In the garden of Eden the devil came to Eve in the form of a serpent.  I imagine this to be his most natural form.  We sometimes see him caricatured as a man with horns and cloven feet.  This is a mistake.  A man in this form would make a frightful appearance.  But the devil never approaches any one in a way to frighten him.  He is too cunning for that.  A fox takes care not to frighten away his prey.  Even the lion, when he is seeking his prey, never roars at that time, but crouches and hides in the tall grass or thicket until his prey comes near enough, and then he springs upon it with a single bound.  The reason why Peter calls him a roaring lion is because he roars furiously after his prey is in his power.  His roaring then is but a note of victory and defiance.  The devil knew that he would not frighten Eve by coming to her in the form he did, because she had never then, as yet, known anything of evil.  But when he comes to men now in the serpent form, he comes as “a snake in the grass.”

I sometimes think that age adds shrewdness to the devil’s plans.  He comes to men in so many forms and ways, first to delude and then to destroy, that they may be called legion.  But, as Paul says, “We are not ignorant of his devices, for Satan is transformed into an angel of light.”

He learns to know every brother’s and sister’s weak point.  To the brother who has been fond of ardent spirits he comes behind the deceitful, covetous smile of the rumseller.  In this instance the order of the fable is reversed.  There the ass put on the lion’s skin; here the lion puts on the skin of the ass.  To the brother whose weakness is adultery he comes in the form of a harlot, “jeweled and crowned.”  To the brother whose special sin has been covetousness he comes as a friend.  He takes him by the hand, leads him to the top of some high mountain, there shows him the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, and pledges to him the enjoyment of all this glory and power if he will but fall down and worship him.

Now, Herod was a type of this devil, and the prison in which Peter was chained is a type of the “horrible pit” into which many a good-meaning Christian has been cast by him.  But even for such there is quite as much hope as there was for Peter.  The Lord is ever nigh to redeem and to save.  But there must be a willing mind.  If Peter had said in his half-asleep state, “Just leave me alone—­I’ll come after awhile—­I’m too sleepy to go now”—­what then?  It would have been impossible for the Lord to rescue him, if he had not been willing to be rescued by the Lord.

Some, who have “been taken captive by the devil at his will,” keep awake in a certain sense.  The pall of darkness and deep sleep has not yet settled down upon them.  They are conscious of their situation.  They know and feel that they are in the hands of the enemy, but how to escape is the trouble with them.  If such would only have the mind and will to do as Christian and Hopeful did in “Doubting Castle,” they could readily find a key in their bosoms with which to unlock every gate, and thus make their escape.