ho or employers, who will dismiss them from their service ard they faithfully follow Jesus Christ. This kind of persecution and still exists. The carnal mind is as much enmity against God as it was when Nero, or Pliny, or Trajan, or Diocletian, vaged with persecution the church of God. Sixteen hundred years ago Tertullian observed, "Some are arrived to the pitch of aversion to the very name of Christian, that they seem to have entered into covenant with hatred, and bar gained to gratify this passion at the expense of all the satis factions of human life, acquiescing in the grossest of injuries, rather than the hated thing of Christian should come within their doors. The husband, now cured of all his former jea lousy by his wife's conversion to Christianity, turns her and her new modesty out of doors together, choosing to dwell with an adulteress, sooner than a Christian: the father, so tender of the undutiful son in his Gentile state, disinherits him now when he becomes obedient by becoming a Christian: the master, heretofore so good to his unfaithful slave, dis cards him now upon his fidelity and his religion. So that the husband had rather have his wife false, the father his son a rebel, the master his servant a rogue, than Christians and good so much is the hatred of our name, above all the advantages of virtue flowing from it. Our heavenly Master, and his heavenly religion, are both unknown, and both condemned, without any other consideration, but that of the bare name of Christian.' Only change the word Christian for Dissenter, or Methodist, and Tertullian's words are an exact description of the spirit of many opposers of genuine religion in the present age. : In the midst of trials of this kind, you have cause for joy rather than sorrow. They are what the holy Jesus told his first disciples to expect. "Ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake; but he that endureth to the end shall be saved."r "And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolk, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death."s "A man's foes shall be they of his own household." They are what he himself encountered, and need we wonder that a world which hated him, should hate his followers? "If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more them of his (s) Luke xxi. 16. (t) Matt. x. 36. (r) Matt. x. 22. WHEN PERSECUTED. 311 ousehold." If they represented him as a glutton, a drunkrd, and a stirrer of sedition, surely you need not be surprised, nd should not be pained, at any scandals they may cast on ou! If friends oppose your choice, and deem your wisdom olly, remember his brethren at one time did not believe in im; but said, he was beside himself. If the haters of holiess revile, and mock, and injure you, hearken while your Lord says, "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me efore it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, out I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world nateth you." Since he was hated, why should it grieve you to be hated by a world that hated him? Why should you mourn at being reviled, when he was reviled before you ? Rather rejoice; and if ever disposed to mourn and droop on account of the opposition you experience, then hear him saying, "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." Thus expect little from the world that hated him; but rejoice that if you are dead with him, you shall also live with him; if you suffer, you shall also reign with him; if you confess him on earth, he will also confess you before his Father, and before his angels." Important period! How trifling then will appear the ridicule of the gay, and the more open enmity of the hostile! Then all the trials of faithful piety will end. Look therefore to the crown, and you will not tremble at the cross. Think of hearing, at the end of life's short day, those gladdening words, "Well done, good and faithful servant !" and the enmity and contempt of the haters of religion will be as trifling as the chatterings of a magpie; and will no more prevent your pressing on to heaven, than the buzzings of an angry fly. § 13. Had the disciples of Jesus no other enemies than the flesh and the world, to oppose their progress to heaven, the Christian life would be in reality a warfare. But the word of (u) John xv. 18, 19. (v) Matt. v. 10-12. (w) 2 Tim. ii. 12. Matt. x. 32. 312 SATANIC OPPOSITION. God discloses to your view other enemies not less formid. able. However Unitarians and infidels may reject or ridicule the notion of Satanic opposition, directed against the growth of piety, no truth is revealed in the divine word with more clearness. Satan is there described as an active, a busy, and a powerful enemy; “ As a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."* This language does not represent him as a weak or timid, a supine or careless, foe; but as a mighty enemy, ready to attack the strongest; a watchful enemy, whoever sleeps, not sleeping. The Christian is declared to have to maintain a conflict with this enemy, and with his associates in guilt and ruin. "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." How awful is this statement! The angels that kept not their first estate, are the rulers of this dark world. Over multitudes they reign with an undisputed sway, and exert all their hellish arts to harass and to injure those who are translated out of their dark kingdom. The followers of Jesus, in pressing on to heaven, have to encounter their opposition, and to wrestle with them. § 14. The great end which Satan and his guilty associates pursue, is the destruction of the immortal soul. To accomplish this object, he is represented as blinding those from whose view the gospel is hidden. Probably blinding them, by filling their minds with suggestions which encourage unbelief, or with prejudices against divine truth. In this unhappy condition multitudes are led captive by the devil at his will. The Christian has been happily delivered from his rule, but not from his assaults. Various are the modes by which the wicked one carries on his system of opposition to the glory of God, and the happiness of man, A principal means by which he advances his hellish purposes doubtless is deception. Hence we read of his deceiving the nations; of the depths of Satan; of the wiles of the devil; and of Satan's devices. The devices of (x) 1 Pet. v. 8. (y) Eph. vi. 11, 12. () 2 Cor. iv. 4. (a) Rev. xx. 3. (c) Eph. vi. 11. (d) 2 Cor. ii, 11. ཡ ི་ THE WILES OF SATAN. 313 a wicked spirit, that has been labouring to delude mankind for almost six thousand years, must be innumerable. How skilled in deception are some men, even in a few years! how much more skilled must the father of lies have become in six thousand! Hence the Christian has particular need to watch against the wiles of the devil; for these are doubtless adapted to the age, situation, and circumstances of those whom he assaults. Sometimes the temptations offered by Satan are sudden and violent; at others sly and insinuating. Under his influence, or that of corrupt nature, all the most precious truths of the Bible are perverted into means for hardening men in their carelessness and guilt. Are persons brought out of a state of carelessness and presumption, other devices are then employed. They are tempted to think that it is too late for them to seek for mercy; that their sins are too many and great to be forgiven; that their doom is fixed, and that it is vain for them to seek for happiness. If these views are not sufficient to prevent their following after salvation, it is then perhaps suggested to them, that they have sinned the unpardonable sin, and, therefore, that there can be no hope for them; or they are tempted to build on some other foundation, instead of that which God has laid. Their minds are harassed and tempted to indulge unbelief. In prayer a variety of suggestions are powerfully injected into the mind, till, distracted and perplexed, the Christian can scarcely pray: then he is tempted to think, that he had better not pray at all, than pray so imperfectly; and if he listens to the tempter, Satan gains an advantage over him. Is the temptation designed to draw the believer into sin. The sin is dressed out in its most alluring colours. The advantages, enjoyments, and pleasures to be obtained by compliance are all arrayed before him. The bait is presented, but the hook is hidden. It is perhaps suggested that the sin is a small one, and may afterwards be repented of; or that many pious persons have fallen into worse crimes: as Noah, David, and Peter, who yet found forgiveness and happiness. Or perhaps the soul is tempted by the suggestion, that it would not actually transgress the divine laws; that so much strictness, as some professors of religion plead for, is unnecessary preciseness; and thus it is rendered bold in venturing on temptation, and the next step is transgression. Then from sin it 314 THE WILES OF SATAN. is led on to sin; from smaller to greater crimes, till peace, and hope, and faith, and happiness are all sacrificed. Thus Peter fell he first was tempted to a lie; to this another lie was soon added; and many hours had not elapsed, before perjury and profaneness were added to the falsehoods previously uttered. So David first indulged unlawful desires for Bathsheba; then sunk into adultery; and to shield her and himself from the shame of discovery, proceeded, by the sword of the enemy, to murder the man he had so deeply injured. Had Peter at first been tempted to curse, and to swear, or David to murder Uriah, that he might gain Bathsheba, probably the tempter's design had been frustrated; but step by step they were drawn to the precipice, from which they fell. There is no device of the devil, which the Christian should fear more, than that of being rendered bold in venturing on temptation, and giving way to what may be thought smaller sins. The size of this volume will not allow an enumeration of the devices of the wicked one. It may however be said, Watch against them; and whenever any thing, however plausible or promising, would diminish your love to Christ, or your hatred of sin; or would render your conscience less tender, or your conduct less strict, suspect it as one of the wiles of the devil. Whenever any thing, however fair and alluring, would draw you to the edge of temptation, or lead you from safer scenes into those, where the world may give more, but where temptation abounds, you have reason to consider this one of the devices of the wicked one. The Scriptures also speak of "the fiery darts of the wicked one."e The expression is probably descriptive of those painful and horrible suggestions, which sometimes harass the most pious persons, and occasion as much pain to the soul, as a fiery dart would inflict upon the body. Perhaps you have been pained with these. Thoughts full of infidelity, or blasphemy, or other abominations, have harassed your mind. Thoughts which you durst not reveal to your nearest friend. The most holy minds have been thus assaulted by the wicked one, and been filled with perplexity and distress, through the hellish suggestions that have haunted and harassed them. § 15. In your warfare with the prince of darkness you have (e) Eph. vi. 16. |