The Tupelo journal., 1902-10-03

49, ~
hood quarrels, law suits, strikes and
lockouts, oppression, selfishness, dis
tress and sickness and woes of every
description. Obi how the devil is raw
aging this earth to-day as he goes
hither and thither. No soul has ever
come into the world that has not met
him and felt his power. You have met
him. You are meeting him day after
day. Look for the footprints and rec
ognize his presence.
Satan is a great student of human
nature. He knows your every weak
ness, your natural tendency. He keeps
a record of all your past failures and
mistakes and sins, and on occasion
throws them up at you to discourage
you and to prove to you that there is
no use of trying any more to do right.
He knows your family history from
your first ancestors down, and under
stands your inherited weaknesses. He
is a great strategist and knows from
what point to make his attack. If he
cannot lure by some dainty and at
tractive bait, he will try to goad to
desperation and drive you to do his
will.
He is a great hunter, but does not
meet his intended prey in the open,
but sets snares for unwary feet in I'M
expected places. He is a most skillful
arguer, and can bring a soul to believe
that wrong is right and right is wrong
if it will only listen to him. He can
make excuses for wrong doing that
will justify and defend any act. He
is very particular of the outside APP
pearance of things and cares little
whether the inside is full of dead
mems bones or not. He loves to wea
ecclesiastical robes, he is a great
church goer, he likes religious form
and ceremony and car talk sancti-
moniously and quote Scripture to es-
tablish and sustain any doctrine. or
Justify any course of conduct. He
prefers a lie to the truth every time,
because he is the father of liars, and
knowing that it is true as God declares
that the heart of man is deseitful
above all things, he blinds it to the
truth and keeps it from believing God
and His Word if he can. He is great
on promises, and will agree to give
you anything you want, ever a mansion
in Heaven, if you will only fall down
and worship him. He knows the pride,
the ambitions, the passions of the
human heart. He knows just what
food to supply to make them grow.
He never relaXes his vigilance; he
never loses an opportunity of tight
ening his coils around his victim.
Such an one is Satan, the arch enemy
of the human soul.
Our Responsibility.-We are not to
blame for Satan's presence in the
world; we are not to be held account
able for his activity; we cannot wen
be condemned because he besets us on
every hand and tries to lead us astray.
Our responsibility begins only when
we yield to the temptation. We are
certain of meeting Satan. AS he goes
to and fro in the earth it would be
strange indeed if we did not meet him
or some of his emissaries. Until he is
chained by the Lord during the mil
lennial period, we cannot find a place
Ol luIS Ill WDtIt Ills ulOtOuSt duu
unwelcome presence maynot penetrate.
We are not to blame because he whis-'
pers in our ears and seeks to entice us
into forbidden paths and wicked in
dulgences, but we are to blame when
we link our arm in his and let him walk
with us while he explains to us how
the wrong can be done and covered up.
how the dishonest act can be commit
ted and not found out, how the appe-
tite and lusts can be INDUCED and the
harvest of wrecked home and ruined
life not be reaped.
David was not to be blamed because
his palace had a delightful and cool
promenade on its roof; it was not his
fault that a thoughtless and silly wom-
an posed before IN undraped window
looking out towards his palace walls,
but he was responsible for allowing
his eyes to be the channels through
which sinful desires and purposes
might enter his heart. He was not to
be condemned because Satan was at
his side that night, but it was his fault
because he let him argue with him and
lead him step by step into the awful
sin.
Peter was not to blame because Sa-
tan wanted to sift him as wheat, but
he was to blame for following his
Lord so far off as to become a coward
and thus fall an easy victim to Satan
through the Gliding of a young
maiden.
Our Saviour, Jesus Christ, met Satan
repeatedly during His earthly life. He
was tempted in all points like as we
are and yet without sin, because at
the point of temptation refuge was
found in Gods Word and sect thee be-
hind me, Satan" drove the demon from
his presence. Resist the Devil and he
will flee from you. Give not place to
the Devil. You cannot shut him out of
the world, but you can keep him from
t~respassing upon the domains of your
heart and life.
The Worlds Struggle.-The world is
making an heroic struggle in battling
against Satan. 1t is bringing it's cul-
ture, its wisdom, its power and infu-
ence, it's laws and it's penal and re-
formatory institutions to bear upon
the works of Satan, and it does not
cause the arch fiend one anxious mo-
ment or single troubled thought. Our
Lord in His parable of the nan and
the unclean spirit gives us a picture of
the world in its efforts to get rid of the
Devil and his works. The man sue
ceeded in driving out the unclean spir.