We see that an intelligent and spiritually-minded person may be the subject of long and painful mental distress. This may proceed, as in the case before us, from corporeal or physical causes. The connection between the mind and body is very close; and, as an excellently fine-stringed instrument of music becomes relaxed in a damp atmosphere, and incapable of producing harmonious sounds, so the strings of very sensible minds are often untuned by the vapours of the body. Many attribute their unhappiness to the withdrawing of God's presence, which ought rather to be ascribed to their bodily indisposition. They go to a minister when they should apply to a physician. Disease increases their distress, and distress aggravates their disease: - believing their darkness to spring from a spiritual cause, they are unwilling to use those remedies which would dispel their gloom. Like Asaph, their soul refuses to be comforted; but let such persons remember, that their case is not singular. Many, now in glory, wept through a long night; but joy came in the morning. We also see, that God gives to his people dying strength in a dying season. Numbers, who through the fear of death, were all their life subject to bondage, have found the supposed King of Terrors to be the Harbinger of Peace. With wonder they have said, "Can this be death?" Recollect him who hath promised, "When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee. Fear not, for I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold I am alive for evermore!"

A FRAGMENT.

ON READING LUKE XXII. 14-34.

WHAT holy rapture and heavenly pleasure, with a mixture of sorrow and wonder, must have filled the minds of the disciples, when Jesus, taking the bread and wine, said, "This is my body given, and my blood shed for you!"—and yet what a gloom must it have cast upon their spirits to hear the intelligence, "The hand of him that betrayeth me, is with me on the table!" How eagerly must the enquiry have circulated, "Lord, is it ?-Is it 1" But we learn that, in the most holy duties, when the soul feels least attached to earth, and ascends most after heavenly joys, Sin creeps in, and Satan attempts to destroy the peace and harmony of religious societies; for here, while in the act of contemplating the wonders of divine love, while in the very presence of him, "in whom dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily," a most insignificant ques tion disturbs them; and they dispute among themselves “which

shall be accounted greatest." Oh, the heart, the heart! What will not the depraved heart suggest! We cannot wonder, if in every society are found, those of whom it shall hereafter be declared, though having eaten and drank at the table of the Lord, "I know you not:" for here, even in this little number, is one who partook of the same bread, and drank of the same cup with the rest, in whom Satan had entered, to lift up his heel against the Lord, to seek how he should betray him. How important, therefore, it becomes to ask our own hearts," Is it I" And upon examination, how often shall we find ourselves among the betrayers of Jesus! Paul says," Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat," &c. Examination, therefore, becomes an act of importance in sitting at the table of the Lord. Nor need we be surprized, if those who boast most of their attachment and fidelity, should give awful proof of the danger of self-importance. Peter, the most forward to speak of the greatest apparent abilities, the first to defend his Master, is informed, that Satan has desired "to sift him as wheat." How delightful the reflection, that the intercession of Jesus must prevail; for Jesus informs him, "I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." Peter seems astonished that his Lord should doubt his zeal, exclaiming, "I will follow him to prison and to death!" But he who knew all things, says, "The cock shall not crow before thou thrice deny that thou knowest me." The event proves the truth of the assertion. Oh then, "let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall."

We learn also the advantage of love to one another. All concerned in one cause, worshipping one God, travelling one road, possessing the same promises, enjoying the same privileges, looking for the same kingdom, how natural seems the conclusion, that love should abound! Oh, let us then forget the name of Party, while remembering we shall ere long enjoy the same glory in a world where sin cannot enter, where love and praise will for ever abound! The new command, therefore, given by Jesus Christ becomes important to us while on earth," Love one another!"

To sum up all this little society, consisting but of twelve in number, gives a striking picture of the present state of the Christian church. Satan is apt to stir up strife among the members;-deceivers, alas! will always be found among them; the most shining professors are liable to make a slip; — and we often need the admonition, "Love one another."

It is our greatest mercy that " Jesus has prayed for us," that he has died and shed his blood for the remission of our sins, and that " through him we have access by one Spirit unto the Father." May we be anxious to pass humbly through life, to examine ourselves, to take heed lest we fall, and to love one another! J. G.

ON THE EXISTENCE AND INFLUENCE OF SATAN,

IN the present age of Infidelity, the notion that there is no Devil is become very prevalent. Profane men, indeed, have him constantly in their mouths; but the levity with which his name is repeated, shews that he is no more the object of their dread than God is of their worship. Some also, who are called Christian Divines, have endeavoured to persuade men that the term Devil must be understood in a figurative sense, as signifying nothing more than the evil propensities of a depraved mind; but Mr. Baxter has well said," He that believeth not that there is a Devil, proveth it to others, by shewing how grossly the Devil can befool him." Nothing can be more certain, than that this evil spirit and his agency are frequently referred to in the sacred Scriptures: to have just views on this subject, must, therefore, appear to every sincere friend to divine Revelation to be highly important. With respect to the being of Satan and of evil spirits that act in conjunction with him, we pretend to no certain and decisive evidence, except what is derived from the sacred volume. It is a probable conjecture, that every part of the universe is inhabited by animate and rational natures; but the Scriptures make mention of no other intelligent beings but God, good and evil angels, and

man.

The angels appear to have been created before the formation of the earth. They are an order of beings much superior to man, both in wisdom and strength. Some indeed have supposed (as the term Angel signifies Messenger) by angels we are to understand the spirits of departed saints, who are employed to minister to their brethren here below; but the office appointed for them by Christ, at the final judgment (to say nothing of other arguments) clearly proves the erroneousness of this sentiment +. The angels were created not only intelligent, but holy; but we are told in Scripture of some of them that kept not their first estate. How long they retained their innocence, -- how many of them fell, by what particular sin they fell, and how it happened that, in beings of spotless purity, inclinations to evil should spring up, are questions which we cannot answer. It is, however, intimated §, that pride occasioned the condemnation of the Devil; nor is the supposition of our incomparable Milton at all improbable, that Envy at the dignity, and resistance to the Son of God, deprived the Devil and his companions of their glory. "God spared not the angels that sinned; but cast them down to Hell, and

Job xxxviii. 4. 7. fi Tim. ii. 3, 6.

-

delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment."

Of these fallen spirits, one seems to be superior in ability and influence to the rest. In truth, we do not discover perfect equality in any species of created beings. In vegetables and brutes, some have much more beauty and strength than others: among men, some soar aloft in the regions of intellect, and approximate to angels; others are so feeble-minded and limited in their views, that they seem but a few degrees above irrational creatures. The holy angels, there is reason to believe, are not in all respects equal. The Scriptures speak of principalities and powers, and might and dominion in heavenly places * One of these exalted spirits is described as an Archangel, who shall sound the trump of God, when the Lord Jesus Christ shall descend, and summon all nations to his tribunal. In like 'manner, among apostate angels, one evidently takes the lead, whose pre-eminence in hostility against God and man, is strongly marked in Scripture. He is described by different names, which denote his subtilty, malignity, and power. In Rev.xii.9, he is called "That Old Serpent, the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world." In Rev. ix. 11, he is called a King, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name, in the Hebrew tongue, is Abaddon; but in the Greek tongue, his name is Apollyon, a Destroyer. The Jews called him Beelzebub, the Prince of the Devils t. He is spoken of, in Eph. ii. 2, as the Prince of the Power of the Air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. But nothing more strikingly proves the superiority of Satan to the rest of the fallen spirits, than where the latter are described as his angels.

But it is of importance to consider the influence of these malignant spirits; and if any regard is due to divine Revelation, it must be admitted that they are busily, and often suecessfully employed in attempting to involve men in guilt and misery. It will, perhaps, be objected, How can Satan be suffering in Hell, and yet exercising his influence on earth at the same time? Do you ascribe omnipresence, an attribute of Deity, then, to this abandoned Spirit? Here it is proper to observe, that as Heaven is a state as well as place, so Hell must be considered in this two-fold view. That there is a local Heaven, where angels and "the spirits of just men made perfect" usually reside, is evident from many parts of the sacred volume; and is it not equally clear, that the good angels are employed on messages of mercy to the children of God in the present world? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to them that shall be the heirs of salvation §?" But is it to be

Eph. i. 21. heb. i. 14.

+ Mat. xii. 24, &c.

↑ Mat. xxv. 41.

supposed, even for a moment, that the spirits thus employed: are less happy than those that are in the local Heaven? "In thy presence," says the Psalmist," is fulness of joy ;" and cannot an omnipresent God communicate this fulness to his faithful servants in any part of the universe? And where is the difficulty in believing, that while Satan is permitted to go to and fro upon the earth, and walk up and down in it, that conscious guilt, malignant passions, and the avenging hand of God, may torment him as much as though he were constantly in the local Hell, in whatever part of the universe that may be? But some will say, You represent the Devil as tempting all mankind, and that they are constantly exposed to his temptations; but how is this consistent with the idea of a finite spirit, however capacious his powers? To this it is replied, that the injurious influence of apostate angels upon the children of men, is principally ascribed to Satan, because he is the leader in all wickedness, and the other fallen spirits act in subordination to him. As to his own individual influence, it is impossible to say how far even that may extend. With the rapidity of a solar ray, for aught we know, this "Prince of the power of the air" may convey himself from one place to another; and besides this, What limits can we fix to the number of evil spirits that obey his mandates? A legion of Devils entered into a herd of swine, and hurried them into the great deep. Satan is represented as having a kingdom *. Who can say that the angels that sinned are not much more numerous than the whole human race, at any given period, on the face of the earth?

But what are the nature, tendency, and effects of Satan's influence upon the children of men? It springs from hatred to God, and a malevolent wish to bring men into the same condemnation with himself. This infernal temper betrayed itself almost as soon as the first human pair were formed, and placed in the garden of Eden. Sometimes, evil spirits have been permitted to injure the bodies of men. "So Satan went forth from the Lord, and sinote Job with sore boils, from the sole of his foot unto his crowut." During the time of our Lord's incarnation, and even after that period, the bodies of many were possessed by unclean spirits; and in all ages of the world, Satan has been attempting, by deceit, to ruin the souls of men. We are not ignorant," says St. Paul, of his devices." On the subject of Witchcraft (which is condemned in Scripture under the severest penalties $) and on the Heathen Oracles, something might be said to illustrate the pernicious designs of Satan; but want of room prevents. For the present, it may suffice to observe, that if Scripture-representa

Mat. xii. 16.

§ Exod. xxij. 18.