for me. O daily crucify the world to me, and me to it, that when its offers stand in competition with thy love, I may have grace to reject them. In this holy war, carry me on, glorifying him who hath called me to be a soldier. Grant me this for Jesus' sake.

Amen and Amen.

000

CHAP. XIII.

The believer marches on, resisting and overcoming the wiles and the assaults of the tempter.

SATAN is a continual adversary. He rebelled against the sovereign will of the Most High in heaven, and was cast out.-As soon as man was formed, he began to tempt him to rebel against God, and he succeeded. Ever since the revelation was

made of the divine purpose to redeem sinners, he has set himself up against it, and with impotent rage opposed it. He is always

his

trying to hinder sinners from coming to the Saviour; and when they are come to him, to hinder them from living by faith upon fulness. On the side of Satan are principalities and powers, combined armies and united legions of apostate spirits-formidable to man for their number-more so for their subtlety and cunning-they have stratagems and wiles, depths of skill to deceive-in which they are so successful that they have deceived the whole world. Their courage is desperate. They fear nothing for they

were mad enough to take up arms against the almighty. No wonder then that they should be unwearied in their attacks against man. They are always upon the watchready, as one temptation fails, to present another. Their strength is very great--they are called principalities and powers-rulers and princes-yea, the god of this world, because they work as they please in the children of disobedience, whom they keep so fast bound in the chains of sin, that no human arm can break them asunder. And it is the only joy they know--the joy of hell--to rivet the

chains of sin upon those poor captives, till they bind them in everlasting chains of darkness.

These, O my soul, are thine enemies.They had drawn thee into their rebellion, and they are still trying to draw thee into their torments. They have free access to thy fallen nature. They know how to make use of the objects in the world to work upon thy senses, and to stir up evil thoughts.They have fiery darts always at hand to throw at thy faith, and rest not night and day in attacking thy peace and happiness in Jesus.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name, for undertaking to save thee from those enemies. The love of the Father gave his son to be the woman's seed-Jehovah incarnate--for his people. In their nature he was to bruise the head of the serpent; his cunning, his poison, and all his power to hurt, lie in his head: when this is bruised, he is defeated. The battle to be fought was foretold, and the victory to be won was promised to

Adam; and by faith in it, he and all the redeemed in the Old Testament conquered Satan. In the fulness of time God was manifest in the flesh: he came to destroy the works of the devil. Sin is his great work; by it he drew man from God, and by it he keeps man from God. Immanuel began the destruction of the works of the devil by taking human nature. His manhood was perfectly holy-it had not, it could not have, any sin: because God was in Christ. There was every thing in his holy life which the law could require. He obeyed all its precepts with uninterrupted conformity, and being co-equal and co-eternal with the Father, his obedience was therefore divine, absolutely complete, and infinitely sufficient to justify for ever. He was tempted indeed, but he overcame every temptation. He defeated Satan in all his attempts, insomuch that when he was entering upon the last scene of his life, he could declare: "The prince of this world cometh, AND HATH NOTHING IN ME." He did come, and the great pitched battle was

fought, which was to decide for ever, whether the seed of the woman or the serpent should be crowned conqueror? The battle began in the garden of Gethsemane, and was finished upon mount Calvary.Every stratagem of infernal policy was then tried; every assault of devilish malice was exerted against the Captain of our salvation: but he conquered them all, as it was foretold; "Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under thy feet." He trod upon the serpent's head, and crushed it; but, at the same time, the serpent bit his heel. The heel is his lowest part-his body -this fell in the conflict; but he completed his victory by the loss of his life. The apostle speaks of the cross upon which he bled and died, as the great scene of this engagement, and on which he vanquished and triumphed for ever over the powers of hell --having spoiled principalities and powers, and taken away all their armour wherein they trusted; he made a show of them, openly triumphing over them upon the