Ver. 12.-Satim's ffl{JB ,o great becauSfl his time ,o shorl. "The devil is come down unto you, having great wrath," etc. The text- L .Asso':MEB THE EXISTF:NCE OIi' SATAN. Many question the reality of any BUch being, but: 1. We may ask- Why should it not be 1 (1) We ascribe all effects to given caJJSes. Instinctively we do this. A child hears a noise, and at once looks round to find out the cause. (2) And we see many evil effects, sad, dreadful on:es, and we are therefore led to look for their cause.. (8) The same argument that tells against the existence of the evil one tells equally against the existence of One who is the All-good, tha1; is, God. If there be no pdnce of evil, there is no "Author and Giver of all good." If it be said our own nature is sufficient to account for all the evil we find, then it may be said our own nature is sufficient to account for all the good we find. (¼) It is not sufficient to say that evil is the mere absence of good-a negative, not a positive quality. That only pushes the question further back, and leads us to ask-Why should the absence of one quality cause such wretchedness in those surroundings which it has lefi? If the earth bad not been made incapable of light apart from the sun, there would be no darkness. Darkness, therefore. and evil also, require a cause, are a distir.ct creatio& 2. The Bible affirms such !llllistence. Take but one instance out of the many atlirmations of this truth. Our Lord taught us-to pray," Lead us not into temptation. but deliver us from ths ml ons." He had just come away from fearful confilct with that evil one, and therefore bids us thus pray. If our Lord's words, and those of hit •postles, do not teach tile personality and real e~~nQO of Satan, then no lanfUA? bould be ~devised that would ieaclJ ..lt.· 8• .dnd s1 l, flt1N ~ #OlfMl. For:ftll oe being sammed up in a pel'IIOB, in ·one head, destroy ihat, 1111 it ahall · destroyed, and ~ -ce&11811. to :be (of. stary of the Roman emperor, who,wialied that all Rome had butooe neck, that he might destroy'it &t a blow; in a ,very NBI. '118118& n is thus· with the klngdotn'of evil). · ·Satan MJkes·u· Ii wolf into the fold--he has no rightful inherent place therein-and he• can ·be driven Corth,·or destroyed. by-the good Shepherd, and will-be. ' ·1;, .. ,, ' . ,, ·• .. " II. TS.AOHES ut1• 'l'IIAT Tlli!:·l'OWBR oF S.ATAN'IB LDO'DID. It would be dniadful to think oihbnrise. ·.In.dark momenta inen ate tempted so to think. • Pessimism so thinks. And it niay be asked .......w1tyi!hould:not evil be eternal as well as good? The whole doctrine <if eYUlution is against it. We see perpetually •the. lower forms of life gfring plaetdo the higher, the less good to the better;. ltis thus in all <departments of· life;· . The futest survives. · The nnfi t disappeam.' Therefore· we bdline ·tn · th8 l'iniit tl\ug'ht by• the text. '.Che whole Bible asserts it:· -To teach it is almost the Bib'le'II tiiuofi d'.e#8:l: :A:nd whilst on the·most reasonble hYJll)thesi!J.;,...that our life ·mweis butiw1:Klliool,'stt'edaca.tlori---we ea'n rot.plain, at least•to· a darge es.tent,,the preseDoe ol ~'riH:n-'illl 'Val'iM' fol'IIIB~:notwithsta:11ding;and, even because,- inµnite wisdom aiilf pgwet and· gwdn"8s are at tlurlmad of'a!Hhings; but if ,the devil be head of all, then:,thflre is n°'rllOOo'll.'ttting for.the tnuch.end manifold good,thai we know exists and increasl3li day by-tlayJ Believing,' therefore, that benefioence,reigns, evil ·mu11t:have an end. .. , ,, Ill ..EXPJ.ADTB ·THE, "l/'1EUI;EN0E''01' E-VIL·•ilx~TENT .A)[Ob.'GST KBll'. It says it is becauim 'Satan, is 'in ",great<wrath;;knowing that/1 eto. Such represeritation is ·IA keepi~ with the maligbant character whfoh the Bibleeuer attI1ibutes to, and whioh mwlt belot1g' tb~"Sa.tan; See in the Gospellnarrative9i,wlien ·commanded, to go forth from th-086 ·ke hll.d' takea •~llion. of, ·mth what violE!ncl!P he- maltreats them:, throwing themiidwtw, tearing them, ca_sting t~~ into:oo~vnlsions,.et?-, It._is that which: Satan would and does do. And m ChHlltian ex.penance then,• m,the-counterpart &€:this (cf. Bunyan's 'Pilgrim's Progress'): . , IV. ·l!d:A.iis,us TO •ASK.'----Wmm11:FORB1 ..ARB 'WE TOld'.•AflL' 'JlllIS?:'"It, w&IHID.d·:is·: 1. To, 'pre'llent •dismay,' bewi7derment, lffl!t despaii·. One can· understmi.d, howr not·. a few would be, for m11;ny yet are,c fastened,upon by these foes of faith •. ·2, -To inqnrtJ hopt1 a,ul oourage, patie'IWIJ and trmt. How calculated to--reader us this high service these te&<ihings are I·· 3. Thut we may -tel,l •tl.em to otl.ers. • lfany yet are sitting in the. lantl of darkness and the slladow of death; not knowing ,that h,e hath come who .Jiall destroy "death, and him that hath the power of death, that is, the devil." "Go, preach my:~sp!l, saith the Lord.'' 4; To set us· on O'lllf guw,d; and to nutlre us more heedfnl of theoommallds of Obrist; th~ Captain of our salvation, ·in whom ablding. neither ileath nor helh::an':work ua hatm.--S. Ol' · , , •· · •; ' ~ , :• "J -, - J
• v-a'~:l-6;-Signs,' It has' bee~ wisely' said, " The Revelation of-St. John gives no nigularly · progressive, 'disclosure of the · future, advanoing in · UBlroken sem from beginning to• ~nd; ,ifmt 'it falls into a :number of groups, whieh, indeed, supplemena eacn; other, 1!\fery successive vision gi.virig 'SOme other aspect o( the -future,. but·whieh ai'e'B~ll formally complete iI1 themselv-e~ iiaeh proceeding from a beginning to an end.'I, We hai>e but just heard th.e accents df the shout of fin!I!. triumph. Now we are thrown baok , again to soenes of strife and confliet-the prevailing eondition until the end cometh-.,· 'l'his section is prepar11;tive.· ,The.agents in the great strife are set before us i-n symbolical form-"'signs." The things signified it behoves us-to seek to:kQ:ow. , .,,f. ·Tlra FIRST JS THE SIGN OF ".A W-OMAN' ARRAYED WITH THE BUN, .AND THE JIOOl!I' lTNDBB HER ll'EET-, .All'l) UI'ON R'l!B BEAD A: OROWI!I 01' TWELVE STARS.", In this. we iare &.;see a symbolical representation of the Zion.of God....... the Church; not.t,he,Qhristian: in' contradiction to the-.Jewish-J but the true Israel of God-under the Old and per- petuated in New Testament time11., . Not an .nn:fa.mjliar fignre of both Old and New Tettaments to represent the,Church! as a woman, whether & bride .or. a mother (Isa. liY. 6, -6:r eh. xxi. 2, 9). · Is tb'e sun that glory of God which now light.en& the holy,city ; and ttin,foon the previous; the less'er light which ruled the ,compilrat'ive,,11ight before,t;be, morning star appet1,red :'/ The crown of the Church ia· ever .ihe twelve tribe& supplan.Md' by.the-twelteapo!ltlesoftheLainb.-- i ! <,- . . : ,.• . : .,,.-,; IL Tu SKOOND SIGK IB m llilll--oBJLD'BOBK OI' T.HJI, WOIII.U.:' Obrist in hie ....... - TH:lt: REVELATION OF ST. JOHN TRJ!l DIVD.ffl. CB. :m..1-17.