an and of his evil angels, and substitute for it the
idea of temptation arising from an evil principle within, are involving
themselves in conclusions which strike at the very fundamentals of
divine revelation concerning God and His relations to man.

III. _His Experience and Wisdom_

One of Satan's most powerful means of warfare lies in his experience in
dealing with the souls of men. We dare not presume to think that we
can oppose or overreach him with any gift of discernment that we have
of ourselves. His experience in this warfare has been age-long. Ours
has covered but a few brief years. His devotion to his cause has been
unflagging, and so, by his strenuous attention to the business in hand,
he has acquired vast stores of knowledge as to methods of temptation.
Our knowledge of attack and resistance is a poor and beggarly thing,
because when God would place us in the school {34} of temptation that
we might learn this military science, we are wanting in devotion to our
cause and miss the numberless opportunities that are offered.

Furthermore, Satan has dealt with millions of souls of the same type as
ours, dealt with them and mastered them. It were the height of folly
for us to imagine that there might be any thing in our nature, or in
our aim and purpose, that he has not met and studied in characters far
stronger than ours. Taken apart from God, there is nothing in us that
can for a moment baffle so powerful and experienced a foe. We can
present no new front to him. Only the infinite strength and variety of
God's grace can supply that which will surely baffle and defeat him.

As we study the history of his dealings with the souls of men we see
not only that he is faithful to his own abominable ideals and aims, and
so acquires great knowledge of the methods which avail against us, but
that he is faithful and methodical in using the experience he has
gained.

He makes the most of what he has. If he discovers that a certain mode
of temptation is effective against men, he wastes neither time nor
force in wandering afield after new things. He works one method
thoroughly, getting out of it {35} all possible dishonour to God,
before seeking new ways and means. He never scatters his force, but is
ever intensifying and concentrating it, daily seeking to perfect more
and more his method of warfare.

Let us see how careful he is to utilize his own tremendous experiences.
Take the first recorded temptation