quences of the most pernicious nature. It awakens in the minds of common people suspicions against the validity of those arguments which are accordant with Scripture and reason, and which are employed to reclaim them from those erroneous opinions which they often intermingle with the truth, and thus confirms them still more in their superstitions.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

I. 1 John 5: 18, he that is born of God taketh care of himself, and the wicked one toucheth him not.

II. John 8: 44, ye wish to do the lusts of your father the devil.

III. 1 John 3: 8, he that doeth sin is of the devil.

IV. "Truth," "righteousness," "faith," " the word of God," "prayer," are the means specified in the following passages to resist the influence of the devil and his angels, στηναι προς τας μεθοδείας του διαβόλου-αντιστήναι αυτῷσβεσαι τα βέλη του лоvηoоυ, to stand against the wiles of the devil--to withstand him-to quench the darts of the wicked one. Ephes. 6: 14— 18. 1 Pet. 5: 8, 9. James 5: 7.1

V. 1 Cor. 7:5, that Satan tempt you not through your incontinence.

VI. The reader may consult the sermon on the inexcusability of men if they are not saved (p. 11 &c.), by the author of this work.

VII. A knowledge of the existence of demons and of the schemes which they are prosecuting, enables us to acquire more comprehensive views of the origin and progress of human misery, and casts new light on the influence of the merits of Christ and our obligation to him. "The value of the atonement 1 Programma de Protevangelio.

of Christ must assume a still higher importance and appear in a more interesting light, when we reflect that his death defeated the grand scheme of Satan to draw us into the wretched state and society of the wicked angels, and that, on the other hand, a right was thereby purchased for our admission into the blessed kingdom of God."1

VIII. Eph. 6: 16. 1 Pet. 5: 8, your adversary, the devil, goeth about, like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

IX. The power of evil spirits is designated by the express-. ions αρχαι, εξουσιαι, κοσμοκρατορες του σκοτους, principalities, powers, rulers of darkness; and their subtlety is called "wiles or stratagems of the devil." Eph. 6: 11, 12.

ness.

X. Eph 6: 13, εν τη ήμερα τη πονηρᾳ in the evil day. XI. This doctrine should prompt us to spiritual watchful-We know that the seductive influence of wicked men and the unhappy concurrence of outward circumstances, as little dependent on us as are the temptations of evil spirits, have usually a great influence on the magnitude of our crimes and the lamentable effects attending them, if we neglect to resist the beginnings of evil, and to arm ourselves against them by the influence of piety. It is therefore the more natural to suppose, that the danger of falling a prey to the influence of evil spirits should be added to the other dangers of sin, in order that it might serve to warn those who abandon themselves to the influence of sin, or who are at least indifferent on the subject, against so perilous a course of conduct.

XII. 1 Pet. 5: 8, νηψατε, γρηγορησατε be sober, be watchful.

XIII. Eph. 6 : 11, ενδύσασθαι την πανοπλίαν του θεού put on the armour of God.

1 Comment. de Protevangelio, p. 22. Opusc. acad. Vol. II. p. 435.

By the views which have thus far been discussed in this (52) section, the objections are refuted which have been urged against the moral tendency of the doctrine of the influence of evil spirits. Stäudlin,' in his History of the Ethical system of Jesus, has thus expressed these objections: "The allurements to sin and the difficulty of a virtuous life are of themselves sufficiently great and powerful. But if, in addition to this, we regard them as the schemes of an invisible enemy to human virtue and human happiness, possessed of the most formidable power, deceitfulness, and cunning; how easily may the mind of man be terrified with apprehensions and filled with despondency, how easily might his noblest moral powers be paralyzed, and his cheerful obedience to the obligations of duty be converted into a timorous effort to escape the wiles of Satan,—into a constant fear and trembling before him? Or would not persons of different temperament and character, cast all the blame of their crimes on Satan? About the circumstance that Satan cannot prevail over him unless he himself previously paves the way for him, he will care but little; for he would, at any rate, never be able to determine how far his own guilt extended, and where that of Satan began.”

XIV. The doctrine of the influence of evil spirits, is most abundantly taught by Christ and his apostles.—No reason can be assigned why Jesus should have hesitated publicly to reject the doctrine concerning evil spirits, if he believed it false. The Sadducees, we know (Acts 23: 8), thought themselves at liberty to reject it; and Jesus did not hesitate to join them in their opposition to the traditions, and openly to reject them without caring about the offence which he would give, although these traditions were far more holy in the eyes of the Jews than the doctrine of evil spirits, Matth. 15: 12-14. Had his object been

1 Pt. I. p. 805.

to avoid giving offence, it would not even have been necessary for him to confirm the doctrine; he could have passed it over in entire silence.1 But he appears intentionally to have sought occasion to mention the devil, without having been urged to it, and without having any occasion for it, in a conversation (John ch. 8), in which, instead of avoiding, he increased the offence occasioned by the mention of the devil. John 8: 48–52. He mentioned him with the utmost confidence, precisely at the time when he professed his claim to implicit credibility (38, 40, 42, 45-47) and when he uttered his most solemn abhorrence of falsehood of every kind (44). But it was not only before the populace that he taught this doctrine, but when alone with his disciples he inculcated the same truth. Let the reader consult the following passages, in which he is conversing with his disciples alone about Satan and his angels. Matth. 13: 36, 38. 25: 41. 24: 3. Mark 4: 10, 15. Luke 22: 31. Nay, agreeably to John 16: 7, 8, 11, he classed this among the principal doctrines which the Holy Spirit through his instrumentality would publish to the world. "In this passage Jesus is not addressing the illiterate populace, but he is speaking to his own apostles. Nor is he conversing of unimportant opinions which might yet be tolerated for some time, but of the future preaching of these teachers of the world. Nor is he speaking of certain modifications which the discourses of the apostles might assume from their own infirmities, or of the erroneous ideas of some of their hearers, but of the contents of their Gospel, as derived from the Spirit of God (v. 7) who should teach the truth (v. 13), regardless of the circumstance whether it accorded with their former ideas or contradicted them."3 Thus St. Paul also,

1 Dissert. de sensu historico, p. 20. Opusc. acad. Vol. I. p. 24--27. 2 § 51. ILL. 6.

3 Tüb. gel. Anzeig. 1790. p. 141; and Hess über die Lehren, Thaten und Schicksale unseres Herrn, S. 173 f. 255 f.

2

who had dared to overturn the magical system of the Ephesians,1 regarded the doctrine of evil spirits as not at all inconsistent with the dignity of that very christianity which had discarded superstition. And he did not hesitate to interweave this doctrine with his Epistle to the Ephesians themselves, although he in this same Epistle inveighs against the superstition of the Essenes with which the Ephesians were in danger of being tinctured. Had not Paul believed the doctrine of wicked angels, the Epistle to the Ephesians would surely have been the last place in which he would have spoken so impressively and circumstantially concerning the temptations of wicked angels; as he in this very Epistle, was contending against the Essenes, who had manifested a veneration for good angels and a terror of wicked ones altogether extreme."

The circumstance that Peter, in the passage 1 Pet. 5: 8, may probably have had the words of Christ (Luke 22: 31 &c.) in his view, renders it still more probable that by avridinos [adversary], he meant deaßolos or Zaravas [the devil or Satan]. Luke 22: 31.4

XV. "It is proper to make some remarks on this subject, in order that those passages of Scripture which relate to it, may not be misunderstood. But should any one reject the whole doctrine, the manifest violence which would thus be offered to so many passages of Scripture, would rouse the minds of the hearers and convince them that an attempt was made to wrest from them doctrines evidently taught in the word of God.

1 Acts 19: 19.

2 Eph. 2: 2. 6:11. See the Programm De consensu &c. where the objections are answered, which are urged against the opinion that this epistle was addressed to Ephesians.

3 Opusc. acad. Vol. II. p. 437. not. i. compare Dissert. I. in Epist. ad Coloss. not. 18.