The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1911-02-03

ana the bringing OF tueHl 1nLO SuDlec-
ton to himself would signify the cap.
ture Of world full of people eventual
Iy--that the enSavement of the par
ents would signify the enslayement
eventually Of the race.
satan's Methods Were Successful.
We cannot deny that Satan's plans
were logical and that he has carried
them out With great success-so that
the Scriptures declare him "the Prince
of this world" Gohn xiv, 3O); and again,
the God Of this world QI Corinthians
iv, ~. Nevertheless, his victory was
not so great one as he doubtless ef
pected it TO be. No doubt he expected
that he was capturing an immortal
race. Quite probably he believed the
falsehood he told mother Eve, when
he contradicted the Word Of God-that
sin, that disobedience In eating the
forbidden fruit, would bring upon them
the penalty Of death. dying thou shalt
die
Satans charge was that God had
misrepresented the facts for the pur-
pose of holding his creatures in mental
slavery TO himself; that he did not
wish them to be wise, therefore he for
babe the eating of this particular kind
Of fruit and declared the penalty Of
death for the transgression Of his law.
Il, Satan, assure you that you need
not be afraid Of the fruit; assure you
that il will do you good, and that you
will not surely die from the eating
Of it," Alas, Mother Eve believed the
Adversary and disbelieved her God,
and then enticed her husband, still
thinking, no doubt, that she would not
die and that the serpent had told her
the truth aud that God had been the
deceiver. st. Paul tells us that father
Adam knew better and ate the fruit
knowing that 1t would cause his death,
willing thus to disobey in order TO
maintain the fellowship Of his wife.
whose life. he realized, was already
forfeited.
When the Divine sentence began to
go into execution; when our first par
ents were driven out of Eden to bat
tie with the thorns and thistles until
they should return to the dust, no
dOnbt Satan was disappointed. He
had rather be the Prince Of noble
living family of angels or OF humans
than the Emperor Of a weak and dying
race. However, from that day 10 the
present time he has been fighting upon
the same line: he has been contending
with mankind that the Word OF God
is false when It declares thar the
wages OF sin is DEATH" and that 'the
soul that sinneth it shall die" From
that day to this he has been using this
falsehood to the injury of our race. and
surely he has succeeded wonderfully.
Today. not only in heather lands,
but amongst the most civilized, it is
tians. considered Scriptural to believe
the nOnsensicaD that a dead man is
more alive than before he died Peo-
pie Of good. sound reasoning faculties
on ordinary subjects seem TO be hoo
dooed' by this falsehood Of Satan. we
shall not surely die" So true is this.
that IL seems not inconsistent to them
10 say. that q man hit over the head
with stick and knocked senseless.
knows nothing, but 4 man, hit over
the head harder and killed. knows ev.
erything.
The Fallen Angels.
1t was sometime after the fall Of
Satan and the fall of man that the
Lord permitted the great test to come
upon the angels OF heaven, under
which test host Of them fell into sin.
disobedience. etc, and since then are
known in the Scriptures as the fallen
angels and as devils more properly
demons. Two weeks from today, ID.
V. we will consider their temptation
and sin and penalty and whether or
not there he any hope. Suffice it to
say now that these fallen angels,
demons. are under Satan as their great
Prince and that they have been his
active agents in long centuries in de-
ceiSing mankind and opposing the Di-
vine Program.
1t would have been as easy as not
for God to have blotted out Of exist
ence entirely both Satan and the fallen
angels. and man Also and to have com
pleted another creation, angelic and
human. But such was not the Divine
Program. Gods ways are not as mans
ways. but higner-as the heavens are
higher than the earth isaiah ", o..
Satan the Great Murderer.
No less an authority than our great
Lord and Redeemer tells us that Satan
was murderer and liar. He de-
clares that he was murderer from
rhe beginning and abode not in the
truth: when he speaketh lie he speak
eth of his own, for he is the father Of
lies John viii. Al. 1t is well that we
keep this Divine testimony in our
minds. 1t is well that we note just
what the first great lie was, namely,
Satan's misrepresentation, saying, 'Ye
shall not surely die" 1t is important
that we notice this, because so thor
Oughly has Satan accomplished his de-
ceptive work that practically every
body, heather and civilized, accepts
Satan's version OF the matter and dis
credits the Almighty's.
Let us note also that Satan Is muir
derer; that he murdered Father Adam
and Mother Eve, and that his lie is still
numbering our race under the Just
10, Of hopndity fcba AMMAN IF bo