The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 1 — Section 154

Satan rules and reigns. But what are the goods, or vessels, or spoils, If the unrenewed heart itself be the palace where Satan resides, and which he has made his dwelling, then the powers of that heart-for the Hebrews referred to the heart what we attribute to the head-its faculties so noble, its feelings so tender, its affections so precious, are Satan's goods, for he uses them for his own purposes; they are his vessels, for he employs them in his work and Bervice; they are his spoils, for he has usurped authority over them. ffis, no doubt, they are by right of conquest, if might ever makes right. He is not only a possessor, but wields over them the power of a sovereign. He is enthroned in the sinner's heart, and exalted to a chief place in his affections, Accordingly, he receives the homage of his intellect, he claims and gets the ready service of his will, he controls the actions of the life; and thus over head and heart and life he sways his sceptre, exercising unlimited and incessant control. To one faculty or feeling he says, "Come," and it cometh; to another power or principle of action he says, "Go," and it goeth. 3. His possession, and how he keeps it. In the heart of man there are what Ezekiel calls" chambers of imagery." These chambers of imagery in the human heart are of themselves dark enough and dreary enough; but Satan, if we yield to him and resist him not, for he cannot control us without our consent or coerce us against our consent, will curtain those chambers with darkness-spiritual darkness. As long as he can keep us in the darkness of ignorance-ignorance of God, of Christ, of the way of salvation, of ourselves, of our slavery, of our responsibility, of our danger, and of our duty-he is secure in his possession. "The god of this world bath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." By subtlety and stratagem, by wiles and wickedness, he holds possession of those chambers, actually furnishing them with his own hand, while the furniture thus supplied consists of delusions-strong delusions, sinful delusions. Even the pictures on the walls are painted by him ; scenes base and bad, wicked and abominable, are there portrayed to pervert the judgment and incline it to what is perverse, to debase the imagination with visions foul and filthy, to inflame the affections with objects indelicate and impure. Another effectual way in which Satan holds possession of the palace of man's heart is by keeping it under the influence of sense. He occupies men with the things of sense and sight, to the neglect of things spiritual and eternal; he employs them with material objects and worldly interests; he amuses them with the trifles of the present time, to the neglect of the interests of the never-ending future; he engrosses our attention with worldliness, vanity, and pride- things sensual, earthly, and perishable; thoughts about the body and its wants are pressed on men, to the neglect of the soul and its necessities. Such questionfl e.s, "Wba.t sha.ll I eat, or what shall I drink, or wherewithal shall I be clothed?" are ever present, while the vastly more important question, "What must I do to be saved?" is lost sight of or left in abeyance. Present profits and worldly pursuits absorb attention, to the neglect of present responsibilities and future realities; the pleasures of sin, short-lived and unsatisfactory as they are sure to prove, divert men's tLoughts from those "pleasures which are at God's right hand for evermore." But, as the Word of God warns us of Satan's devices that we may be on our guard against them, it may not be amiss to pay the more particular attention to them. Another way by which he holds possession of the palace of what Bunyan calls Mansoul is delay. This is a favourite method, and one specially successful with the young. "Time enough yet," Satan whispers into the young ear, and the inexperienced heart of youth is too ready to believe the falsehood. He persuades them into the belief that it is too soon for such grave subjects, too early to engage in such solemn reflections. Many other and even better opportunities, they are induced to think, will be afforded; they are yet young and strong, and with a keen zest for youthful pleasures, and the world is all before them. Every year the delay becomes more difficult to break a.way from, and the delusion the more dangerous; and while the difficulty e.e well as the danuer increases, the strength of the sinner, or his power to overcome the suggestions of Satl'n, decreases. A more convenient season is expected, and thus procrastination becomes, as usual, " the thief of time ; year after year it steals till all is past, and to the mercies of a moment leaves the vast concerns of an eternal scene." But to delay succeeds at ,ength another means by which he keeps possession, and that other means, in one ~espect the opposite, is d,~pair. Thus extremes meet. Satan h&d long flattered them with the ott. m. 1-35.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARJL 149