on;
and who imagine the hearing of this doctrine constitutes them
Christians and that there is no necessity for any effort or contention
on their part. They forget that they must, through faith, become new
persons fitted to overcome the world and the devil.

12. Victory over the devil is the sign of the true Christian. Thereby
we may know men are born of God, may distinguish them from the false
children who enjoy but the semblance of God's Word and never
experience its power. Such are mere "mondkinder"
(moon-children)--still-born, destitute of real divine life, or divine
power. It cannot be said we have been born of God when we continue in
our old dead and worldly course, and as before lie and live in sin at
the devil's pleasure. No, as children of God we must resist the devil
and his entire kingdom. If, then, instead of overcoming the world you
allow it to overcome you, then, boast as you may of faith and Christ,
your own conduct testifies that you are not a child of God.

To illustrate, beginning with some of the lower and grosser sins: If
you boast of being a child of God, but still live in fornication,
adultery, and such vices, the devil has already overcome you and
wrested you from the kingdom of God. If you are miserly, injuring your
neighbor by usury, by overcharging, by false wares and fraudulent
business, you have permitted the world and your own flesh to overcome
you for a penny. If you entertain envy and hatred toward your
neighbor, you are at once thereby a captive servant of the devil. The
same principle holds in the case of sins more subtle and refined,
where the malicious knavery of the devil must be resisted. For
instance, the devil deceives with misleading doctrines, impelling men
to idolatry, false faith, presumption, despair, blasphemy, and so on.
Now, if you yield to him, suffering yourself to be seduced, what will
it profit you to boast of the Gospel faith? for you have not properly
grasped God's Word, you have not rightly recognized God in Christ, but
continue in error, in false fancies, captivated and deceived by the
devil.

13. It requires something more than mere human wisdom and skill, more
than human power, to withstand and overcome an enemy so formidable as
the devil. As said before, the Christian must be fortified with the
knowledge of how to guard against his wiles and deceptions and how to
withstand him. Hence a Christian is called a person who is born of
God. He must be different from