his style of preaching. Christ's ministers often fail because of a lack of
adaptability; "he overshot his crowd" is the comment often heard. The
genius of this subject does not make this mistake; he is a past-master at
adaptability; to those who have a feeble, fluttering conscience for
spiritual things he has the sincere milk of the word that soothes and
sustains; but for his robust followers, whom he has bound in chains
stronger than those which bound Prometheus, he gives the meat of
diabolism, prepared and seasoned by a skill of six thousand years'
practice.
Place your ear at the keyhole where his children are conducting a "revival
meeting"--high carnival of sin--and hear the ideas of God, salvation,
preachers, the Church, and the hereafter. This is the strong gospel
referred to; the gospel that fires the masses with hate and prejudice
against the only means of human redemption. Yes, he preaches, preaches,
preaches, and from every nook and corner; ten messengers to one preaching
the Christ; his preachers support themselves, and touch the highways and
byways; his lines are gone out into all the earth, circumscribing sea and
land. The Devil gets an intelligent hearing. He has a long catalogue of
doctrines, but he does not believe a single one of them. We should be wise
enough to eliminate them from our creed also.
XVII
THE DEVIL'S RIGHTEOUSNESS
"Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain."--_Jude 11._
"For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to
establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God."--_Romans x. 3._
We are becoming, according to the canons of this world, a righteous
nation; the standard of civic and commercial righteousness is elevated as
never before. Sleuth-hounds are scenting every indication of misrule and
running to earth evil-doers, high and low. Our cities are keeping tab
rigidly on sewerage, cesspools, and outhouses; a persistent war is being
waged on flies, mosquitoes, and germs of all kinds. Private citizens are
everywhere organizing to coöperate with officials for public welfare.
Corporation and municipal rings must answer at the bar of an outraged
public conscience.
Righteousness is in the air; it resounds from the pulpit, platform and
press. Chautauqua specialists who have discovered some deflection in the
political and social woof and warp declare, amid salutes of fluttering
handkerchiefs, the righteousness of twentieth century standards. Preaching
on the cardinal doctrines of the Bible has been displaced by rhetorical
messages on altruism: light, ethics, mercy, cleanness, goodness. "The
fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man," with a flavour of
intellectualism, is the gospel that is now being emphasized with much
gusto, and never fails to solicit the indorsement of all denominations.
"Be good and do good" is the _multum in parvo_ of present day
righteousness.
Who but a chronic faultfinder could object to this upward move, so obvious
now in all directions? The world is getting kinder, more sympathetic, more
charitable; creed lines are dissolving like snow under an April sun;
sectarian prejudice is dying under the withering frown of new ideals. Does
this not indicate a gradual leavening of the "whole lump"? The spirit of
Christ, they tell us, is being adopted everywhere. He is mounting the
throne of universal empire, and the time surely is not far distant when
the social, political, commercial and domestic life will be regenerated by
His influence. Yes--it would appear so to be; much that is done bears a
Christian label; it comes in the name of Christ; but, says a writer, "it
is the Christ of Bethlehem and not the Christ of the Cross." It is the
human Christ and not the sacrificial--the exponent of a blood Atonement.
The righteousness that has the full swing of modern religionists makes
much of Christ's "example," His beautiful character and
self-abandonment--"He went about doing good." Much attention is given to
studying His leadership, His pedagogy, His art of public address, His
humanity. His example and not His sacrifice saves the world; step by step
the human Christ has displaced the Christ of Calvary; His atonement was
misguided zeal. This propaganda, on the surface, is reasonable and
popular; but close scrutiny will reveal a poison as dangerous as it is
subtle. It leaves out the Blood; it is a glorification of Man. "Count the
number of the beast, for it is the number of man."
This issue is an old one; it became an entering wedge in the religious
life when the first services were held after the Fall. Cain and Abel made
altars; Cain piled his high with beautiful, luscious fruits of the field.
No festal board ever looked more tempting, loaded with sweet smelling
fruit, having variegated colours, than the altar which Cain presented to
God. They were the results of his own sweat and toil; he offered them as
the "first fruits." But God rejected the offering; somehow the very beauty
and attractiveness of it all insulted Him.
Abel's altar was smeared with blood; on top lay a limp, bleeding lamb.
Nothing attractive about this picture; our esthetic nature recoils at the
gore and cruelty of such an offering. Yet God graciously accepted this
bloody, unsightly offering; and no doubt rained fire upon it--anyhow, Abel
was justified. Why did God reject the one and accept the other? Cain and
Abel alike had been taught from their infancy that "without the shedding
of blood there shall be no remission of sin." By transgression man stood
as an alien before God; he had forfeited divine favour. Notwithstanding,
Cain boldly brought before God a bloodless sacrifice, and presumes to
force Him to accept it. Through all the millenniums before Christ every
approach to God must contain in the sacrifices and offerings an element
which reminded God of the coming Atonement. He declared: "For the life of
the flesh is the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make
an atonement for your soul. For it is the blood that maketh an atonement
for the soul" (Lev. xvii. 11).
Coming directly to the point: all this new notion of things, touching
Man's religion, fast becoming prevalent is the "way of Cain," with a
twentieth century touch and terminology. What is the essence of this new
righteousness? what does it do? Observe, it sets aside God's estimate of
man, and ignores the plan of redemption He established at the beginning in
types and shadows, then consummated in the atoning death of His Son on the
Cross. The righteousness of to-day has much in it to commend; but it
utterly disregards the only feature upon which God places emphasis. The
Blood and the Cross, as of old, is an offense; they have found a more
excellent way, but it is the "way of Cain." It is offering
self-righteousness rather than seeking the righteousness of God. The
bloody offering of Abel suggested suffering, punishment, death,
judgment--but it honoured God. Modern righteousness scoffs at the Abel
offerings by hanging a wreath of flowers on the Cross, bearing a perfumed
tag, "With sympathy." It is Cain setting up business in town once more. A
sacrificial propitiation for sin is unnecessary when we have "inherent
goodness." The modern righteousness contends that each man has
self-redemptive qualities; all he needs is a chance. Salvation is not
internal, but external.
The Cainites are filling the earth; they are preaching the popular
sermons, writing the magazine articles, the poetry, the fiction; they
occupy the chief synagogue seats of seminaries; they are conspicuous at
all chatauquas and baccalaureate occasions.
It is a well-known psychological fact that evil cannot exist apart from
Personality--whether it be bad laws, bad books, bad town, or a bad house.
Whence comes all this audacious, undermining insult to the whole sweep of
God's plan for saving the world? Whence comes all this preaching about
righteousness which places the crown on man, and robs the Cross of its
glory? The righteousness being sounded in double diapason and angelus keys
is _the righteousness of the Devil_. Bear in mind it is _Righteousness_,
and a high type of it, he demands; he wants the offering of Cain to cover
up all the needs of the soul--cheat the blood of its merit--insult God,
and lead the race through a bowery of flowers, fruits, and music on to its
ruin. Anything to cheat the depositum of the Gospel--that which gives a
title to heaven--the precious Blood. The righteousness that leaves out the
Blood is the "way of Cain"--"the righteousness of the Devil."
XVIII
THE WORLD'S TEMPTER
"Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and
showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and
sayeth unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall
down and worship me."--_Matthew iv. 8-9._
Temptation is a seduction: meaning to allure or entice one to evil. It is
submitting a proposition which carries with it inducements of pleasure or
gain. The mind that accedes readily and willingly to an act is not
tempted. A temptation is a clash of wills, one being superior to the other
if the contest results in a yielding. The word embodies the idea of an
elastic--"stretched to the snapping point." If there is no response, no
struggle against desire--it is not a temptation. The Master was very man
as well as very God; yet strange as it may seem--_He was really tempted_,
and just as we are.
Our purpose in this discussion is not to analyze the different phases of
our Lord's temptation--the tests to which He was subjected,--but we wish
to emphasize one thing: He was _tempted_. The appeals came from His old
time enemy; His rival for supremacy. He was not taken unawares; the facts
were clearly before Him, just who and what it all meant--yet He was
tempted. The diabolical assault did not cease until His threefold nature
was "stretched to the snapping point." It came from an inferior being, and
for sake of illustration, had the scheme succeeded, the Sun of
righteousness would have gone down forever. Not only would the great plan
of human redemption have proved abortive, but Satan would have snatched
the sceptre from the hand of the Anointed One and shouted his victory in
the face of God. We are amazed to think of the only Begotten being near
the yielding point in the presence of the fallen Lucifer, but the Book
says He was tempted.
Some may contend that He could not have yielded; all the while He was
conscious of divine security. This conclusion forces another untenable
proposition: If He could not have yielded, His humanity was not real, but
veiled in His divinity; the temptation was only a shadow. We insist that
as a man Jesus was tempted; He could have called to His aid supernatural
intervention, but He did not. The issue was met as every man must meet it;
it was manhood that conquered. Had He yielded, both manhood and divinity
would have become subservient to the enemy. "Fall down and worship me" was
the proposition.
Now we wish to make a few deductions from our Lord's temptation. Whatever
includes the greater includes the lesser--_a fortiori_. Natural man
reached his highest expression in Jesus of Nazareth; He was God's exponent
of human perfection. There were no weaknesses, no lack of pose or
symmetry; His penetration and judgment of others were absolutely accurate.
From the beginning He had known the Evil One who faced Him. Now, with all
those perfect endowments, the record says _He was tempted_. The ingenuity
of Satan was sufficient to bring out all the resources of the Son of God.
Here was the greatest, wisest, purest and strongest man that ever walked
upon the earth--susceptible, influenced, strained to the "snapping point,"
when attacked by the Tempter. What will be the inevitable fate of you and
me, dear reader, whenever he selects us as his victims?
The unmistakable teachings of the Word are that every temptation to which
man is or ever has been subjected came fresh from the seething caldron of
the pit. The student of human conduct has observed universal adaptability
of all temptation. A great sagacious intelligence seems to be managing
personally, through his cohorts, this campaign of promising propositions.
There are some who can be incited to commit horrible crimes, such as
murder, incendiary, born perhaps with vicious tendencies, but this class
is comparatively small; others are susceptible to deeds of milder
character. It would matter little to an army approaching a fortification
where or how the attack should be made if the walls at every point were
weak and crumbling. No time is spent in reconnoitre and playing for
position; but if the battlements be strong, a faulty place must be located
if there be one. Satan rarely ever blunders in laying his temptations; he
is a most skillful strategist. As the world's tempter he reveals an
ingenuity that is truly astounding; it should cause the bravest heart to
shudder once the eyes are opened to the source. Knowledge of his
approaches, marches, countermarches, advancings, and retreats--all with a
specific object--ought to be a great breakwater.
A writer gives us a striking word picture of Satan's methods: "As the
enemy who lays siege to a city finds out the weakest portion of the wall,
or the best spot to batter it, or the lowest and safest place to scale it,
or where the intervening obstacle may be easiest overcome, or where an
advantage may be taken, or where an entrance may be effected, or when is
the best time, or what is the best means to secure the desired end, so the
arch-deceiver and destroyer of souls goes about, watchful, intent upon
ruin, scanning all the powers of the mind, inspecting all the avenues to
the heart and assailing every unguarded spot. Sometimes he attacks our
understanding by injecting erroneous doctrine; sometimes our affections by
excessive devotion to things we love; sometimes our wills by strengthening
them in wrong directions; sometimes our imaginations by vain, foolish,
trifling thoughts; and sometimes our feelings by too high or too low
excitation."
Some one has called Satan and his subordinates not omnipresent, but
"shifting imps." They swarm the air, invisible, because they are spirit,
watching for opportunities to edge their way into the hearts of mankind.
They are shifting position, always to a point of least resistance. Like a
current of electricity, always flowing from a point of higher potential
pressure to one of lower, if points are connected by a conductor. The
metallic substances from which the current starts and towards which it
flows are called "electrodes," and are always of different potentiality.
The current passes from the one of higher to the lower. Man in his own
strength is the lower, and unprotected by the Spirit of God cannot resist
the evil currents flowing from Satan continually.
XIX
THE CONFIDENCE MAN
"In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which
believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is
the image of God, should shine unto them."--_2 Corinthians iv. 4._
History is one long, tragic recital of human sorrow and suffering; but
there is far more unwritten history than has ever been recorded on the
printed page. Along the march of civilization all that has come down to us
are the lives and doings of great men; we know little of the heart agonies
of the race--such as cannot be recorded--language is inadequate. Most of
history is a record of man's inhumanity to man, but historians deal with
these dark pages only on the higher levels. The greatest suffering, the
bitterest cries of anguish, the deepest wails of despair are in the
lowlands of human life: down where its pathos can never be known. The
darkest tragedies of war are lost by the gallant heroism of some officer;
the blood and carnage are overshadowed and forgotten by the heralds of
victory. The real pathos of war remains unnoticed by the chroniclers and
correspondents; it is found in the heart suffering of the dying in the
trenches; the black pall that settles over the homes made desolate by the
news from the front.
The saddest stories of life will never be told; they are the voiceless
agonies and smothered sobs from victims of human treachery and deceit.
Millions are shambling on their weary way, waiting for the end, whose
hearts are dead and buried in graves of misplaced confidence. More
domestic lights have been extinguished, more love dreams turned from a
sweet phantasy to an horrid nightmare, more bodies fished from the river,
more shocking tragedies have resulted directly from this cause--misplaced
and wrecked confidence--than from all other causes of human wretchedness.
An illustration from actual life will serve to bring the caption of this
chapter--the Confidence Man--out in bold relief. An honest old farmer,
whose horizon had not extended beyond the obscure Indiana neighbourhood,
sold his little home and started for Kansas, hoping to enlarge his
possessions and give his sons and daughters a larger sphere of
opportunity. That they might see the wonders of a great city, arrangements
were secured for a three days' stop-over at St. Louis. The Confidence Man
saw them pass through the iron gate into the lobby. He first noted the
train on which they had come to the city. With great enthusiasm he greeted
the old gentleman, introduced himself, extending a business card of his
"firm." With cunning palaver, and the guilelessness of the farmer--item
after item of information as to name and where they came from were
obtained. The man who said he thought he recognized the old gentleman soon
became satisfied of it--having an uncle living in the same county--and "I
have often heard him speak of you, etc., etc."
It required only a short time to not only gain the confidence of the
whole family, but also to get all the facts concerning their business
affairs: how much the little farm brought, and how much they had left to
begin life in the west, and actual cash on hand. There was not a hitch in
the scheme; the new friend (?) loaded them with kindnesses and courtesies,
paid all the bills at lunch and theatre--took the young people into the
mysteries of the great wonderland--all so new and strange.
It was the last afternoon; father and Mr. Confidence Man were returning
from a tour of sightseeing. They met a man walking in great haste; looking
up he saw the two men, and suddenly laid violent hands on the "farmer's
friend," demanding the payment of a note three days overdue. They
quarrelled; all manner of apologies were made, that he was "entertaining
an old friend, etc.," all of which caused the Shylock to grow more enraged
and unreasonable; they almost came to blows.
Finally the old man's benefactor asked to see him for a moment alone. Then
meekly humble, and with many regrets, asked for a loan of enough to pay
the note. "We will go right down to my office, and I will reimburse you
with big interest for the kindness." The honest old man was only too glad
for an opportunity of returning, by such a little act, the kindness that
had been shown him. The note was almost one thousand dollars; when the
bills were counted out, less than ten dollars remained in his purse--the
savings of a lifetime.
Proceeding on their way until they reached the first saloon, "It is my
treat, uncle," said the man. After the drinks were served, he asked to be
excused for a moment, and stepped into a back room from the bar--he was
seen no more. After a long time, the barkeeper informed the old man that
his _friend_ was one of the worst crooks in St. Louis. With less than ten
dollars he staggered out of the saloon, wandered over the city dazed and
half insane. On the following day he was found down on the wharf crying
like a child. What had happened? He had been in the hands of a Confidence
Man.
There are being formed in all walks of life--high and low--associations
and alliances, spurred on and incited by extravagant promises--the hook
baited according to the fish--which culminates in certain disaster. The
pathway of life is strewn with victims of Confidence friends--instead of
friends. As in all these subtle and dangerous diversions we believe every
trap and scheme are under the direct control and supervision of
Satan--playing the rôle of Confidence Man. Many with a natural impulse for
pleasure knock, and at once arms are wide open to receive them; lust
beckons, and the Broad Way becomes choked with her votaries; covetousness
shouts her promises, and the love of money soon burns out every high and
holy aspiration. Fame holds the chaplet in full view, and men are ready to
exchange heaven in order to have it pressed upon their brow.
But alas, in the end--in the end--"it biteth like a serpent and stingeth
like an adder." When the curtain falls, too late to recover, we shall be
found on eternity's shore, shipwrecked, robbed, ruined--victims of the
great seducer. No one but an incarnate devil could stoop to the low plane
of Confidence Man in business and social life; but think of what it means:
by flattering promises, smiles, and kindness force an entrance into the
heart life, and when once in possession, desecrate, prostitute, and
destroy. We insist that it takes a devil-possessed man to operate in this
particular field, and the world is full of such. We therefore conclude he
is the god of this planet, blinding the eyes of his unnumbered victims.
XX
THE TRAPPER
"And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil,
who are taken captive by him at his will."--_2 Timothy ii. 26._
"Surely he will deliver thee from the snare of the fowler."--_Psalm
xci. 3._
To be a trapper requires something more than setting traps and baiting
them. The old trapper returns from a season spent among mountains, rivers,
and forests--ladened with valuable furs of every kind: beaver, bear,
otter, fox, mink, wildcat, coon, opossum, etc. Remember the animal kingdom
is infinite in variety; no two alike. A trap that will catch a beaver will
not answer as a bear trap; a coon and a mink are as far removed from each
other as a polished American and a native of Madagascar. A coon will not
go within a rod of a chain, but have little if any keenness of scent for
protection. A rat will not go near an object if the smell of human hands
is on it.
Volumes of natural history would be inadequate to give the details of
differentiation of the animal kingdom. The old trapper in his log cabin
has never read a page of zoölogy, but is far more familiar with the ways
of the furry folk than the scientists who write our books on natural
history. The trapper is a graduate from the school of Association; he has
studied the traits and pranks of the forest inhabitants by observation at
close range. He knows just where the mink can be caught, and just how the
trap must be baited and concealed; he has the same information about all
the rest, and can apply it. Once when a child, we were enraptured until
late bedtime by the stories of an old trapper: telling about "the
different varmints." Without drawing on his imagination, he could have
added many chapters to the tales of "Uncle Remus." The facts about our
furry friends are far more interesting than fiction; the trapper knows
about these facts.
The Psalmist calls Satan a fowler; one who sets traps for old and young as
the fowler sets traps for fowls. How is it done? Leaves and weeds are
carefully cleared away, and the trap is skillfully set by a trigger, so
that the slightest touch will spring it. The ground is also cleared for
several rods leading off in front of the trap; suitable food is scattered
under the trap and all along the clean strip of ground. The birds
excitedly follow the line of "food"--walking under the trap where it is
scattered in abundance. In the scuffle, the trigger is soon touched;
behold the trap falls, and they are caught; oh, how they beat their heads
against the prison bars until they are covered with blood, but all is
over. They are caught in the snare of the fowler.