serpent's head (Gen. iii. 14-21). From this time onward the Bible history is the record of this struggle between God, who would have man His free follower and child and not His slave, and who, therefore, does not destroy the power of evil by the mere fiat of His will, and the power of evil which is revealed to us continually more and more clearly, as a personal spiritual being. We must admit at once that it is not always possible to say definitely how far any evil spirit which troubles man is an embodiment of the spirit of evil himself, and further we must remember that the word Satan simply means an adversary or accuser, and is sometimes used in this general sense (e.g. Ps. cix. 6, A.V.), but at the same time there are clear teachings in the Old Testament with regard to the spirit of evil, and this increasingly as time goes on. Thus in Zech. iii. 1, 2, he is brought before us as the adversary of Joshua the high-priest, while in the Book of Job we see him the accuser of man, and the adversary of God, trying to bring to naught God's plans for the elevation of man. In post-biblical times the Jewish belief in evil spirits became very complicated, and descended from the level that we find in the Bible into an elaborate system of magic, i.e. a system of overcoming the devil, not by the power of God, but by charms and incantations; in fact, of elaborate efforts to cast out demons by the Prince of the demons.1 (B.) The word devil-the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew Satan-meets us for the first time in Wisdom ii. 24, where the temptation of Eve is directly attributed to him. In this, as in other matters, however, the Old Testament gives us but a shadow and forecast of the truth fully revealed in the New. Here we see the struggle between God and the devil, between the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness carried out to the bitter end. The very first act of our Lord, after His proclamation as the Son of God-to mark as it were this struggle as that for which He came into the world-is His departure into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil (Matt. iv. 1, parallels). The narratives of this event bring before us the devil as employing (1) the ordinary bodily wants of man; (2) the tendency of man to claim what he believes to be his right without waiting for God's way of giving it; (3) the worldly ambition which makes 1 On this subject, cf. Edersheim: Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Appendix xiii. man grasp at power under the specious pretext that by gaining it he could do much for the good of others, as inducements to turn away the Son of God from His allegiance, and lead Him to fall down and worship him.1 This narrative also clearly brings out the fact of the possession of a kingdom by the devil,2 while the passages referred to below show us what this kingdom is-show us that the world of man, so far as man does not seek God, and, to the best of his ability try to serve him, is under the power of the devil. Again, when Christ gave the people the laws of His Kingdom in the Sermon on the Mount He brought out the same antithesis. Here we find that everything is to be done in the service of God, in a way which may subdue that spiritual pride which is one of the devil's chief engines of destruction, and we are taught too the necessity of making a choice between the two masters (Matt. vi. 24), whom it is possible for man to serve. Afterwards we see the struggle renewed in all those cases of healing the demonised which occur throughout the Gospels; and the fact of their healing is adduced as a proof that the kingdom of the devil is subdued, that the kingdom of God is come (Matt. xii. 22-28). Christ represents His mission to the world as that of a stronger man come to destroy the strong man under whose tyranny man was groaning (Matt. xii. 29; Luke xi. 21, 22), and the Apostles teach that men turning to God revealed in Christ are delivered from the kingdom of Satan and brought into the kingdom of God (Acts xxvi. 18; Col. i. 13). But it was at the end of His life that the fight reached its severest stage. The struggle in the garden (Matt. xxvi. 36-46 parallels), when Christ prayed that the cup might pass from Him, and the death on the cross, which seemed to men to mark the final triumph of the Evil One and to dash all their hopes of deliverance (Luke xxiv. 21), mark the climax of the fight, and are the prelude to the final triumph, when by the resurrection Jesus was declared 1 This account of the Temptation may be sufficient for the purpose in hand, viz., to show how the Gospels treat the existence of the personal power of evil as un acknowledged fact. The event itself is of course most mysterious, and the fall force of the various temptations as addressed to the Messiah, to Him who had just before been proclaimed as the Son of God, is perhaps beyond our apprehension. Much pious speculation, however, has been expended on it, and the devout student can gain much by the careful study of it. The following works may be referred to as specially helpful:-Trench: Studies in the Gospels, pp. 1-67. Edersheim Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, i. pp. 291-307. Latham: Pastor Pastorum, pp. 114-146. : 2 Cf. Luke iv. 6; John xii. 31, xiv. 30, xvi. 11; 2 Cor. iv. 4; 1 John v. 19. to be the Son of God with power (Rom. i. 4), and destroyed him that had the power of death (Heb. ii. 14). (7) We can now see clearly what is meant by renouncing1 the devil. Man is either the slave of God or the slave of the devil; he belongs either to the kingdom of light or to the kingdom of darkness. In neither case can there be any middle course. The child of God, then, must renounce all allegiance to the king of darkness. He must by word and deed proclaim that he will not pay him any service, that he in no way recognises him as his master. But not only must the child of God renounce the devil; he must also renounce the world and the flesh. It is mainly through these latter that the devil asserts his sway over men, and therefore if we would be free from his dominion we must not be the slaves of the instruments which he uses. (8) All his works.—Although all evil and sin comes in the first instance from the devil, yet there are some things which may be said to be specially his works. Thus as he is the tempter (1 Thess. iii. 5), we must reckon tempting others to evil as a special mark of his presence. Again, he is a murderer and a liar, and the father thereof (John viii. 44), and so murder and lying fall under the same head. He that resists the truth, as the Jews did in our Lord's day, is the child of the devil. Again, spiritual pride, which leads man to exalt himself on account of his spiritual privileges, and to despise others, is a work of the devil (Luke xviii. 10-14). To these may be added hypocrisy, or the effort to seem what a man is not for the sake of the credit to be gained thereby. This is the one sin for which our Lord never expressed any word of mercy (Cf. Matt. xxiii.). (€) Pomps and vanity.—The word pomp (Gr. πоμπý; Lat. pompa) means originally a solemn procession, and hence comes to denote the pageantry and show connected with such things, and then pageantry, display, of any kind. This is the meaning here. Cf. 'With goddess-like demeanour forth she went, Not unattended, for on her as queen A pomp of winning graces waited still.'--Par. Lost, viii. 59-61. Vain (Lat. vanum) means originally empty, with no real substance, worthless. The word is used in this sense commonly in the A.V.,-Ex. v. 9; Judg. ix. 4, xi. 3, etc. Cf. also Shakespeare- 1 Up to 1662 the word used, both in the Catechism and the Baptismal Offices, was forsake. At the last revision renounce was uniformly introduced. It is clearly a stronger word, and brings out more forcibly the idea of active resistance. 'I trust I may not trust thee: for thy word Is but the vain breath of a common man.'-K. John, iii. 1. 7, 8. 'To laugh at gibing boys and stand the push Of every beardless vain comparative.'-1 Hen. IV. iii. 2. 66, 67. Hence vanity means emptiness, nothingness, something which has an outward show with no reality within, something therefore which fails a man in his time of need if he trusts to it. Cf. Rom. viii. 20; Ps. xxxix. 6, P.B. V. (8) This wicked world.-We must be careful not to confound the world referred to here with the material universe. This when completed was very good (Gen. i. 31). But through sin the world of man became subject to the Evil One (1 John v. 19), and the outward attractions of the material world he uses to deceive man, to make him trust in those outward things which have no reality, and which prove hollow and worthless when a time of trial comes. It was the experience of this truth, gained by a course of seeking satisfaction in the pleasures and business of the world, which led to the refrain of the Preacher, Vanity of vanities, all is vanity (Eccles. i. 2, xii. 8), and to the reflections of Wolsey 'Vain pomp and glory of this world, I hate ye : Never to hope again.'—Henry VIII. iii. 2. 365-372. It is not hard to give special examples of things that fall under this head, and in this, as in other cases, the teacher must seek to discover, and must lay stress on, those particular evils to which he sees his pupils incline. Common illustrations are, the love of dress, love of the theatre and public amusements indulged in so as to interfere with the adequate discharge of duty or at an unjustifiable expense, the very painful efforts often made to keep up appearances and to persuade the world that the actors in them are better off than they really are, the efforts often made by lads to ape their seniors by learning to smoke, lolling about, etc. (2) The sinful lusts of the flesh.-Here we must be careful to guard ourselves against falling into the error, which has led to so much false asceticism, of thinking that the flesh is in itself evil. The body is part of God's creation, and as such is very good. It is an essential part of the man whom Christ came to redeem (1 Thess. v. 23). At the incarnation human flesh was once for all united to God1 (John i. 14; Rom. ix. 5; 1 John iv. 2); our bodies were made the temples of the Holy Ghost (1 Cor. vi. 19; 2 Cor. vi. 16). But the appetites of the body, those natural passions of man, which in themselves are innocent and good, and whose proper use is necessary for the maintenance of life, are used by the devil to allure man to destruction. The supreme argument against all evil indulgence is that addressed by S. Paul to the Corinthians-that for a Christian any pollution of the body by excess of eating or drinking or impurity of any kind is not merely sin but is sacrilege, is desecration of that which God has sanctified as His own abode. The same principle underlies our Lord's teaching with regard to evil thoughts (Matt. v. 22, 28). Evil deeds are destructive of society, and are therefore punished by society in various ways, but evil thoughts defile the temple of God as much as deeds, and are therefore condemned by Christian ethics as strongly as the deeds to which they give rise (Matt. xv. 18-20). It will not be hard now to see the special evils which should be dealt with under this head. S. Paul gives a list of the works of the flesh in Gal. v. 19-21, and this, taking care to lay stress on the sins specially likely to beset those taught, will furnish a sufficient guide for instruction. We have seen above what is meant by renouncing the devil. The force of the word in connection with the remaining parts of the promise is best explained by reference to the Baptismal Office. Dost thou, in the name of this child, renounce the devil and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, and all covetous desires of the same, and the carnal desires of the flesh, so that thou wilt not follow, nor be led by them? He who renounces the world lives in the world but not of the world; he uses the world without abusing it (1 Cor. vii. 31); he is the master and not the slave of circumstances; he employs every bodily and intellectual power, every worldly advantage with which he is endowed, not for the mere gratification of personal inclinations, but to promote the glory of God and the good of his fellow-men. b. That I should believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith.-What these Articles are must be seen by 1 Cf. the Athanasian Creed-One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the manhood into God. |