(1.) He hinders from good, Zech. iii. 1., " He shewed me Joshua the high-priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right-hand to resist him."
(2.) He provokes to evil ; he put it into Ananias' heart to lie, Acts v. 3., " Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost ?" The devil blows the fire of lust and strife. When men are proud, the old serpent hath poisoned them, and makes them swell. Thus he is the evil one ; and well may we pray, " Lord, deliver us from the evil one." The word Satan in the He- brew signifies an opponent or adversary.
L He is a restless adversary, he never sleeps ; spirits need no sleep. He is a pe- ripatetic,— " He walks about," 1 Pet. v. 8. And, how doth he walk ? not as a pilgrim, but as a spy ; he narrowly observes where lie may plant his pieces of battery and make his assaults with most advantage a- gainst us. Satan is a subtle engineer ; there is no place that can secure us from Satiin's assaults and inroads. We find him while we are praying, hearing, meditating. We are sure of his company, uncertain how we came by it.
2. Satan is a puissant adversary, he is armed with power. He is called ' the strong man,' Luke xi. 2L He takes men captive at his pleasure, 2 Tim. ii. 26., " Who are taken captive by him Jit his will," — wlio arc taken alive by him. It alludes to a bird that is taken alive in the snare. Thus you see he is in the evil one. The devil's work is to angle for men's souls ; he lays suitable baits ; he allures the ambitious man with lionour, — the covetous man with riches, he hooks his baits with silver, — he allures the
lustful man with beauty, he tempts men to Delilah's lap to keep them from Abra- ham's bosom. The devil glories in the damnation of souls. How needful then is this prayer, " Deliver us from evil." Lord, keep us from the evil one ; though Satan may solicit us to sin, suffer us not to give consent ; though he may assault the castle of our hearts, yet let us not deliver up the keys of the castle to our mortal enemy.
3dly, In this petition, " Deliver us from evil," we pray to be delivered from the evil of the world. It is called an ' evil world,' Gal. i. 4.; not but that the world (as God made it) is good, but through our corrup- tion it becomes evil, and we had need pray, deliver us from an evil world.
Quest. In what sense is it an evil world ?
Ans. 1. As it is a defiling world. It is like living in an infectious air ; it requires an high degree of grace to " keep himself unspotted from the world," James i. 27. It is as hard to live in the world and not be defiled, as to go much in the sun, and not be tanned.
(1.) The opinions of the world are defil- ing ; that a little religion will serve the turn, like leaf-gold, it must be spread but thin ; that morality runs parallel vniYi grace ; that to be zealous, is to be righ- teous over much ; that it is better to keep the skin whole than the conscience pure ; that the flesh is rather to be gratified than mortified. These opinions of the world are defiling.
(2.) The examples of the world are de- filing. Examples have a great force in them to draw us to evil. — Princeps imperio magnus examplo major, Princes are looking- glasses which we dress ourselves by ; if they do evil, we are apt to imitate them. Great men are copies we set before us, and usually we write most like the copy when it is blotted. There is a great proneness in us to follow the examples of the world ; therefore God hath put in a caveat against it, Exod. xxiii. 2., " Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil." How easily are we Imrried to sin, when we have the tide of natural corruption, and the wind of ex- am])le to carry us ! Lot was the world's wonder ; the complexion of his soul kept pure in Sodom's infectious air. The river
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of Peru In America, after it hath run into the main sea, keeps fresh, and doth not mingle witli the salt waters : to this river might Lot be compared, whose piety kept fresh in Sodom's salt water. Bad exam- ples are catching, Ps. cvi. 35., They " were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works." Had not we need then pray. Lord, deliver us from this evil world ? Living in the world is like travelling in a
diftv road.