hardness and blindness of unconverted men, that they can jest and speak lightly of Satan.
If we profess to have any real religion, let us be on our guard against the devil's devices. The enemy who overthrew David and Peter, and assaulted Christ Himself, is not an enemy to be despised. He is very subtle. He has studied the heart of man for six thousand years. He can approach us under the garb of an "angel of light." We have need to watch and pray, and put on the whole armour of God. It is a blessed promise, that if we resist him he will flee from us. It is a still more blessed thought, that when the Lwd comes, He will bruise Satan under our feet, and bind him in chains. (James iv. 7. £om. xvi. 20.)
We learn, secondly, in these verses, one great secret of a believer's perseverance in the faith. We read tbat our Lord said to Peter, "I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not." It was owing to Christ's intercession that Peter did not entirely fall away.
The continued existence of grace in a believer's heart is a great standing miracle. His enemies are so mighty, and his strength is so small, the world is so full of snares, and his heart is so weak, that it seems at first sight impossible for him to reach heaven. The passage before us explains his safety. He has a mighty Friend at the right hand of God, who ever lives to make inter- cession for him. There is a watchful Advocate, who is daily pleading for him, seeing all his daily necessities, and obtaining daily supplies of mercy and grace for his soul. His grace never altogether dies, because Christ always lives to intercede. (Heb. vii. 25.)