The Devil a Lion

    THE DEVIL A LION

    "Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the Devil, as a roaring Lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" 1Pe 5:8.

    CHRIST is compared to a Lion, saith the learned Glassius, because noble, heroic, and unconquerable. 2. Wicked men and tyrants are so called, because fierce, outrageous, and cruel. And, 3. The Devil is called a Lion, because roaring, rapacious, and devouring, &c.

    Some of the common epithets of a Lion, as we have under another head noted, are these, viz., bold, stony-hearted, preying, ravening, stubborn, cruel, bloody, terrible, swelling, &c., which sets forth his natural evil, and worst properties, upon which account the devil, as all the learned observe, is compared to him.

    PARALLELS.

    I. The voice of a Lion is called rugitus, that is, roaring, or bellowing, which is very terrible to other beasts, who when they hear him roar, tremble; he roars when he is hungry and wants prey: so the Devil is said to walk about like a roaring hungry Lion, who is not satisfied with the prey he hath already got, but seeks to devour more souls; for as the Lion is a very greedy and unsatisfied beast, so is the Devil; he would, did not God restrain him, destroy the whole world, not a soul should escape.

    II. A Lion is a very strong beast, "What is stronger than a Lion? So the Devil is a strong enemy; and one reason doubtless, why he is compared to a Lion, is to signify his strength, as his being compared to a serpent, doth his subtlety. Hence God hath laid help for us upon One mighty to save, viz., the Lord Jesus, who was able to encounter with this strong and furious adversary, "For to this end was the Son of God manifest, that he might destroy the works of the Devil," 1Jo 3:8. "And destroy him who had the power of death, which is the Devil," Heb 2:14.

    III. A Lion is a very bloody and tyrannical beast, he will set upon and destroy whole flocks and herds of cattle, he is a great enemy to sheep and lambs, and other innocent creatures:[1] so the Devil is very bloody and cruel, as appears in Job's case, he took away his cattle, and then all his children, and after that smote his body with boils; he seeks to destroy the bodies and souls of men too; the godly stand in fear of him; for Christ's sheep and lambs, have not a more cruel and bloody foe in the world.

    [1] Topsell, p. 361.