with interrogatories and appeals; for he can tell how by appeals, as well as by charging of sin, to sink and drown the sinner whose soul he has leave to engage. Suppose, therefore, that some distressed man or woman should after this way be engaged, and Satan should with his interrogatories and appeals be busy with them, to drive them to desperation, the text last mentioned, to say nothing of the subject of our discourse, yields plenty of help for the relief of such a one. Says Satan, Dost thou not know that thou hast horribly sinned? Yes, says the soul, I do. Says Satan, Dost thou not know that thou art one of the vilest in all the pack of professors? Yes, says the soul, I do. Says Satan, Doth not thy conscience tell thee that thou art and hast been more base than any of thy fellows can imagine thee to be? Yes, says the soul, my conscience tells me so. Well, saith Satan, now will I come upon thee with my appeals. Art thou not a graceless wretch? Yes. Hast thou not an heart to be sorry for this wickedness? No, not as I should. And albeit, saith Satan, thou prayest sometimes, yet is not thy heart possessed with a belief that God will not regard thee? Yes, says the sinner. Why then, despair, and go hang thyself, saith the devil. And now we are at the end of the thing designed and driven at by Satan. But what shall I now do? saith the sinner. I answer, Take up the words of the text against him, 'Christ loves with a love that passeth knowledge.' And answereth him further, saying, Satan, though I cannot think that God loves me, though I cannot think that God will save me, yet I will not yield to thee; for God can do more than I think he can. He can do exceeding abundantly above what I ask or think. Thus the Text helpeth where obstructions are put in against our believing. It is a Text made up of words picked and packed together, by the wisdom. of God: picked and packed together, on purpose for the succo!

and relief of the tempted, that they may when in the very midst of their distresses cast themselves upon the love of God in Christ for salvation."-Works, p. 1766.

It would be a delightful task to me, fond and familiar as I am with both Luther and Bunyan, to parallelize their mature views of the great doctrines of the Gospel. But my limits forbid. No forbidding however, shall prevent me from imploring theological Students, to trace out, mark, and remember, the chordings of these original and mighty minds, with the turned harps of Inspiration and Heaven. There is, indeed, no polish upon the language of either. They blurt out, in blunt terms, their opinions of truth and duty: but their Saxon is a talismanic Sesame at all the doors of consideration. It is quite possible to yawn, if not to fall asleep, over John Howe or Robert Hall, when they wire-draw the wedges of Sanctuary Gold, and then festoon the wire in artificial forms of ornate beauty: but Luther and Bunyan make the ground shake again, when they throw down the golden wedges; and never make the metal shine, except when they lay it in thick plates upon the Mercy-seat, or in wide expanse on the walls, of the Temple: and then, they make us hear the unrolling of the sheets, as well as see the burnished radiance of them.

Perhaps the best thing I can do, in closing this brief Chapter, is, to record the Imprimatur of the Bishop of London, who was contemporary with the first translation of Luther on the Galatians. The next Metropolitan, who shall speak in EDWIN'S style and spirit of that work, will eclipse the only two of the moderns, whom I have studied ;-Lowth and Porteus.

The Metropolitan of 1575, told the church and the world, that Luther's work being brought to him to peruse and consider," I thought it my part, not only to allow of it to print, but also to commend it to the Reader, as a treatise most comfortable to all afflicted consciences, exercised in the School of

Christ. The Author felt what he spake, and had experience of what he wrote, and thus was able, more lively, to express both the assaults and salving; the order of the battle, and the means of the victory.

"If Christ justify, who can condemn ?—saith St. Paul. This most necessary doctrine, the Author hath most substantially declared in his Commentary. Satan is the enemy: the victory is only by faith in Christ."-Imprimatur

It would seem from the Bishop's Preface, that the first translators of Luther's work stuck fast, either from ignorance or fear, in the midst of it; and that more learned men, caring for nothing so much as for the "relief of afflicted minds," put "to their helping hand, from zeal," but kept back their names from modesty. Being thus left in ignorance of the finishers of the translation, I say nothing about its beginners,—much as 1 might say.

It deserves notice, that Bunyan improved upon Luther, in speaking of the Law. He did not, like him, rave or stamp, when smashing its "great teeth and strong horn," as a cursing Covenant. He saw how it was abolished, as "the ministry of Condemnation," at the cross of Christ. Neither Bunyan nor Luther, however, caught Paul's splendid idea, that the CHIROGRAPH of Law was nailed to the Cross, as Christ himself was, without losing any thing of its glory or authority as a Kule of life. Both Christ and Law were crucified, in order to be crowned for ever.

CHAPTER XIII.

SATAN AND HIS ANGELS.

THOSE who study Bunyan will read this Chapter. It will, I hope, "provoke" some Theologian to grapple with the philosophy of Satanic agency. Neither the BAMPTON nor the CONGREGATIONAL Lectures will be complete, until they take up this subject. Robert Hall, had he been spared, would have become a Lecturer, rather than leave the subject as it now stands.

It is much to be regretted, that no commanding mind has girded up its loins, or clothed itself in all the armor of Light (reason and revalation), in order to challenge the public mind on the subject of "Satan and his Angels." The question of the existence and agency of Evil Spirits, should not be left unsettled; nor at issue between the superstitious and the scoffing, or the credulous and incredulous. It should be rescued from the hands of both, and set at rest, by the "high hand" of Christian Philosophy: for it is a practical question, and fraught with NATIONAL as well as personal interests. The claims of Humanity, as much as the credit of Religion, demand this. If there really be no devil, and thus no danger of being tempted but by each other, or by our own passions, the Laws of the country should no longer speak of "the instigation of the devil;" nor the Catechism of Churches, of the devil or his works; nor Ministers and Parents, of his wiles or snares. But if, on the other hand, there be a devil, who can and does tempt

men to sin, and whose angels and agents are actually busy at

this demoralizing work, the awful fact should be so awfully proclaimed, that no witling durst laugh at it even over his cups, and no sciolist evade it by verbal criticisms.

True; the subject is proclaimed in all ways, in the Bible. There, Satan is frequently named, characterized, denounced, and pointed out as the Enemy and the Tempter of man: and yet, the giddy laugh at him, and the busy forget him, and would-be philosophers resolve the whole affair into figures of speech. In the fashionable slang of modern philosophy, the devil is nothing more than "the personified principle of evil.”— Southey's Wesley.

All this is said and done, in the very face of a Bible teeming with descriptions of Satan, and thundering with warnings against his wiles. True! This, however, is not the only revealed truth, which has been thus treated for ages, and yet afterwards was lodged in the public mind, and chartered into popularity, by the commanding influence of a great name, Public opinion has never played with images or indulgences, since Luther, Knox, and Cranmer fought the battle of the Reformation. Whitefield and Wesley drove baptismal regeneration from all pulpits and all heads, into which the Cross of Christ was admitted. Wardlaw, Magee, and Smith, turued the New Version of Socinianism and the creed of Priestley, into an old by-word. David Bogue awoke the Church to the claims of the heathen, and John Harris has frightened her at the worship of Mammon. Thus, a great truth can be forced into general notice, and fastened upon so many leading minds, by one influential Champion, that it will work its way through all ranks of society, and tell with effect upon public opinion and practice. There is, therefore, nothing in all the wanton or flippant modes in which Satanic influence is sported with, which may not be checked and put down. Mockery, and fearlessness, and heedlessness, in reference to this spiritual danger,