Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1902-10-11
SERMON ON THE DEVIL"
Sunday Discourse By DR.. Chapman, the
Noted Pastor Evangelist.
Treats Forbidden Subject in Novel Manner
Why Men Are Disposed to Laugh
at the Place of Darkness.

why heh are disposed 10 Laugh
at the Place of Darkness.
NEW YORK CITY The following reada-
Bile and helpful sermon i by the Rev. DIR.
j. Wilbur Chapman. the best known evan
gelist in the country and one OF the most
popular pulpit orators OF New York. II
Is entitled The Devil" and was preached
from the text And the Lord said unto
Satan. Whence contest thou Then Satan
answered the Lord and said. From going To
and fro in the earth. and from walking up
and down in it." Job J. .
This Is a forbidden subject. We gencr-
ally speak Of him who is .he subject 81 my
sermon with a smile. and get Ii Is 4 sub
ject with which one ought certainly to he
perfectly familiar. We have all had some
experience with him who l. the author OF
our distress. and who Is responsible FOR
every cloud though il be no larger than
mans hand that has cast itself upon the
sky OF orr lie, and vet ] doubt not that
there are very many of Us that could not
give very accurate explanation OF our
views. There are very many who scout
the idea of personal devil at all. and this
view Is much more general than we think.
i can quite understand how il should be
30, fo- Satan : master stroke OF policy Is
TO direct our minds from inquiry concern
ing his true character and the methods by
which he governs his kingdom. Some
t4HS~ AbE tiiG uhAELtflCldAN az tliAPibA~ AIc
vehicle OF darkness that he may blind the
minds of those who do not believe lest the
fight OF the Gospel OF the glory OF Christ
should dawn anon them and they should
believe In whom the God OF this world
hath blinded the minds Of them which be-
iieve not lest the light OF the glorious Cos
pei of Christ. who ) the image OF God.
should shine unto them" Corinthians
4: 4. And sometimes 10 those who do be-
heve he transforms himself into an angel
of light that he may delude them by his
snares. And no marvel: for Satan lnm-
self Is transformed into an angel OF light"
= Corinthians IL: Il.
The late DIR. James H. Brooks. OF s..
Louis. one of the greatest Bible teachers
in our country. said that ii used to be his
custom in his family worship TO read the
New Testament through consecutively I'M
I'll he came to Revelation, and then he
would always turn back to Matthew and
read again 10 the Revelation. and then
back to Matthew once more. until one day
sitting alone in his study he began to ques-
ton himself as TO why this was his habit,
and it occurred TO him as he read the Rev
elation through that it must be because
this is the only book in the New Tesla
ment which tells of the doom of Satan,
and it is quite easy to understand why he
would turn the mind away from that book
which tells OF his defeat.
Men don't believe in a devil now,
As their fathers used to do;
They've forced the door OF the broadcst
creed,
To let his form pass through.
There isn't a. print or his clovea foot,
Or fiery dart from his bow.
To be found in earth or air to-day,
For the world has voted so.
''gut who is mixing the fatal draught
That palsies heart and brain.
And loads the bier of each passing year
With ten hundred thousand slain?
Who blights the bloom of the land to-day
With the fiery breath OF hell?
II the devil isn't. and never was.
Won't somebody rise and tell?
'Who clogs the steps of the toilng saint,
And digs tine pits for his feet!
Who sows the tares in the fields OF time.
Wherever God sows His wheat:
The devil is voted not TO be-
And. OF course the thing Is true;
But who is doing the kind of wor,.
The devil alone should do:
Eve are told he does not go around
Like roaring lion now:
But whom shall we hold responsible
For the everlasting row
To be heard in home. in church and state,
To the earth's remotest bound,
II the devil. by unanimous vote,
Is nowhere to be found:
won't somebody step to the front forth
with
And make his bow. and show
How the frauds and crimes OF a single day
Spring up! We want To know
The devil is fairly voted out.
And OF course the devils gone.
But simple folks would like to know
Who carries his business on"
The other day in Brooklyn a woman
threw herself out OF the window of five
story building to escape the brutal tor
lures OF her drunken husband. She left
her little boy mothcr!ess and worse than
father.ess. That husband was in the clutch
OF the one OF whom ] speak at this time.
Would you make light OF such foe as
this. The opening chapters of Genesis
give US picture OF happy pair in Eden,
peace. purity. perfection and beauty every
whore prevailed. God looked upon it and
said that 1t was very good. when suddenly
all was changed. There Is a marvellous
TRANSFORMED on; sin appears; the curse is
everywhere: trouble begins and rolls high
like the mighty waves Of the sea. until the
world Is engulfed in the blackness OF the
darkness OF despair. No wonder that we
feel Ike crying cut again and again in the
words OF the text. And the Lord said
unto Satan, Whence contest thou Then
Satan answered the Lord and said From
going 10 and fro IN the earth. and from
Mt4hth- UP anu hONH III II. IL Is OF Sucl
an adversary that L speak and he is not n
subject Tor testing. | have for the past
ten years been laboring in the interests OF
men. but somehow during the past three
months they have been upon me as a spe-
cial burden. ! have listened to their heart
breaking cries and their sobs of despair.
and Il is with the memory OF these tears
that have run like rivers. and the cry OF
many 4 man who feels himself To be lost
as he said. Is there any hope" that /
bring to my readers this message
The devil i certainly not a myth. I
shall give has names in 4 little while and
call your attention TO the fact that they
are all found in the New Testament, so
this i not an Old Testament de!usion car
rled down to the present time. rs some
would have us believe, Tor almos. all the
information concerning him we are de-
pendent upon the New Testament Scrin-
lures. The Old Testament is strangely 81.
lent. | call your attention to .his fact that
If you read in the Old Testament the ac-
count OF the temptation and fall in Eden.
then the trouble OF job, then the number
ing OF Israel By David. and finally the Wis
ION vi Joshua. the high priest, and Satan
oontending with him, you have the four
places where Satan is definitely mentioned
and his work particularly described. The
evidences of his existence are everywhere
TO be seen in the Old Testament, hut these
are not in direct statements. This does
away with the position of many people
who are disposed TO say good deal about
the Satan myth, which had its rise in the
infancy OF our race when the human mind