1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



723 



Lest Satan should get an advantage of us; for we 

 are not ignorant of his devices. — II. Cor. 3:11. 



I have taken the above expression away from 

 its connection, as you will notice, and for the 

 present we will not stop to consider the time 

 and circumstances. The writer seems to rec- 

 ognize that Satan is likely to get the advantage 

 of us; and in the latter part he says. " We are 

 not ignorant of his devices." As I see it, all 

 mankind should be able to assent to the latter. 

 Who is there who has not had experience sooner 

 or later with Satan's devices— yes, of his devices 

 without end and without number? The work 

 of his devices is sprung on us when least ex- 

 pected. They get in and occur everywhere; 

 and, saddest of all, Satan does get more or less 

 the advantage of us almost before we know it. 

 How shall we recognize him? Some years ago, 

 I think it was, I mentioned in these very papers 

 that some of the friends called me superstitious 

 because I believe in Satan as well as in Christ 

 Jesus; that is, I believe in the existence o' 

 Satan, the enemy and adversary of the huma.i 

 race. Since then I have grown some years 

 older; but my belief has been strengthened 

 right along year by year. Perhaps I have not 

 had so many personal encounters of my own 

 with the great adversary, but I come on to him 

 more and more through others. I do not mean 

 that others introduce him to me, for Satan 

 never seeks an introduction; that is, he never 

 introduces himself under his oion name. As a 

 matter of course, he always claims to be a very 

 good and well-meaning person. The Scriptures 

 tell us he sometimes appears as an angel of 

 light. He always has a very ingenious rigma- 

 role, and he will make you believe white is 

 black or that midnight darkness is daylight: 

 and if you slop to listen and parley he will 

 make his reasoning sound very plausible. How 

 shall we know him? what are some of his 

 "ear-marks'"? Well, he is always stirring up 

 strife. He will commence by getting in between 

 husband and wife, as I told you in our last 

 issue; and he will make strife between father 

 and mother in order that he may be better able 

 to get the rest of the family into strife and con- 

 tention. He always undertakes to persuade a 

 man that his very best/'rie?M7s are his enemies. 

 He induces him to believe that bis nearest and 

 dearest friends are trying to undermine him: 

 that they are greedy for his place, and would 

 like to have him turned off or routed out, that 

 they may get into his shoes. He does not 

 always commence in this way, but that very 

 soon follows. He will persuade a pupil that his 

 teacher is his enemy; and the same with an 

 employee. He will whisper that his employer 

 is greedy and grasping: that he just makes a 

 machine of all of his helpers in order that h^' 

 may coin dollars and cents out of them. And 

 then he tells the employer that his /leZi^fir.s are 

 greedy and dishonest: that they need watching 

 all around; that it is not safe for him to be out 

 of sight. Oh dear me! what a sad state of 

 affairs! The employer finally thinks he can 

 not take time to eat and drink, to say nothing 

 of cultivating social relations, having family 

 prayers, and reading the Bible to his children. 

 Satan tells him that these things are behind the 

 age— they are old-fashioned. "Nobody nowa- 

 days," Satan says, " thinks of following up this 

 nonsense." I wonder if .so/7(c of you think my 

 last words come pretty near expressing the 

 truth in the matter. 



Dear friends, some years ago Satan might 

 have made some headway in suggesting that 

 family worship is not as important as business 

 obligations. I might have listened a little 

 when he said it did not amount to any thing 

 and did no good. Thank God, that time is past. 

 Honest and consistent family worship lies not 

 only at the foundation of a beautiful and happy 

 home, but it is at the bottom of the best kind 

 of success that a man can ever have in any 

 tiling in this world. I should be afraid to neg- 

 lect daily Bible-reading and prayer. I should 

 be afraid that Satan, with some of his "•de- 

 vices," would get the advantage, not only of 

 myself, but of the dear wife and children. I 

 recently listened to a sermon by the Rev. A. E. 

 Thompson, an evangelist who, I believe, is now 

 working in Dakota; and this sermon gave me 

 some very valuable suggestions in this matter 

 of keeping Satan out. He said it is a mistake 

 to fight Satan face to face. As long as the old 

 fellow can get you to look at him and strike at 

 him he is pretty well satisfied, for he will al- 

 ways come out ahead in any such hand-to-hand 

 conflict. The minister did not express it in just 

 the language I have used, but that was his 

 thought; and he said, furthermore, the way to 

 resist the Devil is to show him your had;. That 

 may be a novel way of fighting; but, dear 

 friend, you may have already discovered that 

 it is the very best way in the world to fight 

 some kinds of people and some kinds of enemies 

 —turn your back resolutely. Do not answer 

 them, do not notice them, do not have any 

 thing more to do with them. I would be cour- 

 teous and civil at first; but when you discover 

 that your opponent does not intend to reason or 

 be decent, do not waste words or attention on 

 him. Turn away. Then what? or, in other 

 words, to whom, shall we turn after we have 

 turned our backs on batan ? Why. I hardly 

 need add that you are to turn to Christ Jesus. 

 Turn to him with that little old prayer of mine 

 — "Lord, help!" You need not be as?(.ar»ier7, of 

 asking bis help, for no man or woman will ever 

 find a place or position where they will no 

 longer need to say. "Lord, help!" You can, 

 with perfect safety, face the dear Savior always 

 and at all times. In rescuing lost souls from 

 the clutches of the evil one you can even then 

 face the Savior and implore his help; and un- 

 less you do face him, and recognize the need of 

 his help, you will never make any headway 

 against Satan. 



As I grow older it becomes impressed on me 

 that the greatest trouble with poor frail man- 

 kind is. Uiey will never acknowledge the mis- 

 chief or the trouble that confronts them as of 

 Satan\^ making. Even though they be profess- 

 ing Christians, they are very apt to laugh at 

 the idea that it is the DeiuJ's work instead of, 

 as they would put it, a combination of ciicum- 

 stances. The Devil's work is always a combi- 

 nation of circumstances. Paul says in the text, 

 " We are not ignorant of his devices:" but I am 

 afraid the greater part of us during this nine- 

 teenth century are comparatively ignorant of 

 his wonderful resources in the way of devices. 

 From the position I hold here, cases are often 

 brought up before me. There are sometimes 

 misunderstandings, prejudice, and may be jeal- 

 ousy, among half a dozen. The difficulty is to 

 look into the matter and see who is and who is 

 not to blame. Wheiyi do right and justice lie? 

 Well, I am often at fault in saying just who is 

 right or nearest right: but I am sure I am not 

 at fault when I say. " Look here, dear friends; 

 this trouble is all of Satan's doing. Y'ou are all 

 professing Christians. You should know from 

 the evidences all along which I have just heard, 

 that this \s' Satan's work and nothing else. 



