Is the Devil a Myth?

We now desire to analyze more minutely the Greek names Diabolus and Demonia; reference was made to this distinction in a former chapter. In the Authorized Version the two names are often translated or rather used interchangeably; devil for demon, and vice versa. We read of a “legion of devils,” “seven devils,” “cast out devils,” “possessed with devils,” etc. Technically—literally translated, these statements are incorrect. Demonia should never read devil—but demon; diabolus always means, not a devil, but the Devil.

Diabolus. This name designates him more as to his ruling and authority than to the elements of his character. We have noticed already the meaning of Devil, but from the original word we get more explicit meaning as to his rank of authority. As Lucifer we do not know his ruling rank, but in his lost estate he ranks as Commander-in-chief. Whatever we may say of him, the prefix, “arch,” designating his angel rank, can be logically attached: archspoiler—arch-deceiver—archaccuser—archslanderer, etc.

However, if accurately defined, diabolus means Calumniator—archcalumniator; a propagator of calumny. Acting in the capacity of calumniator, he seeks out and defames the innocent. He sends out a million rumours daily which would be, if tangible, cases for libel in any court.

Demonia. A demon—a fallen angel—evil spirit, an imp. Literally, a shade—a dark spot, moving as noiselessly and rapidly as a shadow. The many references in the New Testament to “devil,” and “devils,” should always be demons; the great multitude, so often found in one place, come from the innumerable concourse which constitute the “powers of darkness.” Shadow spirits, men and women who are controlled by these dark, shadowy imps, “love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.” The transformation, as we learned, which took place with Lucifer was just as great and radical with his angel followers; the difference was only that of degree of rank.

Abaddon-Apollyon. We have coupled the Hebrew and Greek names together, as each means exactly the same. We call the attention of the reader to the variety of names, all of which are so nearly alike, but convey a significant difference. Abaddon-Apollyon means destroyer. He has been discussed as a “spoiler,” but one who destroys carries the work farther than the spoiler. As Abaddon or Apollyon he is the king of the abyss, or “Bottomless Pit,” and when he appears it is with purpose and equipment for destruction. Just as God sent the “Destroying Angel” throughout Egypt, bringing a curse upon Pharaoh for his hardness of heart, this mighty messenger of the Abyss visits his destruction wherever and whenever he finds, not the absence of the typical blood upon the door, but when he finds it, or any evidence of allegiance to the One whose sacrificial blood he seeks to destroy.

As Abaddon-Apollyon he assumes the part of Finisher of his task; when we see him a destroyer, we have a full-sized photograph—leaving out not a single line of countenance, or a single character or attribute of his composite nature. He may soil, spoil, deceive, traduce, accuse, slander, wound, etc., but the ultimate aim is destruction. “When sin is finished it bringeth forth death.” We see how the two great Rivals stand over against each other in their respective spheres: “For this cause the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” With the same degree of purpose, the Devil seeks to destroy the work of the Son of God.

The Devil seeks to destroy truth, righteousness, virtue, religion, hope, faith, visions of God, power of the Blood, thoughts of eternity and heaven. Every beautiful, holy thing on earth he would destroy, leaving behind only black, charred cinders where once were the flowers of Eden. Just as he destroyed the earthly Paradise in the long ago, so he would blot from our hopes and aspirations the Paradise of the soul. His ambition and supreme joy would be to turn this world over to God blighted and wrecked by his finishing touches, while hell echoed with triumphant shouts—an infernal jubilee. Abaddon-Apollyon: archdestroyer.

VI

The Apostle Paul had all the advantages of equipment; his intellectual attainments the very best; he was a recognized leader of men, a chosen vessel of the Lord, and full of the Holy Ghost. No man besides the Master was more able to withstand the opposition of the “prince of darkness.” Yet Satan actually prevents him from going to Thessalonica to comfort and strengthen the struggling church at that place—literally hedges up the way.

A careful examination of the tenth chapter of Daniel gives us a conversation between the prophet and a “voice,”—a “vision”—having an appearance “like the similitude of the sons of men”; evidently an angel of high rank, whose mission was to encourage Daniel, but he also acknowledges that the “prince of Persia” hindered him from coming twenty days. This mighty angel, it seems, was helpless trying to reach Daniel, until Michael came upon the scene. It was Michael who led the triumphant battle against him when he was overthrown in heaven. He alone was able to meet the “prince of Persia,” the Devil.

We can, therefore, understand how successfully Satan can hinder—blockade the progress of righteousness wherever he chooses to concentrate his depraved energies. Volumes would be required to record the worthy enterprises in the Church of God which went down in failure, yet with no tangible explanation. Sudden reverses, turning the whole current of affairs, are daily happenings; revival efforts to reach certain communities, certain individuals, find insurmountable hindrances. It is the work of the “blockade.”

Such occurrences are generally regarded as “unfortunate coincidents” rather than a resultant of some deep-laid plans—invisible and impersonal. A baby cries at a critical moment, a dog creates an uproar, the fire-bell rings, the engine becomes disabled; landslides, swollen streams, sudden illness, and many others similar, which are never credited to the proper source or cause. The Bible concedes to Satan the dignity of being the god of this world; therefore he must of necessity control, to some extent, the physical phenomena, directing them to an advantage. We do not venture a dogmatic position as to what extent the hindrances in the physical world are due to his power; but the Bible most clearly teaches that he is an obstructionist.

There are hundreds of ways and places where moral and religious blockades obtain. It would seem that in the blaze of the last century of civilization war would be impossible. Why could not our Civil War have been averted? In the retrospect, we can see how easily it might have been settled without such horror and bloodshed. The Hague with its millions of endowment is grinding away on international troubles, yet arbitration fails more often than it succeeds. But war continues, and all efforts in that direction generally meet a “stone wall of opposition.”

Must we conclude that all these lapses, coming in direct conflict with human weal and happiness, are just “happen-sos”? Unthinkable! “Satan hindered,” declares the great apostle. “The prince of Persia withstood me twenty and one days,” says the angel.

VII

“The hand is quicker than the eye,” it is said; watches are pounded to pieces before your eyes, the fragments crammed into a gun; the gun is discharged, and the watch will be hanging on a hook, running as if nothing had happened. We once saw a man sewed up in a tarpaulin, placed in a huge trunk, and the trunk strapped securely. In less than five minutes the man came out from an enclosure where the trunk was placed; not one buckle loosened, and not one stitch in the tarpaulin broken. Cannonballs are taken from hats; live ducks, rabbits, and a dozen tin vessels are drawn from one hat in rapid succession. Cards are made to jump out of the deck when called by name. One magician laid his assistant on a table, cut off his head with a large knife, lifted the gory head by the hair and placed it on another table; then carried on a conversation with the severed head in the presence of the astonished audience.

Every one knows these wonderful feats are done by some kind of magic, but for all we can see they are done; the most astute observer cannot detect the secret. The Apostle exhorts the believers to put on the whole armour of God, to be able to stand (not to be swept away or captured) against the wiles of the Devil. Then the Devil is a trickster—a sleight-of-hand performer—a magician. One of his many methods to accomplish his purpose, we find, is delusion: practicing sleights, tricks, and works of magic on the gullibility of his victims.

How many unsophisticated men and boys have been robbed in daylight on a street corner by some little “game,” or trick, by a sharper. Farms have been deeded away for nothing in return. Now, if we were to catalogue all the tricks of all the conjurers of all ages, we have in this evil chieftain a consummation, an embodiment of them all; he is not only a magician, but the chief of them. He incessantly seeks victims more astutely than the crook seeks the ignorant with a purpose of robbery. Observe the text says, “wiles of the devil”; not one, but many; while we are penetrating and avoiding one of his “wiles,” behold, we are in the meshes of another. Human intellect cannot fathom the feats of magic performed in friendly entertainment, where every opportunity is given to examine—then how much more are we at the mercy of séances concocted, not to entertain, but to delude and capture.

The astrologers, soothsayers, and magicians; the clairvoyants, ancient and modern, are insignificant compared with this great magician. Is he not superior and supernatural, possessed with unearthly powers? Are there any combinations and hidden laws of which he is unacquainted? Besides, no one is more familiar with the weaknesses and susceptibility of human nature than he. So astute and cunning are his “wiles”—tricks of magic—Paul seems to feel that only the girdings and enduements of God, giving spiritual illumination to the things invisible, can withstand them. The antithesis of the Apostle’s exhortation leaves no doubt in our mind as to his meaning: if we strive and contend in our own wisdom, deception and defeat are inevitable.

To be explicit, does it not look as if multitudes are under a delusion—seeing things through distorted and false lenses—when words and actions, by the best and truest people on earth, are seen as blatant hypocrisy? Does it not look as if a sleight-of-hand expert were manipulating the ideals of this pleasure-mad generation; hiding the true character and dangers which lurk in every indulgence and excess? “Presto, veto—change;” there you are, safe, satisfied, happy. “Spirits of devils,” declares the seer of Patmos, “working miracles, going to the kings, and to the whole world.” The arena wherein he practices his deadly delusions is the whole world. No places exempt; no peoples immune. The whole armour of God is the only sure protection.

VIII

The lion, therefore, is noisy; his approach is with loud demonstration. There is something in noise that weakens and frightens; the keen clap of thunder, the shout of an approaching army, the blast of ram’s horns, the loud proclaiming of the sword of the Lord and Gideon are historical examples of victories by noise. The lion is also powerful; no other beast has a chance in a match with him. One stroke with his mighty paw is death. He walks about conscious of his strength; an ox or a buffalo are no more his equal than a mouse contending with a cat. The lion is vicious; his going forth has one definite object—“seeking to devour.”

The lion presupposes that all the earth belongs to him; deer, antelopes, panthers, buffaloes, horses, cattle, etc., have no rights or possessions of which he feels under the slightest obligation to respect. The Devil does not come out in person: hoofs, horns, claws, bushy mane—the make-up of a lion, building up his kingdom by tearing down and destroying men and institutions opposed to him. He does these things, as a lion, by incarnating himself in men, evil combines, corrupt politics, vicious society, the liquor traffic, the White Slave system, etc. As he appropriates and embodies these institutions by entering in and possessing the men who are leaders, he no longer acts as a conjurer or snake, but a Lion. The fullness of the earth, and they that dwell therein, belong to him, to use, desecrate, prostitute, kill, devour, or destroy, just so he may best serve and satisfy his insatiable appetite. Cities are to be officered and governed, not for the peaceful protection of their citizens, but for plunder, boodle, and graft. Men who desire to be public servants in deed and in truth must fight “a roaring lion.” The man who steps to the front with a desire to question and curtail the exploitations of the “officials,” the “traffic,” the “gang,” places his life at once in imminent peril. Threats, black hand letters, pistols, poison, bombs, and torches are the instruments boldly used to destroy the man or men who do not believe that these human lions should be allowed to filch and devour the privileges and possessions of others.

We find our “adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walking about, seeking whom he may devour,” has three methods which he uses according to the exigencies of the case. It is first a “roar,” a bluff, or bulldoze: the threat of the “boss,” whether he be a political boss, an ecclesiastical boss, or a liquor boss, accomplishes wonders in coercion; it frightens and cowers the weak-kneed and backboneless. The crack of the slave-driver’s whip brought the obstreperous negro into humble submission. Men in office, in pulpits, in editorial rooms, have been awed into silence by the roar of men “higher up.” Then truth, righteousness, justice, and conscience are crucified; and behind the scene leering devils hold a jubilee of triumph.

However, the bluff and bulldoze will not always succeed; and when these loud, but mild methods fail, the boycott is ordered. Those who can stand undaunted in the presence of roaring threats will quail before the prospects of financial ruin. Employees are discharged, patronage cut off, positions given to others, preachers asked to resign. Somehow evil is so compactly organized, wires of connection are so completely in touch with every nook and corner, that the “boss” sits quietly at the switchboard and issues orders. The “big stick” and boycott have carried many elections; municipal, state, and national; they have made merchandise of sovereignty, and bargain counters of conscience. “Your clerk must take his name off that petition, or we will withdraw our patronage;” “His wife is an active worker in the W. C. T. U.—you must discharge him,” were the identical words overheard in a private office. Business and public men dread the boycott. Behind the boycott is our “adversary, the Devil.”

But the bluff and boycott by no means mark the limit when the self-assumed rights and privileges of the lion are questioned. Few can rise above the threat and intimidation; but the roaring activities of the boss will not always suffice. The lion in corrupt politics, in evil traffics, in priestly bigotry and intolerance, will not hesitate to stab, shoot, or burn to get rid of an offensive opposer. It is not necessary to discuss facts so well known as these; but we are investigating the sources; we want to locate the bacilli rather than examine the pustule.

We wish to reiterate a previous statement; the “roaring lion” is never heard if the still fight, the oily snake methods serve to a better advantage. The Apostle’s exhortation is timely: “Be vigilant, be sober”—be on the alert constantly, and be at your best, as an “adversary” who knows no boundary lines in his work of subjugation and destruction has declared war to the end.

IX

If Satan were allowed to pose for a full sized picture of himself, just as he wishes to be seen by the children of this generation, no portrait painter could produce a specimen of rarer beauty; it would grace the walls of the most exclusive parlour, and attract special attention in any great art gallery of the world. There would be no sharp angles, no coarse, sensuous lines, no out-of-date adornment—the traditional fiery-red would not appear, but rather the most delicate tints and shades of colour. The features would be the most graceful and artistic combination of curves and circles. The “hairy one,” the jackal, the snake, the lion, the shadow, the spoiler at once become as “beautiful as a dream.” Amazing transformation!

“The devil of to-day” is not only an apostle of sunshine, but of beauty. This world is full of beauty; and why should we not forever keep the ugly and distorted in the background? The development of the beautiful should be one of the fine arts. Think only of beauty; speak only of beauty; see only the beautiful; then the sinful and unlovely will disappear. An angel of light—how suggestive!

As an apostle of sunshine his mission is to flood the world with light, and he does it; but observe—it is his light; it neither warms nor illuminates, but for spectacular purposes it answers every demand. It reveals new standards of duty; proves the wrathful things in the Word of God to be spurious, and the old plan of salvation obsolete and unsuited to the present day needs. Such words as self-denial, crucifixion, dead to sin, judgment day, cross bearing, etc., so prominent in the New Testament, must not be given a literal interpretation. Such truths cast an unnecessary gloom over the souls of otherwise happy people.

“The devil of to-day” believes that ethical culture should be the slogan, the watchword, the shibboleth of every pulpit and rostrum. Religion without refinement is absurd; the esthetic taste should be looked after more than belief in some abstract Bible doctrine; then the race would be free from the bondage of creed and fear. True religion is nothing more than a just appreciation of art, literature, science, philosophy, and nature. God is in all these things rather than some musty, stereotyped statement of faith.

He further believes it is a waste of energy for women to be organizing into societies to study and help conditions among the slums or heathen lands, and urging upon the hard worked people to pay a tenth of their income to support missionaries who are better fed and housed than themselves. Far better devote the time to social clubs, book circles, euchre and bridge parties, and dressing properly.

We want to call attention again to a truth often overlooked: the Devil and demons are never satisfied in a disembodied state; when they cannot enter the souls of men, they seek something else. They will enter a swine when there is nothing better available. We believe “the prince of the air” can wield a powerful influence, unincarnated, in the air, but he schemes and works best when he can possess and direct intelligent flesh and blood.

Just now the machinery of the Church and all the auxiliaries are devoting their energies to various branches of social service; this is good, Christlike, and necessary; the point we raise, germane to this subject, is not the work, but the abuse of the idea: social service and humanitarianism are not religion. They are the fruits of the Good Samaritan spirit in the world, but they cannot take the place of personal relationship to God. “Though I give my body to be burned, and all my goods to feed the poor,” says Paul, “it profiteth me nothing” without love—divine love. The angel-of-light gospel places the emphasis on works without faith. Love the world, enjoy its lusts and allurements, disregard all Puritanic ideals of life, be a part of all worldliness—but be kind, cheerful, optimistic, generous, benevolent: help humanity. “Pay the fiddler,” then dance as you please. Do penance when your conscience lashes you; but buy indulgences by works of supererogation. “On with the dance, let joy be unconfined.”

A concrete example will illustrate the proposition before us, and also reveal the power of polished, cultured emissary of “sunshine and smiles.” The little city had a population of about fifteen hundred people; there were four churches of nearly equal strength. Each congregation had a large flourishing organization of young people. Scarcely any worldliness obtained—dancing and card playing rarely ever. The pious, consecrated young people attracted no little attention. Finally there came to the place a young woman fresh from college and conservatory as teacher of music and delsarte. She was an adept at all the niceties of modern society; things took on new colour at once. The work began with a literary club, then cards, then the dance. She was beautiful and magnetic; in six months the “stupid meetin’s” of the League and Christian Endeavour were abandoned for things more exhilarating. The religious foundation which had been crystallizing for years among the simple hearted boys and girls gave place to the gayeties imported from the classic circles of city and college life. She moved among them “an angel of light.”

X

The tare, or cheat, in appearance resembles the wheat; it grows exactly the same height, and viewed casually, or at a distance, cannot be detected from the genuine. Only the threshing and sifting bring out the difference. These tares are the propaganda of the Devil, but a perfect imitation of the children of the kingdom. They make a profession, adhere to the same rules and regulations, profess and maintain, outwardly, a standard of morality, wear all the regalia—even particular about details. We observe another striking resemblance: strange as it may seem, these tares—children of the Devil—seek as their guide no books of heathen philosophy, or twentieth century atheism; they make great capital of the Bible; the ceremonies and ordinances are carried out to the letter. On a day of dress parade and review they meekly grade A 1.

Such an inconsistency is so glaring as to be almost unthinkable; but the parable teaches it beyond a doubt. The Devil sows into the Church his children: a corrupt profession of Jesus Christ. In a former chapter we studied the Devil as a destroyer; and it will be remembered that in a preceding parable he came as a vulture devouring the seed; now he seeks to further weaken and hinder by adulteration. While continuing the battering-ram process from without, a reversed method is used; he scales the ramparts and places his cohorts on the inside, and, wherever possible, assumes leadership in a campaign of self-destruction. We are amazed at such audacity, but the Master, who is a rival in the field, has illuminated the parable for us.

There is a note of optimism ringing out in the land to the effect that the day of triumph is at hand; doors are opening, walls are crumbling, conservative nations are studying our religion, municipalities are being renovated, higher standards in public life are demanded, the Church is lifting the race out of superstition and prejudice—we are about to see a “nation born in a day.” What does it mean? It means that Satan is being chained—defeated, etc. This sounds good and plausible; but a closer inspection will reveal, not a retreat, not an armistice, not a victory, but a change of base.

Twenty years ago a leading teacher said: “Unless the signs of the times fail, the true Church of Christ is about to enter upon the most serious struggle of her history. She is no longer called merely to fight an open foe without, but as Dr. Green, of Princeton, says, ‘the battle rages around the citadel,’ and she is forced to fight the traitors within. The real enemy is to be found on the inside.” If such a condition were true then, what is it to-day, since the last two decades have been the most revolutionary in the history of the Church on the line of skepticism and advanced thought?

The Free Thinkers’ Magazine recently had this to say: “Tom Paine’s work is now carried on by the descendants of his persecutors; all he said about the Bible is being said in substance by orthodox divines, and from chairs of theology.” Another writer observes: “No need of Bridlaughs and Ingersols wasting time preaching against the early chapters of Genesis, sneering at the story of temptation, cavilling at the record of long lives, denying the confusion of tongues, doubting if not denying the deluge, when Christian ministers, on account of their official position, are doing the same work more effectually.”

“Freedom of thought in religion,” said an orthodox preacher at Tom Paine’s one hundredth anniversary, “just what he stood for, is what most of us have come to. In his own day vilified as an atheist—to-day he is looked upon as a defender of just principles of faith.” There is a wide range of opinions found in the growing crop of tares: some are literalists, touching Biblical interpretation, getting the minutia of husks, but rejecting the kernel—the envelope, but missing the message; others remain in the Church, preach a gospel shelter under her roof—eat her bread, but deny the supernatural in toto. Few, if any, are honest enough to step out.

The Devil prefers his cheat to grow in the same soil prepared for the wheat. No place is so wholesome and convenient for the children of the Devil as inside the Church of God. Why is not the wrath of God poured out on the children of the Devil who have assumed place and power in His Church? The same processes used for the removal of the tares would injure and uproot some of the wheat. There is now no remedy; at an unguarded moment the harm was done. The Enemy continues to enter every available door, sowing, sowing, sowing—beside all waters. Not until the angelic reapers thrust in their sickles for the harvest will the children of the Devil cease to occupy, influence, and control.

XI

Again we find his impudent presence on the day Job is offering sacrifices. Reading between the lines, we can imagine a conversation like this: “You here? You are looking for some pretense to discount My people; you say none are good—all hypocrites. What do you think of My servant Job? What have you to say about him?”

“Oh, of course,” says the slanderer, “you have him hedged around—blessing him continually. It pays Job to be good; just take away your special care of his material welfare and see—he will curse Thee to Thy face.”

An artist once painted a picture of the human tongue in a way to represent his conception of how the “tongue of slander” should appear. It was long, coiled like a serpent, tapering at the end into a barbed spear point; from each of the papilla, scarcely visible, was a needle point, from which oozed a green, slimy poison. The slandering tongue is “a fire, a world of iniquity—it defileth the whole body—it is set on fire of hell.”

The slanderer is no respecter of persons; he rakes and scrapes the uttermost parts of the earth for victims: king and peasant, rich and poor, priest and prophet; living or dead suffer alike when once this vile, inhuman spirit touches them. Bacon said: “Calumny crosses oceans, scales mountains, and traverses deserts with greater ease than the Scythian Abaris, and, like him, rides on a poisoned arrow.” The winds of the Arabian desert not only produce death, but rapid decomposition of the body; so doth slander destroy every virtue of human character. The cloven-hoof slanderer, like the filthy worm, leaves behind a trail of offal and stench though his pathway wind through a bower of earth’s sweetest flowers. A writer has said: “So deep does the slanderer sink in the murky waters of degradation and infamy that, could an angel apply an Archimedian moral lever to him, with heaven as a fulcrum, he could not in a thousand years raise him to the grade of a convict felon.”

“Whose edge is sharper than a sword; whose tongue
Out-venoms all the worms of Nile; whose breath
Rides on the posting winds, and doth belie
All corners of the world; kings, queens, and states,
Maids, matrons, nay, the secrets of the grave
This viperous slander enter.”

Iago is said to be the greatest villain in fiction or history; the revolting crimes of Herod—slaughtering the innocent—does not compare with Iago. Herod saw in the Man Child a possible rival, and blinded by jealousy and ambition, he becomes the most heartless murderer—of all times. But what was the crime of Iago? Slander! With no object in view, no advantage to gain, and too much of a coward to make an open charge, he slanders by insinuation the beautiful Desdemona until the enraged Othello strangles her to death.

How can we reconcile this base passion in human character, as slander has no other avenue of expression? It is unnatural, inhuman, and hellish. The wolf and tiger devour to satisfy hunger; the vulture eats and fattens on rotting carcases, but the slanderer does neither. With the blood cruelty of a savage beast, the degraded appetite of the scavenger, the destroyed victims of fiendish passion only intensify and burn, but never satisfy the slanderer. This spirit was never born among men; its origin is the region of the damned, where hunger gnaws, thirst fires, lust arouses, revenge consumes—but satisfaction is unknown. The hot breath of slander comes from a bourne where dead hopes spring up eternal.

The caption of the chapter denominates the Devil as the arch slanderer; we use it because there is no word of sufficient strength to convey the idea; “arch” fails to convey the whole truth in this case. Archangel is an intelligible term, as there are many of high order; there is, however, but One slanderer. Just as he is the “father of liars”—propagating all lies—his relation to liars does not admit of comparison. He slandered from the day of his fall; he is the father of slanderers. Whether it be circulated in the “submerged world,” the quiet circles of church life, or among the “Four Hundred” of fashion—it is a deflected arrow from the one great quiver.

No being—holy men, angels, or the Son of God—can escape the tongues dripping the venom of slander through the subtle incarnation of that fountainhead of every evil suggestion or insinuation. Whatever destroys happiness, creates doubt and suspicion among the people, ending in litigation, divorces, and murders, fulfills the mission of slander. The caldron from which exudes this vile stench—filling all the earth—is seething and boiling in the Bottomless Pit, or wherever the throne of his majesty—the Devil—is located. The society of earth will never be free from the poison of evil-speaking until the Archslanderer is arrested, chained, and located in the penitentiary prepared for him from the foundation of the world.

XII

When questioned of God about his presence among devout spirits—as they were assembled for worship—he answered in the manner of a guilty boy: “Just going to and fro in the earth.” Peter tells us that his mission of going to and fro is of seeking and devouring. He is then reminded of Job’s character—how that this saint is perfect and just; Satan’s blighting influence has not been able to touch and overthrow the aged Job. In his shrewd rejoinder Satan accuses God of two sins: partiality and falsehood.

Translated into its literal meaning, the language would be about as follows: “I deny that Job is perfect; but for the protection you have thrown around him he would be as other men. His pretended piety is hypocrisy; he serves you because you have blest him with abundance; he has not fallen into sin because you have hedged him about. If you treated Job as you treat others, his holiness would soon be about as genuine as mine.”

Satan accuses God of protecting His servant and blessing him in material things in a special and partial manner, viz: “a respecter of persons.” But the fiercest accusation is hidden in his reply to God’s question, also put in the form of a question, and finished by an emphatic declaration: Job is not the man God said he was; “but put forth Thine hand and touch all that he hath, and he will curse Thee to Thy face.” A being who can stand before the Lord God, of whom the hosts of heaven sing and shout—he, himself, once among the number—saying: “Holy, Holy, Holy,” and accuse Him of being guilty of partiality and falsehood—what may we expect from him? The Word says he accuses the saints day and night.

Observe that he accuses the saints, those who are striving in righteousness. The man who lies, cheats in business, accumulates a fortune, and lives all the vices without apology is not an object of malicious accusation. The scandals in select circles cause only a ripple, even though the offenses occupy much space of the associated press. The principles of such affairs are often staged as heroes and heroines for the entertainment of a morbid public taste. Satan accuses the saints; the presumption is shouted from the housetops: “There is none that doeth good, no not one.”

The saints—every good man and woman—must at some time face charges against their moral or religious character. This hellish machination goes on day and night. It is reasonable to conclude that much of the unrest, depression, and backslidings among the people of God may be traced to this cause; innocent men and women have not only cast away their hope through rumoured accusations, but have been driven to desperation and suicide.

The reader must keep in mind the suggestion made in a former chapter: that while Satan has the power by his presence of himself, or his minions, to create an atmosphere, unfathomable, impenetrable, yet surcharged with horror and dread; but his activities are seldom apart from human instrumentalities. Just as he is the arch slanderer, through the word of mouth, so is he the accuser, both of God and saints, through human personalities under his control.

A flood sweeps away, or lightning destroys a man’s possessions; he looks up, curses and accuses God of cruelty and injustice. Death enters the home; the mourners charge God falsely. His accusations are confined to no particular method; the one most suited to the case is used, whether self-condemnation or from another. Self-reproach, through memory and meditation, is a most powerful agency in carrying on this work. Once we begin to think on our ways—seeking to turn our steps unto the testimony of God—we face a life of sins and blunders mountain high and unsurmountable. But when faith takes wings and lifts the agonizing soul “out of the mire and clay,” an everlasting reminder of the past clings to us, often robbing us of peace and joy. How many Christians have grown weary and given up because of memories blackened by consequences of past sins—sins which God said, if we confess and forsake, He would “remember them against us no more forever.”

If the truth, which can never be revealed until the Judgment Day, could be known! Our asylums are swarming with unfortunates who have lost mental balance because of remorse and condemnation, resulting from an accusing memory. Wherever Satan is unable to lure the saints into actual transgression their life and usefulness are often destroyed by tormenting spirits accusing them day and night The Book holds out no deliverance from this scourge until the Accuser is forever cast down by the wrath of God at the final shifting of the scene.

XIII

The movements of a spy are unknown even to his own corps, much less to the enemy. After receiving authority for such a perilous undertaking he is a free lance, going and coming at will. Not only does he go beyond the enemy’s line, but mingles freely with them in the camp. There is nothing in his appearance to indicate who or what he is. To-day he is a civilian peddling fruits among the soldiers, or innocently driving a yoke of steers along the street or country road; to-morrow he is within the camp, dressed in their gay uniform, familiar with passwords and countersigns. Then he appears as a decrepit old woman, seeking a son who “run away to jine the solgers.” In a few hours he is quietly resting or joking with the boys of his own regiment.

When a spy is captured all military courtesies are set aside; he is not even allowed the honour of a court-martial; but without trial he is executed at once.

It is of special interest, in view of the application to our subject, to notice the particular business of a spy. Just as his movements are unknown, so is his mission unknown. He hurries to and fro, gathering up such bits of information here and there as he deems important for the cause he represents. If he belongs to the Federal forces he appears clothed in the “butternut gray”; then by tactics of bravery and nerve he enters the Confederate gray lines. The slightest blunder is certain death. He takes a mental inventory of the whole situation, but in such a way as to attract the attention of no one. The strength of the fortifications, the size and number of the batteries, the commissary department, and the chances and probabilities of reinforcements. In a moment, under the cover of night, he fades out into the darkness and is gone. The budget of information is placed at the earliest possible moment into the war councils of his own army.

Satan plays the rôle of a crafty spy; he has access, by some mysterious power, to the heart life of men. At no point of the game for immortal trophies is he so dangerous as when he can take advantage because of his secret knowledge of men’s weaknesses and sins. Only a vicious degenerate can be tempted into all the crimes known to the docket of the Bible; few beings on this planet but are fortified at some point of character. They may be weak in many ways—but early training or environment have helped them to become strong in some particulars.

The spy seeks to know when and where a blow may be struck in the enemy’s lines, at a place of least resistance. The soul battles are exactly the same; we have no special battles where we are strong; things that might overcome another will mean nothing to us. Our battles are ever fought around the points of weak fortification; the enemy rarely, if ever, has the pleasure of shouting over our downfall from the best that is in us.

The victories of athletic games—the pugilistic bouts in the sporting arena, the mortal duel with rapiers, the battle-fields where thousands fell—have been lost and won by the application of this principle. The general with his field-glass sees a weakening in the enemy’s line and orders a charge; the duelist observes a shortening of breath or an awkward movement and seizes the opportunity. It is the weak link in the chain of life that breaks; sins of the lower nature—sensuality—might not appeal to some who fall an easy victim to pride, ambition, or covetousness; others who are liberal, honest to the cent, unassuming, are helpless when tempted in the realm of lower passions. We are at an incalculable disadvantage when our enemy is familiar with our vulnerable points.

So long as the heart is unregenerated and unpurified by the cleansing power of the Holy Ghost, Satan has access to every nook and corner of our heart life. He enters and discovers every vulnerable and invulnerable section of the soul’s fortification. The tempted and fallen are often unable to tell how it was done. “Why did you go there?” or, “Why did you do it?” Oh, so many, many times do we hear the answer: “I do not know.” A friend once showed me a little iron safe in which he kept his valuable papers. This safe had a very ingenious lock; the combinations were such, and the mechanism so wonderful, that it was capable of three hundred thousand combinations.

Why and how are sane men and women overcome? They were met at a certain place, under peculiar circumstances; met by several—a word, a smile, an argument, a pressure of the hand. How was it done? They do not know. Somehow the attack came in a way which rendered them helpless to resist. One effort failed—a dozen failed; but as often as it failed the Expert changed the combination, until the door yielded, and an entrance into the citadel of Mansoul was effected. Three hundred thousand combinations.

The spy has information from within; and, therefore, the most dangerous man in the army. Satan, by his supernatural powers directing his practice and experience for several millenniums, is a crafty, sagacious spy, acquainted with all the weaknesses and emotions of the human heart. Who is equal to such an enemy? Contending alone, no one on this sin-burdened footstool.

XIV

To cure this soul disease the race has sought eagerly from the day Cain and Abel built their altars. All the ramifications of civilization have had one all-absorbing desire: a readjustment of something fundamentally wrong within. This fight for an atonement with the Creator has been a long, heart-sore pilgrimage; it has painted the blackest pages of history and committed the bloodiest crimes. This human drama has been enacted in tragedy and tears. Why is it so? Because deeper than any other heart-throb is the consciousness of personal uncleanness, and the bitter anguish it has caused.

The dead civilizations, on their monuments and mausoleums, have left behind, carved indelibly, one story—whether on the banks of the Nile, the Areopagus of Greece, or the land of the Montezumas—it is the story of feeling in the dark after God. They had the disease and sought for a remedy. From the days of the astrologers and soothsayers, anxious souls have been victimized by every fad, fake and fanaticism in their search for relief. The venders of pulverized snake skins and lizard tongues, in their day, found as willing a patronage as the cultured proprietors of sanitariums to-day. The long-haired man on a goods box can do a flourishing business, if he has the gift of gab to convince the crowd his stuff will cure.

The quack doctor does not handle a variety of medicine; he knows just enough of anatomy and materia medica to make his speech sound scholarly—but his remedy, costing less than the price of one visit from a physician, will cure all the ills of the human body. Like De Soto, we are seeking the fountain of perennial youth—the elixir of life.

Just as the disease of the body and a passion to live open wide the door to charlatans, fakirs, and “healers” claiming powers direct from Gabriel to Beelzebub, so the disease of the soul, and a hunger for eternal life—“deep calling unto deep”—has opened the door of the heart to the religious doctor with his cure-all prescriptions. Out from unknown depths comes the yearning for readjustment and reconciliation with God.

No being, beside the Godhead, is more familiar with the secret hopes and impulses of the soul—than Satan. The long-haired quack on the street, bawling his “junk,” is not half so anxious to defraud the crowd as Satan is to prescribe remedies that will not cure. His chief aspiration is to flood the land with bogus treatments which not only fail to cure, but they preempt the disease-infected spots so as to prevent the introduction of the genuine remedy.

The quack doctor is, no doubt, pleased when an imaginary cure has been wrought by his wares; but Satan is filled with wrath if some of his formulas strike deeper than he anticipated, and a soul emerges from darkness unto light. This, however, does not often occur; he is too cunning to advertise to a hungry, sin-sick world that which will bring permanent relief.

The beating of tom-toms by an upper Congo medicine man to drive away evil spirits has about the same efficacy as much that may be found in the esthetic circles of the world’s religiosity. “A form of godliness,” be it ever so beautiful and orderly, which does not seek and obtain the inner power is just another way of beating tom-toms.

We look with compassion upon the poor benighted heathen woman who trots around the temple of her god one hundred times on a moonlight night; but how much improvement over her plan of salvation do we find in the blaze of twentieth century Christian enlightenment, if our religion consists of just “doing something,” rather than having faith in a power that saves through the impartation of the Holy Ghost? At no time in the history of the Church have we done so many things as we are doing now—all good; but observe: the Church and the world go hand in hand. It is a rare exception when an essential difference can be seen in the life and business methods of the professor and non-professor. “They will have a form of godliness,” says Paul, “but deny the power.”

It was not a dream or hallucination which took the rich and poor, in the long ago, out from the world and caused them to give up even their lives cheerfully; it was an application of the power. They had tested the “fountain opened in the house of David for sin and uncleanness.”

“Oh, that fountain deep and wide,
Flowing from the wounded side,
That was pierced for our redemption, long ago;
In thy ever cleansing wave, there is found all power to save;
It’s the power that healed the nations long ago.”

In the multitude of pretenses, makeshifts: forms, ceremonies, chantings, genuflections, ordinances, will worship, self-righteousness, “wondrous works,”—“form of godliness”—who is responsible? It is the great Quack Doctor that is deceiving the world; those who will not be dragged into sin and ruin he surfeits their lives with a “form of godliness, but deny the power” plan of salvation.

XV

In our discussion of the Devil’s theology we shall not, at the present, touch upon the theories and vile imaginations of demon-possessed men, but the finer phases of truth, beautifully presented by his apostles with a show of orthodox reasonableness. By the term Devil’s theology—doctrines—we do not mean his beliefs—get the distinction—but what he wants us to believe. He is every whit orthodox; he believes the Old Book; he does not indorse the new theology, or the so-called higher learning, only as it may be turned to his advantage. The Word of God is a mighty reality to him; he has met its blazing truths, and has been burned by its power. He has millions of skeptics and doubters blindly following his delusions, but he is a believer in the “old school”; he “believes and trembles.”

We call attention to the term “doctrines”—therefore religious beliefs: reasonable, plausible, satisfying beliefs. What are they? First: Ritualism is Religion; when we have gone through a certain proscribed programme—whether it be a chant, reading prayers, or burning a dim light—there you are. How do we know we are religious? We have gone the rounds, said the required number of Ave Maries, counted the rosary, etc., etc., therefore the work is done. It sounds harsh to place these beautiful ceremonies, which have doubtless comforted so many hearts, in the enemy’s catalogue; but the Pharisees were rigid ritualists, yet Christ denounced them as miserable hypocrites—“whited sepulchres.” Anything he can get us to adopt, having a semblance of reality, yet does not save—does not deal directly with the sin question, he shouts over our delusion. He appropriates Ritualism for Religion and it becomes his doctrine.

A second doctrine: Good Resolution for Regeneration. There has never been as much strenuous evangelism, of a certain quality, as we are having to-day. Great cities unite in stupendous revival effort; no expense is spared; the leading masters of assemblies are called as workers. The zeal and motives of it all are commendable; but the bane of such evangelism is this: the work stops at the resolution period. Men are brought under conviction, and the Devil at once proposes his compromise. Not until the “big meeting” closes do the convicted multitudes discover the deception. Herein is the explanation of the lethargy, depression, and utter indifference which so often obtain after a “sweeping revival.” Faith is then shaken, and sometimes permanently, in the truth of a conscious, know-so salvation. If the Prodigal Son had stopped after passing a good resolution with himself he would have died at the swine pen without the knowledge of the father’s love, the kiss, the robe, the ring, and the fatted calf. A sinner must not only “quit his meanness” but straighten out his meanness. Regeneration is not by the will of the flesh, the will of man, not of blood; but it is to be born of God—born from above—a new creature. Doctrines floating under the banner of evangelism which do not get believers into the kingdom must be listed with the enemy.

A third doctrine: Sentiment is Salvation. We are a sentimental people; esthetic and humanitarian developments of recent years have done much to soften our barbarian instincts. If sentiment were salvation, this land would be redeemed. Many think we are rapidly becoming a saved nation; those who enjoy such reflections should stand at the entrance of any theatre on Sunday, or a pleasure garden, or a ball park; then hurry around to the entrance of the finest, best equipped church in the city for comparison. Sentiment is educated emotion. Rome used to shout over the bloody scenes in the amphitheatre; now we can weep over the unfortunate girl who goes down in spectacular glory behind the footlights. Sentiment makes us rejoice with those who do rejoice, and weep with those who weep; it moves us to deeds of charity. Satan then has no difficulty in persuading us that we are religious—spiritually redeemed; if we weep over our loved ones, our emotions are very religious. The most grief we ever witnessed at a funeral was in the home of a saloon-keeper; the dead wife and mother, a depraved opium and morphine eater; the home was utterly irreligious, but the grief was hysterical, explosive. The sacrifices of God are a broken and a contrite heart—over sins committed, producing a godly sorrow, and not a sentiment.

Again, the Devil takes great delight in telling the unsaved and unchurched masses that religion is all selfishness; the poor are made to feel that the Church is the rich man’s institution. Notwithstanding the efforts of God’s people to reach and help the lost they are represented as mean and selfish, pretending a pious fraud, with no bread for the hungry and no helping hand for the needy. We build stately temples of worship to gratify our pride and vanity with money earned by the sweat and toil of the poor man; money that ought to be given to the poor. Judas protested against breaking the alabaster box. The church is a place for dress parade; the humble and meanly clad are not wanted. All such is malicious slander against God, His Church and His people; but as stereotyped as this may sound, it is being used effectually everywhere. If a church preaches salvation from sin, it is the poor man’s best friend; but reference to the church and the preacher is often hissed in gatherings of toiling men. Unless there shall come to this land the establishment of the righteousness of Christ, as taught in His Gospel, we shall see another reign of terror; the fires of restlessness, hate, and discontent are smouldering in every shop, factory, and mine. “The Golden Age will never come until it is brought in by the Golden Rule of Christ.” The Devil is busy keeping these facts from becoming known. The doctrine stated: we are in it to serve a selfish end; take away our hope of advantages, and our faith becomes religious junk.