The devil unmasked

Front matter

;i

|HE

CLOTH *1.00l

Chapter I

Some people say there is no devil now, as there used to be, but I know, from experience, that the devil is not dead yet. He is still in business at the same old stand. He does the same kind of business he used to do, but he may do it in a more deceitful way. Yes, the world still has a devil, and he is no little, stupid devil either, but he is strong, wide-awake and up-todate. You make a great mistake if you think he is a harmless little brownie with broom-stick legs, pipe-stem arms and monkey hands, whom you can toss about as an object of laughter and sport. Those people who make the devil an object of sport to amuse the vulgar and add to the merriment of the social circles may find out some day that he is a supernatural and powerful being, and that he has them, soul and body.

The devil and I first met when I started on the way to glory. You may think it strange that I should not have seen him sooner, but I will tell you I have found he never does pay much attention to a fellow so long as that fellow is as mean as he wants him to be. But if we want to quit our meanness and start on the way to glory, he is on hand to oppose us, and that quickly, too.

Satan and I first met at the foot of the holiness mountains, where the road forks, one going through the plains of sin to the land of perdition and the other up the mountain to the portals of glory. I was very much surprised when I first saw him; he did not look anything like I had supposed he would. I had often seen his picture and supposed that he had long horns, cloven feet, a skeleton-like body, and a fiendish look.

If he had any horns, they were covered up ; if he was cloven footed, I could not detect it, and, instead of being a lean, skeleton-like person, he was plump and looked as though he was well kept; in fact, he looked real genteel and dignified, more like an angel of light than the old-time devil people used to talk about. Instead of being a horrible, ugly, frightful being, he looked like a high-toned gentleman, who would make a very favorable impression on almost anybody.

When he found I was determined to go to glory, he did not seem much inclined to oppose me. At this I was greatly surprised, for I had fully expected that he would lay hold of me and do his best to force me to go with him down the road that runs through the plains of sin to the land of perdition. He seemed glad that I had started to glory, and spoke very highly of that beautiful country. I tell you I was glad, for I had expected to have the biggest fight on my hands that I had ever been in. I thought he would surely tackle me right at the beginning of my Christian life, and I had been watching him very closely that he did not get any advantage of me. You have no idea how encouraged I felt when I found he was not disposed to oppose me. After that I did not watch him so closely, for I did not feel much afraid of him.

I expressed surprise that he was so friendly and so much better looking than I expected. My grandfather had always talked about his long horns and cloven feet, and I had seen his picture so often that I had gotten an idea that he was a terrible creature. When I told him he did not look like his picture, and that I expected him to have great horns and cloven feet, he said : "Don't you know the world is moving, and men are not as they used to be. I would be a fool to appear with horns in this day and age of the world; modern times require modern methods of doing business, and my business is no exception to the rule."

I said to myself, well, they need not tell me that the devil is an ugly old fiend any more, for he is not, at least if he is, he does not show it.

I had no idea of making the devil my chum or companion, but I did right there, and then determined that I was going to find out all I could about him, and if he was really playing a deception upon the world, I would write a book and expose him.

I had always supposed that the devil never had much to do with anybody but Christians, for they were the only people who ever had much to say about him. I very naturally concluded that he did not have so very much to do outside the church, and that he spent most of his time either in visiting other worlds or in baking his old bones over the camp-fires of perdition.

When I expressed surprise that the devil should have never appeared to me until I determined to start on the way to glory, he said he had never had any occasion to reveal himself to me before, for I always did exactly what he wanted me to do, and so long as I was going his way he was satisfied. "But," said he, "I have had more influence on your past life than you suppose. I saw you when you first began to steal big lumps of sugar from the old sugar barrel, when the folks were all gone to church, and I had something to do with that, too. I saw you when you told that big lie on your teacher. You said it was always a mystery what made you do it, as it could be of no advantage to you ; I had something to do with that. I saw you when you got into a fight with your schoolmate, and I had something to do with you and him both. I saw you when you and your brother began a play that ended in a fight, and a thousand other times I was present with you when you little expected it, but as long as you were as mean as I wanted you to be, it was not necessary for me to appear to you, as I do today." "It is the people who are trying to get to glory who make me the most trouble. The people who are working for God are the ones who give me the most concern. Idle people and dead churches I do not mind at all; they are rather an advantage to my cause; but live churches make me no end of trouble. That big church up on Grand avenue, which encourages dancing, card-playing, theater-going, horse racing, Sunday excursions, Sunday baseball, Sunday papers, and all kinds of worldly pleasure and amusements does not give me much concern. I can detail one fallen spirit to take care of that church and he will do it and sleep half of the time. But there is a little church out on Hard Scrabble circuit that is just like a swarm of bees, they are always at work, and I need a whole delegation of fallen spirits to help me, and then we cannot control them. So long as people are drifting down the current of sin, unconscious of any danger, I do not appear to

THE DEVIL UNMASKED. g

them, or give much concern about them, but those glory-bound fellows keep me hustling all the time."

When the devil said that it made plain to me a thing I never before understood. I often wondered why Christians were always talking about their temptations, and sinners did not. It always seemed very strange to me that the devil should always be tempting the best people instead of going in his own crowd. I said, now it is all plain; he does not tempt the sinner so much because he does not need to be tempted, as he does the devil's dirty work without it. But the devil tempts the good man because he cannot hope to get him any other way.

Chapter II

When I started to leave Satan and enter the road to glory, he saw that I had something in my bosom. He said : "What is that you have there ?"

I said : "That is my little guide-book father gave me to guide my steps from earth to glory."

"That is an old fogy notion/' said he. "You do not need that; it is an old-fashioned out-of-date book that people used to venerate. You must remember you are living in an age of progress and advanced thought. You will have no use for such an out-of-date book as that. Besides, it will interfere with your personal liberty, for it is full of restrictions and prohibitions, which forbid entering into the amusements and pleasures of life."

I said: "See here, old fellow, I have heard that kind of jabbering before, and I want to tell you that if you expect me to give up my Bible, you are greatly mistaken ; it guided my good old father safely through life and up to glory, and what was good enough for him is good enough for me. He lived happily and usefully, went home to glory shouting the praises of God,

IO

THE DEVIL UNMASKED. n

and he always said that the Bible and the grace of God made him what he was. As to liberty, the Bible allows perfect liberty, except liberty to sin, which I do not want."

"Well," said he, "God has given you a noble reason and a magnificent intellect, and you should be guided by them instead of an old book." I said : "Those may be sufficient to guide me in temporal matters, but not in spiritual life. I shall use all the intellect and reason God has given me, but reason alone is not a safe guide from earth to glory."

"Well," said the devil, "if you follow the teachings of that book you will soon get into a muddle, for it is full of mysteries that you can never understand. How do you expect to understand the trinity, the new birth, the witness of the Spirit and thousand other things?"

I said : "See, here, do you think I am going to be such a fool as to expect to give the philosophy of these Bible Mysteries? I do not need to do that; all I have to do with them is to admit them as facts of Revelation. Even Christ did not undertake to explain these things. There is enough in the Bible that is plain and easily understood to guide me from earth to glory, and I can afford to wait until I get to Heaven to understand the philosophy of things."

"Well," said the devil, "I never could see what there is in that old book that gives it such a charm for many people. I think it must be the Christ man in it, and perhaps I never shall be able to destroy its influence until I succeed in getting the Christ man out of it. A long time ago I had some fellows write some books against this old book, and had (hem declare with great vehemence that this Christ man was a deceiver, a wretch and an impostor, but the people seemed to cling to it all the more. Then I got some intellectual fellows to write more books and declare that he was a good man. They lauded him to the skies, saying he was the only perfect man, but he was not the Son of God. After that the people seemed to cling to this book more than ever, and said infidels were getting to believe the Bible. I then got some scientific fellows to write on Science just as though they never thought of this book, but in such a way as to contradict it and destroy the teachings of that Christ man. Yet you fellows will cling to this old book as though your lives depended upon it."

I said to the devil : "Look here, I tell you now, once for all, there is no use of you trying to get this little book away from me. I shall carry it in my bosom as long as I live. You may take my life if you must, but you can never take this book from me, for it is to be the lamp to my feet through life. As to its being old-fashioned, I admit that, and that is one reason why I prize it so highly. While it is an old-fashioned book, it contains many of the finest gems of literature in the world, and is admitted by the greatest scholars to be the greatest literary production of the world. All classes of great men are coming to it as the great fountain of literary excellence, and it is being quoted ten thousand times more than any other literary work in the world. "

Just then an old man approached me. I recognized him as Infidel Croaker. I had often seen him before and knew him to be a bitter opponent of the Bible. It instantly occurred to me that he was going to re-enforce the devil in trying to get me to give up my Bible. But

I was delighted to learn that he had been rescued from the errors of infidelity, and was there to entreat me to cling to the blessed Bible. I was greatly surprised and more than delighted when he said : "One of the greatest mistakes of my life has been that of finding fault with the Bible. I used to delight to make life as unpleasant for the Christian as possible. I harped much on the defects of the Bible and the faults of Christians. When I lived down on Croaker avenue, I had pretty much my own way, as our family was very large and we were in the majority. When our folks were moving over to Grumble street, I said to the parson, with whom I was quite familiar : 'Parson, we are moving over to Grumble street, and I guess you will be glad to get rid of me.' What do you think he said ? He expressed great surprise and regret that I should move out of the neighborhood. He said he did not see how he could get along without me. I said : 'Why will you miss me, parson?' He said: 'Well, I'll tell you. There can't be a sheep in my flock that gets out, but you bark all the way from one end of the town to the other. I really think you have been one of the most faithful watchdogs I ever had.'

"You better guess I didn't ask the parson any more questions. One day I was in the postofrice and met Judge Happy from Happy Hollow, Mr. Joy from Hosanna avenue, and Mr. Freeman from Holiness Heights. We all got into a conversation, and I was finding fault with the Bible. I told them one of my chief objections to it was the fact that it was an old style, out-of-date book. This age of progress and mighty strides of science had outgrown it and what we needed was more 'advanced thought' than was found in the Bible. I tell you I soon found out I was not among the little fish of Croaker avenue. Old Judge Happy turned on me and made me ashamed of myself. He showed me that the age of the Bible was one of the strongest arguments in favor of its Divine inspiration. He said its preservation when all other books had passed away was almost a miracle, and was evidence of Divine protection. He declared that its style was of the very highest literary worth, and that all great scholars, statesmen and orators come to it as the great source of literary excellence, it being quoted ten thousand times more than any other book.

"Then I advanced the idea that the Bible was too mysterious and could not be understood. Mr. Joy, who is one of the smartest and most devoted of Hosanna avenue, soon knocked that objection sky high. He showed that all that was necessary to salvation was perfectly plain and that many other things were only mysterious because we did not study them as we study problems of mathematics or science. As a last resort I objected to the Bible because it so plainly exhibits our faults and told them I did not blame anybody for refusing to read it when it always made them so unhappy. Then Mr. Freeman from Holiness Heights let loose his battery on me and completely done me up. He said I made him think of his big dog Rover. One day he slipped into the house, and looking across the room, he saw a big Newfoundland dog looking at him. He rushed toward it, the other dog ran toward him, and when they came together there was a great collision, and a big mirror was smashed all to pieces. Rover had plunged at his own image. He said that was just the way with me; I got mad and would smash the mirror of Divine Revelation to pieces because when I stood before it I saw an old sinner. Says he : 'That is what the Bible is for, to make the sinner feel bad by showing his sins, and then pointing to Christ the Divine remedy.' He declared the people of Holiness Heights felt happy when they read the Bible, because they were comforted by the view of hearts cleansed and made pure through the blood of the Lamb. He declared the reason us people on Grumble street and Croaker avenue felt so uncomfortable when we read the Bible was because it showed our. sinful hearts, but if we would go to Christ and get converted, we, also, would be happy in reading the Word.

"I just made up my mind right then and there that I was going to make another move, and I went to Thanksgiving street. I have been living there ever since and I like it splendid. I shall never live on Grumble street or Croaker avenue again. The place I am now living is so much higher and healthier, the air is more pure, and the scenery is far better, besides the people are so much more agreeable. I don't find fault any more with the Bible. We are all living a life of trust and whatever comes to us in life, we cheerfully accept as the will of God without murmuring or complaining. I am now happy all the time, and want to live on Thanksgiving street until I get my transfer to the City of God. I say to you, young man, cling to that Bible, for it will guide your feet safely up the pilgrim path to the Celestial City."

I felt greatly encouraged by Brother Croaker. As I turned and looked toward the promised land, I saw before me a large company of pilgrims, many of whom had turned to the left and were going toward the plains of sin. "Look yonder," said the devil, "did I not tell you so? Those people who are turning out to the left have found out that the Bible is not a safe guide-book. Many of those people are as smart as you, some are doctors, lawyers, statesmen, philosophers and scientists, and they have found that what I say is so — the Bible is too mysterious."

As I drew near this company I could see that every one of them had thrown away his Bible, and they were following the lamp of reason. They had substituted books of science and philosophy for the word of God. Then I turned to the devil and said: "See here, you cannot fool me that way. These people have never tested the Bible to see if it is a safe guide from earth to glory. They have listened to your tempting words and have thrown away their Bible, and are relying upon the lamp of reason. They talk about nothing but 'advanced thought,' 'the mighty strides of science,' 'the mysteries of the Bible and religion.' I believe in true science and know it will harmonize with the Bible and help the Christian heavenward, but this nonsense that they call science is unreliable, for it changes every time a new book appears. A fellow needs to take a daily scientific paper to know what is the latest teachings of such science. Tomorrow they will condemn what they teach today. This they teach is no science at all, but it is theory and conjecture, having no scientific basis whatever. There is no clash between well authenticated science and the Bible, but this scientific hash has scarcely a grain of well authenticated truth in it. You cannot fool me on any such scientific nonsense. I am going to hold on to this precious book and go straight on to glory, mystery or no mystery."

THE DEVIL UNMASKED. ly

Then I saw coming from that company one whom I recognized as Brother Zed, a fellow pilgrim who started on the way some time before I did. As he drew near he lifted his hand in warning, saying: "Brother pilgrim, this is dangerous ground ; right here thousands of pilgrims have been tempted of the devil and turned back to a life of sin. I myself was deceived by the old tempter and I turned aside and spent many years with that great company of skeptics. All these years I rejected salvation because there were mysteries in religion. 'Religion is too mysterious,' was my favorite reply when approached upon the subject of religion. For some time I considered that a good and efficient reason for continuing in sin. Perhaps I never would have been religious had I not met little David Overjoy. When I told him that religion was too mysterious, that I would not go into anything I could not understand, it did not seem to bluff him at all. He said: 'Well, Zed, it's true there are some mysterious things about religion, some things that perhaps we shall never fully understand until we get to heaven, but all that is essential for us to know to be saved is perfectly plain, and a fool need not err therein.' 'Mr. Overjoy/ said I, 'you people claim that in conversion God's Spirit comes into your heart and cleanses it from sin. Now, sir, I cannot understand how such things can be possible, and I do not want anything to do with anything that I do not understand.'

"Little David said : 'Well, Zed, Christ declared the fact that we must be born again, born of the Spirit, but he did not think it necessary to give the philosophy of it, as that is not important. We accept the fact, but to know just how God can do that is not essential to living a Christian life and dying a happy death. If you do not have anything to do with things that are mysterious, pray tell me why it is that the grain like you eat in your daily bread, when fed to sheep, makes wool on their backs, and when fed to ducks makes feathers on their backs, but, when you eat it, makes hair on your head. Why does it not make wool or feathers on your head instead of hair?'

"I said: 'Well, David, I must confess I cannot answer that; it's a great mystery.' 'Then you had better quit eating bread until you can understand this matter. The very air you breathe is a great mystery; you had better quit breathing. This light going into your eyes and producing vision is a mystery ; you had better close your eyes until you can understand the nature of light. The sound by which you are enabled to hear my voice is a great mystery that philosophers cannot understand ; you had better stop your ears until you can understand it. The scent of a rose is a great mystery to the most learned philosophers ; never do you smell those sweet odors again until you can explain it. Yes, Zed, you are living in a world of mystery, beneath you are mysteries, around you are mysteries, above you are mysteries, and your own body is a wonderful mystery. Why reject religion because of its mysteries when you believe in ten thousand things around you that are more mysterious?'

"I said : 'Friend David, I admit all you say about the mysteries of nature, but I am honest in this matter, and I want you to tell me how to understand the mysteries of religion,'

" T will do that,' was the prompt reply. 'The best way in the world is to test religion for yourself. Give your heart to God and see if he will not pour out a blessing upon you that you shall not be able to contain. You never can understand these things except by a personal experience of the saving power of God in your heart. No theologian can explain religion to you satisfactorily; you must experience it for yourself.'

"This conversation with Little David Overjoy cured me of finding fault with religion because of its mystery. I took his advice and when the blessing of salvation came into my soul it was so glorious that all concern for a solution of the philsophy of salvation was gone, and ever since I have been trying to warn pilgrims against this temptation of Satan."

With many words did Zed encourage me to go forward in Christian life. After he was gone I said : "Get thee behind me, Satan, I am going to glory. I am going to seek religion at once."

"There is no such thing as religion," said the devil.

Never in my life had there been any question in my mind about the reality of religion, but Satan was so positive and declared with such vehemence that there was no such experience, I began to wonder if it were possible that he was right.

Just then brother Dan came to my rescue. I had known him as "Infidel Dan," and I was greatly surprised when he said to me : "Brother pilgrim, don'l you listen to the devil. For years he made me believe there was no such thing as religion, but I have found out better. I want to tell you that skepticism as to religion has been the great mistake of my life. I plunged headlong into sin and infidelity, determined to resist all good. I took delight in studying the works of skeptics, and giving Christians hard skeptical problems to solve. It was my delight to harrass good peopie all I possibly could. I also found fault with God's book of Nature as well as his book of Revelation. I boldly declared that God had made a bungling job of the work of creation, and often showed how I could make improvements in it. I got cured of that in this way : My brother Tom and I went out late in the fall to the hickory grove to get some nuts. It was a warm afternoon, and we took off our coats and hats and sat down to rest under a big scaly-bark tree. While we were sitting there talking, we noticed some large gourd vines which had run on the fence, and were full of great long-necked gourds. I said to Tom : 'Look here, Tom, what a mistake God has made putting such big fruit on such little vines. He ought to have put the hickory nuts on the vines and the gourds on the big trees, for the trees could better support the gourds and the nuts would be quite heavy enough for these delicate vines. Preachers are always talking about the wisdom of God in nature, I could beat such wisdom as that myself.

"I had hardly said that when down came a big hickory nut from the top of the tree under which we sat, and hit me a terrible whack right on the center of my bare head. I tell you, it made me dance for a little while, and Tom laughed like he would kill himself. 'There,' said he, 'suppose that had been one of these long, hard gourds that you would have grow on trees, where would you have been now? I think it would have smashed your head; there would have been another big funeral and the preachers would preach you to hell of course/

"I tell you, that set me to thinking, for such a lick would make most anybody think. I was hit in the right place to make me think, for the only place to hit a skeptic to bring him to his senses is square on top of the head. After that I considered more carefully the works of nature before I criticised the wisdom of God. To my great surprise I found nature everywhere, not only declared the power of God, but also his great wisdom.

"I soon got a setback, also, in my criticisms of experimental religion. While the 'Deacon' was holding a revival at Mount Carmel, I attended to criticise him. I got some good points, and over I went to Uncle Jesse Baird's to have some fun out of him about his preacher. He and I used to have a round on Bible questions every few weeks. After we had discussed religion for some time, Uncle Jesse said : "Well, Dan, you don't think there is any good in religion at all.' I said : 'Well, I'll tell you, Uncle Jesse, I don't believe there is any hell, and I am very sure that everybody will be saved without religion, but to be frank with you, I will say that it may be a good thing for the preachers to preach hell-fire and keep the toughs all scared and afraid to commit crime for that seems necessary to keep them obedient to law. In this respect, the church is doing a good work, for if there were no churches anarchy and lawlessness would soon reign supreme in our land. Every reader of history knows that the most law-abiding countries are Christian lands, and that anarchy, revolution, lawlessness is a characteristic of countries that have not the Gospel. So far as experimental religion and future punishment is conccrnc(J, I do not believe in it.' Uncle Jesse said : 'Well, Dan, there is no use to argue with you from the Bible, for you say you do not believe it; now let us look at this matter from the standpoint of reason. Suppose, Dan, that you are right and we are wrong, we will be saved. Our religion will not cause us to be lost, will it ?' I said : 'No, it does you no harm, and, as I said, it may be a good thing for society, but not to save people from hell.' 'Well,' said Uncle Jesse, 'then you admit that if you are right and there should be no reality in religion, we are as well of! as you and none the worse by our religious belief and life. But suppose, Dan, that we are right and you are wrong, then you will be lost forever. Now will you not admit that it is safest to be a Christian ?'