37. The Great Enemy
The Great Enemy
SATAN A TRAVELER.—The Devil is no idle spirit, hut a great traveler, that does not rest long in one place. There may he no inhabited spot in the world which is unknown to him. His energy and zeal for the ruin of the human race keeps him on the go. He has a large and endless circuit. His business is to entrap and capture men. As he moves about the city, he throws a false measure, a short weight, into a merchant’s deal. He steps into a saloon and kindles a barroom fight. He finds his way into court and produces a false evidence. He dabbles in politics and helps to run poolrooms and gambling dives. To seduce and ensnare young men and women, as well as older ones, is a favorite art of his. The pulpit and pew have known his daring presence. In fact, he is “seeking whom he may devour.”
WAITING SHARK.—One day, while a vessel was sailing in the Pacific Ocean, along the Mexican coast, a person on board noticed what seemed to be a long, sharp, pointed knife, rising above the surface and cutting the water, while it kept along with the ship for an hour or more. On looking closer, the observer saw that it was the fin of a shark rising from his back. This creature was following the ship, ready to catch any poor sailor who might fall overboard. It was very large, and had cold, cruel eyes, which watched as the monster glided noiselessly along. Thus the Devil follows men and women, watching an opportunity to make them his prey.
BULLET-PROOF VEST.—A man once offered the Duke of Wellington a bullet-proof vest. “Put it on,” said the Duke. This the inventor did. Then the Duke rang a bell, and when an officer answered the summons, the Duke said: “Tell the captain of the guard to load with ball.” The inventor waited to hear or see no more, and left, never to return. When the Devil comes with his arts and wiles, let us resist him with the Christian soldier’s weapon of prayer, for it is written “Resist the Devil and he will flee.”
DEVIL’S AGENTS.—Dark and hellish as is the character of Satan in the Scriptures, and in human books of imagination, do you not think that there are men who are the Devil’s agents and aids in deceit, in fraud, in lying and in everything that is cruel, vile and sinful? Talk of devils being confined to Hell, or confined to invisibility I So they not also walk the streets of our cities and towns in the person of evil men and women, like their spirit father, “seeking whom they may devour?”
SATAN SURVEYS US.—An enemy, before he besieges a city, surrounds it at a distance to see where the wall is the weakest, where it will be best to batter, where it is the lowest for scaling, where it may be approached with the least danger, and where assault will be to the best advantage. So the Devil surveys us soul and body, in order that he may tempt us at the weakest point. Thus he discovers whether our understandings are easier corrupted with error, or our fancies with levity, or our wills with forwardness, or our affections with sinful excess.
SERPENT IN FLOWERS.—Some flowers were brought to a man’s house, and both he and his family had handled them during the twenty-four hours that they had been in the home, yet all at once a serpent issued from the cluster. When the man approached, it darted about the room, shooting out its poisonous fangs. A farmer found a snake helpless from the cold. He took it home and put it in a warm place. After thawing out, it stung some of his family.