loating
in the Apostle's mind when he penned this triumphant assurance. 'Thou
shalt bruise his head'; the great first Evangel--we are to be endowed
with Christ's power; 'The lion and the adder thou shalt trample under
foot'--all the strength that was given to ancient saints is ours;
'Behold! I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and
over all the power of the enemy'--the charter of the seventy is the
perennial gift to the Church. Echoing all these great words, Paul
promises the Roman Christians that 'the God of peace shall bruise
Satan under your feet shortly.' Now, when any special characteristic
is thus ascribed to God, as when He is called 'the God of patience'
or 'the God of hope,' in the preceding chapter, the characteristic
selected has some bearing on the prayer or promise following. For
example, this same designation, 'the God of peace,' united with the
other, 'that brought again from the dead the Lord Jesus, that great
Shepherd of the sheep,' is laid as the foundation of the prayer for
the perfecting of the readers of the Epistle to the Hebrews in every
good work. It is, then, because of that great name that the Apostle
is sure, and would have his Roman brethren to be sure, that Satan
shall shortly be bruised under their feet. No doubt there may have
been some reference in Paul's mind to what he had just said about
those who caused divisions in the Church; but, if there is such
reference, it is of secondary importance. Paul is gazing on all the
great things in God which make Him the God of peace, and in them all
he sees ground for the confident hope that His power will be exerted
to crush all the sin that breaks His children's peace.

Now the first thought suggested by these words is the solemn glimpse
given of the struggle that goes on in every Christian soul.

Two antagonists are at hand-grips in every one of us. On the one
hand, the 'God of peace,' on the other, 'Satan.' If you believe in
the personality of the One, do not part with the belief in the
personality of the other. If you believe that a divine power and
Spirit is ready to help and strengthen you, do not think so lightly
of the enemies that are arrayed against you as to falter in the
belief that there _is_ a great personal Power, rooted in evil,
who is warring against each of us. Ah, brethren! we live far too much
on the surface, and we neither go down deep enough to the dark source
of the Evil, nor rise high enough to the radiant F