The Hebrew form of expression the Holy Spirit employs presents two powerful word-paintings. When it is said, "Thou shalt _tread_ upon the lion and adder," there is the suggestion of stamping in pieces, of treading one's enemies as grapes are trodden in the wine-press; and where the promise is made, "The young lion and the dragon shalt thou _trample under feet_," the Holy Ghost is lifting up before ancient Israel, in their own language, the picture of the terrible onset of {149} armed horsemen beating down the enemy with ruthless trampling beneath the iron-shod feet of the horses. Thus are the soldiers of God called upon not only to vanquish, but to tread the hosts of hell as grapes are trodden in the vintage; not only to cause them to flee, but to pursue and trample them with terrible strength as victorious horsemen trample down the flying foe. [1] Ps. lxxviii, 10. [2] St. John v, 30. [3] Isa. lvii, 15. [4] St. James iv, 6. [5] 1 Pet. v, 6. [6] Ps. xx, 1. [7] St. Luke xviii, 7-8. [8] Exod. xxxii, 10. [9] Ps. cvi, 23. [10] Isa. lxiv, 7. [11] Numbers xxiv, 9. See also Job xli, 10, and Ps. xxxv, 23, and lxxx, 2. [12] Castaniza, _The Spiritual Conquest_, pp. 405, 406. (Vaughan, 3d Ed.) [13] Ps. vii, 1. [14] Ps. xx, 9. [15] Ps. liv, 1. [16] Ps. li, 1. [17] St. John xi, 3. [18] Ps. xlii, 1. [19] Ps. xliii, 5-6. [20] Ps. lxiii, 1. [21] Ps. xci, 9. [22] Ps. cviii, 12. [23] Ps. cxxx, 1. [24] St. Francis de Sales, _Spiritual Letters_, xi. [25] Hilton, _The Scale of Perfection_, I, Pt. II, Sec. 2, chap. i. [26] Castaniza, The Spiritual Conquest, p. 459. [27] 2 Kings xiii. [28] Cor. ii, 9. [29] Scupoli, _The Spiritual Combat_, chap. xiii. [30] _Ibid._ [31] Eph. vi. [32] Compare Romans xvi, 20: "The God of peace shall bruise Satan under _your_ feet shortly." "The God of peace" goes forth to war, fighting in order to secure that peace whereby His title of "Prince of Peace" is justified; and it is His power that will bruise Satan, but the bruising is to be under _our_ feet. We give ourselves to Him that He may conquer in and through us. {150} CHAPTER X THE TESTS OF VICTORY AND DEFEAT It is all very well to sit down calmly, and consider, as we have done, the stages of temptation, and to draw definite conclusions as to the point at which the temptation passes over into sin. Such principles as these are not hard to discover. In fact, as a general rule it is comparatively easy in any matter to arrive at moral principles. If we cannot think them out for ourselves, any handbook of Christian ethics will give them to us, cut and dried. The real stress and strain in life arises from the difficulty of applying principles to special cases in hand, and it is just this difficulty that is experienced amid the shock of the conflict by many souls, even those who are illuminated by the Holy Ghost. I. _The Test of Common Sense_