Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1897-04-29
THE DEVILS TEXTS.
A Perversive Use of Scripture to En-
courage Selfish Indulgence.


Texts are good or bad, according to
the use they are put to. Properly used
they are SAVIOR of life unto life; i'm
properly used they are SAVIOR Of death
unto death. The devil is famous
preacher, and he can quote texts as
glibly as any evangelist. 1t was Satan
who took our Lord to the pinnacle of
the temple and babe Him cast Himself
down, saying: 1T is written: For He
shall give His angels charge concerning
Thee" and it was thus to good text,
perverted to the devils use. that our
Lord replied with another text: Thou
shalt not tempt the Lord thy God"
The devil sometimes uses texts to
attack the Bible. He tells all about the
slaughter of the Canaanites, the hewing
of Agag and all the cruelties of a bar
barous age, and ends with the text
about dashing thy little ones against
the stones; or he reports Jacobs du-
plicity and Solomon's polygamy, and
declares that the Bible which tells their
story cannot come from God.
But more often the devil quotes the
words of the Bible to mislead people
into disobeying its spirit. 1t was done
in the time of the apostles. and is done
now. Peter said that in his day men
would wrest to their own destruction
Paups doctrine of faith, just as they
did the other Scriptures. And Paul had
to meet the same wicked perversion of
his teachings. If we are no more under
the law, but under grace, why should
we not sin all we please? was their
question; and they sinned accordingly.
That very Antinomianism is preached
and practiced to-day among the vicious
and ignorant.
There is scarce a text that cannot
thus be made DEVILS text by being
applied where it does not belong. The
command: 'Be We therefore perfect"
is made the excuse for a querulous
sanctimoniousness which is righteous
overmuch; and the commands: "Be not
righteous overmuch" is made the ex-
cuse for not being righteous at all. The
text: Whose loveth father or mother
mere than Me- has been made an ex-
cuse for neglecting filial duties and re-
firing from the world into monkish
solitude; while the opposite instruc-
ton: eff a man care not for his own,
and especially for them of his own
household, he has denied the faith and
is worse than an infdel' has been
abused to the service of utter selfish
ness. 1t has been put into a compact
proverb, Charity begins at home,"
which is very true, but which has been
so adopted as a devils proverb that
its good sense is almost lost. In sim
liar way our Lords command to His
disciples about their missionary work,
beginning at Jerusalem" has been
quoted hundreds of times by the devils
advocates to prevent missionary work
abroad. -.1
The story of the widows mite is an
other text that has done abundant serv-
ice in the devils preaching. Did not
our Blessed Lord give praise to the
widow who put into the treasury her
1.-TWO mites, which make a farthing?"
Ever since then men have put farthings
into the Lords treasury and expected
the same praise, even although they
gave out of their abundance and not
their whole living. There is many q
mite box which is an excuse for mig
gardliness Miss Leitch once told a
company of women to give ga cent
day. and year later a lady, all rich
with velvet and sparkling with dia-
monds, came and told her gratefully
that she had done as she was instructed.
"God forgive me-" said Miss Leitch, "for
ever having told that woman to give
cent day!" -., s-...s a. ,--.. g.
Paul's advice to Timothy: "Drink
no longer water, but use a little wine
for thy stomach's sake and thine often
infirmities" is another favorite devils
text. Those who thus use it forget that
Timothy was total abstainer, that his
health was impaired; and it does not
occur to them that before giving this
prescription Paul may very Likely have
consulted the missionary physician who
was his travelling companion. In the
same way the fact that our Lord was
not an ascetic like John the Baptist is
made an excuse by those who have no
stomach for Paul's principle: eff meat
make my brother to offend, will eat
no meat while the world standeth."
Any text can be abused to the service
of indulgence and selfishness. 1t is the
Christians part to use the Bible for
instruction in righteousness, and not
as an excuse for sim. Y. Independ-