Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1883-12-20
Reaaiua tar the Sabbath.
CONDUCTED BY
REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
SATAN'S ADVANTAGE.

Inc SE0dU cflcuS VI SOi tiANt ttih Soo>s L.
Satan. Being the enemy of God, his con-
slant effort is to mar the works of God and
thwart Gods purposes. So far as this world
is concerned, Satan's efforts are mainly di-
rected against man. His first effort OF hate
and malice, so far as we are informed, was
against man. No doubt the reason of this
is found in the fact that man was originally
created in the image of God, and by God
constituted the chief of all the creatures
placed on the earth. Probably Satan con-
cluded that if he could, in any way, succeed
in turning man away from his allegiance to
his maker, that he would thus inaugurate
rebellion which would result in the COM
plete overthrow of the sovereign of theuni-
verse. The malice was certainly of the
darkest hue, but so far as created wisdom
can discover, the conclusion was correct.
If the chief rebels, may we not reasonably
expect all his subjects to follow his eX-
ample?
God, in the exercise of his sovereign love,
interposed and put stop to the spirit of re-
bellion Immediately after man shook Oft his
allegiance to his maker and joined the enc.
my. This frustrated the plans of Satan and
blasted his hopes of success, in accordance
did not give up in despair. Defeat he would
not acknowledge, and want Of success in
one direction only melted him to double
diligence and to make more determined
effort in another direction.
It was Jesus Christ that frustrated Satan's
first plan of rebellion upon this earth. The
hour of mans greatest extremity was the
time of Gods peculiar opportunity. Satan
had no sooner ruined man than the Son OF
God interposed in his behalf. From that
hour to the present, the conflict has been be-
tween Satan and the Son of God. This con-
hict will continue as long as time lasts.
The avOWed purpose now OF Satan IS 10 neg
afy and nullify the work of redemption be-
gun and carried on by Jesus Christ. The
ultimate object of Satan is now, as formerly,
the dethroning of God. The first attack was
not made directly upon God himself, but
upon that creature which God was pleased
to make in his own image, and place over
the other creatures inhabiting the earth.
Atpresent the attacks of Satan are not made
directly upon Jesus Christ, but upon those
who believe in Jesus Christ. The attack OF
Satan upon the first of the human family
was the most insidious and ensnaring.
They were not told by the great enemy of
God, that God was tyrant and that it was
their duty to rebel but, that the restraints
which God had placed upon them were un-
reasonable and worked to their disadvan-
tage. 1t was insinuated that no harm could
follow doing what God had commanded
them not to do, but much good would result
from such disobedience. In fact, it was in
timated to them that God was fOoling them.
In this way Satan stole a march upon our
=, cl~s FIJI
got the advantage of them.
In the same way that Satan attacked
Adam and Eve in the garden of Paradise,
he continues to attack believers in Jesus
Christ to-day. He lays plans to get the ad-
vantage of them. The success of Satan is
appalling. Not a single day passes away
but each individual believeri is, in some way
or other, outgeneraled by the prince ofdark-
ness. Were it not for the prompt interven-
ton of the Lord of Life the faith of all be-
levers would fail, and wild shout of VIC
tory go up from the camp of Satan. 81
have" says our Lord to Peter, "prayed for
thee, that thy faith fail not"
The waysin in which Satan gets, or attempts
to get, the advantage of believers are innu-
merable. Vegetius, in his work on militia
ry affairs, uses the following language {:
"Quicguid ti6i protest, ddrersdrios nocet,
4NtCINtu ttt"e JtCH, ttct >CbIIt CUeS''3
which may be translated thus: Whatever is
favorable to you is injurious to your adver-
sary, and whatever is to the advantage of
your foe is always hurtful to you.
We may make an application OF this to
believers in their contest with Satan. What
ever is unfavorable to the growth of grace
in the souls of believers is an advantage Of
fered Satan and on the other hand, what
ever is favorable to the growth of grace in
believers is unfavorable to Satan. Bona
parte said, LEARN your enemy's weak point,
mass your forces and attack him at that
point" This is exactly what Satan does.
He learns the believers weak point, masses
his forces and attacks him there. Every
man has his besettingsin. This is his weak
point. Satan knowsita and against this point
he leads his forces.
One of perhaps the most common OF the
ways in which Satan gets the advantage OF
believers, is by attracting their attention to
themselves, and thus causing them to take
their attention off Jesus Christ. In other
words, the chief way in which Satan gets
the advantage of believers is by causing
them to trust in their own righteousness and
reject the righteousness Of Jesus Christ.
When the follower of Jesus Christ begins to
feel that in himself he is strong, then he be-
comes, in reality, weak indeed. Satan has
gained an advantage over him, which would
result in his ruin, were it not that he who
keeps his people never slumbers nor sleeps.
The only ground of hope is that while Satan
may get an advantage over believers he
never can get an advantage ever Jesus
Christ. Were it not for this fact, Satan
would soon number among his most faithful
allies, the blood-bought Church of God.
Frequently Jesus Christ permits Satan to
get the advantage of his people that he may,
in this way, show them how weak they are.
This, however, does not warrant believers
in Jesus Christ exposing themselves to the
attacks of Satan. The man who takes fire
into his bosom may calculate on being burnt,
but not with more certainty than the believ-
er who stops to parley with Satan may cal
culate on being wounded.
All the descriptions which God, in his
word, has given us of Satan are calculated to
stir the followers of Jesus Christ up to sleep
less vigilance. Satan is no ordinary foe.
He got the advantage over man before sin
darkened his intellect, disordered his atfec-
tions and made obstinate his will. This
was on the part of Satan a wonderful victo-
ry 1t showed his skill in devising plan
and his power in executing that plan after
it was devised, If man in his state of prim-
eval innocence and perfection was with
comparative ease taken advantage of by Sa-
tan, how easy is it for him to get the advan.
tage of man now, since he is palsied in soul
and in body by the first sin. If the strong
man UNNAMED fell a victim to the foe, what
will become of the weak and wounded man
when he encounters this same foe: His on
ly hope is in the strong arm of him who
through his death destroyed him that had
the power of death, that is, the devil.
Our Saviour taught his people to pray
"Lead us not into temptation"; that is, sui
one estronghold-one fortified city. ItWould