguished the light of
the Jewish church. And if now he would conveii;
the church into a great worldly hierarchy, or into
smaller and conflicting politico-religious organiza-
tions, working on a selfish basis in "the flesh," and
not in " the spirit," it is because he hates the light,
and would disqualify the church for effectual effort
toward the salvation of the world.

We are now prepared to consider some of the lies
with which Satan enters the fold of God.

Lie JVb. 1.

" To be an active^ effective Christian is very diffi-
cult; for you^ it is impossible. You have not the
necessary gifts ^ and are not called to it.^^

The enemy has effectually lodged this falsehood
in the hearts of a very large proportion of the pro-
fessed disciples of Christ. Their wills are adjusted
to it as truth, and they have formed the habit of act-
ing accordingly. A large majority of those who are
found in the vestries and prayer-rooms, constitute a
company of spiritual paralytics. Their tongues are
dumb. They bear no testimony for Jesus, and they
call not upon his name. If there be life within, tbftxs^.^

88 Satan's deyioes and

they give it no expifessiou. They feel that they
can not. There is a still larger number in the same
bondage who seldom, for that very reason, visit the
assemblies for social prayer and praise. They are
qtiite as miable to use their talents out of the sanc-
tuary as in it. They venture not upon a serious
effort to win a soul to Christ, from the beginning to
the end of the year. This is not true of unlearned
and timid men, and men unused to public speaking
alone, but of men of fine intellects, of disciplined
minds, and of extended practice in the use of their
powers, as well. Many feel their bondage sadly, and
wish they were free ; while others, believing the lie
more implicitly, cease to condemn themselves, al-
though they know they are most " barren fig-trees.'*

The consequences of believing this lie, this slander
upon our blessed Lord, are temble every way, to the
individual, the church, and the world. The amount
of talent, of moral power, which is, by this means,
suppressed, is immense. If these buried forces were
set free, and brought into earnest use, the whole
world would soon feel their influence. There are
individual men in the church, who, on other subjects,
deeply impress and mold whole communities. If
all Christian men used their talents for Christ with
the same freedom and power which they show in
their business, Christianity would speedily be ele-
vated to its proper supremacy in the earth.

Then, one of the worst results of believing this

THE believer's victoey. 89

lie, is the practical difficulty which it puts in the way
of maintaining communion with God in private.
How can a child love a parent whom he regards as
requiring service of him which he can not perform ?
No more can a Christian delight himself in a Savior
whom he practically charges with laying upon him
burdens grievous to be borne.

Christian, believe the lie no longer ! God's com-
mands are " not grievous." *' Liberty to the captive "
is proclaimed. **Out of the mouth of babes," Christ
has ordained strength. Cling to the promise, "My
grace is sufficient for thee." Resist the devil, hurling
it into his face that Ae, not Christ, is the hard master.
" Stand up for Jesus," lovingly to confess and praise
his name, and he will loose your tongue ; or, if that
refuse to speak, your tears shall tell a story richer
than words can express. Persist^ will it^ life or
death, and you shall soon have possession of your
powers, and the use of them for Christ shall make
your soul, through grace, like a *' well-watered
garden."

Lie J^o. 2.

We class among the most mischievous lies of
Satan, his denial, to their felt e^erience, of the per-
jpetualy loving, and sustaining presence of God with
his people.

The doctrine of the Bible is, that our God is ever
present with his children, to comfort and sustain

90 8at.vn's devices and

them in every hour of need. He knows their weak-
ness and dependence, and pledges his presence to be
the life and strength of their moral being. Under
the old dispensation, his promise was to be with his
people, " even down to old age and hoar hairs," and
"in all places whithersoever they went." Paul takes
the Old Testament pledge and makes it over, with
increased emphasis, to the Christian church (Heb.
13: 5), as literally rendered in the hymn, "111
never, no, never, no, never, forsake " thee. Moses
rebuked the Israelites because they tempted the Lord,
saying, "Is the Lord with us or not ?" (Ex. 17 : 7).
His presence was not to be questioned, even in the
wilderness. "Fear thou not, for I am with thee,"
saith Jehovah, in the Old Testament. "I will not
leave you comfortless," "Lo, I am with you always,"
says Jesus, in the New. God's presence was specially
pledged in the Tabernacle and Temple of the Old
Testament; and. under the New Dispensation, the
Christian becomes the Temple wherein God dwells.
The sum of the promises is, "I will dwell in them, and
walk in them, and be a God and Father unto them."
Nor is this promised, presence of God identical with
the mere attribute of omnipresence. It is a conscious
manifestation of himself to his people, whereby he
communes with them, inspires them with his love,
cheers them with hope, nerves them for endurance,
evokes their gratitude, quickens them with hia
thoughts and pui*poses, persuades them to patient

THE believer's VICTORY. 91

obedience, works in them to will and to do his good
pleasure ; and, in short, impresses upon them his
own character, and fills them with his own fullness.

The strength of the Christian is, of course, in this
conscious, loving, sympathizing, and upholding pres-
ence of God. With this, he can, with Paul, stand
and do all things ; or, with Moses, '' endure as seeing
Him who is invisible ; " or, with the martyrs, shout
victory at the stake. Nothing so effectually extin-
guishes the power of temptation as the conscious
presence of God. We once knew a friend who was
struggling against the habit of drinking. Passing
daily the place of temptation, it seemed impossible
to resist the bm-niug appetite. His affectionate wife
proposed to accompany him beyond the dreaded
saloon, filled with old associates ; and her loving,
presence was all-sufl5cient to counteract the tempta-
tion. And thus the abiding presence of God affords
to his saints the infinite protection of his love.

On the other hand, without this sustaining Pres-
ence, we can not stand. So soon as Christ was re-
moved from their sight, by seeming to fall into the
hands of his enemies, all his disciples were over-
whelmed. It was as if the ground had sunk from
beneath their feet. The fcarfulness of ''that hour"
and " the power of darkness " was all in the fact that,
to their view, the presence of their Redeemer was
taken from them. His departure involved the fall-
ing away of the very foundations on which their j

92 Satan's devices and

faith rested ; and no wonder that they ^ all forsook
him and fled/' ILid they known, then, what they
aftorwaixl, on the day of Pentecost, learned, namely,
that He, their God, M'as still present as theilr
Almighty Spiritual Deliverer, they would not thus
have fallen.

It is juHt as fatal to spiritual life, to-day, to lose
our hold upon the conscious presence of our all-
sustaining Redeemer, as it was in '* that hour " when
the '' Shepherd was smitten " and the " sheep were
scattered."

Xow, if Satan can make the impression upon the
minds of God's people that Christ is not continually
with them as their life and strength, — if he can get
them to accept tlie lie, even unconsciously, and com-
mit the will to it as a truth, — he practically removes
their spiritual foundations, and they sink like lead in
the waters.

Just here, we think, Satan has gained his most
material advantage over the church. To a large ex-
tent, his fearful lie is really, though not theoretically,
accepted. The will of the Christian is uncoupled^ as
the train from the engine, from the truth and prom«
ise of the divine, conscious, all-sustaining Presence,
and coupled to this terrible falsehood ; and thus the
enemy has him under his feet. We recognize the
presence of God only upon occasion of revivals,
perhaps, or when some great calamity or affliction
arrests us ; and the result is, we are practically over-

THE believer's VICTORY. 93

whelmed with unbelief. Every thing is wrong with
us ; we are defeated, our arms and stores are taken,
and we are prisoners of war. If Napoleon had fallen
in the heat of a great battle, it would have weakened
his own army and encouraged the enemy. Marshal
Ney might have headed the column and rallied the
French for victory. But if the " Captain of our Sal-
vation" disappear from the field, our strength fails
utterly. No Marshal Ney, no Gabriel even, could
take his place. There can be no remedy for the loss
of the Divine Presence, Horace said, —

" Nil desperandum, Teucro Duce," —

to express the unbounded confidence of victory which
the army of Teucer had in their leader. Convert the
line into a Christian maxim, and read it, —

Nil desperandum, Christo Duce, —

and you express exactly the feeling of Paul when he
said, "I can do all things through Christ who
strengtheneth me." Nothing is to be despaired of
with Christ for our Leader, Csesar said to his ter-
rified boatman, as they set forth on the troubled
waters, "iVe time; vehis Vtiesarem " — Fear not ; you
bear Csesar. K Christians had a faith enabling them
to hear the Son of God saying to them, " Fear not ;
you bear your Savior: he who holds the sea in his
hands and the winds in his fists is in the ship," they
could no longer fear and be troubled, no matter how

94 Satan's devioes and

severe the storm. But if we lose our Leader, we
are demoralized, and our strongest Peter strikes his
colors at the taunt of a Jewish maiden.

What, then, is to be done ? I answer, boldly re-
sist the lie of Satan. Treat it as a lie, and not as a
truth. Lay hold of the great Bible promise, and
insist upon its truth to you. "But I do not feel his
presence, but rather that he is far from me," you say.
But what if you Aofeel so? Satan has anchored the
lie in your sensibility, and, so long as you believe it,
you can not feel otherwise. Are you to judge God
by your feelings, or by his word? You do not feel
that he is any where else ; and is he therefore out of
existence ? You do not feel that his omniscient eye
runs your being through and through every mo-
ment; that his power is exerted every instant to
keep you in being ; that he is a God of truth, and will
keep his word to you ; and will you make your feel-
ings the test of God's character and attributes, and
undeify him because your emotional nature does not
recognize and respond to his presence? How can
yon feel his jDresence when your will denies it? You
must cease to judge God by your feelings^ and take
hold of the fact as attested by his word and your
own reason. Let God be true, and every man, and
especially the Devil, a liar. Take issue with Satan ;
plant yourself firmly on the Word ; fight the battle
manfully in your sensibility, even ■' the good fight of
faith," and you will not long be in doubt of his pres-

THE believer's VICTORY. 95

ence ; yoa shall know it as the most precious of all
realities in human experience.

Lie iVb. 3.

" The promises of God do not belong to you^^ is
another of the malicious falsehoods which Satan in-
sinuates into the hearts of Christ's disciples.

The Bible is, substantially, a book of promises. It
begins with the promise of a Savior, and ends with
" whosoever will, let him come and take the water of
life freely." These promises are among God's eter-
nal decrees^ to execute which, the whole power of his
government is pledged. They are the coin of God's
kingdom of grace, stamped in heaven, issued to men.
They furnish Ihe weapons wherewith the believer
may Conquer every foe. By them the Father speaks
his own life to his children. These promises are
given to all men to believe. God is no respecter of
persons ; and as he invites all to come and live, so
he offers his promises to all.

Now, what does Satan attempt to do ? He insinu-
ates the falsehood into the hearts of men, that these
promises do not belong to them ! They believe him ;
professed Christians commit themselves to the lie;
and the Bible becomes to them like a desert where
are no springs, no streams, no trees, no flowers, no
birds, no life, or rather, where all these exist only
apparently, in the mocking splendor of the mirage.

96 Satan's devices and

Even Jesus, the central figure in the Bible, the very-
Tree of Life, on whose branches there is fruit enough
for the ** healing" of the nations, and in whom the
promises are all " yea and amen," becomes as a root
out of a dry ground, with no form or comeliness to
attract the soul from the things which corrupt and
destroy it. Up from the fountain of God's infinite
benevolence, come welling the precious words,
^ Ask, and ye shall receive," *' All things are yours,"
**How shall he not with him freely give us all
things?" and yet many a thirsty soul is made to say,
*'Alas! they are not for me."

It is a lie, and nothing but a lie. They are for
him, especially and specifically ybr him. He may as
well say, the air he breathes, or the fruit he gathers
from his orchard, is not for him. But he feels so ;
yes, because he accepts the falsehood. And thus
the whole church is crippled by throwing away the
promises of God.

But what is to be done ? Done ! There is but
one thing that can be done. Away with the lie of
Satan; resist it and him unto the death. John
Bunyan says he had '^many a pull with Satan for
John 6 : 37, * whosoever cometh unto me I will in no
wise cast out.'" You may have many a pull with
Satan when you claim the promises ; but fear not ;
Jesus will give you strength. Break from the lie ;
stand by the Divinely-recorded, blood-sealed, and
oath-confirmed fact, that the promises are yours ; nor

THE believer's VICTORY. 97

flinch for a moment, though your soul should quiver
in' the struggle like a ship strained through every tim-
ber in a hurricane. Stand by it, " though the earth be
removed, and though the mountains be carried into
the midst of the sea," and victory will be sure.

Lie No. 4.

^At all events^ the promises of God are not yours
NOW — certainly not till you dieJ*^

This is an artful pretense of the adversary. The
promises can avail us little in this our time of need,
unless we may claim them now. This Satan knows ;
and if he can make this lie succeed, we are enslaved
to him while on earth. Many seem taken in this
snare. They have adopted the idea that religion is
to save the soul from hell and sin in another world.
They live here as other men do, and hope the prom-
ises of God will be fulfilled in their salvation at
death. But we are required to live a new life here^
to follow Christ, to be the " light of the world," to
be " dead to sin and alive unto God ; " and we can
not possibly do this except as we are supported by
the fulfilled promises of God. Let every Christian,
then, cling to the promises for present, needed grace.
God will be no more ready to fulfill the promise for
pardon when death comes than he is now. He is as
ready to give us all we need to-day, as he will be to
give us the crown at the end.

98 Satan's devices and

Lie JVb. 5.

Satan often insinuates into the minds of Christians
the falsehood that the promises of God do not mean
so much as they may seem to — that they are to be
taken in a limited sense.

The practical feeling of those who are ensnared by
this device is, that the promise, "My grace is suffi-
cient for thee," is only sufficient for some things, at
sofcae times. Grace will do something, but the
world will, after all, have the mastery. They feel
that they may, perhaps, have the presence of God at
times, but do not expect him to abide with them;
that he will save them from vulgar and gross sins,
perhaps, but not that he will keep them " unspotted
from the world," and give them the consciousness
that their ways please him. In like way, all the
essential promises are, by unbelief, brought down
from their Divine meaning to a human standard.
This is a subtle expedient of the adversary to dis-
lodge the believer entirely from his hold upon God
through his promises. If the Lord is not to be
trusted to do all he engages to do, to fulfill his whole
word, who can tell for what he may be trusted ? Can
we change the terms of God's promise, and then
rely upon him to perform it? It is no longer his
promise, but our substitute for it. If we change the
>romise, we give it all up ; we dishonor God ; we
ly his attributes; we "limit the Holy One of

THE believer's VICTORY. 99

Israel," and "tempt the Lord." We shatter the
foundations of our faith, and our confidence becomes
a miserable presumption.

If men would not remain poor, withered, and dead
branches of the Vine, they must abandon this false-
hood. No such impeachment of God's faithfulness
must be allowed. Rather, let every man accept God's
challenge, and prove him, and see if he will not " open
the windows of heaven, and pour out the blessing till
there is not room to receive it ; " see if he will not .
.** do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or
think." Hold the promise atjpar^ and never consent
to its depreciation even to the fraction of a mill. ^
Dishonor not God. His words are full of meaning.
When he pledges you a " well of living waters," do
not go as if you were burdening his benevolence, and
ask for a single drop. " Open thy mouth wide, and
he will fill it." We interpret no other friend after
such a fashion. Nay, we would not acknowledge as
an earthly friend, at all, one who would mock our
necessities with large and glowing promises, only a
tithe of which he would perform. Resist the subtle
tempter, and cUng to the Faithful Pi'omiser, as sure
to fulfill his gracious words " unto the uttermost."
Find the promise your soul needs, and present it in
confidence at the mercy seat, and it will be honored.

These will suflSce, perhaps, for an illustration of
the falsehoods by which Satan seeks to cripple the m

2807:^^3

100 SATAN^S DEVICES.

church of God. His lies are numerous, subtle, com-
plicated. Each one must study his own case ; and,
seeing by what manner of falsehood the living word
and the liuninous face of Jesus are hidden from his
view, he should resist it with a faith like Abraham's,
and with supplication like Jacob's.

The lies of Satan often penetrate our theology and
our philosophy, as well as our religious experience ;
and they all work toward hiding both our sins and
our Savior from us ; toward a self-righteous morality,
instead of the righteousness which is of God by faith.

There are false sentiments, imbedded in the mind
of the church, which are working out the greatest
evils on a vast scale. Of these, perhaps none is to
be more deplored than that which makes the Chris-
tian world feel that the children must be expected to
grow up in sin, and be converted only in adult life.
We have believed this, notwithstanding the warning
of God to them, to *' remember their Creator in the
days of their youth, before the evil days come," and
notwithstanding the special invitation of Christ that
the little ones be brought to him, and in violation
of all just views of the importance and power of
early moral training. How subtle is this device of
Satan, to gain time to set their characters in wicked-
ness ; to establish them in ruinous habits, and so to
draw them into the whirl of life, that they will
cease to think with any pleasure of the things of
God I

CHAPTER XV.

THE FIERY DARTS OF THE WICKED ONE ILLUSTRATED BY A
SKETCH OF A REMARKABLE CASE.

The shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery
darts of the wicked one,— -Eph, 6: 16.

In ancient warfare, darts, made of combustible
material, were set on fire, and thrown at the enemy,
with the hope that they would bum as well as kill.
Paul, in his description of the Christian armor (Eph.
6 :), urges the use of " the shield of faith, wherewith
ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the
wicked one." We must, therefore, conclude that
Satan uses some such burning missiles, doubly
charged with moral evil, in his warfare against Chris-
tian believers. Illustrative of his fiery darts, we
will first relate an anecdote of

^^ Father Carpenter j^* of New Jersey^

a man wonderfully taught of the Spirit, who long
since rested from his labors, after seeing thousands
hopefully converted through his instrumentality.
The facts were detailed to me by an elder in my
church, who was himself a spiritual child, and an
intimate acquaintance of Mr. Carpenter.

102 SATAN'S DEVICES AND

■

An excellent and conscientious woman, well known
to a large circle of Christian friends, had, for twelve
years, been weighed down to the earth with the con-
viction that she had committed the unpardonable sin.
Her friends, who had been familiar with her history,
were fully confident that she had done no such thing,
and were greatly interested to help her out of what
they believed was the snare of the Devil. They
labored hard to persuade her to detail the circum-
stances by which she was led, as she supposed, to
blaspheme the Holy Ghost ; but none of them could
prevail upon her to open the case. She felt that it
was of no use, and she could not bring her mind to it.

At length; '* Father Carpenter," hearing particularly
of her case, and knowing beforehand her reluctance
to tell the story of her fall, went to her house. He
introduced himself to the lady, made kno^vn his
errand, and then entered boldly upon his work by
telling her that she must relate to hhn all her religious
history, "O Mr. Carpenter, I can ui (io it," was
her reply. ^^ Madam ^^^ said he, "yow have got to tell
me. My Master has sent me here^ and I shall never
leave your house till you do. You shall board me till
I die^ or tell me allP^ Thus saying, he began to
remove his over-coat and make himself at home.
She saw and felt that he was in earnest, and finally,
with a sigh, said, ** Well, if I must, I must."

She went back to her early life, and traced her
religious impressions up to a time when she thought

THE BELIEVBB'S VICTORY. 103

she gave herself to her Savior, who then seemed to
smile upon her and fill her soul with the joys of his
salvation. Her feet seemed upon the rock, and a
new song was in her mouth. She became interested,
and labored for the salvation of others ; was often in
revivals of religion, and was evidently useful in the
work of winning souls to Christ. Here she sighed
again, as she related how, in the midst of a revival
scene, and almost while praying for the conversion
of sinners, she was overwhelmed with the idea, sud-
denly sprung upon her, that she had blasphemed the
Holy Ghost. A voice within her, as it were, charged
it upon her, and a rush of hateful and blasphemous
thoughts confirmed the impression that the fatal deed
was done. Her sensibility was pierced as with an
arrow, and instantly her peace was destroyed and
her hope blasted. It was a fiery dart. She yield-
ed herself to the conviction that this was, indeed,
the unpardonable sin, actually committed ; and, for
twelve years, she had been groaning in her
despair.

Father Carpenter saw how it was. Satan had
driven into her soul a fiery dart, which she had
failed to repel with the shield of faith. The wound
natui-ally created a revulsion in her emotions, and
she believed the lie. She committed her will to it as
a truth, and thus turned the key of her prison-house
upon herself.

The good man saw that it would probably do na jJ

104 satan'h devices and

good to reason with her. The only hope was to dis-
lodge the falsehood from her mind. He therefore
turned his l)ack to the Lulv, and addressed himself
to Satan after this niannc^r : " O thou father of lies,
thou accuser of the brethren ! O thou god of this
world, who dost blind the minds of men, and hide
from them the face of Jesus Christ ! O thou roaring
lion, who goest about seeking whom thou mayest
devour ! O thou tempter of the Son of God 1 O
thou murderer from the beginning 1 tcherefore hast
thou kept this daughter of Abraham in bondage^ lo^
these twelve years? Come out of her^ and let her go
in peace !'^

While Father Carpenter thus boldly " rebuked the
devourer," and, by faith, bade him release his prey,
the spell was broken, and the good lady came out of
her prison, shouting praises to God for her deliver-
ance.

An excellent brother and officer in the church
of Christ gives me the following account of the
manner in which his own soul was pierced with the
fieiy darts of Satan. It happily does not appear
that he yielded to the adversary, as did the lady in
the foregoing account.

Before his conversion, and while he was earnestly
inquiring after the Redeemer, he was stung with the
thought, which was made to seem his own, that, so
far from wishing to be a Christian, he was willing to
make his bed in hell, and curse God forever, and sell

THE believer's VIC5TORY. 105

his Savior for less than thirty pieces of silver.
For weeks together, his mind was so pressed with
blasphemous thoughts and feelings, that he could
avoid uttering them only by holding his tongue
between his teeth when the temptation arose. Then,
as if to force him by argument to speak blasphemy,
Satan confronted him with the feeling which seemed
as real as life, that his eternal state was settled;
that he was, as to his state of mind, already in hell,
and might as well, at once, '* curse God and die." He
cried for help; and, as if to answer him, Satan,
appearing as an angel of light, withdrew the multitude
of his darts for a season, giving him reliefs and so,
relative comfort,%nd suggested that he might now
indulge hope and believe himself a Christian ! A
ray of light from above exposed the trick of the
deceiver, and showed him how easily he might, at
that point, have begun building his spiritual house
upon the sand ! The danger he had thus escaped
quickened him to cry out more earnestly unto God
for his salvation. And now appeared his Savior,
saying, "Thy sins are forgiven thee; go in peace."
But the enemy pursued him still with his fiery
darts, which, for a season, fell harmless at his feet.
Coming, however, with great wrath, Satan seemed
to say, "I will have you yet," with a voice so ai.Jible
that his own tongue replied aloud, "No, you will
not ; for Jesus is my Deliverer." Even while he stood
up to unite with the church, and enter into "the

106 , Satan's devices and

brotherly covenant," Satan made a final and desperate
assault upon him, filling his mind with the most hate-
ful and blasphemous thoughts toward God and his
church, till it seemed to him as if he should sink
through the floor.

For years, this brother was much of the time in the
most intense agony of mind, weeping and mourning,
and feeling as if he must die in the struggle. It was
no marvel to him that Luther should hurl his ink-
stand at the head of Satan. The experience of such-
men as Bunyan and Baxter will readily occur to the
reader.

There are many who suffer much from lustful
thoughts and impure images, thridft upon them like
darts, which both inflame and pierce the sensibility,
and throw the mind into an agony of grief and
S9rrow. The enemy pursues them so relentlessly
with this kind of weapon, that 'they often conclude
that their hearts are too unclean for the Spirit to
dwell in, and that they must abandon all hope in his
mercy. They are ashamed to carry such things to
Christ ; they find it impossible to rid themselves of
them, and they stand and suffer until God rebukes
the adversary. They need to learn that the shield
of faith is given them to quench even such fiery
darts.

It should be said here, that these missiles some-
times drive men to insanity. The charge of blas-
pheming the Holy Ghost is adroitly thrust upon the

THE believer's VICTORY.

107

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CHAPTER XVI.

8ATAN AS THE "ACCUSER OP THE BRETHREIT."

And I heard a loud roioe Baying in heaven. Now is come salyation, and
strength, and the kingdom of onr God, and the power of hia Christ : for the
acenser of onr brethren is cast down, which aocuied them before our God daj
and night.— i?er. 12 : 10.

The verse preceding that above quoted shows that
this accuser was *' that old serpent, called the Devil,
and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world." The
accusations of the adversary are, of course, false ;
but, if believed as true, they are as fatal, for the
time being, as if they were true. If we include
among them the lies of Satan upon which we have
already dwelt, his accusations against Christ, his
word and providence, made to the believer, we, can
not fail to see how the whole gospel must be effect-
ually obstructed ; and how, by the casting down of
the accuser, "salvation, strength, the kingdom of
God, and the power of his Christ," must be at once
realized, both on the scale of the individual believer
and of the world. To have any force with professed
believers, the accusations of Satan must seem to come
from God; and perhaps when it is said that Satan
'^ accused them before our God day and night," it is

THE believer's vicjtory. 109

meant, that he makes his accusations appear to the
accused to come from God. It is a fact that he does
so, and that this would fall in with his purpose;
whereas, to make them literally before the Omnis-
cient One would defeat his designs.

The accusations of Satan are numerous and subtle.
Many most sincere and honest persons find them-
selves accused of wrong motives in their attempts to
serve God. They would not for the world dp wrong ;
their consciences are tender ; they abhor wickedness
in themselves and in others. The accuser steps in
and insinuates that their motives are not right in the
sight of the Holy One, and they can not, therefore,
expect his favor. They accept the accusation, and
go into condemnation, deprived of communion with
God.

Sometimes Satan falsely accuses Christians of neg-
lecting their duty to God, and thus breaks up their
communion with him. You may find many a dis-
ciple with prostrate health, and with a burden of
care in the family, which leaves no time or strength
to visit the sanctuary, or scarcely the closet, or to
read the Bible and pray at appointed seasons. Their
weary bodies demand more rest than can be taken.
Satan comes and accuses them with sinfully neglect-
ing the daily worship of God. Not realizing the fact
that, in spirit, they may worshipfuUy rest their
wearied hearts upon him and be refreshed and quick-
ened while they are bearing their heavy burdens^ ^|

lit) Satan's devices and

they heed the accusation as if it were from their
Savior himself, and go into painful self-condemnation
and reproach. They should see that the faithful per-
formance of the daily duty he gives them, is accept-
able to Christ, and, if performed for him, will not
deprive them of his presence and grace.

Others are accused of such unworthiness that they
dare not claim the promises. They admit the accu-
sation as coming from Christ, and are insnared.
Neither salvation, nor strength, nor the kingdom of
God, nor the power of Christ, can come to them till
the accuser is cast down, and they see that the gos-
pel is for the unworthy.

Many are accused of sin in that they seem so much
tempted to sin. Those who love sin are scarcely
conscious of the difference between temptation and
transgression But in becoming Christians, men
must renounce sin and set their hearts to resist it.
Although this is done, Satan crowds temptation upon
the soul, and then turns round and makes his accusa-
tion on the ground of so much temptation. Many
excellent Christians are easily insnared by this
means, because they do not properly regard the dis-
tinction between temptation and actual sin. We
remember once preaching a sermon, the object of
which was to draw out and enforce this important
distinction. An English lady of much cultivation
was greatly affected by the truth, and came out of
her despondency into liberty, exclaiming, as she threw

THE believer's VICTORY. Ill

up heriands, "I have been in bondage all my life,
because I have not, till now, understood the differ-
ence between being tempted to sin and sinning."
The accuser, in her case, was cast down, and salva-
tion and strength came to her longing heart.

Not a few are accused of having blasphemed the
Holy Ghost. Ministers understand what is meant
when their parishioners come and cautiously inquire
what that fatal sin consists in, and how those who
have committed it will feel. To believe the accusa-
tion is fatal, till the accuser is cast down.

Again: Christians are oft^n annoyed and ob-
structed, in their religious life, by the accusation
that their entire religious experience is a failure.
^' YjovL were never sufficiently convicted of sin ; " *' You
have never been thoroughly converted ; " " You do
not believe the Bible, especially its severe and dis-
criminating doctrines ; " '^ You have no evidence that
you are a child of God ; " " You are afraid to die."
Thus the accusations run. Those who yield to them
are full of uneasiness, and have no peace .with them-
selves or with God. His salvation, strength, the king-
dom and power of Christ, are effectually obstructed.
Let the accuser be cast down, and a loud voice shall be
heard from heaven proclaiming deliverance.

The Christian will say, '^ What is to be done with
these accusations ? lean not remove them." Satan
intends by them to keep you from Christ. Defeat
his purpose, then, by going at once to the Savior

112 Satan's devices.

with them. If you doubt whether you ought not,
and must not, in truth, condemn yourself, go honestly
and confidently to Jesus, and ask him to search your
heart. Do not judge yourself, especially by your
feelings, but let Christ judge you. Be not accused
away from him. If your will says, ^ Get thee hence,
Satan,'' be not troubled, only believe. If the thou-
sand and one suggestions and accusations by which
Satan seeks to destroy the Christian's faith were true^
he would not make them. He would seek other
means of accomplishing his object. He does not aim
to disturb the guilty with their sins, but rather to
deepen their stupidity. But it seems as if the accu-
sations were from the Holy Spirit, and must not be
ignored. Let two things be remembered, then, in
this connection: 1. The Spirit is never an accuser^
but rather a gracious Friend, who draws his disciples
by love away from sin to God. 2. It is never the
intent or effect of his admonitions to repel the soul
from Christ, and to keep it in darkness, in doubt, pr
distrust. Whatever has that tendency — as Satan's
accusations have — is of the Devil, not of God. If
the reader be embarrassed to determine whether the
accusation is from below or from above, he may find
the light he needs in Chapter XIX.

CHAPTEE XVII,

WHEEEtN SATAN IS CONSIDERED AS THE TEMPTER.

For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your fidth^
lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labor be in vain.—
1 7%e88, 8 : 5.

The deep solicitude here expressed, lest even
apostolic labor should be rendered vain by the
tempter, may well put all men upon their guard
against temptation.

To be tempted is, indeed, a part of the Christian's
inheritance. The disciple, in this respect, is not
above his Master. Character must be tested at every
point. We are to be winnowed and refined; our
faith, our patience, our love, and our obedience, are
all to be tried, that they may be *^ found unto praise,
and honor, and glory at the appearing of Jesus
Christ." Even the promises of God presuppose the

conflict, while they pledge the victory over trial.

•

They assure us that the floods shall not go over us,
nor the flame kindle upon us (Isa, 43 : 2) , though we
must pass through them ; that tribulation, which
must come, shall work patience (Rom. 5:3); that a
way of escajpe shall be opened to our faith out of
every temptation, before it exceeds our ability to

(113)

114 Satan's devices and

bear it (1 Cor. 10 : 13) ; that the Eefiner's fire will
only remove the dross (Mai. 3:).

Temptation has its uses. It develops men's char-
acters, and brings them out as the light of the world
and salt of the earth. We know Job best through his
conflicts with Satan. We knd^ the fidelity of Abra-
ham, and the strength of his faith, through his trials.
We know Daniel best in the lion's den ; and his breth-
ren in the furnace ; and Bunyan in Bedford jail,

Satan docs not, of course, solicit men to do evil as
evil. He presents evil as good, and good as evil,
and urges men to do only that which he seeks, by
all possible and plausible disguises, to make them
believe is right and good. He did not propose to
Eve to do a wicked thing as such, but a thing by
which her eyes would bo opened, and she would be
made wise. He appealed to her appetite for good
food, to her taste for the beautiful, and to her desire
for knowledge, and assured her that no harm would
come of partaking of the prohibited fruit.

The forms of temptation, both to the righteous
and the wicked, are innumerable. The lies, whereby
Satan keeps men from becoming Christians (Chap.
Xn.), indicate the drift of the adversary's effort with
unconverted men. He appeals also to their neces-
sities, as he did to those of our Lord, when he was
a hungered, and induces them to turn the " stones "
of their integrity ^ into bread," by sacrificing it for

in. Alas I they forget to say, " It is written, Man

THE believer's VIOTORT. 115

shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

He takes men also upon the wings of their imagi-
nations, into the exceeding high mountain which
overlooks the kingdoms of the world in all their

glory, and excites their minds with visions of wealth,

and fame, and power ; and, thereupon, induces them:
to set their hearts supremely upon obtaining ther
alluring prize, thus bowing the knee in worship to
him, and laying the foundation of their moral and
spiritual ruin. They forget that it is written, *'Thou
sbalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt
thou serve," and do not say, " Get thee behind me,
Satan."

The Christian is often tempted to establish his dis-
cipleship by improper means, as Christ, his Messiah-
ship. "If thou be the Son of God, command that
these stones be made bread." In like way, Satan
practically says to the disciple, *^If you are a Chris-
tian, prove it by feeling as Paul did; by such an
experience as Isaiah's, or Daniel's ; or by doing some
wonderful work, which will prove to the world that
you are born again."

Satan also tempts the disciple, as he did the
Master, to presumption. "If thou be the Son of
God, cast thyself down : for it is written. He shall
give his angels charge concerning thee : and in theii:
hands shall they bear thee up, lest at any time thou
dash thy foot against a stone." Jesus answered, "It

116 Satan's devices and

is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord ihy
Grod." We are taken in this snare whenever we cast
ourselves upon the mercy of God, and do not, at the
same time, sink our own will in his.

Another device of the tempter is to draw the mind
of the disciple back under the power of old sinful
habits. If a young Christian has formerly been an
inebriate, or a covetous, or a proud, or a vain, or a
willful, or a deceitful, or a peculiarly selfish man, — if
he has been the victim of skepticism, of indiflTerence
and carelessness, or of evil companions, — he will have
many a hard battle to fight with the tempter to avoid
being swept down again under these old untoward
influences. To gain a permanent victory here, will
require all the decision of an honest farmer, of whom
the following story is told, as well as all the divine
upholding which he doubtless experienced : He had
sold a large quantity of wheat to be delivered. The
purchaser, relying on his well-known integrity, left
him to measure up and forward the grain. While
measuring it, as he filled the half bushel and struck
it off evenly, this suggestion each time was thrust
into his mind — ^^ Strike a little under ^ and you will
save a bushel be/ore you are done.^* He resisted it,
of course, and still it kept coming. At last, the
honest old man turned his head, and said, ^^Satan^ if
you donH let me alone, I will heap the bushel every
iimeJ^

With Christ for his Deliverer, let not the earnest

THE believer's VICTORY. 117

disciple fear the enemy : pirates do not pursue empty
and worthless vessels.

Many of the devices of the tempter will be more
strongly and vividly seen in the actual life of the
tempted disciple, than by any formal statement of
them ; and we can not do better than consult the
experiences of such a man as John Bunyan.

Bunyan was subjected to two long seasons of
temptation, each lasting over two years. Speaking
of the assaults of the tempter in these periods, he
says, " My soul was like a broken vessel, driven as
with the winds, and tossed sometimes headlong into
despair : sometimes upon the covenant of works, and
sometimes to wish that the new covenant and the
conditions thereof might, so far as I thought myself
concerned, be turned another way and changed.
But in all these, I was as those that jostle against the
rocks — more broken, scattered, and rent. O the
unthought-of imaginations, frights, fears, and terrors,
that are effected by a thorough application of guilt
yielding to desperation J * * * I had cut myself
off by my transgressions, and left myself neither foot-
hold nor hand-hold among all the stays and props in
the precious Word of life. And truly I did now feel
myself to sink into a gulf, as a house whose founda-
tion is destroyed. * * * These things would so
break and confound my spirit that I could not tell
what to do. I thought at times they would have
broken my wits,"

118 Satan's devices and

Hear also the man after God's own heart: **Thy
wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me
with all thy waves ; I am shut up ; I can not come
forth ; I am afflicted and ready to die. While I suf-
fer thy terrors, I am distracted. Thy fierce wrath
goeth over me ; thy terrors have cut me off."

After a season, in which he was so taken with the
love and mercy of God that he could scarcely contain
himself till he got home, Bunyan says, *'I was much
followed by this scripture : 8imon^ Simon^ beholdy
/Satan hath desired to have you;^^ and he thought
the voice came to acquaint him that a cloud and
storm were again coming upon him. '^A few
days later," he says, "a very groat storm came
down upon me, which handled me twenty times
worse than all I had met with before : it came steal-
ing upon me, now by one piece, then by another :
first, all my comfort was taken from me ; then dark-
ness seized upon me ; after which floods of blas-
phemies, both against God, Christ, and the Scrip-
tures, were poured upon me, to my great confusion
and astonishment." He felt as if he were possessed
of the Devil, and were sinking in despair. The
provocations which beset him seemed too terrible to
be spoken of. The billows surged about him most
fearfully, even when he attempted to worship God,
and to fix his mind upon, and fasten himself to the
truth. Satan would challenge and threaten him as
with literal speech. The voice of the tempter rung

THE believer's VICTORY. 119

in his ears, and seemed the very utterance of his own
soul — *' Sell Christ, sell him, sell him, sell him ; '* and
at length, weary of resisting, his heart seemed to say,
'' Let him go if he will ; " and down he fell again into
the abyss of guilt and despair.

Then began a great strife of scripture against
scripture in his soul. Trying to hold on to the
promises, the threatenings would strike him like the
lightning. If the gospel offered him comfort, the
law, with its sharp sword, would strike it dead. If
he would hope in God's mercy, the tempter would
insist that he was but another Esau, who had sold his
birthright; until, at length, .the promise waxed
stronger than the word of condemnation in his spirit,
and Jesus showed him the precious words, Mercy
rejoiceth over judgment^ and gave him rest.

Thus the most fearful trials, and the most precious
deliverances, mingled in the experience of Bunyan,
till God had taught, and refined, and prepared him
to give to the world his Pilgrim's Progress, a book
second only to the Bible itself in its power to aid the
soul in the escape from sin, and in the homeward
journey to the Celestial City.

It is needless to dwell further upon the forms of
temptation, as they are not material ; it is the victory
over them which is important. It is unnecessaiy
to speak of the bold and daring temptations whereby
the Achans, the Gehazis, and the Judases come to
head the calendar of crime. Such men are Satan's
willing subjects, and do not wait to b^ YK^^\!^^^^\r5

{

120 Satan's devicks.

subtle devices, into his service. Few Christians
know as much of the severity of temptation as did
Bunyan. If men were more in earncist to live out
the full Christian life, and were determined^ they
would know more of the " depths of Satan>" and of
the heights and the glory of Christ's salvation.

Now, in view of all the schemes of the tempter,
there is just one thing, on our part, to be done. To
all his solicitations, come from what quarter they
may, within or without, the soul must steadily and
patiently answer, *" No ; I will not yield one iota
from the will of God. God helping me, I will not
knowingly swerve from his requirements^ though I
walk in darkness all the way to his judgment throne.
I will not, by the grace of God, cast away my confi-
dence, though the trial of my faitfi should last, like
Abraham's, for twenty-five years ; though, like Job,
I should be bereft of all earthly comforts ; or be
reduced to a poverty like my Savior's; or, like
Daniel and his brethren, the lion's den or the fiery
furnace await me ; or though, like Jesus, I must die
an ignominious and cruel death, crying out in my
despair, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me ? ' I will insist, with Bunyan, that neither guilt nor
hell shall take me off my work."

This is the soul's true position before the tempter ;
and, in that sublime and glorious attitude, we will
endeavor, in the next chapter, to show how the
believer shall be effectually and gloriously delivered
from the power and depths of Satan.

CHAPTER XVIII.

WHEREIN APPEABS THE CHRISTIAN'S DELIVERER.— METHOD

OF VICTORY SHOWN.

Bor this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that ho might destroy the
works of the devil. ~1 John 3: 8.

For the battle is not yours^ but God's. — 2 Cfhron. 20 : 15.

We have shown in the last chapter what is the true
position of the believer before the tempter. The
Christian and Satan are at issue. What will be the
result of the conflict? Both are determined. Can
the man stand against the Devil ? Can he do it who
has formed his habits in the enemy's service, and
been his willing captive all his days?

Can he rely ijpon the freedom of his own will?
Free agents are but too easily persuaded to aban-
don their right choices, and form wrong ones. The
reformed inebriate is free, and yet, how weak he is
when the flames of appetite kindle upon him. Peter
was free, and strongly determined in himself rather
to die than yield ; yet how easily did Satan insnare
him, and lead him on to deny his Master! The
world is full of free agents, who ought to stand firm
in a right will; yet what a mournful comment we
have upon man's moral weakness, in the almost uni-

122 Satan's devices and

versal surrender of the race to the " lust of the flesh ,
and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life'' I The
weaker will is easily persuaded by the stronger one ;
and Satan's is of superhuman energy. As some
Napoleon will hold a nation under his almost
omnipotent sway, and evoke all its resources, and
subject them to his purposes, so Satan is able, by
his vast power of will, to sway his scepter over a
world of weaker minds, and to persuade them to
enter his service and do his bidding.

Now, in this conflict of will with Satan, no
man wiU stand relying upon himself alone. This is
equally the doctrine of the B^ble, of common sense,
and of experience. A will mightier than Satan's is
demanded before he can be vanquished. That all-
conquering and all-sustaining will is Christ's.

How^ then^ does JesuSy the Almighty Deliverer^ so .
invest our voluntary natures with his own^ so com-
plement our powers with his life, as that, in him, we
shall be able to stand fast against Satan, and all the
powers of darkness? This is the question.

It is certainly no part of Christ's plan to relieve us
from the conflict by expelling the enemy from the
field by physical omnipotence. God's purpose, in
his church, is to achieve over Satan a great moral
conquest worthy of himself — a conquest to which
the grand march of events, as they roll and surge
through the eras of history, advancing from the chaos
of Satanic darkness and misrule to the light of the

THE believer's VICTORY. 128

millennial day, shall abundantly contribute. We
must be obedient to the Captain of our salvation,
and " fight the good fight of faith." The solution of
the question we are considering will be seen in the
light of the following facts and principles: —

1. Mind is made to influence mind; and, other
things being equal, the power of one mind over
another depends upon its greatness and goodness.

The strength of the finite mind is not always in itself,
but often in other related minds : that of the child is
in the parent ; of the wife, in the husband ; of the
friend, in the friend. A very instructive anecdote,
illustrative of this principle, is the familiar one told
of President Finlay, of the College of New Jersey,
and a poor victim of intemperance, of somewhat cul-
tivated intellect, who had lost all hope of escape
from the tyranny of his evil habit. When the latter
despaired of any thing but a drunkard's grave and a
miserable eternity, this good and learned man met
him, and heard his sad lament. He said to him, ^* Sir,
be of good cheer ; you can be saved. Give meaple(}ge,
and I will be your strength to keep it. I will be
your friend ; and, with a loving arm around you, I
will hold you up. When your appetite burns, and
you feel as if you must gratify it, come to my house,
sit down with me in the study, or with^the family in
the parlor, and I will be a «hield to you. All that I
can do for you with my learning, my books, my jj

124 Satan's deyiges and

experience, my sympathy, my society, my love, my
money, I will do. You shall forget your appetite
and master it.** The tear of hope and joy had
gathered in that despairing eye, and the astonished
man replied, ''Sir, will you do all that?" ''Surely
I will." "Then I can and will overcome." He signed
the pledge ; and as long as the president lived, he
kept it. His strength was in the good will and noble
qualities of President Davies.

Conceive, now, of our blessed and glorious Lord
himself coming to the sinner, whom he has already
convicted if his lost couditiontill he is in despair of
salvation by his own righteousness, and saying to
him, in a voice full of compassion and sweet as
music, "In me is thy help. Behold in me the
sinner's Friend. Trust in me ; take my yoke, which
is easy, and my burden, which is light. Come to me
with all your sins, your infirmities, your ignorance,
and your weakness, and I will give you rest. All
that infinite knowledge, sympathy, power, and love
can do for you, I will do. I will betroth you unto
me in faithfulness, in loving kindness, and in mercies
forever. My strength shall be made perfect in your
weakness, and no weapon formed against you shall
prosper. All mine shall be thine in joint heirship
forever; and because I live, ye shall live also."
Here, surely, is hope for the weakest ; and with more
than the enthusiastic assurance of the disciple of
President Finlay, may the sinner cast himself upon

THE believer's VICTORY. 125

the promises of Christ, and know that, by the work-
ing of that infinite mind on his own, he shall be
efiectually redeemed from all the wiles and power
of the enemy.

2, When the character of Christ comes to be
revealed to the eye of faith, by the manifestation of
the Spirit, the response in the believer's heart is,
" Whom have I in heaven but thee ? and there is none
upon earth I desire in comparison with thee." The
love of Christ becomes the absorbing passion of the
soul, as with Paul ; and the very dispositions of the
mind are regenerated and winged for heaven. It
becomes altogether possible to glory in persecution
and tribulation, and to be made conformable unto his
death, if so we may attain to more of the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ, and honor his name.

3. When Christ reveals himself to his disciples in
his relations to them, his power over the soul becomes
still more significant and complete.

Tlie inebriate was doubtless impressed by the
kuo^Mi excellence of President Davies beforehand,
but it could avail him nothing, till the good man

■

manifested himself to him in the relation of a per-
sonal friend and helper. It was this which saved
him.

So, when Christ manifests himself to his disciples
personally, as their God and Father, as Husband»^fl

126 Satan's devices and

Brother, Friend, Life, All ; as enfolding them in his
great, loving heart ; as cherishing them as the very
riches of his own inheritance ; as identifying their
interests with his own forever ; when he makes all this
real to their inner consciousness by the eternal Spirit
dwelling in them, — why should they not exult with
a joy unspeakable and full of glory, and in him be
stronger than the strong man armed?

4. When Christ is thus manifested to us by the
Spirit, his truth looms up before the mind as a living
and irresistible power for our defense.

We necessarily interpret a man*s words by his
character and his attributes, as we apprehend them.
K a king speaks, his words have a kingly meaning.
In like way, we shall interpret the words of God.
When he opens himself to us, he opens to us, also,
the infinite meaning and force of his words, so that it
is no longer a marvel to us that his word called the
universe into being. We can see how he can speak
to things that are not as though they were, how he
can call the dead from their graves, and uphold all
things by the word of his power. We have but to
say to Satan, ^It is written ^^ to strike him down as
with a thunderbolt. The thing that is written, if we
will know it, is as eflScient and irresistible in our
behalf as it was in the behalf of Christ in the day of
his temptation, for it expresses the will, the purpose,
Mie decree of the Almighty. The promises of God,

THE believer's Victoey. 127

in this way, are, to the believer, all alive and instinct ;
with reality and blessing. Through them, we rise
out of the bondage of sin into the glorious liberty of
the children of God, into a participation of the divine
nature, having escaped, through them also, the cor-
ruption that is in the world through lust. The prom-
ises are no longer dead letters ; they are leaves from
the tree of life, they are grapes from Eshcol, they
are the wine, and milk, and honey of the kingdom.
They are all yea and amen in Christ, opening foun-
tains in the desert and rivers in the dry places. The
word of the gospel is the very power and wisdom of
God unto salvation. No enemy can stand against it, ^
if faith insist upon the whole divine meaning thereof. '
To an unbelieving mind, the Bible is as if written in ,
sympathetic ink, which remains invisible. But when
brought before a mind all a-glow with faith and love,
the writing comes out in clearest characters, and
proves itself to be indeed ''the word of God with
power."

5. When Christ manifests himself personally to us,
the soul finds its entire wants perfectly met in Jiim;
and this, in efiect, removes that from the mind which
Satan must find in us, in order to make his tempta-*
tions stick. If a man is hungry, and knows Hot
how or where to obtain the only proper food, he
may be easily induced to eat " that which is not
good." His excited appetite will make him corre-

128 Satan's devices and

spondingly susceptible to the offer of food of any
kind ; but, if his appetite is entirely satisfied with
the true food, it will not be easy to draw him away
after meaner supplies. If a man dwells in a garden
alxjunding with every variety of luscious fruit, what
tem|itation need he feel to eat the " apples of Sodom,"
the "grapes of gall, ** whose clusters are ^' bitter,** and
their wine "poisonous as the venom of asps'*?

Man is constituted with wants, the supply of which
is not in himself — wants imperative and ineradica^
ble. Ilis highest blessedness comes with that good
which meets these fundamental necessities of his
natiin;. In his natural state, man does not know
and ijnjoy tlu; .supreme good. Sin hides it from him.
lie lifts \\\) his voice, and inquires after it, saying,
"Who will show us any good?" (Ps. 4: 0). The
..world may i>roniise, but yi(;lds it not. Wealth cor-
Yiti\{'M and tuniH to duHt. Honor is empty. Society
JH pl(MiHant, but its 1<5V(;1 is too low. Knowledge
answers only in [KUi:. Home, if it bo liome, refreshes
soini? d(^i)Jir1;in(!ntH of our being wliilc it lasts, but
then? is r,\\\\ a void. (yUrioKity carries the traveler
round th(; (?nrth, iind liis tears are ])ut the ])itterer
that thi^re nn; no more worhlw for him to explore.

Nothing cmi HJitinfy man's capaciouH, hungry soul
till there corri(?H to him tli(», li(!av(;nly vision, revealing
to his moral nnd spiritual nature tlie Son of God, his
R(Kleenier and Savior. In that brightness above the
0uny astonished and delighted, he will exclaim,

THE believer's VICTORY. 129

'* Eureka" — I have found it, I have found it. Yes,
he has found it, aiid it is life, eternal life to his soul,
the full and glorious complement of his being. He
seeks no longer. The sea within him is at rest. As
the lungs are satisfied with pure air, and do not ache
for a better substance to fill them, — as the eye is satis-
fied with the pure light of heaven, — so the soul which
has found Jesus, through his personal manifestation,
has aZZ, and wants no more. To please him, to honor .
him, to know him more and more, to follow and
enjoy him, — this is enough. To find Christ is to
find that life which is "hid with God," the life which
even Satan can not destroy.

6. It comes to pass as a result of this revelation o«.
God in Christ to the soul, that wrong motives lose
their power over the mind, and right ones rise to
their legitimate supremacy; and the will, thus,
comes to stand against the tempter with something
of heavenly firmness. The whole force of wrong '
motives is broken by the revelation which the mind
now has of their utter folly, madness, and wicked-
ness. On the other hand, in a revealed and present
Christ, center all possible right motives. Of the
strength of these motives, the will partakes, and the
whole soul stands firmly and without fear, rejoicing
in the Lord and in the power of his might.

7, When the soul comes to abide in the Deliverer,

130 satan'8 devices and

and to behold all things from that stand-point, we
shall find all manner of agents and agencies folding
their strong arms around us to sustain the >vill in its
true position. It were enough, indeed, that God,
with his infinite mind, should enfold and shield us ;
but he is pleased to make his saints and angels min-
istering spirits to each other, and all his works to praise
him in the hearts of his children. The strength he
gives to each is available for all ; and tliat which he
bestows upon all, for each, according to the measure
of faith. The world, to the true believer, is full of
the glory of God. There is, indeed, music in the
spheres. The eye of fiiith, in a pure heart, sees God
in all his works. He looks upon them from the sun ;
his heart beats upon them in the tides ; his hand
touches them in the breeze ; his voice salutes them
from the sky, or, still and small, whispers answers
of peace from the miseen, but mighty forces by which
he makes his will felt " from the center to the utmost
l)ole of things ; " and the aroma of his love is exhaled
from all his works.

The things which were before a snare to them shall
now minister to the advance of his people in holiness.
Their wealth, consecrated to him and used to bless
the world, shall bring rivers of blessing to them-
selves. Even the " cares of the world," borne for
Jesus, shall not *' choke the word," or render it un-
fruitful. Even Satan himself shall be made to con-
to their growth in grace ; and they may well

THE believer's VICTORY. 131

and triumphantly exclaim, '*Who shall be able to
separate us from the love of Christ?" The per-
suasion of Paul that nothing could do it, was most
just.

8. But, in the final emergency of the conflict
between the believer and the tempter, if, by any
means, the adversary has succeeded in confusing the
mind of the disciple, and has wearied him, almost to
exhaustion, by a long siege of temptation, so that
he is ready to give up in despair, — if he have cut and
thrust him sorely with the sword of ApoUyon in the
valley of the ^adow of death, — in that pregnant
moment, clear to the eye of Omniscience, when the
will can bear the strain no longer, the divine,
almighty, volition of Jehovah shall issue again, as
T.hcn he said, "Let light be," and light was, and
strike down the tempter quicker than thought, and
deliver the prey, whose pent-up sorrows shall be
changed to exulting praise, thanksgiving, and the
voice of triumph.

Such we understand to be the method and work
of Christ in delivering his disciples from the power
of the tempter. Happy will he be whose faith shall
enable him to persevere, till, in the progress of his
experience, he shall have appropriated to his undying
soul all the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of
Chi'ist.

CHAPTER XIX.

SATAN AS TRANSFORMED INTO AX ANGEL OF LIGHT.— PAS-
TOR'S SKlfiTCHES.

Tot Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.— 2 Cor. 11 ; 14.

The Bible teaches that Satan, for the prosecution
of his malicious ends, assumes the guise of truth and
goodness. There is a necessity that he should do so,
in order to any success in his work. The human
mind is made to be influenced bv what is true, and
repelled by what is false. Lies, therefore, to take
eflfect in minds not wholly debased, must appear to
be truths, and Satan must be a seeming angel of
light.

It is in this character, we need most to be on our
guard against the fell destroj^er. If some one were
plotting only our temporal ruin, through his angel
manifestations, the knowledge of the fact would
arouse our most indignant apprehension and watch-
fulness.

Let us attempt to expose Satan in some of his
devices as an angel of light.

1 . He holds before us (mr happiness as a motive
action. He knows we are made for happiness ;

(132J

THE believer's VICTORY. 133

that we crave it through every susceptibility of our
natures as the chief good, and that no appeal to us
will find a more hearty welcome. By this means, he
was successful with Eve. He assured her that the
forbidden fruit would open her eyes, and secure to
her the blessed experience of the gods. With the
same plea, he urges on all men in ways of disobedi-
ence. His argument with them runs thus : ** You are
made for happiness ; set your whole heart upon gain-
ing it ; the earth is full of good ; seize it and make it
your own ; fill your coffers with wealth, for there is
great joy in it ; seek honor of men, for it is sweet ;
gratify the bounding impulses of the natural life, and
one long gala-day shall be youi*s."

By such "fair speeches," he deceives the hearts of
men, and leads them in a path far removed from that
trodden by the self-sacrificing Savior. Satan con-
ceals the fact that real happiness can only result
from the conformity of our will to the will of God,
and that the attempt to gain it by direct and selfish
effort, is the sure way to lose it, and to involve the
soul in moral ruin, although the pleasures of sin may,
for a season, be enjoyed.

•

2. He appeals to their sentiment of charity and
liberality to lure men on in the* path of moral ruin.

Bigotry and intolerance are hateful. Charity is a
heavenly virtue indeed, and liberality is beautiful as
b\znlight ; but they are capable of pei^version. Why

134 Satan's devices and

should not this arch enemy of man play the angel of
light after this manner? "Be charitable in your
judgment of human sinfulness ; there is much that is
good in human nature ; the philanthropists are noble-
hearted men, and must be accepted of God ; even the
worst men often have many redeeming traits. Be
liberal ; he that believeth shall be saved, and it is not
material that he should believe one creed rather than
another; do not put too rigid an interpretation on
the penalty of God's law, or the threatenings of the
Bible. God is too good to punish the wicked, for he
knows their weakness, and remembers that they are
dust. The age demands a liberal Christianity."

Satan can make all this appear plausible enough to
men who would like to have it so, and thus insnare
them. But, by the same charitable and liberal reason-
ing about civil law, he might say to the murderer,
'' Do not think yom* life in peril from the law ; the
lawgiver is kind and merciful; he knows your in-
firmity, and will consider your temptation ; you only
sought yom* own good; you needed the money of
your victim ; you only shortened his days, for he
would soon have gone to his grave ; you have done
many excellent things ; your impulses are generous ;
fear not, charity will prevail, and you will not be con-
demned." Nor will this liberal reasoning apply any
better to natural law. It will not do charitably to
conclude that no harm will come of eating arsenic, or
drinking prussic acid, or dropping a few sparks into

THE believer's yiCTOBY. 135

•

the magazine. Such liberality would be inevitable
death. The laws of God have an exact and change-
less significance, which we can ignore only with infinite
peril. There is a true doctrine of liberality, and we
love it, a,d hate bigotry as, we believe, God hates it.
But when Satan appeals to that noble sentiment to
cheat the soul into putting light for darkness and
darkness for light, and into substituting what men, in
their pride and rebellion, msh to have true in the
place of God's revealed word, we must cry out,
Beware^ lest you be found fighting against God, and
tampering with the only possible grounds of sal-
vation.

3. Satan, as an angel of light, makes abundant use
of Scripture. The Bible is the great authority of the
Christian world, and the adversary will use it with
all the skill and cunning of which he is master. He
will thrust in upon the mind, in its most impressible
moods, certain fearful passages, forcing them upon
the attention, after the manner of God's Spirit, for
the j)urpose of destroying hope and confidence.
Alas ! how many sensitive souls has he cast down
with such texts as these ! — " There remaineth no more
sacrifice for sins ; " '' He that shall blaspheme the
Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness ; " *^ He is joined
to his idols, let him alone." Sometimes he will quote
the Scriptures to keep men at rest in their sins : "No
man can cotne to me, except the Father, which hatii

136 Satan's devices and

sent mo, draw him," is used to quiet simiers iu their
passive indifference, wiicreas it siiould stimulate them
to search eagerly after the truth and the spirit
whereby God does draw men to Christ. What an
onset did Satan make upon the faith of many pro-
fessed Christians, a few years ago, by leading them
on, by false interj^retations of prophecy, to risk every
thing ui^on the doctrine that the world would surely
come to an end, on the 23d of April, A. D. 1843 I

4. Satan, as an angel of light, doubtless mingles,
not a little, in revivals of religion. He does not
oppose religion. He knows tliat man has a religious
natiu'e, which will express itself in worship. The
more zealous he can persuade men to be in the ser-
vice of false divinities, the better is he pleased ; for
the probabilities that they will inquire after the one
living and true God will be correspondingly dimin-
ished. He is no enemy to religious emotion, if it
shall be excited in his way. He does not object to
his subjects rejoicing in the crowns they hope to wear,
the harps they expect to play, and the golden streets
they hope to walk, provided he can retain them in
his willing seiTice.

There is great power in a religious excitement. In
such times, Satan will labor to satisfy men with a
mere hope of pardon, without the new birth. He will
turn the mind away, if possible, from the tnie idea
of religion, of God's character, of sui, repentance.

THE believer's VICTORY. 137

and regeneration, in order to make men build their
houses on the sand, and not on the rock. We will
introduce here, as illustrative, a

• Pastor^ s Sketch,

In a season of religious excitement in a Western
town, a man came to me from another denomination,
and said, excitedly, ^ Sir, can you tell me whether
there is any way in which. I can come to understand
my relations to God, and intelligently adjust what-
ever is wrong on my part toward him, so that I may
know that there is harmony between us ; or, have I
got to be put into this revival mill, and be ground
out a Christian, without knowing how I became or
how I am to continue one? I am exceedingly
anxious to know, for I have been through the mill
five or six times, and my religion has never lasted
me over six months. I am sick of it ; and I came to
you to see if I could find out a better way."

I was greatly interested in the inquiry and the
spirit in which it was made, and replied thus : '• God
is the most intelligent and reasonable being in the
universe. The controversy he has with you is
definite, and, on his part, infinitely just. He has
given you reason, and wishes you to follow its hon-
est dictates, which will be found to correspond with
his word. There is no manner of doubt that he
wishes you to understand exactly where the contro- 4

138 Satan's devices and

versy hinges, exactly what he wants of you, and why
he wants it ; and that, too, that you may deliberately
and intelligently determine whether he is right, and
whether you will, in view of the reasons he presents,
at once become reconciled to his will, and earnestly
devote your life, henceforth, to its honest perform-
ance."

His face grew radiant as this was said, and he then
begged me to show him the way. I gave him the
instruction any one would anticipate after reading
these pages. He waited, thenceforward, on my min-
istry with open eyes and ears, in which, of course,
many things were said for his special benefit. At
length, at the close of a Sabbath, he gathered his
family around him, and, with the Bible in his hand,
said to them, ^ Half of my life has passed away, and
I have not understood for what end I was made, or
how I ought to live. Thus far, I have had no other
idea in life but to do my own pleasure, and secure
my own happiness, here and hereafter, if I could. I
have been a purely selfish man. It has been no part
of my purpose in life to seek to know or do the will
of Him who made me. I have now settled it in my
mind to live so no longer. I design to begin, at once,
to do my Maker's will, and to trust him to do with
me as he pleases, now and hereafter. Here is his
word, in which he bids me give him my heart, my
family, my possessions, myself, myall. Here, too,
I learn that he answers the supplications of his peo-

THE believer's victoby. 139

pie, and teaches them his will. I propose, now,
therefore, to consecrate myself, you, and my all to
Jesus, and to begin to pray that I may know and do
his will."

He read the word, not knowing or anticipating
what should follow. He closed the book, and turned
and bowed by his seat to pray. As he knelt there,
Jesus seemed sitting in the chair, waiting to fold his
arms about the coming disciple. Those who know
Christ can imagine the rest. That man was now a
new creature understandingly ; and, henceforward, his
course was that of the living Christian, onward and
upward.

5. As an angel of light, Satan often leads men into
an intense devotion to moral reforms, while yet the
heart is alienated from God.

A Christian brother once asked our opinion of the
character of a professed disciple of. Christ, whom he
thus described : " He is a physician, worth seventy
thousand dollars. He is outspoken in favor of all
reforms, including those most unpopular. He is ever
ready to pray, and to make religious exhortations.
He advocates and urges the highest standard of
Christian attainment. He will not commune with
slaveholders. Yet, rather than give a poor widow
her doctor's bill of five dollars, he will let her last
cow be sold to pay it. Is he a Christian?" Our
answer was, " It is easier to account for his outward

140 Satan's devices and

religious conduct on the supposition that he is still iu
his sins, a supremely selfish man, than to account for
his exactions of the poor widow on the supposition
that he is in heart a follower of Christ."

It is to be feared that there are " reformei's," who,
standing upon the law rather than the gospel, — upon
Sinai rather than Calvary, — forgetting that God is
now seeking, by love, to win and save the lost,
rather than by the terrors of justice to overwhelm
them, — denounce transgressors with a bitterness of
spirit which can only work wrath, never repentance,
in the guilty. And thus they are themselves the
captives of Satan as an angel of light ; friends, " in
the flesh," of justice, but, ''in spirit," alienated from
'' the higher law " of mercy. Let those also beware
of Satan's devices, who, on the other hand, conmiit a
not less gidevous offense, by indulging in a bitter
retaliation against reformers, which njiturally places
them m u^ie attitude of apologizing for the crying sins
at which reform is aimed.

6. Satan often leads men into a most rigid consci-
entiousness in regard to some particular sin, while the
heart is retained in manifest rebellion against God.
It is not difllcult for this false angel to appeal to the
conscience, and arouse it, self-righteously, against
some one form of wickedness. The Jews gave them-
selves credit for their rigid observance of the Sabbath,
while their hearts were full of murderous hatred to

TiiE believer's vicjtory. 141

Christ, There are thousands who accept the false
light which comes from the devotion of the con-
science to some form — to almost any form — of
external righteousness, while their hearts are full of
selfishness, and all wrong in the sight of God,

7. On the other hand, Satan plays the angel of
light by insisting upon ^'a religion of the heart —
a spiritual religion. Works are nothing in the sight
of God, who looks upon the heart. Only believe,
and all will be well." Thus the adversary would
satisfy men with an affectation of religion in the
heart, — with a spurious faith which does not involve
obedience, — while they may lack common honesty
in their dealings with their fellow-men. Prayer is
good , praise to God, well sung, is beautiful ; but
false and empty words, unaccompanied with works
of obedience, reveal a kind of spirituality which
is but the mockery of fools.

8. This false angel has a way of cheating men by
inducing them to accept and contend for a ^ religion
of principle." When our religion is one of true
moral principles reigning over us, it is indeed beau-
tiful, effective, and well pleasing to God. But the
game of Satan is to cheat the soul into the mere hold-
ing of truth as principle in the intellect^ while he
retains the fieart in his service. He is quite willing

men should "hold the tnith in unrighteousness," as
10

142 Satan's devices and

a theory of the understanding, while, as a law of
life and duty, it is practically rejected ; and this is
an ungodliness against which the wrath of God is
revealed from heaven — a wrath all the more terrible,
because, knowing the truth, glorying in it, and con-
tending for it, the soul refuses to obey it.

9. A very common method of the angel of. light
with timid disciples, whom the Spirit would espe-
cially draw into closer fellowship with the Father, as
well as with nine tenths of those who desire to know
what they shall do to bo saved, is to present some-
thing short of Christ himself, as the soul's support
and life.

The Jews were not different from other men in
wishing to see a '' sign." Every mind wants a rest-
ing-place, and necessarily desires to have it revealed,
or signilicd. The Jews only sought the wrong thing,
Christ himself was the proper sign inito thcin, but
him they Avould not receive. Not uufrequently Satiui
himself dispenses "signs" to those who seek them,
and satisfies them with a most false security.

As ilhistrative of many cases, we present another

Pastor^ 8 Sketch.

A very intelligent lady, who had been spending
some months in my parish, came to me with her
spiritual difficulties, seeking relief from long con-

THE believer's VICTORY. 143

tinued bondage and darkness. She was a professed
Christian, but was in utter uncertainty as to her
acceptance. For months, the great problem with
her was. Am I a disciple of Christ? Till that was
settled, she did not see how she could claim the
promises, for, perhaps, they did not belong to her.
She was repelled from the mercy-seat; her sins
pressed her with their full weight, for she knew not
that they were forgiven her. She dare not touch a
drop of the water of life, though rivers of it were
breaking forth in the desert around her. Thus the
gospel availed her nothing, the work of the Spirit
was arrested, and all was gloom and darkness.

'^ What you want, then, is evidence that you are a
Christian,'' I said. " Yes ; if I had that, all would
be well." "How long have you been seeking after
this sign of discipleship ? " ''A long time — nearly
ever since I thought I was converted." " You need
a sign, doubtless ; and I suppose you can have one,
even the best one : what will satisfy you ? " "I do
not know ; something which will settle it in my mind
that God has accepted me." " Well, suppose the
Lord should speak to you from heaven, waking you

from your sleep, and say, ^ M , your name is in

the book of life ; you are my child ; ' or suppose he
should shed abroad in your heart such a sense of his
love as you suppose ho only grants to his children ;
would you be satisfied?" "O, yes; that would bo
enough." ''I see what you want — something on

144 SATAN'S DEVICES AND

which to rest your weary soul. You are tired of
your struggle. I sympathize with you. Thank Grod,
there is a rock on which we can plant our feet.
But do you think you could long rest on your vision
of the night? The voice might seem in the morning
like a dream, and you might be tempted to doubt
whether it came from God at all. Could you rest
any better upon the wave of love that might roll over
you, and lave your sensibility so refreshingly? Could
you rest upon it after it was gone? It would be
pleasant to remember it, but it could not be a rock
under your feet. You need something which will
abide with you, Hhe same yesterday, to-day, and
forever.' You are seeking after the wrong sign.
There is a better one. Your Heavenly Father wants
you should have the best. Shall I tell you what it
is?" '' Do,* certainly." "TFeZZ, it is Jesus Christ
himself. He is here, waiting and oflTering himself to
you, to be the home, the resting-place, the asylum,
the refuge, and stronghold of your soul forever.
His ability and willingness are infinite. He is the
sign unto you. He signifies pardon to you. He sig-
nifies God's infinite love and mercy to you. He sig-
nifies eternal life to you, for it is in him. He signifies
the promises to you, for in him they are all yea and
amen. He signifies your salvation to you, for he has
given his word, and sealed it with his blood, that
' whosoever cometh unto him he will in no wise cast
out.' He signifies every thing to you, for, ' in him

THE believer's VICTORY. 145

dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.' Let
hun be your sign, then. Put every thing into his
hands, and rest your soul upon him for all. Do his
will ; follow him lovingly and trustfully, and be will
give you rest and peace. It is simple. It is as when
the bride accepts the offered bridegroom. She looks
at him^ and trusts herself to him^ not to the wedding
ring, or any thing else he may give her afterward.
She takes him to her heart, and with him she is sat-
isfied. He signifies all she wants. She delights to
sup with him henceforth, but she thinks little of that,
so satisfied is she with him. She wants no evidence
that she has a husband, for she has the husband him-
self, which is better.

''My advice to you, then, is, to let every thing else
go, as of no account, and simply receive this offered
and waiting Jesus to your heart. He knocks, and
waits to come in. Shall he come? Shall he? Shall
he now ?" After a short pause, with her head resting
upon her hands, she answered, ^ Yes ; welcome to my
Savior — welcome.'* We went to the mercy-seat;
Jesus entered. There was a great calm. The sky
was clear. The darkness was gone, and the doubts
forgotten. She wore a radiant face, and was ever

after '' so glad " that she came to , so dismal

before, so pleasant now.

Reader, if you wish a sign, let it be your Savior.

CHAPTER XX.

HOW TO DI8TINOUISH BETWEEN SATAN, SO TBANSFOBMED
INTO AN ANOEL OF LIGHT, AND CHBIST, THE TBUB
ANOEL AND MESSENGEB OF OOD, WHOM SATAN COUN-
TEBFEITS.

If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be ftill of light. — Matt. 6 : 22.

The practical importance of this topic is great
every way. It must be so to all classes of men ; for it
appears, from the previous chapter, that Satan carries
on his counterfeiting on a great and systematic scale.
Those who ignore his existence, or who suppose
themselves, in the main, exempt from his mfluence,
or those who are not accustomed to watch for his
devices, are all the more exposed to being led astray
by Satan, as an angel of light. There are many
who have little hope of discriminating between the
false and the true, Satan and Christ; of knowing,
with any assurance, what their own characters really
are in the sight of God. They do not expect to gain
the experience of Enoch, and have the testimony that
they please God. Their minds seem paralyzed by
the difficulty of finding out what the way of life is.
They are oppressed and stumbled by the conflicting
religious opinions of the world, and even of the
churches, and have practically given up the contest

(146)

THE believer's VICTORY. li?

for the truth, at this very point, and become hope-
lessly insnared. They seem to themselves environed
with insuperable difficulties, growing, perhaps, out of
their own natures, or the supposed obscurities of
revelation, or the impracticability of applying any
of the tests of which they have knowledge, so as
clearly to expose the counterfeits of the adversary,
and reliably to establish, in their convictions and in
their experience, the genuine truth as it is in the
Lord Jesus Christ.

It seems to the writer, that not a few are so despair-
ing on this subject that it is even painful to have
their attention called to it. They are in the condi-
tion of those slaves who would give all the world to
gain their liberty, but, having no hope of gaining it,
can not bear to hear or say a word on the subject to
awaken discontent, lest their hard master should
tighten the cords of their bondage, and make their
case the. more intolerable. They are afraid to look
the subject in the face, lest their spirituaL status
should be damaged rather than improved thereby.

Can we then reasonably hope to distinguish clearly
between the devices of Satan, as an angel of light, and
the truth, as it is in Christ Jesus our Lord 9

1. It would be infinitely unreasonable to suppose
that God had required us to obey him, and that he
had made no adequate provision for our knowing his
will. This would be to require of us an absolute

148 SATAN'S DEVICES AND

natural impossibilify. It is not conceivable tiiftt
voluntary obedience should be rendered to an un*
known command. Nor could a more imreasonable
or blasphemous thing be said of God, than that, on
pain of his eternal displeasure, he requires obedience
to a will which he is slow to reveaL Is he a worse
tyrant than Caligula, who posted his laws so high
that the Eomans could not read them, and then
punished them for disobedience? How could our
Savior invite us to hold fellowship and communion
with him, and proffer us protection from the adver-
sary, and yet leave it impossible for us to distinguish
between that adversary and himself?

2. The Bible clearly teaches that we may know
the will of God. It is itself a revelation of his will.
His commands are distinctly and numerously spread
out upon its pages. One great object of the incar-
nation, also, was, that men might have before their
eyes a living and perfect embodiment, an exhibition,
not merely in words, but in act, in life, and in spirit,
of the will and character of God, Then, the mis-
sion of the Holy Spirit, who is promised for the
honest asking, is to make known the will of God to
men, to show them the truth, by which they shall be
sanctified and fitted for heaven. The Spirit is well
able to unmask Satan as an angel of false light. Wo
have the promise of God also that, ^ If any man will
do his will, he shall know of the doctrine ; '* and.

THE BEMEVER'S VICTORr. 149

again, ''K thine eye be single, thy whole body shall
be full of light ; " and, again, '' K any of you lack wis-
dom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liber-
ally, and upbraideth not ; and it shall be given him.'*

3. It does not appear that it would be reasonable
to expect God to force upon men the knowledge of
his truth and will in spite of then- unwillingness to
receive it, — at least, not further than to fix so much
light in the mind as would be necessary to moral
obligation, and to the gaining of additional light, pro-
vided one should become willing to accept and follow
it. This measure of light he has given to ''every man
that Cometh into the world," through his reason and
conscience, and has displayed his "eternal power and
Godhead'' in his works, so that all are without excuse
if they do not obey him, and follow on to know his
will more and more perfectly. But if men rebel
against the light they have, and become '' unwilling
to retain God in their knowledge," then he may
justly give them up to their love of darkness and to
the dominion of their lusts.

Rejected truth is the rock which falls upon sinners,
and grinds them to powder.

4. It does not appear that benevolence would
require that God should make his will and truth
known to us, oven when obedient, without an effort
on our part to find it. Perhaps he could not do

150 sattan's devices and

except by endowing us with omniscience. Even the
angels do not gain knowledge without study. They
are represented as inquirmg into the meaning of the
prophetic utterances concerning the sufferings and
glory of Christ. The prophets had to search dili-
gently for the very truth they were inspired to pro-
claim (1 Pet. 1: 10).

Nature nowhere teaches that we can know all the
truth we need to know, without diligent and patient
inquiry. Some things lie upon the surface, both
of nature and revelation, but there are more things
which lie deeper and require study. It is only by
careful and minute investigation that the chemist
comes to understand the composition of even com-
mon substances ; and only by repeated and laborious
experiment, that the natural philosopher can explain
the working of the forces of nature. The Bible, too,
is a mine, the full exploration of which requires
patient and long-continued effort.

Good and evil are strangely mixed, and it is not
always easy to separate them. Every good thing is
so sure to be counterfeited,^ that all have occasion to
take heed. We always assume the possibility of dis-
tinguishing between the true and the false, and the
obligation to do it. It is in religion only as in other
things. The gold can be separated from the sand,
but it requires a process of washing and sifting.

Let us, then, proceed to inquire, how we can dis-
tinguish between Satan as an angel of light, and
Cbristi whom he counterfeits.

THE beueveb's VICTrORr. 151

1. Take home the fact, and know it well, that
Satan is a counterfeiter — that he does, indeed,
appear and work for our destruction as an angel of
light. It is not enough, therefore, to consider him
as the inspirer of lust, falsehood, and crime. We are
not to expect him to exhibit himself always in his
true colors. We must regard him as seeking to pro-
mote his ends by what seems very angel-like, very
beautiful in appearance, VQry promising to our hap-
piness, very creditable to our reputations, very capti-
vating in our experiences, very useful to our interests,
very flattering to our hopes, very pleasing to our
pride, and very honorable, apparently, to our God.

2. Consider the one great test by which we can
distinguish between Satan as an angel of light, and
Christ, whose mission he seeks to usurp. WTiatever
leads to, or allows of, the setting up of our will
against the will of God as the supreme law of our
life and conduct, — whatever goes to promote a beauti-
ful and correct exterior, while the will and heart are
left enslaved to selfishness, no matter how righteous
the forms of that selfishness may appear to ourselves or
to men, — is of Satan. On the other hand, whatever
leads to the complete surrender of our will, our life,
and our all to God; whatever inclines us, in the bit-
temess of trial and sorrow, to exclaim, ^ Not my will,
but thine, be done; " whatever makes us hungry for
truth and righteousness ; whatever persuades us not to

152 Satan's devices and

make account of our external conduct^ right though it
Je, but to glory rather in the moral beauty and excel-
lency of our Savior himaelf — all this is of Chf'istj
and not of Satan. Josus aims to destroy our selfish-
ness, and make us partakers of the divine moral
nature ; Satan seeks to hold us in our sins, wearing
his moral nature, and merely to satisfy us with a
righteousness, beautiful it may be without, but rotten
at the core.

The test does not seem a difficult one to apply. It
does not require great learning, or extended experi-
ence, so much as a simple, and honest, and truthful
heart. It only requires that the disciple should be
faithful and watchful; for he who is true to the
Divine voice within shall have his ^ senses exercised
to discern both good and evil."

3. A primary question for the reader to consider is
this : Do you want to know the distinction between
Satan as an angel of light, and Christ the true Light,
or are you willing to be cheated? Do you love dark-
ness rather than light? K you are willing, on any
conditions, to be cheated, there is no help for you.
Satan will quite willingly accept your conditions.
Your feet have slid already 1

You can be honest with yourself in this matter,
and with God ; and you can know that you are so.
If a man offers you a suspected note, and you pro-
pose to examine it by the detecter, he can not fail to

THE believer's VICTrOBT. 153

know whether or not he wants the true character of
the bill exposed. You can welcome the searching
eye of Omniscience to penetrate your inmost soul.
A young man once said to a minister, *' Sir, you hurt
me yesterday with the truth. You touched a very
sore spot ; but to-day I do not think you could hurt
me, for it seems to me now, by the grace of God,
that I am as honest with myself as I can be at the
day of judgment. I welcome the light."

I beg the reader not to pass this subject indiffer-
ently. Stop. Reflect. To triumph here is to insure
the great, eternal, and glorious victory, — to escape
hell and secure heaven.

4. Tho great source of our ability to detect Satan
as an angel of light, lies not in ourselves^ not in our
unaided powers, our superior wits, or keener saga-
city, but in Jesus Christ himself dwelling in us and
giving us the advantage of the light which is in him.
The merchant's ability to detect the counterfeit note
may not be in his own unaided powere, but in the
light which his "detecter" gives him. That may,
indeed, be so inscribed upon his memory, its light
may be thus so transferred to his mind, that he will
be able, at once, to indicate the forgery.

Christ is the Light of the world. He can scatter
moral darkness, and easily expose all Satan's coun-
terfeits, no matter how much angel-bleaching their
surface may wear. Satan's disguises are nothing to

154 Satan's devices and

his omniscient eye. The lies of Satan, whether
black or white, are intended to misrepresent the
character of God; but, of course, to Christ, it can
not be successfully falsified ; and when he reveals it,
the world can know it as it is.

Our sure and only way, then, of triumph over the
angel of false light, is to be so united to Christ by
faith, so one with him in spirit and purpose, so
acquainted with and wedded to him, that the light
which is in him, and which he is, will shine in our
hearts^ enabling us to '* behold him with open face,'*
and, no less clearly, to see and detect the specious
pretenses of Satan, transformed into his representa-
tive.

''Christ in you the hope of glory," Christ ''the
light of the world," is the grand New Testament
moral and spiritual counterfeit detecter.

This real union of the soul to Christ, as its true
Light and Life, is the great promise of the New Tes-
tament. It is symbolized in the union of the vine
and branches, the head and the members. Paul
prays for it when he bows his knee in behalf of the
Ephesian Christians, and asks that Christ may dwell
(Greek-: — dwell permanently) in their hearts. Jesus
himself prays for it, when he asks the Father that his
disciples "may be one in us," "I in them and thou
in me," declaring that the glory which the Father had
given him he had given them ; and this grace is
pledged to our faith in that great central promise of

THE believer's VICTORY. 155

the New Testament, of the Holy Spirit to abide with
us forever as our guide, teacher, and sanctifier. It
is the very gist of the New Covenant and its '' better
promises," which guarantee the writing of God's law
effectually upon the heart of the believer.

To have Christ, therefore, and his Spirit dwelling
" with " and *' in us," is to have within us a light which
shall reveal to us the fictions, and forgeries, and false
lights of Satan, and deliver us from their power.

The best illustration of this matter is found in the
relation of two devoted hearts in perfect sjrmpathy
with each other, as those of husband and wife are
supposed to be. Let such a husband undertake the
overthrow of some huge system of iniquity which the
influential and wealthy are selfishly interested to sus-
tain, thus incurring their inevitable hatred and oppo-
sition. He goes on to expose the enormity of its
wickedness, and the corrupt motives of those who
uphold it; to show its injustice, its impolicy, its
ruinous consequences, and to demand its destruction.
The interested parties, of course, will resist , they
will misjudge and misrepresent the reformer at every
step, denouncing his motives as corrupt, and his
spirit as malicious. They will play the angel of light
to their system, and claim that it is scriptural, just,
and humane ; that their rights in it are sacred ; that
they are injured, and p^ersccuted, and entitled to the
sympathy of their fellow-men, while their opponent
is worthy of death. M

156 Satan's devices and

Now, persons watching the conflict, and having no
acquahitance with the assailant, and being igi^orant
of the real merits of the C3se, might grossly misjudge
him, and deem him a fanatic or a madman. But not
so with that wife who occupies the same stand-point,
who knows the reformer perfectly, and is in real sym-
pathy with him. To her, he is all revealed, and the
light of his character, shining in her, makes all clear,
both on the side of the assailant and the assailecf.
That light, to her, perfectly refutes all the slanders
against her husband, and holds her mind at perfect
rest in a growing admiration of his character and
confidence in his success. To know his will is easy,
for her own is one with it. Knowing her husband as
she does, how impossible it must be for his chief
opponent so to transform himself into his character,
as to be able to pass himself off to her in his stead !

Precisely so with the Christian who has found
Christ as the indwelling light, and the bridegroom
of the soul. The believer finds a beauty, a glory, an
excellency in Jesus which can not be counterfeited.
There is such a divine sweetness and fullness in his
love, such a tenderness in his sympathy, such long-
suffering in his patience, such life, even, in his smile,
such satisfaction in his friendship, as can come from
no finite mind. In his light, we have no need to be
ignorant of Satanic devices. Satan might easily lead
away a Judas with his false light, but could he thus
deceive a John, a Paul, a Luther, or an Edwards?

THE believer's VICTORY. 157

5. Let there be a conscious dependence upon the
Holy Spirit for light and guidance. It is his special
mission to reveal Christ unto us. Be not afraid to
follow the Spirit. He sheds light upon the reason.
He does not impel his followers by blind impulses
which bid defiance to common sense, but sweetly
assures the heart, illumines the path, and shows it to
be of God.

6. Do not commit the mistake of supposing that
you can know all truth at once, but, in a submissive
spirit, wait patiently for the light. Be willing to
know a little, and then to grow in knowledge as fast
as you can by a diligent use of means. You do not,
at once, tell your child all you would have him know.

Do not condemn yourself that your attainments are
so small, but only hunger and thirst after righteous-
ness. Walk according to the light you have, and
you can not fail to gain more. The Savior told the
lepers to go and show themselves to the priest, and,
as they wenty they were healed. Be the little child,
and lean not to your own understanding, and you
shall be taught of God, and see light in his light.

7. Use the Bible as a detecter. I know Satan uses

the Word, but not honestly. Compare the suspected

truth with the tests which Christ presents, and

observe all the marks. Put the doubtful sentiment

under a magnifier. This is a quick way to expose
11

158 Satan's devices.

the counterfeit. A strong lens will at once show the
difference between the genuine and the false note. In
like way, take the moral counterfeit and look at it
through the Sermon on the Mount, or through the
cross, or through the life and spirit of Jesus, and its
quality will soon be apparent.

8. Carry the suspected matter to God in prayer.
If you present a package of notes to an expert
cashier, his practiced eye will instantly detect the
counterfeits. There is one in heaven whose eye can
not be deceived.

9. Hold fast by faith, in an honest and truthful
heart, to the promise of light from above. If thine
eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who
giveth to all men liberally, and it shall be given him.
Following these instructions, the path shall grow
brighter and brighter unto the perfect day.

10. Be humble. "God resisteth the proud, but
giveth grace unto the humbl6." One of the seven
sages, being asked what God had done, answered
thus : ** He has exalted humble men, and suppressed
proud, ignorant souls.'' The lowly spirit is like the
violet, which rises but a little way from the ground,
hangs its head downward, hides itself in its own
leaves, and is revealed by its fragrance.

CHAPTER XXI.

SATAKIC PLOTS. — PASTOR'S SKETCH.

Lest Satan should get an advantage of us : for we are not ignorant of bii
devices.— 2 Cor, 2 : 11.

The great Captains of the world have gained their
renown, very much, through the skillful and well-
laid plans by which they have been able to circum-
vent, disappoint, and outwit their antagonists. With
superior strategic ability, the commander of a small
army will often destroy an enemy much stronger in
numbers, in position, and in equipage.

Satan is a great strategist. He abounds in devices,
and snares, and plots, wherewith to gain advantages
over men for theii* moral destruction. His plans run
back into early life, and include the putting of a lie
upon the tongue of infancy, if possible, at its first
utterance. They are often interwoven with our
whole history. They may be slowly and cautiously
developed, involved partly in one habit and partly in
another. They may be designed to hedge up the
sinner's way to the mercy-seat, or to confirm the
soul in a state of skepticism and impenitence.

As an illustration of Satanic plots, I present the
following

(159)

160 SATAN'S DEVIGES AND

Paator^a Sketch.

Several years ago, the writer was laboring with h
neighboring pastor, durmg a season of revival.
" What shall we do to be saved ? " was the one topic
of inquiry in the community. One man, Mr. B., was
so penetrated with the subject that he had no rest,
night or day. With the pastor, I went to his house.
A few moments* conversation revealed the fact that
the Spirit was, indeed, striving with him. He
seemed ripe for the acceptance of Christ as his
Savior, and this act was urged upon him ; to which
he deliberately replied, " I shall never be a CShris-
tian.'' "Never be a Christian! Why not?" His
only reply was, "lean not; it is impossible." "It
is not impossible, God himself being witness, unless
you have blasphemed the Holy Ghost : do you believe
you have done that? '* " I never meant to do it, and
do not think I have." "Then your conclusion that*
you can not be a Christian is false ; you can be ; God
invites you; the atonement is sufficient, though all '
the righteous blood shed upon the earth from that of
Abel, were upon your soul ; come and take the easy
yoke of Christ." " Well, I can not help it ; I shall
never be a Christian." " But do you not wish to be
one? Have you chosen to make your bed in hell?
Have you found some fault with Christ, that you will
not have him to reign over you ? " " O, no, no ; I do

t wish to remain the enemy of one who has laid

THE believer's VICTORY. 161

down his life to redeem me. Christ is all right ; but
it is of no u^e ; I shall never be a Christian." " Sir,
what is this which you have covered up in your
heart, and which drives you to this terrible conclu-
sion ? There must be something there — something,
, no doubt, by which Satan means to destroy your
soul." " I shall not tell you what it i^." *' But your
salvation may depend upon your revealing it. Will
you not retire and tell me in confidence ? " " No, sir ;
I shall never reveal it." Turning to his wife, I asked,
*' Madam, do you know what this thing is ? " '^ I do."
'* Will it do any harm for him to reveal it ? " " Not
the least, I think." Again turning to Mr. B., I said,
'* My dear sir, you must uncover this matter. Satan
will drag you down to death and hell with this invisi-
ble halter. Come, out with it, and God will set you
free." He shook his head negatively. I then told
him the story of Father Carpenter and the New
Jersey lady, given in a previous chapter, in order to
show him the necessity and advantage of yielding to
my entreaty. His only reply was, "I'll board you
till you die, rather than tell you." It seemed impos-
sible to move him ; but God's Spirit was there, and
we were not to be foiled. At length Mr. B. began to
m '• t suppositions. '^ Suppose a man has bound him-
self l.\ a solemn oath never to do a certain thing ; how
is he ever to perform that thing ? " ''If the thing he
swore not to do was a right thing ^ his oath does not
and can not bind him. Were the men who swo

162 Satan's devices and

they would kill Paul bound to do it ? There is no
such thing possible as a moral obligation to do what
is wrong. The thing to be done, then, in respect to
such an oath, is to repent of it, and break it as soon
as possible.'' Even Satan could not successfully dis-
pute this position, and it evidently made its impres-
sion. Then he said again, *' Suppose a man had con-
fessed himself guilty of a crime, and afterward,
becoming a Christian, should deny the truth of his
foimer confession ; who could have any confidence in
him that he was a Christian — could you?" '^ Pecu-
liar case, surely. Men are not apt, when receiving
forgiveness of sins, to justify themselves in conduct
which they confessed criminal before they found
mercy. A converted man would naturally intensify
his confession of former transgressions. But, if I
could see the reason why a man acknowledged guilt
which did not belong to him, his withdrawal of the
acknowledgment after his conversion would not, in
the least, impair my confidence, in him ; for this would
be his duty if he were not guilty.

"Now Mr. B., I suspect you. Do not these sup-
positions point to your difficulty?" "Well, I can
not deny it." ''Very well; this dumb spirit must be
cast out. God forbid that Satan should cheat you
out of eternal life in this way. What is the trouble ? "
But he was dumb still.

At this point, his pastor. Rev. Mr. C, deliberately
id, "Mr. B., do you know that I am acquainted

|tetti€

THE believer's VICTORY. 163

with this whole affair?" '' No, sir ! Are you?" '' I
am. My neighbor, Mr. W., has* told me all." ^Mr.
W. told you — did he? Yes, I know him ; he is my
enemy." "But," said the good pastor, "be not
offended with Mr. W. ; he is your friend, not your
enemy. He told me only for your good. He
believes the adversary is making use of the affair to
destroy your soul, and he wished me to know it,
that I might help you to escape from the snare of
the fowler : he loves you, and prays for you." The
snare was broken. I said to him, " Sir, this is your
hour ; the waters in the pool are troubled ; step in,
and be made whole ; kneel with us before the Lord,
and let your heart offer the publican's prayer, God,
be merciful to me a sinner." He was on his knees
before the words had all fallen from my lips, with his
heart broken and dissolved in tears. We prayed,
while the wind of the Spirit blew upon him, and he
arose evidently a new creature in Christ Jesus.

The facts in the case were these. When Mr. B.
was a young man, some base fellows robbed a store
of thirty dollars. They made a tool of him, and put
the money into his hands, and told him to hide it,
and he should have a pai-t of it. In the thoughtless-
ness of his youth, he did as they told him. The next
day, the robbery was discovered, and the lad betrayed
himself by his fear and consternation. He was
threatened with state prison, but was finally told, if
he would confess and restore the money, nothing more

164 Satan's devices and

should be done. He did so. The people nnderstood,
from his coufessiou, that he was the original and only
guilty party, whereas he knew he was not. He had
suffered much from the affair ; and, feeling that cer-
tain Christians, among whom was his then neighbor,
Mr. W., had ti*eated him unkindly, he had been led
to take his oath that he would never be a Christian.
It was a very natural difliculty which Satan now sug-
gested, that, should he deny his former confession,
he could never have the confidence of Christians as a
fellow-disciple, and that it would, therefore, he in vain
to attempt to become a Christian.

I had learned a new lesson touching the plots of
Satan. After returning to my home in M., I pre-
pared a sermon from the text at the head of this
chapter, including in it the foregoing sketch. Having
occasion, soon after, to preach for the Welsh church
in the city, I used this discourse. On the next morn-
ing, there cariie to my door a fine-looking young
foreigner, inquiring for the minister who had preached
the night before at the Welsh church. From his
broken speech, I learned that he had been greatly
afflicted by the loss of his property and his friends ;
that he had been sorely disappointed in his mission
to this country, so that he knew not which way to
turn; that he felt that Satan had insnared him, so
.that his hope was well nigh extinguished, while he
felt himself overwhelmed in the deep waters; and
that he wished to give me many thanks; that,

THE beueveb's victoby. 165

through ihy sermon, Jesus had '' seized him by the
hair of his head as he was sinking for the last time,
and lifted him up, and set his feet again on the Rock
of Ages."

It is hoped that the sketch above given may be of
practical service to others.

The plots of Satan are numberless. He often, no
doubt, pushes men into the conunission of some dis-
graceful form of sin, foreseeing that, in all probability,
they will never confess it and obtain pardon. Sup-
pose a man, who has prided himself upon his reputa-
tion for honor and veracity in the community, sud-
denly finds his business affairs in such a state* that
failure stares him in the face. He sees but one way
of escape. If his property would only take fire and
burn up, the insurance money would save him.
Satan suggests, — he meditates; — he can fire the
premises, — his known integrity will shield him from
suspicion. His heart beats quick ; he must do it or
fail ; he yields, applies the torch, and his property is
in ashes. He receives the insiu'ance, and escapes
failure. The man of honor is an incendiary, a thief,
a liar, and a swindler, perhaps a murderer 1 and still
he claims to be an honest man. What a snare ! Will
he ever escape from it? Will he ever confess his
crime, and restore the money, that his sin may be
blotted out? He may, but how fearfully probable
that he will never do it !

Thousands, doubtless, are taken by some sudi

166 Satan's devices and

artful device of the adversary. Crimes lie buried
in their hearts > while, peradventure, false names are
assumed. Falsehood upon falsehood covers them,
and, probably, nothing but the judgment of the great
day, the rays of which will penetrate the darkest
minds and reveal them as in sun-light, will ever dis-
close them. Such persons are -'ignorant of Satan's
devices.*'

Many of the principles of the business world, and
of the customs and fashions of society, are used by a
plotting adversary to draw men fatally away from
their allegiance to Christ. With many, it is a settled
principle, that real honesty and success in business
are incompatible with each other. Surely a devotee
of fashion can not be a follower of Jesus, the ''meek
and lowly." Let every man scrutinize the business
and social maxims and customs by which he is gov-
erned, lest they involve some falsehood or some plot
of the Devil designed to insnare and corrupt the
soul !

There is, for most people, no influence in the
world so strong as that which one living mind exerts
over another. Eecognizing this fact, Satan con-
structs many of his plots with reference to bringing
the yet youthful and unsophisticated under the
dominion of those who are advanced and established
in vicious principles and habits. Wicked men,
whom the adversary controls, are but the instru-
ments wherewith he leads other men " captive at his

THE believer's VICTORY. 167

will." And if he can take advantage of the example
of a professedly good man, and so, the more unsus-
pected, fasten his halter to the neck of his victim, the
more certainly will Satan make his plot succeed.
Every one for himself, every parent for his child,
every Christian for his fellow-disciple, should, there-
fore, watch ceaselessly against the mental and mora)
influence of evil-minded persons.

CHAPTER XXII.

SATAN THE ENEMY OF PEAYEE AND VITAL COMMUNION

WITH GOD.

Pat on the whole armor of God, that je may be able to stand against the
wiles of the devil. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the
Spirit. — Eph, 6 : 11, 18.

An all-prevailing, unremitting spirit of prayer is an
essential part of the Christian's invincible armor.

There is no truth more clearly set forth in the
Bible than that God accepts and answers prayer. He
has so pledged himself to do it, that he can not fail
and be a God of truth. " Ask and it shall be given
you," is the broad, unqualified promise. From Gen-
esis to Kevelation, assurance follows assurance, that
the " eyes of the Lord are upon the^ righteous, and
his ears open unto their cry." The fullness and posi-
tiveness of the promises only show how strongly God
desires to have men approach his mercy-seat with
loving boldness and humble confidence. Prayer is
the connecting link between earth and heaven. It is
the apparatus with which the soul draws its living
waters from the deep wells of salvation. Communion
with God is to the life of the soul what food is to
the life of the body. The intensity of God's wish to

(168^

THE believer's VICTORY. 169

save men from sin and death exactly measures his
desire to bring them into communion with himself,
by all possible means, but especially by prayer; for
it is only by such heavenly intercourse, the soul can
be lifted out of its sinfulness into the higher life of
truth. Prayer ought to be as natural and easy, as
full of confidence and affection, as free and joyous as
the fellowship and converse of the most loving hearts.
God would thus reveal himself to his people, and
make them acquainted with his holy hatred of sin
not only, but with his heart of yearning tenderness
toward all the beings he has created, and with his
peculiar love to his redeemed children ; and so give
them the light he would have them reflect upon the
world. Men will know God, and be able to repre-
sent him truly, in proportion as their communion
with him is intimate and habitual. The Bible will be
luminous and life-giving, in the measure in which it
is read and studied in the light of this heavenly inter-
course. The providences of God will become sig-
nificant and precious to the soul by the same rule.
The spirituality of the law and the power of the gos-
pel, the reality of God's attributes, character, and
government, of heaven and of hell, of all our priv-
ileges here and our inheritance hereafter, will be seen
and felt most deeply at the mercy-seat.

These things being obviously so, Satan will, of
course, as one of his primary measures of evil, do his
utmost to prevent our communion with God. He

170 Satan's devices and

hates the closet and the throne of grace as he does
Calvary and atoning blood. His opposition is not to
all that is called prayer, but simply to that which
involves the soul's vital approach to God. Ho is
willing enough that men should multiply forms of
prayer, and count their beads, and petition Allah at
the Muezzin's call ; and that the monks in the monas-
tery of '^ The Conquering Angel " should pray night
and day, forever, for the conversion of England to
the Koman Catholic faith, and for whatever else may
conflict with the will of God. Nay, he may be quite
willing to facilitate all manner of praying which
comes short of real communion with God.

What young convert, what Christian, does not
Satan resist, "" in coming to the mercy-seat " 1 From
how many hearts, m the church even, has he quite
obliterated the idea that such intimate communion
with God as the promises imply, is possible ! How
many has he seduced into the notion, that God will
not be influenced by our supplications, since he
determined all his acts from eternity, — as if he did
not, from eternity, foresee every true prayer that
sliould ever be offered to him, and detennine to
answer it, — and that the only good of prayer is that
which is to be gained by the exercise of offering it !
To how many hearts has Satan suggested, " God will
not hear your prayer ; " '' You are unworthy to com-
mune with God — approach him not ; " '' You have
sinned, and God will not hear you ; " " You can not

THE believer's VICTORY. 171

pray — it is mockery to attempt it ; " and has thus
repelled them from the mercy-seat I With such an
incrustation of lies upon the sensibility, and while
the mind remains in unbelief as to God's presence,
and readiness to hear his people, of course prayer
can not attain its natural expression, and is an unsat-
isfying service. To promote such unbelief Satan
spares no pains.

The great remedy for all this mischief is to '' resist
the devil," and give God glory by believing and
insisting that he will answer prayer honestly and
truthfully offered according to his will. Some things,
we know, are according to his will, and we may
believe and ask for them, nothing doubting, as, for
example, grace to honor God, strength to obey his
word, wisdom to direct us, the gift of the Spirit to
abide with and teach us the way of duty.

The religious world is full of facts illustrating the
'' power of prayer," and showing how it is answered.
These anecdotes are valuable "because instructive.
Let us add the following: —

I once asked an intelligent parishioner this ques-
tion : "Did you ever get cornered in your business,
and prove the availability of prayer?" He smiled
affirmatively, and said, "I was, at one time, on the
verge of failure. A large amount of bank paper was
maturing, and my resources for meeting ' it had
entirely failed. I tried my best to provide means of
payment, but to no purpose. There was but one

172 Satan's devices and

more banker to whom I could go. To him I carried
the whole case on my knees. I told him I was will"
ing to faiU if» in his providence, he would have it so.
But, if it could more honor my Savior that I should
pay my debts, as a Christian man should do, I
besought him to send me reUef. I waited the result,
believing God had heard my prayer. The conse-
quence was, that, as my paper became due, men
came to me, voluntarily, with just the amount I
needed, asking me to take it, and pay them interest
for the use of it. I was saved from failure ; and I have
had no trouble in paying my debts since that day."

Here is a fact showing that God has some peculiar
ways of answering his children. That good brother
Raymond, who went to Africa with the Amistad cap-
tives, and commenced the Mendi mission, and who
has since gone to his rest, told me that, while he was
preaching to the poor fugitives in Canada, who were
scarcely able to give him his bread for his labor, he
wore out his coat, and had no means of getting
another. There was a brother with him who was
also in want of five dollars. They concluded to
carry their necessities to God, on retiring to rest on
a bright moon-light night. Mr. Raymond told the
Lord that his coat was very poor, threadbare, out at
various places, and he did not think it was fit to
preach so glorious a gospel in, and asked his Heavenly
Father to help liim to a new one. The other brother
told the Lord, also, the story of his wants. In the

THE BEUEVEB'S VICTORY. 173

course of the night, a wolf came about the house^
whose howl awoke the young men. They arose,
took their gun, and went out, and shot the wolf; and
the bounty on it got the one a coat and the other five
dollars. They believed in a " particular providence,"
and that God could turn the tables on the wolves,
and make them feed the sheep.

In this connection, we think it may be of service
to repeat a story which went the rounds of the papers
some years ago.

As we remember it, certain clergymen had been
disputing about the meaning of the command to " pray
without ceasing." A plain, pious woman, meeting
one of them, said, '' I know what that passage means."
She was invited to give her views, which she did by
telling her experience, as follows: ^When I rise in
the morning, the first thing I do is to put on my
clothes ; and I pray God to clothe me with the robe
of my Redeemer's righteousness, and with the gar-
ment of humility. The next thing I do is to build a
fire ; and I pray God to kindle the fire of love in my
heart, that his word may be as a fire in my bones, and
that I may escape the burning lake. The next thing
I do is to sweep the floor ; and I pray that Jesus will
sweep from my heart all the dirt and dust which his
eye sees there. Then I set the table ; and I pray
that I may sit at the marriage supper of the Lamb,
and be bountifully supplied with the bread of life.
If I sit, I pray that I inay sit at the feet of Jesus ;
12

174 Satan's devices akd

if I stand, that it may be in bis rigbteousness, and
upon tbe Rock of Ages ; if I walk, tbat it may be
witb God, like Enocb ; if I run, tbat I may run tho
race witb patience, and safely reacb tbe goal."

Tbus tbis motbor in Israel sbowed bow, in her
state of mind, every thing about her suggested a
topic of prayer, and kept her spontaneously com-
muning witb God. Was ever a passage of Scripture
better expounded ?

Every Christian may make bis '' calling and election
sure " by maintaining, inviolate, habitual conununion
with God.

Tho devices of Satan to break up the soul's com-
munion witb God are numerous and sul)tle.

If a man vnll go to his closet, tbe adversary will,
if possible, seduce him into a practical unbelief as to
the presence, there, of Christ, and into a mere formal
servii!0, in which he will have no real intercourse
with God, and which will. only foster the spirit of
solf-rightcousnoss, or be suggestive of doubts and
fi^ars.

Satan would have men think the mercv-seat inac-
ce8sil)le, or induce tbe feeling that it is located in
some uninviting Terra del Fucgo, where the weather
n(V(»r clears, instead of a Buenos Ayres, where tho
atin()riph(»re is always balmy and beautiful. lie \vould
luivo men ])elieve that the throne of grace can be
approached only by the pure and holy ; whereas it
was established expressly, and located " not far from

THE believer's victoby. 175

eyery one of us,** that the unworthy, the helpless, the
sinful might find succor. He takes advantage of our
relapses and failures to repel us from its approach ;
whereas they constitute the strongest reasons for
frequenting that refuge for lost sinners. Herein
Satan utterly misrepresents our Heavenly Father.
The Good Shepherd is specially regardful of the
weak and erring. Would that all understood this as
well as did Peter ! A sheep may fall into the ditch,
and be a sheep still — widely different from the swine
whose instincts all incline him to go there.

Satan, moreover, brings his own will to bear
directly against that of the disciple, to keep him from
drawing near to God by prayer. Minds seem consti-
tuted to resist as well as to help each other. When
a father sets his will against that of his child, forbid-
ding him to do a given thing, a real force is put into
operation. When the public will is set in a particular ^
direction, it is difficult to resist and overcome it. It is
like a moral avalanche. This resistance belongs to
the will of the masses, rather than to mere '* public
sentiment," as the phrase is. A sentiment which has
not entered into the voluntary life of the people,
has slight moral power. The creed of a church
weighs little until it is incorporated into their prac-
tice. Our national doctrine of liberty is powerless
for good, while we willingly s^jgree to hold men in
bondage. This vast will-power, his own and that .
which inheres in the example of the prayerless mul- S

176 Satan's devices and

titude, Satan throws across the pathway of tihie Chris-
tian, especially as it leads to the mercy-seat, forbid-
ding his advance in that direction. To break from
this restraining influence, especially when it emanates
fix)m intimate associates and kindred, from men of
mark and wealth, and from that sex whose will often
has the force of social law, is, to the young and inex-
perienced in religion, no easy matter. But, taking
advantage of the help there is in the inspiring will
of the ** great cloud of witnesses" above, in the
example of the Jacobs and Elijahs, and the hosts of
royal men around us who live by communion with
the Holy One, in the name of the Omnipotent, we
can and should overcome all obstacles, and live in
habitual and blessed intercourse with our God and
Savior.

Miiller's "Life of Trust" has raised the question ,
whether we may expect the prayer of faith to be
answered, independently of the use of means on the
part of the suppliant. That servant of God professes
to have received the funds necessary to carry forward
his charitable work, soliciting them from no man, but
from God only. A few words on this subject, in this
connection, as guarding against any error of which
Satan might take advantage, may not be out of place.

The Bible, as well as reason, proves that God has
established the connection between means and ends,
and required men to use their own agency, as far as
tiiey may, in supplying their wants. In addition to

THE believer's victobt. 177

this, the help of God is indispensable ; and for this
we are to pray. The Bible teaches that Divine and
human agency are united in the production of results.
^^That thou givest tliem they gather ^^ says the Psalm-
ist (104 : 28). In many of the miracles, even, sec-
ondary agency was introduced, as in that of furnishing
wine at the mamage in Cana, of feeding the multi-
tudes, and of opening the eyes of the blind. The
answer to prayer may be as legitimate and palpable
in supplying us with the means of gaining the bless-
ing we seek, as in bestowing directly the object for
which we pray. This is strikingly illustrated by the
case of the two brethren and the wolf, just narrated.
There are cases, indeed, where it would be impossi-
ble to employ any subordinate instrumentalities, as
where Elijah, on Carmel, prays for rain. He could
only pray and watch. In such cases, of course, the
use of means is not required.

There is nothing in the experience of the author of
the '* Life of Trust " which goes to impair the old
Christian doctrine on this subject, that the suppliant
must pray, and watch, and work by all legitimate
methods, in order that his prayers may be answered.

Mr. MuUer himself, after all, acted upon this prin-
ciple. The means he used were peculiar, but potent.
He really asked every Christian man to aid him in
building his orphan houses, when he made known the
fact, or when it became known, that he was building
them in the name of the Lord, and for the use

178 Satan's devices axd

God's poor and helpless ones, and that he was trust*
ing the Lord alone to supply the funds. By this
very position, mutely but loudly, he said to every
man, "This is purely a Christian work ; it is a privi-
lege to promote it ; how can you withhold your gifts
from such an enterprise?" And in proportion as
confid'ence was felt in the principles of the Bible, and
in Mr. Mliller as a true and wise servant of God, con-
tributions did, naturally enough, by the grace of God,
and in answer to prayer, flow into his hands. He
could scarcely have plied the minds of good men
more effectually with motives to benevolence. He
exercised a trust which, under the circumstances,
God was pleased greatly to honor. But was the
hand of the Lord less visible in providing the means
for building the temple, when David himself offered,
as some reckon, over 50,000,000 pounds sterling, and
then called upon the people to follow his example,
and bring in their offerings, which they did with a
similar liberality ? With glad and joyous hearts they
acknowledged that all they had was the Lord's, and
that it was by his gi'ace that they had been enabled
to offer so willingly and abundantly unto him. Was
it not an additional blessing to David, and to the
people, that God was pleased to answer his prayer
for means, by making his own appeal to his subjects
effectual? In other words, is there not a substantial
good in having our own agency employed in the

H^ork of answering our prayers ; and should we not,

^yi^ore, expect God so to employ it?

THE believer's VICTORY. 179

We must not forget that it is the '' effectual fervent
prayer of a righteous man " which '' availeth much ; "
nor should we overlook the necessity of importunity,
as enjoined by Christ in the parable of the unjust
judge. It is not, indeed, to be supposed that God
requires the urgency there inculcated, for its own
sake, as if he needed something to excite his benevo-
lence. It is demanded rather in accordance with that
law of our being by which we put forth our intensest
efforts to obtain that which we most highly prize.
If we value spiritual blessings as we should, we shall
naturally act according to the spirit of that parable,
and, like Jacob, refuse to let the Angel of the Cove-
nant go, except he bless us.

If Satan can not wholly prevent our intercourse
with God, he will try to silence our importunity, lest
we should obtain the higher and richer blessings of
the kingdom, and be effectually avenged of him as
the enemy of our souls.

There is no more precious truth in connection with
this subject, than that our ever-living Intercessor
by virtue of his own sacrifice, presents for us, at the
throne of God, the supplications which the Spirit,
helping our infirmities, has begotten in us, and which
our faith importunately urges, and, that he is sure to
prevail. Against that intercession, Satan is pow-
erless.

CHAPTER XXIII.

SATAN AS PHILOSOPHER^ THEOLOGIAN* AND LOGICIAN.

Oppositions of soienoe, falsely so called > whlcb some, profesaiQg, h^ve erred
from the fUth.— 1 Tim, 6 : 20.

The roots of our theology penetrate and draw their
life fix)m oiir underlying philosophy ; so that, if our
mental science be false, our theological system can
not be true, and we ^ err from the faith '* by inevi-
table necessity. Our philosophy must determine all
our essential definitions in theology, and furnish us
our laws for interpreting the word, the character, and
the government of God. It will, consciously or un-
consciously, shape our experiences, and stamp itself
eflTectually upon our lives.

All this Satan knows fiiU well, for he is an old and
careful student of the natui'e and laws of mind. He
will see to it, therefore, that, as far as possible, our
mental and moral science shall be only *^ falsely so
called," that he may subvert the very foundations on
which the structure of objective truth must rest.
He is to be regarded as the father of scientific lies, not
less than othei's, but rather more so, if he can con-
nect with them more disastrous consequences. He is
doubtless the father, too, of that popular notion that

(180)

THE BELIEVEE'S VICTOEY. 181

teachers of religion should ignore the subject of men*
tal philosophy as altogether unprofitable. He would
be glad to be let alone in the work of constructing
the molds by which our religious systems, and creeds,
and habits must be shaped.

Let us attempt to expose Satan as a false philoso-
pher and theologian, in respect to a few important
topics.

1. The doctrine of the will is cardinal in its rela^
tions to theology. There are two theories concern-
ing its nature. One is, that it is free in its choices ;
that the choice is of the man himself, and is, there-
fore, what he determines it to be. The other is, that
the choice is the necessary and unavoidable result of
the motives before the mind ; so that it is not deter-
mined at all by the man himself. A person deliber-
ately commits a murder that he may possess himself
of his victim's gold. The gold is the motive to the
act of murder. If there had, been no gold, there
would have been no motive to the crime, and it would
not have been committed. But the motive existed ;
it was before the mind, aiid appealed to the murderer
to do the desperate deed. Now, on the theory of
freedom in the will, it is maintained that the man had
the power, in his nature, to resist the wrong motive
and obey the right one — to choose between the
.opposing motives, and determine whether to commit
the crime, or remain an innocent man. That he did

182 SATAN'S DEyiCES AND

yield, and commit the crime, is, therefore, held to be
his own guilty act, for which he is justly responsible.
The motive was the occasion; the reason, why he
acted; the actor was himself. On the theory of
necessity, on the other hand, it is held, that the rela-
tion between the motive and the volition which took
the life, was such, that the act or crime of murder
could not have been avoided. The motive, not the
man, was the real murderer, as the fire is the real
cause of the boiling of the water.

That the former is the true doctrine, we have
sufficiently shown in Chapter TV. The latter theory
we regard as '' science falsely so called," and full of
deadly error.

Christian philosophers who adopt the false theory
are prevented, by their piety and by the Scriptures,
from seeing and acknowledging all its baleful deduc-
tions. But atheistic and rationalistic philosophers
leap at once from such premises to the denial of
Christianity, and of the divine existence, and of any
real distinctions' in character and morals.

In proportion as men practically adopt this error,
— and many do adopt it in religion, as Satan would
have th^m, though never in regard to the affairs of
this life, — the following, among other evil conse-
quences, will follow : there will be no sense of obli-
gation, actively and earnestly, and at all times, to
obey God ; for we are so made that we can not feel^
obligation to what we believe we have no power, in
our natures, to do.

THE believer's VICTORY. 183

The mind will be thrown into a passive state, and
be shorn of its strength. The soul can make no
stand against the forces of evil, and must drift pas-
sively with them — the mere creature, and not the
creator of events, the slave, and not the master of
circumstances. The soul is not even an agent ; it is
a mere vessel through which the waters are at libeity
to flow.

Faith can be little more than a name — a dead
profession ; for the vital element of that grace, on the
human side of it, is the voluntary one — the will,
consciously grasping the truth, by the grace of God,
and making its power the soul's own. " All things
are possible to him that believeth," is true, because
he chooses the object of faith, and determines to do the
bidding of faith ; but if a man denies his power thus
to will, he denies that which is essential to the life
and vigor of his faith ; and, instead of being able to
do all that a believer ought to do, he will do nothing,
and will become the easy prey of Satan.

All the Christian graces are, by this false theory,
impaired, to say the least. For what can love, self-
denial, gratitude, or repentance amount to, if they
have not in them the element of conscious choice and
determination? When a man is full of determined
energy and devotion toward God, toward right and
truth, — when self-will is renounced, and Christ is
supremely chosen and enthroned in his heart, — he
becomes a power in the world to influence and control

184 Satan's devices and

men, to overcome obstacles, and to mold society ; he
is like Paul, a living demonstration of the trutii of
Christianity ; but the man who adopts the false theory
slumbers in his passivity. With this philosophy^ the
doctrine of dependence natunilly becomes perverted.
Its advocates are likely to depend hopelessly upon
God for an ability they already possess, and do not
recognize, instead of depending, as they should, for
that fuller, clearer, and higher knowledge of himself
by which we are to grow into his moral likeness, and
more and more completely and efficiently execute
his will.

Under the influence of this mistaken theory, our
view of sin is, of course, most injuriously confused and
distorted. Instead of a stubborn refusal to use our
voluntary powers as God, for the best of reasons, re-
quires, — a most wicked rebellion against his author-
ity and contempt of his mercy, — ^"sin comes to be
viewed as something so connected with our very
natures, that we can scarcely know what it is, or see
any guilt in it, or how to escape it, or why we are
condemned for it, or called upon to repent of it.
Then, as a natural result of this false and indefinite
notion, the whole gospel, as a means of saving us
from sin, is necessarily involved in the same confu-
sion and indefiniteness. If a man steals his neiorh-
bor's property, his soul is stung with condemna-
tion ; he sees and knows his guilt ; but, lulled by this
most delusive speculation, men live in the constant

THE believer's VICTORY. 185

violation of God's laws without a blush upon their
cheeks.

It is, therefore, another consequence of this false
theory, that it becomes next to impossible to con-
vict men of sin before God. Out sanctuaries are full
of persons who are unmoved by any appeals to repent
of sin; and the reason is, that they have adopted
Satan's great scientific falsehood, and said, with the
Jews, "If our sins and our iniquities be upon us,
how should we then live ? '* ^ We can not help our-
selves."

. Thanks be to God, and to the deep consciousness
of our freedom, men can not act, in all respects, as if
they were mere machines, nor rest in blank atheism,
as they would otherwise be led to do. This error,
however, is one of the very strongest of the adver-
sary's intrenchments, and is the ultimate basis of
nearly all the forms of infidelity, from universalism
to atheism, inclusive. None of them can stand a
moment in argument, only as they fall back- upon this
philosophy, "falsely so called."

2. Another of the leading and most bewitching
of the false principles of Satanic mental philosophy,
is the doctrine that we are to judge ourselves by our
emotional experiences, rather than by our conscious
voluntary conformity, or want of conformity, to the
truth and will of God.

We have before said that Satan attacks the mind,

186 Satan's devices and

mainly, through the sensibility. The law of God
being written upon the reason, his assault upon that
power directly would be less likely to succeed. He
must somehow make darkness appear to be light,
and light, darkness ; and this he can easily accom-
plish, if he can induce men to accept a state of the
emotions as the practical standard of right.

This is precisely what Satan does : he ''puts it into
men's hearts" that they are right when they are the
subjects of a certain state of religious feeling, and
wrong when they are not. If that exists, they sup-
pose they have faith and love, and are, therefore,
accepted of God ; if that does not exist, they con-
clude that God has rejected and will not hear them.
They give up their confidence, quit the mercy-seat,
''hang their harps on the willows," and go into a
chronic despondency " by the cold streams of Baby-
lon." It becomes the great, unnatural struggle of
their religious life to gain and retain the peculiar state
of the emotions which they have accepted as the
standard of what is right and pleasing to God. Our
churches abound with such mistaken souls. Their
religion is at the mercy of the winds, rising or
falling with the mercury in the sensibility.

The consequences of this error will be apparent to
all who will reflect upon them.

The mind is intimately related to the body, and
our emotions are often, unavoidably, as the state of
bodily health. A wretched dyspeptic can scarcely

THE believer's VICTORY. 187

praise the Lord, emofionally , if he tries ever so hard,
though he may hold heroic fellowship with the suffer-
ings of Christ.

Making our emotions the test and guide of our
moral conduct, we ignore, of necessity, the guidance
of our reason, whereon the divine image is enstamped,
and in which his light shines. We must also fail to
make the Word of God or the Spirit of God, our
guide, imless, indeed, it happens to coincide with
our feelings.

Another most lamentable consequence of this error
will be, that we shall defeat the purpose of God in re-
spect to our moral discipline and growth. These come
by steadfastly obeying the truth, even when the sensi-
bility is in a furnace heated to sevenfold intensity.
The only way to stand with those '' who have come
up through great tribulation," is to be firm in patient
adherence to the divine will, although the ocean of
temptation and sorrow roll over us, as the waters
sometimes sweep over the Eddystone lighthouse in
the English Channel. This we can not do, if we
make our feelings our standard of judgment.

Such a rule of duty also interferes, directly and
ruinously, with the exercise of faith, and of all other
Christian graces. The glory of Abraham's faith con-
sisted in the fact that he persisted, with his whole
voluntary power, in the faithfulness of God, although
his sensibility was ready *'to stagger" at the promise,
whose fulfillment was so long delayed. To walk by

188 Satan's devices and

faith is often to contradict sight. No man will ever
be led, by his feelings y to the cross and the stake.

This philosophy overlooks the respective offices of
the sensibility and of the reason, and almost inter-
changes them. All experience must harmonize with
the true nature and laws of mind. Make the will of
God, as expressed in the Bible, and re-affirmed in the
reason, the standard of duty ; do it, though tempta-
tion clamor never so much against it; and, in due
time, the sensibility will fulfill its own office, and give
you the very peace of God which passes all under-
standing. ''Ye have need of patience, that, after ye
have done the will of God, ye may receive the prom-
ise." Following the false science of the enemy, you
are, on the other hand, at sea without helm, chart, or
compass.

A true philosophy, leaving the sensibility essential-
ly to its own organic laws, bids the soul lay hold of
the truth of God as its life, to sink or swim with that,
to anchor to it, though the waters roar and be trou-
bled, and the mountains shake with the swelling
thereof; and it charges the eye of consciousness to
watch, not the state of the emotions, but of the will,
to see that it does, not in word only, but in deed, so
stand and risk all upon the truth. Thus fortified,
the soul spreads to the breeze her pennant, inscribed
with " Emanuel," and fears not to clear the shore and
make for mid-ocean. If the sensibility rocks to the
winds, rises and falls with the tides, or drifts with

THE believer's VICTORY. 189

the currents of the sea ; if she is depressed as night
darkens over and around her, and, anon, thrilled and
exalted in the day's clear uprising, with joys ''un-
speakable and full of glory," as she sees God above
and only God all around ; or if, again, she be strained
to utmost tension by the storms which beat upon her,
— it matters not. All is well. Christ is in the ship,
and, at the right moment, he will arise and say to the
sea, "Peace, be still ; " and there will be a great calm
reaching the very depths of the soul.

3. Satan, as a false philosopher, does men immense
mischief by leading them into a perverted use of the
faculty of judgment. To misuse this important mem-
ber of the mental confederacy, is to warp the action
of the whole mind. When the Scribes and Pharisees
judged that Christ was an impostor, they would not,
of course, bow to his instructions ; they must needs
oppose him, and do their utmost to destroy his influ-
ence. This false judgment would discolor all he
could do or say in their behalf. Even his miracles,
in giving sight to the blind or hearing to the cleaf,
would only suggest to tteir minds that he was an
agent of Satan. They could not thus love or revere
him.

So, if a man has judged that he is not a sinner, as

the Bible represents, he will not repent and believe

the gospel. If one hsiS judged that there is no mercy

for him, as thousands have, it is certain he will not
18

190 SATAN'S DEVICES AKD

labor to obtain it. When the Christian judges that
the grace of God is not sufficient for him, so that he
can walk in the light and overcome the world, the
certain result is, that he will walk in darkness down
to his grave. His false judgment dooms him to this.
If you deliberately decide, in your judgment ^ that
the promises of God do not belong to you, that the
provisions of grace are not for you, or that they are
not available for you now, then, plainly, you have
cast away a present gospel from your * soul. This
false judgment arrests, too, the work of your sanctifi-
cation by the Spirit ; for he works by sealing upon
the heart the truths and promises of God. In
short, such an attitude of mind as effectually hinders
the saving influences of Christianity from doing us
good, as the prejudice of the Pharisees destroyed the
power of Christ to be a Savior to them. In this
way, the gospel, with all its fountains, and streams,
and oceans of living water, is turned into a waste and
desolate wilderness. Words can not describe the
mischief which comes of thus perverting the office of
the judgment. Let every one beware of Satan, by
I'emcmbering not to judge according to appearances,
not according to states of feeling, but according to
God's testimony in his word, for this only is '* right
eons judgment." An honest and true use of this
faculty of the mind is, on the other hand, above all
price.

THE B£LIETE&'8 VXGTOKT. 191

4. Satan aims to subordinate the memory to his
purposes. This is one of the most important of our
mental faculties, as, by it, the truth is to be treasured
up and held for use. By the truth of God we are to
be sanctified* But to be of much advantage to us,
we must possess and hold it in the memory. Now, it
is one law of the mind, that the memory will be
deeply and permanently impressed in proportion to
the wakefulness of the attention. But how easily is
this turned off from the truths we hear or read, so
that only a faint and ineffectual impression is made
upon us ! The game of Satan, therefore, is to divert
the attention. This he will do, even in the house of
God, by a multitude of suggestions, and at the very
moment when the things most important to be
remembered are uttered. If he can not wholly
prevent a good and true impression, he will, if pos-
sible, warp it into something comparatively harmless
to his ends. The method, then, by which Satan
" catches away " the word sown in our hearts, and
plants his own seeds of death there, is by turning the
attention from the truths and %y fixing it where the
evil thought will fall most impressively upon the mind.
The thing to be done, on the other hand, is, not to
let the attention swing loosely, like a weathercock in
the wind, but, by a vigorous act of the will, hold it
steadily and earnestly to the truth. It should be
held there as the student holds his mind to the prob-
lem, as the judge, to the case before him, and as

192 Satan's devices and

the imperiled mariner, to the chances of relief. Let
the mind be educated to it. Grain the power by per-
severing effort and rigid discipline ; otherwise Satan
will steal away all the good seed from the soul, and
turn the mind itself into a sieve, instead of a vessel
honored and meet for the Master's use.

5. It is a doctrine of Satanic philosophy, that the
testimony of our consciousness as to our moral and
spiritual states can not be relied upon. Admitting
this, we must needs be in the greatest doubt and
uncei-tainty respecting our personal relations to God.
Our senses can, of course, give us no light ; and, if
we deny the validity of consciousness, as Satan would
have us, there is no light for us. In the sphere of
our experiences toward each other, the authority of
consciousness is undisputed. By its witnessing, we
know that we love our friends, that we confide in
them, and that we are faithful or otherwise to the
trusts committed to us ; we know what are our inten-
tions, and what our chosen aims.

By the same faculty of our minds, according to a
true philosophy, we can know that we have chosen
Christ as our portion, or that we have not done so ;
that we have, or have not, a real intention to conform
to his will and please him in all our ways ; that we
do, or do not, really intrust ourselves to him for sal-
vation, on the conditions of his gospel. Of course,
we can not know our moral exercises as we know a

THE believer's VICTORY. 193

mathematical demonstration, but we may so know
them as to satisfy the mind, free it from doubty and
give it rest and confidence. So the wife knows her
relations to her husband, the child, to the parent, and
the Mend, to the friend.

With the mind encumbered with this philosophy,
"falsely so called," we are unavoidably deprived of
the testimony of the Spirit. There is no power, but
that of consciousness, through which the Holy Ghost
can give his assurances to our hearts.

Thus does this false philosophy, so far as it is
accepted as true, wither the life and cripple the
power of Christian men. By it, the wings of God's
eagles are clipped, and they can not fly ; and the
lambs of the flock are exposed to the wolf on every
hand.

The intelligent reader will scarcely need to be told,
that, while he is to hold fast the testimony of his own

conscious purpose of obedience and trust, it is, of
course, necessary to guard against the various delu-
sions by which Satan himself would seek to deceive
us in reference to our moral states. This is ever-
more to be done by appealing to the tests of God's
word.

6. We may profitably consider here the philosophy
t)y which Satan leads men '' captive at his will."

We have certain appetites, desires, susceptibilities,
which demand gratification. Besides the common

194 SATAN'S DEVICES AND

bodily appetites, there is the desire for society, for
reputation, for knowledge, for occupation; and the
susceptibility whi(;h distinguishes us as nude and
female. These, and many others, God has implanted
in our natures ; and, in themselves, they are good*
They are involuntary, and simply demand gratifica-
tion without any reference to the question of right or
wrong. The law which should regulate their gratifi-
cation is not written upon the appetites themselves, .
and, therefore, men may involuntarily desire what
they would have no right to appropriate. This regu-
lating law is to be found rather in the reasouy in the
Bible, and in the lights of science.

It is the office of the will^ in its God-given sov-
ereignty, to give or withhold the gratification which
the desires demand — if the drunkard's appetite
clamors for the glass, to say in reply, *' Yes, take the
I uming draught," or to answer, ''No, not a drop ; "
and so it shall be.

V(r,i.es reach the will both through the appetites
iuvl the reason. Those which come through the for-
mer simply demand gratification because this is
pleasurable. Those which come through the latter —
the reason— bid the wiU to gratify the appetites
according to the law of right.

Now, in this exigency, Satan brings the whole
strength of his infiuence and his lies to bear upon the
jriU to induce a decision to gratify the appetites and
s, in ways forbidden by the reason and the

THE believer's VICTORY. 195

^w. He will stimulate them to an unnatm*al

\ lity for indulgence ; he will help men to con-

•;at natural desires may, of right, have the

atificatiou they call for, without reference

igher rule ; he will inflame the imagination,

■jfire to the lusts of the flesh by a poisonous

e, and by all manner of appliances in art, in

food, and in the customs of society, and thus,

allowed to do it, carry the will^ and get it

pd to the appetites rather than to the reason.

rfsue, then, pending before the mind, is fearful
:he power of the finite mind to comprehend.
11 yield but once, and trample upon the law
a, at the bidding of the tempter, the risk is
if twice or thrice, "the letting out of
has begun ; if , by a course of repetitions,
5 of yielding becomes fixed, the victim is in
•act, hard upon the precipice and the terrible
low ! In this way, the unregulated lusts of
3r nature gain the supremacy, and the will
^on break asunder. Then comes the most
of all calamities : God gives the victim up
iwn heart's lusts," and he is in the hands of
; merciless set of tyrants which earth or hell
-sh, — ambition, avarice, gluttony, sensuality,
sness, — and they assume the reins and drive
they will. The restraints of reason are gone,
Ij soul is indeed "led captive by Satan at his

Truth, with all her blessed angels, utterly

196 Satan's devices and

banished, the mind is swept on ^ in the broad
death" by a tornado of lies and lusts. T
science becomes all seared with the hot iron of sin
and shame ; the imagination, no longer heaven-wingedf
is prone only to the earth ; the intellect, sharing the
common degradation, lives on divine thought no
longer; the will expends its energies in gratifying
fleshly appetites, when it should be creating blessings
for a lost world, and opening fountains to send out
living streams while the ages roll away. Especially,
when a depraved sexual appetite gains the ascen-
dency, natural affection, even, must soon die out;
homes will be blasted ; children will be made worse
than orphans, for the sake of guilty fellowship with
forbidden lovers.

This is a method of ruining souls, too, as Satan
knows full well, by which his victims grow rapidly
worse and worse, till they will glory in their shame,,
and take willingly, in their very foreheads, the seal
of his kingdom and lordship.

The character of Satan as a logician demands a
moment's notice. Man has reason, and he will use it.
The father of lies must, therefore, work his falsehoods
into logical forms, in order to make them hold with
reasoning minds. "To make the worse appear the
better reason," to shape falsehood so as to make it
pass for truth under the rigid scrutiny of the logician,
is a great feat of the adversary. Thousands of good

THE believer's VICTORY. 197

men are captured by Satanic logic. Many reason
vaguely thus : Major premise, God has made me ;
minor premise, God will take care of what he has
made; conclusion, therefore, I shall be. saved. The
falsehood lurks in the major premise, because it does
not contain the whole truth : God has made us moral
agents^ and we have something to do ourselves to
secure our salvation. A majority of Universalists
have probably been made such by the reasoning con-
tained in the following syllogisms : It is the dictate
of infinite love and mercy to save all mankind ; God's
love and mercy are infinite; he will save all man-
kind. Here, too, the lie is in the major premise,
which assumes as true the very thing which demands
proof, viz., that love and mercy dictate the salvation
of all mankind, unconditionally. Again : God wishes
the salvation of all men, as is manifest from his word
and character ; being infinite in wisdom and power,
he will surely bring his wishes to pass ; therefore,
all men will be saved. Here the falsehood is in the
mirror premise. It is not true that God brings all
his wishes to pass. He wishes men would not break
his laws, and wrong and murder each other ; yet he
does not compel them to do his pleasure, but leaves
them, as moral agents, to do their own will, and
holds them answerable at his bar for their sins.

Again : impartiality is an attribute of God ; impar^
tiality requires that, if any are saved, all should be ;
therefore (since it is admitted that some will be) , all

198 Satan's deviges and

mast be saved. But the minor premise is a most
absurd falsehood. Impartiality requires only that
the offer of salvation, with its conditions, should be
the same for all ; and then, that all men should be
treated exactly according to their characters.

The true argument from God's love stands thus :
It is the dictate of infinite love and mercy to save
every one that will comply with the just and indis-
pensable conditions of salvation; God's love and
mercy are infinite ; therefore, he will save every one
who repents of sin, believes the gospel, and submits
to the divine authority ; in other words> he will save
all whom he consistently can save. Any larger infer-
ence than this from the love of God is totally false
and illogical.

Again : it is unreasonable to suppose that the
punishment of sin will be materially longer than the
time required to commit it; sin is the work of a
moment, or of a brief lifetime ; therefore, its punish-
ment will not be eternal. Falsehood lurks in both
these premises. In the first place, there is no rela-
tion between the time required to commit the sin and
its evil desert. All common sense forbids us to naeas-
ure the guilt of firing a city by the moment of time
required to do ik

But, moreover, sin in its essence, as distinguished
from the external act, has the element of eternity in
it, and is not the work of a moment, or of a brief life-
time, at all. Stealing is the determination to appro-

THE beueveb's viotoby. 199

priate to yourself what belongs to another ; and this
for all time. It is the mind's settled and continued
choice. It can never end except by repentance, con-
fession, and conversion ; and so the endless punish-
ment of unrepented sin will only run parallel with
the sin itself.

Again : modern skepticism reasons thus : God has
a universal law of progress and d^veSiopment, from
lower to higher, for all his creation capable of such
advancenaent ; man, of course, belongs to tiie creation,
and is capable of progress ; therefore, mankind will uni-
versally progress from the low state of sin to the com-
plete purity and righteousness attainable in heaven.
The Satanic element may be easily detected in this
reasoning. We know of no law by which it is cer-
tain that all men must and will advance from sin to
holiness. There is an utter destitution of evidence
that any moral influences whatever can necessitate the
development oi men Iq virtue. Men, by their consti-
tutions, are as capable of progressing in wickedness
as in holiness ; and they do progress in the direction
of their silpreme choices. All observation and expe-
rience, as well as Scripture, proves thaf evil men
and seducers wax worse and worse," and that they
do often, under the best possible moral influences,
harden and corrupt their moral natures.

Again : many are being led into grievous error by
an argument which stands thus: the '* death," the
^'destruction," the ^perishing," or '' burning up " of

200 SATAN'S DEVICES.

men, signifies the utter and endless extinction of their
being ; the Bible teaches and experience proves that
the wicked will ''die/' be ''destroyed," will "perish,"
and be " burned up ; " therefore, the wicked will be
utterly annihilated. But the major premise is pal-
pably false. No such meaning is given now, nor
ever has been, in any part or age of the world, to the
term deaths or any of its synonyms. The continued
existence of men after death has been the belief of
the race from the earliest periods. It was the faith
of the Egyptians before the days of Moses. The
Hebrews held the same view. The continued exist-
ence of men in another life was so real to them, that a
law, with the penalty of death, was required to pre-
vent their substitution of the supposed counsels of the
departed for the commandments of God.

But our chapter is suflGiciently extended. We have
said enough, perhaps, to put the reader on his guard
against Satan as a philosopher, theologian, and
logician.

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE ALLIES OF SATAN.
The devil and his angels. — McUt, 26 : 41.

It is but natural to suppose that Satan will employ
all the agents and instrumentalities he can, animate
and inanimate, in this and other worlds, for the fur-
therance of his malign purposes. The Bible repre-
sents the fallen angels as his allies, and wicked men
on the earth as his servants.

The brief consideration of a few important princi-
ples will help to make clear the subject of this chap-
ter — the allies of Satan.

First, then, sin is a unit. The law of God, which
it violates, demands but one thing. That can be
expressed in one, ten, or ten thousand specific com-
mandments. Christ summed it up in two precepts ;
Paul enunciated it by the one word. Love. That
simple love which treats God as supreme in excel-
lence, and in authority over us, and which practically
regards the interests of our fellow-man as equal to
oui* own, fulfills it. Each possible specific sin is but
a transgression of this one principle.

Again : the forms of sin are innumerable. The

(201)

202 Satan's devices and

wrong state of the mind, which the moral law forbids,
may, with equal facility, express itself in all sorts of
wrong outward deeds ; as, on the other hand, the
right state of the mind, which the same law enjoins,
may manifest itself by all the right acts which have
ever been put forth on earth or in heaven. .

Again : the radical state of mind in all transgress-
ors, on earth or in hell, is the same, however numer-
ous, or widely different, their outward acts of sin
may be* There may be great constitutional differ-
ences among men, giving rise to endless varieties of
outward development ; there may, as in the case of
the young ruler, be a natural beauty of character,
vailing and seeming almost to overcome the deep-
seated selfish greed within; or there may be the
undisguised and repulsive accompaniments which
marked a Herod and a Nero ; and yet all may pro-
ceed from the same fountain of natural selfishness.
The thief has his way of securing his selfish ends ; the
liar has his ; and so have the moralist, the devotee of
fashion, the amiable worldling, and every unre-
generate man. This is clearly the doctrine of the
Bible. '* They are all gone aside, they are altogether
become filthy; there is none that doeth good; no,
not one" (Ps. 14: 12)* ''Whosoever shall keep
the whole law [outwardly], and yet offend in one
point, he is guilty of all'' (James 2: 10), because
his supremely selfish purpose or will, which deliber-
ately breaks a single commandment, involves the

THE believer's VICTORY. 203

violation, in spirit, of all moral precepts. This is
the bitter fountain from which all transgression flows.

Again : all forms of sin are radically allied to, and
in sympathy with each other. In a war of aristocracy
against democracy, ariatocrats, the world over, will
be in sympathetic alliance with their warring breth-
ren; for their own principles are involved in the
struggle ; and they will, as far as their local selfish
interests will allow, build them iron-clads, loan them
money, create favorable public sentiment, turn truth
into lies and lies into truth to strengthen their hands
and weaken their opponents, and do, in short, what-
ever they can to sustain their friends and keep the
people down. It will even make little difference
under what form of government they may live, or by
what oaths and treaties they may be bound. And so,
universally, all forms of sin and of virtue are, in the
nature of the case, in intimate fellowship with each
other.

Again : all sin is against God as the rightful Sov-
ereign of the universe. And so identical in principle
are the interests of all moral beings, that it is impos-
sible to sin against one without sinning against all ;
and David could say to his Maker truly, " Against
thee, thee onlyj have I sittned, and done ttiis evil in
thy sight;'' and Jesus could declare, "Inasmuch as
ye have done it unto one of the least of these my
brettiren, ye have done it unto me."

Again : the alliance between the Devil and hid

204 SATAN'S DEVICES AND

angels is an alliance against God, and all beings
over whose interests the moral law spreads its segis
— an alliance formed by the force of homogeneous
principles, by the action of the natural impulse to
fortify, strengthen, and protect ourselves, and by
virtue of those laws of our being which spontaneously
impel us to take part with those who are in fellow-
ship and sympathy with us, in thought, feeling, and
purpose. Chemical affinities are not more imvarying
than are moral and spiritual ones. Our mental and
spiritual states have an attracting and a repelling
power, but faintly shadowed forth by those of the
material world.

Again : whether Satan be an absolute sovereign in
his dominions, or a representative one, elected by
the parliament of hell, his s,ubjects are all made such
by their own free choice and preference. The alli-
ance between them is, therefore, intimate and power-
ful. His servants are known, in the Bible, as his
children. He is their father and their god. They
trust in him; they adopt his principles; they obey
and imitate him. They cleave to him, in spite of
the remonstrances of reason and conscience, and the
authority and infinite love of God. They credit his
word rather than that of Him who can not lie. They
serve their father with a zeal worthy of a better son-
ship, and that, while they know full well that they
are trampling upon the blood of Chiist, and exposing
themselves to his eternal anathema. The alliance.

THE believer's victoby. 205

indeed, is not lijrmal, as between states, but, being a
thing of life and of sympathetic gravitation, it is even
more radical and effective.

If these principles are correct, it follows tiiat every
miregenerate sinner in the moral universe is in alli-
ance with Satan* Supremely selfish men on earth
are as really his allies as if they were in the spirit
world doing his bidding. They do not perform the
same service as his disembodied angels, but they
build his theatei's, they run his distilleries, they
oppress the poor, they tempt the weak, they pervert
justice, and, in the place of true religion, they do
but make a "fair show in the flesh." Paul affirms
that "the poison of asps is under their lips," that
their "mouth is full of cursing and bitterness," that
" their feet are swift to shed blood," and that " de-
struction and misery are in their ways." In that
mightiest war known in the world, in which Satan
leads his hosts against the Redeemer of mankind, to
annihilate the principles which shone in his life, and
which he sealed with his blood on Calvary, all the
rejecters of Christ are the inflexible allies of his great
enemy, the Devil. They will not have Christ to
reign over them ; they oppose him with the whole
force of their example ; they spurn the invitations of
his love and mercy. The Bible clearly asserts the
moral hostility of the unregenerate to Christ. They
"hate him," and that, "without a cause." "The car-
nal mind is enmity against God." Kepresentative
14

206 Satan's devices and

men cried out against him, and said,^ Crucify him,
crucify him;" and then, that their cry might be
heard, welcomed the guilt of the unparalleled crime,
as the awful inheritance of themselves and their chil-
dren forever (Matt. 27 : 25). The deed was done in
order that, in the strong language of Cicero, — ^ab
ocuUs, auribusque et omni cogitatione hominum remo-
vendum essey^* — the man might be removed from the
sight, hearing, and thought of eveiy one. It is not
certain that Satan has any other allies who can serve
him as well on thie earth as do they who trample upon
the body of the Son of God, and count the blood of
his covenant an unholy thing, and do despite unto
the Spirit of grace (Heb. 10: 29).

All institutions and corporations which, instead of
basing themselves upon the general good, organize
the selfishness of men, and give efficiency to that, are
powerful instrumentalities in alliance with Satan.
Corrupt governments, which oppress the poor, which
turn away judgment backward, allow justice to stand
afar off, and truth to fall in the street, so that equity
can not cuter (Is. 59 : 14), are fearful allies of Satiui.
They arc the destructive beasts which appear in
apocaly[)tic vision, with numerous horns, and iron
teeth, and breath of fire and smoke, to wound and
slay in the earth, and fill it with blasphemies. Still
worse, if possible, is a great ecclesiastical institution,
by which the supreme selfishness of men is organized
into the forms of false religion. With such, the cor-

THE believer's victoby. 207

rupt kings of the earth commit fornication, and the
inhabitants of the world are made drunk with the
wine furnished at the guilty banquet (Rev. 17 : 2).
The destructive power of human depravity becomes
immensely increased, when, by such establishments,
it is combined and centralized.

All systems of infidelity and of unsound philosophy
which prevent the " manifestation of the truth " as it
is in Christ Jesus, are to be regarded as powerful
forces in alliance with Satan.

All that, in man's nature, habits, and circumstances,
which Satan can use for the furtherance of his ma-
licious purposes, must be viewed in the same way.
If one has a corrupt imagination, a dishonest judg-
ment, a proud heart, a self-will ; if one has a tongue
which is " set on fire of hell," which ** walketh through
the earth," and ** deviseth mischief like a razor ; " if
one has a vicious propensity for the bottle, the weed,
the dice, or the cards, — he is an ally of Satan, both
against himself and all others who can be reached by
his example.

But let it not be supposed that the believer's salva-
tion is put in jeopardy, even by the combined power
of Satan and his' allies. Out of Christ, the case is,
indeed, hopeless. In him, it is far otherwise. The
Captain of our salvation, omnipotent himself, has
abundant allies in the work of our redemption.
Every holy mind in the universe is with him ; every
truth, every conscience, every attribute of man's J

208 Satan's devices.

higher nature, is on his side. The experience of all
ages works with him ; an innumerable * - cloud of wit-
nesses" confirms his gospel; *^all power is given
unto him ; " all knowledge and wisdom are his ; all
agencies, willingly or by his overruling, shall minis^
ter to the truth, and he can not fail to carry into
complete and glorious execution the purposes of his
love and mercy.

But every man must decide for himself the
solemn question whether he will be an eternal ally
of Satan, to be cast with him into "^the lake of
fire," whatever it may be, or become a friend and
follower of Christ, and a joint heir with him to the
everlasting throne of peace and righteousness, and to
all the glories of his kingdom forever. The issue is
momentous ! Let every man stand in awe before it,
and calmly form that decision by which he would
have his eternal destiny settled.

CHAPTER XXV.

SATAN THB FOE OF OUB BANCTIFICATION AKD 6B0WTH 111

GBACE.

Even as Christ loved the chureh, and gave himself for it, that he might
cleanse it with the washing of water hj the word; that he might present it to
himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but )
that it should be holy and without blemish. —^A. 5 : 25-27.

During the last twenty-five years, unwonted atten-
tion has been given to the subject of Christian sanc-
tification, or the '^Higher Christian Life." Many,
quickened by the discussion, have "left the things
which are behind," and advanced from Moses, as their
teacher, to Christ and the Spirit, — from the "bondage
of the law " to the " liberty of the gospel." It is a
hopeful sign of the times that there is an increasing
demand for light on this subject. Much that is
inspiring has been written ; but, instead of exhausting
the subject, and satisfying the public mind, it has
only opened a mine which invites further explora-
tion.

The writer has supposed that this doctrine might
be presented from such a stand-point as would make
its truth obvious to Christians of all denominations,
clear it from prejudice, and commend it to the joy-»
ful acceptance of all the friends of Christ.

(209)

210 Satan's devices and

Tho necessity of a higher standard of holiness
admits of but one opinion. Whatever then, may help
to make clear the way to a higher religious attainment,
to show ''what is the greatness of his power to
US-ward who believe," and so to counteract the efforts
of Satan to hold the church in bondage to the world,
ought certainly to be set forth and earnestly pondered.

In order to expose Satan as the foe of our more
complete spiritual development, we must first con-
sider what is the divine method of sanctifying the
fhurch. This we propose. to imdertake in several
successive sections.

Section I.

Theories of the Different Schools consideredy and
shown to differ only in Speculative^ not Essential
Points.

All agree that God requires men to be holy. " Be
ye holy, for I am holy," is the changeless command.
But there are, growing out of divergent systems of
philosophy, three principal methods of interpreting
the law of God as the standard of holiness, which
give rise to different theories of sanctification.

One class of theologians hold, that man, by the
fall, has lost a portion of his ability to love and obey
God, and is, therefore, positively unable to obey per-
fectly the divine law. If a man were to devote to
God all the power he has, he would yet fall short of

THE believer's VICTOEY. 211

obedience to the law, and remain unholy. But since
'' without holiness no man shall see the Lord," how is
any one to enter heaven ? It is replied, by the impu^
tation of Christ's righteousness to the believer.

Another class of theologians, with the same under-
lying philosophy of inability to meet the full claims
of the moral law, adopt the idea, as the writer under-
stands, that God has set aside the original precept of
his law as the standard of holiness, and given instead
thereof, in the gospel, another law leveled to man's
present capacities. Obedience to this rule being
possible, it is required as the condition of entering
heaven, and is holiness.

Another class hold that the law of God adapts
itself to all moral agents, whatever their capacities.
If they have, by sin, destroyed a part of their power
to love God, the law does not still require what they
have no power to render. It is insisted that obliga-
tion and ability are equal ; that the one precept comes
to each moral agent in the universe, archangel,
angel, fallen angel, man, child, saint or sinner,
feeble minded or strong, and says, "Love God with
all thy heart, with all thy might, and with all thy
strength." The law is a unit, and unchangeable, in
the sense of requiring the devotion to God of the
whole loving power of each of its innumerable sub-
jects. It is variable, in the sense of requiring diflfer-
ent measures of love and service, according to the
different capacities of moral Tjeings. To obey the
law in this sense, it is said, is to be holy.

212 SATAN'S DEVICES AND

Now, these several schools agree^ that sinners are
to be justified before God only on the ground of
Christ's righteousness^ never on the ground of their
own holiness. It is not material whether this fact be
named the doctrine of imputation^ or justification by
the righteousness of Christ. They agree also in the
essential faet^ that the condition of salvatfon Is, that
the whole heart, all the loving power a man possesses ,
shall be unreservedly and trustfully surrendered to
God ; no part of this price may be kept back. The
condition is the same in justification, the beginning
of the process of salvation, and in sanctification, the
carrying forward and completion of the work. The
inability to do more is no excuse for refusing to do
this.

Princeton, Andover, Oberlin, Newton, and Middle-
town make precisely the same issue with the sinner.
He has broken God's law, and is dead in sin. He
can be justified only by devoting his whole being to
God, accepting Christ as his Lord and Master, and
trusting him for pardon and life. They would also
instruct the Christian seeking for sanctification, in
the same words : ^ Devote your whole being to God ;
accept Christ as your sanctifier by the Holy Spirit,
and wait upon him by faith for the blessing." They
agree as to the thing, but difier in their philosopl^
of it. But this is not material.

Here it should be said, that Christians are not
called upon to test their characters by either inter-

THE belieyeb's viotoby. 213

pretation of the law, technically considered. We are
" not under the law," that we must answer directly to
its claims, but *' under grace," that we should be jus-
tified by faith in Christ. The practical question for
us is this : Are we truly in Christy through compli-
ance with the terms on which he promises salvation ?
If we are, all is well ; for he is to us the ''end of the
law," and no condemnation, even from Sinai, shall
reach us. Our acceptance with the Mediator is per-
fect. Here, all schools agree.

On the condition necessary to discipleship, Christ
undertakes the work of our salvation ; to fashion these
hearts of ours into temples for his own occupancy,
and to make us meet for the inheritance of the saints.
Jesus is now the potter, and 'the believer the willing
clay. Our salvation, from its incipiency on to its
eternally abounding and expanding results in holiness,
shall now be wrought in us by the Holy Spirit, who
shall change us from glory to glory into the divine
image.

Section H.

All Attainments in the Divine Life, the Result of

Knowing God in the Heart.

If this proposition be true, it will help to simplify
and render clear the whole subject of sanctification.
Let us carefully consider it in the light of the Bible.

The New Covenant, the highest and best God has
ever made with man, is essentially a promise of life»

214 SATAN'S DEVICES AND

through the knowledge of himself. **I will put my
laws into their minds, and write them in their hearts ;
and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me
a people," is simply a promise of God that he will so
reveal to his people his laws, his truth, his character,
that they shall become the ruling forces of their
moral being. He will so reveal himself^ that they
will not have to teach each other, saying, ^Know the
Lovd^^ and that they ^ ahall know him from the least
to the greatest,^ independently of the imperfect teach-
ings of men, and by the sure light of his Spirit. All
the spiritual treasures of the New Testament come,
therefore, from knowing the Lord.

Jesus, in his intercessory prayer (John 17:3),
says, "And this is life eternal, that they might know
thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou
hast sent." Eternal life here does not mean eternal
existence, for knowledge has no tendency to secure
that. The wicked, men and devils, exist, but they
have not this blessed life. The passage gives us
Christ's definition of eternal life, and makes it iden-
tical with, or inseparable from knowing God. Its
elements, like those of God's own life, are, doubtless,
moral purity and holy blessedness. It includes all
gracious affections toward God, love, faith, and obe-
dience, in all their modifications. It could not exist,
therefore, except as the result of knowing God.
Spiritual life, we are assured by the apostle, origi-
ktes not from '* a corruptible seed, but an incorrupti-

THE believer's viotoey. 2i5

ble, earen the word of God, which liveth and ahideth
forever." In order to its Toeing to us the seed of
spiritual life, the word of Grod must, of course, be
made known to the soul.

The new man is renewed*^ in knowledge; and to
" grow in grace " is made synonymous with -growing
" in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ " (2 Pet.
3:18; Col. 3:10). '^

Spiritual infancy and childhood are synonymous
with being ^ unskillful in the word of righteousness^^
while spiritual age and maturity are ascribed only to
such as have their spiritual *^ senses exercised to dis^
cern knowledge^^ to know good and evil (Heb. 5 :
12-14).

According to Peter (2 Pet. 1 : 3-5), God, by his
divine power, gives us — works into our experience —
^^ all things that pertain to life and godliness through
the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and
virtue.^ Through this knowledge, all the exceeding
great and precious promises become ours, to make us
partakers of the divine moral nature, and to deliver
us from the corruption that is in the world through
lust. The promises become life-giving through the
knowledge, by the Spirit, of the Promiser.

The passage in 2 Cor. 4 : 4-6, is very conclusive
under this head. It represents Satan as blinding the
minds of men through unbelief, " lest the light of the
glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God,"
and in whom the ^ light of the knowledge of the glory

216 Satan's devices and

of God " shines, should reach, and save men from sin
and death.

Isaiah saw this ti'uth when he said (53 : 11), ^By
his knowledge" — i. e., knowledge of him, ''shall my
righteous servant justify many.** Jeremiah under-
stood it too, when he makes God say (3 : 15), ''And
I will give you pastors according to my heart, which
shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.'"
Paul reflects this view when, in his own experience,
he counts all things but loss for the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord ; and where he
declares to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 4 : 15), that he has
begotten them through the gospel, which he had made
known unto them. The apostle John is full of the
doctrine also, that he that hath the knowledge of the
Son hath life, and he that hath it not hath not life.

On the other hand, Paul (Eph. 4 : 18) affinns that
we are alienated from the life of God through the
ignorance of him, in which sin has involved us ; thus
showing that the loss of the true knowledge of God
brings the death, as the receiving of it, through the
Spirit, restores the life promised in the gospel.

To be without God and without hope in the world
is to be strangers from the covenants of promise ; i. e.,
to be spiritually ignorant of them (Eph. 2 : 12).

The whole heathen world was given over to cor-
ruption and reprobation, on the simple ground that
they were unwilling to retain God in their knowledge
(Bom. 1 : 28) ; and this not in an arbitrary way, but

THE believer's VIC5TOBY. 217

because such a result was unavoidable where the
knowledge of God was not cherished as a living
and saving moral force. When Christ comes in
flaming fire, it will be to take "vengeance on those
that know not Ood^^ (2 Thess. 1:8), showing that
their willing ignorance of him is the sin which in-
volves their ruin.

The whole scheme of salvation beautifully harmo-
nizes with this view. The object of God, in revela-
tion, is to acquaint his creatures with himself, that
they may be at peace (Job 22 : 21). He leads them
through the wilderness that he may instruct them.
He reveals himself in his word and works, that men
may know him and live. He laments over his peo-
ple that they do not know him, not even as well as
^ the ox knoweth his owner, or the ass his master's
crib," that they do not consider (Isa. 1:3).

The mission of the Spirit, as we shall soon more
fully see, is essentially to reveal to the eye of faith
the things of Christ as the means of molding the
hearts and lives of men into his image from glory to
glory, as they reach one degree of knowledge after
another. '^It dotii not yet appear what we shall be,"
for here we only know in part ; and the measure of
our life is limited by the measure of our spiritual
knowledge; but when he shall appear, and we see
him as he is, the fullness of our knowledge of him
will then give us the completed life of love and
blessedness, of holiness and happiness in heaven.

218 Satan's devices and

Section III.

TTiis Knowledge the Exdvsive Gift of the Spirit —
its Positive and Assuring Ifature.

God alone is competent to reveal himself. Unaided
human faculties, siu^ely, can not reach the saving
knowledge of the Lord. The Scriptures abundantly-
show that to impart this knowledge is the special
mission of the Holy Spirit.

• When Peter responded to our Lord's question
(Matt. 16 : 13-17), by saying, '^Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God," Jesus replied, ^ Blessed
art thou, Simon Bar-jona ; for flesh and blood hath
not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, which is in
heaven." God had himself, then, given to Peter a
knowledge of the Messiah which man could not im-
part ; yea, which he could not gain, in the use of his
mere human faculties, by holding intercourse with
him in the flesh.

Paul says (1 Cor. 12 : 3), that '^no man can say
that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost;"
meaning, evidently, that no man can say it of his
own experimental knowledge, except he has learned
it of the Spirit.

The great point which Paul makes, in the second
chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians, is, that
the things of God can be known only by the Spirit
of God. In his natural state, man can not discern

THE believer's viotort. 219

them ; they are even foolishness to him until spiritu-
ally discerned.

We have, in a former chapter, dwelt upon the ob-
vious fact that it is naturally impossible for one being
personally to reveal another, and most of all, for a
finite one so to make known the Infinite. We con-
clude, therefore, both with reason and revelation,
that God himself is the great and only ultimate source
of that divine, life-giving knowledge, on which, from
first to last, our salvation depends.

This knowledge of God, which he, by his Spirit,
gives, is, moreover, of a positive nature; it is knowU
edge. The difference between knowing and surmis-
ing is very great and radical. A man may suppose
himself to be the heir of a large fortune, and the
hope that he is so will afford him more or less satis-
faction ; but when he knows it, as he knows he lives,-
the legacy at once enters into all his experiences, and
gives him the consciousness of wealth. All sense of
poverty disappears, and the good which money can
bestow ' becomes a matter of natural and habitual
enjoyment.

Now, this knowledge of our inheritance in Christ is
what the church most of all n^eds. It is what she
can and ought to have. It is by the same laws of
mind, that, when God, in all his blessed, life-giving
relations to ourselves, is made known to us, his pre-
cious truths enter into all our experiences, into our
very life, shape our characters, and determine all our

222 Satan's devices and

will die, and the soul shall say with Job, ^ I know that
my Redeemer liveth,** and shall feel the glorious
pulsations of eternal life throbbing through all the
channels of its being.

The Spirit may, of course, employ all methods of
communicating the things of God to the soul. He
may exhibit them directly to the eye of the reason, or
through the written word, or by his providences;
through his works, as we look on flower or dew-drop
below, or the stars above, or, through our processes
of reasoning.

When the disciples asked Jesus how he could mani-
fest himself to them, and not be seen by the world,
he explained the promise by saying, that he and the
Father would come and make their abode with them.
In other words, the manifestation should be as real as
that of the friends with whom we dwell. They did
not understand from the promise of the manifestation
how much it meant ; but when it came on the day of
Pentecost, they knew it all.

Human minds may, and they often do, know each
other with an assurance which results in a happy
unity of trust and love. Let it not be doubted, then,
that the divine and hiunan mind may know each
other with a more perfect assurance, and with far
higher and richer resolts.

TH£ believer's yigtort. 223

Section IV.

Conditions of Receiving this Life-giving Knowledge
of God. — A Theological Difficulty met.

Of faith, as the gi'eat Bible coDdition of salvation,
we shall speak hereafter. We wish now to call
attention to some things which are included in faith,
but which need a distinct notice.

Thero must, then, be in the mind a substantially
correct idea of Christianity, as appears from the
sketch in Chapter XI. The right knowledge of God
logically produces the true Christian life in the soul,
and no other. But if a man's idea is, that piety con-
sists in a mere hope of heaven, in pleasurable religious
emotions, in good wishes toward God and man, or in
the performance of certain external duties, instead of
a real moral oneness with God, he will unconsciously
modify the knowledge of God as it comes to his
mind, to make it harmonize with his idea, and pro-
mote what he calls piety. He will deceive himself,
and build on the sand. If, on the other hand, he has
the true idea, the knowledge of God as he is will
meet his case, and secure its own legitimate result,
the true Christian life. We must, then, start with the
conception, that to serve and honor God, to do his
will, to reflect his truth, to accept the suflering and
the blessing he may appoint us, with himself f 01 our
portion^ is the one and only business of jw^ exist-

224 SATAN'S DEYIOES AKD

ence. Every thing else is subordinate to this, and
included in it.

There must be intense hungering and thirsting
after the knowledge of God. ^ If thou criest aftei
knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understand
ing, — if thou seekest her as silver, and searches! for
her as for hid treasures, — then shalt thou understand
the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God
(Prov. 2 : 3-5). It is well known how eagerly men
seek after gold. When, in like way, they put their
whole heart upon finding the saving knowledge of
God, they have this express promise that they shall
find it.

There must be also the teachable spirit — a readiness
to obey all truth as soon as discovered. The pupil
must bow implicitly to the Divine Teacher in the ex-
ercise of a child-like and reverent spirit, for this is the
key which opens the door to the incoming of knowl-
edge. The will must be submis^ve and true.

Some theologians may start a difficulty hero thus :
To have the will brought into this state of submission
is only possible as the result of knowing God, and
yet you make it the condition of knowing him. Do
you not, then, require salvation as the condition of
salvation ? If you say the will must first be submis-
sive in order to saving knowledge*, and if only this
very knowledge can bring the will into this state,
then how is salvation possible?

Reply : The submission of the will to the light it

THE believer's VICTORY. 225

has is not the whole of salvation, any more than the
determination of a hungry man to eat offered food is
the whole of salvation to the body from starvation.
The food must be eaten and assimilated. Again :
that special knowledge of God which gives eternal
life is not the only knowledge of God which the soul
needs, and to which the w^ill must bow. Every mind
has some light by nature ; and we know the condition
of having more is, that we submit to and follow that.
The promise is, that we shall know savingly "if we
follow on to know." The Spirit has a double minis-
try. One part of his mission is to give a knowledge
of God which works condemnation, convicts of sin,
sweeps away excuses, destroys self-^'ighteous hope,
induces repentance and turning to God. This done,
another and higher part of his mission is to take of
the things of Jesus and show them unto us — to mani-
fest God in Christ to the inner man, his tinith, his love,
in a way to put us in possession of the very life of
God from which sin has alienated us, thus completing
the process of our spiritual birth. The first part of
the Spirit's work is the condition of the second.
According to the distinction of President Edwards,
the former is the Spirit's work on the mind, the latter
in it. To know some things about God, works re-
pentance, submission, hope; to know other things,
gives life, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

Not only does the mode of the Spirit with the sin-
ner change, at the point of submission and repentance.

226 Satan's devices and

but the radical position of the sinner himself is
changed. He occupies an entirely new stand-point.
To that which he now sees, he was blind before.
Truth has displaced falsehood from his mind; all
God's truths, all the precious exhibitions of his love
and goodness in his works -and word, have now their
proper adjustment before his mind; and, as the
Spirit lays open to his inner view their deep and
eternal significance, and gives him something of
God's own conception of benevolence and mercy, the
currents of eternal life flow sweetly, or roll deeply,
or surge resistlessly through all the domain of his
moral and spiritual being.

Too much importance can not be attached to main-
taining an inflexibly obedient will, as the condition of
all spiritual life and knowledge.

Secjtion V.

The Relations of Revealed Truth to our (rrowing

Sanctification.

The prayer of Christ for his people is, ^^ Sanctify
them through thy truth ; thy word is truth." The
word here referred to is, doubtless, the written reve-
lation.

In considering this topic, we must discriminate
between the truth as a mere form of words, and as a
moral power workiug the sanctification of the soul.
Words, in themselves, are mere signs which are used

THE believer's VICTORY. 227

to give expression to thought, and feeling, and pur-
pose. When men use words, a hmnan meaning only
is put into them, and they express only what is finite,
weak, and imperfect. When God uses them, they
express and convey his infinite thought and purpose.
'* Let there be light " gave expression to the divine
omnipotence, and created the worlds. His word,
when he issues it, opens the sea or closes it ; it exe-
cutes his will. It carries with it the whole mind-
force of Jehovah.

The Bible is written in the language of men ; and
the subtle influence of unbelief leads them, too often,
to attach only a human significance to it. They read
it as if it expressed only what one finite mind can
express to another ; and thus the gospel ceases to be
the power of God unto salvation — the promises of
Christ weigh and mean no more than the promises of
men. The Bible reveals the truth as far as mere
words can do it. But something is demanded
beyond the words themselves. Let God use these
words of Holy Scripture, let the Divine Spirit set
them vibrating on our mental ear as with the voice of
the Almighty, so that they shall express and manifest
to the soul God's own state of mindj his love, his
infinite power and excellence, his nearness, his rela-
tions to us and ours to him, and then they carry with
them an infinitude of spiritual and saving energy, of
which the soul partakes unto its sanctification. The
gospel is po longer the word of man, but tbp

228 Satan's devices and

power and wisdom of God himself to all who re-
ceive it.

The Scriptures, then, consist of a collection of
words as symbols, through which God seeks to reveal
himself, and lay open his mind and heart to men, for
their sanctification. But these words or symbols
become effective to this end only when the Holy
Spirit is heard speaking through them to the heart of
faith.

Section VI.

The Relation between knowing God by the Spirit^
and the Enjoyment of the Life of Holiness.

In the first place, it will not be doubted that
God has constituted us for the enjoyment of spir-
itual blessedness, of life in all its fullness and
perfection.

We know that he has made the human, in the
image and likeness of the divine mind. Our mental
and moral faculties are so like God's, that we may
be in our measure, as he calls us to be, like him. We
can reason with him, prove him, think his thoughts,
and conform to his will. The same things, therefore,
which constitute the moral life, the holy blessedness
and purity of God, will, when attained, constitute
ours, To have the " life of God ^ is but to have his
state of mind. To live for the same end, to love
supremely what he so loves, to hate what he hates,
to prefer and receive his thoughts, feelings, aiid pui>

THE believer's VICTORY. 229

poses as our own, will as certainly give us eternaj
life, as they give it to him.

And, again, the object he has in manifesting him-
self to us is, evidently, to beget in us, in our meas-
ure, his own character and experiences. He aims
to make us partakers of his will, his motives, his
ends, and, so, of the "divine nature." The especial
work of the Spirit is, by giving us the knowledge of
God, to change us into his moral image and life, from
glory to glory, and thus to fit us to enjoy him for-
ever.

From all this it follows conclusively, that, so far
forth as we receive the true knowledge of God obe-
diently from the Holy Spirit, the enjoyment of the
promised eternal life is a fixed and glorious result ;
we must become joyful partakers of his holiness, his
patience, his love, his blessedness.

Section VH.

The Natural and Life-giving Effect upon the Mind
of knowing^ from Heaven^ certain Definite Things
concerning God and ourselves — concerning His
Relations to us and ours to Him.

We have just seen that the knowledge of God, by
the Spirit, carries with it the elements of eternal life
to the soul. Let us, then, consider the natural
result of so knowing certain specific things.

Take, fii'st, the knowledge that our sins are all for-

230 Satan's devices and

given, and blotted from the book of God's remem-
brance. If the way of the Spirit with a man has
been to penetrate him deeply with a knowledge of
his guilt ; if he has seen its exceeding sinfulness ;
if the law has come home to him as it came to Paul,
annihilating his self-righteousness, and impaling his
trembling soul upon the points of its burning wrath ;
if he has been made to see himself in the men who
cried, ^'Crucify him,' crucify him," or in him who
struck the death-spear to the Savior's heart; if he
has seen the great river of righteous blood, which,
from the days of Abel, sin has shed, flooding his
soul with all its guilt because he had rejected and
despised Him who alone could stay that flood ; and
then learns, from the Holy Spirit, that his sin is all
forgiven him, and washed away in that Redeemer's
blood, — he will naturally have an experience of the
greatest intensity. To know that he — such a wretch —
is redeemed and adopted into the family of God, and
scaled for eternal glory, must go far to reconstruct
his character, and develop in his soul a new and
divine life.

Take, again, the simple fact of God's loving and
abiding presence, sweetly manifested as a reaUty to
the soul's inner consciousness. The result is, that we
know and feel, that we live, and move, and have our
being in him, as the body lives, and moves, and has
its being in the atmosphere which surrounds it. The
soul communes with him as with an intimate, present

THE believer's VICTORY. 231

friend. Prayer is no longer an eflfbrt to address God
in the distant heavens, but is as natural, and easy,
and spontaneous as the communion, face to face, of
loving friends. It is not limited to particular hours
and forms, but goes on very much as two kindred
and loving minds, dwelling together, will, by the
laws of want and suggestion, and by the very ten-
dency of love to communicate, be always expressing
themselves to each other.

This presence of God may sometimes dazzle and
almost blind the soul with its effulgence, as with
Moses when God showed him something of his glory.
But, generally, the Lord will so manifest his pres-
ence that it will be to the soul, what the air is to the
body, the natural, healthy, life-giving, and most
satisfying element in which it is possible to live.
When, by this manifestation, the believer's heaii;
becomes the Shekinah wherein Jehovah dwells, it
must have a life rich with all heavenly elements.

In this knowledge of God's glorious presence,
there is a power to save of immeasurable mag-
nitude. Nothing can so nearly extinguish temptation
as this. It fortifies the soul at all points ; it over-
comes that unsatisfied state of the mind which is the
hope and strength of the adversary ; it removes the
darkness of sin, and strips the disguises from the
father of lies. "Moses endured as seeing Hitn who
is invisible." It is in the felt absence of the Deliverer
that we are exposed to the rake of temptation. When

233 SATAN'S DEVICES AND

Jesus was taken by his murderers from the disciples,
so that they were " in that hour " deprived of his con-
scious and sympathizing presence, they all forsook
him and fled before the storm. They knew not yet
his invisible, spiritual nearness ; but, on the day of
Pentecost, when he was thus manifested to them,
one could chase a thousand, and two put ten thou-
sand to flight. Nothing could stand before them when
they knew God's presence as a wall of fire round
about and a glory overshadowing them.

When, in addition to this, God comes to be known
in his onmiscience, omnipotence, and eternity ; when
he discloses himself in his moral attributes, his infi-
nite benevolence and love, his wisdom, his justice,
his mercy, and his patience, there results to the
believer a fullness of life which makes him exclaim,
^ O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and
knowledge of God ! How unsearchable are his judg-
ments, and his ways past finding out I "

Take, again, that fact revealed in the gospel, that
God unites himself to us in all blessed relations, as
the branch is united to the vine ; that he makes his
own life the source and wasteless fountain of ours,
and ordains that, because he lives, we shall live also.
To know this oneness with him, by the Holy Spirit,
is full of immortality. It is no longer a cold, con-
structive union, formed by some spiritual mechanics,*
or by some abstract governmental arrangement,
which carries no living power with it, but a vital

THE believer's VICTORY. 233

reality in the soul's conscious life. We know our
espousals to God ; faith celebrates the marriage, and
we are in heaven, as it were, before the time. The
consciousness is blessed ! It is not a rag-picker
married to a millionnaire, and dwelling in his palace,
enjoying his smile and confidence, bearing his name,
sharing his wealth and his position, delighting in his
love, and resting under his protection; but, more
than that, a sinner who was all stained with guilt and
shame, now redeemed and washed in atoning blood,
and wedded to the King of heaven, dwelling in his
glorious banqueting house, enjoying his smile, bear-
ing his honored name and his seal, shielded by his
arm, and chosen as the object of his tenderest affec-
tion.

By virtue of this union, we are one with Christ as
he and the Father are one ; and the same glory which
the Father gave him, he gives to us. Jesus becomes
our ever-living Intercessor, our Prophet, and High-
Priest, our Surety, our Passover, our Advocate ; and
is "made of God unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption." And when all this
comes to be manifested to us by the Spirit, and we
learn, by his teaching, that "all the fullness of the
Godhead " dwells in Christ, that we may be " complete
in him," of course there results to the soul a life and
a blessedness which "passeth knowledge."

Take, still again, the Father's wonderful love to
the Son, on account of which he can and will bestoW

234 Satan's devices and

the richest of his blessings, without measure, upon
Christ's trustful and loving followers. To know this
by the Spirit is important in order to overcome the
tendency to make our own worthiness our plea at the
mercy-scat, and that we may apprehend the mfinite
weight there is in that argument, ^^for GhrisCs sake^
which we urge in all our prayers. Let us, on this
point, draw an illustration from a passage of

Sacred History.

The friendship of David and Jonathan was dis-
interested and beautiful. Jonathan gave up his own
claims to the throne, incurred the wrath of his father,
and periled his own life, to secure to David, whom
the Lord had appointed, the scepter of the kingdom.
David did not forget this kindness of his friend.
Soon after he was crowned, he gathered his court
around him, and inquired thus: "Is there any that
is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him
kindness for Jonathan's sake ? " The answer was
equivocal. He was merely told that there was still
living an old servant of Saul, by the name of Ziba.
The king at once ordered Ziba to be brought before
him. Fixing his eager eye upon him, David pressed
the question upon the servant : " Is there not yet any
of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness
of God unto him ?" Ziba, hesitatingly, stammered
out the fact, that Jonathan himself had a son yet

THE BEUBVEB'S VICTORY. 235

living, but he was lame in both his feet, unable to
stand, and unworthy of the king's notice. David
learned where he was, and immediately dispatched
an officer to bring him. When he came into the
royal presence, he fell on his face and did reverence.
The king addressed him by his name, Mephibosheth,
and said, "Fear not; for I will surely show thee
kindness, for Jonathan thy fe-ther's sake." Mephibo-
sheth bowed himself, and, as expressive of his sense
of unworthiness, said, **What is thy servant, that
thou shouldst look upon such a dead dog as I am ? "
But David heeded not his words ; he had found his
man, and was only thinking what expression he
could give of his love to Jonathan by blessiag his
poor, worthless, crippled son. And what does he
do? In the first place, he bestows upon him all the
property and possessions which had belonged to the
house of Saul ; and, not to encumber the poor man
with the care of them, he appoints Ziba, and his family,
and servants to manage the estates for Mephibosheth.
And in the second place, he ordains that Mephibo-
sheth himself shall dwell in Jerusalem, in the royal
family, and sit with the king at his table, as one of
the king's sons, as long as he lives (2 Sam. 9).

Thus did David illustrate his love to Jonathan ;
and the illastrr;tion is all the more orcible and sig-
nificant by reason of the miserable condition of
Meph.l:osheth.

My argument here is this : If David, on account of

236 Satan's devices and

his mere human and imperfect lore to Jonathan,
would bestow so great gifts upon poor, crippled
Mephiboshcth, as a testimony of that love, what may
wo not expect our Heavenly Father will do for us,
the lame and worthless Mephibosheths, disciples of
Jesus, on account of his infinite and perfect devotion
to his well-beloved and only begotten Son ? There
is no limit to what he will do. He will give us, not
merely what pertained to Saul and his house, but all
thhigs. Mark his words : " All things are yours ;
whether Paul, or ApoUos, or Cephas, or the world,
or life, or death, or things present, or things to come ;
all arc yours." "How shall he not with him freely
give us all things?" And more than this, he adopts
us into his fimiily, as the King's sons, joint-heirs
with the First Born himself, that we may eat our
meat at the royal table, at the King's r^ht hand for-
ever. Nor does he* heed the fact, that we are more
unworthy and worse wounded than was the son of
Jonathan.

Then, there was no special reason, outside of his
mere love to Jonathan, why David should thus attest his
affection for him. But there arc grave reasons, aside
from the impulse there is iu love to manifest itself,
why the Father should let the universe see his infi-
nite appreciation of his Son. His enemies have
denied his Deity, and maligned his character. They
have treated him as an impostor, as a deceiver, even
as a "prince of devils," and as wholly unworthy of

THE believer's VICTORY. 237

the confidence and affection of his creatures. They
have sought to alienate from his love and service,
his children, redeemed by his blood, and to rob him
of all his glory. When he was in the flesh, they
hated him and cursed him; and, that they might
cover his name with eternal infamy, and root his
memory out of the earth, they put him to the shame-
ful death of the cross. And shalJ not the Almighty
Father let those enemies and the whole universe see
how he regards his Son? Can he fail to do any
thing, in kind or degree, by which he can attest his
love to Jesus, and exalt his name above all other
names in earth or in heaven ? And surely there is no
way in which he can so fitly and forcibly show his love
to his Son, as by enriching with wealth incorruj)tible
the poor, crippled disciples of that Son who are still
struggling against his enemies and theirs on the
earth. When it shall be seen that the Father, for
ChrisVs sake^ concentrates all blessing, for time and
eternity, upon such poor Mephibosheths, setting them
upon his throne, and making his own glory appear
in them in its fullness, then hell will be confounded,
and every knee — willingly or unwillingly — will
bow, and every tongue confess that '' Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

The strength of God's moral government lies essen-
tially in the character of Christ ; for that character is
God's own, manifested as a power to mold his crea-
tures into his own moral likeness* All the issues of
16

238 Satan's devices and

•

that government over a universe of minds, therefore,
stand out as reasons to the heart of God for exalting
his only begotten Son. How certain it is, then, that,
for reasons altogether independent of our worthiness,
God will bestow upon us, as the disciples of Christ,
all things in earth and heaven, the giving of which
can testify his love toward his Son.

It seems to the writer, that the knowledge of these
things, by the Spirit, must be equivalent to a carte
blanche — a letter of credit — allowing us to draw
upon God, for Ckrisfs sake^ for whatever the true
interests of the soul, in its inner and higher life, can,
in any contingency, require. It brings to us the
'^fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ."

Consider, again, the Spirit's assurance of this one
principle and law of God's administration, that^aZZ
thiny/s .shall work together for good to them that love
God,^^ To /i'now this establishes one's feet upon solid
rock ; it gives a constant and universal victory to
faith. Docs your companion fall a.t your side? is the
babe plucked from your arms? has misfortune swept
away all your estate? You Imoiv all shall work for
ffood, and can easily smile through your tears, and
gratefully kiss the rod. Does Satan assault you with
temptation to tear you away from Jesus ? You can
cotjily look him in the eye, and say, "Satan, I know
you, and that you would destroy my soul. I have
no strength of my own to contend successfully with
you ; but the Holy Ghost has shown me, and I know

THE BELIEVER'S VICTORY. 239

that Jesus is my Deliverer, and that he will make all
things work together for mj'- good. The battle is not
mine, but his (2 Chron. 20: 15). If God Avill use
your temptations as polishing stones wherewith to
burnish my character, develop my faith, and give me
a fuller knowledge of himself, the gain wil be mine,
not yours." Thus the disciple can 'sing the pean of
victory even before the battle is fought.

The Bible is full of principles and truths, the
knowledge of which, by the Spirit, will, in like way,
fortify the soul, and open fountains in the deserts
and rivers in the dry places. In this way, all ''the
exceeding gi'eat and precious promises" become
words of life and power. Like the distributing pipes
for water and gas, in a great city, they carry the
water and light of life into all the departments of our
being. The promises are God's seals ; and when the
Holy Spirit writes (Heb. 8 : 10) on the heart of the
believer, " Into all places whithersoever thou goest,
I will.be with thee," he may travel round the world,
and carry with him every where the consciousness of
his Savior's presence. Let the Spirit say to the
believer, — as once he said to a young man, who,
with his heart full of light and love, and wondering
whether Jesus would abide with him, opened his
" Daily Food," and found this promise recorded for
the day, — " Unto your old age I am he ; and even
to hoar hairs will I carry you : I have made and I
will bear ; even 1 will carry and will deliver you "

(

240 Satan's devices and

(Is. 46 : 4) ; or this, " I will never, no, never leave
thee, nor forsake thee," and he will have no occasion
to go to Calvm to learn the doctrine of the saints'
perseverance ; he knows it from above. He is sealed^
and no man shall pluck him from his Father's hand.

The blessedness, which the spiritual knowledge of
these and other things innumerable gives to the soul,
is rich beyond the power of human language or
imagery to describe. The Celestial City of Bunyan,
the New Jerusalem of John, with all its gorgeous and
golden streets, its pearly gates and precious stones,
its crystal waters and trees of life, is but a shadowy
representation, after all, of the reality. It is as good
as material things can give ; but still the fact remains,
that "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor have
entered into the heait of man, the things which God
bath prepared for them that love him."

President Edwards has a beautiful description of
the soul enjoying these divine illuminations. It is
^ like a field or garden of God, with all manner of
pleasant flowers, enjoying a sweet calm, and the
gentle, vivifying beams of the sun — like such a
little flower as we see in the spring of the year, low
and humble on the ground, opening its bosom to
receive the pleasant beams of the sun's glory ; rejoi-
cing, as it were, in a calm rapture ; diflfusing around a
sweet fragrancy ; standing peacefully and lovingly in
the midst of other flowers round about, all, in like
manner, opening their bosoms to drink in the light
sun."

THE believer's VICTORY, 241

Section VIII.

The Law of Progress in this Divine ^ Saving Knowl-
edge; with a Sketch illustrating the Spirifs Meth-
od. — The ^Higher Christian Life " explained.

Nothing is more certain than that we gain spiritual
knowledge, as we do all other, by degrees. Many
lessons occupy the mind a long time, before we fully
know them. The Spirit hints at things and puts the
mind on inquiry ; and the hungry heart searches for the
truth as for hid treasures, and is blessed in searching.
Sometimes the Spirit will make knowledge break
in suddenly upon the mind, as the traveler, arrived
at some mountain top, is in an instant ravished with
a new and wonderful panorama ; at others, he causes
it to dawn after the manner of the sun's rising, dimly
at first, but with increasing power and glory till it
reaches the meridian.

Our advancement in the divine life will be, on the
whole, as our advancement in the spiritual apprehen-
sion of God and divine things. This may be taken as
the law of spiritual progress.

It makes a man a Christian to know Christ as for-
giving him his sins, and giving him hope of heaven
through his blood. In his conversion, a sinner sees
his lost condition, and casts himself trustingly and
unreservedly upon Christ as his Savior. He runs
well for a season, glad that he is hopefully in the

(

tA2 satak's devices and

kingdom of God, that Clirist will be his Adyocate at
the judgmeut, and receive him at last to dwell at his
own ri^t hand.

But the young convert soon finds that he has need
of something more. The world overcomes him. EBs
passions are not effectually crucified. Pride lifts its
head. !Mammon finds place in his heart. Foes
assail him from without and from within, and he
seems to himself to be in the mouth of the lion, or in
the paws of the bear. Darkness comes over him,
difficulties lie in his path, and, in his fear, he is per-
chance almost ready to blame his Moses for leading
him forth from his house of bondage. Like the
Israelites of old, he is " discouraged by reason of the
way." !Many yield to temptation here, and never
come to the table of the Lord. They do not, how-
ever, forget their hope of pardon, but, in their
trouble, flee to it as their city of refuge. Others,
more resolute, make profession of religion, but they
make little progress, and are unsatisfied.

Xow, the difficulty is, that these beginners in the
school of Christ have only taken their first lesson.
It is a new lesson they require. They do not yet
know that Christ is with them wozr, ever present to
deliver them from their enemies without and their
fears within, and to give them grace to serve him ^ in
holiness and righteousness all the days of their life "
(Luke 2 : 68-80) . They are in the condition of the
disciples between the betrayal of Christ and the bap-

THE believer's VICTORr. 243

tism of the Holy Ghost, when they all forsook him
and fled. They are often sad and disappointed as
they journey to Emmaus, wondering at all the things
which have happened in their experience, and not
knowing that the Master, by his Spirit, is talking
with them by the way. Some, perhaps, recalling cer-
tain words of Christ, and hastening to the sepulcher,
find he is risen, and tell the story of their new joy to
others. But their words seem to these as idle tales.
They are bewildered, and know not what to do.
Thomas will not believe till he can put his finger into
the prints of the nails, and his hand into the Savior's
side. But the Lord is risen indeed, and begins at
length to " open their understandings, that they may
understand the Scriptures." Light dawns ; the dis-
pensation of the Spirit is at hajd; the disciples are
now tarrying in Jerusalem in an upper room, waiting
for the promise of the Father.

This brings us to the second stage of spiritual
knowledge. Thanks be to God, the Spirit cornea
and imparts to them the knowledge of Jesus as a pres-
ent and Almighty Savior. The scales drop from their
eyes ; they see Jesus present with them ; they know
that he is God, and that all saving power on earth
and in heaven is given him in their behalf. They
see him now with the eye of faith as the eye of sense
could not see him when in the body. He will no
more appear and disappear, as he did in his flesh, but
abide with them forever. The crucifixion and the

244 SATAN'S DEVICES AND

grave have not taken him from them, as they had
supposed, but have only brought him nearer, and dis-
closed him to them in all his divine fullness and
power. They speak with tongues of fire, for they
but utter the thoughts of the indwelling Spirit. Now,
too, they are strong, and enriched with abomiding
grace. Peter, who quailed before a Jewish maiden,
now fears not the Sanhedrim, and would indeed die
sooner than deny his Master.

What is termed the ^Hlghet Christian Life^ is
reached. The Lord Jesus, the Mighty God, the
Savior, is made known by the Spirit as ever present
with the disciples as their life and their strength,
their salvation and their Deliverer ; and why should
they longer fear what man can do unto them?

But this is only another stage in divine knowledge.
The soul is yet exposed to temptation, as was Jesus
himself, and must learn how to appropriate the new
salvation so as to gain the victory ; or, in other tv^ords,
the soul must come to know God in his methods of
saving us from the power of our enemies. For ex-
ample, suppose a man to be assaulted with impure
and lustful thoughts, which, if indulged, would lead
to sin. They would be exceedingly disgusting and
hateful to his renewed sensibility. He would resist
them, but could not exorcise them ; they would not
go at his bidding. He knows that Jesus is with him
to save. Let the tempted disciple go to him for a
specific victory. He will give it. But how? Ho

THE BELIETER'S VICTORr. 245

will bestow his own knowledge of the subject on his
disciple ; he will give him his idea in making the
race male and female, and it shall take out of his
mind all that which ever made him " look, on a woman
to lust after her," and give him that purity of heai't
in which "all things are" seen to be "pure." The
deliverance will be glorious ; and this specific cleans-
ing of his sensibility by divine knowledge will in-
tensify his love of his Redeemer, and enlarge his
capacity for usefulness in his service.

In like way, suppose the mind to be tempted to
pride. The remedy is not in any strength of our
own, gained by a general sense of the Savior's pres-
ence with us, to overcome it. We need to know our
infinite Redeemer specifically with reference to the
temptation to be proud. Let him give us his idea of
pride and humility ; let him reveal himself to us in
the act of washing the disciples' feet, in the process
of making himself of no reputation, of humbling him-
self from King of kings and Lord of lords to servant
of servants ; let him give us the knowledge of God as
serving his enemies, at the sacrifice of his own life on
the cross — and the work is done. We shall see pride
as never before, and our hearts will gravitate toward
lowliness — " all lowliness.".

If the Lord would show us our weakness, and
make us feel our ignorance, and that we are less than
the least of all things, he has but to manifest himself
to the willing and waiting heart in his omnipotenoo

246 Satan's devices and

and in his omniscience : the contrast must bring us
speedily to the dust. If he would reconcile us to the
deepest poverty, he can accomplish it by showing us
himself, emptied of all riches that he might make
them abound to others. If he would strengthen us
to love our enemies and bless those that curse us, he
need only unfold the glory there is, to his view, in
doing it.

Is any real disciple troubled lest his imworthiness
should, after all, exclude him from heaven, — let the
Holy Spirit reveal to him the righteousness of Christ
wherein he stands, and he shall know that his accept-
ance by the Father, for Christ's sake, will be as per-
fect as if he were the chief of the apostles.

In what words can be described the soul's holy rap-
ture, when God makes himself kaown to it in his
infinite love ? or its profound awe and self-abasement,
when Jehovah unvaiis himself in his infinite holiness
and justice? or its quiet and grateful submission,
when he appears in all his infinite patience? or its
abhorrence of sin and unbelief, when God discloses
his idea of their heinousness ? or its love for souls,
when God testifies to it of their value, and reveals
the boundlessness of his own compassion for them ?

There is no end, of course, to the unfoldings which
God may make to his redeemed of the glorious
riches of his character; of the infinitude of his
natural attributes ; of the wealth and royal conde-
scension of his love ; of the holy tenderness of his

THE believer's VICTORY. 247

patience ; of the awful firmness of his justice ; of the
richness and freeness of his mercy ; of all the waste-
less ti'easures of his grace ; of the incomprehensible
minuteness, as well as vastness, of his works ; and of
the sublimity and grandeur of all his purposes and
of his government. But these unfoldings will go
on as the rolling ages pass away, and we shall be
transfigured by them, and be wrought into a more
and more enlarged and perfect unity with the Lord
our God forever. We add

A Sketchy illustrating the Spirit s Method of bringing
the Soul to the Knowledge of God.

A young man was hopefully converted to Christ
while engaged in business in Western New York.
Pressed in his conscience with the duty of preaching
the gospel, he excused himself in one way and
another, till he' was married and settled in life. Then
it seemed safe, in urging other young men to go, to
say, "I would go without hesitation but for my
family and my business." He committed himself over
and over again in this way, in circumstances where
the Holy Ghost was, to him, a conscious witness of
his word. The Lord had thus taken him unawares,
for it was but a short work for God to call the young
wife to himself, and open a door out of the house
of merchandise. There was- no longer any escape
from the call of duty but to rebel against God, and

248 Satan's devices and

become a liar to the Holy Ghost. He went. While
reading Virgil, and Horace, and Xenophon, he read
also James Brainard Taylor. It was clear that that man
had received an anointing from God which he needed,
above all learning, to qualify him to preach the gos-
pel. Could he have it? He believed he could, and
set his heart upon it. He began to inquire at the
mercy-seat for the way. The Spirit seemed to
answer thus : '* First, run your eye back over your
past life, and find what has been wrong, and set it
right — confess — restore." This work was under-
taken. Things then assumed a peculiar look. An
umbrella taken carelessly, in place of one's own, was
stolen. Breaking a just law was wronging every
citizen of the nation ; and no matter that it was
fashionable, and that others did it, and even the
officers of the law winked at it. Injustice in the
least was injustice in much. ^* Trifling sins " were no
longer trifles. When this work was done, one step
toward the blessing seemed taken. ''What next.
Lord?" was now the inquiry. Here the answer
came, '' Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not
all that he hath can not be my disciple." And must
all — friends, propei*ty, life — be laid upon the altar
and given up to God in such a sense as to transfer th^
ownership, and leave the disciple, henceforth, a sim
pie and conscious steward of God, to use hi^ life, an^
whatever he should possess, for his glory ? This wai
reasonable, and ought to be done. Tbr /»t»dci4

THE believer's VICTORr. 249

paused to weigh the matter. Could he do it? It
was a serious question. To blot out the /, and give its
place to Christy in the whole life, was a verj v'^oapre-
hensive act. No more to live, but to let Christ live
in him, was the great requirement. To say it, was
not enough. The /, the dear ego^ must be nailed to
the cross. The student struggled with himself in
this counting of the cost of building his tower. He
had given up his business and a good prospect of
wealtji, to become a minister. And must he now go
deeper, and give up his very life and identity, as it
were, to Christ, in order to obtain the anointing,
without which his ministry would be barren and irk-
some ? At length he felt himself ready for the great
sacrifice. He bowed at the mercy-seat, and, deliber-
ately and formally, made the consecration. It was a
pleasant hour. For a little, it seenied as if the work
had been effectually done. But ere long, scwne test
from the Spirit revealed the fact that the /still occu-
pied the place which had been in words, even hon-
estly used, offered to Christ. The whole ground was
gone over again, more solemnly and carefully, — yes,
again and again, — with the same failure for a result.
The act of consecration did not hold. The young
man was distressed and perplexed with his failure,
and knew not what to do. He carried the case to
the great Teacher. The Spirit came to his relief, and
showed him that he was attempting, by this effort at
consecration in his own strength, to cast down the /,

250 Satan's devices and

that Christ might como and take the throne in its
stead. The reigning sovereign did not succeed in
deposing himself. The eye of faith as yet but recog-
nized Christ in the distance^ ready, indeed, to come
in when the / was driven out; but this dethronement,
without the power of Christ, was impossible. This
gulf between the soul and the Savior in the distance^
must be bridged, or there could be no relief. Now,
the Spirit opened up the fact that the Deliverer was
not waiting in the distance, but was near^ even now
in the believer's heart, and that nothing remained but
by faith to drop into his outstretched arms, and leave
him to take the offered throne, and, by his power,
dethrone the usurper. The difficulty was removed.
The disciple responded, ^ Yea, thou present Almighty
One, take the throne^ and do thy pleasure." The
thing was done. The consecration held, as it did
not before, and there was a sweet assurance of ac-
ceptance. Another great step was evidently taken :
the soul was in a blessed place, but yet something
more was wanting. There were quietness and peace,
but there was unsatisfied hunger. The Spirit's in-
struction now was, ^* Wait on the Lord; " *^Look to
Jesus." The young man waited, O, how eagerly ! —
even as the eleven in that upper room at Jerusalem.
Ere long, the Holy Spirit took away the vail, and he
found himself in the living presence of God, his
Savior. He saw and was in the glory of God. He
seemed in a new world, with new heavens and a new

THE believer's VICTORY. 251

earth. The Lamb was the light thereof. The
immediate presence of Jesus was not less real than
if he had been visible to the outward eye. He had
come and manifested himself according to his prom-
ise ; and, in the heart of that disciple, there were
exceeding great joy and fullness of glory. He had
not seen, nor heard, nor conceived before, what God
had provided for them that love him. His soul was
full, satisfied, and could ask no more. That for
which he had hungered long was more than realized.
This same glory which was in the believer's heart
shone upon the pages of revelation, and showed every
promise instinct with the very life and power of God
to his soul. The Book became a living book; its
words, living and life-giving words. It shone
equally on the world without, so that it was seen to
be indeed *^full of the glory of God." Christ was all
and in all, and all was well.

To the subsequent experience of this individual, we
t^hall refer again in our closing chapter, in which the
great fight with and victory over Satan will be drawn
out.

Section IX.

What may we reasonably hope to attain in this Life^
in Respect to the State ^ (1.) Of the Will; (2.)
Of the Intellect; (3.) Of the Sensibility; — or in
the Matter of Purpose^ Knowledge^ and Emotioni

In view of the method of salvation here defined,

252 Satan's devices and

what may we reasonably hope to attain while we
remain in the flesh ?

Perhaps no fixed rul^ of attainments can be given.
God may, for special and sovereign reasons, so reveal
himself to a Paul, a Luther, or an Edwards, as to
secure attainments in them entirely beyond the ex-
perience of the mass of Christians. Then, the prog-
ress of individuals may depend very much upon
themselves. The earnest pupils of the Spirit will,
naturally and surely, distance the more indiflTerent
ones.

Certainly, no one may hope to reach a state where
he can stand by his own powers, where he may cease
to depend entirely and alone on Christ, or where
there will be no further growth in grace. Certainly,
no one may hope, in this life, to attain a state where
there will be no more exposure to temptation. Christ
was exposed to it to the last, and died in the midst
of it.

But we may hope, as to the Willy that, through
this divine knowledge of Christ, it will become so
devoted to him that it will cease, knowingly, to
swerve from its fidelity. It may so far overcome
temptation as to remain inflexible up to the point of
s.iying, in its Gethsemane of trial, ^'Nevertheless,
not my will, but thine bo done," or of dying a shame-
ful death, crying, '^ Eloi^ eloi, lama sabacJithani.^
The will often becomes inflexible in its devotion to
earthly friends ; why not to the infinite, heavenly

THE BELIEVER'S VICTORY. 253

Friend ? Why should not the martyr spirit be com-
mon to Christians ? With the presence of the Deliv-
erer realized ; with the promise of victoiy over temp-
tation sealed to the soul ; with the terrible criminality
of transgression seen in the light of God's revealed
holiness ; with the lesson learned from the Spirit that
to believe is to conquer; with the consciousness that
fidelity of will to God is not only "the greatest
apparent good," but that, without such fidelity, there
is no other possible good ; with the lies and disguises
of Satan exposed, — why should not the will stand
inflexibly true to God, ever turning to him as the
needle to the pole? Why not be habitually fixed,
** unmovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord " ? A brother recently illustrated his views to
me on this question by stating how his own mind
worked in a given case. He had an only daughter,
who was his life, so far as a child can be the life of a
parent. She sickened, and trembled between two
worlds. The Savior seemed to say to him, " Shall I
spare your child ? Will you retain her, or sufibr her
to come unto me?" His heart replied, ''Thou
knowest, Lord, how my life is in the child ; yet I can
not say, * Restore her,' for I can not have my will
done. Not as / will, but as thou wilt." And this
was the habitual way in which his will acted. So it
should be with all Christians ; so it may be, and so
we trust it often is.
A.8 to the Intellect J we may surely hope to attain a
17

254 Satan's devices and

knowledge of the will of God concerning ns, so as to
be able, intelligently, to perform it. Our character
lies in the end which we choose and for which we
live, and the law of God reveals, and Christ's life
illustrates, what this end should be ; and, doubtless,
the Holy Ghost will so bring this home to our appre*
hension, that we can become, and remain, consciously
devoted to it, and that we may know our specific acts
to bo in harmony with it and executive of it.

It does not seem clear that we are to expect or
wait for a special revelation of the will of God in
respect to each one of our specific acts. If our end
is right, our spirit^ Christ-like, God may naturally
leave us to learn, by the powers he has given us, what
our particular acts ought to be. Indeed, he may be
indifferent which of several courses we take to accom-
plish a benevolent end, and his blessing may equally
follow upon either of several feasible methods. This
is the way we deal with our children. Having pre-
pared them by careful instruction, and secured an
obedient spirit, we give them their choice in modes
of action, we throw them upon their individual re-
sources, and prefer to have them exercise their own
powers, that they may gain confidence, discipline,
and strength. We do not cramp their faculties by
forbidding them to take a step till we shall have
given them specific directions how and where to step.
We encouriige them to act on their own judgment.
H there be occasion, we direct them specifically; and

TiiE believeb's victory. 255

where they lack wisdom, we give it to them. Is it
not so between God and his children ? He has given
us reason and his word to guide us. If we lack wis-
dom, he promises to give liberally. And, certainly,
he would have us learn so to use the faculties with
which he has endowed us as to gain character and
strength as independent moral beings. Is there not,
then, a margin for the exercise of our own powers ?
and may not the true disciple hear his Father saying,
"My child, your aim is right — my love constrains
you. Now use your best judgment with the light
you have ; throw yourself upon your powers made in
my likeness, and act as seems to you best, and I
shall be equally well pleased whichever of the several
possible ways you take. You will gain strength by
the use of your faculties, and suffer loss by their dis-
use. If you make a mistake, be not troubled. But
learn wisdom. Ask for light when you need it, and
it shall not be withheld. Be a man. Fear not. Keep
your heart in my love, and all shall be well.'* •

Different disciples, with the same end in view, con-
strained by the same love, do, we know, choose differ-
ent methods of working, according to their varying
temperaments and capacities of judging.

The theory here stated, therefore, seems more con-
sistent with the Bible, with reason, and with facts,
than the theory of the author of " Millennial Experi-
ence,'* who seems to teach that we are to be guided
in each specific act of life — even the smallest — by

256 Satan's devices and

a direct revelation, to the mind, of the will of
God.

An illustration of the principle above stated, that
God is pleased with our independent use of our capa-
bilities, occurs to mind. An intelligent young man
found himself pressed to the performance of an im-
portant duty. But there were two ways of doing it,
and he had long halted between them. Some insist
that there is only one way ; others, that either of
two or three will answer as well before God. He
had determined to settle the question of howj and act.
He read the books on either side ; and the more he
read, the hiore confused he became, till he despaired,
" by searching," of being able to decide. He came to
mc for advice. I asked, ''Are you willing to take
either course? Is yoiu* own will submissive, so that,
the moment the path is opened, you will enter it?"
He believed it was. "Go, then," I said, ''and so
report to your Savior, and ask for orders." He
went, and almost immediately received this answer :
" Take which course you please ; your Heavenly
Father does not care which." The answer was as
clear as his clearest religious experience, and his
trouble was all over. He acted upon his own good
sense, and had abundant reason to be satisfied with
the course he had taken.

But much more, as to the Intellect, may be attained,
m the mere knowledge of God's will concern-
As shown in previous sections, we may

THE believer's VICTORY. 257

know God himself. We may have his thoughts, his
ideas, his views filling and perfectly satisfying the
intelligence. The knowledge of God, setting, as it
does, all other knowledge in its proper adjustments,
is the highest and best the universe affords. Many,
alas, are slow in coming to this knowledge ; many
things have to be learned through severe processes
of discipline ; yet, if a man will search for it as for
hid treasures, his intellect shall become as the gar-
den of the Lord, full of all delights, and redolent
of the aroma of heaven.

As to the Sensibility y we may well hope to gain
that "peace of God which passeth all understanding."
The lowest degree of attainment should bring us an
experience so satisfying, in kind, that we shall only
be hungry for more of that which gives us present
blessedness. This holy, and happy satisfaction may
become so deep that surface agitation will in no wise
destroy our peace. It is quite possible to enjoy
trials, to glory in tribulation, to take pleasure in
suffering for the name of the Lord Jesus. When the
Holy Spirit exhibits to the soul the fullness of its
inheritance, its blessedness, like the love of God,
''passeth knowledge," and the forms of language are
insufficient to crystallize it into expression. Admit-
ting the fact of more or less irritation of the sen-
sibility by the pressure of temptation and wrong,
especially in natures constructed of over-sensitive
or inflexible materials, yet the earnest Christian may

258 Satan's devices and

hope to attain to a deep under-current of ever-
increasing blessedness, beautifully illustrated by
Ezekiel (47 : 1-12) . The stream is small at first, as
it issues from under the temple, and flows around by
the altar ; but it passes on a thousand cubits, and the
water is up to the ankles ; another thousand, and it
is up to the knees ; another thousand, and the waters
are up to the loins ; another thousaud, and the river
is deep and broad, and can not be crossed. This river
carried life in its waters, even to the "healing of the
sea," whither it flowed, and to all things therein. Of
this stream, David speaks (Ps. 46) : ''There is a
river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of
God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most
High." The same stream waters the New Jerusalem.
On its borders, it is appointed unto the Israel of
God to dwell, amid living trees perfecting their rich
clusters continually, and scattering their leaves for
the healing of the nations.

When we consider that our Lord may take his
trustful disciple up into his own moral atmosphere,
where the " light is dry and pure," and, from his own
point of observation, give him to see in that light of
which the sun is but a dim shadow ; that he may turn
all his works, as seen through microscope and tele-
scope, and all the sciences with their wonderful
revealings, into a vast system of reflectors, symbols,
and illustrations, interpreting himself to us ; that, in
each event of our individual experience and history,

THE believer's VICTORY. 259

and in all the unfoldings of his providence, and in the
startling changes in the history of the nations, he
may distinctly show us his own hand, working out
the good pleasure of his will in the redemption of
his church, — we may indeed conclude that no limit
can be set to what our God may do for us, even while
we remain in the flesh.

Section X.

_— ^^ •

The Relation of Faith to the Obtaining of this

Saving Knowledge of God.

We have, in a former chapter, given a brief analy-
sis of saving faith. In such faith, it appears that the
will grasps and enthrones the object of faith, namely,
God and his truth, as far as apprehended by the intel-
ligence, and makes it the law of life. In a dead faith,
on the other hand, while God and the truth are more
or less clearly revealed to the knowing power, the
will refuses to fall in with that truth and enthrone it
as the mind's law.

Faith, then, is the grand indispensable condition
of our salvation, at every step of its progress. To
believe, in the true sense, is to open the door to
Christ, and to welcome all saving influences to prac*
tical supremacy in the soul. It connects the branch
with the living vine, and admits God, and the whole
power of the gospel, into vital and working contact
with the soul. It is the link which couples the car to

260 Satan's devices and

the engine — the soul to God. It opens the valve
for the steam to enter and act upon the mental and
moral machinery. Not to believe, in the sense de-
fined, is really to reject the gospel, to resist the Holy
Ghost, and make the truth of God of none eflfect. It
excludes all redeeming agencies from the mind, and
practically abandons the soul to the ruin which sin
involves. It forecloses the intellect, pre-occupies the
sensibility, perverts the will, and resigns the throne
to the adversary.

Great care must be taken not to substitute un-
truths, our fancies, speculations, or theories, in the
place of the truth which alone is the power of God
unto salvation. We have shown, in Chapter VI., the
importance of the right adjustment of the will; and
it is nowhere more essential than in our faith. Not
unfrequently, the mistake is made of accepting some
vivid conception or picture of a religious " experience "
as the object of faith. When this is done, all the
powers of the mind are put upon the stretch to realize
such an experience. But the effort fails, of course.
This '' picture '' takes the place before the mind which
belongs to God and his word. No man may take the
exercises of another, and expect the Spirit to lead him
in the same precise way. The Infinite One is origi-
nal in all his working. We must submit our ideals to
him, and welcome his hand to mold our clay as
seemeth him good. Our faith must not stand either
in the wisdom or the experience of men^ but in th©

THE BELIEVEK'S VICTORY. 261

promises and power of God. If we would have
light, we should look at the sun itself, not merely at
some object on which it has shone.

Section XI.

The Duty of Living in the Victorious Enjoyment of
this Life-sustaining Knowledge of God.

Duty is a sacred word. It is what we owe — what
is due from us to ourselves or others.

"The wish, the dream, the wild desire, 'to hnow^^
is not only the highest, but the truest impulse of
man's intellectual being. It is duty as well as privi-
lege. The knowledge of God, crowning and setting
all other knowledge in its true relations, ought, of
course, to be the chief object of pursuit. On its
acquisition, all our true interests — our success or
failure as moral beings — depend.

We owe it to our Savior to attain to that full
knowledge of him which will insure us a triumphant
and habitual victory over " the world, the flesh, and
the devil." The most intimate fellowship with valued
friends is the spontaneous bidding of aflEection. Jesus
Christ is our infinite Friend. No other has loved us
with a love like his. When there was no eye to pity
and no arm to save, he said unto us, "Live." We
know all the story of his suflferings in our behalf, and
how he gives himself to us as Mediator, Intercessor,
Advocate, Bridegroom, and in all loving offices* j|

262 Satan's devices and

Surely that iiCondrous benevolence by which he not
only supplies the want of every living thing, but
gives himself to the death of the cross, that so he
may lift the whole race up into the sphere of his own
blessedness, with special manifestations of sympathy
for the poor and needy, throws upon all men, but
especially upon his children, an immeasurable obliga-
tion to catch the spirit of the apostle, and know
nothing but Christ and him crucified ; to suffer the
loss of all things, that they may attain the fullness of
that knowledge, and be forever "complete in Him"
who is " over all, God blessed forever."

If wc seek not to know Christ as our ever-
present and almighty Deliverer, we shall inevitably
abuse and dishonor him at every step. Our experi-
ence will correspond with that of the disciples before
the day of Pentecost. Like Peter, we shall deny
him ; like Thomas, distrust him ; like them all, we
shall forsake him, and sink under the pressure of
temptation. The "po^er of the resurrection" we
can not know, and our Redeemer will practically be
to us, as he was for a little time to the disciples, as
one dead in the hands of his enemies. Even our past
experience will lose its significance, and we shall be
as much bewildered as were the two whom Jesus met
on their way to Emmaus. If we do not so know
him, all our Christian graces will be dwarfed. Our
love, our faith, our joy can rise no higher than our
apprehension of him. We can not enter fully into

THE believer's VICTORY. 263

sympathy with him in that work which thrills every
holy heart in glory ; we can not truly represent his
spirit or his will to the world ; our light will be but
darkness. If we do not go on so to know him, we
shall fail of the work and fruits of the Spirit ; for he
accomplishes his mission by the manifestation of the
knowledge of God.

We owe it to the church of Christ to be full of this
victorious knowledge. His church suffers, — "the
boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild
beast of the field doth devour it" (Ps. 80: 13),—
and, by reflecting upon her the light of such spiritual
attainment, we can do much to " make her wilderness
like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the
Lord."

We owe it as well to a lost world. Sinners are
perishing. We can successfully point them, by such
knowledge, to the '^Lamb of God who taketh away
the sin of the world."

We owe it not less to ourselves. Only by so
doing can we fulfill the* mission God has given us.
Why should we suffer unbelief and selfishness to
reign over us, and mar the image of God in our
natures, when deliverance is possible? Why be the
bond slaves of Satan, since Jesus has purchased and
proclaimed liberty ?

264 Satan's devices and

Section XTT.

The Guilt of being without this knowledge and its

Saving Power,

Many will think themselves sorry that they have
not this saving knowledge, and be ready, perhaps, to
find fault with God that he has withheld it from
them, so that they have seemed miable to perform
the duty already urged. But, alas I their ignorance
is their sin.

According to the apostle (Rom. 1 : 28), God gives
men up to sin and darkness only because they are
*' unwilling to retain him in their knowledge.*' Gt)d
surely has done his utmost to persuade men to come
and take freely the life-giving waters. The condi-
tions are easy. "If any man will do his will, he
shall know of the doctrine." If men will seai'ch for
it as for earthly treasure, they "^ shall find the knowl-
edge of God."

What has not God done to make himself known to
the world? Before our first parents had left the
garden, he began to reveal himself in mercy. All
along the track of history, he has erected monuments
to indicate his character to his creatures. What a
testimony to his hatred of sin was the deluge I In ail
his dealings with the Jewish nation, God was work-
ing out, for the instruction of all generations, his
views of sin and holiness. He has spoken his will

THE believer's VICTORt. 265

by holy men, and given their utterances miraculous
confirmation.

In due time came the Incarnation — God mani-
fest in the flesh. This coming of the Messiah in a
human form, addressing himself to all our senses,
putting himself into our conditions that he might give
the fullest expression to the loving heart of God
toward us, by voice, by act, by visible sympathy,
was the highest possible manifestation he could
make of himself in the world of sense. It brought
the knowledge of God to the level of the lowest
man.

Then, the story of the Messiah, with all his reveal-
ings, was put on record, and carefully preserved, and
handed down from generation to generation, that all
might know and live.

Then, as the culmination of effort on God's part, to
make himself savingly known, he sends his Holy
Spirit upon the one great mission of seizing upon all
the unfoldings of the divine character from Eden
to Calvary, and of presenting them before men in
such a way that, seeing them, they should be con-
strained to believe and become partakers of his
moral life.

The Spirit is sent on this mission to every man ;
and God testifies that he is more willing to be-
stow the Spiiit upon all who are willing to receive
it, than earthly parents are to give good gifts to their
children.

266 Satan's devices and

His great, crowning, and most glorious promise to
his people is, that he will send them the Holy Spirit
to dwell permanently with them in the world, to be
their Comforter, Teacher, and Sanctifier. He shall
take of the things of Jesus and show them to them ;
ho shall bring all things to their remembrance; he
shall sanctify and seal them through the truth unto
their becoming pai-takers of the divine nature, and
overcoming the corruption that is in the world
through lust.

Nothing remains, therefore, for the disciples of
Christ, but to believe and receive this saving, trium-
phant knowledge of God. Does it not even appear
that, if wo fail, it must be because of unbelief and of
resistance to the Holy Ghost himself?

May I not, in concluding the presentation of this
topic, urge my readers, and especially those who
have "the l>cginning of confidence," to drop all
excuses and misgivings, and come boldly to Jesus
for this higher knowledge of himself? He ^ hangs
out the white flag ; " he presents the ^ golden scep-
ter " to all who would approach him. If the soul is
poor, he has gold to enrich it ; if wounded and sick,
balm to heal it. The feast is ready; the door is
open. Come with a will ; wrench the soul from all
the falsehoods of Satan, and accept of Jesus as All.

THE beueyeb's yigtoby. 267

Section XIII.

The General View here presented^ confirmed by its
Power to harmonize the apparently Conflicting
Views of the Different Schools of Evangelical
Christians^ and to simplify certain Vexed Ques^
tions in Theology.

If one were putting together a dissected map, anft
found the part in hand exactly fitted to all the sur-
rounding parts, so that the lines and words on the
face perfectly corresponded, he would be sure he
was, so far, right. On the same principle, if the
doctrines of this book, and especially of this chapter,
should be found to match in with the great surround-
ing truths of the. Bible, that would go far to establish
their truth. If they should prove to be a key, by
which a beautiful and substantial harmony should be
disclosed between what seem to be conflicting views
of different denominations of Evangelical Christians,
this would further tend to confirm them, and make
their presentation alike agreeable and profitable to
all such Christians.

We wish modestly to suggest, whether, in several
respects, they may»not be regarded as such a key.

In the discussion of the question of entire sanctifi-
cation in this life, one class of Christians has insisted,
and another denied, that the Bible taught that doc-
trine. Each supports its view from the Scriptures,

268 SATAN'S DEVICES AND

Now, where does the truth lie? or is it true, as
cavilers say, that you can prove or disprove any thing
from the Word of God ?

The Bible plainly recognizes those who are in
Christ as being, in some sense, ''holy," "clean,"
'' obedient." Our Lord, in speaking of his disciples
before his death, says, " Now ye are clean through

the word which I have spoken unto you." And

again, he says to the Father, "I have given unto
them the words which thou gavest me, and they have
received them, and have kept themJ*^ Paul, in his
third chapter to the Philippians, recognizes Chris-
tians as both perfect and imperfect. He urges " as
many as be perfect " to press on to a perfection which
he was striving to reach, but had not yet attained.
He appeals to the Thessalonians, ten years before,
that they, and God also, knew how ''holily, and
justly, and unblamably" he had deported himself
among them ; and yet he frequently represents him-
self as the weakest and most unworthy of all, and as
struggling against temptation, and as laboring to
attain a yet higher spiritual position.

At the time Christ declared his disciples to be
clean and obedient to the word, they were, neverthe-
less, so weak, and, in some sense, •so imperfect, that
in " that hour " of trial which was just before them,
they all forsook the Master and fled, — Peter deny-
ing him with oaths and curses.

Now, according to the view we have taken, these

THE BELIEYEB'S VICTORY. 269

disciples had some knowledge of God by the Spirit
— enough to make them accepted followers of Christ*
To this knowledge they were obedient, and, in this
sense, clean. At the same time, they were ignorant
of the things, the knowledge of which by the Spirit,
would have saved them from falling. Had they
known, theriy what was revealed to them on the day
of Pentecost, and what it was, perhaps, impossible
for them so to know sooner, it is morally certain they
would not have fallen. They would have been as
unshaken in that most fearful crisis of human trial,
as they were subsequently, when filled with the Holy
Ghost. But while the Shepherd was smitten, the
sheep would almost unavoidably, and for the mo-
ment, be scattered. The remedy which alone would
have kept them, was to be developed out of this very
smiting of the Shepherd.

The sense in which the disciples were holy and
clean before the day of Pentecost, is obvious. They
walked according to all the light which had really
penetrated their consciousness at the time. Being
in Christ, his righteousness w^as theirs. Their sin
was all pardoned, and no condemnation from heaven
rested upon them. If virtue is an intelligible thing ;
if it consists in a whole-hearted, voluntary obedience
to the known will of God ; and if the knowledge of
God is only attainable by degrees, — then holiness is a
thing of degrees, and the disciples were, in some

sense, holy before the day qf Pentecost as really as
18

270 Satan's devices and

after that day. It is a precious fact, that the true
disciple, though but a babe, is fully and perfectly
justified before the Father. The law shall lay noth-
ing to his charge. He is in Christ, and is as per-
fectly accepted now, while conformed to the light
which belongs to his spiritual infancy, as he will be
when his knowledge and corresponding obedience
shall have carried him up to his spiritual manhood.
Of course, all boasting is excluded alike at every
stage of attainment, for all is of grace. Boasting is
a fruit of self-righteousness alone, not of that which
is of God by faith.

On the theory we have presented, the harmony of
the Bible is apparent. There is a substantial sense
in which the Christian who walks fully up to the
knowledge he has attained, is holy, clean, obedient ;
and another, not inconsistent sense, in which, lacking
higher knowledge from the Spirit, and the consequent
completeness of strength and usefulness it would give
him, he is yet imperfect as a Christian, and has need
to heed the injunction and example of Paul, and press
on toward the highest attainments in the knowledge
and life of God, growing in grace and wisdom, and
in favor with God and man.

Again : the two apparently conflicting theories,
that sanctification is an instantaneous, and that it is
a progressive work, are, by our view, harmonized^
The revelation of knowledge, the manifestation of
tiTith to the mind by the Spirit, as on the day of

THE believer's VICTORY. 271

Pentecost, is often instantaneous ; and so far as sanc-
tification is effected by this inflowing of divine knowl-
edge, it must be an instantaneous work.

But, on the other hand, the Spirit shows us the
things of Christ as we are able to receive them, after
long inquiry and study often, one at a time, one
thing to-day, and another to-morrow, and so on
forever; and for that reason, sanctification, as the
result of advancing knowledge, must be a progressive
work, advancing in depth and power as divine knowl-,^
edge increases.

Again : according to the theory of some, there
remains in the Christian heart, after conversion, what
is termed, in the somewhat blind language of theol-
ogy, much "inbred corruption," which sanctification
is supposed to remove. Does not the view we have
presented give an intelligible idea of what this " inbred
corruption" is, and how it is to be removed? Was
not the " inbred corruption " of the disciples between
their conversion and their sanctification, so to call it,
on the day of Pentecost, simply that working of
their minds according to nature and habit which was
consequent on their having, as yet, so little and
such imperfect knowledge of God and Christ by the
Holy Ghost? And was not its removal, the natural
result to them of the divine manifestation they re-
ceived on the day of the Spirit's advent?

Again : the apparently conflicting doctrines of
'' ability " and " inability " may, in the light of our ^

272 SATAN'S DEVICES AND

theory, be seen to be perfectly true and harmo*
nious.

The will is, in its nature, free, and all moral action
involves choice. God requires men to choose, to
will, as he does. But there are some absolute condi-
tions to the exercise of choice. There must be an
object of choice, and this object must be made known
to the mind. God himself, in his will and character,
is the proper object of choice ; but he can not be truly
and intelligently chosen until he is made known to us
by his Spirit, who alone can reveal him. The use of
our ability to love and obey God, depends, then,
absolutely upon him. A man who is lost may have
ability to go home, but he can not use it till he knows
which way to go : his diflSculty is not want of ability
directly, but of knowledge. Does not the old school
doctrine of inability lie exactly here, and is it not
true ? But when an object, worthy of choice or love,
is revealed to the mind's apprehension, then we can
easily and naturally bring our ability into play, and
choose it. We can take hold upon it, and receive it
into our hearts. This we are doing every day.
Does not the new school doctrine of ability lie here,
and is it not true, and beautifully harmonious with
the doctrine of apparent inability ?

''Man lost all ability of will in the fall," says the
Catechism, to love and obey God. And was it not,
because he thereby lost the knowledge of God, and,
according to Paul (Eph. 4: 18), became "alienated

THE believer's VICTORY. 273

from the life of God through the ignorance of him "
which sin involved, that he lost his abilitv to love
and serve God? To lose the knowledge of God is,
practically, so far, to lose our ability to love him.

Both schools say, nevertheless, that no man is ex-
cusable for remaining in sin. And does not the
reason for this lie in the fact that God has put some
knowledge of himself in every man's reason, and set
it forth in his works, so that all may lay hold of that,
and be led on, from step to step, in the advancing
light of providence, and grace, and revelation, unto
eternal life? Free as the will is, we are still depend-
ent on the Spirit for a knowledge of the true object
to be chosen ; but the Holy One knows this, and waits
to be gracious. The Sun of Eighteousness shines all
about us, and his light is shut out from men's minds
only by a positive volition closing the eyes against it.

The Bible is entirely consistent in holding men
under obligation immediately to obey God, and in
teaching that no man can come unto him except he is
drawn by the Holy Spirit. The conditions of choice,
80 far as they are dependent upon God, are fulfilled ;
obligation is complete. The new school teacher
need not fear to press men at once to lay hold of an
ofiered Savior, to rush into Mercy's outstretched
arms, through any apprehension that the Spirit's part
of the work will not be performed ; nor need the
old school divine embarrass his eflforts by the con-
sideration of the sinner's inability. Let him summoa

274 Satan's devices and

the transgressor to an immediate surrender to a loving
and waiting Savior.

Again : the two apparently opposite doctrines of
the sinfulness and non-sinfulness of our nature may,
perhaps, receive some hopeful elucidation from our
theory.

K you put falsehood^ instead of trutK^ into the
intellect ; if the " law of sin," of supreme selfishness,
be the thing known there and held as truej and if the
will is given up and committed to the execution, in
life, of this law so enthroned in the mind, then, of
course, and by its very nature and constitution, the
whole mental and moral machinery will go wrong,
invariably so. The thinking, the feeling, the acting,
whether it be ^ plowing " or praying, will be all sin-
ful, and out of the way. Depravity, in one form or
another, must and will be the outcome. If you
reverse the action of the machinery, the locomotive
will only go backward on or off the track, and down
the embankment, or wherever the switch and rails
will let it go. Adjust the machinery properly, and it
will do its work all right. It is in the nature of the
machinery so to act in the one case, and, by the same
law, contrariwise in the other. So with the mind, when
its action is reversed by the consecration of the will to
falsehood, held as truth in the understanding. It is
a thing of course, and the inind can not act otherwise
than wrong under these conditions. It will go back-
ward from God and rectitude, speaking lies and doing

THE believer's VICTORY. 275

whatever the enthroned law of selfishness demands.
On the other hand, adjust the will to the truth, and,
by the laws of its being, in this case as in the other,
the action of the mind will correspond with the truth.
By his very nature, then, when a man so perverts his
powers, he is wholly sinful, totally depraved.

Since God has done the best that possibly could be
done for moral agents to lead them not to reverse the
action of their powers, but to operate them according
to truth as he has revealed and will reveal it, and
siuce the only reason why men have not the knowl-
edge of God — even the heathen — is, that they are
•'' unwilling to retain " it in their hearts, his ways need
no vindication, and we can not excuse our sins on the
supposition of a sinful nature. A nature which would
work in opposite moral directions — forward or back-
ward, toward good or evil — in accordance with his
sovereign choice of truth or falsehood is the glorious
prerogative of a free moral agent.

Does not, then, the relation of the mind's willful
knowledge or ignorance of God to its practical work-
ing, help to solve the diflSculty of a so-called sinful
nature? If such a relation, as' our theory suggests,
exists, — if men, to be moral agents, must have
natures capable of development under laws of
error as well as of truth, of evil as well as of good,
— why find fault with God for giving us such natures,
or why look back into a pre-existent state for a
method of justifying God in his dealings with the
race?

276 Satan's devices and

Again : one class of Christians say, that to be iu
doubt and great uncertainty about our acceptance
with Qirist, and about the genuineness of our reli-
gious exercises, is a better evidence of our good es-
tate than to be confident and firmly assured. Another
class hold the opjjosite view, and say, that to doubt
is wrong ; that confidence and full assurance ai"e to
be expected and cherished. The former class are
annoyed by the exulting and positive experience of
the latter; and the latter class pity and blame the
former for their apparent lack of confidence and joy-
ful assurance in the infinitely trustworthy and glori-
ous Savior. Where does the truth lie ? Or has each*
view its element of truth?

We answer, that to doubt and distrust the testi-
mony of God's Spirit, to receive with suspicion and
misgivings the knowledge which he gives, is clearly
wrong, and must be of evil tendency. If he testifies
to our spirits, and bears his witness (Rom. 8: IG),
that we are the children of God, and if he put the
''Abba, Father," into our hearts, then to doubt and
distrust is to treat him as a liar ! If the testimony
of God may not give assurance, then assurance is im-
possible, and universal unbelief and skepticism are
inevitable. Ought Abraham to have admitted doubt
into his mind during those twenty-five long years,
while he was waiting for the fulfillment of the prom-
ise ? Paul commends his faith as an example to the
whole Israel of God, for the express reason that he

THE BELIEVEK'S VICTORY. 277

refused to '' stagger," and persisted, with '' full per-
suasion," in the faithfulness of God, although the
temptation to doubt was such as compelled him to
*^hope against hope." When Peter could say in the
very presence of Christ, ^'Lord, thou knowest all
things ; thou knowest that I love thee," ought he to
have doubted his acceptance ? When Paul was con-
scious to himself that he " counted all things but loss
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ," and
that he was unwilling to know any thing but Christ
and him crucified, ought he to have distrusted his
acceptance, and accounted his dovbts the best evi-
dence that his name was in the book of life ? When
Luther heard the Holy Ghost say to his toiling, self-
righteous soul, ^^The just shall live by faith," should
he have doubted? Ought any man who has been
earnestly inquiring the way of life, and who has, con-
sciously, as a lost sinner, cast himself trustfully upon
the Savior of lost sinners, and who has found his
broken heart and subdued will, saying, **Lord, what
wilt thou have me to do?" and sweetly preferring
the will of Jesus above all else, — ought he to doubt,
or should he boldly ''reckon himself" an accepted
disciple of Christ? Nothing would suit Satan better,
or enable him to cripple the elect of God more effect-
ually, than that, in such circumstances, they should
yield to doubt, and thus distrust the testimony of the
Holy Ghost. The Bible, every where, aims to pro-
duce the most unwavering confidence toward God,

278 SATA^'S DEVICES AND

But if we attempt to prove to ourselves our disciple-
ship on any other testimony than that of the Spirit
and Word of God, or by any testimony the natural
man can furnish, or by any proof drawn from our
own works of righteousness, we may well be full of
doubt and uncertainty. To doubt such testimony is
better evidence of piety than to give it full credit.

But will not both classes of Christians referred to
be found to agree perfectly in cherishing the fullest
confidence in all the knowledge of God and of our own
spiritual states which the Holy Ghost shall attest,
and agree in maintaining the utter untrustworthiness
of any conclusions concerning the things of the Spirit
which are not verified by his testimony ? While God
will not lie, and can not be mistaken, it is certain that
a selfish heart is sure to be mistaken about divine
things. We may, therefore, trust God implicitly,
and yet "have no confidence in the flesh."

Again : there is a difference among Christians as
to the means of attaining to a state of practical sanc-
tification in the world. Some would set forth the
abstract idea of holiness, and urge men to seek it
directly by an act of faith, and to profess its attain-
ment as a means of retaining the blessing. Others have
no hope of being able to reach such a spiritual state
by any direct eflfort to gain it, or to help the matter
by professing its attainment. Their idea is, faith-
fully to perform their duty, and leave their sanctiti-
cation to be wrought out for them by the Spirit,
without any agency of their own.

THE believer's VICTORY. 279

Now, if the view we have set forth is the true one,
it is not a state of sanctification which is to be
sought after and obtained by an act of faith directly,
but the knowledge of God by the Spirit, the result
of which is, a degree of sanctification answering in
measure to the knowledge gained. What we are
called upon to profess, or testify to, for the honor of
God and for the encouragement of others, is, that
which we have learned of him, with grateful recog-
nition of its effects upon our own hearts and lives.
Those who ignore any effort to gain the great spirit-
ual victory designated by the term " sanctification," or
"assurance of faith," overlook the palpable fact that
the " knowledge of God " is promised only to those
who seek for it with all the heart ; and that, although
the blessing was specially promised, by the ascending
Redeemer, within a few days, the disciples did never-
theless assemble in an upper room, and there wait in
prayer and supplication, with one accord, till, on the
day of Pentecost, the blessing came. We once
heard a distinguished clergyman condemn special
prayer meetings to pray for the baptism of the Spirit,
on the ground that the blessing was only to be gained
as the result of earnest activity in the performance of
religions duty.

If he meant to say that the reflex influence upon
the mind of duty performed is identical with the
Spirit's baptism, or that the gift of the Spirit is pro-
cur«d by worlo, and not by &itb, iv«s he not in mani-

280 Satan's devices.

fest error? K he meant to intimate that, for tiiose
who perform their known duty, such gatherings and
such waiting upon God for the blessing are out of
place, was he not in error? If he meant to condemn
praying for the manifestation of the Spirit, on the
pail; of those who refuse to perform their known
duty, if there be such, his strictures were plainly not
amiss. All parties should harmonize in the determi-
nation, first, to do all the known will of God, and
then to wait on God, '^with all prayer and supplica-
tion," ^ without ceasing," with the faith of an Abra-
ham and the urgency of a Jacob, for that promised
work of the Spirit, which, from glory to glory, shall
develop the soul into the image of Christ

CHAPTER XXVI.

SATAN'S METHODS OF OPPOSING THE CHBISTIAN'S SANCTI-

FICATION.

Now, the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the
Lord God ha^ made. — Oen. 3: 1.

All that has been said in previous chapters of the
devices of Satan, applies here. In all the methods
hitherto pointed out, the adversary opposes the prog-
ress of the church in a holy life ; and he does it with
increased subtlety as she presses her way upward
into the higher spheres of religious truth and expe-
rience.

As we have abundantly shown, all advancement in
holiness is the fruit of the Spirit, acquainting the soul
with God. To make progress, the believer must
needs maintain the right attitude of mind toward the
Sanctifier. In the words of the apostle, he must be
" led by the Spirit," and '' walk in the Spirit." To
prevent his doing this, Satan will do his utmost.
When he can not successfully deny to men the exist-
ence of the Holy Ghost, he will insinuate doubts as
to the possibility of being taught by an invisible, dis-
embodied being, — at least, suggest grave diflSculties
in the way ; he will provoke self-will, and pride, and
an unteachable spirit, and make men forget their. M

282 Satan's devices and

dependence, and ^ lean to thefr own understandings ; ^
he will himself counterfeit the work of the Comforter,
and infuse his own subtle and plausible suggestions
to counteract the Spirit's ministrations, and nullify
all his teachings.

After a man has gained so much knowledge of God
as is implied in becoming a Christian, and has learned
the beginnings of gospel truth, the effort of Satan
will be to prevent his continuing firmly obedient to
this knowledge. In this way, he often entirely
arrests the soul's progress. The believer, having
entered upon the Christian course, must be subjected
to the refining process by pruning-knife, or crucible,
or cross ; and the question at issue will be, whether
he will obey the truth and follow Christ, when the
soul is overwhelmed with ^ heaviness through mani-
fold temptations," or resist and turn back? Not un-
frequently, in such conflict, Satan bewilders and
baffles the Christian, and gains a temporary advan-
tage, carrying the will over even to the denial of the
Master. Happy will it be for one thus overcome, if,
like Peter, he shall go out and weep bitterly, and so,
immediately find himself re-united to Christ in a
more firm and loving obedience.

Satan, again, will strive hard to satisfy the mind
with a mere natural apprehension of divine things,
instead of that knowledge of them which it is the
sole province of the Holy Ghost to give. Such
knowledge can bring no life. How many, alas ! know

THE believer's VICTORY. 283

Christ only by hearsay ! They have read of him in
the Bible, heard eloquent discourses about him from
the pulpit, have, seen his poi-trait ; but they have
never "beheld the Lamb of God," by the Spirit's
showing, so as to have their sins "taken away."
They are " ever learning " about Christ and his doc-
trine in the light of their own beclouded powers, but
are "never able to come to the knowledge of the
truth" in its sanctifying eflScacy.
/ Again : Satan will, if possible, awaken a practical
unbelief in respect to the feasibility of living a tri-
umphantly victorious life while in the jBesh. How
few persons really expect, habitually, to overcome
the world ! They know they are to be tempted, and
believe the tempter will triumph over them. They
magnify the power of the adversary, they dwell upon
the peculiar diflSculties of their case, and are afraid to
venture upon the Deliverer with a full confidence that
he will make them conquerors indeed, by his own
power. They fear to make the promises their own ;
they forget the covenant and the oath of the Redeem-
er; they lose sight of the "strongholds," — the altar
and the mercy-seat, — and have no heart to insist,
"-By these the victory is mine, now and forever.'^
Thus they are full of a subtle unbelief, into which
Satan has inveigled them. They have bowed their
necks to the yoke of bondage, Avhich they expect to
wear all their lives, looking to their own death, at
last, for deliverance, instead of looking now to Christ J

284 Satan's devices and

for a power to break their yoke, and to put them mto
^'thc glorious liberty of the children of God." So
unbelieving has the church been, that it has often
been deemed almost a heresy to hold that a practical
victory over '' the world, the flesh, and the devil," is
even possible to the Christian.

So long as Satan is allowed to hold the mind in
such a form of unbelief as this, no real progress can
be made in the divine life. There will be no earnest
''fighting of the good fight of faith;" or if it be
attempted, defeat will only succeed defeat; for "this
is the victory that overcometh the world, even our
faith."

Again : it will be like Satan to awaken prejudice
against the doctrine of sanctification, as he did
against the Lord Jesus Christ, so that men will be
repelled from inquiring after the truth. It will be
another similar device of the adversary, to give men
a perverted view of the doctrine, to make it seem
incomprehensible, or mystical, or impracticable, and
thus to render it of none eflfect.

Again : Satan will take great pains to conceal from . '
men the marvelous simplicity of the way of holiness.
Salvation is all a free gift, without money or price.
God is the Great Giver. He gives every thing, and
with a bountifulness corresponding to his infinite
nature. There can be no traflSc between us and God.
Our exchanges with him must all be made, not on
the principle of debt and credit, loss and gain, but of

THE EELIEVEE'S VICTORr. 285

giving and receiving. He gives us every thing with
himself, and we must give all to him — give it to him
out and out — not for a price, not for heaven even,
nor for salvation, nor for any other equivalent. His
gifts and ours are not equal at all, nor does he require
them to be. His are infinite ; ours are nothing and
less than nothing to him. The higher blessings of
the gospel, equally with the lower, are the simple
gifts of God. Now, Satan seeks to hide all this from
the mind, and to set men, upon commercial princi-
ples, to buying salvation, to proposing an equivalent
for it. Said a gentleman to his wife, who had found
Jesus as a full and present Savior, '' My dear, how
did you get this blessing? what did you do to ob-
tain it?" "I did not do any thing; God gave it to
me." This opened his eyes. He was toiling and
struggling to gain it, as a man struggles to make
money, to gain earthly good ; as Luther was working,
when God said to him, ^ The just shall live by faith."
It was a new idea to him that the Infinite Giver had
gfven, even to him, eternal life (1 John 5 : 11), and
that he had only to accept it, — to believe the record
which God had made, — to secure the blessing in his
own soul. He did believe, and his heart, too, was
satisfied. Salvation, from beginning to end, is free
to every humble, trusting* applicant. It can not be
had for a price, whether it be the money offered by
Simon Magus, or the good works gloried in by the

Pharisee. Let not Satan blind the render, then, to
19

286 Satan's devices and

the simplicity of the way. God has given us every
thing; believe it; prove him. Let your intercourse
with him be all on the principle of love ; let there be
the perpetual exchange of gifts. Give him all you
have — yourself, your love, your confidence, your
obedience, your name, influence, fortune, friends;
give all J all, ALL ; and take gratefully his gifts to
you — his Son, his Spirit, his promises, the heavenly
inheritance — the " all things " which he has said " are
yours." Let his gifts interpret to you his love ; and
let that love work in you a responsive, all-consuming
love to him ; and let the free gift to him of your
whole being express and illustrate your devotion to
his will.

Again : Satan will persuade men that it is not
necessary to make special attainments in holiness in
this life. He can suggest, " You have been converted ;
your name is in the book of life ; the doctrine of the
saints' perseverance is true, and you will not fail of
heaven ; you will become holy when you die, and this
is rill-siifficipnt." To listen, for a moment, to such a
suggestion, is unworthy of a disciple of Christ. The
Scriptures demand growth in grace, and would ills'
spire us to leave the things that are behind, and to go
on toward spiritual maturity and manhood, and to bo
steadfast in obedience to Christ. They require this
as positively as they require the first acts of submis-
sion and repentance for sin. Our usefulness, our
mission in the world, demand that we ^'go forward,"

THE believer's VICTORY. 287

though the sea and the wilderness are before us.
We must adA'^anco and overcome the world, or be
overcome by it, and fall back iirto a life of sin and
unbelief, in which we shall '' forget that we were
purged from our old sins," and they will return,
with a sevenfold strength, to bring us again in
bondage.

Many, again, are kept from special and rapid
progress in the divine life, by the wrong public
sentiment and the unfavorable example which pre-
vail in the churches. In some churches the tendency
is strong in the direction of conformity to the world,
and of a loose liberality in sentiment. It is not
diflScult for Satan to persuade men to measure them-
selves by themselves, and to compare themselvjes
among themselves, and thus to satisfy them with an
almost ruinous standard of attainment.

Again : the grand device of Satan to prevent the
sanctification of the church will be, of course, to hold
the mind in a state of self-righteousness, as a means
of keeping it from the '* righteousness which is of
God by faith ; " to confuse and reverse, in men's
experiences, the principles of faith and works. The
urgency with which Paul treated this subject shows
that he regarded it as Satan's stronghold.

What, definitely, is «eZ/^righteousness ? That man
is «e^righteous, who, feeling the natural sense of
obligation to do right, and taking his idea of what is
right from his own darkened mind or from the letter

288 Satan's devices and

of the Bible, tries, by the energy he has within him
by nature, to bring his voluntary acts into conformity
with this idea. Now, by such ^' deeds of the law " no
man can be justified ; and for two reasons : (1.) His
idea is Avrong. He makes righteousness to consist in
specific, and generally outward acts, while the right
thing which God requires is a state of mind — a
supreme love to him and equal love to men. (2.)
Men are not, as a matter of fact, successful in carry-
ing into execution that which they know, in reason,
to be right. Their supreme selfishness effectually
counteracts their subordinate purpose to do right.
It so perverts their judgment and conscience, that
what their selfishness dictates they call right, and,
therefore, often do the most wicked things under the
notion that they are righteous. The Jews did this of
old ; men have done so in all ages. The dominant law
of sin and selfishness, which reigns in all unregener-
ate men, ofl^en so crushes out the impulse of natural
affection, even, and overrules all the better senti-
ments of human nature, that father is arrayed against
son, and son against father, and brother against
brother, in the most angry and bloody strife, each
insisting that he is doing right. Of course, only self-
righteousness exists in such cases. The righteous-
ness which is of God by faith never wars against
itself, nor against the divinely implanted qualities of
our natures.

The universal consciousness and experience of the

THE believer's VICTORY. 289

race is, that man's powers are so weakened by sin,
that he can not be trusted to do right under the pres-
sure of temptation, even though he should seem
determined to do so. We will not hear the testi-
mony of an interested witness, nor suffer him upon
the juror's bench. He will not withstand the cataract
of temptation; his selfishness, not his unperverted
sense of right, will rule over him ; and how then can
he be acquitted at the bar of eternal justice?

Self-righteous men fail to understand the true
character of God, and to take into proper account
their relations to him, and his claims upon tiiem.
Suppose the prodigal, in the land of his estrange-
ment, had said to himself, " I will be a gentleman, a
good, honest citizen, pay my debts, ana /onform to
the moral maxims of the people : " he might have
passed for a righteous man among his neighbors ; but
would that have reconciled matters between him and
his father? Mr. Jefferson Davis may be the fairest
of men before his fellow-secessionists ; he may be a
model of honor before foreign powers whose aid he
seeks in his rebellion; he may proclaim fasts and
petition Heaven with urgent supplications for help in
bis wild crusade ; he may even have deceived him-
self into the idea that he is doing right ; but would
all this help his standing with the United Sates gov-
i^mment, to which a hundred oaths of allegiance have
bound him, all of which he has broken? How absurd
to expect he could be justified and acquitted by our fA

290 Satan's devices and

Supreme Court, on the ground that his present acts of
war on this government, which he calls right acts,
are so in fact ! Is it not infinitely more absurd to
think that a sinner in rebellion against God can be
justified, in the Supreme Court of Heaven, on the
ground that his so-called right acts are in accordance
with God's holy law, and are, therefore, acceptable
to him in the place of a heart of loyal and loving
obedience ? Nothing but condemnation can possibly
await the mere moralist at the bar of eternal justice !
What, on the other hand, is the righteousness of
God by faith ? It begins in the confession that we
are utterly lost and condemned by the law, and that
no acts of ours, while the heart itself remains alien-
ated from God, can be acceptable to him and con-
formed to his requirements. Despairing of justifica-
tion by any merits of our own, we betake ourselves,
in penitence and faith, to Christ, the sinner's Savior,
and are saluted with the loving assurance, " I have
found a ransom ; thy sins are forgiven thee ; go in
peace." Then the Holy Ghost opens to the soul
God's love in Christ, which kindles in the believer's
heart, and he is a new creature. The very love
which the law of God requires springs up there, and
forms a new element, a new life in his experience,
*'What the law could not do in that it was weak
through the flesh," Christ has done for him, and "the
righteousness of the law " — the right thing, in fact,
which it requires — "is fulfilled in him" (Rom.

THE believer's VICTORY. 291

^:3,4), Out of this fountain of love, his acts of
obedience sweetly flow. He looks not for justifica-
tion on the ground that his works are right, but on
that of Christ's atonement alone ; and his outward
acts are expressive of his love to Jesus, which love,
according to his measure of attainment and knowl-
edge, will be coincident, in fact, with the love which
the law demands.

Now, it is the grand policy of Satan, with men who
desire to be righteous, to seduce them into a state of
self-xighteousness, to prevent their coming, as lost
sinners, to the Redeemer, to receive the true right-
eousness as a free gift. He plays adroitly upon their
sense of obligation to perform right deeds. He
urges that it is most noble and wise ; that God and
man must alike be pleased with such consistency;
that it will satisfy conscience and insure self-respect ;
that it is safe for time and hopeful for eternity ; that
it is profitable on general principles, at least, and can
be followed by no disastrous consequences. Satan
is a terribly urgent preacher of legal righteousness to
those whom he sees disposed to inquire after the
righteousness of faith. He would drive Sarah's chil-
dren into the wilderness with Hagar. He would be-
witch those who have begun in the Spirit (Gal. 3:1),
subsequently to betake themselves to the law. A
good brother, with an instructive experience on this
subject, describes his exercises thus : " I thought I
must obey the law, and went to Moses to make terms

292 Satan's devices and

with him, and he at once knocked me down. I knew
I deserved it, and did not complain. I prepared
myself, and went again ; and, with a severer blow, he
brought me to the ground a second time. I was
amazed, and entreated him to hear me. But he
drove me from Sinai, and gave me no satisfaction.
In my despair, I went to Calvary. There I found
One who had pity on me, forgave my sins, and filled
my heart with his love. I looked at him, and his heal-
ing mercy penetrated my whole being, and cured the
malady within. Now, I went back to Moses to tell
him what had happened. He smiled on me, shook
my hand, and greeted me most lovingly ; and he has
never knocked me down since. I go by Calvary to
Sinai, and all its thunders are silent.'*

What a rebuke was that of the self-righteousness
of the Pharisees who had done so much, when Jesus
set a little child before them, who had never oflfered
one sacrifice, nor made one long prayer, and said to
theniy ''Except ye be converted, and become as this
little child, ye can not enter the kingdom of heaven.''
They did not know that the child's spirit of trust,
dependence, and love was of more value than all
their self-righteous services.

Are there not many in our churches who are saying,
*' Have we not eaten and dinink in thy presence? have
we not prayed and labored in thy vineyard ? have we
not given our money to extend thy kingdom, and
even done many wonderful works? Surely the door

TiiE believer's victory. 293

will not be shut against us." Would that they might
escape this subtle device of the adversary, and make
sure of the righteousness of faith.

Unconverted men, Avho are taken in this snare of
the enemy, often aflect to sneer at these discrimina-
tions. To such, let it be said that there is nothing
in them peculiar to religion. If the breach and alien-
ation were between a husband and wife, a parent and
child, or between two personal friends, no outward
acts, however fair in appearance toward third parties,
would avail any thing. The offender must come back
into loving and confiding relations to the offended, so
that his conduct will be expressive of a true state of
heart, or reconciliation is simply impossible. Until
this is done, external deeds, no matter how plausible,
can be, in the eye of the injured party, only hypocrit-
ical, and can only add insult to injury.

K any of this class of men are disposed to deny
that God can have any controversy with those who
hold that they are righteous before him, because they
regard their own acts as righteous, their controversy
is alike with the New Testament and with the com-
mon judgment of mankind.

CHAPTER XXVII.

SATAN'S EFFORTS TO CRIPPLE THE MIXISTEB8 OF THE
GOSPEL, AND BENDER THEIR PREACHIN6 POWERLESS.

And be ibowed me Joshua, the higfa-piiest, fftanding before the angel of
the Ijord, and Satan itanding at bJi right hand to resist him,— Zeck. 3 : 1.

Lv the context preceding the passage quoted, we
have one of those prophetic visions, in which the
Messiah appears to- gather, enlarge, and bless his
church. Jerusalem is measured, the Jews are
brought back from their captivity in Babylon, the
daughter of Zion is filled with praise and rejoicing,
and many nations are gathered into the fold of the
Divine Shepherd. Joshua, representing the priest-
hood, stands before the Lord of hosts, oflfering sacri-
fices upon hi& altar; and Satan also appears at his
right hand — a most effective post — to resist him.

The vision is, doubtless, of New Testament times ;
and we are to regard Satan as now standing at the
right hand of God's ministers, while engaged in their
most holy functions, for the purpose of resisting
them, and of defeating their best efforts to save men.
That he has much success, who can doubt?

Upon no class of persons has God laid such respon-
sibility as upon Christian ministers. None, perhaps,

can do so much good or evil as they. Commissioned

cm)

THE BELIEVER'S VICTORY. 295

as God's embassadors to the world, Satan will,
through them, strike at the whole race. If he can
corrupt their hearts or their teachings, or misguide
them in their life, it will go far toward the accom-
plishment of his dire purpose on the earth. None,
therefore, more than they have need to be doubly
armed against the foe.

Christ did not fail to make abundant provision for
his ministers. When he bade them " go into all the
world, and preach the gospel to every creature," he
said, "Lo, I am with you always ; " and before they
should enter upon their great work, he pledged them
the fulfillment of the ''promise of the Father," by
which they should be "endued with power from on
high," and be introduced into the higher privileges
and blessings of the New Testament, as distinguished
from the Old. Waiting in Jerusalem till the day of
Pentecost, they received the baptism of the Holy
Ghost, and their lips were touched with heaven's fire.
It is surely the New Covenant or Testament which
furnishes the proper anointing for those who are
called to preach the gospel. Between the Old and
the New, the distinction is broad and vital. The Old
" gendereth to bondage ; " the New proclaims liberty :
the Old opened the way into the outer taberaacle ;
the New rends the vail, and introduces the believer
into the Holy of Holies : the Old could not purify
the conscience ; the New sprinkles it with clean
water: the Old held forth the truth in letter and

2l>(> satan'h devices and

shfulow ; tho New manifests its substanco and spirit as
nn all-oontrolling, divine life in the soul itself: the
Old had an infirm, human priesthood; tho New has
the Loi\l of glory himself for Priest, Mediator, and
Surety.

(lirist eommanded his diseiples, just before his
ascension, not to depart from Jerusalem upon their
mission to testify the gospel to the Avorld, until he
shoidd be glorified, and the baptism of the Spirit
should be given them. They waited, the Spirit
descended, and the New Testament was fulfilled in
them.

And now, dear brethren, does not this command to
tnrry in Jerusalem for ** the promise of the Father,"
pert4iin to us as much as it did to those who first
pn^ached the gospel under the Spirit's dispensation?
Vitally unit<>d to Chi*ist by this baptism, we shall be
able, in his strength, to do all things. Having this
** unction fn)m tlie Holy One," our ministry will be
divinely authenticated. While our feet tread the
paths of men, we shall walk with God, and enjoy a
vivid reidization of the truths we preach. , Conscious,
though we may be, of our infirmity and weakness,
we shall know that his strength is made perfect, and
abounds in our behalf. Ours will be an "earnest
ministry," indeed, and our words will be as thunder-
bolts, or sunbeams, or drops of dew and honey, as
our indwelling Immanuel shall please. Our faith will
take hold of the highest and richest things of God's

THE believer's VICTORY. 297

kingdom, and all the possibilities within us will be
brought into the most vigorous use. There seems no
good reason why the same unselfish devotion to
Christ and the same burning zeal which characterized
Paul should not be in us.

Without this heavenly anointing, we can doubtless
preach ; we can make the services of the sanctuary
beautiful, impressive, and even solemn. Presenting
the Divine Christ, only as in marble or on canvas, we
may indeed stir the religious sensibilities and gain
the *' praise of men ; " we may secure an outward
prosperity, and " sell the pews," and meet the require-
ments of the church in her spiritual apathy ; but can
we obey the command, ''Be ye clean, who bear the
vesfeels of the Lord " ? and can we habitually lead men
to the spiritual apprehension of Christ? If we fail to
move forward and gain the Spirit's teachings, must
we not fall back into the legal dispensation, under
the Old Covenant, and withhold from the people the
liberty which Christ proclaims, and bring upon our-
selves the fearful denunciations uttered by Ezekiel
(Chap. 13, 14) against the prophets who "prophesy
out of their own hearts," and *' daub with untempered
mortar " ?

There are many ways in which Satan will strive to
annihilate the moral power of our ministry.

1. First of all, he Avill, if possible, keep us from
attaining the baptism of the Holy Spirit. To pre-
vent this, no appliances will be left untried.

298 Satan's devices and

2. He will do bis utmost to draw us into that state
in which wo shall so ** seek the honor of men, and not
the honor which cometh from God only," that the
oxt^rcise of a living trust in Christ may be to us
iiupoHMible. It is not easy to the natural man ^^to
niako ouraelvos of no reputation." The "old man"
IH proud and ambitious, and hates to go to the
croMH.

i\. lie will, if he can, induce us to rely upon our
own wiHdom and sufficiency — to "lean to our own
luuhn^Htandings " more than is safe. Have we not
b(^en through t!Ke schools? Have we not studied the
lilbbs the canons of the church, and systems of doc-
trine, in dead languages and living ones? Have we
not sat at tlio foot of the masters, and do we not
know the truth ? Subordinated to the Spirit's teach-
ings, human learning is good ; otherwise it will, in
spiritual things, only mislead us. Paul's remark is as
trn(i now as when he made it, and of us as of hira-
solf — "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to
think any thing as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is
of God." If we live not in the Spirit, we shall only
promote a religion of the head — eminently satisfac-
tory to our adversary — a religion which, one of our
Unitarian journalists being judge, tends to "harden
into skepticism, or flatten into formalism, or soften
into sentimentalism, aestheticism, and such beauuful
chants and prayers " I

4. Satan will strive to withhold us from sympathy

THE believer's VICTORr. 299

and real oneness with Christ in his spirit of self-
sacrifice. He would make us unwilling to know our
Master in the smallness of his salary ; in his humil-
ity, coming, as he did, " not to be ministered unto
but to minister ; ^ in that benevolence which led him
to love his enemies the more, the less they loved
him, and to make their hatred to him a reason for
using additional means to save them; and in that
uncomplaining forbearance which he exhibited in the
garden, before Pilate, under the crown of thorns,
and upon the cross itself. Satan knows full well
that the very beginning of a successful ministry lies
in going to the cross with Christ, and there dying to
all selfish, ambitious, and worldly ends. To pre-
vent this sacrifice, this whole burnt oflfering, and
the new life and power which succeed it, will be
his most successful means of destroying our useful-
ness.

5. Satan will do his utmost to make our teaching
promotive of righteousness by works rather than of
faith. This is an age of activity, of ceaseless work,
of outward demonstration. All are called upon to
»,ct, to give, to labor here and there in the service
of God and man. It is in the natural heart to take
credit for good deeds, and make a righteousness of
them. An outward righteousness aflfords the most
plausible way of shunning the cross, and yet gaining
hope of heaven. From the identity of human nature,
in all ages, there is a constant necessity of guarding

300 Satan's devices and

against the great error into which the Jews, in
Christ's day, fell.

It is easy to ring changes on what men ought to
do ; but to bring home to them those influ3nce8
which shall destroy all self-righteous hope, and open
in their hearts fountains of love from which the vital
current of true obedience shall spontaneously flow,
reciuircs that we be able ourselves to say with Paul,
" I am crucified with Christ ; nevertheless, I live ;
yet not I, but Christ liveth in me : and the life which
I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son
of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

6. The salvation which the church needs is em-
phatically a present one. Here Satan is to be met ;
here the conflict rages; here the whole power of
Christianity to bring the world to Christ should be
manifested. If our ministrations can be construed to
favor the idea that salvation is a future rather than
a present thing, and mainly of another world, we
may be sure that Satan will make the most of such
a construction, and thus destroy much of our power
in preaching Christ's gospel. With that view, we
can surely do but little toward checking the too
dominant influence of worldliness in the church.

I forbear to mention still other things of similar
importance.

Dear brethren in the ministry, allow one of the
least in the brotherhood to ask. Are we in the Spirit,
and is our preaching in the demonstration of the

THE believer's VICTORY, 301

Spirit and with power? Do we speak with divine
authority? Is the secret of the Lord with us, as we
may and should have it? Are we in advance of the
sacramental host, able to lead them up the mountain
of the Lord, to the temple of his holiiieas ? Can we
conduct the people within the vail if we have not
entered there ourselves?

The state of the world; the amazing sweep of
influence which Satan has over men; the hastening
forward of the grand events which the prophets fore-
saw in these later ages, and which are to herald the
reign of Christ under a new heaven and on a new
earth ; the fact that so much depends upon the faith-
ful exhibition of God's truth in the full power and
authority of the Holy Ghost ; and that such responsi-
bilities are upon us as the embassadors of Christ, —
all demand that we be furnished for our work as
thoroughly as the gospel has provided that we may
be ; and that we so use our ministry that nothing of
the glory of our Redeemer shall be lost through our
neglect.
20

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THB GREAT FIGHT WITH AND VICTORY OVBR SATAN; WITH
A PASTOR'S SKETCH OF THE BATTLE SCENE.

And the God of peace shall brnise Satan under your feet shortly. — Horn, 16 : 20,

In the conflict with Satan, the saints are to be the
conquerors. True, the victory is from God; but we
are to stand upon the bruised head of the foe. The
earnest Christian believer, girded with true heavenly
might, is Guide's archangel, who, with the uplifted
spear of God's double-edged Word, and with his foot
upon the prostrate fonn of Satan, shall compel him
to surrender.

To learn the way of fighting successfully the battle
with Satan is a cardinal attainment. Upon this
must depend the question, whether we are to spend
our days in bondage or in liberty ; whether avc are
to l)c the slaves of Satan, working his will, or the
freemen of the Lord, rendering joyful and loving
service to the Prince of Peace ; whether we are to
render a good or an evil report of the land of prom-
ise ; whether Ave are tp honor Christ or crucify him
afresh.

When two great armies are arrayed against each
tlie absorbing thought on both sides is. How

(302^

THE believer's VlOTORr. 808

Bhall we get advantage of the foe — how gaiE the vio-
toryf NothJug avails till die battle id won. So it
should be with the cliui-ch in hcv couflict with the
I|jriucip:ilitie8 and powers of evil; so also with the
indivitlunl disciple, who must, like David, be confront-
ed with his Goliath, alone. How the victory can be
I surely won, we wish, with God's help, to illustrate.

But we must first see just where the issue between
ft the contending parties lies. If we make ft false issue
■with the enemy, we fail, of course; and he will, in
I this way, seek to outflank ua if he can. "We may
IsooDi to gain a battle when contending for the wrong
I tiling, and have our bondage increased by tbe opera-
I tion. Lot us not be satisfied to take some outpost
lof the enemy, but rather march upon his capital.

Now, let it be considered, that, radically, the con-
Itost is not for the putting forth of certain external
■cts, as it might at first seem, but for maintaining the
ight state of the mind itself. Ifthe true and righteous
fcecision of the soul, in regard to any matter of oat-
pai-d duty, be inflexibly maintained, the outward act
I certiiiiily be put forth. The failure will be in
living up the decisiou. Nor is the contest to escape
pmptatiou. We can make no terms with the enemy
f which ha will agree to let us alone, unless we sur-
fcndcr unconditionally. Nor yet is the contest to
retain a given state of the emotions. It is, indeed,
agreeable to have an exultant state of the religious 4
sensibility ; but to have t^t, alike in the wilderniceA ''
or in the jjromisod land, m tVie gas^iett. at oa. "Cor.

304 Satan's devices and

mount, may be neither possible nor desirable. God
requires no such thing of us ; nor did it appear in the
experience of Christ himself.

The one great and essential issue is this : to hold
the will true and loyal to the will of God. To swerve
is defeat ; to stand fast, victory.

The victorious element of our faith is just this
voluntary one, which clings to Christ through storms
and darkness; which goes with him without the
camp bearing his reproach ; which refuses to let the
promise go, though the Angel of the Covenant him-
self seem to deny the blessing, and though the ful-
fillment be delayed, as in the case of Abraham for
twenty-five long years, causing the soul to stagger
under the severity of the trial ; which insists upon
the divine faithfulness, although it seem to the mind
that there is no possible way in which the promise
can be fulfilled ; and which will not shrink from the
agony of the garden, nor from the shameful death of
the cross. To such a faith, indeed, " nothing is im-
possible ; " and it insures the complete victory over
Satan and every foe.

Remembering that the great decisive battle turns
upon this one point, the reader is invited to behold
the conflict and the victory, in the following

Sketch

Of the experience of the pastor referred to in a pre-

ious chapter. He had, as there shown, come to the

ledge of Christ, as a present and all-sufficient

THE believer's VICTORY. 305

Eedeemer. God had revealed his Son in him, in a
sense before unknown. The manifestation was pre-
cious beyond the power of language to describe.
Christ and the Father had " come unto him to make
their abode with him." His soul seemed quickened
with the very life of God, and the promise, ''Because
I live, ye shall live also," was now his own by the
sealing of the Spirit. The branch had come to abide
in that Vine whose living currents carry healing
whithersoever they flow. The joy was unutterable.
Love filled his whole being, and overflowed in every
direction toward God and all his creatures. Peace
was, literally, like a river, and the righteousness of
Christ, in him, like the waves of the sea. Faith
reached the point of complete rest, of quietness and
unwavering assurance. To love enemies, for Christ's
sake, was as easy as to love friends; to bear the
reproach of Jesus was a conscious pleasure ; to fill up
what was lacking in his sufferings, a sweet privilege.
O, how excellent was this knowledge of God I It
was inspiring and life-giving indeed. The Bible was
all luminous with the life and love of Jesus. The
deep things of God rose to the surface. It was as if
the Infinite One were communing with the soul, face
to face, and the response was ready, "Through
Christ who strengtheneth me," thus, "I can do all
things," ''bear all things," for in him is everlasting
strength. For weeks, this excellent glory filled and
satisfied his entire nature. jj

306 Satan's devices and

But at length the scene was changed. The foun*
tain of these livmg waters seemed dry. The light
was gone, the glory had disappeared, and the con-
sciousness of a present Savior was wholly wanting.
The Father and Son seemed to have withdrawn from
their abode in the temple within. The Word was
silent and dark. The promises were there, but their
streams of blessing would not flow. Joy was turned
to sadness. Love, from a glowing and intense emo-
tion, had come to be only a voluntary preference.
All the waves and billows were driving aromid and
upon the soul.

Amazed and startled, the then student cried unto
God, ''Lord, why is this? Have I sinned? Have I
gi'ieved thy Spirit? What shall I do? which way
turn ? " The difficulty was made aU th^ worse that
no immediate answer came. The heart was searched
for an Achan, but nothing believed to be wrong was
detected. Its language was, " Sooner let me die than
sin." The whole soul was in agony at such a state of
things. To one older in the faith of a present Ke-
deemer, the case was stated, who said, ^^ It is temp-
tation; but cling to Jesus y and he will give you a
glorious deliverance. It is for the trial of your faith.
Satan desires to have you^ and sift you as wheat; but
stay yourself directly upon the promise^ and victory
is sure/*'

Now the battle was inaugurated. Satan would, if
possible, force the agonized disciple to give up Christ

THE believer's victoey. 307

as a present and almighty Savior, and to yield the
conflict, under the idea that salvation was only a
future and distant thing. Will the victory come?
was the question. There stood the promise, con-
firmed by the immutable oath of the Promiser ; but,
as yet, it seemed only words — powerless words. The
student's own strength was literally nothing. It
seemed to him that a gossamer thread would better
serve the purpose of a ship's cable, than his own
strength would serve hini in that battle with the
powers of darkness. He said in his heart, *' I anchor
myself to the promise, ^My grace is sufficient for
thee,' and looking unto Jesus by faith, I will sit at
his feet and await the result."

Satan was mad, and at once opened all his batteries
upon the stripling believer. The shell and steel-
pointed shot flew faster than they could be counted.
It seemed as if hell were let loose upon him, to
assault him, at every point, in his nature and charac-
ter. The adversary stole the thunders of Sinai, and
fought his antagonist with the terrors of the law. All
manner of vile suggestions and corrupting thoughts
were paraded before the eyo of tlie imagination. The
catalogue of his old sins was unrolled before his
memory, and they were made to thunder with con-
demnation and wrath, as if they had never been for-
given. The old sore spots, which mercy had healed
up, were torn open anew, andreinflamed with convic-
tion. Hebrews 6 : 4-8, was adroitly urged by the^

808 Satan's devices and

adrersary to extinguish hope and initiate a reign of
fear and terror. The agony of the mind became
almost insupportable. The deep cry of the young
man was, **My God, my God, why hast thou for-
saken me ! " He could only lie upon his couch and
groan in anguish of spirit; and yet his soul said,
• To go to the cross, even in this horror of darkness
and conflict, is better than to yield.'* For days, the
battle continued to grow fiercer and more terrible,
till his soul began almost to stagger and tremble for
the result.

At length the Spirit came near, and entered into
communion with the suffering disciple, and showed
him where he was. The smoke of the battle cleared
away, and it was given him to see, that, up to that
point, he had not yielded. His will had remained
firm. His moral position seemed to him to be well
illustrated by a bridge thrown across a rapid stream,
familiar to him in his boyhood. A finn stone abut-
ment stood in the mi<^le of the river, successfully
resisting and turning aside the rushing waters, and
sustaining the structure above. So, by God's grace,
his will yet stood. But it was clear that Satan was
pouring out his powerful spirit upon him, and that
the flood of temptation was j'^et rising like the river
in a spring freshet; and then the question forced
upon the mind, in this review, was. Will not the
mad flood rise above the pier, carry away the bridge
above, and finally bring down the abutment? Just

THE believer's VICTORY. 309

at that juncture, when the mind was querying whether
the temptation would not be greater than it could
bear J the Holy Ghost opened and sealed these words
of promise on the waiting heart : '' There hath no
temptation taken you but such as is common to man ;
but God is f.iithful, who will not suflfer you to be
tempted above that ye are able, but will, with the temp-
tation, make a way to escape, that ye may be able to
bear it.** The victory was won, the enemy completely
routed. It could not have been more perfect if the
foe had been annihilated before the victor's eye.

For the first time, in a seven years' Christian life,
that disciple had learned to fight the good fight, and
gain the victory of faith in a present, almighty
Redeemer. It seemed to him as if he leaped, soul
and body, in his exultation, to the ceiling of his
room ; and such expressions as these came spontane-
ously from his lips : '' Now, Satan, I know j^ou, and
how to triumph over you ; " " Glory to God, I am
more than conqueror through Him who has loved
me ; " " This lesson is worth to me a thousand
worlds ; " '* The victory of Wellington over Napoleon
was nothing to this ; " *' Thanksgiving and praise be
unto Jesus, the Prince and Deliverer." The joy, the
peace, and the glory which had been withdrawn for
this trial of faith, aU returned with doubly enhanced
richness and fullness. The lessons from this victory
were numerous and invaluable. _^

Afterward, when temptation came, and faith was ^^

310 Satan's devices and

to be tried, as in the fire, the battle was easily fought.
The soul settled itself down upon the promise, and
waited patiently for the Deliverer, who was sure to
come. The teachings of the Spirit in these conflicts
were valuable, and furnished material wherewith to
comfort the church of God in his future ministry.

On one occasion afterward, this young man went
through an experience of trial and victory, the nar-
ration of which may be of service to others tried in
like way. The peculiarity of the trial was its long
continuance. The soul became tired with waiting,
and wondered why the Deliverer did not appear.
The very length of the temptation became a source,
at last, of great uneasiness. Why was it so? He
seemed to himself to bear it patiently, and knew not
why the Lord delayed his coming. This long delay
brought a severe strain upon the mind.

At length, a good Scotch brother, who well knew
the wiles and the depths of Satan, was showing, in
his sermon, how the adversary sometimes tries to
break the hold of the will upon Christ by a long^ per^
sistent pressure of temptation upon it. It was as if
he had set a siege about the soul to starve it into sur-
render. He told the following story in illustration :
An old Scotch baron was attacked by his enemy, who
encamped before his gates, and would allow no pro-
visions to enter them. He continued the siege long
enough to have exhausted the supplies within, but
tiiere were no signs of capitulation. Weeks and

THE believer's VICTORY. 311

•

months passed away, and yet no surrender. After
a long time, the besieger was sm-prised, one morn-
ing, to see a long line of fish, fresh from the sea,
hung over the wall; as much as to say, "We can
feed you ; and surely you can not starve us out, so
long as there are fish in the sea, for we have an
underground connection with it, and the supply is
exhaustless I " *' So," said the preacher, '' Satan may
besiege our gates, but he can never compel us to sur-
render, for our food comes, not through the gates,
but from above, and through channels invisible to
his eye ; and the living Bread of Life, which is inex-
haustible, is within the gates. No matter how long
the siege, we need not fear." And thus, a precious
way of escape was opened to our long-tried student.

Mrs. Hester Ann Rogers so well learned this great
lesson of overcoming by faith, that she finally gave
herself little or no concern about temptation. She
seemed able, as it were, to feel the shadow of a
coming trial before it reached her, and, with a strong
and beautiful faith, she would humbly and confidently
say to the great Deliverer, " Lord, see thou to that,"
and the victory was sure to come. And why not?

Christ fights the battle with us ; he even makes it
bis own (2 Chron. 20 : 15) ; and why should we not
expect of him always to give us a decisive and tri-
umphant victory? Let us not limit the Holy One
of Israel, who can make lice, and flies, and frogs ^
stronger for us than Pharaoh can be against us. ^^

312 THE beueyeb's victory.

By the successful fighting, for a season, of the
''good fight of faith," by the knowledge and strength
gained in the process, temptation may ere long cease
seriously to disturb us. As a means of greater
purity and growth, it may even, if God so please, be
quit« welcome. Our victory will be permanent.
Indeed our own agency may come to be so swal-
lowed up in Christ, our interests so absolutely one
with his, that we shall not practically know ourselves
except as being in him, or recognize any other agency
than his in the work of our salvation. We may gain
the moral position of Paul, and know nothing but
Girist and him crucified.

The true and earnest Christian shall be more than
a conqueror. His triumph over Satan shall be so
much beyond a bare victory, that that enemy himself
shall be made a most effective instrument in devel-
oping, in minute and beautiful proportions on the
Tbeliever's heart, that very image of the Lord Jesus
which he sought to damage or destroy. He shall
learn, by a most blessed experience, the fact that
God overrules even the devices of Satan, as well as
all other forms of evil, to the upbuilding in faith and
holiness of those who believe in him. Let not the
believer, then, fear the conflict. Soon, standing
upon the crystal sea, with the *' harp of God " in his
hand, he shall sing the conqueror's song, and wear
the conqueror's crown.

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