Satan

Resist the Devil. — I remember hearing a good brother speak about courage against the devil, and in reference to spiritual power he said that he believed that a man of God, when he had faith, could kick his way through a street full of devils from one end to the other. I admired his simile. It was worthy of Martin Luther, for it was the kind of thing that Martin Luther would have said. Oh, if the air were as full of devils as it is of fogs, a man that has God within him might laugh them all to scorn. Who can hurt the man whom God protects?

Defeating the Devil. — - 1 met the other day with a piece of one of Christmas Evans’s sermons — it struck me forcibly, and I determined to repeat it — “The enemy is ever after our souls; let us keep our hearts with all diligence; let us store our hearts with texts of Scripture, in the things given, that we may be kept out of the way.” Then he gives this parable —” Once upon a time the devil determined to do a mighty business. Seeking whom he may devour, he went through the land, determined to devour some souls. He came upon a ploughboy standing there, and he said to himself, ‘I will tempt the boy to rob his master; then he will get into prison; t’will bring him into bad company, so that he will get worse, and be transported, and ultimately get to the gallows, and I shall have his soul forever, The devil strode

across the moor, and, as he approached the ploughboy, he heard him singing —

‘My God, the spring of all my joys,

The life of my delights,
The glory of my brightest days,
And comfort of my nights.’

‘Ah! ’ said the devil, ’ he won’t answer my purpose,1 and off he went. There was no room for him there; it was a dry place. So, flying over hill and dale, he came to a quiet nook in a valley between two high mountains, where there was a sweet little cottage overgrown with ivy, with its porch covered with eglantine. There sat beneath the porch a maiden knitting. * I will entice her, said he, ’ away to the big town, and lead her into ways of folly, and sin, and shame. She shall perish in an infirmary, and her soul will be mine for ever, He stooped to whisper in her ear some temptation, but he heard her singing —

* Jesus, I love thy charming name,

‘Tis music to mine ear;
Fain would I sound it out so loud
That earth and heaven should hear.’

‘That won’t answer, said he; and he went his way, saying, ‘I should have done better to have been with old Williams all day; I could have tormented the old fellow: I will be off to him now, So he flew away, and at nightfall alighted in a village. All the lamps were out save one, in a cottage, where he saw the light glimmering in an upper room. It seemed to be a rushlight dying in the socket. ‘Here, said he, ’ old Williams lives. He has served God these fifty years, and if I could get him now, what a trophy he would be! it would pay me for all my disappointments if I could get old Williams after all his professions. He stepped up stairs, and there Williams lay dying. l Now,’ said he, i I will make him doubt, and die in despair, and perish! ‘The crisis was just come; his friends were gathering round his bed, expecting his departure. Satan stepped lightly across the room, to get at the dying man’s ear; and as he came close to him, Williams stretched out his hand, and said, ‘Yea, tho I pass through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil; for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me! ’ l Thou hast prepared a table before me in the presence of mine enemies, Satan shrank back abashed, and went away howling. He did no more that day, and never had he done such a sorry day’s work before. He was wholly beaten, entirely overcome, because the minds of the people whom he wished to attack had been pre-occupied, and they were feeding on God’s word.”

Satan and Our Weak Spot. — We have all our tender spots. When Thetis dipped Achilles in the Styx, you remember she held him by the heel; he was made invulnerable wherever the water touched him, but his heel not being covered with the water, was vulnerable, and there Paris shot his arrow, and he died. It is even so with us. We may think that we are covered with virtue till we are totally invulnerable, but we have a heel some where; there is a place where the arrow of the devil can make way: hence the absolute necessity of taking to ourselves “the whole armor of God,” so that there may not be a solitary joint in the harness that shall be unprotected against the arrows of the devil. Satan is very crafty; he knows the ins and outs of manhood. There is many an old castle that has stood against every attack, but at last some traitor from within has gone with out, and said, “I know an old deserted passage, a subterranean back way, that has not been used for many a day. In such and such a field you will see an opening; clear away a heap of stones there, and I will lead you down the passage: you will then come to an old door of which I have the key, and I can let you in; and so “by a back way I can lead you into the very heart of the citadel, which you may then easily capture.” It is so with Satan. Man knoweth not himself so well as Satan knows him. There are back ways and subterranean pas sages into man’s heart which the devil doth well understand; and he who thinketh that he is safe, let him take heed lest he fall.

The Devil’s Advocate. — They used to have in Rome when they were canonizing saints an Advocatus Diaboli or advocate of the devil, who was wont to plead against the person being canonized, and offer all the objections he could. It seems strange that so many people should turn Advocati Diaboli against themselves. I can tell you how they argue, for I have talked to them by the hour, and this has been the fashion of their counter-pleading, “But, sir, I don’t feel any need of it.” We reply, “If you cannot go to Christ with a broken heart, go to Christ for a broken heart.” “Oh, but, sir, I don’t feel that I am fit to go.” “Your unfitness is the only evidence he wants.” “But I don’t think I have repented enough.”” Granted; and you never will repent enough, could your tears forever flow. You cannot be saved by the merit of your repentance.