Instance the effect, upon character and life, of a single act of falsehood or embezzlement. The first glass of intoxicating drink, and the first yielding to impure suggestion, often establish nerve-tracts in the brain and associations in the mind which are not reversed and overcome for a whole lifetime. “Sow an act, and you reap a habit; sow a habit, and you reap a character; sow a character, and you reap a destiny.” And what is true of men, may be also true of angels. (_c_) It is impossible that so wise a being should enter upon a hopeless rebellion.—We answer that no amount of mere knowledge ensures right moral action. If men gratify present passion, in spite of their knowledge that the sin involves present misery and future perdition, it is not impossible that Satan may have done the same. Scherer, Essays on English Literature, 139, puts this objection as follows: “The idea of Satan is a contradictory idea; for it is contradictory to know God and yet attempt rivalry with him.” But we must remember that understanding is the servant of will, and is darkened by will. Many clever men fail to see what belongs to their peace. It is the very madness of sin, that it persists in iniquity, even when it sees and fears the approaching judgment of God. Jonathan Edwards: “Although the devil be exceedingly crafty and subtle, yet he is one of the greatest fools and blockheads in the world, as the subtlest of wicked men are. Sin is of such a nature that it strangely infatuates and stultifies the mind.” One of Ben Jonson’s plays has, for its title: “The Devil is an Ass.” Schleiermacher, Die Christliche Glaube, 1:210, urges that continual wickedness must have weakened Satan’s understanding, so that he could be no longer feared, and he adds: “Nothing is easier than to contend against emotional evil.” On the other hand, there seems evidence in Scripture of a progressive rage and devastating activity in the case of the evil one, beginning in Genesis and culminating in the Revelation. With this increasing malignity there is also abundant evidence of his unwisdom. We may instance the devil’s mistakes in misrepresenting 1. God to man (_Gen. 3:1_—“_hath God said?_”). 2. Man to himself (_Gen. 3:4_—“_Ye shall not surely die_”). 3. Man to God (_Job 1:9_—“_Doth Job fear God for naught?_”). 4. God to himself (_Mat. 4:3_—“_If thou art the Son of God_”). 5. Himself to man (_2 Cor. 11:14_—“_Satan fashioneth himself into an angel of light_”). 6. Himself to himself (_Rev. 12:12_—“_the devil is gone down unto you, having great wrath_”—thinking he could successfully oppose God or destroy man).