"the kingdoms of this world," a clue to the suggestions of vain-glory, ambition, and extended desire, which sometimes arise in his mind, and in reference to the possession of which the adversary flatters him with very fair promises, if he will but "fall down and worship him" in the love of aggrandizement, mammon, and the glory of this world. Is he conscious of being "strong in the Lord and in the power of His might," and that he is immovably fixed upon. the rock Christ Jesus? he may see in his Master's temptation from the adversary to presumption-" If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down"-that a similar temptation. may await himself, and take warning accordingly. Christ resisted the devil. He did not, in His character of human exemplar, "tempt God" by presuming upon His protection, even though He might be found out of "God's ways." He "will keep thee in all thy ways," Christian; but your ways, remember, are Christian ways. If you presumptuously leave those ways, and unnecessarily mingle with an ungodly world, be not surprised if your presumption leads you to drink in of its spirit, and to desire what its votaries desire; and thus, forsaking by degrees your first love, and checking your further growth in grace, bring yourself into condemnation and a snare, among the foils of which, the longer it is persisted in, the more intricately entangled will you become, and the more hopeless, therefore, will your case be so far as it concerns your faithful, happy, and fruitful devotion to the cause of Christ. The Holy Spirit, if not wholly "quenched," will thereby be much "grieved," and you will have cause, therefore, for future painful repentance, with much anguish of soul.

Secker says: "To pray against temptations, and yet rush into occasions, is to thrust your fingers into the fire, and

then pray that they might not be burnt." God will, as He has promised, "with every temptation provide a way of escape;" but if we refuse to walk in it, and choose rather to run further into the way of temptation, by extending our worldly connections and pursuits, then, if we fall from grace and the spiritual enjoyment which we habitually realise from a consciousness of our union with and likeness to Christ, we have no one to blame but ourselves. "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall," is the warning voice of God to all who are at any time thus exposed to the temptations of the adversary.

The Divine ends contemplated by a continuance of Satan's agency in the world are, doubtless, that he may be instrumental in tempting or proving all men, aid in inflicting the disciplinary corrections of God upon His people, and in the infliction of His just judgments upon the wicked. An important consideration in connection with this subject, however, is, that if there is an evil spirit tempting men to sin, there is also a good spirit among men wooing them to the love and practice of righteousness. So that in view of this counteracting agency, voluntary man is left wholly without excuse if he follow the suggestions of his adversary in preference to those of his Divine Friend, the Holy Ghost. Unlike the ruler of darkness, this Divine Spirit is unlimited in the attributes of wisdom and of power. No excuse, therefore, for a continuance in sin. Satan is powerful to tempt and allure, but he is not a match for Omnipotence; and Omnipotence to enable us to overcome is ours if we choose. The Holy Ghost, the Good Spirit that convinces of sin, and lures us to the practice of holiness, is God, equal with the Father, and the Son; and He says unto all, "Come." And if we come, His strength and grace will

prove sufficient to enable us to conquer Satan, self, and the world.

In bringing this subject to a close, allow me to ask, If the existence of Satan as a spiritual adversary is a fact capable of the most logical demonstration, as we have seen, from every part of the Divine Word, does it not behove us as rational beings to resolutely bring ourselves face to face with the fact, and in our spiritual warfare to study well the character, and never lose sight of the tactics of this secret invisible foe, as revealed to us by Him, the God of love and mercy, who calls, and justly calls, Himself our Friend? But some there may be who are still ready to say, "I cannot believe such a doctrine." Well, in that case, all we can say is, that to such the words of inspiration are applicable, "What if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith [or truth] of God without effect? God forbid.” 1

For about six thousand years, it is undeniable that God has suffered evil to exist in our world, and work out its legitimate issues, misery untold, and torment in the aggregate incalculable. The goodness and mercy of God, on which some men delight so much to dwell to the exclusion of His justice, have not prevented this. Let them, then, in this behold a foreshadowing of the torment which is to be of everlasting continuance in the world primarily prepared for the Devil and his angels. The merciful God did not make this world as it is; but His mercy and goodness have suffered, and will continue to suffer it to remain with more or less of evil in it till the time of its definitely fixed probationary period be accomplished. Nor will evil then cease to be. It will still be suffered to go on working out its legitimate issues, but with this difference, its locale will be in a world of punishment instead of a world of probation, and, 1 Romans iii. 3.

consequently, will then experience no let or hindrance in its efforts to work out for itself the mightiest results of misery that it is its nature to achieve !

Finite minds will ever have reason to exclaim, "O the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!" But although the scheme of God's moral government, as embracing the existence of evil, may at present be beyond our comprehension, when the present and the future of our probation shall have passed, and the final consummation of all things have come, we shall doubtless be able to comprehend much more of the plan of the Divine moral government than we now do. That which to us is at present dark and incomprehensible, will then be made plain, and the evidences of its wisdom and rectitude, as clear to our minds as the noonday. Come, then, sceptics of the past, lay aside prejudice, unbelief, and unreasonableness, and give unhesitating credence to this and all other holy doctrines of the Bible; for this Divine plan of redeeming and restoring a fallen world, remember, is a plan deep laid in the eternal counsels of God, and therefore, whether in its several parts or its entirety, it is infinitely wise, infinitely good, and infinitely reasonable.

1 Romans xi. 33.

CHAPTER XXII.

OBSERVATIONS ON VARIOUS QUOTATIONS.

MONG the many phases of Christ's teaching to which M. Renan takes exception, we may mention the following as being one, in addition to those already noticed, the spiritual bearing of which he evidently fails to comprehend. "Jesus," he says, "made no concession to necessity. He boldly preached war against nature, and total severance from the ties of blood. Despising the healthy limits of man's nature, He demanded that he should exist only for Him, that he should love Him alone. 'If any man come to Me,' said He, and hate not his father and mother, and wife and children, and brethren and sisters, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.'" Renan here quite overlooks the fact that this "war against nature" is to be proclaimed only when and where nature and "the ties of blood" stand in the way of receiving or propagating the kingdom of God. In no other sense and for no other reason did Christ preach it. And as to hating "wife and children,” etc., whom we are elsewhere commanded to love, it must be clear, one would think, to all but a Renan, that the original of the word rendered "hate" in this passage must have been used comparatively to convey the idea of loving them less than Jesus, which eminent critics tell us is the case.2 The word as here employed should convey about the same idea as is ex1 Page 222. 2 See Bishop Pearce and Dr. Clarke on this passage.