St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1902-11-08
SATAN's FOOTPRINTS
They Run Either and rhither
Through All the Earth.

Man Defled and Defeated. But Christ
vanouishea the Foe of Humanity
Sermon by the "Highvay
+ and Byway" Preacher.
rcopvright. 1902. by A. N. Kellogg News
paper Col
Chicago,i 1902
rax+. "And the Lord said unto Satan
Whence contest thou? Then Satan answered
the Lord and said: From going to ana nc
in the earth. and from walking up anu
down in it.-Job. IL.
A Remarkable Interview.--Gods
Word opens up to us in the story OF
Job a most startling vision OF the I'M
seen and spirit realm. Satan is re-
vealed to us standing in the presence
of God and talking with Him regard
ing events in the earth. During the
period antedating the creation OF man
Scripture intimates that one OF the
angels of Heaven, who was very high
in the counsels of God and exercised
great power in the spirit realm, re-
belled against the authority OF the
triune God and was cast out with those
who had Joined him in his instruction.
Christ declares in Luke 1918 that lie
s'beheA Satan as lightning fall from
Heaven" so that limited as our knowl-
edge is regarding this tremendous
mystery of the spirit world we know
there was portion of Gods universe
from which Satan was forever ban
ished. But he seemed still to have ac-
cess to place where he could meet
and talk with God, and our text repre-
sents such an occasion.
1t may even be that Satan was
obliged to appear at the will and com
mand of God, to regularly give an ac-
count of his activities in the earth to
which he had been banished, for while
his power was very great and he was
in rebellion against God, it is but rea-
sonable to suppose that the Supreme
Ruler of the universe still exercised
certain restrictive powers over him.
The moment Satan rebelled against
God his doom was sealed, but He Who
Is from everlasting to everlasting, Je-
hovah God, the great AM, works on
gigantic plan, and the destruction OF
Satan was to be wrought out by mar
velous system of redemption in which
sin was to be forever punished and the
righteousness Of God was to be glori-
ously triumphant.
Satan's Activity.-The context from
which our text is taken declares that
Satan appeared before the Lord, Who
said unto him: "Whence contest thou?'
To which Satan, seemingly in an off
hand and evasive way, replied: "From
going to and fro in the earth. and from
walking up and down in it" intimat-
ing that he had things pretty much his
own way. He went to and fro in the
earth exercising dominion and power
and apparently meeting no opposition.
He walked whittier he would into the
homes and into business, into pleas
ures and human loves, into sorrows and
Affections and into death itself where
he foreclosed the mortgage on the soul
and held it to his eternal destruction.
In the period of the worlds history
during which Job lived Satan seems. as
we have said, to have Had things in the
earth pretty much all his own way.
The print of the cloven hoof could be
traced hither and thither through the
whole earth. What an indefatigable
traveller he was and how unceasing
and mtiring in the oversight of his
dominions! Back and forth, back and
forth; up and down. up and down, I'M
til the footprints no longer marked a
trail, but filled in unbroken confusion
the fair face of the earth God had
created. And since the days of Job he
has not ceased his travels or his activ-
ity, but continues now, as then, in Ego
ing to and fro in the earth and walk
ing up and down in it,
Wherever there is a human soul
there the footprints of the Devil lead,
and he uses his best endeavor to lure
that soul away from God. Peter holds
up a roaring lion as picture of the
way in which Satan goes about seeking
whom he may devour. Unrelenting in
the pursuit of his prey, displaying the
utmost cunning in tracking and seiz-
ing it, and fierce and cruel when once
the prey is within his powerful jaws,
what a glimpse Scripture gives us Of
the Devil. And it is q true and faith
full picture, too. But you must not for
get that he goes around in disguise and
dons sleeps clothing or appears as an
angel of light. But under the sleeps
clothing and behind the angelic vision
of light there is still the lion nature
which is ready to tear to pieces and de-
stroy as soon as the yawning jaws
have safely closed upon the intended
victim.
Satan has been dealing with human
nature for thousands of years, ever
since he made Adam and Eve believe a
lie in the Garden of Eden, and poor
man is but a puppet in his hands. His
artfulness and ingenuity in compass
ing the destruction Of a soul are al
most infinite. By the music of the
worlds pleasures and the glitter of its
tinsel he drew the whole world after
him into the flood of Gods wrath, and
only Noah and his household with
stood his wiles and were saved. He
bought up the cities of Sodom and
Gomorrah with riches and Injuries,
and crowded them so full of sensual
pleasures and wickedness that the
inhabitants were Indifferent to the
visit of angels who came to warn Lot.
Undoubtedly the Devil gleefully
watched the fire and birthstone Of
Gods wrath fall upon the wicked
cities and utterly consume them with
their teeming populations, an example
which Nero fiendishly followed at the
burning of Rome.
By consummate patience and skill
Satan has wormed his way into the