The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1888-08-23
sing songs of triumph over the fall of

II. 1t is time to consider in the
second place, the enemies we have to
attack. On one point the language Of
our text is expressive wrcstle not
against flesh and blood" Never
forget this. Man as man, is never your
enemy. We may fight against the
wickedness he practices and upholds;
never against himself. Go back a
little. Visit Chicago in thought just
after the execution of the anarchists.
We are let see the bodies. There they
lie. The eyes that shone lately with
such piercing light are dim; the hands
that were SO active are motionless;
the frames that but yesterday thrilled
with the fierce energies Of life are still
and stiff. We see the horrid blue mark
on their necks. Who bore them
enmity? Not the sheriff who superin-
tended their execution. Not the
jailers who confined them. Not
the Judge who sentenced them. Not
the jury who convicted them. Not the
lawyers who pleaded against them.
Not the witnesses who bore testimony
against them. None of these were
their enemies. They had no enemies.
They had espoused principles that were
dangerous to the state and to human
lives, principles that were subversive
of religion, of morality, Of human
rights. To crush these principles the
men had to be crushed. But for them
selves, personally, there was no harsher
sentiment than pity. 60 back to the
war. There were, no doubt, OCCASION
al displays of vindictivencss and cruel
ty. But the nation, rs nation, was
at all times prepared to say, 1--WE
wrestle not against flesh and blood. y
And when the war was over no insults
were offered to the vanquished. They
were treated rs brothers. They were
welcomed to the closest companionship
on equal terms with those with whom
they had SO lately contended on the
bloody battle field. We are sometimes
told that this was poor policy. Be it
SO, it was grand morality. and God
may always be trusted to take care of
the right. Lincoln's grand motto,
'.Malice to none, charity for all, is but
an echo of the words, Ave wresle not
against flesh and blood
| But against what do we wrcstle?
Our text unveils dim vision of malig-
nant majcsties-disciplined. dogged,-.
who contest every inch of our progress.
"Angels our march oppose,
Who still in strength excel;
Our secret, sworn, eternal foes,
Countless, invisible
But what weight should the state
ment of our text have with us? Two
views of the Bible are current. One
regards it rs the product of the highest
religious thought of its age. We are
told that spiritual things reveal them
selves to spiritual men; that the more
spiritual man is, he is the more capa-
BILE of discovering spiritual truth; and
that what calls forth no response from
mans spirit is no truth to him. And
SO men look at the Bible; one statement
iinpresses them and they pronounce it
true; another does not impress them,
and they reject it rs the superstition of
dark age. They do not like what
the Bible tells us about the devil, and
therefore they will not believe it. The
other view-and Iunhcsitatingly accept
it-receives the Bible as revelation
from God. In the Bible, God unveils
what was formerly unseen. But the
things revealed existed before the veil
was removed and wonld exist if it had
never been removed. If Il man lets his
heart be SO vciled by prejudice that the
facts revealed in the Bible do not impress
him; this no more affects the existence
of the facts than can extinguish the
sun by shutting my eyes.
Many thinkers have CONFESSED the
Importance of the doctrine before us.
For an illustration of this will not GO
to philosophers or theologians; l will
60 to man of the world. a Jew, nov-
elist, politician, British peer-thc
late Benjamin Disraeli. Lord Bcacons-
field. In his last work ..Endynion,
he gives conversation between
two young men, Endymion and Nigel,
the first a young and rising politician,
the second a young and rising clergy
man. Endymion says: but let us be
calm. my dear Nigel. Do you mean to
say that am TO be- considered an inf
del or an apostate because. although l
fervently embrace all the vital truths of
religion, and try, on the whole. to reg
ulate my life by them, ! may have
scruples about believing, for example,
in the personality of the Deyil?' To
this Nigel replies: ''lf the personality
of Satan be not vital principle of
your religion. do not know what is.
There is only one dogma higher. You
think it is safe, and l dare say it
is fashionable, to fall into this lax and
really thoughtless discrimination be-
tween what is and what is not to be
believed. 1t is not good taste to be-
lieve in the Devil. Give me single
argument against his personality which
is not applicable to the personality of
the Deity. Will you give that up, and,
if SO, where are you? Now mark me;
you and l are young men-you are a
very young man. If these loose
thoughts, which you have heedlessly
taken up. prevail in this country for a
generation or Solve and twenty or
thirty years-we may meet together
dSdlIls NHu sHdAl HAVE lO COHNIHCC
you that there is Cod
There is in our text a labor of lam
guage to describe the hosts of invisible
beings that surround us. keen as light
ming, terrible as the cyclone-who
watch for our halting and plot our
ruin. We read of .'principalities" OR
potentates. You, gentlemen, are IA
miliar with the idea of a vast
organization operated by the brain and
will of one man. a general. There is
generalship in hell; there are generals
in hell. Demon chieftains served by
hortles of attendant demons pour their
giant intellect and volcanic passions
along a thousand lines of influence. l
do not know that the terrible forces !
speak of are permitted to act on lis
directly. Their sole. or at least usual
mode of action is by suggesting. fos-
tering and directing bad thoughts in
the minds of men. But the ''pricipali-
ties'' of hell project themselves into
human affairs. They organize the evils
we have to fight. Look at the liquor