Write down on a yellow card the dollar sign ($), and say that once a
minister of the gospel read from his pulpit a request for prayer
which was as follows: "Prayers are requested for a young man who has
just inherited a fortune."
He certainly did need the prayers of good people, because money can
be made a mighty curse unless God is in it. Money is like a skeleton
key which unlocks a multitude of sin doors through which we enter to
the eternal hurt of our soul. Mary Magdalene found it paid for a
season in dollars and cents, but this is tainted money and slips
through the fingers, and on wings supplied from the demons themselves
flies away to come back no more forever. "His money was his curse,"
that the people often say when like a devil it has entered and
destroyed a human heart. We are now speaking only of the evil use of
money. Put the card with the dollar mark on it into the heart and
say, This is the fourth devil.
"Temper" is the next devil to enter the sinner's heart. Write this
word down on a fiery red card. In anger folks seem to be under
control of another power; they do not seem like themselves. There is
a strange look in the eye, another expression has seized the features
of the face, and they seem for a few moments to be "changed into
other men." The reason for all of this transformation is that temper
is a devil, and it has taken possession of the heart.
When I was a little boy there were two little brothers who lived on
the same street with me. One of them, the older one, had a very bad
temper, and when he grew angry he would fling himself upon the ground
and kick and scream. All the neighbors noticed this and when they
spoke to his mother about it she replied, "Willie is not himself when
in temper."
She was speaking the truth, he was possessed by the temper devil. One
day this brother was playing with his little brother and in a moment
of anger struck him in the face with his clinched fist. When the
doctor came he said the little brother would never see again. He
would be blind for life. Both brothers lived to be men. The elder
brother never had a happy hour afterward. He would often say, "I
don't see how I could have done it." This was why he did it; as with
Mary Magdalene, the devil had entered his heart. The temper devil had
entered the soul and taken full possession. As you say these words
put the card into the heart and say "_Temper_ is the fifth devil."
"_Unbelief_" is the sixth devil. Mary Magdalene had sinned and lost
her standing in the synagogue. Her sins were punishable by the laws
of Moses with death; she was a doomed sinner, she had left God and
was alone. If she had kept the devil of unbelief out of her heart
when she was first tempted, she never would have fallen into his
black hands. It never pays to leave God. Believe his word. He has
spoken, trust him. This will keep the devil out. Many years ago in a
New England town there was a minister who preached a carefully
prepared sermon on "Casting all your care on him, for he careth for
you," and on his way home from church fell into a well and was
severely hurt. It was laughing-stock for a common community, and it
did seem just a little strange that after he had so carefully
prepared his sermon and assured the people that if they put their
trust in God he would take care of them, and then an hour afterward
he should fall into a well and injure himself. The devil of unbelief
whispered in his heart, "God did not keep his word, you are a fool to
trust him," but the young preacher resisted the whispering devil and
said, "Wait a little while, God will make it plain to me," and God
did. He was sent to a hospital in Boston, a town he had never seen
but always wanted to visit. While he was there some friends urged him
to write the story of "How God cared for a man by casting him into a
well."
He was a better writer than a speaker; an essayist, rather than an
orator. He wrote his story and told the world how he believed God and
did not doubt his promises. He told the story of Joseph who had been
cast into a well and came forth to be a prince in Egypt. He thus
attracted the attention of the entire city of Boston. He leaped into
fame at once. He became one of the most famous writers of America,
and for years was the leader of religious thought in all New England.
God took good care of him so he should fall into the well, for that
was the first round in the ladder of his great success. Many a man
has doubted God and stayed down the well of misfortune and upbraided
God, denounced him, and so lived the rest of his days in darkness,
and dying went into eternal night. Put this card into the heart and
say "Unbelief is the sixth devil."
"Unholy Pleasure" is the seventh and last devil of this black-winged
group. Have these words written on a piece of gold paper.
This devil of "Unholy Pleasure" is in full dress and a gentleman of
the world. A "regular fellow," so the people of the world declare,
but he is a deceiver and destroyer. Seek pure pleasure. Play, but
play straight, or the lamps of sin over the pleasure garden of the
world will blind your eyes, so you cannot see the evil of sinful
pleasures.
This devil will be at the end of the road to make captive your soul
forever. Place this card in the heart and say: "Unholy Pleasure is
the seventh devil, and now there is a full house of devils. The heart
will soon come to the end of the way as it is now full of devils and
full of sin." As you say this produce a red heart the same size as
the white heart you have been using, and put it in front of the white
heart. You can now see sin covers her heart entirely, she is down but
not out, because where the "out" begins Jesus stands and waits. He
always gives special attention to hard cases, and Jesus found Mary
Magdalene just there, and saved her soul by casting out the seven
devils and making her clean again. He had forgiven all her
transgressions and remembers them against her no more forever.
As you say this, still holding the red heart in front of the white
heart, take out all the devils at once if you can, and as you do so
take away the red heart also, drop them all on the table together and
say, "Please note that when the devils all go out sin goes also
[having reference to the red heart], and the heart is now white and
clean, and it will so stay, for the devils have gone out to stay
out."
This is the story of how seven devils entered the heart of Mary
Magdalene, and the glad story of how they were cast out. God will do
the same for you, for he is no respecter of persons.
In delivering this address always keep the heart of Mary Magdalene in
full view of the audience. Hold it in your left hand if possible, and
load the cards with the right hand. Be sure and make the heart large
enough to contain the seven cards you put into it. Practise and
rehearse.
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