tan's experience has given him skill
beyond our thought in reading such signs. To give such outward
indications would be to notify him of our fear of him; and also would
advertise him that we were not putting our trust wholly in God. Let
him be given these two assurances, and our chance of escape would be
small.

IV. _The Restraint of the Divine Decrees_

As we have seen, Satan is limited as are all creatures, but his
limitations are more than those which belong of necessity to a finite
and created {26} nature. Because of his rebellion and his warfare
against the Saints, God by decree has set him his bounds, as perhaps He
has done with none other of His creatures.

(1) He can tempt a soul that is in grace only with explicit permission
from God. This is taught clearly in the history of the temptations of
Job.[13] He defames the character of this servant of God, challenging
God, as it were, to give him permission to test the Saint. The
permission is given, and then, and not till then, is Satan able to lay
siege to the heart of the patriarch.

(2) After God's permission has been given, the extent of the temptation
is also specially marked out by God. He sends Satan forth with
permission to try His servant, but decrees what he can, and what he
cannot, do. "Behold all that he hath is in thy power; only upon
himself put not forth thy hand." This was the limitation of the first
temptation, and when in it "Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly,"
for the further perfecting of His servant and the confusion of the
tempter, He gives a second permission, for each detailed temptation had
to be stamped with the divine approval. But here again was the
definite bound set. "Behold he is in thine hand, but save his life."

{27}

But in many cases God sets for Satan an even more baffling limitation
than was done in the trial of Job, not allowing him to know definitely
how far he will be allowed to go. He has no rights in his work of
temptation. God has made no covenant with him to allow him anything;
he is permitted to operate little by little, here and there, and from
time to time, not according to his own will or wish, but only as God
wills for His own glory.

If he knew in the beginning the exact limit, if nothing more, he could
so much the more intelligently prepare his plans. He is, however, in
the position of a man who is bidden to prepare for a journey, but is
given no idea of the distance it is to cove