An inquiry into the existence of a personal devil / [By John Epps.

Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An inquiry into the existence of a personal devil / [By John Epps. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    30 my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.” The phrase is “ Satan’s seat,” or “the throne of Satan,” as it ought to he. Now all will acknowledge that Satan had not Iris literal throne there (people believe it is in hell); and all will agree that Satan did not literally dwell there, although it states “ where Satan dwelleth.” The figurative meaning must be sought, and the reader is taught that the influence of the adversary, of those circumstances, adverse to the cause of Christianity, and to the com- forts and the peace of Christians, was there peculiarly strong ; and tile phrase of Satan’s throne being there, no more indicates that a being, called Satan, had a throne there, than when the historian, writing of the court of King Charles the Second, remarks, “ Vice sat enthroned in liis court,” that a being, called Vice, had a throne in Charles’s court. He conveys to the reader, that vice was the prominent feature of the court of that profligate monarch. And as a proof of the great influence of those adverse circumstances in the part of the world referred to, a martyr, Antipas, there sealed with his blood his adherence to the truth in Christ. The same idea is, in part, conveyed in the use of the word “ Satan,” in reference to the church at Thyatira. 87 “ But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.” A similar use of the word, Satan, as expressive of adverse circumstances, is presented in the following passage: 88 “ But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great desire. Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I, Paul, once and again: but Satan hindered us.” Paul was prevented reaching his friends by a series of circumstances, adverse to such journey. This is all Paul could mean, because he must have known that if God thought it good for him to see the Thessalonians, he would have so ordered it: and therefore that he did not go, he must have considered most beneficial to the cause in which he wTas engaged. Bevert again to the fundamental idea, embodied in the word Satan, namely adversary, and it will be found that the term Satan is applied to an adverse state of mind. The passages, in which the word is used in this sense, are numerous. Satan, as used in connexion with Peter, has been already noticed. It is used, in connexion with him and the other disciples, upon a most peculiar occasion. It'appears, that, at the last supper, at a time, when, it might be imagined, all feelings would have been swallowed up in the contemplation of the approaching betrayal of their Master, the disciples began disputing, yea, actually strove, respecting this, who should be accounted the greatest. Here was the manifestation of a spirit, totally adverse to the spirit, which Christ came to inculcate. This selfish state the Saviour condemns by remarking, that, though such desires for chiefdom were recognized in the kingdom of this world, in His kingdom, the opposite state of mind was the only one