518 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 1. 



changesi Why! tho boy is almost exonerated 

 by this discovery. Well, now, let us apply this 

 same sort of reasoning to Satan's work: let us 

 recognize, whenever one offends, that it is the 

 prince of darkness back of him that is responsi- 

 ble for it all: and if the offending one can be 

 made to believe this also, he is ready to turn 

 about and give up his evil ways. 



Satan is at bitter enmity with every sort of 

 educating influence — especial. y that sort of 

 education that goes along with Christianity. 

 It seems as if he would have no stone unturned 

 nor means untried to discoui'age the work of 

 reforming savages and civilizing the heathen. 

 In my recent visit .«onlh we were discussing the 

 schools and the methods employed for educat- 

 ing the colored people. A dozen of us were 

 gathered one evening, just before going to bed, 

 and we were considering the future of the col- 

 ored folks in the South. The friends were all 

 Southern people except myself. Several of 

 them had been slave-owners in former years; 

 and we had a real kind, friendly talk— such a 

 talk as I never expected to be able to have with 

 our Southern people. In fact. I did not know 

 that those who formerly held slaves would care 

 to discuss with a Northerner the whole social 

 problem in such a kind, pleasant way. Most of 

 us were professing Christians. They told me 

 that the greatest obstacle in the way of elevat- 

 ing the colored students was a line of Satan's 

 work I have already referred to — unchastity. 

 Even the theological students among the col- 

 ored folks, after they had got so well along in 

 their studies that every one had reason to sup- 

 pose they were truly born again, and lifted 

 from the miry clay — even these theological 

 . students, or even pastors with people under 

 their charge, would now and then relapse, and 

 away went their Christianity. I do not know 

 of any thing in this world that so thoroughly 

 kills out spirituality as yielding to Satan in 

 this way. Even permitting sensual thoughts 

 to occupy one's mind grieves away the Holy 

 Spirit and opens the gates to intidelity and un- 

 belief; and thp om^ who has gone so far as to 

 break the command, '• Thou shalt not commit 

 adultery." seems from that time forth to be 

 posses-^ed with a hard, cold, sarcastic kind of 

 infidelity. lie joers at Christianity, scoffs at 

 purity, and not only evidently tries to make a 

 heir here on earth, but he seems to take it for 

 granted that this world is a hell, and all who 

 profess any thing lieitcr are lying hypocrites. 

 Now in regard to our colored brethren: 



It .seemed as if Satan could not rest when he 

 found one of thesis i)eople was determined to 

 rise above the lusts of the flesh, and stand 

 before God a pure and true man. Somebody 

 suggested in that evening circle that it was not 

 the colored people alone who fall from grace in 

 this way. and then there was a general laugh 

 all around. Then came the question that has 

 come up so many times before, "How far does 

 God hold a man responsible?" If a minister of 

 the ffosp(>l. under terrible temptation, forgets 

 liis reli<rion and his Savior, for ev(Mi one brief 

 moment, must he give up preaching for tlie rest 

 of his life? This very thing has come to me 

 face to face several times in life. What I mean 

 is, I have seen the question come up, "Shall 

 this man. after having conf(;ssed his sin of 

 adultery, and asked pardon of God and his fel- 

 low-men, keep on preaching, or shall he do 

 something else for a living?" May be I am 

 wrong about it; but my conviction is, just now, 

 that he had better do somethinu else for a living. 

 I am now going to repeatsomething here that 

 may seem to some a little out of place in a pub- 

 lic journal; but I take the liberty on the ground 

 that the man who is forewarned is forearmed. 

 Satan can not well be pointed out too plainly. 



One of the friends present during that evening 

 talk made a remark something like this: 



" Look here, boys; suppose a pretty woman 

 puts her arm around your neck — what are you 

 going to do about it?'' 



" Yes, friends, what are you going to do about 

 it?" said another. 



The first speaker answered: 



" Well. I do not know what the rest of you 

 would do; but as formyself.it would be quite 

 natural for me to put my arms around the 

 i('0(;(o)i." 



And this brings us to face the fact that Satan 

 may not only come before you as an angel of 

 light, but he may possibly appear in the guise 

 of — as our friend expressed it — a "pretty 

 woman.'" She may be pretty in one sense, but 

 not according to the old adage, that "hand- 

 some is that handsome does.'' Of course, any 

 true Christian — and. for that matter, any true 

 man — would at once say, " Get thee behind me, 

 SatMU." If he did not do so promptly and on 

 the in.stant. he is unworthy of even the name 

 of Christian or man either. In the very first 

 page of the Bible we have very plain directions 

 as to what a man should do under such tempta- 

 tion — "How, then, can I do this great wicked- 

 ness and sin against God?'" First of all, Joseph 

 recognized that it was before Ood that he was 

 standing, and the sin would be against him. 

 He also explains to this woman that her hus- 

 band had trusted him — in fact, he had given 

 him charge over his whole household, and did 

 not even look offer things where Joseph had 

 charge. As this was a woman of high rank, we 

 have reason to believe that she was not only a 

 beautiful woman, as the world puts it. but she 

 was the wife of a high officer under Pharaoh. 

 There is a kind of low-lived philosophy among 

 a certain class of men, to the effect that, where 

 a woman takes the had. a man is partially or 

 entirely relieved of responsibility. Shame on 

 the men who can take any such stand as that! 

 Job said, " Till I die I will not remove mine in- 

 tegrity from me." Even in heathen mythology 

 a knight (who is supposed to be a (joad tn((n and 

 nothing more) is expected to lay down his life 

 to defend the virtue of (iny woman. If occasion 

 demands it. he must be father, priest, or kinei to 

 any woman in distress. My friend, if Satan 

 has ever appeared to you in any such guise as 

 we have been talking about, and you are in 

 danger of falling, let me suggest to you to im- 

 agine how the thing would look if this woman — 

 beautiful woman if you choose to so put it— were 

 your oivn daughter or sister instead of the 

 daughter or sister of some other man. Oh I that 

 alters the case. I tell you, it does indeed alter 

 the case. But when tiod said, "Thou shalt 

 love thy neighbor as thys^elf," he most siu'ely 

 intended it should cover all circumstances like 

 the above. And this little illustration gives us 

 a glimp.se of Satan and of his work as perhaps 

 no other thing could give it. Satan makes self 

 fill the wide universe, but he would make yoiir 

 neighbor an utter nothing and not to be con- 

 sidered at all. So long as this lost or tempted 

 woman was the daughter or sister of s(nnel)ody 

 else, it is a small matter. Does the whole wide 

 world furnish another such parallel of brutish 

 selfishness? Yes, grown-up men — the fathers 

 of families — will sit down and coolly debate 

 whether a man is very much to blame after all, 

 when the woman leads. But let us just for a 

 moment think if it were one of our children, or 

 one of our sisters who has been tempted liy 

 Satan; and, dear friend, the thing is not so 

 utterly imi>o.'<sible. after all. Here and there 

 we have sad records of just such things. When 

 it is your daughter or sister that is in the toils 

 of Satan, how do you expect every real man to 

 behave toward her? If he is a Christian, surely 



