delivered from the bondage of the fear of death, and now "all things are ours," death as well as life. (1 Cor. iii. 21-23.)

We need to see what Satan is and what Satan is not. He may still obtain power over us through his subtlety; and he may be used of God for our trial of faith, as in Peter's case, or for our correction and instruction, as when Satan's messenger kept Paul from being puffed up.

Christ's death was an act of God's justice and power, moved by His love; an act of Satan upon Christ as the sin-bearer, in bruising His heel; an act of man as having crucified and slain the Lord of glory; and an act of Christ's submission, in bowing to all that God allowed to come upon Him. Sin was on but not in Christ, even as He said, “The prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in Me."

Through the woman the tempter drove the first man into rebellion, but he found in Christ, the last Adam, no corruption, no sinfulness, no perverseness of soul. The first man had a creature's mutability, and yielded to temptation; but though in the wilderness the tempter found the Lord capable of suffering and temptation through taking flesh and blood, he found Him incapable of sinning-" yet without sin."

Satan has power to tempt, but not to defile us without our consent. God uses him to test us, but if we are walking worthily He enables us to withstand. The things pleasing to the flesh are more dangerous than the hard things. Satan is God's sieve, and as such is continually used to sift out the chaff that is in us.

The book of Job is very instructive on this point. The Lord said of Job, "There is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil;" and Satan was unable to point out any

thing to the contrary. But God saw chaff, of which neither Job nor Satan was aware, and Satan was made the means of sifting it out. But the limiting of Satan's authority is clearly seen.

Job's knowledge of God far exceeded that of his three friends, and when Elihu says, "God is greater than man," Job bows, and allows that God has a right to do as He wills. The sifting of Job was to show how much wheat there was in him, and God was honoured thereby. It was no triumph of Satan, for at the end Job stood far higher than at the beginning. In chap. xlii. he is four times honoured with the title of "servant of Jehovah," and in the first two chapters only twice. This was the best of the double portion that he had after his trial.

We must expect that God will deal with us in Christ in the way of death, burial, and resurrection, and we must not count it a strange thing if we are sifted and buffeted in many ways.

The sifting of Peter was to show, not how much wheat but how much chaff there was in him. Satan discerned the state of the apostles, and "requested" that he might sift them all (see the word "you" in Luke xxii. 31-32). But Peter was in especial danger and the Lord prayed for him, not that he might escape the sifting, but that his faith might not fail. Peter had previously been warned of Satan's power, in Matt. xvi. 23, but failed to heed the Lord's rebuke.

Satan has a particular commission in the case of each servant of Christ, but he can only do the will of God.

The tempter was present at the Lord's supper (Luke xxii.), and at the very time when the Lord Jesus was giving the deepest unfolding of His love, he was not only taking possession of Judas, but was setting the disciples to strive among themselves for greatness.

In the case of Paul we see Satan, who is essentially the proud one, actually used to make the humble one still more humble, the "thorn in the flesh," implanted by Satan, being meekly and even gladly yielded to by the great apostle.

It is very solemn to see that once glorious but now fallen creature, become so blind as to offer our Lord the kingdoms of this world, which were but as a dunghill to Him.

We can only understand the reality of our deliverance from the authority and power of Satan, when we are brought into the liberty of the sons of God. In John viii. 28-44 we see man's foolish boast of liberty, while he is yet the very bondslave of Satan.

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By nature all are "children of wrath," but the expression "children of the devil" should only be applied to those who are manifestly so by their works. It was to the Pharisees who sought to take His life that our Lord said, "Ye are of your father the devil;" he was a murderer from the beginning," and there was no disguising their parentage. The apostle Paul uses similar language respecting Elymas, the sorcerer. It is with reference to works that the apostle John writes, "In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil."

In 1 Cor. v. the apostle speaks of delivering one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, and evidently he had become like the horse and the mule of Ps. xxxii. ; he had so yielded to uncleanness and perverted his liberty in Christ, that, as a last resource, he was placed again in the sphere of Satan's power.

All suffering in the flesh is not the result of being placed under the power of the devil. The world is not yet redeemed, and until the time of the redemption of the body, for which we wait, we remain liable to suffer

disease, sickness and death. All is, so to speak, under the purchase of the cross, but awaiting the time of deliverance.

Eph. ii. shows how fully the outside world is under the authority of Satan, while in Eph. vi. we get his subtle and silent working amongst the saints.

When Israel was in Egypt, God acknowledged through Moses the authority of Pharaoh, and sent the message,

Let my people go." This corresponds with Eph. ii. But when Israel was over the Red Sea and in the wilderness, Pharaoh's authority was gone, and they were under God's authority alone. Yet in the wilderness every man did that which was right in his own eyes. This is the condition of too many Christians in this day; they remain in the wilderness, and never get into the land. God might tolerate Israel's ways in the wilderness, but when they got into the land implicit obedience was enjoined (see Deut. xi.).

It is in the land that conflict chiefly takes place. The children of Israel were fighting for full possession, and though they never failed in great battles, they too often failed in smaller ones. So is it with ourselves.

Our conflict is first inwards, then in that sphere which bears the name of Christ, and lastly in the outside world. Many Christians do not understand the second conflict; they do not use the word of God as the only standard, but fall in with everything that has a fair appearance, and then find that all goes wrong after a while.

We do not escape the world's pollution, save as we are living above it, and the adversary may use certain pleasant things as his " fiery darts."

Immediately after the transfiguration on the top of the Mount, Satan put forth his power at the foot. After Peter was given a special revelation that Jesus was the

Christ, the Son of the living God, he at once yielded to Satan's whispers through want of watchfulness.

Similarly Satan thought to lift up Paul by means of the revelations that were given to him (for nothing requires so much humbleness of mind as the grace of God), but by his acceptance of the thorn in the flesh, Paul's humility shone out the brighter.

A godly old German woman who was struck with a whip for attending a prayer-meeting, aware of her soul's danger, hobbled across the road, and falling upon her knees prayed God to keep her from pride, because He had counted her worthy to suffer for His name's sake.

In whatever measure the Christian walks in the flesh he is under the power of Satan. If we walk in darkness we place ourselves again under the power of the prince of darkness.

Satan is the ruler of the darkness of this world, and his effort is by all means to put out every light that shines for God. But it is our joy to know that "all power" in heaven and on earth belongs to Christ.

THE MIGHTY POWER OF GOD.

NOTES OF ADDRESSES.

The condition of power is this—a thorough consciousness of our own weakness and of our dependence on God. It was so with Christ. He was the vessel of God's mighty power. Anointed with the Holy Ghost, He emptied Himself; He did nothing of Himself; He received His words from the Father, and of His works He says, "The Father that dwelleth in me He doeth the works ;" and of His doctrine, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me." He took the place of dependence. The Holy Ghost would lead us in the same path, for He takes the place of