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character, sustained ever since, as the Tempter of mankind, the Tempter, and by his dreadful power the conqueror of the first Adam; and in the opening of the New Testament, the very first thing we see of him again is as the great Tempter of Mankind, in personal conflict with the Son of God, the Second Adam, to be by him thrown as lightning from heaven; and his very weapons are those which he used with Bunyan, a diabolical perversion of the word of God itself, and a suggestion of devilish blasphemies. And then in the closing up of all revelation, the same accursed being comes into view as the Dragon, the Serpent, the Devil and Satan, the Deceiver of the world, the Deceiver of the nations, the Tempter of mankind, the Accuser of our brethren!

I have referred you to the Temptation of our blessed Lord, and to that beautiful work of Milton, in which, with so much veri-similitude, the character and reflections of the devil, in entering on that work of temptation, are drawn before us. And I say, that Satan would be likely to make the same reflections, and pursue the same measures, though on a smaller scale, whenever he saw men like Luther or Bunyan in such an attitude, under such a discipline, of such a make, that he might expect great danger to his own kingdom from their efforts. For it is characteristic of Satan, as of all the wicked, never to profit by his own experience; and though all the evil he ever did, recoils, and ever must recoil, upon his own head, still he goes on doing it, providing materials for God to display his own glory, and out of evil still to bring forth

good. "Experience like the stern lights of a ship," only shows Satan the path that has been passed over, and on he goes, committing the same errors in crime again.

Passing, now, in this argument, from our Lord's temptation to our Lord's prayer, we find there a distinct recognition of the Satanic Tempter; "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the WICKED ONE." This is one of the few passages in which our translation of the Scriptures, incomparably excellent though it be, is peculiarly defective, not rendering the power and full meaning of the original. There is another passage, equally unfortunate, where the translation, in the opinion of almost all commentators, ancient and modern, ought to be the Evil One, or the Wicked One, the same word being used as in our Lord's prayer :— "But the Lord is faithful, who shall establish you, and keep you from the Wicked One." (2 Thess. 3:3.) And yet another passage in Ephesians, concerning which there cannot be a moment's doubt: "Above all taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the WICKED ONE." (Ephes. 6:16.) And this is a passage in which the phrase fiery darts is wonderfully expressive and powerful, being taken from the use in war of those slender arrows of cane, to which ignited combustible matter was attached, which, when shot, would set on fire wood-work, tents, whatever there was that would catch fire. Just so are the fiery darts of the WICKED ONE shot into the soul, or shot at the Christian, tipped, as it were, with damnation; and if there be wood, hay, stub

ble, in a Christian's works, instead of prayer, selfdenial, labor for Christ, and in such a case these darts fall into the soul, then what a conflagration, perhaps what apostacy, what ruin, what death! Now in war it was the aim of persons so assailed to intercept and quench these burning arrows; and a most nimble and powerful exercise in the use of the shield did it require; and in the Christian warfare, it is nothing but the Shield of Faith, and an equally nimble and dexterous use of it, that can defend the Christian. And this Bunyan found to his cost; for his great adversary assailed him with a fierce fiery storm of those darts, when he had but very little faith; and his very experience in the use of his shield he had to gain in his conflicts with the Enemy. Now if you compare these passages with some others; such as, "I would have come to you once and again, but Satan hindered me;" "Lest Satan get an advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices;" "Lest by any means the Tempter may have tempted you, and our work be in vain ;" and other passages of the like character; you will see delineated in the Scriptures the features of that Fiend, who tempted Bunyan; and you cannot doubt the meaning of the declaration that your adversary the devil goeth about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

Let it be marked that I have here confined myself to one class of passages in regard to Satan, those which present him in the character in which we have to do with him in the case of Bunyan. There are multitudes of passages, which I have

not touched, and shall not. In the revelation of St. John the devil is said to be concerned in throw ing saints into prison, that they may be tried there; and here is a new mark of identity between the adversary of Bunyan and the devil of the Scriptures; and a new proof that in every age his wiles and stratagems are the same. I could easily fill a whole volume with arguments drawn from Scrip ture, and another volume with proofs from experience, on this subject. There is one point of importance in Bunyan's experience of the wiles of the devil, which I have not noticed, and that is, the great advantage which early habits of sin give to the Tempter against our own souls. Perhaps we may note this in the case of Peter, in the readiness with which Satan could fill his mouth with profaneness in the recurrence of what were probably his oaths as a youthful passionate fisherman. You may note it much more clearly in the case of Bunyan, who used to swear so dreadfully in his childhood, so that when the devil in his manhood tempted him with blasphemies, he had a powerful God indeed often uses a advantage over him. man's own sins to be terrible scourges to him; and in this is realized what is said in Jeremiah, Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee; know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God. The truth of this Bunyan found to his great cost under the assaults of the Tempter, opening anew the sluices of his youthful wickedness.

BUNYAN'S EXAMINATION.

Bunyan's use of his temptations.—The gloom of his mind in the early part of his imprisonment.-His faithfulness to Christ in the midst of it.-His perfect disinterestedness.-His little blind daughter.-Relation of his examination and imprisonment. That old enemy Dr. Lindale.-Bunyan's admirable answers and Christian deportment.-The nature and preciousness of religious liberty.-Parable by Dr. Franklin.

THERE never was a man, who made better use of his temptations, especially the temptations by his Great Adversary, than Bunyan. In the preface to his Grace Abounding, addressed to those whom God had counted him worthy to bring to the Redeemer by his ministry, he says, "I have sent you here enclosed a drop of the honey, that I have taken out of the carcass of a lion. I have eaten thereof myself, and am much refreshed thereby. Temptations, when we meet them at first, are as the lion that roared upon Samson; but if we overcome them, the next time we see them we shall find a nest of honey within them." Nor was there ever a man who traced the parental care, tenderness and goodness of God more clearly, or with more gratitude in those temptations, the designs of God in suffering such things to befall him, and the manner in which those designs were accomplished. It was for

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