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HOLLIS READ, A.M., Late MtMionary of the American Board to India; author of " Ood in History;" " The Palace of the Great King;" " Commerce and Christianity;" " The Coming Crisis of the Worltl;" " India and its People ;" etc. "Be iober, be TigUant ; because your adTeraary the Devil, as a roaring lion, walketk about, seeking whom he may devour."— 1 Pet. v. 8. " An enemy hath done this."— Jfot. ziiL 88. TORONTO : MACLEAR & CO., PUBLISHERS 1876. BDNTER, ROSK St CO., PRINTERS. crd wJ to thi ho thI see Dij vol PREFACE. In former treatises, which have been very kindly received by the reading public, the writt, ' endeavoured to illustrate the Power, Wisdom and Goodness of Qod as seen in his wonder-working Providence, and in his no less wonderful works of creation. The following pages are devoted to the great Antagonistic Power, that riots in the Apostacy — that reigns among the children of dis- obedience. We have seen how completely benevolence pervades all the works of the Divine hand — how all the works of creation — all the variations, uses and adaptations of these works, and all the ways of Providence, if left unperverted to work out their own legitimate ends, are instinct with the Goodness of God. We shall see, on the other hand, how a great opposing Power, by usurpation the god of this world, has been allowed to try his hand at the ma- nagement of the aJQTairs of this lower world. We have seen what God has done ; and from what he has done we may very safely infer that the end to be achieved by the Divine plans is one of infinite benevolence — that it in- volves the greatest amount of happiness to man, as well VI PREFACE. as the supreme glory of God. We shall now see what Satan, armed with power, and pervaded by the poison of sin, can do — what he is doing, and what, if not foiled, he will do. He has been the ceaseless systematic opposer of all good. His chief business has been to pervert the works, the providences and the grace of Qod. Malignity, misery, characterize the one system ; benevolence and in- finite happiness the other. And never perhaps could we more fittingly call atten- tion to the doings of the redoubtable Hero of our tale. Never was his Satanic Majesty more thoroughly roused to a desperate onset upon the sons of men. " The Devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because ho knoweth that he hath but a short time." Most unmis- takably do we trace his foot-prints in the events of the last few years — as the instigator of the Slaveholders' Rebellion ; as the prime and successful advocate, in the late (Ecumenical Council at Rome, of the Dogma of Papal Infallibility ; as chief leader in the late Commune Rebellion in Paris ; and more conspicuously yet as a true inspiration of the political corruption in New York. Never before did he come down with so " great wrath" — never were his acts more determined and daring. When in the history of our race were fraud, violence, earth- quakes, tempests, murders, intemperance, so rife in our world ? The prince and power of the air seems, as never before, let loose to devastate and destroy. The rightful Proprietor of this world no doubt permits the Adversary to exhibit the malignity and mischief and PREFACE. m final ruin of sin, that its infinite evil may be made known to the countless millions of the Universe throughout eter- nity. The vast resources of this world, its riches, hon- ours, learning, associated action and influence, manners, customs and fashion, political power, eloquence, poetry and song, are, within prescribed limits, put at his com- mand, that it may appear what wretched use he will make of them ; what misery' and degradation, what wickedness and destruction of all good and happiness, his rule can produce. These are all sources of power, and are designed to contribute most iniiuentially to the hap- piness of man and the honour of God. We shall see, at we proceed, what utter perversion the god of this world^ has made of all these elements of power and influence — how he has perverted every blessing of Heaven and made it a curse. The task proposed in the present treatise is to trace, within certain limits, the foot-prints of the great Enemy of aJ] good, that we may, by witnessing the handiwork of his malignity among the sons of men, perceive by way of contrast the strange benevolence of God, and be con- strained more and more to admire the goodness of that wonderful Being whose purposes are all formed in bene- volence, and all whose working is characterized by the same goodwill to man. A few topics will serve as an illustration of our thought. It will be sufficient to inquire what engines for evil and mischief, in the hands of sin and Satan, have been false religions; wealth; learning; the arts; science; what use 'VUl PREFACE. J I t tf^' has been made of governmental powers — of fraternities and associated actions — of men's amusements and recrea- tions; how he has but too often perverted and embittered the domestic relations — perverted the Press — scourged the race with intemperance, war, and by an endless va- riety of diseases, pestilence and famine, the sure conse- < quences of the apostacy as entailed on a suffering race. Indeed how he has opened on a defenceless race the real Pandora's box, and done all he could to extinguish the slast ray of hope and happiness in our sin-smitten world. We have largely explored that great antagonistic sys- tem of sin and mipery. which the great Adversary has set up in our world, and by which he has impiously confronted the rising empire of our Immanuel, contesting, step by step, every scheme of advancement ; and where he can- not ** rule," determined, by a wholesale perversion, to "ruin." The author takes pleasure in acknowledging his indebtedness to several eminent writers, and if credit is not always given, his apology is, "that as he has drawn from his copious notes in the preparation of this volume, he has often found himself unable to identify his authorities ; many of the notes being jottings made years ago, and often not credited to any particular source, and perhaps without quotation marks. They were noted down as mere Memoranda, without the inten- tion of retailing them in this manner through the Press. -temities d recrea- ibittered scourged disss va- re conse- ing race, the real juish the L world. Lstic sys- Y has set nfronted , step by \ he can- 'sion, to ing his credit is s drawn volume, tify his made irticuiar They e inten- e Press. CONTENTS. [For fall Index, see close of book.] PAOI' I. The Devil the God of this World.— Who is he ?— What is he ? — Hia mental^ moral, and physical powers 17 II. Magnitude and Mischief of Sin. — The cause of all human woe — Why it is permitted — ^What hath sin done 1 — Its effect upon divine and human government, and our rela- tion to God — ^MentsJly — Morally — SociaUy 40 ' III. The Levii in Bible Times.— Before the Deluge— In Old Testament times — He turns the nations of the earth to idolatry — In New Testament times — His corruption of the Church 56' IV. The Devil in the Early Christian Church.— Its persecu- tions and martyrs during Apostolic times and the Reforma- tion — Corruption and priestly usurpation 74 : V. The Devil in War. — The sacrifice of life in ancient and modem wars — Statistics of Christian nations— War debts of different nations 91.'. VI. War — ConUmi'ed. — Its untold evils — Modem wars — ^Their wholesale destruction — ^Demoralizing effects — ^The duty of Chriitians 116- y II. Intemperance. — A stronghold of the Devil — Its influence on labour, industry and morals — Its cost of money and life — Statistics from England, France and America 142 : VIII. Intemperance — Continued. — Its physical, mental, and moral effects upon the race — ^The. author of the saddest calamities on land and sea, and in the everyday walks of life 169^ CONTENTS. I ( piei IX. The Perversion of Intellect- — Mind the prime mover of all action and power — literature, science, history, music, and their sad perversions 183 X. The Perversion ofWealth. — Money a great power in the hands of Satan — Cost of sin, pride, ambition, luxury, ex- travagance, war, rum, tobacco, etc 203 XI. The Perversion of Wealth — Continued. — Modem extra- vagance — Expense of crime, amusements and false religions 228 XII. The Perversion of Wealth.— Cow/tm*ed.— Regal and aristocratic extravagance — Great estates — Temptations of • liches — Protestant extravagance and waste of wealth in matters of religion 247 XIII. The Perversion of the Press.— Periodical Press— Reli- gious Press — The Press catering to , frauds, corruption, licentiousness and infidelity — Romance, fiction, music and song 269 XIY. Satan in False Beli^ons.— Their origin, history and philosophy — Their relation to the one true religion 290 XV. False Religions — Continued. — Historic religion — Pro- gressive revelation-Christianity a religion for man 312 XVT. Modem Spurious Religions— Their practical tenden- cies and results — Influence on character, society and go- vernments 327 XVII. Popery the Great Counterfeit— Great truths which Rome has preserved, yet perverted — Resembling Paganism 342 .XYIII. False Beli^0T cies are all on the side of evil. For our popular notions of Satan we are mostly indebted to the fabulous theology of the Middle Ages, as embodied in the great poems of Milton and Dante. Yet of his exist- ence and direful doings and vast powers for mischief we are left in no doubt. He was created— was the workmaTiship of the Al- mighty hand. When he began to exist, we do not know. He belonged to a race known as angels, created somewhere far back in the endless ages of a past eternity, we know not where. He was one of, or rather he was the chief of, those angels which " kept not their first estate, bat left their own habitation and were reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." Peter declares that " God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell." And Isaiah, i i 26 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. perhaps in allusion to the same event, exclaims, *^ How art thou fallen from heaven, O Luciler, son of the morn- ing ! " Now these passages teach three things : First, the existence of wicked cmgels. They are prisoners " re- served in everlasting chains unto the judgment of the great day ; " and their present habitation is " hell " — "under darkness." Second, this was not always their condition. They were once in *' heaven," "their first * estate," and "their own habitation." The expression, ** their first estate," more properly is rendered their prin cipality, and refers to government or dominion rather than to residence. ** Their own habitation " seems to have been some abode peculiar to them ; and the two ex- pressions are supposed to indicate that these angels exer- cised dominion in some distant part of creation. Some planet, some great globe, some one of the " many man- sions " in our " Father's house " may have been their prmcipality — ** their own habitation," where they go- verned as subordinate rulers. This, indeed, seems to be God's method of government in our world. He rules by proxy. And, for aught ^7e know, this method may be observed in other spheres, and continued in the world to come. Perhaps this is intended when it is promised that ** we shall judge angels," " sit on thrones," and wear " crowns." But, once more, their fall was their sin. The expressions ** kept not their first estate," " left their own habitation," " fallen," and ** sinned" are all employed as equivalents. Once they were "Angels," now they are ** fallen." They voluntarily abandoned the heavenly abode to which they were assigned, or threw up the go- vernment with which they were intrusted ; and this was their sin. This, then, was the first apostasy, the begin- ning of uvil, the origin of " Satan and his Angels." There was a time, then, when there was no evil under the sun ; when no cry of agony went up to God ; when no foul spirit obtruded itself upon the \ision of Heaven. Lucifer had not fallen from his first estate then. When THE DEVIL THE GOD OF THIS WORLD. 27 did he fall ? When did his dark shadow first touch the glory of eternity ? When did his harsh voice first break upon the universal harmony ? Satan is older than man. When God spoke and obe- dient worlds leapt into being, when the maker lit the suns on high, Satan was. He saw this new-born world emerge from chaos ; and at that sight, an^el that he was, chief " son of the morning," perchance he led ** the morning stars " in their grand song. Old as he is, he had a begin- ning. God created him ; not as he is now, a devil. No : he was originally an angel ; and like every other angel, he came from the hands of his Maker a pure and holy be- ng. He worshipped the AJmighty, paid his vows, and ^joined the countless multitude about the throne in their serenade to Jehovah. But he fell from his high station. He sinned, [and lost his original purity. Of the angels that God made, some fell, and thereby became devils. There was a revolt in heaven, and Satan headed it. There was a secession, and Satan was the first to preach it. But it was a disastrous rebellion. All engaged in it were over- whelmed and cast down to • hell. When this important event occurred is not known on earth — how long after their creation, or how long before the melancholy meeting in Eden, has not been revealed.* When Adam sinned, sin was already in the world. He had a tempter. But not so Satan. He committed the first sin ; and that with no one to lure to trangression. Man was weak — of the earth, earthy. Satan was an angel in heaven, in the presence-chamber of the High and Holy One. Both were under law ; both on trial ; both free agents. Yet man was at a disadvantage, in being exposed to the wiles of one so superior to himself in power and intellect. The whole angelic race, an " innumerable company," * Lectures on Satan, by Rev. Thaddeus McRae,'to whom we acknow- ledg« obligation. THE POOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. ** thousand thousands^ and ten thousand times ten thou- sand," who ministered to the Ancient of Days, were on probation — free to sin, free to maintain their integrity. feut how could a holy angel ? What temptation could be strong enough to turn him from the presence of infi- nite Love, and from his seat among the blessed ? We may raise the question, but we cannot answer it. When sin was first conceived in the mind of Satan there was nothing in all the Universe to suggest it — there was no temptation, no occasion for it. Everything was in har- mony with holiness. The thought came from within; it originated in himself. But here all is chaos. An evil thought presupposes an evil mind. But his mind was holy then ; how could it conceive an unholy deed ? We cannot grasp the conception of a holy nature effecting an unholy thing ; arid how was that nature so transformed as to transgress, is what defies our understanding. An angel one moment, a devil the next — this is the Sphinx of history. The particular sin by which the apostate angels fell is supposed to have been pride. In the book of Job the angels are called " morning stars ;" and Isaiah calls the proud king of Babylon the same. Paul, also, in the text, speaks of pride as the condemnation of the Devil ; that is, he represents pride as the sin for which he was con- demned, and, therefore, by which he fell. Pride, then, is the first and oldest sin. Some suppose that Satan's pride was aroused by the appearance of our world in the society of heaven. He saw man's mysterious glory, and feared that his own would be eclipsed thereby ; and hence resolved on man's ruin. Milton, however, in his great epic, supposes that Satan's pride was excited by a decree of God that all the angels should worship the Son; and says that Satan ** could not bear that sight, and thought himself impaired." He then describes this proud epirit as stirring others up to war: THE DEVIL THE GOD OF THIS WORLD. 29 "Will ye submit your uecks and choose to bend The supple knee ? Ye will not, if I trust To know ye right, or if ye know yourselves Natives and sons of Heaven." A burden and disgust in heaven, they were expelled. That was no place for them. Ood cast tkem down to he^U. Tartarus is the original word. It is used in the Greek classics to signify " the lowest and darkest pit in the uni- verse." It is doubtless the "outer darkness," spoken of by Christ, and ** the bottomless pit " of the Apocalypse. Where it is I do not pretend to say. It may be in those regions of utter emptiness, the huge " void," or " vasty- deep," far away from sun, and star, and moon, and world, unpenetrated by light or eye of heaven — one wild wilder- ness of darkness and airless, viewless, endless night. In that abysmal sea " hell " may have a local habitation — " prepared for the devil and his angels ;" and there they are reserved in chains of darkness unto judgment. This does not mean that they are in close confiuement. They are bound over as criminals, have their limits, and await the extremity of their punishment. It is common to represent Satan as block, and the place of his abode as the " blackness of darkness for ever " — " in everlasting chains of darkness," expressions symboli- cal of the character, malignity, and misery of Satan and of his infernal hosts. White is the symbol of purity, holiness, joy. The saints in glory are " purified and made white ;" their " garments white as snow ;" " rai- ment white as the light." The author already quoted draws a befitting {portraiture of the blackness of Satan's character. Now, Satan is all blackness, and he is therefore all woe. I think this view is not usually prominent in our ideas of the devil. We regard him as the mighty fallen, majesty in ruin, something to be admired and feared. We leave out his awful grief, his wild despair. But let us re- member that, being the most wicked being in existence. 80 THE FOOT-PRINTS OP SATAN. it ^ he is therefore the most miserable. It is all night with him, but no rest. He has not lost his nature — his mind, his will, his desires, his sensibilities ; but these only serve as instruments of his torture. He wishes, but he never realizes ; he pursues, but he never wins ; he thirsts, but he never drinks. He is proud, but he knows that he is not esteemed. He is ambitious, but he knows he can never rise. He plots, but his schemes always return upon himself With dire hate he forges chains for the people of God, but ere long those chains are put upon his own limbs. The Almighty meets him in every snare, and doubles his confusion. His very struggles sink him deeper into lower depths. Mighty mourner! There is no respite to his torments. He is ever consuming, yet never consumed ; always dying, yet never dead. His chains are always on him. The tempest is perpetually raining fire and brimstone upon his pain-struck head ; while all of hell's troubled minions are unceasingly wailing harsh thunder in his ears. His very eyes weep blood, and every groan he heaves is big with horror. Blank and cheerless despair is all that is before him. He never smiles. Grim woe never relaxes its hold upon his brow. His only joy is that of the murderer who falls upon his victim, and, tearing out his heart, grates his teeth over its agony. He never sings. The only notes he can utter are imprecations against his Maker, curses upon his victims, and the maniac howl of remorse. And the only music he hears is the echo of his own hollow moans, the widow's sigh, the orphan's curse, the prisoner , groan, and the wild " shriek of tortured ghosts." And such he would be were there " no heaven for him to envy, no God to condemn him." Satan is the great deformity, possessing every abhor- rent attribute. He is superlatively wicked, and therefore superlatively hateful. And he is hated, he is abhorred, he is execrated God the Father hates him, God the*" Son hates him, God the Spirit hates him, the seraphim THE DEVIL THE GOD OF THIS WORLD. 31 hate him, the cherubim hate him, the angels hate him, the saints all hate him. He is the loathsome wretch that heaven has spewed out of its mouth. His Physical Powers. — But if we pass to the physical power of Satan we shall have no less occasion to note and deplore his fallen greatness. In power he was once an angel of the first magnitude. His apostasy did nothing to impair, but only to pervert his great power. He is now just as potent for mischief as he once was mighty for good. He is completely and hopelessly demoralized, but not weakened in either physical or mental power. Yet his bounds are set, which he cannot pass. " Thus far shalt thou come and no farther." He could not harm a hair of Job's head except by God's permission. The assaults on Peter were suffered for a time to test him. Satan was allowed to "sift him as wheat," that he might be the better prepared for his future mission. We have referred to the Devil's wonderful power of lo- comotion, how he travels with lightning speed from world- to world, "perhaps outstripping thought, certainly sur- passing the lightning's glance." Like Gabriel, who in a moment of time transported himself from a heavenly abode into the presence of Daniel, this mighty angel can secure a like ubiquity. And then his power to work. He can transform himself into any guise he chooses. He seems to have appeared to Jesus in the wilderness as an angel from heaven. And it is in such a disguise that he achieves some of his most notable victories. And, after the manner of unfallen angels, as in the case of the " man Gabriel " who appeared unto Daniel, and the an- gels who visited Abraham in the plain of Mamre, Satan is wont to appear, too, in the human form. Simply this power of transformation indicates a physical ability far transcending the limits of mere human powor. Again, Satan has power over ordinary matter which he fails not to use as the great enemy of man. We know how the good angels u^oosed the chains that bound 32 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. I Peter in prison, and rolled back the ponderous iron gates and set Peter &ee, spite human hatred and civil authority. Endowed with a like superhuman power, the great fallen angel does like mighty deeds. He has power over the elements. He caused the lightning to fall on the herds and flocks of Job, and raised a stof m in the wilderness that overthrew the elder brother's house, wherein per- ished all his sons and daughters. And the same Arch Demon instigated the Sabeans to come down* on Job's servants, who were attending his oxen ; and the Chalde- ans to fall upon the camels and slay the drivers. He brought fire from heaven to slay his shepherds, and a whirlwind that destroyed his children. Nor did he spare the person of the righteous patriarch. He was not only permitted to reduce him to poverty aud to bereave him of his dearest friends, but he afflicted his body with grievous sores so as to make him a loathing to himself and to all about him. And what shall we say of those throes and spasms of nature — ^those anomalies or aberrations, " creation groan- ing and travailing in pain " — 'vhich appear in the tempest, in the desolating storm, the tornado, the thunder-bolt, and the terrific earthquake and the volcano, if they be not the fearful utterances, the infernal demonstrations and acts of the " prince and power of the air," the old serpent in Eden, the spoiler of all beauty, peace, and happiness ; of him who changed Paradise into a pandemonium ? But for sin and the rule of Satan there would have been none of these disturbing elements, these devastating conflicts. " That black- winged tempest that comes up from the wil- derness, sweeping down the hills, piling up the forests and breaking the great oaks as if they were pipe-stems ; that frightful storm at sea, churning the waters into foam, ploughing the surface into ugly chasms, and throwing the mariner upon his knees to lift his prayer to the blackened heavens; that scorching simoom that sweeps over the plain, leaving the earth over which it travels a crisp and t ith )ses, mds. Pom 5US THE DEVIL THE GOD OP THIS WOELD. 38 gates ority. fallen 3r the herds lemess n per- 3 Arch 1 Job's ^halde- 3. He and a le spare Lot only avehhn [y with himself pasms of 1 groan- tempest, ider-bolt, they he tions and serpent ippiness ; m'i But een none conflicts, the wil- )rests and jms; that Lto foam, )wing the )lackened over the crisp and a cinder ; and that appalling plague that visits some great city, dragging its slain to the sepulchre by thousan£i ; — did not Satan preside at their birth, give them all their fury, direct their desolating track, and call them back like hell-hounds from the chase, only at the bidding of the Almighty ? And what means that wild alarm that seizes the sons of men when the hurricane presents its wrathful brow, when the earth rocks under foot, when the light- ning shoots along the sky, and when the awful thunder utters its voice ? Comes it not from the consciousness I that the fiend has slipped his chain, that the very spirit 1 of evil is abroad ? " Or recur we to the demoniac possessions in the days of lour Saviour, and what power had the Evil One over the [bodies of those possessed ! They were rent, torn, pros- trated with convulsions, cast into the fire or the water. 7hey " wandered among the tombs and desert places, cut- ting themselves and crying in the most dolefi:d manner." woman is bowed together, and can in no wise lift her- self up, whom Satan had bound, "lo ! these eighteen years." id to Paul was given " a thorn in the flesh, a messenger Satan to buffet him." And yet more daring than all, he lays his polluted |ands on the body of our blessed Redeemer. During the imptation the Devil took up Jesus and set him on a mnacle of the Temple. See this fiend soaring away ith the Saviour through the air, " like an eagle with his rey ; " then to an exceeding high mountain ; afterwards the cross. After suffering much from the Evil One during His Igrimage, at its conclusion, for the most gracious of pur- )ses, the Son of God was surrendered completely into his inds. "This is his hour and the power of darkness." ram the accursed kiss of Judas to the exit from the tomb, 3US was under the unrestrained power of Satan. There s not one act of mercy shown him through that whole Iriod. It was all undiluted cruelty. Some diabolical 34 THE FOOT-PRINTS OP SATAN. power was the presiding genius of the whole tragedy. That seizure, that trial, that mockery, that scourging, that nailing, that laughter, that exultation over the agony and death of the Saviour — what was it all but pandemo- nium turned loose for a season and holding high carnival about that cross ? Awful spectacle ! Behold the Son of God deserted by friends, forsaken by heav^i, hanging there as the object of the earth's relentless enmity, and the target of hell's damnable artillery. It is all over now ; Satan has done his worst — he has murdered the Lord's Christ. " When we see this malignant foe travelling through space with the rapidity of thought, putting on the dis- guise of an angel, breathing pestilence and plagufe upon whole districts, driving the tornado across seas and conti- nents, hurling frightful fireballs from heaven, and smiting the bones of men with disease, cutting the chords of life and hurling men into the abyss of eternity," we shudder at a power only second to omnipotence. And yet how much more audacious and Heaven-daring that assault on God's beloved Son ! That dark hour of the betrayal, of the arrest, of Peter's denial, of the cry of Crucify, crucify him, and of the last ignominious scene on Calvary — these the malicious triumphs of the Wicked One. Here wjs power. But it was the " power of darkness " — the " Spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience." His Deceptions. — That the Devil works wondrously is readily conceded. But can he work miracles? He does many things that confessedly surpass all human agency. What else are we to judge of the doings of the ■"wise men and sorcerers" of Egypt? They so nearly imitated the miracles of Moses and Aaron as to seem to do the very same things. If they were not miracles they were something that required a miracle to refute. If we call them delusions, how then shall we refute the sceptic when he claims the same thing for the wonders done by Moses and Aaron ? To the multitude that looked on, the t^t^f^L^-fn-^-Uy became living .erpent. a, l^i^ manner aa Moses haddlf A' .'"««i™ns did ^ serpents. Both wouldX.? ' *°^ *''«''• ''O'ta too be«iZ and gave the triumoh tn S;,*^ °* Heaven intenmspri serpent devour thS^ of thJ '"^?"' ''^ ""akinglS^'? ness, the devil wL^^ti S^""^ ^ » t^^e ^Z superhuman. ^°'"^ *^ ««"•'='«« a power alto^ther All along the line of revelation „ the^thii^X tt'gSa^t % '9- d^Sj tti;s'islhr!ta^^° -^ "^^^^^^^ of\:^rl a^<^theinp^t^-^bat tL &,, ^^-t , ««em«| to expect the Sd rf a wC ''"^"'^y '" ^^Ct Ky power of tDr^'''-^.^ "tl^ "^ *1s e.t«ordi te^if f ophets, a^d shall'^Ctf r^ ^*« Ch^ laers In describing the ot«* fx ^^' ^^gns and won An/^ those TOirocfe* which hp htT *'"'* '*''«1 o" the And may we not here Jrithr,^ ^^ P°^ei' to do." ^^'' Pn^thood rflTwl-"* ''''^Pl«- concede to the ^1«^? We yield t^Xter^^^ ^''^r of-«W Antagonism ofX t^^e tm '""'F^^ ZZy^Z Adversary has follo^ u'^fc. V whio£ our^^eat K.7 the earliest PaSrdfs to *^* °^ '*^ develop^ Kg<«Pelgn.e,iie„«,j,'^^ ^pr^nt dispeS^ I . ^^®^3^ aggression of the M THB FOOT-PRINTS OP SATAN. Truth, provided its tactics and accommodated its schemes of attack and defence to the times, to the state of the na- tions, and to the manners, customs, habits, progress and civilization of the world. And if this be, as intimated, the " master -piece" of the great Apoliyon, we need not wonder that ne has engaged in its support his mightiest powers. Accordingly, the Romish clergy claim the power to work miracles. We do not deny it. It is in full accord with the descriptions we have of the Man of Sin. The three " unclean spirits" that went out of the mouth of the Dragons, and out of the mouth of the Beast, and out of the mouth of the false Propbe^ are said to be the " spirits of devils," " working miracles. We take the Beast here to represent papal Rome, and the false Prophet (or High Priest) to represent the same after being divorced from the temporal power. The Pope, in ceasing to be king, is not less ^he Prophet and High Priest of the Pa- pacy, and as such may be expected to work miracles. And as the end approaches, and this last stronghold of the Devil is assailed, and totters to its fall, we need not be surprised to hear of popish miracles revived. For when, if not now, when our Great Emmanuel is riding forth to final victory, conquering and to conquer, should our Arch Foe put forth his great strength ? — though the order of the day, at the present writing, seems rather to be Jesuit- ical craft, insidious infidelity, claiming to be an advance on Christianity, and the "deceivableness of unrighteous- ness." His Delusions. — And we mistake, if our great Enemy has not a darling interest in modem spiritualism, mes- merism, table-movings, and mysterious writings and rappings. We are not disposed to question that things are done and said, messages brought and revelations made, which transcend all ordinary, if not all possible human agency. But by whose agency are these things done ? THE ROMISH PRIESTHOOD AND MIRACLES. 37 The character of the phenomena in Question, the agents and the results, are the safest criteria by which to decide whence they are. Who do these things, and what do they do ? What bearing have they on Divine Revela- tion ? — what truth do they inculcate or confirm, or what sin rebuke ? — what reform favor ? — what benevolent or philanthropic purpose has ever been subserved ? After making all due allowance for magnetic phenomena, pul- sations of electric currents, spasms of electricity, and the many unused, and, to the mass of men, the yet hidden and unappropriated agencies of nature, we have not hesi- tated to concede that wonders may be wrought which can be accounted for on no such principles, which exceed all possible human agency, or the action of natural forces — superhuman, miraculous, if you please. They are the work of Spirits. But of what spirits ? Here we are, no- lens volens, thrown back on the old-fashioned criterion, " The tree is known by its fruits." What good has yet come from the exercise of these unwonted powers ? " On the other hand, it has disturbed the peace of many a home, broken many a heart, and driven many a victim to the mad-house. Under its spell many a poor sinner has lost the anchor of his hope, found himself riding on a wild sea, 'driven about by every wind of doctrine, and has been finally wrecked for ever. It is notorious that spiritualists lose their reverence for God's Word and the house of worship. To them the raps about the house are superior to the voice of the Saviour, the unintelligible scribbling of a medium is superior to the Word written by inspira- tion, and communion with a table better than the fellow- ship of the Holy Spirit. Let the thought enter your mind that spiritualism is true, and a crevasse will open upon your soul that may bear you down to perdition. Cotton Ma- ther records of himself, during his connection with witch- cra,ft, that he was * tempted to atheism, and to regard all religion as false.' And so it ever is. It is hard to handle fire and not be burned. Let such foundlings alone. Give 88 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. lii them time, and they will destroy themselves. A thousand such meteors have blazed alone the pathway of our pilgri- mage, and have gone out in darkness ; but the Sun still shines as he shone thousands of years ago." We do not despair that these great powers, now so per- verted and subsidised in the service of the wicked one, snail yet be rescued from the hands of the Usurper and restor- ed to the rightful owner. We lack no assurance that " all things" — all powers, all resources, all influences and agen- cies, shall '* work together for good to them that love God" — shall contribute and contribute only to the peace, the purity, the progress and final blessedness of the race. There is to be a " restitution of all things ; " not of the moral man only, and all that pertains to and favors his intellectual and moral improvement, his present happiness and his unending felicity, but of the physical man, and all that pertains to him as an earthly being, and in this his earthly home. All the resources and agencies of na- ture shall subserve his highest physical well-being. The earth shall be fertilized, beautified, and made a fit and happy residence of a renovated and happy race. It shall become a paradise. The creation shall no longer groan and travail in pain. No barrenness, no desoi c, no deform- ity shall mar the beauty or detract from the fertility of the new-bom earth. The throes of the tempest, thft tornado, the earthquake and the volcano shall be felt no more. But whence this stupendous transformation 'i Has some mighty angel come down and wrought such an amazing renovation ? No ; nothing of the kind. It is only the withdrawal of the disturbing, desolating, cor- rupting, demoralizing forces of sin and Satan. The Prince of the power of -the air, the God of this world, is simply divested of his power, bound in chains and cast out. The Paradise you now see is but the earth healed of her wounds, bruises, and putrefying sores, by the simple re- cuperating force with which nature is endowed. 'Lacerate SIN BANISHED AND THE EARTH A PARADISE. 39 your body, torture your flesh as you will, the moment you withdraw the causes of the infliction, the recuperative forces at once set themselves at work to repair the mis- chief ; and, if not hindered, soundness will mevitably be restored. So this earth and all that pertains to the natural world were smitten with the corroding woimds of sin. " Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe." And for ages the deadly wound has festered and corroded till the whole head is sick and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it ; but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. But what is the remedy ? Simply to remove the cause ; and the great diseased, putrefied body of nature will re- store itself. Sin and all its ruin once banished, and he that hath the power of sin cast out, and the earth and all that is earthly would revert back to its primeval condi- tion, as it was left by the hand of creative Power when he pronounced all to be " good." ■T. I' \^ l\ 4 I II. '*'i^ i . V, Sf i hi THE MAGNITUDE AND MISCHIEF OF SIN. WHY SIN IS PERMITTED — ^THE CUNNINa AND CRAFTINESS OF SATAN — SIN THE CAUSE OF ALL HUMAN WOE— WHAT HATH SIN DONE ? — SIN AS EXHIBITING THE POWER OF SATAN — SIN AS AFFECTING DIVINE GOVERNMENT — HUMAN GOVERNMENT — SIN AS AFFECTING OUR RELATION TO GOD — ^MENTALLY — ^MORAXLY — SOCIALLY — SIN ENTAILED UP- ON THE HUMAN FAJIILY — SIN CHARGED WITH ALL EXIST- ING EVIL. V . It would seem befitting, at this preliminary stage of our discussion, to take at least a cursory view or the magnitude and mischief of sin. If we could comprehend how great an evil sin is, we could form some just estimate of the real power cf the Wicked One. If his power lies in sin, then we can only comprehend how great an Enemy the Devil is by our knowledge of the evil of sin. But before entering upon the discussion proposed, we may indulge in two general remarks which may serve to re- lieve certain difficulties that sometimes arise on this subject ; the first furnishing a reply to the queiy why sin is permitted to exist at all, and the other furnishing some plausible hint as to the peculiar cunning and craftiness of the Devil in so adapting the forms of sin to times and circumstances as to make his wiles doubly dangerous. Why Sin is Permitted. — ^The design of God seems to be FIRST SEE WHAT SIN CAN DO. 41 to allow sin to have its perfect work — ^to let it be seen first what it can do, that its evil may be developed and made manifest to the universe, in all the length and breadth, and height and depth of its unutterable evil Hence God first permitii the perversion of all things. He allows Satan to show what he can do first ; and then the rightful Owner comes in and shows to the universe how much higher, nobler, holier purposes he can achieve by the same means. The Press, for example, God allows to be perverted, that it may be seen what the Enemy can do with this mighty agency. And so of wealth and intellect, position and influence. They are mighty agen- cies for good ; yet as perverted they are as stupendous agencies for evil. Their history is little else than a history of their perversion. And human govemmentSy what stupendous agencies for good are they! Yet, in the administration of political power, how little a portion has, heretofore, been on the sidd of virtue and freedom, CO say nothing of a true religion ? They have done little else than to favour despotism, fraud, and oppression. First, it is allowed to be seen what sin can do through these mighty engines of power; and then shall it be made to appear what mighty auxiliaries human govern- ments may become to the progress of joy and peace, of truth and righteousness in the earth. And so with the arts and sciences, and all the facilities for human com- fort and advancement. They are as potent for evil as they are capable of being, and eventually shall be, for good. God works for the universe and for eternity. The triumph of sin is but for a moment ; the reign of right- eousness is eternal. Hence the more conspicuo'is and baneful the temporary reign of the Usurper, the more distinguished and glorious, by way of contrast, the eternal reign of the one great Creator and Proprietor. And eter- nal will be the aspirations of praise, power, and glory tq the great Three in One. t ' I 42 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. The Cv/iining and Craftiness of the Devil. — Any system of falsehood or wickedness, in order to success among men, must have commingled with it more or less of truth. It must be adapted to the times, to existing re- forms, to the taste and fashion of the age, tc the progress of the arts and sciences, philosophy and civilization ; to the progress of truth and of the true Religion. A system or practice that might have served the Devil's purposes most effectually in one age and state of progress and of society, would be quite too gross for another age and condition of the world. We may expect, therefore, that the perverted wisdom of the Arch Fiend has not over- looked the great doctrine of adaptation. We shall find that in every age Satan has craftily had regard to what the world could bear — though sometimes he has over- tasked his subjects, and they have rebelled and thrown off his yoke. We shall see as we proceed how much the world has consented to bear as the bond-slave of the Devil. It will suffice at this point that we take a general sur- vey of our subject. We shall see how our Arch Foe, the great antagonistic power, aims at a wholesale perversion, a vile monopoly, in ail human affairs — in all conditions of humanity. Sin the Cause of all Human Woe. — But for sin man had been happy, the earth been unscathed by the dire desolations that now cover it ; and the animal creation been spared the bondage of corruption to which it is now subjected. But sin has enteied our world, and defaced the beauty and marred the happiness of all things. Man has felt it. The earth has felt it. The whole inanimate world has felt it. Every living thing has felt it. The whole creation — everything that pertains to the world, " groaneth and travaileth in pain together." What hath Sin done ? — Our inquiry relates to the mag- nitude and mischief of sin. The picture must be incom- plete. It would be impossible, in any range the human THE EVIL OF SIN INCOMPREHENSIBLE. «3 intellect can take> to gauge the dimensions of the evil that must follow the violation of the divine law, or depict a thousandth paH of the woe that sin has entailed on the family of man. But the creature of yesterday, man knows but little of either the beginning or the end of a thing. Seeing but a little portion of a system even while it is in progress before nim he often calls good evil, and evil good. He sees there are great evils in the exist- ence of sin; but how great and how far-reaching he cannot comprehend. As far as he feels these evils, or aees them acting about him; or as far as his limited mental telescope can scan the effects of sin in relation to the jJivine Government or man's final destiny, he may have many correct and appalling ideas of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, yet be far, very far from being able to return a full answer to the inquiry. Nay, not the wisest, highest, holiest angel in heaven can so comprehend the consequences of the apostasy, both in relation to God and his government, and man and his destiny, both in time and eternity, as to return a full and satisfactory response to the question. What hath sin done t We shall not attempt a task from which the wisest of men and the highest among angels have recoiled. Yet we may say some things — may say much — ^may say what ought to make us weep over the desolations of sin as we view its ravagc3 on things about us, and give as an utter abhorrence of it as being the abominable thing that God hates. The Magnitude and Mischief of 8vn in its Relation to the Divine Oovernment — Sin is defined to be a trans- gression of the divine law. But here again our idea of the magnitude of the evil of sin is graduated by our ap- preciation of the value am^d Importance of this law. For the guilt of violation depends on the character of the law, the object at which it aims, and the character and design of the Lawgiver. The law of God is, like its Author, perfect. It is an 44 THE FOOT-PRIITTS OF SATIN. expression of God's will towards man, and a declaration of man's duty to God. It is not the basis of our duty — that lies further back in our relationship to God and to our fellow-men. He is our Father, and we are in virtue of this relation bound to love and serve him. We are his by creation and preservation, and we are, on account of this relation, under obligations which no power can abro- gate, to yield humble obedience and sincere worship. The whole human family are our l. ethren, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, and wo are again on this account bound to a mutual love. Here is the foundation of that branch of the law which enjoins our duty to our fellow- mortals — " Love thy neighbour as thyself." In like man- ner we have the basis of the branch of law which regu- lates our conduct towards God, in the command, " Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." "We may regard the law, then, rather as an expression or declaration of duties which have their foundation in the very nature of things — in our relations to our God and to one another. There is nothing arbitrary, nothing unreasonable, in the Divine law — nothing that could be otherwise, without palpable injustice. And not ony does the law protect the rights of God and man, but it secures man s best interests. Holy, just, and good, it contemplates the holi- ness of it" subjects ; secures the rights of God over his creatures, and the rights of man to man. And it is good, benevolent in all its designs, and fitted to secure to man the greatest good, and to God the greatest glory. Sin is a \ iolafcion of the rights of God to be honoured, and of man to be blessed. It does violence to neaven and earth. It would strip the crown from the head of the So- vereign of the Universe, and cover man with shame and eternal ruin. Nor would the mischief and ruin of sin stop here. The divine law is not limited to the government of a few millions, or hundreds of millions of mortals. It is the law gi the universe ; the law of heaven ; the standard by THE DIVINE LAW THE LAW OP TBE UNIVERSE. 45 which actions are weighed, and motives and thoiights judged throughout God's universal dominions. It is the law of God, a righteous, holy, and altogether beneficent Being — a law which, if sustained, secures God's glory and the highest good of the universe ; if suffered to be violated with impunity, God is dishonoured, and all his creatures left with no security for their future well- being. ' Sin is then an attempt to destroy the empire of God, and blast for ever the happiness of all his rational creatures. Nor does it matter here that the puny arm of man cannot reach the eternal throne. This is its na- ture and tendency. It would do all this but for the inter- posing arm of Omnipotence. In view, then, of what sin would do if not restrained — ^in view of what sin has done in breaking up our happy relationship with our God, and severing the ties of brotherhood to our fellow-men, we may exclaim with lamentation and woe, what hath sin done! , Sin as Affecting Human Oovernments. — ^We might limit the inquiry for a moment to human governments. What has sin done here ? Who shall allow to pass before him the dread panorama of human despotisms — of civil corruption, frauds and oppressions — of nations abased and trodden down by the relentless heel of tyranny, and not discover the unmistakable foot-prints of man's arch enemy ? Civil government is a tremendous power either for good or for evil. Vain are our hopes of seeing the world essen- tially reformed, much less of seeing it brought under the power of a living Christianity, while governments ar'l civil rulers are arrayed in opposition. Essential and effective as individual piety is to the world's renovation, this is shorn of its great strength, and in a degree neutralized and made impotent by bad governments and corrupt rulers. When the wicked bear rule the people mourn. The wicked walk on every side when the vilest ! I I n ! i I I ! !1 46 THE FOOT-PMNTS OF SATAN. men are exalted. Fraud, corruption, oppression, Sab- bath desecration, immorality of every name and grade, irreligion and infidelity, all in sure and fearful succession, spread their blfght over a people as the inevitable result of a bad government. As often as a good king arose in Israel, and a good government followed, religion pros- pered and every good thing blessed the nation ; while as surely, on the return of a wicked ruler, and a corrupt government, the wicked rose on every side, and demoral- ization discord, and misery followed. Once ensconced in the chair of state, the Devil's power is supreme. It now becomes the confederated power of money, talent, patron- age, position and civil authority. Suoh power has our Adversary had during the entire reign of the apostacy. And such power does he still wield, almost unchallenged among the nations of the earth. To dislodge him here will be the last great consummating act of a triumphant Christianity. Or, again, Sin as Affecting our Relation to Ood. — Taking a wider range we may put the thought thus : How has the intro- duction of sin affected our relation to Ood ? What has the Devil done here ? When n i was innocent God was his friend. But sin put enmioy between God and his creature, man. It has alienated man from his Creator. It has interrupted the free current of the golden stream of benevolence between heaven and earth. God is still love — ^as infinite in benevolence as he ever was. Yet by sin man has turned his back on his God. He has said, " Depart from us, for we desire not a knowledge of thy ways." God is our father ; but we have made ourselves rebellious, prodigal, abandoned children. Sin has inter- vened between us and our God. The separation, in our presenb probationary state, is temporary and partial. But it k a the nature of sin to produce a complete and final separation — a continual provocation that God would withdraw his fatherly love from his ungrateful child ; and it is sure to incur this awful end as soon as the present HOW SIN HAS ALIENATED MAN PROM HIS OOD. 47 probationary state shall end. The moment the prodigal son turns his back on his Father he cuts himself off from the privileges and prerogatives of his Father's house. But if he perseveres in his alienation he for ever forfeits his Father's favour. Cut off from him, and what are we then ? As poor, as miserable, as forlorn and wretched as it is possible for guilty creatures in hell to be. What a fearful onset then has sin made on our relations to our God! But this thought will be further illustrated if we con- sider more at large the Devil's agency in the history of our world. This will appear fi^t by contrast. There was a time when sin was not in the world. Man was innocent and happy, and the world unharmed and un- moved by sin. But the fatal deed was done, and what a change ! Innocent man became guilty ; happy man, mis- erable. The seeds of every moral disease tooJc root, soon to vegetate and bring forth the poisonous fruits. The earth was filled with violence. Envy, hate and murder, ambition, pride and covetousness, sprang up in the now polluted soil, and developed themselves in all their vile luxuriance. Everything, as it came from the hand of God, was "good." Nothing wanting to make a virtuous species happy ; nothing that in its remotest tendencies should not conduce to the unalloyed happiness of all who should be bound in allegiance with t^eir God. All was good. In the constitution of the physical world, all was adapted to make man holy and happy. Everything is so con- structed as to make man the constant recipient of the Divine favour, teaching him, on the one hand, his depend- ence, and on the other, presenting fresh motives every moment why he should love and serve the Author of all good. Everything is good if not perverted and abused. Tlie five senses were not made to be organs of pain or misery. They often become such ; but the purposes for which 1^ I i v. 48 THE rOOT-PBINTS OF SATAN. they were made are altogether benevolent. Nerves were not made to vibrate with pain, but to communicate joy to the gladdened soul. Hands were not made to fight and destroy, but to do and communicate good. The design was that they should minister to some wise and benevolent end ; and they are in their conformation ob- viously better adapted to selve a good purpose than a bad one. And who would assert that the eye is more suited to behold deformity than beauty ? or the ear better adapted to discord than harmony? or the hands or the feet designed rather for mischief than good ? And so man's mental constitution — all was constructed right. All here too was " good." There is not a single faculty, desire or susceptibility of the mind, which, if rightly emploj^ed, would not conduce to the well-being of man. Take reason, judgment, imagination, or love of happiness, or desire of excellence, (called when perverted, ambition, as the love of happiness is called self-love, or sheer selfishness,) and you will see enough in their origi- nals to indicate the benevolent purpose for which they were given. Sadly as they are perverted now, they were, as the workmanship of infinite Beneficence, altogether good. The same may be said of the moral construction of man. He was made altogether capable of loving and honouring his Creator. Every passion, every afiection is, when not perverted, just what it should be to secure the greatest happiness of man and the honour of God. There is no need of the creation of a single new faculty or de- sire, but only to give a new direction to those already existing. If then the world and all tht -eia, and man and all that pertains to him, were made n: '""ally upright — jus^ as it should be in order to secure the gxeatest hap- piness of man — whence then the present state of the world, and the present condition of man ? Whence the thorn and the brier ? Whence the violence that covers the earth; the wars that spread such devastation and ALL THINGS GOOD IN THEMSELVES. 49 es were 3ate joy- to figbt .d. The nse and ,tioii ob- lan a bad re suited i,r better Is or the nstructed , a single which, if veil-being )r love of perverted, If-love, or Leir origfi- hich they ,hey were, altogether .Action of bving and bection is, tecure the Id. There Ity or de- le already and man upright itest hap- ie of the lence the lat covers Bk,tion and death over the habitations of man, and the perversion of almost everything from a good to a bad use ? God hath caused the earth to bring forth ; to supply the wants and to minister to the comfort of man. But how are these bounties perverted, and made to minister only to hurtful lusts, and to become instruments of destruction to man! For example, the earth brings forth grain for the food of man. Bread is the staff of life — ^the sustenance of by far the greater portion of the human family. It is a natural production of the earth, and when used in its natural state, it is altogether good. But how dilferent when per- verted and abused ! Instead of bread it becomes an i i/ntoxicating drink — and what then ? No longer the staff of life, it has become the rod of oppression and of death. [And who can measure the poverty, the misery of this one )etyersion ? If sin had done no more, what has it done lero ? Measure, if you can, the tears it has caused to be shed ; the poverty and degradation it has produced ; the idows and orphans it has made ; the generous hopes it las blasted; the virtuous affections blighted; the noble Ltellects ruined ; the tender ties severed ; health ruined ; )uls destroyed. All this is simply the work of sin. The rorld is good ; the things of the world, good ; the enjoy- ment of them, proper and good. But the perversion — 3re lies the sin. And what has not been perverted ? Bodily organs, Rental faculties, moral powers, how have they all been led out of their legitimate use and prostituted to evil ! le judgment is perverted ; reason abused. The imagi- tion sent forth on the wings of the wind to revel a,jaidst rbidden objects, and the affections estranged and fixed objects unworthy and degrading. What, then, has sin ^t done ? Its withering desolations are spread about us ' every side. Yea, they are within us. Nothing has iped the blight and mildew of the curse. Man and „st, and every created thing, animate or inanimate, are Terers from sin. Man suffers from his fellows, suffers 4 50 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. from his own hands ; the victim of his own passions ; the author of his own ruin. And how often are the brute creation the helpless victims of man's cruelty and oppres- sion. But we cannot gauge the magnitude of the evil of sin. Its poisonous streams have gone out unto the ends of the earth. Nothing has escaped the contagion. But we re- turn to a more restricted view of our subject, and con- sider — Sin as affecting our Social Relations. — The magni- tude and mischief of sin in its relation to man as a social being, has not only alienated man from his God, but it has estranged man from his fellow- man. It has filled the heart with pride and ambition, envy and distrust. It has kindled in the human breast an unhallowed fire. It has set man against man, friend against friend, brother against brother, and — must we say it ? — Christian against Chris- tian. It has loosed the tongue of slander, and filled society with backbitings, jealousies, heartburnings, hatred and strife. What a world of evils — a Pandora's box un- sealed — the world set on fire by that little member. So mischievous a thing is the tongue, that an inspired one says : " He that offendeth not with the tongue, the same is a perfect man." But the tongue was not made for slander and mischief Its design is most benevolent and wise. But for the organs of articulation, we should be little removed from the brute. But its perversion, how sad, how universal ! An enemy hath, done this. Again, it is sin that has destroyed confidence between man and man. How is it that we must virtually suspect a man till we have, either by an acquaintance or otherwise, gained testimonials that he is an honest man ? Whence our distrust, if it be not that sin has so polluted the very fountain of moral principle that we are obliged to assume that the streams are polluted ? W^e have by our general experience so often seen what is in man, that we assume as the rule that man is bad. and then wait to learn by SIN IN OUR SOCIAL RELATIONS. 51 ons; the he brute I oppres- il of sin. ds of the it we re- and con- le magni- \A a social but it has filled the St. It has e. It has ler against mst Chris- and filled .igs, hatred I's box un- imher. So Lspired one the same made for olent and should be Irsion, how experience and further acquaintance what are the excep- tions to this general rule, i.e., whom may we receive to our confidence. In law, every man is regarded as inno- cent till proved guilty. But in our social economy we are obliged to reverse this order. And why ? Why not receive the stranger on the broad ground that he is a man, your brother, and worthy of your undoubting confidence ? Why wait to know whether you can confide in him who is bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh ? If sin had done no more, what mischief originated from this one fact, the want of confidence. In our distrust we may not recognize the great principle of brotherhood in the family of man. It is said of the Bedouin Arabs, those wandering tribes that traverse the deserts of Arabia, that they admit every stranger to their hospitality on the ground that he is a man, and thereby a brother. They neither know nor wish to know anything further of him till they have dis- charged the common rites and duties of hospitality, which they do on the score of relationship. This they will do irrespective of moral character. Acting on this principle we always should, but for the fatal distrust of sin. But here they are obliged to stop, and act on the same prin- ciples of distrust as other men do. Sin Entailed upon the Human Family. — But sin is more than a general or a social evil. It has an individu- ality, entailed, in the direful curse, on e very son and daughter of Adam. It has despoiled man of his innocence, sunk him in ignorance, degraded his nature, and blighted his happiness. ** It has multiplied our cares, originated our sorrows, awakened our apprehensions, and let loose upon us the fury of evil passions." It has filled the heart with discontent, the mind with uncertainty, and thfi body with pains. Does man sigh '? — is his soul made sick by the withering stroke of afliiction ? — do his tears flow? — is he now bending over the death-couch of some beloved one ? Ah ! it is sin that ha^ oepned these avenues of woe I I H I, M?1: M i, dS THE FOOT-PRINTS OP SATAN. and made man to mourn. But for this fell destroyer man would have always been happy. He would always live in the sunshine of God's countenance, and sorrow and sighing he would never know. Now he groans, being burdened ; now he looked for good and beheld evil ; now he lives all his life long subject to bondage through the fear of death. What a grievous thing, then, is sin ! It has closed the issues of life ; it has opened the avenues of death ; it has nerved the arm of rebellion against the eternal throne ; it has shut out the light of heaven, and turned away the smile of the Divine complacency from our dark and wretched world. In Eden it filled the happiest of mortals with shame and remorse, and entailed on the race the bitter fruits of death ; it made a brother a murderer; it filled the earth with pollution and crime, till indignant Heaven drowned the old world with a flood of waters. Again, sin provoked the Almighty wrath on the cities of the Plains. The fiery iiidignation of Jehovah consumed them from the face of the earth. Wars, famines, pes- tilences and plagues sweep over the length and breadth of the earth, and cover it with tears and anguish. These are thy ravages, O sin ! And again, see what sin has done in the introduction and establishment of False Religions, especially of Idola- try. But we reserve this topic for a future chapter. Sin Ofiarged with all Existing Evil. — In all its work- ing it has worked evil and only evil continually. It has ruined our world ; it has despoiled it of its beauty, shorn it of its glory, and covered it with natural and moral defor- mity ; it has spoiled man — made him a prey of every evil propensity and every corrupt passion. It is the au- thor of every discord that disturbs the peaceful flow of life ; of every tear that falls ; of every disappointment, loss or bereavement we suiFer ; of every pain we feel. How grievous, hateful, ruinous ! If it be the mother of all evil, it must be the abominable thing which God hates. SIN THE FOUNTAIN OF ALL EVIL. 53 For, as the Controller of all events, if he thus make the fruits of sin bitter and grievous, if he make the way of the transgressor hard, we may be sure that sin is the thing his soul hateth, and that it will be followed by his indignation and wrath ; and if not repented of and for- saken, with his eternal disDleasure. We have charged, all evil on sin. We now charge all sin on the Devil. He decoyed our first parents into trans- gression, and is thus the author of all the calamities which nave befallen our hapless race. In our bill of indictment against his Satanic Majesty, we charge upon him all the oppression ; all the fraud and corruption ; all the licentiousnes ; and intemperance ; all the wars and their untold desolations ; all tke natural evils that afflict a suffering race ; all social, civil and do- mestic evils that changed our world from a Paradise to a pandemonium ; all the perversions of money, time, talent, influence, custom, fashion, and indeed all that makes our world differ from that beautiful, pure, holy, happy world where first dwelt the happy pair, basking in the sunshine of Heaven's smiles, fit companions of angels, and in de- lightful fellowship with God. But shall not these halycon days return, when the Usurper, as god of this world, shall be bound in everlasting chains and cast out for ever 1 Then shall the earth be transformed, and reassume its primeval beauty as it came from the hand of its crea- tor ; then shall man be reinstated in the image of his God, and righteousness, and peace, and heavenly felicity shall for ever dwell in the abodes of men. The Son of God came into the world that he might destroy the works of the Devil. The triumph of our blessed Redeemer on the earth will be the final overthrow of SataQ and the complete annihilation of sin. Every advance in our world of a genuine Christianity, every Bible translated, circulated and piously read; every Christian school established ; every gospel sermon preach- ed ; every Christian principle, grace or virtue inculcated, H] 54 TKifi FOOT-PBINTS OF SATAN. is SO much done toward the undennining and the final abolishing the empire of him who has the power of sin. Give the gospel free course and let it be glorified in the accomplishment of the work for which it was sent, and sin shall cease t^ have dominion, and the prince of the power of the air shall no longer be served as the god of this world, but shall be cast out for ever. III. TBE DEVIL IN BIBLE TIMES. THE DEVIL BEFORE THE DELUGE — IN OLD TESTAMENT TIMES — HE TDRNS THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH TO IDOLATRY — ^THE DEVIL IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES — HIS CORRUPTION OF THE CHURCH — PAPAL APOSTASY. But let us pass from what the Devil is to what he obies, and we shall see little occasion to change our estimate of his real character, or of the relations he holds to the sons of men. . The merest glance at the doings of the Devil, as detailed in the history of the world, indicates the control- ling position he holds in the affairs of man. He began in the family of Adam. And "how earth has felt the wound," the direful history sin doth but too sadly tell. K w(. could measure all the sighs and groans and tears — all the sorrows and woes that sin has inflicted on a suf- fering race — all the perversion of talent, time, influence, wealth, fashion, custom — all the wastes and woes of in- temperance and war — all that comes of murders, arsons, robberies, and crime of every name — if we could fathom the depth, and measure the height and length and breadth of all the evil sin has done in our world, we should begin oo comprehend something of the woful his- tory of him who has the power of sin. I ii!! I i' ili'l 56 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. 2he Devil before the Deluge. — He had power in the ante-diluvial world to alienate an entire race from God. His usurpation and deadly despotism had become almost complete. " God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." The destruction of the world by a flood was God's vindication of hia right to govern the world. Yet how soon did the Arch Enemy again seduce man, and again overwhelm the world in all the misery and degradfttioh of sin ! He built Babel in defiance of Heaven, as the first great «nQ the long-standinff memorial of the apostasy. He soon turned the nations from God unto idok. They that " knew God." no longer " glorified him as God, but changed the glory of the mcorruptible God into an image made like to cor- ruptible man ;" and soon idolatry and the reign of Satan again covered the earth. Few were the "elect" who bowed not the knee to Baal. The Devil in Old Testament Ti/mes — When God had chosen from among the apostate nations a people that should serve him — a people whom he would make a mo- del nation, and a moael church ; when they were as yet no people — were but a few in the family of Jacob — how eai'ly was the bitter hostility and the burning jealousy of the Great Adversary aroused to thwart the incipient purposes of the Almighty. And behold the power (not irresistible, but persuasive) of the crafty, far-seemg, mighty Foe. A famine drives the chosen ones into Egypt. And worse than a famine do the wiles of the Wicked One in- stigate the Egyptians to inflict on the seed of Jacob. It is more than two centuries of hard ' ondage. And when Moses was raised up, that by " mighty works" — ^by mira- cles — he should deliver them, how is he at every stepc on- fronted, as we have seen, by the Prince of Darkness, who also had power to work miracles, and, if possible, to de- ceive the very elect. As Aaron cast down his rod it be- came a serpent. So did the Magicians and the Sorcerers, THE DEVIL IN OLDIHN TIMES. 57 and the same wonders followed. Yet the greater power was with Aaron. For " Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods." The ten Plagues followed. The first two the Magicians, endowed with Satanic power, successfully imi- tated. They brought up frogs upon the land and turned the waters into blood. And with the same wicked persistence did the Enemy pursue the hosts of Israel through the wilderness, throwing every obstruction in their way ; making them a prey to their enemies, and seducing them into idolatry. And when they had become a nation and a church in the pro- mised land, how did he pervert their Kings and corrupt their rulers, and thus provoke the Most High to inflict his judgments upon them ? And again, with a like wicked persistence has he followed the Church in every age since ; the unrelenting foe of everything good ; the abettor and active, malignant agent of everything evil. But we may not pass over this long and eventful por- tion of the world's history so hastily. We never cease to retrace the history of the chosen people, from the time of their deliverance from Egyptian bondage to their en- trance into the promised land ; and then onward through their whole future career. But at every step of their progress we detect the unmistakable foot-prints of the great antagonistic Power, the prime object of whose cor- rupt soul has been, from the beginning, to thwart and, if possible, to annihilate the Church of God. But if he might not arrest and destroy, he would so secularize, cor- rupt and demoralize the Church as to divest her of moral power. Hence we may trace up the record of his do- ings, as he followed along the line of the true Church with a malignant persistency befitting the malignity of his nature. How .''e dared to assail even the good father of the faithful, leaving a scar on his fair character, by making him lie to Abimelech, king of Gazar, denying that Sarai was his wife. How Isaac was assailed and tempted to do the same foolish thing, and Jacob was made 5% THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. to defraud his brother of his birthright. How Beuben defiled his father's bed with Bilhah, his father's concnbine, and Simeon and Levi assist in the murder of the Shech- emites ; and how the sons of Jacob, with murder in their hearts, conspire against Joseph. He was sold into Egypt and consigned to a hopeless bondage — a prelude to that galling captivity into which the whole chosen seed were afterwards subjected. This was the hour and power of darkness. The gates of hell seemed to have prevailed against the lord's Anointed. But the triumph was short. The chosen people, though not without the most persistent liudacity and opposition of the Devil, were at length deli- vered from their thraldom, brought out with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, carried dry-shod through the Red Sea, and conducted through the wilderness in despite of combined and most formidable foes, instigated at every step by the wiles of the great Adversary. They pass on and come to Mount Sinai. Here they are to receive the law, ^. direct Revelation f: ^m Hea- ven ; and thereby to inaugurate one of the most signal advancements that characterize the history of the Church. God now revealed himself as never before ; not by the giving of the law alone, but by signs and wonders. " There were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mountain, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people trembled." The mountain burned with fire, and there was blackness and darkness and tem- pest, so that Moses did exceedingly fear and quake. And the Devil trembled. Fearfulness took hold up«n him. Here was the power of God — God clothed in ter- rific majesty. The heavens were moved. The thunder and the lightning spake. The trumpet of God uttered its voice. All these were awfully impressive demonstra- tions that God was real — that God was near. And would not the people now and for ever afterwards believe and obey and ever own an eternal allegiance to such a God ? Something must be done, Satan to the rescue. And what did he do ? THE DEVIL AT MOUNT SINAL 59 Monies had gone up into the mountain, and a cloud had shut him out from the people. Here he cemained forty days andforty nights, conversing with Gk>d, and receiving from his mouth the law and the commandments. This was Satan's time. Something must be done. He stirred up the people to distrust Moses, insinuating that he had gone, no more to return. He now resorted to wiles not unlike what he did centuries afterwards when God became manifest in the flesh, in the person of our Emanuel. When the people heard him gladly, declaring that " never man spake like this man,** " then Cometh thfe Devil and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.*' And, personating their master, the " chief priests and Pharisees,** on mother occasion, " gathered a council and said : * What do we ? for this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him. ' '* They must in some way bring reproach and distrust upon the great Teacher, and, if possible, neutralize his teachings. So did the Devil before Sinai. A desperate resistance must be made against these new revelations of Heaven, and the advanced dispensation of divine grace. Hence he entered into Aaron, stirring up his jealousy, perhaps firing his ambition to be captain rather than the priest of Israel, and prompting him to seduce the people to idolatry. He made the golden calf, and said, " These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of Egypt." A desperate measure to meet a desperate case. An advanced step had been taken on the part of Israel's God. It must be met I and resisted by the Adversary, Under the same Satanic influence Nadab and Abihu I*' offer strange fire before the Lord." When the people murmux and cry for flesh, Miriam and Aaron raise a I sedition against Moses. The "spies" make a false re- [port of the land and discourage the hearts of the peo- I pie. By the instigation of the same spirit, Korah, Dathan [and Abiram stir up a rebellion in the camp and disturb 'Israel. At Mount Hor the people "speak against God 60 THE FOOT-tniNTS OF SATAN. and against Moses because of the way." And in the matter of Balaam, |nd the whoredoms with the daughters of Moab ; and the worship of Baal-peor ; and the cun- ning trick of the Gibeonites, and how all along no scheme was left untried to turn away the people from the worship of the true God to idols. Baal and Asta- roth, Baalim and Baal-berith, in turn became their gods. And more marked still were the doings of the Devil ^ in connection with the kings of Israel. Saul was pos- sessed of an evil spirit — was sent by it to the witch of Endor ; and finally was made to do many devilish things, and at last moved to commit suicide. The good man David was not beyond the reach of the same Arch Se- ducer. In the affair of Uriah he yielded to the Tempter, and left on his record an indelible scar of his conflict with the Foe. Solomon, the great and the wise, was a shining mark not to be missed. Through wine and women the Seducer beguiled him, so that "vanity of vanities " might seem to be written on his tomb-stone. With his thousand and one wives and concubines, we find him seduced away unto idols, offering sacrifice, burning incense, and doing homage to inanimate gods. A spd triumph of the Devil over one of the most honoured, gifted and favoured of men ; the noblest specimen of Divine workmanship among men. But this "Troubler of Israel" ceased not his mischief Having achieved a signal triumph over one whom God had especiaUy favoured, and the nations delighted to honour, he stirs up the successor of Solomon to alienate the Ten Tribes — ^to divide the nation; to sow the seeds of hate, alienation and rivalry; to weaken both divisions, and thus sadly to impair the influence upon the Gentile nations which this nation, chosen of Heaven, would other- wise have had. And henceforward he goes on doing a double work — tampering with both parties, stirring up jealousies, provoking *o,ditioDf;, rebellions and wars ; any- THE WICKED AHAB AND JBZEBEL. 61 id in the daughters the ciin- along no sople from and Asta- ame their the Devil' 1 was pos- tie witch of lish things, good man e Arch Se- le Tempter, onflict with as a shining women the ties "might lis thousand duced away , and doing f the Devil ■avoured of iship among his mischief. whom God delighted to to alienate the seeds of th divisions, the Gentile would other- is on doing a stirring up wars ; any- thing which should tend to weaken, alienate and mono- polize the influence, the resources and agencies of the chosen people, and divert them fi'om the great, ennobling, elevating object which Israel's God and every Israelite proposed to accomplish by the national and church or- ganization of this extraordinary people. The first and most obvious result of this division was a disastrous war — the Devil's delight — with a slaughter on the one side of 800,000 men, and on the other of 400,000 ; accompanied by all the . distractions, demoralizations, wastes and woes of war. He turns the Nations of the Earth to Idolatry. — ^We may follow on in the track of either of thfese kingdoms, and we find the Devil incessantly and infernally at work, corrupting the worship of the true God, decoying to idol- atry, ana always instigating to wars. Hi^ most persistent and successful aggressions seem, for some reason, to have been in the line of the kingdom of Israel, and reached the chmacteric of civil corruption and heaven-daring wicked- ness in the reign of " wicked Ahab," and his yet more wicked wife, Jezebel. She was the daughter of a heathen prince. It is said of Ahab, "he went and served Baal and worshipped him. And he reared an altar foi Baal in the house of Baal which he had built. And Ahab made a grove, and did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him." And having done all he could himself, he did much more by the aid of his yet more wicked wife. For she " made him to sin." The story of Kaboth and his vineyard, and iihab's atrocious murder, well illustrates what the Devil can do with the aid of a wicked woman. In the other line of kings we find a similar climacteric reached in the reign of Manasseh, king of Judah. Ahaz, his grandfather, whose evil nature he seemed to inherit, had prepared the way for his own corrupt reign. " The Devil urged poor Ahaz on, and led and drove and pushed him into idolatry and impiety until he became frantic in -f^— r— ~"— 62 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. his sottishness after the gods of the Syiians." In his hatred of the worship of the true God he closed up the temple and forbade the peoole to oflfer sacrifice. And yet deeper was Manasseh plunged in the meshes of Satan's devices. He did that which was evil in vhe sight of the Lord, ]j\e unto the abominations of the heathen. He " show i himself in every respect a master-workman for the D dl." He built up ths high places his father had broken down, reared altars for Baalim and became an open patron of idolatry. He defiled the temple of God, committed sacrilege, ** slew righteous men and prophets, and inundated Jerusalem with human gore." Of one who at no great remove succeeded him, historians say, " his palaces were founded in blood, and embellished by rapine. He falsely accused the innocent of crimes, that he might condemn them to death and confiscate their property." In Kim the Devil had a man after his own heart. But the end drew near. Indignant Heaven could no longer endure. Yielding to the instigations of the Tempter, the church had become corrupt, tlie nation demoralized, the long-suffering of Heaven exhausted, and the day of recompense had come. The Enemy had seemingly triumphed. Jerusalem was laid in ruins. Her people were cairied into captivity. The nation and the church were dissolved. The Temple, the pride and glory of Israel, was burnt with fire, and all the holy things desecrated, if not destroyed. "Thy holy cities are a wilderness. Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned with fire ; and all our pleasant things are laid waste." " How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people ! how has she become a widow ! She was great among the nations, and a princess among the provinces ; how has she become tributary ! How is the gold become dim! the most fine gold changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of THE DAY-DAWN — THE MORNING COMETH. 6S every street. From the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed." Every sin and transgression, every act of ingratitude and rebellion, which had brought these dire calamities on the nation, were the instigations of the Adversary ; all demonstrations of his eternal enmity against the God of heaven. But there is a " stronger than he," who shall take away the armour in which he trusts — cast him out, and restore the ruins of the fall. Jerusalem shall be built again, the captives restored, and Zion again become the glory of the whole earth. The Devil in New Testament Ti/mes. — The doings of the Devil alluded to in the portion of history under con- sideration, did not differ essentially from his doings in every age of the world. He is, in his very nature, the great perverter and destroyer of all good ; the enemy of all holiness ; the stirrer up of strife and sedition ; the very spirit and essence of hate, envy, and revenge ; a roaring lion going about seeking whom he may devour. But we will pass over the period that intervened be- tween the restoration from the captivity and the coming of the "bright and morning Star," a period replete with the machinations of the Wicked One. Israel had been restored from her foreign bondage, but never fully rein- stated, either as- a Church or State, in her former glory. The Adversary was too strong for her. He was allowed to enter the fold and trouble Israel, and paralyze her power, and give her enemies the advantage over her, and the Church lived as in the wilderness, her horizon grow- ing darker and darker till the " Day Dawn and Day Star" arose. And how then was the Prince and Power of Darkness roused in his wrath as he saw the gleam of light arise from the Star of Bethlehem. It was the star of hope for a dark and ruined world. It was a Light that should lighten every man that cometh into the world. It pro- claimed liberty to the captives and the opening of the 64 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. 'I prison to them thab are bound. The vile Usurper saw in this rising Star of Bethlehem, the Creator, the gi'eat Proprietor and Redeemer of the world, coming to vindi- cate his right, to cast out and destroy the Usurper and take possession of this apostatized world. By usurpa- tion it had become the domain of the enemv. He claimed to be the god of this wo'-ld, and his claim had been almost universally conceded. The Babe of Bethle- hem, the Saviour, the Prince of Peace, and the rightful Proprietor came to his own, and none better thau the Usurper knew that ere long he should take the kingdom to himself. The earth had become dreadfully corrupt. The Jewish nation had grievously apostatiz d. Josephus character- ised the Jews as more desperately wicked than the people of Sodom. Tacitus apprehends the destruction of the world on account of its hcpeless corruption. Seneca says "oil all is replete with crime. Vice everywhere abounds. While habit daily grows into sin, shame is rapidly declin- ing. Veneration for what is pure and good is unknown. Vice is no ^onger the occupant of secret places, but is made pubho before all eyes." With such a degenerate, hopeless condition of the world, do wo wonder there was among the few reflecting ones a yearning, longing, despe- rate waiting for a Deliverer ? Pagan philosophy was of no avail. Pagm creeds had failed. Not the few in Judea, not the " wise men of the East" only, were looking for deliverance, and expecting a Deliverer. For there was among the nations a general expectation that gracious Heaven would interpose and come to the rescue of a paffering race. The Romans were expecting it. The Chinese, the Hindoos, the Persians were looking for the ** Holy One to appear in the West." The Devil saw all this, and fearfulness took hold upon him. He saw a " stronger than he " about to come, who should dispossess him of his usurped dominions and cast hcri out for ever. He rose in his wrath. If he could not PESTILENCE OOES BEFOllS HIM. 66 rule, he would ruin. And " woe to the inhabitants of the earth, for the Devil came down unto them having great wrath, because he knew he had but a short time." He W8;S allowed sorely to afflict the nations. As the first glimmering of the Day Spring from on high arose, the wrath of earth's great Foe was kindled anew ; and earth Hoon felt the wound. It was a day of trouble. He that had the power of sin and death now broke from his re- straints and was allowed for a little time to scourge the nations. A deadly pestilence swept over the Roman Empire. And the same dread calamity swept over Ethiopia, Lybia, Egypt, India, Syria, Phoenicia ; and over the Greek and Persian empires, and "over adjacent coun- tries," and raged for fifteen years. Again this fell des- troyer starts out from the ruins of Carthage, and spreads its direful ravages over Africa, In Numidia alone it numbered no less than 800,000 victims. Two years only before the birth of Christ pestilence again walked in darkness over Italy, and " few people were left to culti- vate the land." The whole creation groaned and travailed in pain. Now came the dying struggle of the Prince of the power of the air ; or rather it was the fearful beginning of the end — the last desperate onslaught to wrest this world from the rightful owner, and to make it a pandemonium. No ; not the last deadly struggle. The Babe of Bethle- hem is born ; the long-expected Messiah is come. Angels sing " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good- will toward men." Waiting saints welcome him as Him that should come, the Light of the world, and its final King. The wise men of the East see his star and come to worship him. While yet a helpless infant in his cradle he is hailed as the incarnate God, the Emanuel, God with us — " a Light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Israel," And how at this juncture must the .Arch Fiend have writhed in demoniac anguish over this newly risen Light, and at length fixed on the desperate 6 ,,*■ 66 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. expedient. He had a faithful ally in the king. The child must be destroyed ; and Herod became the wicked and willing accomplice. The decree goes out to slay all the children of two years old and under, with intent to kill him who waji bom King of the Jews, and thus foil the purposes of Qod in the advent of his Son. It was a des- perate throw, and no credit to the Dev^l that it so signally failed. Nor did he now yield his infernal purpose. Though defeated, he was not destroyed. As the p:eat Teacher and Mediator between God and man was about to enter on his public ministiy, he confronts him in the wilderness with a , presumption and fiendish impudence peculiarly his own. By three successive temptations, each more seductive than the preceding, the grand attack was made, and the crafty wiles of the Tempter were frustrated. The " Strong Man armed " had proved more than a match for him ; yet he yielded not his infernal purpose. What he could not hinder or destroy, he would pervert or corrupt. Instigated by the Prince of Darkness, Pilate and Herod were made friends, that they might compass the death of the Incarnate One ; and then confederated with Scribes, Pharisees, and Priests, and with Judas, into whom the Devil entered, they the more easily consummated the dia- bolical deed. When they had secured the crucifixion of their illustrious victim, they supposed they had covered his name with an eternal infamy. No one would believe on a a crucified one. Yet the CroriS which they counted should be the death-blow to Christianity became the rallying point, the glory, the grand centre of Christianity. Armed with the " power " of a Pentecostal baptism, the invading waves of the new Religion rolled on from tribe to tribe, from nation to nation, giving no doubtful signs of universal conquest. Though so signally discomfited at Calvary, the Enemy pursued the onward marching hosts with firebrands, arrows and death, with a violence which threatened no uncertain annihilation. Ten relentless pex^ secutions followed; and nothing but the interposing arm RISE OF THE GREAT APOSTASY. 67 of Heaven saved the Church from a final extinction. The Enemy struck his deadly blow, meaning nothing short of annihilation. His Corruption of the Church. — The next deadly de- vice was to corrupt the Church. Having failed to destroy, he now set himself to emasculate Christianity of its manly vigour, to divorce it from the power of holiness and make it a secular power. And how the Christian Church was corrupted — now the name and the form were retained, yet divested of its spirit and life, let the history of every form of spurious Christianity tell. Side by side has our sleepless Foe contended with the great Captain of our Salvation, intent to corrupt and neutralize, if he cannot arrest the onward progress of Christianity. He carefully watches the progress of civilization, of education, and society — takes note of the spirit of the age, and favours and preaches a Christianity suited to the times. Yet false religions in general are rather local, temporary, changing to suit times and circumstances — to meet the mutations of man's changing condition. The great standing monument of Satanic invention, power and skill to originate, mature, and propagate a religious system, is the Papacy — a religious organization embracing 200,000,000 souls, bound in the chains of an unmitigated spiritual despotism, yet called by the name of Christ and claiming to be Christian. We may probably accept this as the final consummation of what human wisdom and ingenuity, combined with the wisdom and craft of the Great Adversary, could do to put forth a grand religious delusion — a gorgeous, seductive counterfeit of the Christian Church, whose lettering and superscription should be those of the genuine coin — a compound and com- promise of Christianity, Judaism, Idolatry, Mohammed- anism, and Infidelity, all hashed and harmonized so as to meet the demands of the religious and the irreligious, of ihe image-worshipper, the sceptic, and the nominal Chris- tian. It is probably the masterpiece of the great Anti- I 1 1 f m 1 1 m THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. Christ now being rapidly revealed and hastening its final consummation, yet perhaps still to undergo modifications to meet the coming phases of a progressive age. Indeed, the forewarning of our divine Lord more than intimated the fierce conflict the Christian Church should, from the very outset, have with her Arch Foe. He should appear clad in sacerdotal robes, claiming to be Christ — sitting in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Most distinctly did Christ forewarn the early Christians of the formidable Enemy his religion would have to encounter — and this too in its most incipient beginnings. "There shall arise false Chriats and false prophets, and shall show great ,^igns and wonders, inas- much that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." And what are these but miracles ? And those " three unclean spirits like frogs," which John saw " come out of the mouth of the Dragon, and out of the mouth of the Beast, and ouu of the mouth of the false Prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and the whole world, and gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty." From the beginning, from the cradle in Bethlehem to the great and drendful crisis, the final de- cisive battle, the warfare shall go on. And again, " He doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the Beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the Beast. And he had power to give life unto the image of the Beast, that the image of the Beast should both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the Beast should be killed." Need we seek further for an identification of his Satanic Majesty with that grea-t persecuting power, that mystery of iniquity, that deceivableness of umighteousness, which POLITICS AND POLITICIANS. 69 we are wont to identify as the scarlet Beast or the great Antichrist ? Again, we might enlarge on the Devil's doings in the political arena. The world's history is largely made uj) of the wars and commotions and political intrigues of that wisdom which is from beneath. Politicians have too often been content to serve the Devil rather than their nation or their God. And what use this great Prince of politicians has made of his liege subjects, the despotism, oppression, demagogism and chicanery of most governments is a living, burning stigma on the fair face of humanity. But we shall leave with others to gauge, if they can, the dimensions of the Devil's activities in the civil affairs of the world — how governmental power is largely used to favour his nefarious schemes — how politicians ai*e too often but his willing dupes, his faithful, ready and efficient coadjutors in caixying out his designs in the corruption and ruin of man. As a temporal prmce, and in his control of the social, civil and secular affairs of the world, he has a broad and open field, and never loses an advantage to execute his malignant purposes. Yet it is rather as a spiritual prince — it is in relation to the spiritual interests of man that he displays his great wisdom and power. False religions are Satan's masterpiece and his stronghold. We shall, in its place in the present volume, treat this topic more in detail. A very summary view will suffice in the present connection. Man is a religious being — has implanted in him a reli- gious instinct. Hence he must and will have a religion of some sort. And in whatever form it comes, his reli- gK)n has over him a strong, controlling influence. The Christian will go to the stake, the block, or face the tor- tures of the Inquisition for his religion. The votary of idolatry will go on long pUgrimages, walk on spikes, lacerate his flesh, swing on the hooks. There is perhaps no stronger element at work among men than that of 70 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. religion. And no c v3 understands this better than the Devil. And he is fully on the alert to improve every advantage he may thereby gain. Here we meet our enemy at home, and in his great strength. He has en- trenched himself in the citadel of religion, and has thence from the earliest ages ruled the nations. The exceptions to this rule have been, not nations, but individuals, or, at most, communities. Hence the masterstroke of the Devil has been to pervert and corrupt religion, and thus monop- olize for himself its mighty power. The history of all false religions abundantly sustains the assumption that here is his stronghold. Here especially does he appear as " the father of lies." In Eden he began the work of his great and fatal delusion. God had said, " The soul that sinneth it shall die."' Satan said, " Thou shalt not die." And so he has been saying in all time since. By blinding the mind, by pervejrting God's truth, by presenting false atonements for sin, and substituting the form for the life of religion, he has deceived the nations, and set them wandering after idols — or after the Beast or the false Prophet. A marked feature in our Enemy's doings here (which we shall illustrate more fully hereafter) is his intense and persistent rivalry in following up and keeping alongside with God in all his dispensations of the true Religion. In every advancement oi the church and new revelation of the truth, from Adam to Moses, from Moses to Christ, and so onward to the present moment, the Devil has been ready with a coimterfeit to meet and thereby per- vert every progressive development of the true religion. Almost at the outset, under the Patriarchal dispensation, he perverted the idea of worshipping the only one true God, by first introducing what seemed to be a veiy plaus- ible if not harmless substitute of worshipping the sun, moon and stars as the most ostensible representation of God. This, under the fostering care of Satanic wiles and the natural promptings of human depravity, veiy natur- ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF IDOLATRY. 71 ally matured into bold idolatry : first, the worship of Heroes, and then to the bowing down to images of wood and stone, the workmanship of human hands. Upon the introduction of the Mosaie dispensation, ido- latrous systems were revolutionized and modified so as to meet the progress of the times, that the nations should not revolt and throw off the yoke of the Usurper. And more especially when Christ came, and a yet clearer light shone out from the hill of Zion and made visible the darkness of all former ages, the religions of the East — of India, of China and adjacent countries — ^were essentially modified ; grosser features were discarded, and approxi- mations and resemblances of the truth, even of Christian truth, were now inoculated into those old, effete systems of idolatry, yet so perverted as to do little more than to change the truth of God into a lie. While the nations of Western Asia and of Eastern Eurone, being now too greatly enlightened longer to remain satisfied with the form of idolatry, were accommodated by the arch Perver- ter with an amalgam of Christianity, Judaism and Pagan Idolatry, which 5iould satisfy the religious instinct, serve the purposes of the Devil, yet have some plausible show of tne truth. Hence the device of Mohammedanism, with a headship, not of the Messiah of Mount Zion, but of the Prophet of Mecca. The Papal Apostasy. — But the most plausible, perfect and successful counterfeit was yet to be introduced. The Light from Mount Zion had shone too cleaiiy on the Western nations to aUow the people of those nations to be satisfied even with the compromise of Mecca. They must and would have Christianity. Nothing less would satisfy them. And the Devil said, yea ; and he gave them Christianity, with a gorgeous ceremonial and a Romish baptism — a religion framed after his own choice and liking. He gave them not only the name, but many of the doctrines and more of the forms, yet with scarcely the pulsation of spiritual life or power. The Papacy may be 72 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. reffardod as the summation of crowning craftiness — the " deceivableness of unrighteousness " — the arch delusion ; the most complete counterfeit of pure and undefiled reli- gion. It is a complete usurpation and monopoly of all the powers and prerogatives, all the virtues, graces and rewards of Christianity ; it is a claim of universal power, temporal and spiritual — the Pope in the place of Gk)d, forgiving sins, and exercising all power in heaven and earth. AH that now seemea wanting in order to consummate this delusion and make it the grand cjimacteric scheme by which to oppose and, if possible, destroy all evangel- ical Christianity, was the sealing of the Pope's infallibility. This would simply consummate the entire scheme and vindicate its consistency. The long-cherished preten- sions of the Popb, and predictions concerning him, would simply be realized. " He opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is oaUed God or that is worshipped." And the infallibility dogma once confirmed, and he " sitteth as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." This done, and Satan has seated himself on the pinnacle of the temple. He can do no m.ore. And from this point of pride and vaunting and defiant sacrilege, we expect to see him cast down and cast out for ever, and on the ruins of the most consunoi'mate spiritual despotism that ever cursed the nations. King Emanuel shall rear his everlasting empire of peace and righteousness. The Angel, having the everlasting gospel to preach to every nation and kindred and tongue and people, is flying through the midst of heaven, saying, " Fear God, and give glory to him, for tha hour of his judgOi'^nt is come ; worship him." And when this " consummation so devoutly to be wished" shall come, when truth and right- eousness shall triumph, then shall follow another angel saying, " Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, be- cause she made all nations drink of the wine of the wmth c^ her fornication." And soon John sees another angei come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless THE EMPIRE OF PEACE iiKD RIOHTEOUSKESS. 73 pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the Dragon, that old Serpent which in the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cs^st him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled ; and after that he should be loosed for a little season. t IV. SATAN IN THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH. I CHRISTIANITY A NEW REVEBATION — ^THE DEVIL ALARMED — HE ASSAILS THE STRONGHOLD OF THE CHURCH — ^FORE- WARNED BY CHRIST — PERSECUTIONS OF THE EARLY CHURCH — ITS MARTYRS — PERSECUTIONS DURING THE REFORMATION — ATTEMPTS TO ANNIHILATE THE BIBLE — THE CORRUPTION OF THE CLERGY — PRIESTLY USURPA- TION — ROME NEVER CHANGES. We have seen with what demoniac virulence the De- stroyer followed up the Church from Adam to Moses and from Moses to Christ ; how he never lost an advantage to thwart its progress, and, if possible, to turn h-Sm the on-i oiling tide of truth and righteousness in the world. Yet what he had done was seeming weakness compared with what he should do. The Mosaic dispensation, though a decided advance on any that had gone before, was but the shadow of what now began to be revealed in the cradle at Bethlehem. The one was called the " min- istration of death," the other, the "ministration of the spirit." " J£ the ministration of death be glorious — which glory should pass away — shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?" So, as the Apostle argues, " even that which was made glorious (the former dispen- sation) had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth." ALAHM AT THE ADVENT OF THE SAVIOUR. 73 Chriatiomity was a lew revelation — ^the bursting in of the morning upon a long and dreary night. Christ came to claim his "own;" to take the kingdom to himself. A new light has arisen, and new agencies and resources should henceforth be engaged to overthrow the empire of Satan, and to rear on its ruins the kingdom of our Emanuel. The conqueror had come. Out of his mouth "went a sharp two-edged sword; a^d his countenance was as the sim shineth in his strength." Or he is por- trayed as " a Bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race." The Devil was alarmed. His empire on the earth had never been so seriously imperilled before. God had come m the fiesh. And he had come expressly to destroy the works of the Devil ; and to take away the armour in which he trusted ; and to bind him in chains of darkness, and to cast him out for ever. It meant war to the knife ; and a desperate — ^a terrible resistance must be offered. As he could not hinder the Saviour's advent into the world, he would do what he could to resist his progress and baffle his purposes. Hence he met him in his cradle, and at once devised a scheme by which to cut him off in his early infancy. A decree went out from the Devil's liege lord to murder all the infants in Bethlehem, hoping there- by to kill Jesus. The device failed ; yet the infant Jesus is driven away into Egypt, where it might be hoped he would fall a victim to a people who, to weaken, if not to destroy, the chosen people, had murdered all their infants. But seeing he could not destroy him, his next device was to divest him, if possible, of his Divine power and glory. For this purpose he met him in the wilderness, and, by three audacious assaults, tempted him to deny his God and compromise his own divinity. And thence onward, through the whole earthly career of our blessed Lord, he never allowed an advantage to resist him, and to turn away the people from hearing him, and to stir them up to persecute hire. — never allowed an advantage to assail the 76 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. Holy One to pass unimproved, till the time of the great OfTering drew near, when he instigated Judas to betray him, Peter to deny him, all tha disciples to forsake him, the soldiers to buffet • 'm, 8' Piiate to crucify him. Foiled in all these ; •* ;chi nations against the hated cause, he was constrainv;fi fm: time to desist. The cruci- fied One had burst the ? iiids ' ^ death, risen from the tomb, and triumphantly ascended to heaven. He was God ; vindicated in the sight of angels and of men. The Cross had triumphed. That which it was supposed would cover the newly-risen Religion with infamy and disgust was likely to become the glorious centre of the Christian Faith. The crucified One would be " believed on in the world." Indeed, this characteristic of Christianity and evidence of its Divinity was singularly illustrated in its early history. No other religion ever so readily com- mended itself to all conditions and nationalities of men. No other religion ever contained such elements of univer- sality. No other ever evidenced itself as a religion for MAN. Every form of religion that had preceded it was local — ^belonged to some one people or nation. Judaism was a religion only for the Jews. The different forms of the Oriental religions were suited only to the several tribes or nations for which they were constructed ; and especially were suited only to ti/mes, the state of intelligence and learning, and yet more to the prevailing caste of civiliza- tion. Christianity, on the other hand, announced and verified itself from the beginning as a religion for the world — adapted to the wants of man, irrespective of race, nation, colour, or condition. And such did it evince itself to be, not only by the command that it should be preached to all nations, and the fact that the early Christians under- stood this to be an essential characteristic of the new religion, but yet more from the fact of its adaptedness to all peoples and the wonderful success that attended the early missionary labours of the Christian Church. He Assails the Stronghold of the Church, — We have the CHRISTIANITY A RFLIGION FOR MAN. 77 testimony of Justin Martyr that, within a century after the death of its divine Author, thtj new religion had be- come known and measurably accepted in every part of the known world. He says : " There exists no people, whether Greek or barbarian, or any other race of men, by whatever appellation or manners they may be distin- gu'^hed, however ignorant of arts or agriculture ; whether they dwell in tents, or wander about in covered wagon? among whom prayers are not offered up in the name of the crucified Jesus to the Father and Creator of f. 1 things." Indeed, in much less than a century a"* r Christ was risen, St. Paul says: "The gospel wat preached to every creature which is under heav^ i ;" "which is come unto you as it is in all the wov 1." " Their sound went into all the world, and their words unto the ends of the earth." Here was a power such as the world had not before known — an agency at work that stirred up the powers of darkness to the lowest hell. Something must be dont. A council is convened — an oecumenical council of " angels, and principalities, and powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world, and of spiritual wickedness in high places." They assemble. All are filled with dis- may. New modes of defence must be devised ; new modes of attack adopted. Some counsel an assault more bold and daring than ever before. Others, and more successfully, counsel craft and lying hypocrisies as the weapons of the new warfare. What assailcmta may fail to do, sappers and miners may accomplish. The grand council are at their wits' end. Never was even Satanic wisdom more utterly confounded. Their right- ful Sovereign and Almighty Foe had completely flanked them. A new strategy must be pursued, a more vigorous and relentless warfare must be prosecuted. They resolve and re-resolve. Lucifer, the arch-fiend, and once " Son of the Morning," shall lead the invading host, and every subordinate devil shall stand in his lot and bear his own ".iSfft 'i^ 78 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. burden and do his own duty in the approaching conflict. The rising and advancing kingdom oi the Man of Naasa- reth must, if possible, and at any cost, be arrested. Or, if that cannot be, (as he more than suspects,) the sacra- mental host must be demoralized, the esprit de corps vitiated, and the " Strong Man " disarmed by taking away the armour wherein his great strength lieth. The power of the true Church, which is to take possession of the earth, is holiness — the pure, simple, unaffected, God- like piety of the heart. This alone identifies the Church with heaven, and engages Heaven's power in its behalf. When our blessed Lord gave to a few feeble, and (as the world regards them) uninfluential disciples the broad command to go and evrangelise all nations, he did it with the assurance that ho who sent them had " all power in heaven and in earth ;" and with an assurance equally un- qualified that they should receive " power " — all-sufficient to overcome every obstacle — " after that the Holy Ghost had come upon them." A Church pure, simple, conse- crated, baptized and vitalized by the Spirit ; earnest and Christ-like; strong in holiness, which is the power of Christ, and planted on the everlasting rock of Truth, will overcome cl\ things, and be sure to subjugate the world to its dominion. " The gates of hell " — all the devils in the pit combined — "shall not prevail against it." Yet the only hope of successful aggression and final conquest lies in the power of her holiness. And no one knew better than the Devil where the great strength of the Church lay ; and hence his inexora- ble assaults to corrupt her. Satanic craft has been espe- cially concentrated to divorce the Church from the power of holiness. For mighty as Christianity is when clothed in this panoply of heaven, when vitalized by the pure, simple, all-controlling spirit of its divine author, yet when shorn of these locks of its strength, it becomes " weak," like any human institution. An we might suppose, the first and most desperate on- THE GREAT BATTLE BEGUN: — STEPHEN STONED. 79 slaught was made on the early promulgators of the gos- pel — the first invading host of Zion's King. As prompt- ed by the great Apollyon, Scribes and Pharisees, priests and rulers, are all confederated to do the bid- ding of their Father who is — not in heaven. They first tried their hand, or rather gratified their diabolical malice, by persecution. Stephen was a bright and shin- ing light ; bold, eloquent, persuasive ; a good man, full of the Holy Ghost and of power. He did great won- ders and miracles among the people, and spake with convincing power. And the people could not resist the wisdom and spirit by which he spake. Again, some- thing must be done. "If we let him alone," reasoned they, '* all men will believe on him." So " they stopped their ears and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city and stoned him." Was not the " hand of (a worse than) Joab in this ? " Herod, obse- quious to his master, stretched forth his hand to vex certain of the Church. And he killed James, the bro- ther of John, with the sword. And another Grovemor of Judea delivered ever James, the brother of Jesus, to be stoned. But these seeming disasters were made to contribute to the furtherance of the cause which the persecutors fain would have destroyed. The death of Stephen, especially, did more to defeat their wiles than his whole life had done before. *' For as he looked steadfastly into heaven, he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God." The heavens opened to welcome him ; and Jesus, standing on the right hand of the Majesty on high, with open arms received him. This was a testimony more damaging to the Foe than all he had done or said while living. Though thus baffled for the time, the Devil is none the less fixed in deadly hate to the Church; first, by instigating violence against her in the form of persecution, and then by the yet more harmful device of corrupting her 80 THE POOT-PRINTS OF SATilN. Ill ft The death of Stephen was followed by % severe perse- cution at Jerusalem, in which " two thousand Christians, with Nicanor, the deacon, were raartjrred, and many others obliged to leave the country." The apostate Jews, as if it were not enough that the blood of the crucified One rested on them and on their children, pursued the early Christian Church with a virulence and malignity which might put to the blush the veriest heathen " The priests and rulers of that abandoned people not only loaded with injuries and reproaches the Apostles of Jesus and their disciples, but condemned as many as they could to death," and this in the most irregular and barbarous manner. Among no other people did the Christian Church encounter more bitter or unrelenting enemies. They let slip no opportunity of instigating magistrates against the Christians, and exasperating the multitude to demand their destruction. Christ had forewarned his Disciples how the world, while subject to the dominion of the vile Usurper, would receive them. " They will deliver you up to councils ; they will scourge you in the synagogues ; you shall be hated of all men for my sake ; nay, the time cometh when they will thinli they are doing God service by putting • you to death." And soon were these predictions verified m appalling reality to them that heard them ; and then onvjrard through a dark cloud of persecutions for cen- turies to come. James the son of Zebedee was beheaded. Philip was. scourged and crucified. Matthew was slain in Ethiopia by a halberd. Mark was tied by the feet, dragged through the streets, left bruised in a dupgeon all night, and the next day burned. The Jews, greatly enraged that Paul had escaped their fury, by appealing to Caesar, wreaked their vengeance on James, the brother of Jesus, now ninety-four years old. They threw him down, beat, bruised, and stoned him ; and then dashed out his brains with a club. Matthias was martyred at Jerusalem ; first MARTYRDOM OF THE DISCIPLES. 8t stoned, and then beheaded. Andrew was fastened to the cross, not with nails, but cords, that his death might be more slow and excruciating. He iived two days, the greater part of the time preaching to the people. Peter, after a nine months' imprisonment and a severe scourg- ing, was crucified with his head downwards. Paul, after having suffered imprisonments, stripes, stoninss, perils and privations of every name, was martyred by oeing beheaded, by order of the monster Nero, at Rome. Jude was crucified, and Bartholomew was beaten, cruci- fied and decapitated. Thomas was martyred in India, by being thrust through with a spear; liuke was hanged ; Simon was crucified ; and John, the beloved disciple, after being miraculously delivered from a caul- dron of boiling oil, by which he was condemned to die, was banished to the Isle of Patmos, to work in the mines. Yet this is little more than the beginning of that Sa- tanic rage which burst upon the Church. The storm was gathering. The powers of the Pit were unloosed. What the perfidious Jews so disgracefully begun, the Romans finiihed. The Devil wa^? as never before, mad upon the destruction of the sacramental host A Nero had ascended the throne : the monster of wickedness and cruelty, a '^ perfidious tyrant/' a fit tool for his Master beneath. The barbarous persecution that marked and disgraced his reign was the first of the Ten notable persecutions that attlicted the Church during the first three centuries. These were deadly, inveterate, calamitous enough to annihilate anything but the Church of the liv- ing (Jod. " On the Bock of Agos founded, ^ What can shake thy sure rep<»8e f ', '. <• With Salvation's walla surrounded, Thou may'st smile at all thy foes." Yet the assault was made ; and by ten bloody, ruthless persecutions, not a device was left untried, not an agency «,' 82 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. unemployed, ' that might exterminate, root and branch, this vine of the Lord's planting. But like the oak shaken by the wind and made to reel to and fro by the tornado, this vine only struck its roots deeper and sent out its branches further and stronger, and bore yet more lusci- ous and abundant fruit. The blood of the martyrs was the seed of the Church. We can do no more than to snatch a few brands from this seething fiimace of Tophet ; and if they are not con- ceded to be devilish, then we know not what is. Nero ordered the city of Rome to be set on fire — played on his harp in demoniac joy over the dreadful conflagra- tion — then charged the outrage on the Christians, that he might rer.<3w on them his barbarities. He now refined on his former cruelties, and contrived all manner of pun- ishments. Some were sewed up in the skins of wild beasts, and then worriedbydogstilltheydied. Otherswere dressed with shirts made stiff with wax, fixed on ardetrees and set on fire in his gardens In this persecution, (the first in order,) which extended over the whole Boman Empire, Paul and Peter, Erastus and Aristarchus, and a long list of worthies suffered martjrrdom. Under Domitian the record is not less disgusting : " im- prisonment, racking, searing, broiling, burning, scourg- ing, stoning, hanging and .worrying. Many were torn piecemeal with red-hot pincers, and others were thrown upon the horns of wild bulls. After having suffered these cruelties their friends were refused the privilege of burying their remains."* Timothy, the special friend and fellow-la- borer of Paul and bishop of Ephesus,was among the victims. For reproving an idolatrous procession, he was set upon with clubs, and beat in so cruel a manner that he died of his wounds two days after. Hellish ingenuity continually invented new devices^ Phocas, bishop of Poncus, refusing to sacrifice to Neptune Foze's Book of Martyrs. THE CIVIL PERSECUTIONS. 88 (r was, by order of Trajan, cast first into a hot limekiln, and being drawn from thence, was thrown into a scalding bath till he expired. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, was cast into prison, cruellv tormented, dreadfully scourged, compelled to hold fire m his hands, and at the same time, papers dipped in oil were put to his sides and set on fire. His flesh was torn with red-hot pincers, and then he was dispatched by being torn to pieces by wUd beasts. Sym- phorosa, a widow, and her seven sons, refusing to sacrifice to the heathen deities, were ignominiously murdered. The mother was scourged ; hung up by the hair of her head ; then a large stone was fastened to her neck, and she thrown into the river. Other martyrs were obliged to pass, with their aheady wounded feet, over thorns, nails, and sharp shells. Others were scourged till their sinews and veins lay bare ; and after suffering the most excruciating tortures, they died by terrible deaths."* But why recount these atrocities, which put to shame all human decency ' They bespeak their origin. They are redolent with the fumes of the Pit. Yet we turn from them only to encounter forms of persecution and outrage yet more devilish. The civil or outside persecutions to which we have re- ferred were tho work of the heathen, or at best, of a great idolatrous power. While the Church remained uncorrupted the Devil was satisfied to use heathen magistrates for her annoyance, and, he hoped, her destruction. But no soon- er had he made her swerve from her original purity and zeal, than, clothing his own servant in sacerdotal robes, he subsidized the power of an all-powerful hierarchy in his service. It was persecution in the Church that would * We might add any amount of the like atrocities, described in temu like these : "Red-hot plates of brass placed upon the tenderest parts of the body ;" " sit in red-hot chairs till the flesh broiled ;" " sewed up in nets and thrown upon the horns of wild bulls ;" "beaten — put to the rack — flesh torn with iron hooks;" "stripped, whipped, and put into a leather bag with serpents and scorpions, and thrown into the sea." 84 THE POOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. most effectually serve the Enemy and trouble the faitliful. As the Church became corrupt, as the Enemy secured its demoralization, and the great apostasy arose, the demon of persecution was let loose with a hellish malignity be- fore unknown. The Inquisition, the stake and the rack, were the infernal implements of torture and death, now applied, not by Pagan rulers, but by the professed minis- ters of Christianity and sei-vants of the Church. The pro- fessed Christian Uhurch, and not an ungodly world, were the guilty perpetrators of the atrocious deeds the faithful historian has recorded. The great persecuting power is now to raake a stride onward. The clergy must first be corrupted, and then exalted to power. The Christian Church must have its High Priest, and he must be supreme and infallible, sit- ting in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. This being done, and new power, and plaro, and malignity were given to the Devil's choice work, the per- secution of the saints. This he in a measure achieved, as we have seen, during the first three centuries. Now Constantine appears ; the good, but the not altogether wi&e friend, patron and de- fender of the persecuted Church, With the hope of pro- tecting Christianity from the persecuting power, and ex- alting her in the sight of the nations, he united Church and State, and largely extended to the clergy the offices and emoluments of the government, and thus unwittingly contributed greatly to the secularizing of the clergy, and to the establishment of the temporal power. A corrupt clergy, made more corrupt by the temptation of power and rich benefices, soon grew into a hierarchy, with an infallible Head, claiming power over kings, and supreme authority in the Church. All was now prepared for a new onslaught. Pride, ambition, fashion, custom, wealth, power, were all on the side of the hierarchy. The light oi the Sun of Righteous- ness grew dim. A night of a thousand years followed. ftA.i^.,<.:bits.-ii»iis, wLcm he had appointed to be teachers of the ignoraiL;, wnd coniforters of the poor, the oppressed and ). a CHURCH DEMORALIZED AND MADE A DESPOTISM. 87 afflicted, were monopolized and abused by men who made merchandise of God s house — ^became the vendors of in- dulgences — sat in the place of Christ to hear confessions and to pronounce pardon for sin. To complete the work the more effectual^, the Bible, as we have said, was made a sealed book. This light oi heaven was torn from its orbit, and the Church left in darkness. There was still power and ambition, avarice and persecution. There were tortures too, namJess and shameless, such as might put the foulest fiends to the blush, but piety was gone. The followers of the meek and lowly Jesus had disappeared in the dark cloud that now covered the earth. Satan held jubilee. But in this darkest hour, the few waiting, hoping, half-despairing saints, hailed the first glimmering of the rising light. A few, of whom the world was not worthy, the persecuted, the down-trodden, the outcast, now looked out from the clefts of the rocks in the valleys of the Alps. These were nearly the whole that remained of the living Church. They had not defiled their garments. They had not re- ceived the mark of the Beast. And the simple reason why they had not perished in the general slaughter of the saints, was that all the powers of earth and hell could >^y no means destroy the last renmant of the Lord's anoin J. Satan had gone the length of his tether. ** Hithe; .o," said the divine fiat, " shalt thou come, and no furtli^r." God the Avenger had arisen, and would vindicatt his! cause upon the earth. The early lights of the Re ^" -ma- tion, one after another, appeared. The great lig c, the monk of Wittemberg, soon followed. God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. It was light risen on the thickest moral darkness that ever covered the earth. No form of paganism had ever so completely per- sonified the despotism and corruption of the Man of Sin. The prince and power of the air seemed to have gfe lued the victory over the whole earth. No form of resistance to the rising light was spared ; no mode of warfare left i\ ^«UU.TaHTJ,\tmm oo THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. untried. Yet this " strong man armed " was again met by a '' stronger than he/' and the glorious BefomvitiQii followed. Though a victory was gained, yet the conflict was continued. Again new modes of warfare were adopted, and new tactics employed to meet the changed aspect of the fight. Tlie political power of Europe must, if possible, be secured. Hence the aid of Mars is invoked. Dreadful wars followed. During all these eventful years of com- «[iotion and devastation, scarcely a war, civil or foreign, raged in Europe which did not owe its origin to the arti- ficea of popes, monks, or friars. No devices were spared to enlist kings and queens, princes and dukes, on the side of the great Moloch of the times. But the most crafty, successful and devilish jf all the devices of Sat?,n, was the organization '^f the Jesuits. For cunning cr;«ftiness, for untiring devotion to their ob- jects, for the most unscrupulous prosecution of these objects, irrespective of the character of means and agencies employed, Apollyon never had servants more loyal. They would assume any character, feign any opinion, do any work, which shovild subserve the interests of their lord and master. They are preachers, teachers, politicians, anything and everything, that can insinuate themselves into the ^ood graces of those they would bring into alliance with the great delusion. We defy the world to produce a more complete perso- nification of Satanic craft, and unremitting, self-denying unscrupulous activity in consummating their deadly pur- poses, than is met in this same order. And we have here the very animus of the Bomish Hierarchy. Romanism, in its essential spirit and working, is Jesuitism. Popes, cardinals and all high Church dignitaries, if not the pliant tools of the followers of Loyola, accept the Jesuits as their most loyal servants, their most reliable and^ffective agents, and true representatives, and allow their cunning devices to give character to, and to control the papal throne. PAPAL WA«S — RISE OF THE JESUITS. 89 jncies V oyal. r., do their That we may be able to estimate the true character ayl the inevitable tendency of Jesuitism, we need only revert tc four of the leading characteristics of the Je- suitical system, viz., its hostility to free government, to common education, to the use of the Bible by the people, and to free thought and privat-e judgment. These being the four essential elements of a free gov- ernment and a free Christianity, we may rely upon it that Jesuitism, which is the controlling power in the Bomish Church in America, can work nothing but evil to our prosperity. As Rome never changes, and every member of the Romish Church is solemnly bound in al- legiance to a foreign spiritual despotism, whether or not he can be loyal to his adopted country, we wan* " /> pro- phetic spirit to tell us that the supremacy of R ' anism (that is, of Jesuitism) would be certain death to all free- dom in Church or State. Did our theme need further illustration, facts all along the whole line of history would come to our aid. We are safe in affirming that Rome never yields one of her characteristics as an organization, except from the sheerest necessity. Wherever she has power, she is the same persecuting body that she ever was. Or' give her power where she has it not, and her whole history warrants the assertion that the virus of the serp^^nt would be as bitter, as intolerant, as deadly as it was in the days of Hilde- brand or Caesar Borgia. The popes were always infal- lible ; and what infallibility did in one age of the world, it would, if allowed, do in any age. Such considerations indicate but too plainly what we, as a people, have to expect from the rising power of the Papacy— and we are hereby able to form a just judg- ment of the patriotism of those who, by the gift of mil- lions of the public money to support the institutions of the worst of despotisms — worst, because a religious, per- secuting despotism. Without following up the history of Papal Rome after the Reformation, we might point 90 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. to certain isolated ebullitions of virulence, hate, and mur- der, which burst out in France, in the form of the shang^- ful massacre on St. Bartholomew's day ; and, in England, in the Gunpowder Plot. These were neither new nor unusual events, but the natural outbursts of a spirit wh'^h had been cherished, by men clothed in sacerdotal robes, for a long series of years. Bcmie never changes. — In the great spiritual despotism known as the Sacerdotal System, the spiritual power of the priesthood holds its subjects in such abject terror, that the mind is paralyzed, and man cannot become a self-reliant, self-governing creature, but must remain a child. This is the purpose of the Romish Church. It aims to control the intellect ; and putting its hand upon ♦^he school, the college, and the press, it says : " These are mine ! Yom must learn, think, and speak as I decree." Nor is this an effete doctrine of Rome, a dogma of the Dark Ages. It is reaffirmed in our day — in the Papal Syllabus of 1865 — ^the salient points of which were the denial of the right of the State to teach, the supremacy of the spiritual over the temporal power, and the con- demnation of freedom of conscience as a fatal error — ^an undeniable proolf that the position and pretensions of Rome remain unchanged. id mur- shang^- ngland, 3W nor i spirit erdotal ipotism >wer of terror, some a main a ch. It d upon "These lecree." of the Papal re the emacy le Con- or — ^an ons of ^^^' v^V l/j 94 THE FOOT-PBTNTB OF SATAN. ooimtry, it will be found to have wasted for us, in sixty years, some two or three ihousomd miUiona of d/oVxtB / Great Britain, as we have seen, spent for wars, during sixty-five years, about $9,000,000,000, and during the same period $30,000,000 for ^ucation, or in the proper- • tion of three thousand to one ! And we have recently closed a war that has cost us, as we shall show, more than the entire aggregate of the wars of those sixty-five years. M. Leroy Beaulieu, an intelligent French statistician, gives us the expense, in blood and treasure, of the wars m Europe between 1853 and 1866, which he say& might have been avoided if those concerned had cared to avoid them. The following are taken from his statistics : '' . KUBML, CoiL The Crimeaa War 786,000 $1,700,000,000 " Italian War 46,000 300,000,000 " Danish War 3,000 36,000,000 " Amerioan (North) 281,000 4,700,000,000 " " (South) 619,000 4,760,000,000 '< Anstro-PraBsian War 46,000 360,000,000 Variottg e6,000 200,000,000 Total for 14 years 1,743,000 $12,036,000,000 Appalling as this may appear, we shall stand yet more aghsbst when we shall come to read the statistics of the recent war in Europe, (Franco-Prussian,) with its un- paralleled record of death and devastation. Twelve thousand millions in fourteen years ! What, asks the philanthropist, the reformer, the Cfhristian, might have been done witn this immense treasure ! How many hospitals, universities, railways, agricultural colleges, and woddng-men's homes might it have bmlt ! Our Lidian wars cost the country, during the first half €i tLe present century, $400,000,000. During the same period we have paid for the education of these poor abori- gines, $8,000,000 — one-fiftieth of the war expense. One THE EXPENSES OF WAB. 95 dollar to bless ; fifty dollars to curse ! Yet the bullet has ^ probably cost less than tibe bottle, which we have inflicted, on them during the same period. But how stands the record during the last twenty years ? Civilization has advanced, the country has prospered, but has our pqlicy toward tiie poor red man been more peaceful, more humane ? Has the spelling-book and the Bible, and the olive branch of peace rul^ our policy, and drawn them near and incorporated them with us, as was becoming a great Christian nation; or have we chased them away by the bullet and the bayonet, and driven them to the last verge of annihilation ? And what has it cost 1 In a speech lately made in the Senate by Senator Morrill, it was stated that the cost of our military and civil semce among the Indians in a single year was some seventy- eight millions of dollars, and during the last seven years the militaryservice alone has cost us twenty millions annually. When these expenditures are so profitable to army officers, contractors and others, is it any wonder that they stir up strife between the Indians and the frontier settlers that they may reap the profits of a state of war ? These are but a few items gathered chiefly from the records of two nations. Had we before us the whole amount war consumes in a single century, it would be astounding. If only pecuniary sacrifices be taken into the account, war is the vortex which opens his rapacious maw diid never says enough. We are in danger of not adequately estimating the stupendous aggregate of a sum when that sum is na- tional treasure, to bo used for public purposes. Millions then appear only as hundreds, or at most as thousands. In order, therefore, to realize the vast amoimts swallowed up in war, let us see what the same amounts would do expended for private* philanthropic, or benevolent pur- " Give me," says one, " the money that has been spent 96 THB FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. ^ in war, and I will purchase eveiy foot of land on the ' globe. I will clothe every man, woman and child in an attire that kings and queens might be proud of. I will build a school-house on ever^ hillside and in every valley over the whole earth ; I will supply that school with a competent teacher. I will build an academy in everv town and endow it ; a college in eveiy State, and fill it with professors. I will cover every hill with a church consecrated to the promulgation of the gospel of peace, and support in its pulpit an able preacher of righteousness; so that on every Sabbath morning the chime on one hill shall answer to the chime on another arotmd earth's broad circumference; and the voice and song of praise shall ascend aa one universal offering to heaven.'* This is not romance, but literally truth, as a little geography, history and arithmetic would easily illustrate. "WsiX wastes more by untold millions than ambition grasps or avarice covets." A tithe of the expenditure of war would supply every family on the face of the earth with the Bible, with a preached gospel, and with all the means of education, it would supply, abundantly, funds to perfect every needed internal improvement, and to carry out every scheme of benevolence and philanthropy which the most expensive charity can devise ; while the other nine-tenths would improve the navigation of every river on the face of the whole globe, drain every morass, irrigate evenr desert, fertilize every field, clear up every forest, work mines, construct a canal, railway, and telegraph wher- ever the extended business and commerce of the times, or the convenience of travel or pleasure should require. And were we to add to this the ^ole immense amounts expended in the wars of all nations, as from year to year they occur, we should have a sum sufficient to convert our entire earth into one beautiful paradise. Every waste would be recovered; every deformity be removed ; . 'M WAR AND PUBLIC DEBT OF SUROPE. 97 every every most Itentbs le face every work Iwher- I times, [uire. Lounts year mvert Jlvery loved ; an' immense amount of the natural evik that noi^ afflict the earth, and the dwellers thereon, would be forever annihikt^; and, in beauty, fertility, and salubrity, this poor sin-smitten earth would again be an Eden. Or we may look &om yet another standpoint. The public or national (2e6to of seven Christian natioDs amount m the aggregate to $14,834,712,000, viz. : United States, $2,385,000,000 ; England, $4,003,794,000 ; Austria, $1,- 316,103,000; France, $6,000,000,000; Italy, $1,071,818,- 000; Spain, $819,887,000; and Prussia, $245,766,000. Of this enormous amount not less than "the almost immeasurable sum of $8,000,000,000 represent the war bills left to present and future generations to pay, by those who contracted them." The paid in capital of all the known banks of the world, it is said, amounted in a single year to $781,554,865 ; showing the war debts of only seven Christian nations exceed ten times the capital of all the banks. Or, including the war debt of Bw^ia, ($1,000,000,000), the aggregate stands at the enormous figure of nine thousand milhons. These war debts have been very essentially increased within the past few years. The late terrible war with Russia cost tne powers engaged in it $1,000,000,000. We have set down the national debt of France at $5,000,000,- 000. Before her late war with Germany her debt was less than $3,000,000,000. To this has been added more than a thousand million for war expenses ; and another thousand million indemnity to Germany. The following paragraph, recentiy published, confirms and explains the above statement : ** We are now in posBeBsion of most of the data leqninte for fixing the amount of indebtedness which Fnmce haa iicurred, owing to the events of the last nine months. M. Thiers estimates the war expendi- ture at six hundred millions of dollars ; the deficit in the revenue, owing to the disturbance of trade and the impossibility of collection, at three hundred and twenty-six millions; and the cost of suppressing the revolt of the Commune at euhty-seven millions— in all 11,013,000,000. When to this is added one wouaand millions of dollars, to be raised to pay the 7 98 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. Geiman wbt indemnity, we have the very reapeotable addition to Hie Sublio obligatioiM of France, nnoe Juljr, 1870, of $2,013,000,000. At lie beginning of 1870, the principal and interest of the French national debt amounted to ^,700,000,000— and we may confidenliy reckon that by the time the loans necessary to pay the indemnity and other out- standins liabilities have been issued, tiie principal and interest of the public debt of France will have touched the astounding sum of five thousand millions of dollars." Other statisticians give the public debts of all the Eu- ropean States at $17,000,000,000. Six of these nations axe said to have standing armies in all amounting to 4,930,000 of soldiers, swelhng the aggregate of the stand- ing armies of Christendom up to six mifiions. An able contempoiary writer, presenting these facts, says it is an a^^vating circumstance connected with this legacy of ni/ne thousand vnMlions of dollars, the un- paid war bills to be handed down to future generations, " that in some cases it will go to them with the assurance of those who contracted it, that it was all a mistake, and might have been avoided." Eminent statesmen of Great Britain " have deliberately declared to the world, that the long wars with the French republic and empire, which cost Qreat Britain more than^ive thovsand millions of dollars, besides a sacrifice of human life which money cannot measure, were all waged upon a wrong principle, and might have been safely and honourably avoided. The sum of $9,000,000,000 only represents that por- tion of the cost of war handed down unpaid. But the interest must be paid annually, amounting at five per cent, to $450,000,000 yearly, which sum must be taken from the industry and earnings of the people, to meet * their obligations for wars past. For wars prospective or possible, the yearly expenses of the forty-three independ- ent States of Christendom are estimated at about an equal sum. Ni/ne hundred imilliona of dollars a year to be paid by the people for wars past and prospective! It is a sum equal to the whole value of all the exports of England, France and the United States put together. 1 WHO PAY WAR DEBTS. 99 l»«he . At ,tional a that >r out- of the of five eEu- ttions Qg to }tjEUld- facts, with heun- ations, urance le, and •Great I, that jmpire, illion8 money nciple, ed.* at por- ut the ^ve per taken meet itive or epend- ut an ear to e! It )orts of [gether. I • It would support 1,200,000 ministers of the gospel, allow- ing each $750 per annum ; giving a religious teacher and pastor to every 1,000 persons of the whole population of the globe. " Such was the condition of the people of Christendom in 1866, resulting from the cost of war/' Or we may arrive at a very similar conclusion by an- other calculation ; by which it will appear withal, who they are that very largely pay this enormous tax to sin. The labouring men, or "producing classes," are those who, throughout Christendom, pay nine-tenths of the revenue of their respective governments. The national debts of the various Christian countries contracted for wars amount in the aggregate to $9,000,000,000. The interest on nine-tenths of this sum at five per cent, is about $405,000,000. In the next thirty years, the work- ing men of Christendom will have to pay $12,000,000,000 for interest on this debt. Think how many days* work this is at $2.00 a day. This is not all that we do pay, for it does not include the preparations for war. For these the working-men of Christendom have paid during the last thirty-two years $21,600,000,000. This expense is annually growing heavier in the United States, Britain, France, and many other countries. A writer under the signature of " A Working Man of America," makes the following esti- mate : There are at least 2,500,000 able-bodied men in the standing armies of Christendom — all able-bodied men these, according to the surgeon's certificate, which is never asked when men are wanted merely to mow, plough, and sow, and make stone walls, or for any vulgar utilitarian purpose. Every common soldier is taken from the labour- ing class, we feel sure of that. The population embrac- ing the labouring classes of any country will not ave- rage more than one able-bodied man, according to the surgeon's military standard, to every ten iniSviduals. 100 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF RVfAN. Then it would take out all the able-bodied men from 26,000,000 of the people to raise the standing anny of 2,600,000 whidh has been kept up in Christendom ever since the BatUe of Waterloo. Now, instead of being mere machines for w/wrdert suppose these 2,600,000 able- bodied men had been employed m some productive labour, even at the low rate of less than fifty cents a day, the hard earned money paid by labouring men since 1815, in preparing for war, amounts, including interest, to nearly $40,000,000,000. But here '^figures," says the Hon. Charles Sumner, in a late speech, ''appear to lose their functions. They seem to pant, as they toil vainly to represent the enormous sums consumed in this unparalleled waste. Our own ex- perience, measured by the concerns of common life, does lot allow us adequately to conceive these sums. Like the periods of geological time, or the distances of the fixed stars, they baffle the imagination. Look, for instance, at the cost of this system to the United States. Without making any allowances for the loss sustained by the with- drawal of active men from productive induslay, we find that, from the adoption of the Federal Constitution down to 1848, there has been paid directly from the National Treasury— for the army and fortifications, $266,713,209 ; for the navy and its operations, $209,994,687. This amount of itself is immense. But this is not alL Re- garding the militia as part of the war system, we must add a moderate estin^ate for its cost during this period, which, according to a calculation of an able and accurate economist, may be placed at $1,500,000. The whole presents an inconceivable sum total of more than two thousand millions of dollars, which have been dedicated by our Government to the support of the war system — more than seven times as much as was set apart by the Qovemment during the same period to all other purposes whatsoever ! " Look now at the Commonwealth of European States. STARTLING COMPARISONS. 101 I from nny of n ever ' being able- Labour, ay, the 816, in nearly oner, in They LonnouB 3wn ex- ife, does i. Like ) of the nstance, [Without he with- we find )ii down National 713,209 ; This ilL Be- we must 8 period, accurate le whole ihan two edicated ystem — rtiby the purposes n States. • .m f I do not intend to speak of the war debt, under whose accumulated weight these States are now pressed to the earth. These are the terrible legacy of the past. 1 refer directly to the existing war system, the establishment of the present Accordi^ to recent calculation its annual cost is not less than a thousand million dollars. Endea- vour for a moment, by a comparison with other interests, to grapple with this sum. " It is larger than the entire profit of all the commerce and manufa^ures of the world. " It is larger than all the expenditure for agricultural labour, for die production of food for man upon the whole face of the globe. " It is lai^er, by a hundred millions, than the amount of all the exports of all the nations of the earth. " It is larger, by more than five hundred millions, than the value of all thd shipping of the civilized world. " It is larger, by nine hundred and ninety-seven mil- lions, than uie annual combined charities of Europe and America for preaching the gospel to the heathen. " Yes ! the Commonweaith of Christian States, inclu- ding our own country, appropriates, without hesitation, as a matter of course, upwards of a thousand millions of dollars annually to tiie maintenance of the war system, and vaunts its two millions of dollars, laboriously col- lected for diffusing the light of the gospel in foreign lands ! With untold prodigality of cost it peipetuates the worst heathenism of war, while by charities insignificant in comparison, it doles to the heathen the message of peace. At home it breeds and fattens a cloud of eagles and vul- tures, trained to swoop upon the land : to afl the Gentiles across the sea it dismisses a solitary dove. " Still further : every man-of-war that fioats costs more than a well-endowed college. "Every sloop of war that floats costs more than the largest public library in the country. "Consider the prodigious sums, exceeding in all two n 102 THE POOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. thousand millions of dollars, squandered by the United States since the adoption of the Federal Constitution, in support of the war system. Surely if these means had been devoted to railroads and canals, to schools and col- leges, our country would possess, at the present moment, an accumulated material power grander far than any she now boaii^. But there is another power of more unfail- ing temper, which would also be hers. Overflowing with intelligence, with charity, with civilization, with aU that constitutes a generous State, she would be able to win peaceful triumphs transcending all she has yet achieved — surrounding tne land with an invincible self-defensive might, and in their unfading brightness rendering all glory from war impossible." «^ Obrlet us see again what other investments, not less conducive to human progress and substantial happiness, might be made of money now a thousand times worse thaii wasted in war. Recently a British statesman pub- licly declared that the cost of the war with Russia for a single year was $260,000,000. In order adequately to comprehend the amount thus employed for human de- struction, consider what it could have done if expended for the benefit of mankind. It would build 5,000 churches, at a cost of $5,000 each ; 5,000 school-houses, at $2,000 each ; 5,000 mechanics' institutes, at $5,000 each ; 5,000 public Ubraries, at $1,000 each; 5,000 reformatories for young criminals, at $5,000 each ; 5,000 public baths and wash-houses, at $5,000 each ; 20,000 life-boats, at $500 each ; 50,000 houses for the labouring poor, at $500 each ; and leave $105,000,000 for Foreign Missions, Bible, Tmct, Sunday School, Temperance, and Peace Societies, aad Orphan Asylums. And yet another comparison, or rather contrast, will furnish at least some approximation to the alarming wastes of war. Eleven societies in Great Britain have disbursed for philanthropic and benevolent purposes dur- ing the last half century, ^14,500,000, say $70,000,000. WAR AND AGRICULTURE. 108 Fniied an, in 3 had d col- »ment, ly she iinfail- j with il that )0 win 3ved — Pensive ing all ot less >piness, worse n pub- k for a tely to lan de- pended lurches, $2,000 ; 6,000 ries for ihs and it S500 Oeach; I, Tnict, es, akid st, will larming n have les dur- )00,000. Tet during the same period she has expended in war no less than £1,237,000,000, or $6,185,000,000. Indeed, the estimates for a single year in time of general peace are £15,500,000; upwards of a million pounds more in a single year than all expended for benevolent purposes in fifty vears. The average annual expense of a soldier of a reguneni of a thousand (costing Government, for officers, soldiers' pay, rations, ammunition, barracks, a million of dollars a year) is a thousand dollars. That of a home missionanr, on an average for the last twenty-four years past, has been less than two hundred dollars. 1 But let us compare swords with plow 'hares. Says an English writer : " It is estimated that all the agricultural ^ labour done in England, in one year, cost £18,200,000, and official returns show that the cost of our naval and military establishments for the same year was £18,500,- 000, that is, £300,000 more than for all our ffolden har- vests, and the 700,000 labourers who produce them. Grave considerations must arise from such a state of things." " It is very difficult," says the Boston Daily Advertissr, " to credit, or adequately conceive even, the well-attested statistics of war. When such a philosopher as Dick, or such a statesman as Burke, brings before us his estimate of the havoc which this custom has made of human life in all past time, it seems utterly incredible — almost in- conceivable ; and still more are we staggered by the for- midable array of figures employed to denote the sum total of money squandered on human butchery. Baron Yon Reden, perhaps the ablest statistician of the age, tells us in a recent work of his, that the continent of Europe alone now has full four millions of men under arms — more than half its population — ^between the ages of' twenty and thirty ; and that the support of this immense preparation for war, together with the interest and cost of collection and disbursement on the aggregate of its war debts, amount to more than one thousand millions a year. IrT 104 THE P00T-PRINT8 OP SATAN. n> "Let any man tij to form an adequate concepvtioii of what is meant by either of these sums, and he will giye up the effort in despair. The Baron estimates the war debts now restinff on the States of Europe at $7,418,- 000,000 — ^how shfdl we estimate what this enormous sum means ? Shall we count ? At the rate of sixty dollars a minute, ten hours every day, for three hundred days in a year, it would take more than eight hundred years to count the present war debt of ^rope alone. Let us look for a moment at what England wasted for war firom the revolution in 1688 to the downfall of Napoleon in 1815. The sum total, besides all that she spent upon her war system in the intervals of peace, was $10,150,000,000 ; and if we add the interest on her war debts contracted in that period, the grand total will reach nearly $17,000,- 000,000 1 At sixty dollars a minute, for ten hours in a day, or thirty-six thousand dollars a day, and three hun- dred days in a year, it would require more than one thousand five hundred and seventy- five years to count it all. Add an average of $60,000,000 a year for the cur- rent expenses of her war establishment since 1815, an aggregate of $2,800,000,000 in these thirty-five years, and we have a sum total of nearly twmty thovsa/nd millions. " No wonder the Old World is reeling and staggering under the burden of such an enormous expenditure for war purposes. Twenty thousand millions of dollars ! It is nearly thirty times as much as all the coin now sup- posed to be in the world ; and if these twenty thousand millions were all in silver dollars and placed in rows, it would belt the globe more than one hundred and sixty times." ' As civilization advances will not wars diminish, and I his frightful waste of treasure cease ? It does not look much like it. Satan will never yield this, his stronghold un the world, without a terrible conflict. And aU the signs of victory on the side of our Emanuel do but mad- ART OF WAR PERTECTKD. 105 tion of U give be war ^7,418,- UB sum dollars lays in ears to Let MB i,r from leon in pon her 00,000; ictedin 17,000,- * rs in a ee hun- lan one iount it he cur- 815, an 5 years, ggeiing iure for irsl It iw sup- lousand rows, it d sixty sh, and ot look 3n^hold aU the t mad- den him to a more desperate warfare. The destroying anffel is temporarily restrained that the " sealing " of the ''elect" may be accomplished; then we may expect the conflict shall be heavier and hotter than ever before. Hence we hear of stupendous preparations for war — especially in Europe, the great battle-field. In Great Britain we are told of new defensive works in contem- plation, estimated to cost £50,000,000, or $250,000,000 ; and new artUlery at a cost of $50,000,000. We hear of frigates at a cost of $2,000,000 each, and they are " run " at an expense of $375,000 a year. Nothmg that money, skill, ingenuity or inventive genius can do, is left untried to render the art of human butchery perfect. Needle-guns, mitrailleuses, and im- proved weapons of war ; iron-clads, gunboats, and every engine of slaughter are devised which can make the work of destruction complete. In no other way does the Devil so effectually gather such countless millions into the regions of darkness and despair. In a moment, scores, hundreds, thousands of immortal souls are hurried from time into eternity, imwamed, unprepared. The battle- field is the Devil's harvest field. We ask again. What it Costs ? An eminent French statistician states that the land and naval forces of the European armies number 2,800,000 sound, picked men, in the prime of their productive strength ; the annual outlay required to keep up these armies and the matSriel of war ifl over $400,000,000, not includmg the value of land or buildings occupied by fortifications, arsenals, hos- pitals, foundries, schools, etc., moderately estimated at $3,800,000,000, on which, at four per cent, interest, the yearly expense is more than $150,000,000. To this add the value of the labour which these men would produc-« tively perform, which amounts to more than $156,000,000, and we have an annual war expense, paid by European OToducers, of nearly $800,000,000. It is stated that the Crimean war cost all ite parties more them a rrdUion doUare ii'i 106 THE F.)OT PRINTS OP SATAN. a day, without taking into account the actual waste of • property or the financial loss in the sacrifice of seven Hundred and fifty thousand men * ' And more fearful than all was the cost of the late Civil War in America. Of the enormous public debt which had accumulated during the war, we may liafely put down $2,500,000,000 as a war debt. But tMs is ex- clusive of incidentals, which we may set down in aggre- gate, at an additional $500,000,000, in items like the fol- lowing : Bounties to sdldiera, from $100 to $1,200 each $2100,000,000 To soldiers' families 100,000,000 Through Sanitary Commission 5,000,000 " " Supplies 9,000,000 Chiistian Commission 4,600,000 To which, if we add a few items like the gift to the government by Mr. Vanderbilt of a steamer worth $1,000,- 000, we shall reach Mr. Greeley's estimate on this head of $500,000,000, which, added to the war debt proper, gives us the round sum of $3,000,000,000. And to this we have to add the tens of millions, if not the hundreds of millions, gone and going in aid of freedmen — ^an indirect tax on ac- count of the war ; but not the less a part and parcel of the expense of the great rebellion, unless we choose to set it to the account of slavery in general. But this is by no means all. We have to bring into * A more recent authority, L'Opinion Nationale, makes the present aggregate of European armies seven nullions, viz. : Italy 900,000 Austria 1,200,000 Russia -. 1,400,000 Germanic Confederation 1,300,000 France 1,200,000 Besides the contingents of several European States, which amount to another million. *,;■ V, THE AMERICAN WAR. 107 waste of of seven • ' the late blic debt ay Jiafely fcds is ex- inaggre- e the fol- )0,000,000 K),000,000 5,000,000 9,000,000 4,500,000 rift to the ih S1,000,- this head )per, gives s we have f millions, bax on ac- •cel of the ) to set it bring into the preaent 900,000 1,200,000 1,400,000 1,300,000 1,200,000 L amount to the same account the immense sums paid, and to be paid, to reform the ruins of the war in the late slave States. Trade was paralyzed, labour disor^nized, harvests de- stroyed, and ^fields laid desolate. Schools, colleges and seminaries of learning broken up, and no local means to re- suscitate them ; churches destroyed, and a general waste and desolation over the whole land. To say it is a great missionary field, whose wants, educational and religious, must be met now and for years to come, is to say little as to cost of the repairs of the ruins inflicted by the war. The expense of repairing the wide-spread physical ruin is be- yond estimdite. But there remains another class of war expenses, or rather losses on account of the war, not to be overlooked. We refer to the losses of Northern men, especially of Northern merchants by Southern creditors. It is com- puted, with as much accuracy as is attainable, that at this moment the indebtedness of Southern traders to Northern merchants amounts to the sum of $315,000,000. We will not presume to name the grand total. Our statistics and estimates refer more particularly to mercantile transactions. Domestic and individual losses lay beyond our reach. These were fearfully immense. But we have brought into our account only the expen- diture on one aide. We may safely repeat these simis as the cost of war on the other side : yea, if we allow com- pensation to the owners for their slaves, it will not suffice if we double the amount. Were it in our power to figure up the grand total expense of the war (including 4,000,^ 000 slaves), we should expect it would stand at ten thou- sand millions of dollars ! Of the pecuniary expense of the dreadful war but recent- ly closed in Europe, we have as yet no definite statistics. The bill is not fully made out. Already we hear of fear- ful estimates. One correspondent says the Franco-Prus- sian war has cost Prussia $1,000,000,000, and France four times that amount, or $4,000,000,000. And in this no 108 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. : I |! account is made of loss of Jabour and derangement ofindustiy and trade, the devastation of cities, villages and towns. Imagination falters in any attempt to form an idea of the closing catastrophe in Paris. The invasions of the Ger- mans, the dreadful havoc and unprecedented devastations of one of the most destructive wars on record, all seemed as child's play compared with the devastations and ruins in Paris of the Communists' insurrection. Never was there witnessed on earth before so complete a portraiture of the nether world. It was a place " prepared for the Devil and his angels." These foul spirits now return from going to and fro through the land, everywhere spreading devastation and death; and taking with them seven spirits more wicked than themselves, they at length gather in the grand capital, where vanity and vice, money and fashion, infidelity and corruption had reigned, and here held carnival such as none but devils can. Enclosed by impregnable walls, the iron gates barred, and surrounded on every side by the glistening bayonets of the besiegers, hell, in hideous miniature, rioted within. The records of those fearful weeks no one shall ever write. They are sealed in blood — ^recorded only among the orgies of the Pit. The final catastrophe came. The Versaillists enter the city, but only to greet this great Babylon in flames. A third part of the city was in ruins. Her beautiful pal- aces were scenes of woful desolation. The great cess- pool of corruption was cleansed by fire. Vain would be the attempt to assess the damages, or count the cost of this one sieee. The destruction of property in Paris alone -houses, furniture, works of art, etc.-has teen set down at $160,000,000. And the destruction of merchandise is said to amount to $120,000,000. Such is war. Oh, when shall these immense resources be rescued from the hand of the Destroyer ,and devoted to the arts of peace! How they would beautify the earth and bless the world ! Come, blessed Potentate ; come quickly, and claim thine own. SACRIFICE OF HUMAN LIFE. 109 industry i to-wns. Ba of the the Ger- nstations [ seemed ^d ruins ver was rtraiture d for the urn from preadinf; oa seven }h gather >ney and and here losed by rrounded records They are f the Pit. inter the mea. A biful pal- eat cess- irould be e cost of ris alone jet down mdise is •esources devoted tify the tentate; II. There is something worse in war than the pecuni- ary expense. There is a aacrifioe of huma/n life, appall- ing beyond description. No human calculation can now measure the rivers of blood that have flowed out from beneath the altar of this Moloch. The following is but a mere extract from the bloody statistics of glorioui war ; " one chapter in the annals of violence, crime and misery that have followed in the foot-prints of the great Destroyer." The vshrieks and groans of dying mimons have passed away ; but the ago- nies of untold multitudes, plunged unprepared into a hopeless eternity, still tell, in horrors unutterable, the mighty scourge of war. There were slain in different Jewish wars 25,000,000. In the wars of Sesostris, 15,000,000. Under Semiramis, Cyrus and Alexander, 30,000,000. Under Alexander's successors, 20,000,000. Grecian wars, 16,000,000. Wars of twelve Caesars, 30,000,000. Roman wars before Ju- lius Osesar, 60,000,000. In one battle of Julius Caesar, 400,000. In wars of the Roman Empire with Turks and Saracens, 180,000,000. Wars of the Reformation, 30,000- 000. In nine Crusades, 80,000,000. Tartar and African wars, 180,000,000. American Indians slaughtered by the Spaniards, 12,000,000. Nearly the whole army of Xer- xes, 5,000,000. Wars of Justinian, 20,000,000. War of Gengis Khan, 32,000,000. Wars following the French Revolution, 6,000,000. Wars of Napoleon, 6,000,000. The battle of Issus, 110,000. The battle of Arbela, 300,- 000. Siege of Acre, 300,000. Invasion of Milan, 300,- 000. American Revolution, 200,000. And to this appalling list we may add, as not unsuited to the same dismal record, the 67,000,000 victims of pa- pal despotism and barbarity, and 2,000,000 Jews who have in Europe, first and last, paid the penalty invoked when they said, " Hfis blood be on us and on our children." And modem wars in Europe and the East Indies have slain their 50,000,000. In a single year, (1849,) there are said i 110 THE rOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. to have been slaughtered in European wars more than 110,000 human beings. ' Here it may not be void of intenest to come down to details. We have spoken of modem European wars — of the aggregate of mortality. From the catalogue of thir- ty modem battles taken from Alison's History of Europe we have the revolting statistics of a series of wars most- ly associated with the career of one great manslayer, the hero of Corsica. We must here bear in mind that the num- bers killed and wounded in battle are no full index of the loss of life in war, and seldom comprise one-fourth of its victims. The following figures will give some glimpses of the reality of the wars of Napoleon, and but too truly verify the dreadful idea that the glory of war, whether ancient or modem, is the multitude of the killed and wounded. We quote from Alison's History of Europe : '"The Bridge of Zodi— The Austrians lost 2,000 killed and wounded. The French loss was also 2,000 men. " Areola. — The Austrians lost in killed and wounded, 18,000. French loss, 15,000. " The Nile(8eafight). — Nelson lost 895 men in killed and wounded. The French lost 5,225 men killed and wounded, besides 3,005 prisoners, and thirteen ships out of seven- teen engaged in action. "The Bag of AbouHr.— The Turks had 9,000 engaged, the French 8,000. The Turks lost every man of the 9,000 in killed, wounded or prisoners. " Trehhia. — During the three days that this battle con- tinued, the French lost 12,000 men in killed and wounded, and the allies about the same number." Begardiug the campaign of 1799, the saine writer ob- serves : " Tu little more than four months the French and allied armies had lost nearly half of their collective forces, those ■% 8LA1N IN MODERN TIMES. Ill ore than down to 1 wars — e of thir- r Europe ITS most- Eiyer, the the num- ex of the rth of its tes of the ly verify r ancient wounded. St 2,000 Iso 2,000 wounded, tilled and mounded, of seven- cut off, or irrecoverahly mutilated by the swoi^d, being about 116,000 men! " Novi — ^The allies lost 7,000 in killed and wounded, and 12,000 prisoners. The French lost 7,300 killed and wounded, and 3,000 prisoners. " Engers. — Loss in killed and wounded, on each side (the French and allies), 7,000 men. " Marengo. — ^The Austrians lost 7,000 in killed and wounded, and 3,000 prisoners ; the French lost 7,000 in killed and wounded, and 1,000 prisoners. ** Sohetili/nden. — The Austrians lost 14,000 in killed and wounded, and the French 9,000. " Auaterlitz.— The allies, out of 80,000 men, lost 30,- 000 in killed and wounded, or prisoners ; the French lost only 12,000. "Maida. — One of the most remarkable battles on re- cord. The French, out of 7,600 men engaged, had 700 killed, between 3,000 and 4,000 wounded, and 100 priso- ners ; the British lost only 44 killed and 284 wounded. " Jena and Auerstadt. — The Prussians lost about 30,- 000 men killed and wounded, and nearly as many priso- ners. The French lost 14,000 killed and wounded. " Eylau. — In this terrific engagement, the Bussians lost 25,000 in killed and wounded, and the French 30,000. " Friedkmd. — ^Russia lost 17,000 in killed and wound- ed; France, 8,000. " Wagram. — ^The Austrians and the French each lost 26,000 men in killed and wounded. " Talavera.—AhGT two days' fighting, the British lost 6,268. The French lost 8,794 men in killed and wound- ed. " Alhuera,—ThQ French loss was 8,900, that of the allies nearly 7,000, the British alone having lost 4,300 out of 7,500 engaged. When the muster of the Buffs was called after the battle, three privates and one drum- mer answered to their names. wr KMH 112 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. *' SaUmumea. — ^The allies lost 5,200 men ; ihe French, 14,000. ** SmolenaH, — ^The French loss was 17,000; that of the Russians, 10,000 men. "Borodivio. — 'The most murderous and obstinately disputed battle on record.' The French lost in killed, wounded and prisoners, 50,000, the Russians losing the same number. " The survivors of the French army from the Russian campaign were not more than 35,000 men out of an army of about 500,000 men. " XwtecTir— The French lost 18,000, and the allies 15,- 000 men. "Bautzen.— ThQ French lost 25,000, the allies 15,000. " i)re8den.— (Coatinued during two days.) The allies lost in killed, wounded and prisoners, 25,000; the French lost between 10,000 and 12,000. "iLeipsic. — ^The battle lasted three days. Napoleon lost two marshals, twenty generals and about 60,000 men in killed, wounded and prisoners. The allies lost 1,790 officers, and about 40,000 men. "FittoWa.— The French lost 6,000 in killed and wounded, and 1,000 prisoners, and the allies 5,180 killed and wounded. " Touloibse. — ^The French lost 4,700 in killed, wounded and prisoners, the allies 4,58( men. "Paris. — The allies lost 9,093 men, and the French 4,500. " Ligny. — The Prussians lost 15,000 men in killed, wounded and prisoners, and the French 6,800. " QuMre Bras. — The allies lost 5,200 men, and the French 415. " Waterloo.— The total loss of the allies was 16,636 men ; Napoleon's was about 40,000 men, and almost all his guns, ammunitiori, etc." SLAIN IN OUR LATE CIVIL WAR. 113 French, ,t of the tinately L killed, sing the Russian an army llies 15,- 15,000. 'he allies e French N^apoleon ,000 men ost 1,790 led and \0 killed Iwounded French killed, and the 16,636 kost all Passing by the late Chinese war, the Sepoy Mutiny, and the Crimean and the Italia)i wars — all of which fur- nished their full quota tr^ the insatiable maw of Death — we again stand aghast at the appalling sacrifice of human life in our late bloody civil war. There were in all called into the service 2,688,523 men, of which number 1,500,- 000 effectively participated in the dreadful work of death. Of these 56,000 were slain in battle, 35,000 died of wounds in hospitals, and 184,000 died of disease. And when we add to this dreadful bill of mortality the tens of thousands who died at their homes of disease contracted in the camp, and of other tens of thousands who, with broken constitutions and the sure ravages of disease prey- ing upon them, are only waiting the slower approaches of Death's footsteps, we need not hesitate, perhaps, to adopt the common estimate of half a million as the grand total of the slain in the late war. Yet this is but one side of the dreadful conflict. War's fearful ravages tell a tale quite as appalling on the other side. We are probably safe in doubling the number as to the awful aggregate of the Southern slain. A million of human lives swallowed up in the rapacious maw of this most horrible Moloch! Such, again, is war; the Devil's darling engine by which to waste, demoralize and destroy; God's fearful agency by which to break down and move out of the way what hindereth the onward progress jand full establishment of Emanuel's kingdom on the earth. We have assumed that the sacrifice of life on the part [of the South was at least equal to that of the North. But [when we come to the estimate of the pecuniary expense -the cost of the war direct, and the fearful devastations )f the land by invading armies and actual battle-fields -the comparison is vastly to the account of the South. ?he following extract will aid us here. Alluding to the iwful retribution which fell upon the South in our late rar, a speaker in Congress recently made the following Statements, urging that such inflictions on a defeated 8 A. 114 THE FOOT-PMNTS OF SATAN. enemy ought to moderate our demands in the reconstruc- tion of the revolted States : " For that rebellion into which in an evil hour the Radicals of the South plunged them, they have been punished already by the a^acrince of all their slave pro- perty, valued at three or four thousand million dollars ; by the sacrifice of more than three-fourths of all other per- sonal property, probably two thousand million more ; by the sacrifice of their public property and credits — at least a thousand million more; by the depreciation of the value of all their real estate at least seventy-five per cent. — amounting probably to more than two thousand million dollars more — ^making in all a sacrifice of property, credits and values, in the Southern States alone, of at least nine thousand million dollars. But there is another bloody and terrible page in this account — a page in account with death. It is estimated that there have perished in battle, by disease, exposure, or other cause incident to war, at least three hundred thousand able-bodied white men of the South. I take no account of the unutterable anguish of millions of crushed and bleeding hearts. No language can express, no figures measure that. For that rebellion the white man at the South has been most terribly punished ! Nine thousand million of values are gone — ^lost for ever ! Three hundred thousand able-bodied white men of the flower and strength of the South now lie in their bloody or prema- ture graves ! " These, as we said, are but items— extracts from the bloody annals of war — not a twentieth of all that are believed to have been slain in war. The whole number, according to the estimate of Dick, is 14,000,000,000 ; or, according to Burke, 35,000,000,000 ; fourteen times more (according to the lowest estimate) than all the human beings now living on the globe. " Blood enough to fill a lake of seventeen miles in circumference, and twenty feet deep — ^in which all the navies of the world might float. WAB A nSLENTLESS DEMON. 115 hour the tave been ilave pro- »ii dollars ; other per- more ; by 3 — at least r the value )er cent. — nd million rty, credits least nine )age in this s estimated e, exposure, le hundred I take no of crushed 3, no figures oaan at the le thousand 'ee hundred flower and Y or prema- If placed in a row, each occupying four feet, they would reach 442 times round the earth, and four times round the sun ; or they would form a globe of flesh (each 130 pounds average) nearly three miles in diameter, the whole weighing 1,820,000,000,000 pounds " But we must bear in mind, as we said, that the carnage of the battle-field is but an item in the sacrifice of human life by war. The exposure, the privations and general hardships of war, induce sicknesses and diseases which result eventually in a vastly greater amount of mortahty than is encountered on the battle-field. And yet probably the aggregate of both these fearful items fall short of the death-list, which, in after years, follows in the dreadful train of war. Of those who return to their homes, having escaped both the hostile weapon of the enemy and the pestilence and diseases which walk by noon-day in the camp, how large a propoi^ on become, at length, the vic- tims of diseases contracted, and of broken constitutions there entailed. Nowhere else do the annals of sin present such a per- fect, wholesale, appalling scheme for peopling the regions of the dead and the abodes of the damned. Death, under ordinary circumstances, gives premonition of his dread approach — sounds the note of alarm, and warns the vic- tims of his unrelenting call to prepare to meet the sum- mons. And on this account Satan loses many a liege subject just in the moment of his highest hopes. But death on the battle-field allows no space for repentance. It summons its victims in a moment to judgment and their final doom. And who are its victims? Not innocent childhood, not decrepit old age, but. the young and the strong, and more generally the most thoughtless and graceless por- tion of a nation's population — the last class who are prepared for a sudden death. War is a remorseless demon, whose rapacious maw is never glutted with human blood. How triumphantly has sin here reigned imto death. VI. Mfklir-iContinued,) ITS UNTOLD EVILS — MODERN WARS — THEIR WHOLESALE DESTRUCTION — ^THE BLIOHTINQ CURSE OF THE WORLD — THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR — NAPOLEON's MISGUIDED AMBITION — THE INFALLIBILITY.DOGMA — THE GREAT AND FINAL CONFLICT — DEMORALIZING CHARACTER OF WAR — NO NECESSITY OF WAR — THE DUTY OF CHRISTL/LNS. Here detail is impossible. Folios would not suffice to delineate the horrors of war. Glance at the forbidding picture where you will, and you turn from its horrid de- tails in disgust. First, allow the eye to pass over the battle-field ! Two hostile armies, made up of the youth, the strength, and the pride of two nations, confront each other in all the array of military pride and of deadly conflict. Human ingenuity has been taxed to the utter- most to invent instruments, and to secure the munitions of war by which to facilitate the work of death. Its glory is in the number slain. The word is given — the onslaught is made. The Angel of Death has begun his work. The roar of cannon scarcely drowns the wail of woe from the wounded and the dying. The cloud of smoke that rolls in black folds to ?.:ieaven seems but the embodiment of the shrieks and groans which tell, as lan- guage cannot, of the horrors of war. But as the work of death goes on, and the battle is ended, what a field of THE HORRORS OF WAA 117 suffice to rbidding orrid de- over the le youth, ■ont each f deadly e utter- blood, of anguish and death. Limbless trankg— headless bodies — scattered limbs — butchery in every conceivable form — agony and death in every shape. Three days after the battle of Waterloo, a multitude of wretched beings still remained on the field, unattended by surgical aid, or by the offices of a common humanity. And of the two hundred and fifty battles in our late war,* some more bloody than that of Waterloo, what untold tales of misery and woe were breathed to the passing winds ! And though more than half a century has elapsed since that great and bloody conflict, (at Water- loo,) many are the traces of wretchedness and woe, of de- vastation and ruin, not yet obliterated. Many are the miseries which that day has entailed on generations yet unborn. The horrific slaughter, the frightful butchery of the battle-field, is but the first scene in the drama of war. All who fell there were either fathers, brothers, husbands or sons in as many households, which were at once clad in sackcloth and mourning. Would we begin to form any- thing like a correct estimate of the miseiies of war, we must be able to follow the wail of the dying, till we reach his home and witness the bitterness and woe there. A father is bereaved of an only son — a mother mourns and cannot be comforted because her joy, her hope, her staff in old age is no more. Or a young wife and her helpless little ones are in a moment plunged into dependence, hopelessness and despair. " It is difficult," says an eye-witness, " for the inhabi- tants of a peaceful territory to conceive the miseries inci- dent to the theatre of such a sanguinary conquest as that between the French and the ' allied forces.' The soldiers * Of these, 16 were naval battleB. Of the land fights, 89 were in Virginia; 37 in Tennessee ; .35 in Missouri ; 12 in Georgia ; 10 in South Carolina ; 11 in North Carolina ; 7 in Alabama j 14 in Kentucky ; to- f ether with battles in Florida, New Mexico, Indian Territory, and ennsylvania. 118 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. on both sides, driven to desperation, became reckless and pitiless, and stragslinff from their columns in all direc- tions, they committed every species of excess upon the people, 'the peasants, with their wives and children, fled to tne caves, quarries and woods, where they were starved to death. The villages were everywhere burnt, the farms wasted and pillaged, the abodes of man and all that belongs to a peaceful countrv and domestic comfort deso- lated and destroyed to such a degree that wolves and other savage animals increased fearfullv in the districts thus laid waste by human hands as ferocious as their own." As we have already adduced our late war, wickedly wa^ed in defence of slavery, as presenting the most ap- palling example of the expense of war and the sacrifice of numan life, so we may prei. .nt it as a no less appalling example of the subsequent miseries and devastations of war. To pass over the miseries and wastes inflicted by the war on the North, (though neither few nor small,) the South looms up before us as a ghastly monument of that awfully retributory conflict. Lands laid waste, labour disorganized, industry paralyzed, they that had rolled in wealth and knew no want reduced to abject po- verty ; schools, academies and coll6ges broken up, churches abandoned or destroyed, and the framework of society, trade and industry, thrown into disorder, if not demolished — what could war do more ? Years cannot repay its ruins. War is an awful avenger, as well as a pitiless de- stroyer, a very demon from the Pit, let loose to inflict evil, to people the regions of woe, to avenge wrong — to break in pieces and remove out of the way whatever hin- ders the onward progress of truth and righteousness And, as if " honourable " warfare — civilized warfare — ^had. not enough of death and misery about it, we are compel- led, even in this 19th century, to contemplate features of warfare which should cover with shame and confusion the veriest savage. SEPOY MUTINY RIVALLED. 119 Who has not heard of the atrocities, the shameless barbarities of the Sepoy Mutiny ? We were astonished that with the progress of modem civilization, the refine- ment of the age, the advai^ement of Christianity, and the present proximity and better acquaintance of the na- tions one with another, that a war could occur, even where one party was but semi-civilized, which should climax in barbarous cruelties the practice of nations in the darkest ages of the world. And how much more pro- found the astonishment that the atrocities of the Sepoy Mutiny should not only be repeated, but in a tenfold de- gree^^xceeded in Christian America. Who has not read the sickening tales of Andersonville and Libby prisons, and the general treatment of Northern prisoners of war by the Confederate Government south ? The starvation of prisoners ; the infliction of unnecessary and most wanton cruelties — shooting down men if, through weakness, acci- dent or necessity, they overstepped the prescribed line, or appeared at the window of the prison for a breath of air — withholding stores sent to their relief by their Northern friends, and robbing them of their clothing, money and personal effects. War has no conscience. War blunts all the finer feelings of man, and is cruel as death. Whoever shall write the history of the Slaveholders* Rebellion will find himself obliged to disfigure his pages with recitals of cruelties, outrages and barbarities to pri- soners, which will make the reader blush to own the per- petrators as heirs with himself of the same humanity. On the field of battle, foe meets foe, and the greatest butcher is the greatest hero. Be it that this is honourable warfare. But when the dreadful contest is once decided, when acres of the slain lie weltering in their blood, and the groans of the wounded and dying are rending the air with their cries, and t^e defeated party have in good faith surrendered as prisoners of war, the simplest princi- ple of honor and the most readily concGued right de- ■w I 'l.i H If i 120 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. maud and have seldom failed to secure honorable and humane treatment. To strike, maim or torture a fallen foe is an outrage past all tolerance among honorable contestants. And yet more ostensibly outrageous is the act when perpetrated by nations. Yet dreadful as is the agency of war, human progress is here greatly indebted. Few are the instances in which old systems of despotism, oppression, false religion, or error of any kind, have been reformed and left to die a natural death. Moral suasion has its use ; does some- thing to prepare the way — somethiDg to prepare the minds of the reformers, and those to be reformed, for their future mission. Yet the more common agency — ^the more common course of Providence has been, not by reforma- tion, but by revolution and destruction ; breaking up and removing old organizations and confederacies ; disabling and putting out of the way the abettors and agents of the systems to be destroyed ; thus clearing the ground, re- moving obstacles, that the new building may rise on the ruins of that which is to pass away. And the sure and fearful agency which accomplishes this end is war — bloody, relentless war. Scarcely has a nation been Christianized ; scarcely have the seeds of civil reform been sown, taken root, and the fair fabric of a nation's true grandeur risen, except through the dread agency of war. The pangs of childbirth, which give existence to the natural life of the individual man, do but too truly, yet faintly, represent the throes, the pangs, the convulsions of those wars, which, as if bom of the whirlwind, the earth- quake, and the storm, have given birth to nations, or opened the way for the building up of free and civilized communities on the ruins of old despotisms, whether civil or religious. The following statistics, culled from the records of ancient wars, will be of interest in this connection as further illustrating the dreadful powers of war. And when we reflect that this terrific agency has been at its THE DREADFUL POWERS OF WAR. 121 irable and re a fallen honorable 30US is the tt progress »s in which eligion, or ft to die a ioes some- repare the 3d, for their —the more y reforma- ingup and ; disabling ^ents of the rround, re- rise on the sure and is war — ition been vil reform a nation's agency of Kistence to ) truly, yet vulsions of the earth- Qations, or d civilized lether civil records of nection as irar. And een at its deadly work of death throughout all the past generations of man, we shall comprehend what war has done, and what it shall do till the Prince of Peace shall come and establish his reign upon the earth : " The city of Thebes had a hundred gates, and could send out at each gate 10,000 fighting men and 200 cha- riots—in all, 1,000,000 men and 20,000 chariots. " The army of Trerah, King of Ethiopia, consisted of 1,000,000 men and 300 chariots of war. " Sesostris, King of Egypt, led against his enemies 600,000 men, 24,000 cavalry, and 27 scythe-armed cha- riots. — 1491 B.C. "Hamilcar went from Carthage, and landed near Palermo. He had a fleet of 2,000 ships and 3,000 small vessels, and a land force of 300,000 men. At the battle in which he was defeated, 160,000 were slain. " A Roman fleet, led by Regulus against Carthage, con- sisted of 390 vessels, with 140,000 men. The CarUiagi- nian fleet numbered 350 vessels, with 150,000 men. " At the battle of Cannae there were of the Romans, including allies, 80,000 foot and 6,000 horse; of the Carthaginians, 40,000 foot and 10,000 horse. Of these 70,000 were slain in all, and 10,000 taken prisoners ; more than half slain. " Hannibal, during his campaign in Italy and Spain, plundered 400 towns and destroyed 300,000 men. "Ninus, the Assyrian king, about 2,200 years B.C., led against the Bactrians his army, consisting of 1,700,- 000 foot, 200,000 horse, and 16,000 chariots, armed with scythes. " Italy, a little before Hannibal's time, was able to send into the field nearly 1,000,000 men. " Semiramis employed 2,000,000 men in building the mighty Babylon. She took 100,000 Indian prisoners at the Indus, and sunk 1,000 boats. "Sennacherib lost in a single night 185,000 men by the destroying angel. — 2 Kings, xix., 35, 37. : ' ♦ ! i i 122 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. " A short time after the taking of Bahylon, the forces of Cyrus consisted of 600,000 foot, 120,000 horse, and 2,000 chariots armed with scythes. " An army of Cambyses, 50,000 strong, was buried in the desert sands of Africa by a south wind. ** When Xerxes arrived at ThermopylsB, his land and sea forces amounted to 2,641,610, exclusive of servants, eunuchs, women, sutlers, etc., in all numbering 5,283,320. So say Herodotus, Plutarch, and Isocrates. " The army of Artaxerxes, before the battle of Cunaxa, amounted to about 1,200,000. " Ten thousand horses and 100,000 foot fell on the fatal field of Issus. " When Jerusalem was taken by Titus, 1,100,000 per- ished in various ways. " The force of Darius at Arbela numbered more than 1,000,000. The Persians lost 90,000 men in this battle; Alexander about 600 men. So says Diodorus. Arian says the Persians in this battle lost 300,000 ; the Greeks 1,200." Could we, even in imagination, follow these invading armies, and trace their wide-spread desolations, from generation to generation, we should still have but an in- adequate idea of the dreadful ravages of those wars. Had they been the work of a single generation, might we suppose all these accumulated horrors of the battle-field to be concentrated in a single generation, they had laid the earth in ruins ; they had made it one great Aceldama. In a word, we may say, war is the interruption of com- merce, the suspension of industry, the devastation of property, and the interruption of private and national enterprise. It casts a general blight over the whole nation, and covers her people in sackcloth and mourning. Every interest languishes ; every condition of life is made to feftl the oppressive burdens of war. Are they patriots, then ? Are they friends of their country, friends of man or of God, who would needlessly plunge their country WHO ABE THE INSTIGATORS OP WAR ? 123 3 buried in into a war? Ambition, revenge, selfishness, may be gratified, but not a moral virtue, not a sentiment of true humanity, not a Christian virtue enters into the feelings which go to encourage or provoke war. They are of the earth, earthy. Yea, more. They are from beneath, ema- nations from the Pit, where are wars and fightings, hatreds and strifes. Make the best you can of it, war is a withering scourge; and it will be the prayer of philan- thropist, patriot and Christian that our beloved land may henceforth be preserved from this desolating scourge. Most obviously then we say altogether too little when we speak only of the expensiveness of war ; or even of the sacrifices of human life which it involves — the physical miseries which it inflicts. These portray war as im- mensely calamitous, and of consequence to be severely deprecated. But war is more than calamitous. All ag- gressive war — all war that may be honourably avoided — is morally and egregiously wrong, is wicked. No nation can have a right so to abuse themselves ; and certainly no right to inflict such injuries on another nation. Men, perhaps, never assume so weighty responsibilities as when thev determine on measures of war. There is no evil, no crime, no wickedness or misery, of which war is not the cause, or the occasion. It is the blighting curse of the nations, the woe of the world. And in no other way are let loose so many furies of the Pit to blast and destroy all that is lovely and of good report among men. Christ came into the world as the '* Prince of Peace." He came to establish the reign of peace; and all that are /lifi, in spirit and in truth, are " peace-makers." They love peace, and follow after the things that make for peace. The spirit of war is the spirit of the world — ^rather the spirit of the Pit. He that can love war for its own sake is a fiend. The following paragraphs are no exaggerated delineation of the foot-prints of this fell Destroyer : " Fire, flood, famine, pestilence are among the most ter- rible and exhausting instruments of individual and na- 124 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. tional chastisement. But their combined desolations are not half so frightful as those of the demon of war. " The waste of money is the least of the evils that war engenders, yet this is palpable enough to a people over- burdened with taxation. If the thousand millions of dol- lars already expended in the Eastern war, and entailed for untold generations as a clog on the industry and pros- perity of the people composing the nations engaged in the gtniggle, could be followed out in the details of oppres- sion and suffering connected wjth tax-collections, year by yeai*, even the financial curse would sicken the heart. " But the waste of life is a far more formidable evil. A half million of human beings, it is estimated, had been destroyed, by battle or disease, in the Crimean conflict, when the war was believed to have only had its begin- ning. The frightful carnage before or within the defences of Sebastopol, and that which followed in the bloody foot-prints of that dreadful war, all involving untold sacri- fices of life, may swell the total to a fearful sum. But each life is connected with other lives, and forms a link in the chain of human being and sympathies which girdles the old world. " Hence the waste of homes is frightful. The Zouave and the Highlander, the Cossack and Turk, each has a mother, a sister, a wife — somebody, in some olDscure home, to follow him with a loving, anxious heart, to the tented field, and to weep bitter tears when war claims him as its victim. Oh, could the rulers and statesmen wh je ambi- tion is the occasion of bloody strifes, trace out one by one the desolated homes of their soldiery, and hear the groans of anguish that go up from broken hearts, as the records of the dead distribute their woes among the nations, they would pause before they * Let slip the dogs of war.* " But the waste of morals is, perhaps, the darkest fea- ture in this catalogue of evils. ' War does more harm MORAL DEVASTATIONS OP \7AB. 125 ^latioDS are to the morals of men than even to their property and per- sons,' says an eminent writer. And another characterizes it as * a temporary repeal of all the principles of virtue.* An army, even under the best command, is, and must be, a vast nursery and hot-bed of depravity. And the state of war becomes, to the nation engaged in it, the stay of all healthful reforms, and the fruitful source of public and social corruption. Religion weeps and withers. ' War and Christianity are like the opposite ends of a ba- lance, of which one is depressed by the elevation of the other.' " Or go we not back beyond the commencement of the present century. How stands the record since the advent of this auspicious era ? It has been a century of progress, of the diffusion of light, of the extension of civilization, of the advancement of Christianity. It is an age of railroads and telegraphs, of extended commerce and en- larged freedom. And yet all this notwithstanding, demor- alizing and wasting wars. If, in spite of all these formid- able drawbacks to social, civil, and religious progress, so much has been accomplished, what might have been real- ized had the vast resources wasted in war been applied to the promotion of the real good of the race ? And what, under the reign of universal peace, may we expect when nation shall no more rise up against nation, and learn war no more? But how stands the war record of the last seventy years ? The Philadelphia Ledger states that there has not been a single year of entire peace since this century began. In the first fifteen years there was war all over Europe, extending to this continent. In the next ten years Mexico, Central, and South America were involved. In the next twenty-five years the great European powers carried on wars in Africa and Asia, followed by the Cri- mean war and other wars in various countries of Europe. Since 1 800, England has waged 49 wars, France 37, Rus- sia 21, Austria 12, and Prussia 7. All this does not in- 126 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. i ■! elude the numerous revolutionary movements and intes- tine struggles in both hemispheres, or our own Indian wars or civil war, aU of whicn occasioned great misery and loss of life. War is but the natural incubation of sin. The process, as a high authority gives it, is this : " Lust, when it hath conceived, bringeth forth Sin ; and Sin, when it is finished (matured), bringeth forth Death." And not only does sin produce Death in the regular course of nature, as dis- ease or the natural decay of age numbers its victims with the dead, but, not content with his sure and irresistible ravages, as with his irreversible scythe he cuts down every succeeding generation — he, through the ever restless, wrangling fermentations of sin, effervescing m the dread- ful evolutions of war, hastens his wholesale work of death by maddening the heart of man to raise the murderous hand against his brother, and by means of the terrific ap- pliances of war, made as dreadful, terrible, and effective as human skill and ingenuity, and Satanic malignity can engender. It is not enough that Death pass upon all men because all have sinned, but the grim monster must be courted, provoked, maddened to deeds of cruelty by the voracious demon of War. Here, beyond controversy, is the most revolting incar- nation of sin, and withal one of its most common develop- ments. Like intemperance, fraud, oppression, licentious- ness. War is yet more emphatically Sin's own child. And no wonder that in prophetic vision the cessation of wars is made the prominent —the decisive prognostic of the coming Millennium. " Swords shall be converted into ploughshares, and spears into pruning-hooks, and nations shall learn war no more." Christianity is an empire of peace, though its advent among the nations is heralded and its way prepared by war. Christ is the Prince of Peace ; yet he says he came not to send peace on earth, but a sword. So strongly entrenched is sin, and he that has' the power of sin, in all the relations of life — in all matters of CHBIST THE PRINCE OF PEACE. 127 business, and social intercourse, and in manners, customs, appetites ; and so perfectly perverted have all these rela- tions and interests of life become, that the simple intro- duction of a pure, peaceable, unselfish religion is received as a hostile act — as a foreign element, and antagonistic element, a real antagonism, which awakens enmity and the final hostility of wicked men and unchristian nations. Hence envyings and strifes, jealousies and emulations — hence wars and fightings. We need not then be surprised at another dreadful outbreak of war even in this favoured portion of the 19th century. The Gospel of Peace had heen so largely dif- fused — the Prince of Peace so taken possession of the earth — ^the Bible so extensively circulated, and Christian civilization and a living Christianity so advanced, we had hoped that this most barbarous relic of barbarism would cease among all civilized, ^-nd certainly among all Chris- tian nations. But we have been again startled by the "confused noise of war and garments rolled in blood." The late Franco-Prussian War, at the outset, threatened to set all Europe in a blaze. It was one of the most deadly conflicts that ever scourged the race. In four weeks the number of victims killed had swollen to two hundred thousand, and more than twice that number of prisoners. And in four months Prussia alone had taken 335,000 prisoners, and slain of her enemy an hundred and fifty thousand.* The slain in a single battle had exceeded the entire losses of the seven years of our Revolutionary War. And could we follow each dread casualty of the war to the bereaved homes, and witness the tears, the mourning, the cruel bereavement of mothers, sisters, wives — could we fathom the depth of sorrow inflicted, and the myriads of homes made desolate — could we calculate the amount of industry crippled, labour wasted and business * At Sedan, 135,000 prisonerB taken by Prussians ; at Strasburg, 60,000, and at MeU. 170,000. 128 THE FOOT-PBnnS OF SATAN. deranged — could we measure the magnitude of the evil of a single year's conflict, we should write down war as the direst curse, save one, that our Arch Enemy ever inflicted on a suffering race. • While we cannot speak definitely of the cost of this war — ^which was enormous, nor of the sacrifice of human life — ^whicli was truly appalling, we may not here over- look its caibse, the spirit and intent with which it was prosecuted, and its res alts. A moment's consideration of these will reveal the real animus of this very unex- pected struggle, and wiU justify us in classing it among the most extraordinary wars that have ever afflicted the nations — ^and probably the most far-reaching in its re- sults. The first moving cause of the war may have been simply the ambition of Napoleon to distinguish himself and aggrandize his empire. But Napoleon was the "eldest son" of the Papacy, the defender and right arm of Rome ; and, as instigated by the spirit of Rome, he threw down the gauntlet. Possibly, at first he knew not what he did. But the remarkable coincidence be- tween the proclamation of the Dogma of Infallibility and the declaration of war would seem to identify it from the very first as a war between the Papacy and Protestant- ism. It was a wanton, unrighteous attack on Prussia, ostensibly for dominion, but really, and as permitted by the great Ruler of nations, a war in defence of Rome. " It is strange," says Bishop Simpson, writing from Europe, "that no sooner did the great Council declare the Pope infallible, than the struggle between France and Prussia began. Like thunder in a clear sky, came the proclamation of war, and strange enough, France de- clared it was a war between Protestantism and Roman- ism " — permitted on the part of Providence, we fain would hope, to break the iron " bands " and to " cast away the cords " by which Rome has so long bound the nations in her thraldom. ir if ral and religious habits which she had in the halcyon days of her forefathers. We need only recur to the common conviction in regard to the demoralizing character of war. We look on army life as contaminating above any other position or service. If a friend or neighbour has a son who has served for any length of time in the army anl returned to his home un- contaminated, we congratulate the parents as especially favoured. But why is camp life and the pursuits of war so unfavourable to good morals ? Not surely because the dread realities of war are not dreadful enough to lead to the most S()lemn reflection and to the most earnest Christ- ian life. It certainly behoves the soldier, above all other men, to be prepared for sudden death. In a moment he thinks not of, he is summoned before the Judge of all. And how can he be thoughtless ; how can he yield to WAR DEMORALIZINa. 137 temptations, and riot in sins the most gross and heaven- daring ? Gambling, drunkenness, profanity, licentious- ness, are but plants of the commonest growth on the tented field. Here you meet the hot-bed oi iniquity. And all this in defiance of faithful chaplains. Bibles, tracts, religious books, the earnest labours of colporteurs, nurses, and a few pious officers and soldiers. We can in no way account for the peculiar depravity of a soldier's life except on the ground that war is peculiarly the Devil's work ; and his Satanic Majesty claims some peculiar dominion over all therein engaged. Hence the special temptations of the ^.iilitary life. War is most decidedly antagonistic to all moral and religious influences. It distracts the mind, and hardens and corrupts the heart, and disqualifies men for a saving reception of the gospel. It generates ignorance and infi- delity. It produces a general disregard and contempt of religion. It is a vast hot-bed of intemperance. It reeks with the foult jt licentiousness. It multiplies every species of vice and crime. War also withholds the means of grace. The five mil- lions of sojldiers now in Christendom, it deprives even in peace of nearly all religious privileges. It gives them no Bible ; it allows them no Sabbath ; it provides for them no sanctuary ; it does not even insure to them the rights of conscience. It treats them as so many brutes or ma- chines. War tends, likewise, to destroy the efficacy of the best means of grace. It blinds or steels mankind against their power. It debases the understanding, and sears the con- science, and turns the heart into flint, and hardens the whole soul against the truth and Spirit of God. Could you, with any hope of success, preach the gospel to men all ablaze with the passions of war ? As well might you think of reaping a harvest from seed sown upon an ocean of fire. War is the work of demons incarnate ; a battle is a temporary hell ; and could you make the whole earth r i : 138 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. one vast battle-field, it would thus become an outer court, a portico to perdition. Kindle the war-flame in every bosom, and from that moment must the work of salvat^n cease everywhere ; nor ever could it begin again, till those tires were more or less quenched. The case is plain. Dees not war engross and exasperate the public mind ? Are not its ileets and armies so many caldrons of wrath boiling Anth. animosity, malevolence and revenge ? Does it not cover the land with a sort of moral malaria infecting more or less the life-blood of almost every soul ? Does it not pour over empires a gulf- stream of the foulest vices and the fiercest passions ? Does it not accumulate a mass of abominations that drive the Holy Spirit from his work of renewing and sanctify- ing the hearts of men ? Let the war-cry ring from Maine to Florida, from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains; let the bitter, reckless strife of war-parties divide, exasperate and convulse this whole nation ; let the war-spirit per- vade our halls of legislation, and our seminaries of learn- ing, every church and family, every pulpit, periodical and newspaper ; let recruiting rendezvous be in every consi- derable town, and encampments of soldiers in every section, and war-puips anchored incur harbours, and armies march- ing in every direction through the country, and battle- fires lighted among our hills and valleys, and every mail filled with news of victory or defeat, conspire to keep the public minr continually stretched to its utmost tether of interest in the progress of the war ; and how soon would the Spirit of God fly from such "realms of noise and strife," to return no more for years ! And what a lesson does war teach the unevangelized nations ! It fills them with prejudices well-nigh invincible. They see the history of Christendom written in blood; fleets and armies, under Christian banners, burning villages, plundering cities, and ravaging whole empires with fire and • sword. They regard Christianity as a religion of blood, and its followers as aiming solely at conquest, plunder and WAR CONTRADICTS CHRISTIANITY. 139 I outer court, me in every : of salvat^n ain, till those id exasperate nies so many malevolence vith a sort of life-blood of apires a gulf- jst passions ? ns that drive and sanctify- g from Maine [ountains; let le, exasperate rar-spirit per- iries of learn- )eriodical and every consi- every section, jmies march- and battle- every mail e to keep the lost tether of soon would of noise and inevangelized jh invincible, n blood; fleets ing villages, with fire and ion of blood, ), plunder and power. Its pretensions of peace iheyr spurn as base, arrant nypocnsy. Its name lings in their ear as the knell of thiBir own ruin. They hate it, they booth it, they dread it, they arm themselves against it ; all because the wars of Christendom have belied its real character. All other causes puttogether, except depravity, have scarcely thrown so many obstacles in the way of evangelizing the world ; and never, till this chief obstruction is removed, can you construct a great moral railway on which the car of sal- vation shall roll in triumph over the whole earth. But we should find no end of showing how the practice of war cripples the moral energies of the Church ; de- bases her in the sight of man and of God ; hangeth upon her like a mammoth incubus ; retards the world's promised salvation, and stands an impassable barrier against an ex- pected millennium. Can Christians then be indifferent to war ? Can they be otherwise than friends of peace ? Can they stand uncon- cerned and see the cloud of war lower and gather black- ness, and not be instant in prayer that the God of nations, and the Prince of Peace, wUl avert such a national curse ? " Let us have peace." There is no necessity of War, and no benefit to be de- rived from it which may not be better secured by other means. There is no more need of fighting to settle a na- tional dispute than a private one. Sober, well-disposed individuals feel no necessity of appealing to arms to settle their controversies. Nor would nations, were they to act on the same principles. Two honourable, high- minded men have a misundei-standing — a dispute. P'^t they would quite forget themselves were they in hot blood to resort to fisticuffs, the dirk, Or the pistol. They would negotiate, explain, concede, and, if need be, arbi- trate. So will honourable, high-minded nations act. To act otherwise is to imitate, not honourable men, but fool- hardy duellists. Men or nations may get their blood hot and fight, il I- i 140 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN- and when they have played the fool and madman to their hearts' content, the dispute in hanu is no nearer settled than before they fought. Still they must settle the controversy by treaty — another word for negotiation — or by arbitratioD. The result of the war has been, not easier terras of reconciliation, or satisfaction on either side, but irritated passions on both sides, mutual hatred and animosity — the waste of millions of property, the slaughter of tens of thousands of lives, the woe and the want of thousands of widows and orphans, the burden of an enormous public debt, and the demoralization of two nations. How useless as well as how wicked is war ! But the question arises, can war in all cas'js be avoided? Certainly, all of aggressive war can be avoided — and all which originates in a misunderstanding, or from a contro- verted point. And this is all we contend for. If a nation invades another and forces a war upon her in self-defence, the case is altered — the war is justifiable while strictly kept within the limits of self-defence. We do not teach the doctrine of non-resistance. We are not passively to allow the assassin who invades our domestic sanctuary to dirk us at his pleasure. Our families, our friends, so- ciety and the nation have claims on us which we may not tamely yield to a vile assassin who has no claims. But in no case may we be the aggressors, or in any way the advocates, abettors, or voluntary agents. The man who takes the responsibility of sending out fleets and armies to kill, to burn, to waste and destroy ; to spread ruin among millions, to sow the seed of endless resentments, to stop the progress of civilization and drive the human race back again to the desert, ought to be very certain, very hearty in his hideous work. Buo we touch on our next and last topic — The Duty of all Christian Patriots and Friends of Humanity in reference to War. — If war be such an evil as has been faintiy portrayed, the question of duty is i> ALL WAR SHOULD BB AVOIDED. 141 madman to is no nearer ' must settle r negotiation bas been, not on on either utual hatred property, the woe and the the burden of iation of two is be avoided? ded — and all rom a contro- *. If a nation 1 self-defence, vhile strictly do not teach lOt passively tic sanctuary r friends, so- we may not claims. But >ny way the [he man who and armies spread ruin resentments, le the human certain, very plain. No friend of humanity, to say nothing of the patriot and Christian, can give the least countenance to this scourge of his race. He will deprecate it in his prayers — ^he will himself lead a peaceable life — he will be the ad- vocate and friend of peace. He will do all in his power to contribute his share to create a wholesome public sentiment on this subject. And perhaps in no other way can the patriot and the Christian, in a nation like ours, more effectually serve his country. We are not, and may never be, without men in high oflEicial stations, whose interest or whose hot blood and indiscretion would not, at almost any time, plunge us into a war. And what hinders that they should do so ? Nothing, humanly speaking, but the prevalence of an overpowering public sentiment against it. To this our rulers are obliged to bow. And though submission to public sentiment is obviously becoming more irksome to them than it was in the days of a truer patriotism, yet bow to it they still must. They cannot * have a war without, or contrary to, the will of the people. Some would plunge us into a war for party purposes ; some for purposes of ambition or private interest, or to gain no- toriety for themselves or others under a show of reputed philanthropy. Friends of Isuch an evil of duty is VII. INTEMPERANCE. THE SECOND GREAT TERRIFIC AGENCY FOR EVIL — A STRONG- HOLD OF THE DEVIL — ITS COST OF MONEY AND LIFE : IN AMERICA, IN THE CITIES OF NEW YORK, PHILADELPHIA, CHICAGO — IN ENGLAND AND FRANCE — INFLUENCE ON LABOUR AND INDUSTRY — ON MORALS — ^THE INTRODUC- TION OF OPIUM AND ITS EVIL. "We have traced the bloody footsteps of the Foe as he goes forth destroyiDg and to destroy, in the horrible en- ginery of war. We here direct attention to another line of his devastations and ruins among the sons of men : a line along which lie not less thickly strewn the trophies of his direful reign. We speak of Intemperance. We shall see, from a few selected examples, what a power for evil in the hands of our worst Enemy is the use of in- toxicating drinks. We shall name a few of the specificatio is in the count before us, showing some of the ways in w •'"'^ Intemper- ance is not among the least of the stron^nolds of the Devil — a fearful power for evil, and consequently a choice device with its Author and Finisher. And I. Intemperance works the destruction of an immense amount of property, and is the inveterate foe of human L — A STRONG- AND LIFE : IN 'HILADELPHIA, 5JFLUENCE ON EE INTRODUC- the Foe as he e horrible en- another line )ns of men : a ti the trophies Derance. We it a power for the use of in- in the count "•^ Tnteinper- guolds of the entl/ a choice f an immense foe of human The Bottle. STATISTICS OF INTEMPERANCE. 143 industry. This appalling evil costs our nation hundreds of millions annually. And it is a growing evil. Its on- ward march for the last ten years has been truly appal- ling. Dr. Hargrave, the eminent statistician of Pennsylvania, ' in an essay on this subject, presents the following figures: " By the census of 1870 we find there were distiSed in the United States, 80,002,797 gallons of spirituous liquors, which, if sold by retail, would bring the sum of 8616,020,- 679." It is settled by all the writers I have seen on the subject, that rectifiers, wholesale dealers and retailers ad- ulterate and compound at the rate of from two to four gallons for every one of distilled spirits, added between the still and the bottle and glass of the consumer — say but two for one. And add the imported spirituous li- quors at retail figures, and we have $1,864,523,688 for spirituous liquors in one year. " The same year there were brewed in the United States 5,114,140 barrels of fermented liquors, which at retail prices would bring $123,000,000." Add the imported at retail price, $2,626,- 660 ; add the imported wine of the same period a^ retail figures, $15,076,636, and then say that our home wine only amounts to the same, which is very far below the figures, for the Cincinnati Gazette said, two years ago, that Ohio made twice as much wine as was imported into the United States, and we have $31,353,270, giving the over- whelming grand total for drinks, $2,020,403,6f;4. To comprehend the magnitude of the cost of intoxi- cating drinks, let us go one step farther and compare its cost with some of the necessary productions of the coun- try. By the census of 1870, we find the value of the six leading productions of the country wer^e flour and meal, $524,000,000; cotton goods, $115,000,000; boots and shoes, $90,000,000; clothing, $70,000,000 ; woollen goods, $69,000,000 ; books, newspapers and job printing, $42,- 000,000. Total, $910,000,000. Thus we have the appal- 144 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. . ling fact, that the cost of liquors to drinkers in one year was $1,110,403,624 more than the value of all the flour and meal, cotton goods, boots and shoes, woollen goods, clothing, and printing of books, newspapers, and all other publications in the United States for the same year. The actual net cost of intoxicating drinks in the United States for a single yearwe have seen to be $2,020,403,624. Time lost by dnnking men, $739,020,579. Cost of crime caused by intemperance, $87,800,000. Cost of pauper- ism, $27,000,000. Cost of litigation and prisons, $241,- 000,000. The total proximate cost of intemperance, therefore, in the United States for a single year is $3,015,224,206. The civil and diplomatic expenses for 1862 were $11,- 595,188 ; and for 1863 were $11,066,138. Thus the peo- ple tax themselves over two hundred times as much for intemperance as the ordinary cost of the United States government. All the extraordinary appropriations for the government, including army and navy expenses, for 1662, were $313,261,629 ; and for 1863, $882,288,800. During these two years of terrible war, raising armies, equipping and clothing, ship-building and fortifying, the expenses of intemperance for one year were $1,819,723,- 777 more than all the war expenses of the nation for those two eventful years. If each of 140,000 licensed rum-sellers in the United States have twenty customers daily, then we have 2,807,- 000 tipplers on the direct route to a drunkard's doom. And, as we may calculate that one out of every thirty of these wiU, in the course of the year, become a confirmed inebriate, we have annually added to the disgraceful corps 933,574 confirmed sots. And yet more appalling is the record of 1870. Hon. David A. Wells, Special Commissioner of Revenue, gives us statistics which we fain would believe an exaggeration, did not the stubborn facts already stated pronounce the INTEMPERANCE AND LABOUR. 145 whole as but too true. " The value," he says, " of the retail liquor sales, that is, the first cost to customers, reaches in a single year the enormous sum of $1,483,491,- 865, being $43 for every man, woman and child' in the country." It is very nearly one-eighth of the cost of all the merchandise (including the wholesale of liquors) by wholesale and retail dealers, auctioneers and commercial brokers during the same period, which was $11,870,337,- 205. It is more than the entire product of precious metals from all the States and Territories west of the Rocky Mountains for twenty years, from 1848 to 1868. Mr. J, Rous Browne, in his recent report to the Secre- tary of the Treasury, estimates it a+ $1,165,502,848. One is horror-stricken at the aggregate of this gigantic power for evil which these figures in£cate. There are to-day 400,000 more men engaged in the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors than there are in preaching the gospel, and in all the departments of education the country through. The statistics of intemperance never can be compiled. We can only approximate to the evils resulting from the sale of liquor ; 60,000 annually destroyed ; 100,000 men and women sent to prison; 200,000 children to poor- houses and charitable institutions ; 600,000 drunkards- tell a sad but small portion of the story. The destruction of intellect and of soul cannot be computed. The sorrows and burdens of worse than widows and orphans surpass all arithmetical calculation. The loss in the deterioration of labour alone, among the moderate drinkers, cannot be less than $1,600,000,000. The amount spent for liquors, wholesale and retail, exceeds $1,000,000,000 — all worse than wasted. Add to this the cost of supporting the crimi- nals an-i paupers, the cost of manufacture, of price of grain, hops, etc., which amounts to more than as much more, and we have over two thousand million dollars in these items alone. Or take a single State. Let it be that of New York. 10 146 T^E FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. I I i And how stands the diead account here ? The first cost of the liquors annually consumed we find put down at $246,807,000.* And this is but an item. Suppose we add to this but one other, the waste of time and produc- tive labour, and the account is fearful. According to the census the population of the State of New York was esti- mated to be 3,831,777. Number of drunkards, (sots,) 8,340. Value of yearly lost time to the State by drunkards, (sots,) at $1.00 per day, $2,600,310. Value of lost time during their lives, $113,012,977. Number of regular drinkers, 83,400. Value of lost time to State, (their lives being shortened twenty-two years, and their sickness in- creased twenty-two and a half days each year,) $13,677,- 600. Value of time lost during their lives, $603,065,400, Total value of the yearly lost' time to the State from the habitual use of alcoholic liquor-s, $16,257,920. Total value of the lost time during the lives of habitual drinkers, $715,878,380, Tho loss to the State by occasional drink- ing has not been estimated. This statement shows but a small part of the actual loss from intemperance. The cost of tho poverty which seeks shelter in the almshouse — of the crime which employs an army of law officers — ^has not been added to these startling statistics. The deterioration of labour is a telling item in the ac- count before us : The Messrs. Ames, of north-eastern Massachusetts, who employ about four hundred men in the manufacturing business, certify that, under the operation of the license law, when their men had free access to liquor, the product of their work fell off 14 per cent, from what it was under the prohibitory law, when no liquor was sold in their vicinity. This ratio would make at least fifty millions * This is more than $60 for each man, woman and child in the State^ Or were we to assess upon our entire population the grand totsJ cost of intoxicating drinks in the country, we should be obliged to levy on each , man, woman and child a tax of forty dollars. In the State of New York are 21,242 licensed rum-shops and 6,750 ohurches. 4 If THE DETERIORATION OF LABOUR. 147 Q in the ac- difference, in the one item of labour, in favour of a pro- hibitory law in Massachusetts, and fifteen hundred mil- lions in the United States, from the deterioration of labour alone. Would we encounter the monster in his den we must go at once to the great emporium, where all that is bad (as well as all that is good) riots in all its hidecns orgies. We meet the following from reliable sources : It is estimated that the sum of $200,000,000 is invested in the rum traffic in the City of New York. The revenue received for licenses amounts to more than $1,000,000 a year. The arrests will average upwards of 2,000 per week, and nineteen out of twenty are caused by the use of liquor. An army of nearly 3,000 police officers finds constant employment because of the use of intoxicating drinks. A New York journal puts it thus : " We have one million population — one half native Ame- ricans, the other half born in foreign countries, of forty different nationalities. Forty thousand kegs of lager-bier are daily consumed. Fourteen million six hundred thou- sand kegs a year, and but 4,000,000 barrels of flour. The meat bill of the city wa^ $30,000,000 last year, (1868) and the liquor bill over $68,000,000. The amount of capital invGGtbd in manufacturing establishments is $65,000,000 ; invested in the 71 banks, $90,000,000 ; in the liquor busi- ness. $200,000,000— $45,000,000 more than in both manufactories and banks. >. here have been 68,880 ar- restb for intoxication and disorderly conduct during the past year, and there are 92,272 persons in institutions under the care of the Commissioners of Public Charities." There are in the city of New York 7,000 — some say 8,000 — grog-shops (licensed and unlicensed) against 350 Protestant churches ; /jOOO grog-shops against 500 pub- lic and private schools ; 35,000 persons connected with rum-selling against 400 Protestauat ministers and 3,000 teachers. The current annual expense of supporting these 148 THE rOOT-PRINTS OP SATAN. churches is about $1,500,000 ; that of the rum-holes from $40,000,000 to $50,000,000. In the Fourth Waid there are but two Protestant churches, (and three mission churches,) ten Sunday schools and mission houses, while the rum-holes in the ward would occupy both sides of Broadway from the Battery to the City Hall Appalling Facts.— There is a sufficient quantity of fer- mented and distilled liquor used in the United Stisites, in one year, to fill a canal four feet deep,, fourteen feet wide, and one hundred and twenty miles in length. I he liquor saloons and hotels of New York city, if placed in opposite rows, would make a street like Broadway, eleven miles in length. The places where intoxicating drinks are made and sold in this country, if placed in rows in direct lines, would make a street one hundred miles in length. If the victims of the rum traffic were there also» we should see a suicide at every mile, and a thousand funerals a day. If the drunkards of A merica could be placed in procession, five abreast, they would make an army one hundred miles in length. What an army of victims ! Every hour in the night the heavens are lighted with the incendiary torch of the drunkard. Every hour in the day the earth is stained with the blood shed by drunken assassins. See the great army of inebriates, more than half a million strong, marching on to sure and swift destruction — filing off rapidly into the poor-houses and prisons, and up to the scaffold, and yet the ranks are constantly filled by the moderate dnnkers. Who can compute the fortunes squandered, the hopes crushed, the hearts broken, the homes made d .olate by drunken- ness? Nor do we find relief as we turn to other principal cities of our land. Philadelphia' reports her 4,159 drink- ing places, and a proportionate share in all the misery, disgrace, demoralization and unmerciful expenditure of time, money, and all precious substance. And Chicago THE DEAD RIVER RAILROAD. 149 Loles from 'rotestant Sunday ES in the from the ity of fer- States, in feet wide, th. Ihe placed in ay, eleven ig drink» 1 rows in miles in here also» thousand could be make an army of •e lighted ery hour shed by nebriates, sure and or-houses he ranks «. Who I crushed, drunken- principal i9 drink- i misery, diture of I Chicago had the unenviable pre-eminence, while yet in her youth, of supporting 2,300 licensed saloons, and how many un- licensed dens our reporter quoth not. One to every 130 of her population, and one to every twenty-six of her male adulte ; and one house in every twenty -two is a dram-shop. There are spent yearly in that city, for in- toxicating beverages, $15,000,000, and $5,000,000 for tobacco and cigars, exceeding by far the entire aggregate of all her taxes, city, county and State ; and all moneys for the support of churches, education and charities. And what is the return ? Nothing but poverty, hunger, dis- grace, misery .and vice. The following " Statement of the Business of the Dead River Railroad " puts the thing in a shape worth repeating, though at the hazard of some repetition : ** 1. — 3From an accurate estimate it appears that this road is carrying 600,000 passengers per year, mostly young men, down to the condition of Gommoii Drunk- ards. " 2. — It is carrying toward destruction multitudes of the brave and noble young men in our army. " 3. — It has carried down to disgrace, poverty, and des- truction, many of the most talented men in the country, from the Bar, the Bench, the Pulpit, and the Halls of Congress. ** 4.— -It carries more than 1,500,000,000 of dollars to Destruction. A distinguished observer of facts says : • All the crimes on earth do not destroy so many of the human race, nor alienate so much property as Drunken- ness.* " 5. — If the families of drunkards average five persons, it carries untold misery and wretchedness directly to more than 1,500,000 people, a large proportion of whom are women and children. It sends 200,000 to the alms- house. "6. — 130,000 places are licensed to sell spirituous liquors in the United States and Territories. 390,000 150 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. \ 9 persons are employed in these grog-shops. If we add to them the number employed in distilleries and ^vholesale liquor shops we shall have at least 560,000 persons em- ployed in sending their fellow-mortals to premature graves. " 7. — It produces disease, crime, war, misery and death. No vice does so much to blunt the moral sensibilities and keep people from the house of God. It is the deadly foe to all moral and intellectual culture. We have more than four dram-shops to one school. " 8. — Crime is mostly caused by drunkenness. Crimi- nals cost the Uxiited States $40,000,000 per year. * 9. — The liquor traffic annually sends to prison 100,- 000 persons, reduces 200,000 children to a state worse than orphanage, sends 60,000 annually to drunkards' graves, and makes 000,000 drunkards. ** 10. — The people of the United States, according to the Report of Commissioner Wells, swallowed from the counters of retail grog-shops in one year, poison liquor to the value of $1,573,491,856. "11. — This terrible busintss against the laws oi God and man is rapidly increasing." We here append a statistical extract that presents the demon in yet another guise : * "Internal Revenue Statistics. — From the report of Commissioner Delano, we learn that the whole number of distilleries registered last year was 770, with a spirit- producing capacity of 910,551 gallons every twenty-four tours, making for ten months — the period usually run — 203,912,800 gallons. The revenue collections from spi- rit« alone amounted to $55,581,599.18 ; fermented liquors, $6,319,126.90 ; receipts from tobacco, $31,350,707.88 ; to- tal revenue, $185,235,817.97 ; thus making from whisky and tobacco nearly one-half of the entire revenue. The whole amount of spirits in market November 15, 1870, was 45,637,993 gallons, of which 36,619,968 gallons were 1, MANUFACTURE OF SPIRITS. 161 e add to wholesale ons em- remature id death, ities and jadly foe ore than Crimi- on 100,- be worse ankards' rding to Tom the n liquor 01* God mts the port of number a spirit- aty-four y run — rom spi- liquors, 88; to- whisky e. The , 1870, ns were out of bond, and 9,018,924 gallons in Govern jaent ware- houses. " The following are the approximate receipts for the year ending June 30, 1871 : APPROXIMATE RECEIPTS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 1871. Spirits. Brandy distilled from apples, grapes, and peaches $1,416,208.21 Spirits distilled from materials otner than apples, grapes, and peaches 29,743,974.32 Distilleries, per diem tax on 1,901,202.54 Distillers' special tax 5,681,34675 Rectifiers 959,703.08 Dealers, retail liquor 3,651,576.51 " wholesale liquor 2,149,916.03 Manufactures of stills, and stills and worms manufactured 5,823. 16 Stamps, distillery Wi^rehouse, for rectified spirits, etc 759,369.01 Excess of gaugers' fees 13,544.21 , Total, spirits, $46,282,463.82 Fermented Liquors. Fermented li(][uors, tax of $1 per barrel on. Brewers' special tax $7,159,333.86 229,807.87 Total fermented liquors $7,389,141.72 Total $53,671,605.54 " From the above facts we loam something of the im- mense power of a traffic that can afford to pay such heavy amounts ot revenue tax, and then roll up colossal fortunes upon the profits of the business. " The tax and profit, together with the original cost of manufacture, must come out of the pockets of the drinkers who spend the greater portion of their wages in this cHrection, and then wonder what makes them poor and their families wretched. Ponder the above facts and 3 ave your money." Few are probably aware of the magnitude of the beer 152 TflE FOOT-PBINTS OP SAT AK. i ; question. The consumption and the amount of capital employed, no doubt far exceeds the conceptions of the uninitiated. The beer aristocracy have their big Council, their Qrand Sachem, and fain would they have it that they act as the great conservators of morality. • But for beer how much drunkenness there would be ! With beer, we say, how is the highway prepared, and the broad door opened that leads to a surer death. But the Grand Council shall speak for itself, and tell of its own doings : In the National Beer Congress, at their ninth annual session at Newark, N. J., in June, 1869, the president gave the following statistics : Amount of capital invested m the United States in the manufacture of malt liquor, $56,856,638 ; value of land occupied in growing barley, $34,000,000; and 17,000,000 bushels were used the past year, 752,853 acres of land being devoted to the culture of the crop. 6,685,633 barrels of beer were manufactured during the year 1868, valued at $34,000,000, being an in- crease of $2,000,000 over that of 1 865. The total amount of capital employed, directly and indirectly, in the manu- facture of beer was stated to be $105,000,000, giving em- ployment to 6C.363 men. Or we arrive at a conclusion, in relation to our great metiopolis, no less startling by another mode of calcula- tion. The direct pecuniary cost of the article consumed, though enormous, and a thousand times worse than wast- ed, would seem but the smaller item in the cost of in- temperance. The loss of labour^ as already intimated, the damage done to the industry of a people, to say nothing of morals, is a yet greater item. The same expe- rienced statistician shall again furnish us data. No one has had better opportunities for a knowledge of facts than Mr. Van Meter, of the Howard Mission. In a recent re- port he says : *' I bive with great care prepared the following state- ment. It is established upon the most trustworthy offi- cial reports, much of which will be found in Dyer's Re- capital I of the Council, ) it that But for ith heer, ad door Grand doings : annual resident nvested i liquor, barley, ;he past culture iftctured r an in- amount ) manu- ing em- ir great lalcula- isumed, a wast- t of in- mated, to say i expe- No one tsthan ent re- state- ly oflSi- r's Re- DRINKtNG STATISTICS. 153 fort, recently published — the most astounding document ever read. I believe them, and therefore present them. Examine them, and if you are not satisfied, call on me at Howard Mission and Home for Little Wanderers, No, 40 New Bowery, and I will furnish you with the proof. There are in this city 5,203 licensed places selling intoxi- cating liquor. Superintendent Kennedy placed police- men at 223 of them for 24 consecutive hours, and this is the result : Each rum-hole receives a daily average of 134 visits, making an aggregate of 697,202 per day, 4,183,212 per week, or 218,224,226 visits in one year ! Each visit averages at least fifteen minutes. This gives us 5,455,605 days of ten hours each, or 1,848 years. At present wages, each one, if sober and industrious, would earn SI per day, or $5,455,605 in one year. But this is not all the lost time. The time of at least three persons is occupied by each grog-shop to do its work. This gives us 15,609 persons — enotigh to make a large city. At $1 per day for each, we have (not including Sunday) S4,870,- 008, or an aggregate of $10,325,603 of wasted time by seller and drinker — a sum sufficient to carry on all the Sunday-schools, missionary, tract and Bible societies in the land. But this is a mere fraction of the cost of rum. From the same source we have the following : Each rum-hole receives a daily average of $141.53, making an aggre- gate of $736,280.59 per week, $38,286,590.68 per annum, to which add the value of lost time, and we have $48,- 612,193.68. But the real cost cannot be estimated. Look at the thousands of shivering, hungry, hopeless little victims. "What svim would compens»ate for loss of character, domestic happiness, ruined husbands, wives, sons and daughters — for the absence of eve* y ray of light in this and in the world to come ? Still, were this con- fined to our Sodom, it would be comparatively a small mat- ter. But the nation is deluged with rum. The rum- seller drags down to deepest infamy and woe many of our most eminent statesmen and bravest generals, our 154 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. most distinguished judges, lawyers, ministers, artists and profound scholars. The destroyer lurks around our dwel- lings, watching for us, and those dearer than life to us." Or take the following as confirmatory of what has been said: " Statistics of New York City. — The population of New York City is about 1,000,000. There are about 7,000 grog-shops and 470 churches, chapels, and missions of ad kinds. About $70,000,000 is spent for intoxicating drink, an $3,000,000 for public education ; $7,000,000 for public amusements; $3,000,000 for the support of the police. About one-half of the population are from foreign countries, representing forty different natioDalities. There were 18,000 marriages, 31,000 births, 24,601 deaths dur- ing the year. " 17,000 emigrants land per month. 418 Sabbath- schools, with about 130,000 in regular attendance. About 40,000 children out of the public schools ; 163,493 chil- dren in the city. "Local taxes, $23,300,000; federal taxes, $50,000,000. The mayor estimates 2,000,000 gallons of domestic spi- rits and 600,000 gallons of foreign wines ; 100,000 gal- lons of foreign spirits ; 400,000 kegs of fermented linuor ; 50,000 dozens of champagne, are consumed. The bare tax on these amounts to $2,000,000. The police arrests last year were 75,692, of which 34,696 were for intoxi- cation and disorderly conduct ; 141,780 persons were ac- commodated with lodgings at the police station ; 8,840 is the average number of persons continually in asylums, hospitals, etc. " It is estimated that at the last season the 26,870 visi- tors at Saratoga Springs spent $1,000 per day at the wine room, and $800 at the bar for liquors, making nearly $200,000 for the season." Nor does Pennsylvania present a fairer record than New York. So lucrative is her liquor business, that her government received in a single year an income of $317,- WHAT GREAT BRITAIN PAYS. 155 ii^ts and ur dwel- fe to us." has been I of New ut 7,000 isions of xicating ,000,000 •t of the . foreign . There bhs dur- abbath- About 93 chU- )00,000. tic spi- )00 gal- linnor ; lie bare arrests intoxi- ere ac- ,840 is ylums, visi- e wine nearly i than at her $317,- 742 for licenses ; a handsome sum indeed. But, for the same year, what did the traffic cost her ? For one item she had 24,000 criminals and paupers, four-fifths of whom are made so by strong drink. These cost the State $2,- 260,000 a year, or more than six dollars to each voter, and seven times the income for licenses. A dead loss this of nearly $2,000,000. And this is but one of the lesser items. The cost of the liquors, the loss of time and labour, and the damage done to all sorts of industrial pursuits, swell the amount beyond calculation. In Pennsylvania there are 79,800 rum-sellers, and 16,870 school teachers. Cost of supporting schools, $5,863,729; value of liquors consumed, $831,487,000. Does it pay? And yet we have not brought into the account the greatest item of alL "We mean the general demoralization of a people. Some one has estimated, and we apprehend with too much truth, that the consumption of intoxicating liquors in this country for the last fifty years has cost more than the whole aggregate of the wealth of the nation at the present moment. And the " prince and power " of alcohol levies a tax not less grievous on Great Britain. And France flows with wine, and Germany with lager-bier. We hear of England paying $70,000,000 a year tax on spirituous liquors, and $7,000,000 to benevolent purposes. And how must London be distancing, in the ignoble race, our great metropolis ! Some one tells us of one hundred and fifty gin-palaces and public-houses in one mile square in the eastern portion of London, |which take from the hard earnings of the people not less than $2,250,000 a year. The "Alliance News," the organ of the United Tem- perance Societies of Great Britain, states that during the year 1870 more than £130,000,000, or $650,000,000, was directly expended in the United Kingdom for intoxicating drinks. If we simply double this sum for waste, wear and tear in the use of these drinks — for waste of time, loss of labour, damage to industry, and the use of capital 156 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. invested in the traffic, we have $1,300,000,000, or more than 83,500,000 a day ; that is to say, the entire amount annually contributed oy all the churches in England for benevolent purposes* would defray the cost of her drink- ing habits but two days. As some one has said, " forty sovereigns placed on each verse of the Bible would not represent the money spent in Great Britain for into^cat- ing drinks every two days." The thirty-two millions of people 7!i Great Britain are said to consume annually 26,000,000 barrels of beer. New phases of the same tale are presented by different ones as they attempt to draw the sad portrait. We give other English statistics. The following figures are fur- nished by reliable authorities : iil 12,000,000 are annually spent for intoxicating liquor, employing 186,096 persons in its sale ; adding the indirect col ., such as the loss of labc ir, destruction of propert}', public and private expense of pauperism, criminals, police, etc., arising from drinking habits, and it makes an aggTegate of £200,000,000. There is one pabiic- house to every 182 of the population, and one in every 34 homes ; 1,281,651 persons were on the books of Parish Unions as paupers, January 1, 1870. The capital inveyter' '*, estimatedat £117,000, and the imperial revenue derived i'rom. the trade last year was £24,820,000, or more than one-third of the whole revenue. The Westminster Review says : " Drunkenness is the curse of England — a curse so great that it far eclipses every other calamity under which we suffer. One bun- dled and fifty thousand workmen go to bed drunk "every Satui'day night in London alone. It is impossible to exaggerate the evils of drunkenness." In "The Vital Statistics of Strong Drink," the Kev. D. Burr.d exhibits the annual loss of life in the United King- dom as 54,263 : * C}ritr'bution8 of English churches for foreign mission, $3,296,296 ; for horn 9 objects, $4,000,000. Total, $7,296,295. , WIUiT FRANCE PATS. 157 or more amount land for r drink- , "forty •uld not tomcat- tain are sr. lifferent »Ve give J-re fur- nnually persons loss of expense rinking . There >n, and on the U The nperial 20,000, is the eclipses e hun- ' every ble to lev. D. King- 96,296 ; By intemperuioe directly 27,050 By its iiequencea, (m disease, accident, etc.) 20,261 By limited drinking 6,962 There are 353,270 licensed shops in the United King- dom, and the estimated amount spent for liquor yearly is £102,886,280. England consumes 11,000,000 gallons of whisky a year ; Ireland, 4,773,710 ; and Scotland, 4,907,- 701 gallons. And the liquor record of France is scarcely less appal- ling. Hon. £. C. Delavan estimates the total value of intoxicating drink in that country, during the year l865» to be $1,516,546,000. According to the following state- ment, nearly $1,000,000,000 are invested in this vortex of destruction : "In France, notvrithstanding the cheapness of wine, brandy is one of the staple drinks. The annual product of wine is over 900,000,000 gallons. From this, there are manufactured 23,600,000 gallons of brandy, of which only 7,000,000 gallons are exported. The annual consumption of liquors in France is as follows : wine, 770,500,000 gallons ; beer, 80,000,000 gallons ; brandy, 16,600,000, or an average of twenty-four gallons for every man, woman and child of the population. Cardinal Acton, the supreme judge of Rome, said, 'Nearly all the crimes in Rome originate in the use of wine.* Dr. Wald, of Konigsberg, Germany, said that in the States of the ZoUverein, accord- ing to official returns, there is a yearly consumption of 367,000,000 quarts of alcoholic liquors, at a cost of one hundred and twenty-two millions of dollars, mostly drawn from the earnings of the lower classes." But the misery of intemperance does not stop here. Three-fourths of the criTne in our land is to be set to its account. And of course three-fourths of the taxes paid, for jails, criminal courts, and prisons are taxes paid to intemperance. And also three-fourths of our pauperism must be set to the same account. Gonsequently, when a taxpayer pays a tax of forty dollarSj he has the satisfac- •I It' it 158 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. tion of knowing that thirty dollars is a tax paid to intoxicating drinks ; and to support a class of men, a thousand times worse than useless, who traffic in these prinks. Tt is one of the strange things of our world that a {)eople should supinely suhmit to pay such a tax to a oatnsome vice. And why do they? Simply because a worthless part of the community wish to drink, and another portion as worthless wish the profit of the traffic. These will feel aggrieved if you interfere wi'./ii their prac- tice or their trade. No one need be ignorant of facts here. As a specimen, we have the result of a personal and careful examination of all the prisons, county jails and poor-houses in the State of New York, made by Mr. Chipman, a citizen of Albany. We will take a single County (Queen's) as a specimen : Whole number committed to jail in one year, 70 : tem- perate, 9 ; doubtful, 6 ; intemperate, 55. Of the six doubt- ful cases, two were vagrants, probably interaperatb, and (me an Irishwoman. Whole number in poor-house, 31 : not from intemperance, 2 ; doubtful, ; intemperate, 29. The above vouched for by the proper authorities. Here we have 58 out of 70 in the prison and 29 In the poor-house as the victims of intemperance. Cases like the following, which came under Mr. Chip- man's observation at the Police-office in Albany, are not uncommon in the annals of Intemperance : " The wife of a very respectable mechanic applied to be sent with her three children to the alms-house. The hus- band had been in good business — ^received $1.50 per day and employment enough. But for some weeks he had absented himself from his shop ; spent his time in drink- ing, and his earnings and credit to pay for it. His family are now gone to be supported by the public from the earnings of the sober and industrious. The vendor of ardent spirits has his money." AU is loss, and a thousand- INSTEAD OF FOOD A POISON. 159 paid to men, a in these [ that a ax to a because nk, and 9 traffic, lir prac- lecimen, unation in the bizen of 's) as a ): tem- doubt- th, and ise, 31 : Eite, 29. Tn the , Chip, re not I to be e hus- T day le had irink- amily n tlie ior of isand> fold worse, except to the trafficker. And his gain is paid finally from the earnings of the sober and industrious. While the traffic brings a shilling into the pocket of the vendor, it subtracts a dollar from the pocket of the hones^, hardworking community. A justice of the peace and jail commissioner of Toronto, Canada, says that nine out often of the male prisoners, and 19 out of 20 of the female, have been brought there by in- toxicating liquors. In four years there were 25,000 pri- soners in the jails of Canada, 22,O0O of whoin were brought there by intoxicating drinks. But there is another way to approximate the cost of this evil. Among other items from the foreign press we find the following startling facts relative to the manufac- ture of strong drinks : — "45,769 acres of land are employed (in England) in the cultivation of hops ; and 1,000,000 acres to grow barley to convert into strong drink. If the land employed in growing grain for the aoove process of destruction was to be appropriated to the production of gr^n for food, it would yield more than a four-pound loaf for each of the supposed number of human beings in the world. Or it would give three loaves per week to each family in Great Britain. Besides 40,000,000 bushels of barley, a considerable quantity of oats, rye, carrots and potatoes, and even wheat, are annually destroyed in making gin, whisky and English rum. The com wasted in brewing and distilling in England would feed 3,000,000 persons, every year." The land occupied in the growth of barley and hops for the brewer- ies of Great Britain and Ireland would produce more than twice as much wheat as is annually imported. ^ But we have no need to go from home for oud statistics. In our own country more than eight millions of capital are invested in the manufacture of malt and spirituous liquors, which employs 5,500 men. And more than 50,000,- 000 bushels of grain, (including rye, com and barley,) and vast quantities of apples, are yearly perverted in the manti- ■:-^ ! I I 160 THE FOOT-FBINTS OF SATAN. facture of intoxicating drinks : and at present prices, at a cost, and dead loss to the nation, of scarcely less than $50,000,000. And there is yet another item to be added to this fear- ful expenditure. It is, as we have said, the loss of industry to our natioiu. The wealth and strength of a nation lies very much in the amount of her productive labour. Let us see how the *' sin " of Intemperance " reigns unto death " here. The intemperate man defrauds the community in a great degree of his labour. And besides this the use of his property is nearly lost to society. Instead of a useful man, he is a sot-— which means, he is good for nothing at home or abroad. If he find not an early grave, he will b*)come as poor and beg- garly as he is worthless. It is estimated that there is a loss of life to the nation of twelve years' average on each drunkard ; which is a dead loss to the United States, for every generation of her 600,000 dninkards, (at only 50 cents per day each) of $1,126,800,000— or an annual of $93,400,000. But this curtailment of twelve years of life on each drunkard is perhaps a less loss to productive industry than the loss of labour while he lives. He is not only a lounger and idler in a great degree himself, but it requires many more to help him abuse and squander time. And we should probably be within the mark if we were to add another $90,000,000 for this item. And to this we must add the time of distillers, traffickers, retailers and all sorts of loungers and loafers, who are a sort of camp-followers to his Alcoholic Majesty, and we have a waste of industry fearfully ominous. Again,^ it has been ascertained to be the opinion of commercial men, that at least three-fourths of shipwrecks, loss of property, and disasters at sea may be traced to the too free use of intoxicating drinks. And the same is true of steamboat and railroad disasters, and stage coach accidents. Indeed, turn which way we will, we are sure THE RECORD OF A SINGLE CITY. 161 { ) to meet the ravages of this dire Destroyer. Take a single city, and that nob a large one, and behold the tax paid to the tyrant Rum. Intemperance in Newark. — The following statistics, re- lating to the manufacture and vending of intoxicating li- quors in the City of Newark, have just been compiled by a committee appointed by the pastors of that city : The number of places where intoxicating liquors are sold, fer mented and distilled, is about 864 ; during last year there were manufactured in Newark 189,974 barrels of beer, upon which tax was paid. The aggregate cost of liquor retailed and drank in Newark for the past year is esti- mated at $5,000,000. During the last year 1,251 persons were committed to the county jail, the aggregate* incar- cerations amounting to about 135 yeai-s ; five-sixths of these commitments were the result of intemperance. Of 864 liquor dealers of the city, 745 sell without a license. And aside from these direct and certain losses, the evil influence of intemperance is felt through every branch of industry — ^retarding our advance as an enter- prising, prosperous nation — lessening the value of the labour of its victims to an immense amount, and in a thousand ways occasioning loss which it is impossible to estimate. Let the history of a single tavern or grog shop, which has been at its work but five years, be fully and correctly ascertained, and it would be a tale of hor- ror — a history of ruined families, broken-hearted wives, squandered fortunes and premature deaths. What, then, must be the devastation on our national prosperity of hundreds of thousands of these withering engines of ruin ? A little article in the Young Reaper, entitled " A Year's Work of Draiji-selling," is multum in parvo : " Carefully compiled statistics show that sixty thousand lives are annually destroyed by intemperance in the Uni- ted States. , _ 162 THE FOOT-PEINTS OF SATAN. " One hundred thousand men and ■women j»re yearly sent to prison in consequei 3 of strong drink. " Twenty-thousand children are yearly sent to the poor- house for thft same reason. " Three hundred murders are another of the yearly fruits of intemperance. " Four hundred suicides follow these fearful catalogues of miseries. " Two hundred thousand orphans are bequeathed each year to private and public charity. " Two hundred million dollars are yearly expended to produce this shocking amount of crime and misery, and as much more is lost from the same cause." But the expense of intoxicating drinks on the part of the consumer, and the consequent waste of property and damage to industry, and downright demoralization of the practice of drinking, is but one count in the matter. We are to* bring into account, (though with less sympathy,) the expense — at least the moral loss and waste, on the part of the manufacturer and vendor. It almost inevitably de- moralizes the man at once, and puts him on the descending grade, and is sure to entail on his posterity a condition worse than his own. so that the last state of that man is worse than the first. We look perhaps in vain to find a business so connected (perhaps inseparably connected) with deception counter- feiting and fraud, as the liquor business. So common are spurious liquors — the sheerest counterfeits, and not un- frequently poisonous, murderous counterfeits — that few, if any consumer of the present day knows what the gen- uine article is. Take for example what are claimed to be imported wines, and judge, from the following statement, how little chance the purchaser has of getting the article paid for : 4 " The United States are represented to be the largest consumers of champagne in the world, and the consump- tion per annum is estimated to be one million baskets. ADULTERATION OF LIQUORS. 163 l-rgest imp- kkets. The -whole champagne district is about twenty thousand acres, and the amount of wine manufactured for exporta- tion is ten million bottles, or about eight hundred tbous* and baskets. Of this, Russia consumes 160,000 ; Great Britain and her possessions, 16S,000 ; France, 162,000 ; Germany, 146,000; and the United States, 220,000. The New York Custom-house, through which passes a large amount of the champagne imported into this country, re ports only 175,028 baskets per annum. Seven hundred and eighty thousand baskets, therefore, of the wine drank in this country for imported champagne, is counterfeit— an amotmt equal to the whole supply of the champagne district for the world." To this we may add the following testimony of one who seems to know whereof he affirms : "Gross Dishonesty of the Liquor Traffic.— 'M.T, Udol- pho Wolfe, the celebrated dealer in Schiedam schnapps, has recently issued a pamphlet, furnishing the results of his own experience and observation, proving the criminal practice of the liquor trade in the general adulteration of liquors, and the extensive concoction of "spurious articles. He states that while the returns of the New York Custom house show an importation of 20,000 half casks of brandy, 35,000 quarters, and 23,000 eighths, twenty or thirty times that number are sold to retailers and country dealers as genuine French brandy. Three-fourths of all foreign brandies and gin are imported for the express purpose of adulteration. The Custom-house books show that one man who has sold thousands of gallons of a certain kind of foreign liquor, has not imported more than five pipes in five years. He gives a list of the vegetable and mineral poisons and acids that are employed in this work. He also states that the greater portion of the foreign brandies that are impoi'ted are whisky sent from this country to be returned with a French brand as genuine French liquors." Or would we read a yet more disgusting page in the 164 THE F0OT-PRnn3 OP SATAN. history of this vice of " so frightful mien," we m&y read it in the annals of the present " Whiskj-^ Frauds ; " which had assumed such gigantic dimensions, and presented so barefaced a front of dishonesty and fraud, that even drunk- en consumers seemed to blush for shame, and government officials could no longer be bribed to silence. Not satisfied with the ruinous workings of their vile traffic on their beleaguered dupes, while they were themselves rioting on their immoderate gains, they perpetrated, as if by concert or common consent, one of the most stupendous frauds against government which in this age of frauds have been perpetrated. Discern ye not the foot-prints of the great enchanter here ? Comparisons often give the most striking comprehension of numbers. The clergy in the United States are said to cost $12,000,000 , lawyers, $70,000,000 ; criminals, $40,- 000,000; rum, wholesale, $680,000,000— retail, $1,500,- 000,000; with the loss of time and industry included, on 600,000 drunkards, or 1,000,000 more or less fatally ad- dicted to strong drink ; and an annual loss of 60,000 lives — and many of these men capable of contributing the most esjentially to the industry and general prosperity of the country. As a confirmation of foregoing statements, we quote a paragraph from Dr. Edward Young, chief of the Bureau of Statistics : " During the last fiscal year the receipts from retail liquor-dealers who paid $25 each for license amounted to $3,650,000, indicating that there were 146,- 000 retailers of liquors in the United States. By includ- ing those who escaped paying license fees, estimated at 4,000, the number is increased to 150,000, who, on ar. aver- age, sold at least $4,000 worth of liquors each, making $600,000,000, as before stated. These figures are sufficiently startling, and need no exaggeration. Six hundred mil- lions of dollars ! The minds of few persons can compre- hend this vast sum, which is worse than wasted evony ybar. It would pay for 100,000,000 barrels of flour, aver- \ I' >i RUM AND LIGEKSE FEES. 165 ,11 aging t'^o and a half barrels of flour to every man, woman and child in the country. This flour, if placed in waggons, ten barrels in each, would require 10,000 teams, which, allowing eight yards to each, would extend 45,455 miles — nearly twice round the earth, or half way to the moon ! If the sum were in $1 notes, it would take 100 persons one year to count them. If spread on the surface of the ground, so that no spaces should be left between the notes, the area covered would be 20,446 acres, forming a paral- lelogram of six by a little over five and a quarter miles, the walk round it being more than twenty-two and a half miles " And a word does the same statistician here add on the opium question : " The influx of Chinese," says he, " has introduced a new luxury, viz., opium, prepared for smo- king, the importation of which for the last year was 315,- 121 pounds, of the value of $1,926,915. "A careful inquiry among druggists reveals the fact that there are in New York city* about 5,000 confirmed users of opium in its various forms of sulphate of morphia, laudanum and the crude root. The ranks of these inebri- ates embraces all classes of society, from the lady of Fifth Avenue to John Chinaman of Baxter Street. The drug is sold by many respectable druggists over the counter without a physician's prescription, but, as a general thing, only to known and regular customers who have become thoroughly used to it. Sometimes a stranger can get it, but it is only because his appearance unmistakably indi- cates that he is an old opium-eater. ' You can always tell *em,' said a worthy up-town druggist. ' There's some- thing about their expression, about their complexion and eyes, and about their nerveless manner, that tell on 'em at once.' " Sometimes the unfortunate, brought to a low ebb by the cravings of the horrible appetite, will steal all the evc*y , aver- * From th« New York Commercial Advertiser. ' 1 I' 1C6 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. laudanum he can find in the stort. A respectably -dressed lady was recently detected by a ckirk in a druj^ store on Fifth Avenue hiding a bottle of laudanum in her dress. The devilish appetite destroys all moral sense as surely as it ruins all the physical faculties. " The opium m its crude state is sometimes bought and greedily eaten on the spot. 'They chew it,' says one druggist, *as you would chew wax.' The crude opium, however, is not the favourite form of the drug among the confirmed eaters. It is used more generally both for eat- ing and smoking by the Chinese pagans in the dark cel- lars of the Sixth Ward than by any other class of cus- tomers. It takes longer than morphine to affect the sys- tem, and the principal desire of the inebriate is to betake himself to that gorgeous land of fancies, that delicious garden of perfect rest to which morphine at once trans- ports him. Sulphate of morphia is the favourite form of the druff, and it is in that state that our New York devro- tees mainly use it. Some of the doses taken by the ' sots * are enough to kill half a dozen men inaocent of the habit- ual use of it. One lady some time ago bought ten grains of it and drank it off at once without leaving the store. An old gentleman, well known in this city for his extreme age, is said to be in the habit of taking twenty-five grains of it daily." Til's newly-discovered remedial agent, hydrate ^j chlo- ral, is fast becoming a popular and dangerous stimulant. Chloral drinking, according to the physicians, is super- seding absinthe, opium and alcoholic stimulants among the better classes. An insidious sedative, its use grows more dangerously on the tippler than more actively in- toxicating drinks. The manufacture of this drug is the of the extent of its use. In Europe become one of the leading chemical is sold by the ton. Baron Liebig German chemist manufactures and best evidence its production has industries, and it affirms that one sells half a ton a week, The London Spectator says ; • CHLORAL AND TOBACCO. 167 "Taking chloral is the new and popular vice, parti- cularly amonff v^omen, and is doing at least as much harm as alcohol. The drug is kept in thousands of dressing-cases, and those who begin its use often grow so addicted to it that they pass their lives in a sort of con- tented stupefaction. Chloral drunkards will soon be an admitted variety of the species." Did space allow, we might present the use, the cost and the evil of tobacco as a counterpart of the use and evils of alcohol. Let it suffice at present to quote a single extract from an important report on the subject. It exhibits the quantity used, and the internal revenue from the same, leaving us to infer the enormous expense of the consump- tion. Israel Kimball, head of the tobacco division of the In- ternal Revenue Department, has prepared a paper for the use of uhe committee on ways and means, in which he estimates the number of consumers of manufactured to- bacco and cigars in the United States at about 8,000,000, giving to each indi'/idual consumer an average of 11 pounds and 14 ounces of tobacco, and 167 cigars, the basis of calculation being the 95,000,000 pounds of manufactur- ed tobacco and 1,3S3,000,000 of cigars on which taxes were collected during the fiscal year ending with June last. The average would be larger if the tobacco manu- factured and sold illegally were added. From * other estimates, Mr. Kimball reaches the conclusion that the tax on tobacco has in nowise diminished its consumption, and that the fact that the government collected last year taxes on upward of 95,000,000 pounds of manufactured tobacco, shows that the taxes are very closely collected amounting in all to $25,000,000. And we may add a* word on The Effects of Smoking. — ^A French physician has in- vestigated the eflFects of smoking on thirty-eight boys, be- tween the ages of nine and fifteen, who were addicted to the habit. Twenty-seven presented distinct symptoms . ! 168 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. of nicotine poison. In twentv-two there were serious dis- orders of the circulation, indigedtion, dulness of intellect, and a marked appetite for strong drinks ; in three there was heart affection; in eight, decided deterioration of blood ; ten had distur ^i s^ , , and four had ulceration ol the mucous membrai.v oi ;; o mouth. Some one calculated -^ ^ - y the working classes in Groat Britain pay for alcoi. jiic I '>rages £60,000,000, or $300,000,000 annually, a tenth part of which would suf- fice to carry forward the operations of all the benevolent societies in the world. Last year England paid to the government a tax on spirits of $70,000,000, and scarcely more than one-tenth that sum to all her benevolent insti- tutions. I I ill VIII. immnBiMCE.-{Continued.) A DEADLY FOE TO NATIONAL PROSPERITY — THE INTEBl. ^a • ATE MAN NO FRIEND TO HIS COUNTRY—COMPLETE DE- MORALIZATION OF THE WHOLE MAN, PHYSICALLY, MEN- TALLY, MORALLY — THE AUTHOR OF THE SADDEST CALA- MITIES ON LAND AND SEA, AND IN THE EVERY-DAY WALKS OF LIFE. If the worst of intemperance were its pecuniary cost, we have shown it to be one of the most virulent enemies of man, and a most effective agency of Satan for mischief. But dollars and cents are here but the merest beginnings of evil, stupendous as this is. Intemperance is a moral upas that breathes blasting pestilence and death on every side. No interest is secure from its mildew ; no relation is too sacrsd to be assailed ; no position or employment in life that does not wither under the poison of its touch. We shall chronicle a few more of the wasting desolations of this pitiless scourge, and — The ravages of intemperance appear again in their rela- tion to civil liberty and good government. The intemper- ate man, and all whose business it is to furnish the intoxi- cating beverage, are bad patriots. They not only invest an immense amount of capital in unproductive stock — in fin enterprise which produces nothing but ruin to n^ttion^/l <»*— «w ■WW— m II ?1f 170 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. prosperity, but they withhold f Ae77i«gZve8,mentally,moraUy and corporally, from the service and benefit of their na- tion. It is a maxim with us that virtue and intelligence blended are essential to the prosperity and even to the continued existence of a republican government. I need not say that intemperance is point-blank opposed to both virtue and intelligence, and consequently the enemy of our government. It is as demoralizing and debasing as it is impoverishing. There is no one vice which so com- pletely disqualifies a man to perform his duty at the polls — nothing which so confuses his brain and perverts his judgment— and nothing which, in £he eyes of law, ought sooner to be regarded a civil disability. Every producer and every consumer of ardent spirits is, as far as his prac- tice goes, an enemy to iihe best interests of his country. Where have there bean mischief and crime, poverty and distress, fightings and murders, woe and death, and the demon of intemperance was not there ? Yet there are found men calling themselves patriots, and perhaps would resent not being called philanthropists, who are reckless enough to introduce an engine at the polls for the very purpose of disqualifying men to take a dispassionate view of the best interests of their country, and making them act for personal or party purposes. But let us here open the annals of intemperance and copy a single page as touching our national prosperity. The calculation in the following items is made for ten years. Though the scourge has been somewhat dimin- ished, yet so fearfully does intemperance still prevail in our land, that it is not necessary to do more than make a moderate abatement in the facts. The appaUing harvest of the Arch Destroyer for the decade of years would seem to stand thus : 1. Intemperance has cost our nation the last ten years (wholesale for liquors) a direct tax of $080,000,000 each year, and an indirect tax of as much more. 2, It has in the ten years destroyed 600,000 lives. INTEMPERANCE AND PATRIOTISM. 171 norally leir na- lligence L to the I need to both aemy of EisiDg as so com- ihe polls . i^'erts his V, ought producer his prac- country. erty and , and the ihere are ps would ) reckless le very ate view ng them mce and osperitJ^ for ten ,t dimin- )revail in an make harvest uld seem ien years 00 each ivea. 5. It has sent a million of men and women to jails and lisons, and a million of children to the poor-house. 4. It has instigated the commission of 3,000 murders, and caused 4,000 suicides. 6. It has made 200,000 widows, and bequeathed to public or private charity a million of orphans. 6. It has destroyed by fire, shipwreck, or other disas- ters induced by intemperance, property to the amount of $50,000,000 a year, or $500,000,000 for the decade. 7. It has endangered the fair and rich inheritance left us by our fathers, and fixed a foul blot on the fair fame of America. Who, with such facts before him, will call himself a patriot, and not rise in his might and take up arms against the common foe and drive him from the land. ? Or we may estimate the national evil of intemperance by contrast. The direct annual tax of intemperance to the United States we have stated to be $680,000,000. If devoted to other and useful purposes, it would do either of the following things : It would construct a railroad 34,000 miles in a single year, at $20,000 per mile ; or. It would, in a single year, furnish a Bible to every family on the face of the globe ; or. It would, in the same period, build 1,360 ships of the line, at $500,000 each ; or, It would build a city of 136,000 houses, at a cost of $5,000 each, sufficient to accommodate a million of peo- ple. Less than half this sum would support 300,000 young men in college at $500 a year ; or support 200,000 mis- sionaries at $1,000 per annum ; or, It would buy a farm costing $4,000 for each of the 150,000 paupers in our country. Mow, is he a patriot who would foster — who would license a system which is at work ro diametrically against our national prosperity — imdermining-the morality of the r ill 172 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. nation, — wafltinc; its substance, — weakening its strength, and with fearfulhavoc preying on the life of its subjects ? Again I say, the whole liquor-producing and hquor- consuminff n'aternity are bad patriots. We will examine for a moment the deadly ravages of intemperance on mind. And hero again we shall find " sin reifipoing unto death." On this point a learned physician and professor in Columbia College, Dr. Sewall, says : " Here the influence is marked and decisive. The inebriate first loses his vivacity and natural acuteness of perception. His judg- ment becomes clouded and impaired in strength ; the me- mory enfeebled and sometimes quite obliterated. The mind is wandering and vacant, and incapable of intense or stead"'^ application to any one subject. The imagination and tlie will, if not enfeebled, acquire a morbid sensibility from which they are thrown into a state of violent excite- ment from the slightest causes. Hence the inebriate sheds floods of tears over the pictures of his own fancy. I have often seen him, and especially on his recovery from a fit of intoxication, weep and laugh alternately over the same scene. The will, too, acquires an omnipotent ascen- dency over him, and is the only monitor to which he yields obedience. The appeals of conscience, the claims of domestic happiness, of wives and children, of patriotism and virtue are not heard. " The different powers of the mind having lost their natural relation to each other, the healthy balance being destroyed, the intellect is no longer fit for intense applica- tion or successful effort — and although the inebriate may, and sometimes does, astonish, by the wildness of his fancy and the poignancy of his wit, yet in nine cases out of ten he fails. Where one has been able to struggle on under the habits of intemperance, thousands have perished in the experiment ; and some among the most powerful minds the world ever produced. On the other hand, we shall find, by looking oyer the biography of tiie great in every age, RAVAGES ON MIND AND MORALS. 178 that those who have possessed the clearest and most pro- found minds, neither drank spirits nor indulged in the pleasures of the table Sir Isaac Newton, John Locke, Dr. Franklin, John Wesley, Sir William Jones, John Fletcher, and President Edwards furnish a striking illus- tration of this truth. One of the secrets by which these men produced such astonishing results, and were able to perform so much intellectual labour, and of so high a grade, and to arrive at old age in the enjoyment of health, was a rigid course of abstinence." It is a matter of melancholy history that the use of ardent spirits has made worp**. havoc among the intellectu- al powers of man than all other evils that have befallen the human mind. It is here the great destroyer. But for a blush of shame we might instance sad cases of intemperance among some of the brightest lights of our land. Some have fallen to rise no more. Others have yielded to the seductive snare to their own dishon- our and their friends* shame. Would that we could ex- cept any clfJ3s — even the most sacred order, that has not made an ue willing sacrifice to this horrible Moloch. An enemy hath done this. Intemperance works death on a man's moral powers. Here the havoc is awful. Intemperance is a foe to moral- ity and rtligion. Select the most amiable, industrious, domestic and moral man, aud withal one that is apparent- ly religious, and see what a change may be produced in a few months by tht habit in question. He is now a good husband ; a kind and tender father ; an obliging neigh- bour ; an affectionate friend ; honest and prompt in his dealings. He is cheerful and happy at home, and re- spected abroad. He ca-lls the Sabbath a delight — his seat is filled in the sanctuary — the Bible is the man of his counsel — the family altar sends up the morning and even- ing incease. He finds the ways of wisdom pleasant and all her paths peace. Such is the man as nature and grace has made him r 174 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. i k i i But let us see what alcohol will make him— what tippling — what habitual drinking will make him. No sooner is the habit fixed on him than a change is apparent. He becomes impatient, peevish, ill-natured. His home has fewer attractions. The milk of human kindness begins to dry up ; the sensibilities of his soul to wither. As a husband he is less tender and affectionate ; as a father, less kind and indulgent. He is less friendly and obliging. All but one of his attachments are diminishing; that is grow- ing and strengthening day by day. He gradually absents himself from the church J first, that he may lounge at home ; then, that he may lounge and tipple at the grog-shop or the bar-room. The Sab- bath i? profaned, and with that, moral restraint loosed. His neglected Bible scarcely remains as an ornament of the table or mantel-piece. The family altar is forsaken, and his once happy home becomes a desolation to him. He gradually loses all regard for morality and religion, becom^^s profane, misanthropic, and insensible to every- thing but the gratification of a vitiated appetite. He neither relishes nor is he fitted to enjoy any but the society of the lewd, the base and the worthless. He is no longer capable of enjoying pleasure except from the grosser animal passions. Consequently, he becomes a voluntary outcast from virtuous and decent society, a companion of the bold blasphemer and the abandoned sot. What a change ! What destitution of the native no- bility of man ! There is about him less of the man than of the brute. And what has done it ? The use of ardent spirits has done it. Such desolations in the condition of man have been too often produced — such prostrations of all that is amiable and dignified in human nature have too frequently taken place, and under our own observa- tion, to allow us to deny the humiliating fact that intem- perance is the cause. The seeds of virtue never take root and vegetate, nor will the tender plants thrive where the soil is wet with the poisonous waters of the distillery, or 'S\i THE SIEOCCO OF MORAL DEATH. 176 ippling ooner is nt. He ome has s begins r. As a ,her, less ing. All is grow- ;h! first, y lounge :he Sab- it loosed. anment of forsaken, 1 to him. religion, io every- any but ess. He '.' from the J jcomes a ociety, a )andoned ative no- 1 : nan than )f ardent ',\ dition of '.! ations of ire have observa- 1 nt intem- w| iake root here the illftrv- or »/ fanned by the fumes of alcoho' The fires of devotion will soon go outif you pour on them these watersof death. Piety evaporates ; morality looses its silver cords and throws the reins of passion loose ; conscience is hushed in slumber ; the sensibilities of the heart are benumbed ; the "strong man," alcohol, enters and takes possession of the house. Did you ever know a case where the moral worth and beauty of the man did not begin to wane and continue to wane in proportion to the progress of intemperance ? Of this we need no further evidence than the well-authenticated fact that three-fourths of the crime in our land is the legitimate child of intemperance. Three-fourths of the thefts, murders and arsons, three-fourths of the quarrels and litigations are to be set down to the same account. It is the sirocco of moral death passing over a man. It prostrates everything before it and leaves nothing but a black desolation in its track. And it will of course follow that when a man has once forfeited his moral worth, he as soon loses his reputation and self-respect. His actual standing in society is low — though every ef- fort may be made to keep him up for what he has been. His reputation is ambiguous ; he has done violence to his nature as an intelligent and moral being, and cannot be regarded by men in their sober senses as otherwise than debased. Indeed, he is a witness against himself. He feels the spirit of a man depart from him the moment he yields his independence to the slavery of intemper- ance. Aa he finds himself neglecting, or unfit to per- form duties which were once his honour and his pride, frequenting places where once he would have blushed to be seen, and associating with company " whose fathers he once would have disdained to set with the dogs of his flock," how must his very soul loathe himself. His mo- ral character falls in the scale in proportion as he de- scends in the road of hard drinking. And if a good name is rather to be chosen than silver and gold, wha an argument have we here to touch noty taste not, handle not. 176 THE POOT-PRINTS OP SATAN. The connection of intemperance with immorah'ty and crime does but again illustrate the magnitude of the evil in question. Our enemy is fully conscious of his power here, &nd is not slack to use his advantages. By no other devic(3S does he so effectually people the dark realms of the Pit. We shall subpoena witnesses who will on this point testify to what they know, and bear witness to what they have seen ; and we shall incline to receive their wit- ness as true. We have, first, Engluh Judges on Strong Drinks and Crime. — There is scarcely a crime comes before me that is not directly or indirectly caused by strong drink. — Judge Coleridge. If it were not for this drinking, you (the jury) and I would have nothing to do. — Judge Patteson. Experience has proved that almost all crime into which juries have had to inquire may be traced, in one way or another, to drunkenness. — Judge Willie /nri8.\ I find, in every calendar that comes before me, one unfailing source, directly or indirectly, of most of the crimes that are committed — intemperanx^e. — Judge Wight' man. K all men could be dissuaded from the use of intoxi- cating liquors, the office of a judge would be a sinecure. — Judge Alder son. This we shall follow by a " Judicial Testimony " of one who, with a long experience and judicious observation, gives the following Judicial Testimony. — Roland Burr, Esq., justice of the peace in Toronto, and jail commissioner for nearly twenty years, in a statement to the Canadian Parliament, says that nine out of ten of the male prisoners, and nineteen out of twenty of the female, have been brought there by intoxicating liquors. He examined nearly 2,000 prisoners in the jails throughout Canada, two-thirds of whom were males, and nearly all signed a f 3tition for a Maine liquor law, many of them stating that their only hope of being aaved from ruin was to go where intoxicating liquors JUDICIAL TESTIMONY. 17: could not be sold. In four years there were 25,000 prisoners in the jails of Canada, 22,000 of whom were brought there by intoxicating liquors. He has kept a record of the liquor dealers of a single street in Toronto, 100 in number, for 54 years past. In these families there have been 214 drunkards, 45 widows, and 235 orphans left, 44 sudden deaths, 13 suicides, 203 premature deaths by drunkenness, 4 murders, 3 executionw, 1,915 years of human life estimated to have been lost by drunkenness, and a loss of property once owned in real estate amounting to $293,500. Sin, in the shape of intemperance, reigns unto death phys'UxdIy. It works an immense amount of tiatural death. And first we meet intemperance as the insidious foe to health — the sapper and miner of the constitution. On this point we are particularly indebted to the Medical Faculty. And, bj^ the vay, we feel pleasure in acknow- ledging that the caure of temperance is, in this respect, more indebted to gentlemen of the medical profession than to any other class of men. Though the prevalence of temperance will endanger their craft more than any otLei' ('inless it be that of the lawyer), yet they have come up nobly and given an unequivocal testimony against the vice, and lent the full weight of their influence in favour of reform : testimony and influence the more valuable as given in opposition to their pecuniary in- terests. The large and highly respectable body of physicians called before a committee of the British Parliament, at the instance of the Hon. Mr. Buckingham (late traveller in this country), composed of several hundreds of the most eminent of the profession from England, Scotland and Ireland, unitedly declared that " intoxicating drinks are never necessary to men in health, but on the contrary are always hurtful : that they are in fact poisonous, like opium, arsenic, nux vomica and prusci" acid, and other substances which God haa given to be used in small quan- 12 178 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN, titles for medical purposes, and ^vhich, if so nsed, may be productive of wholesome results, but which it would be preposterous to think of using as a beverage." The following may be taken as some account of the manner in which this potent foe invades the human system. Stone after stone is made to fall from the firm fabric till the whole lies in ruins. " The habit once formed, the whole system," says one, " soon bears marks of debility and decay. The voluntary muscles lose their powers and cease to act under the con- trol of the will, and hence all the movements become awk- ward, exhibiting the appearance of fcitiffness of the joints. The positions of the body are also tottering and infirm, and the step loses its elasticity and vigour. The muscles, and especially those of the face and lips, are often affected with a convulsive twitching, which produces f he invciur tary winking of the eye, and quivering of the lip «o f^aar- acteristic of the intemperate. Indeed, all the motions seem unnatural and forced, a?. 'f ro^strained by some power within. The extremities are at, i-^ngih seized with a tre- mor, which is more stronglv markod aft,«v a recovery from a fit of intoxication. The lips Ic-o tlicir significant ex- . pression — the complexion assumes a sickly leaden hue, or is changed to an unhealthy, fiery redness, and is covered with red streaks and blotches. The eye becomes watery, tender and inflamed, and loses its intelligence and fire. These symptoms, together with a certain dropsical appear- ance about the eye, bloating of the whole body, with a dry, feverish skin, seldom fail to mark the habitual dram- jlrinker. And they go on increasing till the intelligence ;cr.d dirrnity of the man is lost in the tameness and sensu- aiitv oi the brute." Such are some of the tokens of distress which tortured » I at Arc ^'iv'es of violence from without. The strongholds -.f -iv M;m aro giving way. The fortress is yielding. 'I' Hough unseen and unsuspected, morbid changes are tak* O 1 within, fatal and irretrievable. M: PHYSICAL TOKENS OF DISTRESS. 179 i, may be would be mt of the lan system. fabric till ' says one, voluntary ier the con- Bcome awk- 'the joints, and infiriD, [he muscles, [ten affecte.i \ he invc lUiL j lip "0 char- the motions 1 some power with a tre- covery fro^^ niticant ex- fiden hue, or id is covered »mes watery, ,ce and fire, lical appear- lody, with a litual dram- intelligence Is and sensu- lich tortured strongholds is yielding. Ichanges are The use of ardent spirits deranges the functions of the stomach, and, if continued, changes its structure The inebriate first loses his appetite and becomes thirsty and feverish ; he vomits in the morning and is affected with spasmodic pains in the region of the stomach. He is often seized with dyspepsia, and either wastes away by degrees or dies suddenly of a fit of cramp in *he stomach. The liver, the brain, the heart and the lungs, each in their turn fall a prey to the ravages of the great des- troyer ; and a long list of diseases, some of one organ and some of another, are the legitimate results of intem- perance. But it stops not in any preliminary work of death. It actually peoples the grave with more victims, and hell with more inhabitants than disease, pestilence or war. I am not going into the blood-chilling details here. A few shall suffice ; and I shall content myself with a few of a single class. Whose blood has not been chilled on reading the heart- sickening accounts of the loss of the Kent, the Mothsay Castle, the Ben Sherrod and the Home ? — to say nothin, of scores of other accounts of more recent date and scarcel ^ less disastrous. And whose indignation against the use of intoxicating drinks does not rise when told that the.^^e were tfte authors of such death-glutting disasters ? The Kent was an East Indiaman of 1,400 tons, and had on board more than 600 souls, all of whom must have per- ished in the flames or sunk beneath the waves, but for the timely relief of a passing ship. Eighty-one lives were lost. The vessel took fire from the carelessness of a drunken soldier. The destruction of the steam-packet Rothsay Cattle is still more appalling. She was wrecked on her way from Liverpool to Dublin, in 1831. Here more than one hun- dred men, women and children, in a single hour found a grave beneath the billows of the deep. This "dreadful I .(i ft r- m W- :i 'I. 180 THE FOOT-PRINl'S OF SATAN. catastrophe, which destroyed some of the most useful lives in England, is chargeable to the drunkenness of her com- mander. He fell a victim. But we need not go beyond the records of our own country to find some of the most appalling monuments to intemperance. Many a heart still palpitates with grief, and many an eye fills with the big tear at the remem- brance of the 5en 5f/ierro(Z or the ^ome. » i The former was crowded with passengers of every rank, * age and sex, and moving majestically up the great river , of the West, and when all were locked fast in the embrace of sleep, (May 9, 1837,) a drunken crew were preparing the engine to burst in all its dreadful fury. One hundred • and fifty died an excruciating death. The ^eport of the Committee of Investigation says : "At the time the Sherrod took tire, thf- hands on duty were in a itate of intoxica- tion, having access at all times to a barrel of whisky placed forward of the boiler deck Tor their use ; " and that "the engineer furnished the firemen with large quantities of brandy or other spirits as an inducement to keep up excessive Cn es, with the view of overtaking the Prairie, then ahead of them." Or who can forget the heartrending scene of the steam- boat Home ? ^ith 90 or 100 passengers, and a crew of 43, she left New York for Charleston, 1837. Seldom has a ship's company numbered on her list so many persons of char."i,cter and respectability. Many who had been spending the summer at the north, vere returning with glad hearts to the bosom of their families. Husbands and wives, parents and children, lovers and friends, were an- ticipating a speedy and happy reunion as they stepped on board the magic-named and speed-famed vessel, the Home. *• But alas, how difterent their destiny ! They were at the mercy — not of the raging elements, the fire or the storm but of a drunken captain. Sixty hours had not elapsed' when they presented a scene which beggars all , description. §r'\ THE WRECK OP THE HOBIE. 181 ** The boat strikes — she stops, motionless as a bar of iron. A mo.nentar)'^ pause follows, as if the angel of death shiunk from so dreadful a work of slaughter. But soon the work of death began. • A breaker, with a deafen- ing crash, swept over llie boat, carrying its unfortunate victims into the deep. Heartrending were the cries and shrieks of those who were calling for help as wave after wave showed them struggling amidst the billows, or of , those who expected the next wave to submerge them in the yawning abyss." There was seen the mother with her little ones clinging about her, in vain imploring a mother's protection, till a merciless wave swept them away together. Husbands and wives — some clinging together as if knit by the embrace of death — others see a fond partner torn away by the resistless torrent a/ J 'mried beneath the waves. A lady was seen standing on the deck as the second wave swept over, with an infant pressed to her bosom. The child was torn from her arms and thrown upon the angry deep. "The ])Oor woman," says an eye-witness, " sprang from the deck with a loud shriek and leaped into the foam after her babe," and they perished together. But there was another scene. While some were frantic, some prayed, some were petrified from fear, others flew to the bar for liquor, and spent the last hours of their lives in drinking, cursing and swearing. The bar had been closed, but those already mad with intoxication, and re- solved to have more, rushed on the bar and broke it open. Some endeavoured to persuade the bar-keeper to destroy his liquors, but he would not sacrifice so Qnuch property ! "Poor fellow!" adds the narrator, "he did not live to enjoy his gains." * But why proceed ? The whole affiiir was one of un- mingled wretchedness and woe. N'mety-Jive human beings were thereby plunged in a moment into a watery grave ; and more than twice ninety-five families were bathed in tears and clad in mourning. 182 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. I ■i.M And what was the cause ? It was, I say again, the in- competency of an intoxicated captain. It was the habit of taking a little when one thinks he needs it. The cap- tain called himself, and his friends called him, a temperate drinker. He took a little wine and cordial as. he thought he required it. And by-and-by he was so intoxicated as to be obliged to yield the command of his vessel to another, but not till it was too late to save ninety-five useful lives and thousands of property. How long will men continue to patronize their worst foe ? Such instances as I have here alluded to, ought to be emblazoned on the annals of Temperance, and be made to ring in the ears of its friends to elicit their compassion for human woes and to fire their zeal ; and in the ears of its opponents, till they too shall unite their efforts to dis- lodge this monster scourge from his dwelling among men. Where war has slain its millions, intoxicating drinks have slain their tens of millions. Where war has cost its millions, • Intemperance has cost its tens of millions. The little fin- ger of Intemperance is thicker than the body of the demon of war. But its cost, either in the destruction of property or in the awful havoc it makes of human life, is not the worst of it. Intemperance, as we have seen, is a deadly disease on the immortal spirit. It not only fills this world with wretchedness and woe and death, but it does more than all other evils to fill the nether world with its miserable inmates. It works death temporal and death eternal. It is a poisonous evil — a devouring monster, leaving nothing in his train but poverty, woe and death. Once throw yourself into his deadly grasp, and you have surrendered all, and received nothing in return but shame, disgrace and ruin. Alas, what has not Intemperance done as the angel of death to people the grave ! Not even the bloody annals of war equal the death-record of rum. Here is the Devil's stronghold among men. . ^ IX. THE PERVERSION OF INTELLECT. MENTAL RESOURCES AND ACTIVITIES-— MIND THE PRIME MOVER OF ALL ACTION — OF ALL POWER — LITERATURE — SCIENCE — HISTORY — MUSIC, AND THEIR SAD PERVER- SION. " Knowledge is power" — a power either for good or for evil. All actioD lies in mind. Muscle is nothing ex- cept as the servant of mind. It acts only as set in motion and guided by this wonderful yet unseen agent. You see riding proudly upon the bosom of the ocean a noble man-of-war. It is a grand achievement of human power. Every mind, field and forest — every species of human skill and power, were employed in its construction ; yet that mighty thing was once but an idea — a thought. Or you board an ocean steamer, and contemplate aU its mag- nificent arrangements — the varied skill in its construction and fitting up, and the power that moves it over the face of the angry deep, and you have again before you but an elaboration in all its varied forms of a thought. In like manner we may trace back to its humble inception in some mind the idea of the present steam power. What is now ramified into all the multifarious forms of engine- ry — what is now embodied in all the modes of steam- 184 THE POOT-PhlNTS OF SATAN. power, whether to propel the mighty steamer, the rail- way-car, or the wheel of the manufacturer — the whole was once a thought in the mind of an individual man. How from step to step the thought unfolded — how, from the most imperfect inception it developed al!d grew into colossal stature and gigantic powers and endlessly riiulti- plied forms, would set at defiance all efforts to delineate. We allude to it here simply to suggest the h^undless re- sources which lie hid in the human intellect. We meet here an exhaustless mine. The deeper you delve, the richer and the more abundant the ore. Great revolutions have been the result of simple and often accidental thought. Political ideas may sometimes be expressed by a single word or sentence, which becomes the watch- word for millions, and turns the scale in the des- tiny of empires. The effect of a simple song, founded on one thought, is untold. In our own country great politi- cal changes have been ensured, and Presidential cam- paigns have been won, by the influence of a stray thought which has become current, and adopted as a rallying cry for the enthusiasm of political parties. It was a brilliant and beautiful inspiration that entered the mind of the artist and the philosepher, when in his studio he conceived that the dull iron might thrill with immortal ideas, and might be made to bear messages from land to land, and perhaps encircle the world with its countless wires. But it was realized ; and by means of that thought the world is to-day annihilating time and space, and making the hearts of nations beat with simul- taneous emotions. The mind of one man produced the idea of the expan- sive power of steam ; another confirmed it ; another used it with a beam to pump water ; and James Watt devel- oped, contemporaneously with Dr. Black, the law of latent heat. The application of this law to mechanics led the inventor to a beautiful combination of principles and ap- pliances, and the steam-engine, elevated to the rank of the WHAT THOUGHT DOES. 185 great motor of civilization, has raised the world by a more than Archimedean lever to a far higher level of progress and development. An unknown and humble man conceived the idea of using steam to paddle vessels, but the inventor struggled through life, and died without realizing his hopes. John Fitch never saw the success of his plans, but Fulton de- signed a rotary paddle-wheel ; and now all over the world steamers ply their rotating feet, and float on every tide. Neptune rides in a mighty floating palace, and oceans are crossed with scarce a fear. But the press, the great " art preservative of all arts " — printing owes its existence to the simple idea of stamping letters rudely cut on a block. Out of that incident grew the art which is now, and must henceforth be, the world's great teacher. With a few ])ieces of metal, curiously shaped, it prints on paper thoughts and words that sweep over the world. It is the wonderful and genuine thought- machine which kindles the fire, and wakens the intellect, and moves the countless thoughts of millions of minds. The energy and action — the revolutions and changeswhich have resulted and will yet result from the original idea, are beyond conception. - " The apple that fell at the feet of the philosopher started a thought out of which grew the demonstration of laws and principles in science which unfolded a whole domain of unperceived truth, and enabled the mind to weigh the spheres, and compute motions of celestial mechanism for immense periods of the future. We are in no danger of overrating the power oi thought. There is inherent in it an energy, the capabilities of which we are in no condition to estimate. All our inventions and discoveries, all improvements and reforms are but the realizations of thought. But this power, like all the powers subordinate to it, is an agent for good or for evil, according to tiie influence which guides it, or the purpose to which it is directed. Fire, water, steam, electricity, are '%'' A ""* 186 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. as mighty for mischief, when left uncontrolled, or when devoted to hurtful purposes, as on the other hand they are mighty for gocnl when benelit..ally applied. The lightning uncontrolled, is the sure agent of devastation and death ; hut when guided by the hand of science and made the seryant of man, it becomes an agent of locomo- tion swifter than the wind, bearing messages of love and executing errands of business to the remotest ends of the world. And not only do we discover in the human intellect the hiding of all power, either for good or for evil, but we here meet a power that is capable of an indefinite increase or expansion. Education, in -its t>rue and etymological sense, is not a process whereby any new faculty is added to the mind. To educate ij to educe, to draw (yiit, to de- velop what is already in the mind. In every school of learning, in ever}'- process of mental discipline, there is an unfolding of mind, an expansion of mental power, and consequently there is a corresponding responsibility for the right use of this increased mental power. Unto whom much is given, much will he required. I might dwell on the i*esponsibility and urge the duty of an honest devotion of whatever of origijual talent, or of mental acquisitions we may be possessed, to the cause of truth and righteousness. But it is rather the design of the present chapter to conduct the reader over the ravages of sin as we shall meet them in the perversions of the hv/man intellect Behold, what desolations our Enemy has made here. It would need none of jhe romance of hope or of specu lation to divine what our world would soon become if there were no such thing among men as the perversion of talent — ^if all learning and science and art-— if eloquence and poetry and logic, and mental training and endowments of every kind, were devoted only to the real and lasting welfare of man. But what do we find to be the melan- choly fact ? What hath the enemy done here ? How EDUCATION IS DEVELOPMENT. 187 little of learuing subserves the cause of truth, of right, of freedom, of religion ! How little of literature — of poetry, of history, of eloquence or art ! How small a poiiion is engaged for Qod and his cause ! The usurpations of the Enemy here are melancholy indeed, and almost universal. The thought finds a melancholy illustration in actual life. We might adduce any number of examples. Among the most brilliant and gifted men and popular writers, we number such men as Lord Byron, Voltaire, Hume, Gibbon, Bousseau, Paine. They were giants in intellect, and withal they were endowed with talents of a popular char- acter, fitted to exert the highest order of influence on other minds. But what influence did they exert ? What mark have they left behind them ? In the social and moral influence left behind th^m, they have been as the scorching sirocco that passes over a fertile and beautiful land. It may be said of them mor- ally, as the prophet said of a desolating army which he describes : " The land before them is as the Garden of Eden, and behind them a desolate wilderness." Man is scarcely the victim of a more blighting curse than that inflicted by the pen of a corrupt and corrupting, yet popu- lar writer. And how sad the use some of the most gifted men of the present day are making of their talents. We might here instance, were it necessary, any number of popular writers of the present day, whose mighty minds and ready pens and eloquent tongues, if they had been employed to illustrate and defend the truth with only the same' zeal and assiduity they have engaged in perverting and oppos- ing it, they would be mighty men in the earth. " One sinner destroyeth much good." In nothing does this aph- orism hold more sadly tjue than in respect to the influence exerted by one commanding mind over the minds of the mass. If every thought is a power, and every thought expressed is a power exercised for good or for evil, then we maj' estimate, in some degree at least, what resouices for 188 THE FOOT-PBINTS OF SATAN. evil are garnered in the perverted intellect of a single great mind. Whether he write, or speak, or act, there is following in his wake a multitude, who, as he leads them, will go on to do evil. We may select any of the modes by which mind gains a supremacy over mind and directs it whithersoever it will, and our thoughts will be abundantly illustrated. Poetry has a charm over the mind of immense power. Yet how extensively is this noble art wrested from its high level, from which it tends to elevate the mind, to creations of its own, to rouse the better passions of the soul, to in- struct, and to move to right feelings and actions, and brought it down to grovel with debasement and moral corruj tion. How often it has been shamefully surrendered to the enemy, and he has used it without stint, to corrupt, to rouse the latent passions of a nature already corrupt, and to urge to feelings and acts which curse our common inheritance, and bless not. Eloquence is a rare power, too, among the elements that move to action. It is a mental power; developed and used for the control of other minds ; and when used only to persuade man to right action, or to the adoption of right principles, it is truly a divine art, as well as mighty. But how little of this noble art is as yet devoted to the real interests of man, the • establishment and defence of the truth, or thfe support of human rights, or the promotion of human happiness ! How extensively is this divine art employed merely to amuse as its better function ; while, what is a thousand times worse, how much oftener is it employed to mislead, to deceive, to fortify error and wrong — to make the worse course appear the better — not to bless, but to curse. I cannot better illustrate what I mean than by the aid of a contrast recently drawn by an unknown, yet not an unpractised pen. It is of two men of professional lift who recently died in the city of New York. They were both born of religious parentage, educated under the most fav- ^HP'' THE STRAIGHT AND VABR(SW PATH. 189 ourablo circumstances, and both fiUed a large space in the public eye. Both have gone to their rest, and now the impartial verdict may be passed upon their lives and the fruit of their professional labours. The death and burial of both, nearly simultaneous, seems to admit of running out a parallel, instinctive even if painful : They started alike in life under the most favourable prospects for usefulness and elevation of character. They travelled the same road together but briefly, and when they separated, one took the "straight and narrow path'* which leads to life, and the other the " broad road which leads to destruction." One espoused the cause i of Christ, and devoted time, talents and the energies of a long min- istry to the cause of his blessed Master. The other gave his rare native gifts, and the industry of weary, toilsome years to a profession which yields only the most bitter fruits of unrighteousness. One laboured untiringly thi ough life to lead men to seek their spiritual &afety to-day, and to advance their true happiness by following the way or positive religious duty. The other, not less diligent in the walks of a public profession, insidiously seduced men from their allegiance to Christ, by ridiculing the character of his disciples and caricaturing their professions and prac- tices. One was engaged in every good word and work, striving to elevate the character of his fellow-travellers to eternity, and valiantly defending the truth at the hazard of personal sacrifice and suflering. The other devoted his life to the frivolity of the stage and its consequent dissi- pation, and by example, if not precept, led many of the young into snares from which they were never extricated The life of one was a beautiful illustration of the power, of faith in elevating and purifying character, in sustaining protracted suffering, and giving serenity and submission to an afflicted disciple. The history of the other shows the power of the sensual appetites and passions. One enjoyed the respect of all good men and the love of a large circle of eminent Christian friends. The other had 190 TBt FOOT-PRINTS OP SATAN. the approbation mainly of men of similar habits and loose moral propensities, with but few to adhere to him in the hour of sickness and sorrow. One died the cheerful, happy disciple of a beloved Master, ready to go when summoned, and who is now in the possession of the ** unspeakable joy " piomised the Christian. The other, " without hope or God in the world," suifered bitterly on his dying bed, remorse biting like a serpent and stinging like an adder; lamenting, while he had contributed so much to the sensual mirth of others, he himself had been the victim of the sorest dejection and grief. One was carried to the grave, surrounded by the sympathies of earnest triends and the warmest affection of Christians whose memory will long be fragrant with the churches. The other died under circumstances of peculiar gloom, leaving few incidents in a frivolous and wasted life, to cause society to mourn his departure. Comments are needless and might seem invidious. The one has heard his Master say : " Servant of God, well done." And, greeted by a goodlj'^ company which he had guided to the heavenly Zion, and followed by the bene- diction of thousands who wait still the Master's call, he enters his eternal rest. But what, when viewed from his standpoint before the tribunal of the great God, does the great comedian now see in the life-elevation of his no less gifted mind, and probably more brilliant talents, that can minister one drop of satisfaction now? Does he wish his works to follow him ? Would he now be greeted by the array of that great multitude, which, during a long and much applauded professional course, he had the most effectually helped onward in their downward course in the broad road to death ? I pause only to ask the young man now buckling on the harness for life, endowed witJi brilliant talents, and aspiring after great things, in whose footsteps he would choose to tread? Would he follow in the career, and seek the world-wide renown of William E. Bui;ton ? Or POWER OP A GOOD LIFE. 191 course in would he, as an humble, faithful disciple of Jesus Christ, and a minister of the New Testament, like James W. Alexander and George Whitefield, yield himself up a servant of the Crucified One, and seek honour with God by turning many to righteousness ? ^ But there is yet another class, whom, though I would not rank them in the category of the classes before named, are satisfied to employ their mental endowments in a department of literature which can scarcely claim a higher office than that of catering to the transient, and too often not the innocent amusement of readers. We cannot too deeply regret that such rare, brilliant, commanding talents for popular writing as are possessed by such authors as Dickens, Bulwer, and scores of writers of that class, should not have made their great power felt in a higher sphere of inteDectual and moral teaching. It seems but a melan- choly perversion, a sad waste that such powers should aspire to nothing higher than to amuse, — and perhaps sink so low as to demoralize. "An enemy hath done this : " and scarcely do we else- where discover ravages over which the good man should more bitterly weep. What could not such men do if their glowing minds and warm hearts were enlisted on the side of truth and righteousness. A moment's contrast will again confirm what I assert. Contrast the class of men to whom I have just referred, with such men as Samuel J. Mills, Howard, Wilberforce, Harlan Page, Knill, and Payson — ^all of them men of moderate talents, compared with the authors I have named ; and what have they done ? I speak not so much now of the quantity of the respective doings of the two classes as of the quality. The one is engraven on the marble, the other written on the sand ! I am doubtless safe in saying that Samuel J. Mills — neither a poet, philosopher or sage — neither a genius, a scholar or a wit — contributed more, in the simple truths he preached during a very brief ministry, and the plans of benevolent action he devised, to the real 192 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. enlightenment and the true progress of his race — left more behind him worthy to be remembered, and did more for the substantial good of man, than all the sceptics, all the learned infidels, all the writers of fiction and comedy, and all the religious errorists from the beginning of the world to the present time. Being dead, he speaks more than their whole united voice combined. But we should here not overlook, as strongly corroborat- ing what I have said of this class of men, that, while we may thus hold them up as examples worthy of all imita- tion as having made an unusual consecration of their powers, they themselves indulged the humiliating thought that they had done little compared to what they vrdght have done — that the devotion of their talents and oppor- tunities had been but partial. Nothing gives a sure, lasting and wholesome efficacy to our intellectual efforts — nothing makes mind truly in the right direction, but the power of a good life. " We have," says Dr. Chalmers, " many ways of doing good to our fellow-creatures ; but none so efficacious as leading a virtuous, upright and well- ordered life. There is an energy of moral suasion in a good man's life, passing the highest efforts of the orator's genius. The seen but silent beauty of holiness speaks more eloquently of God and duty than the tongues of men and angels. Let parents remember this. The best in- heritance a parent can bequeath to a child is a virtuous example, a legacy of hallowed remembrances and associa- tions. The beauty o^ holiness, beaming through the life of a loved relative or friend, is more effectual to strengthen ,8uch as do stand in virtue's ways, and raise up those that are bowed down, than precept, command, entreaty, or warning. Christianity itself, I believe, owes by far the greater part of its moral power, not to the precepts or parables of Christ, but to his own character. The beauty of that holiness which is enshrined in the four brief biographies of the Man of Nazareth, «has done more, and will do more, to regenerate the world, and bring in an THE LEARNED PROFESSIONS. 193 -led more [ more for ;s, all the nedy, and the world than their orroborat- while we f all imita- n of their ig thought hey might and oppor- res a sure, tual efforts section, but . Chalmers, itures ; but it and well- lasion in a ;he orator's tess speaks ;ue8 of men le best in- a virtuous id associa- ^h the life strengthen those that ^treaty, or by far the ►recepts or ?he beauty four brief more, and [ring in an everlasting righteousness, than all the other agencies put together. It has done more to spread his religion in the world than ail that has ever been preached or written on the evidences of Christianity." We can, in the nature of the case, take no more than a surface view of the perversions to which allusion has been made. Could we. penetrate into the secret springs of action we should be astonished to find how little of the world's activity is as yet set in motion by consecrated talent. We turn to the learned professions : the Qospel minis* try, the law, and medicine. These three professions embrace a very large share of the talent of a nation, and, of consequence, exert a very controlling influence on every class of a eommunity. We would that we might pass by the first as too destitute of illustrations to detain us. But alas, it if. not so. Though no profession devotes so much of its real and lasting talent to the good of man, yet a tale too sad may be t>ld here. We shall now leave out of the account the priestly orders of all false religions, though it is here that we meet the most lamentable perversions of talent anywhere to be found in all professional life. For it is among false religions that nearly all the learning of a nation is monopolized by the priesthood ; and if it be used, as facts show it for the most part is, to foster superstition, to enslave mind, and to crush liberty, it is one of the most wholesale, unblushing, wicked perversions of talent and Satanic malignity ever devised, or that the Arch-Fiend ever practised. It is rather to the clerical profession as it exists under its best form, as the ministry of the evangelical church, that reference is made. No profession, as 1 said, devote* so large a proportion of its talent to the best interests of man, whether for time or for eternity. Yet, by one perver- sion or another, how large deductions are we often obliged to make from the intellectual efficiency they might have rendered ; while the most devoted class have grievously to 13 * 1194 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. lament their lack of entire consecration of mind, soul and spirit, to the great work of their calling. The profession of law is a noble profession. It is, when taken ajs embracing jurists and judges, legislators and exe- cutors, the guardian of some of the highest and dearest of man's eartmy interests. Man's relations to man, and the duties proceeding from these relations, are second onl}'^ to his relations and duties to his God, and in the divine arrangements they are not separated. The ^ofession in question is charged with these interests — to define these relations and to enforce these duties. They are, in the most extensive sense, the ministers of justice, to define, enforce and defend its claims. The science of government falls within the sphere of their high and responsible duties. And withal this numerous class of men possess a veiT large share of the talent of our coimtry, abundantly fitting them to meet duties so onerous and honourable. What opportunities has the statesman to play the patriot and use the highest order of talents for the noblest of pur- poses ; yet often, shrinking in the merest^ truckling poli- tician, his country would be the better if he had no ^ents at all And who has a nobler field than the lawyer — ^to stand forth the defender and dispenser of justice — nobly to serve his fellow-men in those mazes and intricacies of life where most they need a friend ? But how often is he the worst friend justice has to fear ; he makes right wrong, and his tender mercies are cruelty. If every statesman were a true patriot, and every poli- tician a true man, and every lawyer an honest jurist, soon would our world be, at least civilly, S0(nally and commer- cially, prepared for that golden age, so often sung by pro- phets and sighed for by all who wait to welcome the res- titution of all things through the Mediatorial King. ^ I shall leave to the sons of i^sculapius to determine whether there be among their fraternity any special in- tellectual waste. A very sacred trust is committed te OUR OENERAli LITERATURE. 195 them ; and the fraternity embodies large treasures of learning and science — of native and cultivated talent. But it is not easy for the uninitiated to enter into the penetralia of their art, and determine how far the OTeat mtellectual resources and the large fund of experience possessed by the craft are made to subserve the best sanitary interests of their respective communities. Has the healing art advanced with the advance of knowledge and science? Similar remarks will probably appear not the less just if applied to general literature. Of two thousand writers in our land, one-half are writers of fiction — a large pro- portion, indeed, devote themselves to the mere amuse- ment of a people. For most of these writers aim at nothing higher — ^and many of them aim at something vastly lower. They make a well-told story a decoy to inoculate a large mass of mind with a moral poison more fatal than death. More minds are probably cor- rupted, more hearts demoralized, more error inculcated by the novel than in any or perhaps all other ways : and so plausibly, so stealthily, so insidiously, that the infatu- ated patient is insensible of the disease contracted till it is past all remedy. A vast amount of the most sprightly talent of the present day, of the most lively and excursive imagination, and inventive genius in the pro- duction of the literature here referred to is thus prosti- tuted. What would be the influence on the world if such talents and aptitudes were devoted only to illustrate and enforce truth — to promote the mental and moral improve- ment of their readers ? It would add an immense power to our present resources for the renovation of the world. This is however but one way in which our literature is perverted and prostituted. Many books are Written pur- posely to propagate error, to demoralize, to stir up strife and party animosity, to defame character, to excite the carnal passions, to exalt wickedness and to prostrate virtue. • 196 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. ! i \ A similar course of remark would apply to bu(fvne88 talent as engaged in the guidance of the great commercial affairs of the world. Few fully estimate the value to civi- lization, and to all the great movements of the world, of men of capital, and of that tact and talent so to employ it as to make it answer its great and beneficent ends. With- out this agency not one of the great ^plans of human pro- gress, and for the extension of Christianity, can be carried out ; and were this once to become a sanctified agency, we could want neither means, resources nor facilities for the consummation of all our purposes of benevolence for the final regeneration of the world. But nowhere else do we more distinctly trace the foot-prints of the Foe. Ex- ceptions we have of merchant princes, and princely men of business, who are truly pillars in the church, and whose arms of benevolence reach around the globe. Yet how ex- ^ tensive and lamentable is the perversion ! How do the * shrewdest minds too often aspire to no higher function than that of devising ways and means to overreach, de- ceive, defraud and oppress. And science has by no means escaped the hand of the destroyer. It is rather a painfully interesting fact, that some of the most beautiful and valuable discoveries of modem science are highly serviceable to crime and fraud. Counterfeiters and forgers seem to be as much inclined to use them, and promise to be as much benefited by them, as honest men and honest arts. A new process of repro- ducing facsimiles of manuscript writing from stone was exhibited at the last meeting of the French Academy of Sciences. A M. Lachard, in the presence of that body, requested some of its members to write, and sign their names to a few lines upon a sheet of paper. This while yet moist was placed by Lachard upon blotting paper, which he took to his house, leaving the original in the hands of an Academician, M. Segnier. The next day M. Segnier and his colleagues received two copies of this, one upon parchment, and the other upon ordinary letter paper, so PEKVERSION OF MUSIC AND »ONG. 197 exactly like the orignal in all respects as to defy a stran- ger to the experiment to tell which of the three first was written — which were copies and which was the original. The Academy requested Lachard not to make the process of this dangerous discovery public. And more forbidding still is the survey when we con- template the schemes for mischief and villainy which are planned and executed only by minds great in wicked- ness. The whole power of some of the greatest minds is employed only in schemes of mischief — at least in some way that only debases and preys upon the best interests of man. Music, history and the fine arts each affords a field of illustration wh^ch we may now scarcely enter. The marble has a voice — every painting speaks, and each carries a lesson to the mind and a moral to the heart. But how sad that that lesson and that moral should so often serve only to debase and demoralize. The prosti- tution has here been sad indeed. But our survey of the powers and perversions of music and song must not be quite so hasty. Perhaps no species of talent is so largely and so sadly perverted as that of Music. The Devil has been per- mitted almost to monopolize this mighty power over the human mind. I have spoken of the power of poetry, and how extensively it has been prostituted to corrupt, debase and to persuade to evil, rather than to purify, to elevate and to charm into what is good. Music and song are exercises of the same power. And each is itself a power Which we are not likely to overrate. Music is of heaven- ly origin — a native of Paradise, sent to cheer man in his earthly pilgrimage, to speak to the heart in the mellow strains of celestial harmony, and to teach him the language of the angelic choir. In religion, in politics, in the social sphere, music is an acknowledged power of no secondary order. The ex- traordinary success of Methodism, in our country more 198 THE FOOT-PRINTS OP SATAN. especially, in its earlier history furnishes an illustration. We scarcely know whether preaching or singing had the most to do with that success. The statesman, the patriot, and more especially the politician, understands the value to his cause of the power of song. The demagogue and the military chieftain, perhaps, understand it better. Many a revolution has greatly owed its success to the influence of song. It is enough that we instance the Marseillaise hymn ; the popular songs of our own Revolu- tion, Indian war-song?, and the songs and ballads which are used to act on the masses, to stir them up for some great public movement, a riot, a war, an election. Song often does more than the public harangue to persuade man to good or to evil. We need no more than allude to the perversion of this talent. Most ruthlessly has the Enemy invaded this lovely domain. We may not attempt to determine how large a'portion of music is perverted from its natural and legitimate use — made the means of debasing, demoraliz- ing and exciting to all manner of evil. The perversion is enormous. Nor has the field of History been overlooked in the devastations of the Foe. Though recently in a degree recovered from the hand of the Destroyer, yet history has been to a great extent, surrendered to the tender mercies of such writers as Hume and Gibbon, Volney and Voltaire. Of all the deadly onslaughts made on history, none was ever more audacious than that of the Romish Hie- rachy at the present moment. In this era of progress, of light and knowledge, of civilization and religious and civil liberty, the Romish Church is made to feel that there are certain prominent, glaring, hideous features in her history which stand out before the eyes of the world, a burning disgrace, an indelible stigma on all decent hu- manity. It is the history of the Inquisition — of the block and the stake — of murders and massacres and per- HOME REPUDIATES HER OWN HISTORY. 199 secutions infernal. As seen through the lurid atmosphere of the dark ages, they seemed but of the earth, earthy. But as the faitnful page of 'history holds them up before the eyes of a modem civilization, to say nothing of the light of Christianity, they put to the blush the succes- sors of, and the vouchers for, those who perpetrated these unearthly deeds. No such stigma rests on our race as is to be read in the horrid tortures inflicted -on the humble, unoffending followers of Christ in the days of those Ro- mish persecutions. The burning record stands engra- ven on the page of history, and " what can they do about it?" They have determined what to do. The foul record must be blotted out. The truth of history must be de- nied. Facts so disgraceful to themselves and to all hu- manity must be repudiated. The undisputed facts of centuries must now be branded as " Protestant lies," and Rome he received as a tolerant Church, This is what the Papacy are attempting " to do about it." Though Rome did nothing in the darkest of her dark days of persecution and blood, which, if she had the power, she would not do now, yet she is determined to ignore her own history, if by any means, fair or foul, she may wipe out the stigma of the past. Tt is a reck - less, fearless Devil that dares raise his pollutec? hand to blot cut the page of loixg-confirmed history. But we need not be surprised. No device is left untried. But we pursue the subject in this form no further. Sin not only perverts thought, but is, to a sad extent, the enemy of thought. A few very wicked men have made great advances in learning, have become sages and philo- sopher*. But they have become such rather in spite of their bad moral character. Sin, in all its elements, in all its actings and developments, is the foe to mental re- searches and acquisitions. While on the other hand, a pure religion is the most favourable to the cultivation of all sorts of useful learning. The peaceful and sanctified i 'I t 200 THE FOOT-PBINTS OF SATAN. conscience which belongs to such a religion, the pure mind it secures, the good habits it engenders, are all di- rectly conducive to intellectual progress and attain- ments. And what is yet more to our purpose, in respect to the resources of knowledge, fields of investigation and materials of thought, the enlightened conscience and the sanctified mind have the decided advantage. The objects of all knowledge — ^the entire field of scien- tific reseaJTch, in a sense more or less direct, relate to God, his works, his word, or his ways ; their relations one to another ;' man's relations to them ; their laws ; their oper- ations, qualities or uses. ^ Now, shall we be told that the condition of the mind, the state of the conscience and the affections, and the habits of the man, have nothing to do with the progress of all true science ? Is the knowledge, the love, and the reverence of the Creator no qualification to a more ready and thorough acquaintance with his works and his ways ? There is, subjectively, no doubt, a reason why the pious, devout mind has a decided ad- vantage in the pursuit of any branch of knowledge. As it is said, " he that doeth the will of God shall know of the doctrtTie" — he shall be in a position, his mind shaU be so guided that he shall understand the truth and know what to believe, so a mind right towards God is in a state to understand and comprehend more of all that pertains to God. " The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him" — they that love and honour God are brought into a position most favourable to a knowledge of him, whether it be of the works of his creation or of his providence or grace. The same idea is conveyed in another expression of the Psalmist : " The works of the Lord are great^ sought out of all them that have pleasure in Him."* Delight in the Lord, complacency in his character, supreme admira- • Accrrdinff to Sireet, who translates •' in Him," instead of " there- in," as is renckred in King James's Bible, TRUE RELIGION AND SCIENCE. 201 tion and reveronce, are again, the best possible qualifica- tions which a mind can bring to the study of God's works; in other words, to the pursuit of all science. Whether, therefore, the materials of thought, the field of investigation, or the resources and preparedness of miiid be brought into the account, we are justified in the conclusion that true science, that all intellectual advance- ment, finds its only congenial field within the domains of a pure Religion. • Sin is its most formidable foe. Did we need further confirmation of this we might find it in the history of useful learning as it has existed under the auspices of different forms of Religion. It is here safe to affirm that practical, useful learning has nowhere found a congenial atmosphere except under the protecting, fos- tering care of a pure religion. Nowhere else is general intelligence encouraged and the masses educated, and no- where else is knowledge and science to any extent made practical. And what strengthens this position is, that the history of those nations over which false religions hold sway, shows that those which incorporate the most of truth in them, and consequently approach nearest to a true religion, are the most prolific in the useful arts and sciences ; while those at the other e?:treme are the most barren. It is not intended here to deny that Egypt, Greece and Rome did, though they were idolatrous nations, produce some truly learned men. But it is intended to assume that these learned men were in no sense the products of false religious systems. They were the merest exceptions from the ignorant masses : and more, it is intended to assume that the Platos, the Senecas, the Socrates, and, Aristotles of those nations were, in connection with their intellectual culture, and in consequence of it, emancipated from the shackles which kept in mental bondage the mass of their pagan countrymen. As they penetrated into the deep things of nature and of mind, they discovered there was a God of jiature and of mind, raised infinitely above \ w 202 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. all the gods which the masses of their- countrymen so i^orantly worshipped. Pagan idolatry has drawn over its intellectual empire a cloud almost impenetrable and well-nigh universal. Yet in defiance of which a little light has shined, and a few minds been enlightened. Mohammedanism has ad- mitted more light, and the Papacy yet more ; and learn- ing has prospered in the same proportion — owing noth- ing, in either case, to a false religion, l^ut to the Truth, which, in spite of all systems of error, has wrought out such a result. ■ •: s..i.aw X. THE PERVERSION OF WEALTH. MONEY A POWER IN THE HANDS OF THE GREAT ADVERSARY — THE COST OF SIN —PRIDE — AMBITION — WAR — LUXURY — EXTRAVAGANCE — RUM — TOBACCO — OPIUM ; WITH FACTS AND FIGURES OF EACH. Money is power. And no power perhaps exerts a more universal empire over the human mind. When honestly gotten and properly used, it is a power for good scarcely second to any other. If perverted, it is a mighty power for evil. Money is the motive power of commerce, and the lught arm of the arts and sciences. It gives wings to the gospel, speeding the angel of mercy, with healing in his wings, on his blessed mission around the world. There is not at the present moment a more practical question, if there be a more important one, than that of the right use, or consecration of property. Fidel- ity, as touching the unrighteous mammon, is a virtue of very high order, but of rare attainment. Defection here is but too common and almost universal. Money, in the present position of the world's regeneration, is a very essential agency. Here too it is the sinews of war. All sorts of reforms must be effected. Men, in vastly greater number, must be sent abroad to evangelize the nations. . Schools and all the needed appliances of education must be sustained on a vastly enlarged scale. The press must 1 * 204 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. i III : 1 enter upon a mission of unprecedented magnitude and magnificence ; and all the agencies for a higher type of dvilization and Christianity must be furnished. 'Stie de- mand for pecuniary resources is perhaps at the present moment more imperative than any other. We design, in this chapter, to present a few facts, illus- trating the dominant power of sin and Satan, in the mis- use and perversion of wealth. And in no other way per- haps can we miore vividly portray the dreadful depreda- tions sin is making on the happiness, the health, the mind, the life and the soul of man. But we shall allow, in the discussion of the theme, considerable latitude. There is a guilty perversion of wealth when it is devoted to purposes decidedly sinful, as in the case of offen- sive var, intemperance, licentiousness, gambling and the like. And there is the culpable perversion of the same, to purposes which in themselves may be right and proper, and wrong only in the eaccess, as in the matter of amuse- ments, extravagance, waste, pride, luxury. It will not al- ways be easy here to discriminate between the lav/ful and the unlawful. But we shall have no need to insist on doubtful cases. Those obvious and conceded will suffice for our general illustration — ^will indicate but too clearly how small a portion of the world's wealth is devoted to purposes really human or benevolent ; or that even minis- ter to the commo'i weal of man — to his improvement or happiness. The proportion prostituted to purposes decid- edly, temporally, and eternally hurtful to man, is, as we show, fearfullv immense. But, be it understood, we enter on no crusade against riches. They are good — to be desired and sought for. The great sin of the world is not that all men are anxious to be rich. Nothing is more laudable— ^/riches be sought in a proper manner and for right ends. By all lawful and right means, and in a manner not interfering with higher claims, and for the purpose of gaining a power to be used for good, it is desirable and right to seek to be rich. In - USE AND ABUSE OP WEALTH. 205 dustiy is a virtue of high order; and as industry is almost the sure road to wealth, and the lack of it the sure road to poverty and its manifold temptations and viceS, we are justifi jd in the inference that he who pursues a course that must inevitably make and keep him poor has the greater sin* There is a very general concession that worldly substance is a good thing. The rich feel it ; the poor feel it. But there is, it is feared, a much less rational sensibility as to the responsibility imposed by the pos- session of wealth. Money is as mighty a power for evil as it is for good. The better the world»become, the more riches will increase. Compare the wealth of Christendom with that of heathendom. Wealth, indeed, is a needful - auxiliary to the progress of the race. Systems of educa- tion, advances in civilization, and the spread of the gos- pel, are all, instrumentally, dependent on pecuniary re- sources. Our enemy well understands this ; and hence his many devices to pervert or monopolize the use of wealth. Some of Satan's mightiest, wickedest devices .are to be met here. In nothing has he, in a more melancholy way, vindicated his usurped claims of being the god of this world. He has not failed to appropriate to pur- poses of sin the greatest part of the wealth of the world. Here we might go into an interminable illustra- tion. But we shall keep within prescribed limits. We might range what we would say under three gene- ral heads : misdirected wealth, wealth hurtfully appropri- ated, and wealth wickedly applied. This classification, though sufficiently general, is not sufficiently distinctive. We shall simply specify some of the ways in which wealth is perverted and made not to honour but to dishonour the great Giver ; not to bless but to curse man : I. Pride, fashion, love of show, ambition, simply to outdo others, absorbs an imtold amount of money. After making the most generous deductions, in myriads of fami- lies in the land, for the necessaries and comforts of life, whether for food or raiment, houses or equipage, — immense V lit I i 206 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. li sums, the lion's share of the domestic expenditure, are to be put to the account of sheer fashion or pride. StartUng sums are swallowed up in the yawning gulf of extravagance and luxury. We not unfrequently hear of the great sums expended to cat-ry out the few plans of benevolence which find a place in this world of ours. But how perfectly insignificant these compared with the vast amounts squandered in senseless extravagance, or in useless, if not hurtful luxuries. All expended for the mere charities of our age, all employed to carry out plans of education, refoiyi, or benevolence in any form, is insig- nificant, the mere dust of the balance, when compared with the immense amounts which go to pamper and sup- port extravagance and pride. Many a Christian yields his thousands to fashion or pride, while he does not give as many units to the claims of philanthropy or religion. Many a church has her hundreds of thousands invested in costly edifices and decorations of her sanctuary, while she gives less hundreds to the spiritual interests of reli- gion, or to the substantial good of man. We can scarcely turn the eye amiss to meet, in common life, all sorts of examples of uselessly profuse expenditure — ^the wicked perversion of the Lord's silver and gold. Yet we shall reserve a survey of the more profuse and luxuriant expenditures to another chapter ; such as regal extravagance, and the silly extravagance of those who ape royalty ; attempting here little more than to enter the confines of the field. Weddings are often relentlessly prodigal of lucre. A recent one in our great Gotham has attracted some special attraction, both on account of the profuse expenditure, and from the character and position of the parties con- cerned. It was at the " palatial residence " of the redoubt- able " Boss Tweed," and the happy bride was his daughter. Here we shall cease to wonder at the extravagant amounts absorbed in grounds, house, stables ; and now in profuse expenditures for the wedding, when we are reminded how EXTRAVAGANCE AND CHARITY. 207 the " Boss " got his money. For here certain unmistakable " foot-prints " are, if possible, more apparent in the gettvng than in the spending. But we are at present concerned rather in the latter. And what of the wedding ? The decoration of the interior of the house presented a marvellous scene of floral magnificence. Over the door of the great parlours on one side of the entrance hall hung a sort of star, with points projecting in all directions, made of white tuberoses and crimson roses and japonicas. On the other side, in corresponding position, hung a huge globe of the same flowers wrought into pmamental devices and showing the letters M. and T. in scarlet. Along the centre of the hall depended masses of solid flowers in basket form. The musicians, who sat in the semicircle between the stairways in the hall, were partly hidden from view by a great harp of green and white, edged in- side and out with white roses. In the reception-room on , the right of the entrance-door, one of the principal attrac- tions was a monstrous two-decked basket of flowers at least a yard in diameter. On the mantel and stand, on the chandelier, everywhere flowers met the eye. Even the grate was a solid bed of exotics. It would be impos- sible by details to convey an idea of the marvellous quan- tities of expensive flowers which met the eye everywhere. The presents were a chief centre of attraction to the guests. They filled an entire room when crowded close. There were forty silver sets, any one of which would have attracted a crowd if placed in a jeweller's window, and one single one contained 240 separate pieces. Mr. James Fisk, Jr., sent a frosted silver contrivance representing an iceberg, evidently intended to hold ice-cream or some equally frigid substance. The association was beautifiiUy sustained by the presence of Arctic bears reposing on the icicle handles of the bowl and climbing up the spoons. Singularly enough, Mr. Fisk displayed the same taste as Superintendent BL, and their offerings were exact dupli- cates. There were forty pieces of jewellery, of which fifteen ii » 1 ;iM i" . ) i n 208 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. were diamond sets. A single one of the latter is known to have cost $45,000. It contained diamonds as big as filberts. A cross of eleven diamonds, pea size, bore the name of Mr. and Mrs. H. W. 0. as donors. A pin of sixty diamonds, representing a sickle and sheaves of wheat, was the gift of J. H. I. P. B. S.'s card appeared on diamond bracelets of fabulous magnificence. C. C gave a ring with a tiny watfih as the seal. Bronzes, thread lace. Cashmere shawls, rare pictures, everything that could be conceived of which is rich and costly filled the room with splendour. The trousseau of the bride was superb, the materials being of the finest quality, and obtained from a leading Broadway dry-goods house. They were of the most costly description, and the labour in preparing them consumed nearly two months. The dresses were models of elegance, and the most refined taste, and a carte blanche was given the maker, with the simple injunction that the outfit should be " the richest ever produced, and fit for a Prin- cess." The wedding-dress was composed of white gros grain, with a train three and a half yards in length, and was trimmed with real point lace, costing near $4,000. The front of the skirt was cut with a deep scollop, and the over-skirt consisted of lace, ornamented with orange flow- ers. The price of the material and labour required in making and trimming this dress was $1,000, making, with the lace, a total cost of $5,000. The other dresses forming the trousseau were fourteen in number, and all elegant and designed in the most ar- tistic manner. First there was a black walking suit in heavy rich gros grain, in which thirty-five yards of silk were used. It was trimmed with two pieces of AntiUy guipure and two pieces of rich heavy Cluny. Three hundred and eighty 'two bows were used in the trimmings. The front was cut witli deep side plaiting the whole width of the skirt front, and the train was white, mingled artis- tically with black. This dress cost $700. ^ » AMBITION A COSTLY DEMON. • 209 Next was a browil walking suit of thirty-two yards of brown silk, costing |600 ; another walking dress of forty- two yards of blue-stliped silk, costing $350 ; a black and white silk walking suit of thii-ty-five yards, costing $400 ; a brown walking suit, containing fifty yards, at a cost of $800 ; a purple silk reception dress, thirty yards, $900 : and a silver-gray reoeption dress, of thirty-two yards, and cost $1,000. The total fdr dresses $6,200. The whole closed by a magnificent dinner got up by Delmonico ; all that art and money could do. We make no attempt to sum up the aggregate of the expense. Not by tens, but by hundreds of thousands, must it be reckoned. But it is pleasant to know that the right parties paid the bills. Most appropriately did the bride share largely in the munificence of the "Ring," each bestowing bountifully as their lord and master haid prospered them. IL Ambition is a voracious demon that swallows up perhaps a yet larger amount of wealth. Here, especially, are traced the foot-prints of the great Destroyer. Indeed a large proportion of the profuse expenditure which passes under the name of extravagance, is but a homage done to ambition. Millions are yearly expended, which contribute little or nothing either to convenience or comfort, and have not so mom as the plea of luxuiy. The chief motive is to outdo others. But we shall at present contemplate ambition rather in its wider and more absorbing, devastating sphere of action. Ambition is but the natural, the common parent of strifes, contentions, rivalries, hatred, bitterness and re- venge ; which, when matured into fightings, litigations and murders, begin to make up those bills from whose enormous demands there is no discharge. But not till matured into the grand and dreadful consummation of WAR, do we fully realize the uncounted waste. War is ambition's dea/rest progeny. The cost of a single war would renovate our sin-stricken earth and make it a para- \ Jl! «i 1.^ < J -!»» 210 f THE FOOT-PKINTS OF SATAN. dise in a single year. All other expenditures of ambition fall into insignificance when compaHBd with the cost of war. Attempts to calculate the immense sume expended in war induce the feeling that our ciant Foe has here monopolized the wealth of the world. A few startling items, in addition to what has been presented in another connection, will serve as examples. Three wars of Great Britain in India, from 1827 to 1847, cost the nation $195,000,000; Ijesides the expendi- ture of another amount perhaps as great, du]:ing the same period, in their wars in Buiinah, Chiila, and India. The Crimean war cost the allies (England, France and Turkey) $400,000,000, to say nothing of the usual annual supplies for the army and navy ; the vast destruction of property, and a loss not less disastrous, of productive in- dustiy. And the expense of the same war on the part of Bussia is belie /ed to have been at least equal to the aggre- gate incurred by the Allies. It has been estimated by a well-informed and apparently an honest writer at $250,- 000,000 a year for extra military expenses occasioned by the war, and as much more for the wilful or necessary de- struction of property. At this rate, the war must have cost Bussia half as much again as the Allies, and $600,- 000,000 would not square the account. But a large por- tion of this expenditure was in buildings, ships, produce and merchandise, and though as serious in the long run as the expenditure of hard cash, it will be longer in being felt. Probably three hundred millions of money have passed from the Imperial treasury into the hands of army agents, contractors, purveyoi-s and speculators on account of the army. Taking this figure as the basis of calcula- tion, we arrive at the conclusion that within less than twelve months, about seven hundred millions of dollars have been diverted from trade and agriculture, and ex- pended by the belligerents in the prosecution of the war. Some idea of the enormousness of the sum may be derived from a knowledge of the fact that the united in- STANDING ARMIES IN TIME OF PEACE. Sll imbition 3 cost of xpended tias here startling another 1827 U> expendi- the same ia. ance and , Ekl annual •uction of active in- tie part of the acgre- Bited by a at $250,- lioned by lessary de- lust have d $600,- arge por- I, produce long run in being Ley have |s of army account calcula- llesB than »f dollars and ex- the war. may be inited in- comes of the whole people of Great Britain and Ireland are only supposed to amount to five times as much. It is equal to tnree-fourths the total debt of Austria, under which the House of Hapsburff has been tottering this many a year ; more than half the whole debt of France ; twice the debt of Russia up to 1858 ; nearly four times the average assets of the Bank of England at the present day ; and more than fourteen times as much as the whole national debt of the United States before the late war. Or inquire we after the cost of the late Italian war ? A German paper has made the following calculation of the sums actually expended by different countries in Eu- rope in supporting the late campaign, besides those raised by neutral powers in consequence of the war. This is only an approximation, as the writer says that it is im- possible to estimate the absolute cost of a war, since its influ- ence on trade and industry, though immense, is indefinite. Austria, about $100,000,000 ; France, $100,000,000; Pied- mont, $20,000,000 ; other Italian States. $4,000,000 ; Rus- sia, $0,000,000 ; England, $4,400,000 ; Germany, $25,600,- 000 : making a total of $260,000,000. Or we may approximate the point from another class of statistics. Look for a moment at the expense of *' stand- ing armies," or " peace establishments." Before the outbreak of the late European wars, the " peace establishments" of the five principal States were reported at 1,825,000 men ; Great Britain, 300,000; France, 350,000; Russia,750,000; AuStria,275,000 ;and Prussia,150, 000; and at an annual cost of $600,000,000. And if the other States be added it would swell the number of men to 2,800,000. And if we estimate the expense of each sol- dier at $500 a year, and the annual loss to productive in- dustry at $150 for each, we should then have an aggregate of $1,400,000,000, and a loss of services to the industry of the country of $420,000,000 ; or a grand total of $1 ,- 820,000,000. And if we may ^atiLxiate the average life of 212 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. . . ! a soldier at ten years, we should find that five nations are paying, in time of peace, simply for military service, the enormous sum of $6,000,000,OOU every ten years ; and including the huge collaterals we have named for time lost and industry deranged, the amount reaches the inconceiv- able aggregate of $18,000,000,000. And this, not to pro- secute war, but simply to keep themselves in readiness for war. Yet the above estimate is but a fraction of the number of the regular armies of Europe in the days of wars and rumours of wars (1870-71). Italy is said to have an army ol 900,000; France, 1.200,000; Russia, 1,400,000; Aus- tria, 1,200,000 ; and the German Empire, 1,300,000 : mak- ing an aggregate, with the contingents of several of the European States, of seven millions of men ; which will more than double the enormous expenditures above re- ported. One unaccustomed to keep an eye on such mat- ters would form very inadequate notions of the expendi- tures of our own peace-preserving neutral country for the same purposed. During the last fifty years, (previous to our late war,) and those mostly years of peace, the army and armed forces of the United States cost the nation $466,713,000. The navy and naval operations, $29,994,- 000. Pensions, $61,170,000. The Indian department, $390,000,000. Total, the truly republican sum of $1,127,- 887,000. Or take a portion of that same period, say from 1816 to 1834 — eighteen years of pea<;e — and our national expenses amounted to $468,000,000, of which nearly $400,000,000, about six-sevenths of the whole, were for war purposes. It is estimated that the support of her war system is costing Europe in time of peace $1,000,000,000 a year, besides the interest on her war debts, which amount to $10,000,000,000. For twenty years from 1797, England spent for war purposes alone more than $1,000,000 every dav. The wars of all Europe, from 1783 to 1816, cost $15,000,000,000. But ambition is not the only procuring cause of strifes EXPENSE OF INTEMPERANCE. 213 }e of strifes and war. Retaliation — revenge^ like the "tongue," is "a fire, a world of iniquity. It setteth on fire the course of nature ; and it is set on fire of hell." The spirit of re- venge, often maturing and culminating in wars the most bitter and desolating, is another demon that makes the most fearful inroads into the domain of wealth. To this account we may set down not a few of the wars that have cursed the nations and wasted their treasures ; and not a few of the litigations and lawsuits that lay waste, like the devouring locusts, the fair heritage of man. Would we appreciate the difference in the expense of fighting and exterminating a people, or of civilizing and Christianizing them, we may find an illustration in our connection and dealings with the North American Indians. The commissioner states the humiliating fact, that since the first appropriation by the Indian Bureau for educa- tional purposes in 1806, only $8,000,000 have been expen- ded for this object, and at least five hundred millions for Indian wars. He estimates our total Indian population at 380,629 persons, of whom 95,000 are of school age. Only 153 schools are known to be in operation, with 6,024 scholars. The total appropriations by Congress, and others for this current year for this purpose, are $289,000. in. The bottomless Pit, whose remorseless inaw de- vours more treasure than even devastating wit , is intem- perance. The amount of money engulphed hbi j Ih, a?, we have elsewhere shown, beyond all calculation. Addition- al facts may be adduced. The intoxicating drinl- itself is but an item. The buildings and all the needful appli- ances for conducting the traffic ; the time of the traffick- ers and the consumers ; the loss and destruction of pro- perty; injury done to industry, trade and commerce, — all come in, as we have seen, to swell the amount beyond all decent bounds. Great Britain has paid more for in- toxicating drinks the last ten years than the whole amount of her vast national debt— which is £1,000,000,000— or $500,000,000 annually. ■ j J 214 THE POOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. II s This estimate is believed to be quite within bounds. We have seen the following statement as touching simply the cost of liquors consumed in Great Britian and Ireland for 1870 ; and it will be seen that the total leaves but a small mai^n for all collateral wastes. Great Britain stands chained with the annual consumption of 29,000,- 000 gallons of home and foreign spirits, at a cost of $150,- 000,000; with 750,000,000 gallons of beer, at $2 18,7 50,- 000 ; with 15,000,000 gallons of foreign and colonial wines, at a cost of $65,000,000 ; and cider and domestic wines, $7,500,000— a total of $441,250,000— which leaves but $58,000,000 for unestimated costs, to make up the $500,- 000,000 as above. We already have an average of sixteen dollars for every inhabitant of the kingdom ; or sixty-five dollai^ for each adult. We seem to approach nearer to the root of the evil, and to be able the better to appreciate the wicked perversion of the good things of our heavenly Father, when we come to inquire whence are these intoxicating drinks ? Come they of the thorn and the brier ? Are they manufactured from earth's poisons, that they should be the vicegerents of sin and Satan, to spread death and all its woes among the children of men ? Are they compounded, decocted and demonized from earth's vilest products, and thus fitted only for the work of devastation and woe ? No : the great Perverter of aU good here shows the dire perfec- tion of all his wicked devices among the children of men, — that, by the most heaven-provoking perversion of one of heaveu's most precious gifts to man, he produced the fatal drink which curses and kills, out of gram, the staff of life, which our bountiful Parent gave as the greatest temporal gift to man. In Great Britain fifty millions of bushels of grain are annually used to make drunkards, paupers and criminals. And a yet larger quantity is, in the United States, in like manner perverted from being man's great- est blessing to be his greatest curse. I CONSUMPf ION OF SPIRITS. 215 Or (Confine we our calcAilations to a single city, and what idea do we get of the criminal waste of intemperance in its current history of a tingle year ! Supposing the daily sales at the 8,000 hotels, drmking saloons and grog shops in the city of New York average $10 each — which is a very low estimate — the amount would be $8o,000 a day ; $2,400,000 a month ; $28,800,000 a year. And this re- presents scarcely more than one-half of the actual waste of intemperance in that one city. We should not have to go far in estimating property destroyed, trade injured, industry impaired, and time of the traffickers and drinkers wasted, and we should reach another aggregate quite as large. 1 Some one has given us the following brief summary of the Devil's doings in this line of his devastating man]^h, in Ireland, in a single year. The writer calls it the " Devil'U harvest." It is a brief record of rum's doings from year to year. The record says : ^ In Ireland, whisky, wine and beer are largely con- sumed. The popular drink is whisky, and almost all the crime of the country is charged upon it. In 18I58, 76,000 persons were arrested for drunkenness. The consumption was 5,036,814 gallons of domestic spirits, and 325,995 gal- lons of foreign spirits, with 1,208,233 gallons of beer, and 1,638,209 barrels of wine, costing in all $40,813,785, or an average of $37.50 for every family. But England and Scotland are no better. And all this misery entailed, and all this ruin, poverty, affliction and death imposed at such an expense to the country, and what return does she receive ? And this sim- ply the wholesale cost of the damning beverage, or the first item in the appalling account. The Chicago Tribune has an article on the amount of money paid annually by the people of the United States for spirituous liquors and tobacco, the statistics of which are startling. We make the following extracts, and call the attention of domestic as well as political economists to the record : ;i ! ;; ' THE FOOT-PRINTS ipF SATAN. " There is one expenditure wlich we never heti these declaimers refer to, or advocate |i reduction of, viz., the money spent for liquors. We in>|te their attention to the statement of the Special Reve4ue Commissioner, Mr. Wells, in his report to Congress, gjving the amount paid out by the people for spirituous and malt liquors during the year 1867. We do not refer |» the sales by whole- sale, but to those at retail, sworn to by the retailers, who have paid the license tax on th|dr sales. We give the table by States, and the figures represent the amount paid by t]^e drinkers anu consumers to the retailers over the couiiter: I AMOUNT OF SALES OF RETAIL LIQUOR DEALERS. New York ! $246,617,520 Pennsylvania 152,663,495 Illinois 119,933,946 Ohio 161,734,875 Massachusetts 27,979,575 Maryland 40,561620 Missouri 54,627,865 Indiana 51,418,890 ' California 59,924,090 Kentucky 60,223,116 Wisconsin *. 43,818,845 Michigan 62,784,170 Iowa 35,682,695 Connecticut ,:.. .. 35,001,230 New Jersey 42,468,740 Maine 8,257,016 Rhode Island 10,234,240 New Hampshire 12,629,175 Minnesota 14,394,970 Dist. Columbia 10,376,460 Vermont 6,786,055 Kansas , 8,503,866 ^ :i ■ TOTAL IMOUNT OF SALES. 217 ar these dz., the PL to the Br, Mr. nt paid during whole- rs, who ive the int paid ver the BS. ;20 145 m t75 ^20 55 90 90 15 45 70 1195 30 40 15 40 75 70 60 55 56 Louisiana $48,021,730 Tennessee 20,283,6?5 Georgia 25,328,465 Virginia : 26,132,905 Alabama 23,025,385 Texas , 21,751,250 South Carolina 10,610,625 North Carolina 13,224,340 ~ West Virginia 8,806,23t> Arkansas 7,858,320 Delaware 3,770,355 Mississippi 4,493,305 Oregon 4,261,240 Nevada 4,838,735 . Nebraska 3,290,515 Colorado ^ 3,745,215 'The Territories 14,169,400 Total $1,483,491,865 Thus it will be seen that during the year 1870 the people of the United States paid for strong drinks over the counter to retail dealers, the sum of fourteen hundred and eighty-three millions four hundred and ninety-one thousand eight bundled and sixty-five dollars. That sum is more than equal to one-half the principal and the annual intere'^t of the public debt. That sum, & applied to the payment of the debt, would redeem it all, in gold, in two years. The amount of mouey paid by actual con- sumers for this strong drink, in three years, would equal the entire debt of the Union, and of all the States and of all the cities, counties and towns of the United States. The people of the single State of Illinois expend for liquor J a sum almost equal to the annual interest of the national, debt! Included in receipts of sales of liquor dealers are such sums as may have been received for cigars at their bars f! I*' u i ! 218 THE FOOT-PRINTS OP SATAN. which do not exceed the value of the liquors imported or purchased wholesale by consumers, and the sum of sales by establishments which make no letums, or fraudulent ones. But the cigars and tobacco sold at the bars of saloons are but a part of the same reckless extravagance, which wastes upon the useless luxury of strong drink neaxiy fifteen hundred miUiona of dollars a yea/r. During the last year of the war, when the United States had one million of men on its pay rolls, when it was paying two prices in a depreciated currency for food and clothing, and for labour and for materials of war, the total expenditures of the government, including the hun- dreds 01 thousands of dollars actually stolen, and as much wasted, did not equal the amouct of money paid last year to saloon keepers and other retail liquor dealers by their customers. * A people who spend $1,500,000,000 annually to retail dealers of liquors and tobacco; who spend perhaps $50,- 000,000 more for liquoi* imported or purchased wholesale by consumers; who spend $100,000,000 annually for cigars and tobstcco in other forms, can hardly be said to be badly " oppressed" by a debt, the interest on which is only one-awsteenih of the amount of these reckless ex- penditures for the luxuries of liquor and tobacco. A man cannot be said to be severely crushed by the weight of his debts who spends in the course of a year for liquor and tobacco a sum equal to two-thirds of his share of the national indebtedness. Again, as but too nearly related to our last specifica- tion, the article of tobacco lays in a demand for millions more. The annual consumption in Great Britain is said to amount to $40,000,000 ; and in the United States to $32,000,000. In the City of New York alone $10,000 are puffed away in smoke daily ; or $3,650,000 a year. Yet this sinks quite into insignificance compared with the consumption of some European cities. In the City of Hamburg, one-sixth the size of New York, more than a million of dollars every year dissolves in smoke. CONSUMPTION OF TOBACCO. 219 ported 01 1 of sales raudulent le bars of Eivagance, ng drink ear. B United I, when it Y for food war, the the hiin- [ as much . last year I by theit J to retail laps $50,- holesale -lly for said to n which kless ex- A. man eight of r liquor of the jpecifica- milHons is said kates to ),000 are Yet rith the City of than a The entire tobacco crop of the world is put down at 4,480,000,000 pounds ; of which the United States pro- duce 200,000,000. Merely the cigars consumed, yearly, in the United States, cost more than all our c&ijmon schools, and more, some say — possibly it is an exaggera- tion — ^than all our breadstuifs. When we add to aU the other items of this most useless, inexcusable of all ex- penditures, the labour of a million and a half of men who are employed in the cultivation of tobacco, or in its pre- paration for use, and also the immense quantities of fer- tile land used for the cultivation, we are able to appre- ciate in some degree the value — at least the cost — of a single useless, nauseous, hurtful, and therefore sinful habit. The New York Tirn^, of more than a year ago, was found discoursing very suggestively, and we suppose cor- rectly, on this very theme. It says : ** The Treasury tables for the past year will show some curious and rather striking results. The great grain- growing interest may be thought to figure to poor pur- pose in the list of foreign exports, when it is known that we smoke up, in Spanish cigars, the whole export of wheat, and drink down, in French cognac, the entire export of Indian corn. For the rest of our breadstuifs, the flour sent abroad suffices for something like two-thirds of the interest on the foreign debt, leaving the rice of South Carolina and the deferred faith of the repudiating States to settle the remainder. '* In the fiscal year ending the 30th of June last, the United States exported wheat to the value of $2,555,209. During the calendar year, the City of New York alone im- ported cigars to the amount of $1,878,744, and other ports, say 40 per cent, of the whole, would swell the total to $3,131,216. The difference against us, in these two articles, is barely made good by all the rye, oats, and other small grain, $334,471 ; rye meal, $04,476 ; potatoes, $115,121 ; and apples, $43,635, which we sent out last year. , 220 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. Si I i I s " The export of Indian com was of the value of $1,640,- 225, and of corn meal, $574,380,— together $2,114,605. This city imported in one year French cognac and other brandies of the value of $1,494,635, which would be swelled at other ports, allowing New York figures to re- present 60 per cent, only of the whole, to $2,487,161." On the authority of Dr. Coles, I would add, the Amer- ican Church annually expends $5,000,000 for this vile narcotic, and less than $1,000,000 for the conversion of the world. Rev. Dr. Hawes, of Hartford, Ct., has recently preached a strong sermon against the use of tobacco, which pro- duces quite a sensation. He exhibited facts and statis- tics showing its destruction of health and sanity, its de- moralizing influence, and its useless expense. It costs the people of the United States over forty million dollars an- nually — far more than is spent for all purposes of educa- tion. New York City uses up daily $10,000 in cigars and $8,500 in bread. How a Christian could use it, sell it, or cultivate it, was what he could not understand. He predicted that the valley of the Connecticut would be blasted by it, and become as barren as the old tobacco- fields of Virginia and Maryland. It is not generally known that the civili/ed nations of the world derive their chief revenue from tobacco. With- out it the Pope would be bankrupt in a month. Last year the English Government derived $28,000,000 reve- nue, and the French $36,000,000, from the weed that vanishes in smoke. The most of the tobacco which yields to foreign powers their chief revenue is grorai in America. And again, and in yet nearer affinity, and as a still more malignant agent of man's worst Foe, opium fulfils the nauseous, deleterious mission of tobacco, — only a great deal more so. Like tobacco it is a narcotic — with properties more terribly pimgent, more hurtful to body and soul, to nerve, muscle and mind, than all the narcotic CONSUMPTION OF OPIUM. 221 Sl,640,- 114,605. ad other ould be es to re- 161." le Amer- this vile )n of the preached lich pro- id statis- y, its de- costs the •liars an- ►f educa- igars and it, sell it, .nd. He vould be tobacco- ations of With- Last 00 reve- ed that which TO 9(01 in 1. iS % a still fulfils -only a c — with to body- narcotic qualities of tobacco. It more completely unnerves and demoralizes the man than alcohol. A traveller in Tur- key thus describes the opium-eaters of Constantinople : " Their gestures were frightful ; those ^ho were under the influence of opium talked incoherently; their fea- tures were flushed, their eyes glaring, and the general expression of their countenances horribly wild. The de- bility, both moral and physical, attendant on the excite- ment, is terrible ; the appetite is soon destroyed, and every fibre in the body trembles. The nei-ves of the neck become affected, and the muscles get rigid — necks wry and fingers contracted, but still they cannot abandon the custom." Was there ever a more complete triumph of Satanic malignity over man ? Was the image of God ever so completely defaced ? — ^man ever so nearly made a devil? But our concern with this disgusting topic at present is rather with the pecuniary aspect of it. How much of the Lord's silver and gold is used to entail on man, through this drug, one of the bitterest, the most shame- less curses that disgrace humanity ! It costs more to de- ment and demoralize men, through this single drug, than all that is expended to reform, educate, elevate and evan- gelize them through all the benevolent schemes in vogue' the world around. Indeed, the cost of opium consumed in China alone considerably exceeds the total income of all the philanthropic, educational and benevolent societies in all Christendom. In a single city of China (Amoy) therv^ are said to be a thousand shops for the sale of opium, the annual sales amounting to $1,200,000. And there are four other depots along the coast of the same province. The total amount of opium annually introduced into China, principally from India, we find set down at 81,760 chests^ — others say 10,000,000 pounds — at a cost of $58,- 228,309. And it may not exceed the truth to suppose that at least an equal quantity is consumed in India, li i 222 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. Turkey axkd the other opium-eatiog countries of Asia. We shall probably be safe in charging Asia with 8116,- 000,000 for the vile use she makes of this drug. But the loss of pecuniary capital is not the worst of it. Not money, but muscle — mind, skill, industry, labour, all worse than lost, which swells the account beyond calculation. The complete demoralization of the whole man as soon as fairly seized by the tyranny of opium-eating, is the crown- ing curse of all. China pays India for opium alone more than the total value of all her exports of teas and silks — the merest tithe of which would put a Bible into every family in the king- dom, supply a Chrit^tian literature and support a mission- ary in ever}'^ village in the kingdom, and an adequate sup- ply for every city. And who will credit it that this barbarous, heathenish habit has reached America, and is here extending, and he' increased the last twenty -five years in the ratio of six hundred per cent., and was never increasing so fearfully as at the present moment. There are already consumed in the United States 150,000 pounds, at a cost of $500,000, of which more than 50,000 pounds are annually consumed in the (Jity of New To: k. • But tobacco and opium are not the only baneful nar- cotics extensively used. The Indian hemp is used as a sub- stitute for tobacco and opium by 250,000,000 of people ; and the betel nut by half as many more. Though we would not place tea and coffee in the same category as tobacco, opium and other narcotics which are decidedly hurtful, yet they are at best but luxuries, and not altogether harmless. We may at least tell what they cost, and leave the reader to his own judgment whether they pay. The people of these United States are said to consume 149,000,000 pounds of coffee annually, at a cost (averaging twenty -five cents per pound) of $37,250,000. And Great Britain pays nearly the same. And the two countries pay not less than $50,000,000 for tea. There THI world's benevolence. 223 are consumed in the world nearly 800,000,000 pounds of tea, China appropriating the lion's share. We ma^ set down the world's voluntary tax for tea at 8600,000,000. We often arrive at a more appreciable cost of one thing by a comparison with another. By such coraparison we shall see now the expense of intemperance looks by the side of some other expenses which are sometimes thought large. The aggregate annually raised for foreign mis- sions, by all Evangelical churches in Christendom, is $7,000,000. The cost of intoxicating liquors (wholesale) we have shown to be $680,000,000, or $1,860,000 a day. The annual income of all these societiest therefore would support the liquor traffic and supply our tipplers a little more than three days. The sum total of the annual in- comes of all our societies, benevolent, philanthropic and reforming — exclusive of educational institutions — ^is $6,- 835,000. This would serve the same vile purposes less than four days. Again, during the last twenty years the American churches, through aU their benevolent, philan- thropic and educational institutions have devoted to their several objects $30,000,000.* And the grand aggregate contributed by all the benevolent and kindred societies in * Details here may not be without interest. Reports show that dor- ins the last twenty years fifteen societies received and disbursed the foUowing sums : — American Bible Society, $5,612,120 American Tract Society, 6,383,488 Homo Missionary Society, 2,688,868 Forei^ Board of Presbyterian Missions, 2,206,407 American Board of Foreign Missions, 6,639,983 Foreign Evangelical Society, 184,999 Baptist Home Missionary Society, 610,949 American Anti-Slavery Society, 374,870 Seamen's Friend Society, 391,894 Colonization Society 692,296 American Temperance Society, 72,837 American Society for Ameliorating the Condition •fi the Jews, .! 122,266 224 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. Christendom is $60,000,000.* This immense sum would cater to the insatiable demands of intemperance almost thirty-three days ! Our estimates are here made only on the direct cost of strong drinks ; loss of time, cost of litigation, support of criminals and paupers, and the whole indirect expense does not enter into the account. This, when added to the difference between the wholesale and retail cost of liquors, is estimated at least to double the fearful amount. More is wasted in one day, to demoralize, dement, pau- perise and ruin men for time and eternity by the intoxi- cating cup, than is expended both by the American Bible Society and the Board of Foreign Missions in a year ! What would the "god of this world" have more? As far as money is concerned, is not his usurpation almost complete ? How much to ruin man ; how little to bless him ! ' Or we might supplement and confirm the above illus- trations of the comparative expense of the useful and the ffood, with the hurtful, the bad and the ruinous, by like illustrations of a bygone geneiv^tion. We go back thirty years and hear a speaker disco ing on the comparative cost of missions and intemper&ivce, replying to the cavil that the former is a waste — that so much money is sent out of the country. Even at that period, when Education Society, $274,769 Female Moral Ilotormers, ... 63,707 American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 26,390 Total 124,151,479 Other Societies, 2,000,C00 Total $26,151,479 This is a truly noble aggregate, and if the contributions of the other minor societies of a religious and benevolent character were added, the total would amount to at least thirty millions of dollars* « To Amer ica is credited' $30,000,000 . To Great Britain, $28,000,000; And to the rest «f Christendom, $2,000,000. COMPARATIVE WASTE OF RUM. 225 fl would ) almost ) cost of pport of expense idded to 1 cost of amount, mt, pau- e intoxi- ;an Bible a year! e more ? mrpation V little to ore illus- ^1 and the by like ck thirty parative ^be cavil noney is )d, when ,769 3,707 6,390 1,479 0,000 1,479 of the other ■e added, the 128,000,000; he estimates the cost of intoxicating drinks much be- low the present fearful expense, a startling contrast ia presented. Take the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions for an example — the oldest, most extensive, and distinguished institution we have. The whole a/mount of its receipts into the treasury for the firai 31 years ($2,753,005) does not equal the cost of foreign distilled spirits and wines for four months. We see, then, who it is that is likely to send all the money out of the country — the missionary societies or the consumers of foreign liquors. More is paid out in four months for foreign liquors than ALL that has been paid into the treasury of the American Board in 31 years. Let us take five years, and compare the cost of foreign liquors in those years with the donations to the Ameri- can Board for Foreign Missions in those years. The American Board received ip five years, $889,879 56 Paid for /orei^fw liquors in five years, $8,455,345 20 (Estimating these at one dollar per gallon,) which is for six months, $845,534 00 The consumption of /om^n- liquors, therefore, sends nearly as much money out of the country in six Tnonths, as the American Board for Foreign Missions in Jive years ! If the consumers of foreign liquors will give us what they send out of the country in 40 days, it will sustain the American Board for 365 days, better than it .*s sustained now. The American Board is not one-ninth the expense incurred by the consumption of foreign liquors alone. Let not the consumers complain that foreign missions are making the country poor. If we had the income of five of the most prominent benevolent societies of our land, we should not have enough to pay the direct cost of the spirituous liquors consumed in our country in five days ! Men of strong drink are giving 15 . 226 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. :| more for their beverage in five days than all that is given in a yearhy the benevolent to these five prominent insti- tutions ! Is it worth while for drinking people to com- plain about the cost of these objects ? Why, if they would abstain for one week out of the fifty-two (even if they drank on Sunday), they would save enough to sustain these five societies for a year. Or take up the accounts, then, of these ^ve benevolent institutions from their first organization, and you would not have enough to pay the direct cost of strong drink in our land for 64 days ! Bear with me a little longer. Some of us may be more familiar and interested, perhaps, in political economy, and internal improvements, than in such benevolent associa- tions. More grain is consumed in this city, month by month, and year by year, for distillation into ardent spirits, than all that is consumed for food by all the inhabitants, and all the horses, cows, and other animals in this city ! Let the political economist, and those taxed to support the poor, make the application — let them judfije of this busiiiesa of distillation. We boaat, in this State, of the Erie Canal. It is the most stupendous structure for artificial navigation in the world. It has given us a name abroad, and constitutes one of the bold items of our nation's glory among the older nations of the globe. It cost much. Its official proposal to the Legislature was loudly scouted as a scheme cf wildness and extravagant expenditure. It was said it never could be paid for ; and every year, for 24 years, the subj6ct of its expense, and the payment of it, have occu- pied no small portion of attention among our legislators at Albany. It cost $10,731,695. This is a great sum for our legislators to grapple with ! Men of strong drink could easily take care of it. They pay enough to cancel every cent of the whole expense of buildmg it in 93 days! 6ut, let us add this to others : THE EARTH RENOVATED. 227 given b insti- [) com- would f they mstain jvolent would ink in »e more uy, and issccia- nth by spirite, bitants, s city I mpport of this is the in the 3titutes >ng the official scheme said it ars, the e occu- islators um for drink cancel in 93 The 363 miles of the Erie Canal cost, $10,731,595 The 97 miles of the Chenango Canal, 2,009,682 The 76 miles of the Champlain Canal, 1,179,872 Making II total of, $13,921,049 These are the three great works of the State. But the cost of fche spirituous liquors consumedin our nation would pay every cent for the whole of them in FOUR MONTHS ! And here this proud " Empire State " has been embar- rassing herself with this debt for 24 years ! and it is not paid yet I What a glorious day that, when the silver and the gold and all that now constitutes wealth, shall be devoted to God and to the highest interests of man. No desert will then remain unreclaimed. No thorn or brier infest the earth. No call of philanthropy or benevolence shall go unheeded. " Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low : the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain." Through human skill and labour and a profuse expenditure of money — all rescued from the demoralization and desecration of intemperance — the deformities and wastes of earth shall be restored, and peace and plenty bless a yet happier race. It shall extenuate the curse under which man has so long groaned — relieve from poverty, reclaim from vice, enligh- ten the ignorant, elevate the lowly, and furnish ample means to restore, with heaven's blessing, all that sin has taken away. The conversion of money, and its rescue from the grasp of the Foe, and its devotion to the service of our King, shall be the talisman, the signal, and the efficient instru- , mentality of the tinal renovation of the world. XI. THE PERVERSION OF ¥SALTH. (Continued.) 1 1 MODERN EXTRAVAGANCE — EXPENSE OF CRIME — OF AMUSE- MENTS — OF FALSE RELIGIONS — AVARICE — ^WICKED IN- VESTMENTS. We maj not stop here. In nothing, rather than in the monopoly of money, does the Devil show himself a roar- ing lion got g about seeking whom he may devour. Like the horse-leech, he ever cries " Give, give." We have other ii&a^ of no small magnitude to charge to his ac- count. We may name Extravagance as another of the all-de- vouring demons that never say " Enough," Their name is Legion. Extravagi-jice in dress, in modes of living, in amusements, but too often absorb3 money by the hun- dreds or thousands, where the real necessities of life, or its charities are satisfied with uniots or tens. We should find no end of enumerating here. Nor should we well know in all cases how to discriminate between what is a prudent and justifiable expenditure, and what is culpable extrava- gance. Yet there are cases enough that are beyond doubt, and allow of no extenuation. But the common forms of extravagance, prodigal as f UNEQUAIi DISTRIBUTION. 229 „ E- le ir. ire e- le in 1- is d w it a- ►t, IS they often are, are harmless compared with that Tn^^ich very naturally accompanies overgrown estates and high positions in life. Extravagance owes its origin, in some good degree, to the unequal division of property, and the temptations which the favoured class have to a profuse and oftentimes a foolish use of riches. A wise and benevolent Providence has, as a Good Father, kindly considered the wants of his children. In our Fathe-'s house there is " enough and to spare" for all. If the Divine scheme were followed out, there could be no such thing as suffer- ing and want on the one side, if there were not super- abundance, surfeidng, and monopoly on the other. The extent of the extravagance and monopoly of the rich just measures the extent of the want and suffering of the poor. The one is the cause and counterpart of the other. The idea finds a very obvious illustration in England — though we by no means lack illustrations in our own country. England has thirty -two million acres of land.' This would give each family, if equally divided, land enough (two acres to each individual) to place the vhole in a state of comfort and competence — in connection, we mean, with mechanical and other avocations of the peo- ple. But what is the fact ? What of unequal division — of overgrown estates and monopolies, extravagance and oppression on the one hand, and poverty, suffering, dis- content and revolt on the other. The practical working of the present unequal distribu- tion of wealth, and the mischief ' f monopoly, is well set forth in the follov^ ing paragraphs : Some of the New York Fifth Avenue " swells" make very respectable attempts to do the " palatial" in their houses and style of living, and put forth ambitious efforts to imit^tte English country seats, the possession of which the English call "a snug box" on the Hudson River, and ten, twenty or a hundred acres. An account before us of the luxurious style of living among the English aristo- cracy, throws our parvenu pretenders considerably into the shade : 230 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. I About sixty miles from London is the estate of the Earl Spencer, which comprises ten thousand acres, divided into parks, meadows, pastures, woods and gar- dens. His library contains fifty thousand volumes, and it is said to be the finest private library in the world. The Duke of Richmond's home farm consists of twenty -three thousand acres, or over thirty-five square miles, and this in crowded Englaiiu, which has in all an area of only 50,000 square miles, or just 32,000,000 acres, giving, were the land divided, but two acres to each inhabitant. The residence of the Duke is fitted up with oriental magnificence. Twenty-five race horses stand in his stables, each under the care of a special groom. The dishes and plates upon the tables are all of porcelain, silver and gold. His aviary is supplied with almost every variety of rare and elegant birds, and large herds of cattle, sheep and deer are spread over the immense lawn. The same authority from which we gather these facts, says that the Duke of Devonshire's palace at Chatsworth excels in magnificence any other of the kingdom. He spends the whole of his enormous income. In the grounds rbout the palace are kept 400 head of cattle and 1,400 cleer. The kitchen garden contains 12 acres, and is filled with almost every species of fruit and vegetables. A vast arboretum, connected with this establishment, is designed tc conoain a sample of every tree that grows. There is also a glass conservatory 397 feet in length, 112 feet in breadth and 67 feet in height, covered by 75,000 square feet of glass, and warmed by seven miles of pipe, convey- ing hot water. One plant was obtained from India by a special messenger, and is valued at $10,000. One of the fountains, near the house, plays 276 feet high, said to be the highest jet in the world. Chatsworth contains 3,500 acres, but the Duke owns 96,000 acres in Derbyshire. — Within, the entire is one vast scene of paintings, sculp- ture, mosaic work, carved wainscoting,and all the elegances f ' WEALTH AND POVERTY. 231 and luxuries within the reach of almost boundless wealth and refined taste. Five-sixths of the soil in England is divided among scarcely thirty thousand proprietors. There are twenty-nine bankers in London, whose transactions yearly embrace six or seven hundred millions sterling. This is one side of the picture. The struggle between capital and labour is fearful— the rich always becoming richer, and the poor poorer. Three hundred thousand per- sons die of famine in a year, and three hundred thousand voluntarily emigrate in order to escape the same dismal doom. We would not fail here to notice that the degree of privation and suffering on the one side is but the exact counterpart of the plethora and extravagance of the other. The unnatural accumulation and wasteful expenditure of a few, simply means the impoverishment and the suffer- ing of the many. But the simple faot of the accumulation of great fortunes on the one part, and a corresponding poverty on the other, is by no means the worst of it. Great estates may be inherited, or otherwise honestly acquired ; and they may be, in a commendable manner, consecrated to the good of man and the service of the great Master. And the poverty of the poor, bad as it is, is not the worst evil humanity is heir to. When these mammoth fortunes are fraudulently obtained ; when the accumulation involves dishonesty, thefts, and every species of Satanic craft and guile ; and when the unrighteous mammon is used only to corrupt society and degrade humanity, then we see the hand of the Devil in it. The world perhaps never before witnessed a perversion in the matter of money !so disgracefsd to all decent human- ity as has been perpetrated in the monopolies, but more especially in the doings of the " Rings" of a few years past. But we will not go into details here. We take courage that better times are coming, simply from the fact that the Devil has here done his worst, and therefore he cannot improve on the post. 232 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. I But we must have a word more with Old England. We are told of one hundred and ninety-five individuals in Great Britain who hold $1,745,000,000 worth of British consols — an average of nearly $9,000,000 to each. And will any one tell us here how many starvelings are made by each one of these " bloated bondholders ?" Lord Der- by has an annual income of £190,000, or $1,000,000. This would give a competence or a good working capital (of ten thousand dollars to each) to a hundred families. Our thought is well illustrated by the following notice of the great money-king of Europe, the late Baron Roths- child. We doubt if any ordinary person can contemplate, with- out serious misgivings, the announcement that Baron Rothschild, who recently died in Paris, was worth two thousand millions of francs, [or four hundred millions of dollars. It was observed at the time that he was a charitable man, and that the poor of Paris deplored his loss deeply. Yet during all the long weary years that he was en- gaged in amassing th stupendous fortune, men and wo- men were starving to death, or committing suicide from want and suffering in that very city of Paris. Who can tell the multitude of unfortunates who, wrecked in for- tune by the changes on the Bourse wrought or controlled by this man, have plunged into eternity to escape suffer- ing and reproach ? Who can tell how often the loaves of the baker have been reduced and the poor punished be- cause some of the Rothschilds had run up the flour mar- ket? Who can tell how many widows and orphans have had their little all engulfed in the maelstrom of fis- cal operations that brought ruin to thousands and fortune to him ? Charity ! How many millions did he give to the poor ? In order to be truly charitable he ought to have devoted about half his fortune to such purposes, for nothing elpe would have relieved him of the responsilDility for the evil i BABON ROTHSCHILD. 233 he had wrought in seeking to pile up such tremenaous hoards. Stephen Girard achieved a colossal fortune in commerce, but he left the bulk of it t-o educate the orphan children of the poor. John McDonough, of New Orleans, followed his example. George Peabody did not wait for his death-bed to warn him of his duty. He gave his mil- lions to the needy. Rothschild could not take his money with him into the next world. All he carried with him to the grave was a wooden box. But he still contrived to let the evil of his system survive him. For the wealth of the Rothschilds is jealously guarded against division by preventing the children from marrying out of the family. Even to the day of his death he managed to keep those nearest to him ignorant of half his wealth by opening a great number of accounts in false names. How often have the schemes of this dead Rothschild produced embarrassments in the markets of America ? How often has he not spread ruin over thousands of our countrymen by means of influence centring in his house in London and Paris, over which no American could have any control ? There have been times when such men were supposed to have rendered great public services by the command of fiscal resources. But the late Emperor of France at last emancipated Governments from depen- dence on this class, by means of his great popular loans, raised by appeal to the whole mass of the people. That invention has exploded the bubble on which the reputa- tion of men like Rothschild had been resting. In any age, in any country, under any circumstances, such colossal fortunes are nuisances. So far from benefiting the people in any way, they increase the downward tendencies of the poorer classes ; and all the benevolence the million- naires can achieve by their gifts or bequests will not atone for the misery they inflict upon millions of the human race. The summer residence and snug little country seat of tho 234 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. Baron contained 87,000 acres of park and grounds. By this appropriation to one individual — not to meet his ne- cessities but his luxuries — just one thousand families were left without a snug homestead of thirty-seven acres each — the means of a comfortable and independent subsistence in all time to come. Whether or not the Baron disbursed bountifully as he had bountifully received we do not assert. We find in his record one instance of his hospitality which looks suffi- ciently large. It is the visit to his superb mansion, in 1866/of the French Emperor (Napoleon III). This visit of a few days cost the noble Baron the nice little sum of a million of francs. -» We are often asked if there are no signs that the expen- siveness of English society, especially in the higher ranks, may speedily begin to decrease. We see no signs of it, and hold it to be much more probable that we are on the eve of an era of ostentation as tawdry and of extravagance as pitiable as that which marks the past. That is the American tendency, and we see nothing, no new and strong idea, which should mark off the manners of our society from those of the wealthy classes of Great Britain. Public life is becoming rather less than more attractive to those who have all but power. The taste of art which is developing rapidly is the most expensive of all tastes, except the taste for gambling, and that is not on the de- crease. The millionnaires are becoming more numerous every day, and certainly do not spend their wealth more for the public benefit. The electors seem every year to prefer the great spenders as their representatives, while the wealthy, who might check be evil, are experimenting in a new and most costly enjc '^*Tfient— that of becoming the leaders of cosmopolitan wa&i-t>, and, like the patricians of Rome and Spain, maintaining establishments in a dozen countries at once. It is, says the London Spectator, com- ing rapidly to this — that a first class leader of society, \ ith a first class fortune, to be " on a level with his position," EXORBITANT SALARIES. 235 8. By bis ne- 38 were 38 each istence ^ as he find in :& suffi- don, in lis visit sum of expen- r ranks, is of it, on the ragance , is the )w and of our Britain, ctive to rhich is tastes, the de- merous h more year to I, while oenting scorning tricians a dozen >r, com- y, ^ th )sition," wants, or chooses to think he wants, a house in London, a house on the river, two palaces at least in the country, a shooting-box in the Highlands, a hotel in Paris as costly as his London house, a v31a at Gomo, a floor in Rome, an establishment in Cairo or Constantino, a yacht, a theatre, and a racing stud, and then thinks that life is as mono- tonous as it was when " in his cool hall with haggard eyes the Roman noble lay." Exorbitant salaries are somewhat akin to overgrown estates. They are income from another species of capital, and are but too often the result of fraud and despotism. Both Church and State afford examples of this kind of money monopoly. The annual revenue of the clergy of the Church establishment of England is more than S42,- 000,000. The income of the bishops is enormous. That of 28 amounts to nearly a million. For instance, the Archbishop of Canterbury receives $75,000 ; of York, $50,000 ; the Bishop of London, $50,000 ; of i)urham, $40,000; of Winchester, $35,000. The salaries of the inferior clergy are grossly unequal. For instance, 1,500 get annually about $5,000 ; while another 1,500, though working ministers, get but from $400 to $200 each. But these are moderate when compared with the reve- nues of the Pope and the great ones of the Romish Hier- archy. Nowhere does the power of money tell more effec- tively for evil. The matter of excessive salaries in general, belongs more properly to our next chapter. Other occasions of culpable extravagance are weddings and funerals. Funeral Extravagance. — The remark of the gentleman who said that he could not afford to die in New York has doubtless been echoed by many a victim to funeral bills. The following sensible discussion of the subject is from Hearth and Home : " The desire for display on funeral occasions keeps pace with the passion for expensive weddings, until some peo- ple come to act as if they thought all of one's worldly 236 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. goods should be expendedin commemorating his marriage and death. A few years ago a simple coffin, plain hearse, and a few carriages were looked upon as a sufficient mani- festation of respect and regard for the dead. Now, costly- shrouds and appointments, the most expensive coffins, and long trains of carriages are regarded as essential to a * genteel ' funeral. Those who have wealth can make these outlays without infringing upon their actual wants. Fashion's dictates, however, lead many thousands to pur- sue a similar course, when by so doing they rob themselves of the necessaries of life. How many widows devote to their funerals more than half the funds left by husbands ; and how many children, in displaying a final regard for death of parents, encroach upon their bread money ! As the young married couple will squander hundreds of dol- lars on a showy wedding tour, and return to take lodgings in the sky -parlour of a cheap boarding house, so will wid- ows and children often devote to a husband's and parent's funeral what is actually required to keep soul and body together, and all to conform to custom and be * genteel.' ' We have spoken plainly on this subject, but it de- mands plain speech. Funeral extravagance has become a crying evil, bearing heavily upon the middle and lower classes, and no false notions of delicacy should deter either the pulpit or the press from endeavouring to arrest it. Again, immense sums are sunk in the vortex o^ amuse- ments. We refer now only to hurtful, demoralizing amuse- ments ; as amusements, when neither hurtful nor demoral- izing, are not necessarily sinful. The cost of amusements is beyond all convenient calculation. There is here a strange infatuation. Men and women who would not give a sixpence to any charity, and who dispense most grudgingly even for the comforts, perhaps for the neces- saries of life, not unfrequently will squander, or more likely suffer their children to squander, dollars for some foolish amusement. i COST OF AMUSEMENTS. 237 aarriage I hearse, it mani- 7, costly Bns, and lial to a m make il wants. J to pur- 3m selves Bvote to isbands ; jgard for ey ! As s of dol- lodgings svill wid- parent's pd body nteel.' '^ it it de- become id lower Id deter to arrest amuse- r amuse- lemoral- sements here a )uld not se most neces- yr more *or some » 1 t It would be impractical to do more than to name a few of the items that indicate the enormous tax which is here levied by this insidious tyrant. The entire expense lies beyond the power of any one man to ascertain, and not within the sphere of our common arithmetic to calcu- late. We have an illustration in the expense of theatri- cal amusements. Yet this is but a drop in the bucket compared with the whole amount. There are now in the City of New York, in full blast night after night, at most seasons of the year, theatres, capable of holding fourteen thousand persons, and receiv- ing in the aggregate probably $5,000 per night. Five of these furnish facilities for licentiousness by providing prostitutes with accommodation in their " third tiers ' or otherwise. Take away from a theatre its " third tier" and the accompanying bar, and one ot the chief sources of revenue is dried up. " The saloons of the late Broadway Theatre, when first opened, were rented at $5,000 per annum, and the receipts at the office were nearly $2,000 nightly." Of course these figures form no criterion by which to judge other theatres, or even the same establish- ihent at the present time ; but taken in connection with the fact that a Now York theatre, now extinct, received $800,000 in seven years, they serve to *show that time and money and character are not squandered in brothels, gambling-hells, and lottery-offices alone. Again : From the fashionable and fascinating opera- houses and ball-rooms down, through a long gradation, to the vile assemblies of "The Points,"' amusements are graduated so as t6 gra,tify every class, however degraded — every taste, however depraved — every desire, however debased. Theatres, circuses, museums, minstrels, mena- geries of the lowest order, model artist exhibitions, sailors* and strumpets' dance-houses, attract audiences, more or less numerous, every night in New York. Time would fail me to tell a tithe of what may be seen on any even- ing by him who would venture to explore the secret 238 THE FOOT-PBINTS OP SATAN. E*i haunts of sin, and it is more than doubtful whether such a narration would serve any good purpose. But there are antecedents to the habitual frequenting of these places of amusement, which need a moment's notice. Unquestionably the bowling-alley s,billiard-saloons, shooting-galleries, ale-houses, and the attractive and re- splendent restaurants, are, to many a youth, the primary schools of vice, in which are learnt the first lessons of ir- religion and dissipation. However harmless in them- selves some of these places of recreation may be, there are associations formed and habits contracted by frequenting them, whose influence sways a lifetime, and imperils the immortal soul. From hence to the theatre is but a step ; from the theatre downward the descent is easy. The following items give us some idea at least of the expensiveness of amusements. In six theatres in New York, and in two places of occasional theatricals, and in one circus, ' here are from one to two himdred persons em- ployed in each. A single theatre (the Bowery) pays $1,- 000 to one paper for advertising, besides handbills, cards and posters, amounting to several thousand more. " Hard times," writes a correspondent ; ** but," continues he, ** the theatres were full last night to overflowing. The prob- able receipts for' the night, from four theatres, were said to have averaged from $1,000 to $1,600." These four theatres doubtless received not less than $1,000,000 annually — and all the theatres in New York not less than $2,000,000. Such a princely income is re- quired to meet the correspondingly profuse expenditures of these places. The celebrated actor Kean used to be paid at the Drury Lane Theatre £50 ($250) a night. At Park Theatre actors were paid from $80 to $100 a week. Professor Bronson was offered $1,000 a week. He would Accept, if the dissipation and the profanity of the stage could be removed ; and the nuisances could be taken away. But he was told that could not be done ! In all this we have said nothing of the immense expen- EXPENSE OF FURNISHINO AMUSEMENTS. 239 Br such aenting Qment's saloons, and re- primary QS of ir- i them- liere are [uenting erils the I a step ; it of the in New , and in sons em- mys Sl,- Is, cards . "Hard he, *' the he prob- 'ere said ess than w York me is re- snditures ed to be ght. At a week, le would bhe stage en away. je expen- ' ditures for buildings, furniture, apparatus, scenery, etc., compared with which all the expenditures for conducting all our philanthropic and benevolent enterprises are but an item. The expense of theatres in New York alone greatly exceeds the expense of all the evangelical pastors' salaries in that great metropolis — and probably we might add the whole expense of all the benevolent organizations of the city. And it is possible that more time and service is there devoted to theatrical amusements than is by all other classes devoted to religion and the supreme good of man. Friends of religion and good morals, therefore, should not patronize these places of demoralization and waste, but unite their influence and example to suppress so fruitful a soui ce of evil. Scarcely has our arch Foe a more subtle and sure device by which to decoy the multitude on in the broad road to death. Surely he is the god of this world. Items like the following give some idea of the expense of furnishing amusement, and of the willingness of other classes to pay to be amused. An Italian singer has re- ceived $70,000 for a single season ; and a nobleman has been known to pay $1,500 a year for a single box in an opera. Jenny Lind, the Swedish singer, was offered $200,000 to sing two hundred nights, and all the expen- ses of herself and her father paid, and a carriage always at her command. A late writer gives an aggregate of the annual cost of public amusements in New York City at $7,000,000, and the amount of intoxicating liquors sold at 8,000 drinking places at $16,000,000, or, including time and labour wasted and capital involved in the traffic, not less than $48,000,- 000. And, as nearly akin to the last, we might take a few items from the history of gambling, that shall fui-ther illustrate the same profuse and criminal perversion of money. It is said that $35,000,000 are annually lost in the gambling houses of London— $5,000,000 have been 240 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. E hi i » known to be lost at one house (Crockford's) in » single night. One gambling saloon in London cost $500,000, and its receipts are half a million a year. But the pecuniary waste of gambling is as nothing com- pared with the moral devastation. The epithet applied by common consent to these dens of all manner of ini- quity, is aptly significant. They are "gambling hells." And so true are tJxey to their disgusting cognomen, so demoral- izing in all their doings, so pestiferous their atmosphere, that the common verdict of all decent people is that all the frequenters ' f these pits "go down to death; v.ieir feet take hold on hell." Point out a man who is a con- finned gambler, and you need not fear to charge upon - him any sin in the whole catalogue of human depravity. Some people perplex themselves about the locality of the Devil. Let them go into a first-class gambling hell about twelve o'clock at night, and their doubts will be removed. The enormous expense of crime next demands our attention. Virtue, religion, benevolence, cost something. But their cost sinks into comparative insignificance by the side of the cost of sin. The slightest glance into the annals of crime will verify the assertion. We may take the number. of criminals in the United States, already convicted and suffering the penalty of their guilt, at 20,000, and the number in custody, but not yet convicted, 6,000. The cost of maintaining these per annum at $200 each, is $5,200,000. Cost of arrest, trial and conviction not less than $3,000,000 a year. And if we admit into the account but a few of the items of the waste and destruction of property perpetrated by this class before their detection, such as waste from rioting, dissipation and drunkenness, say another $3,000,000, and loss by fires, the work of incendiaries, $5,000,000, we shall find ourselves paying (besides incidental wastes not easily calculated) more_ than $16,000,000 as the more direct, tangible annual expense of crime in a single country; EXPENSE OP IDOLJLTRT. 241 single 0,000, jcorn- pplied f ini- ' And uoral- phere, lat all ; c-i8ir a con- ( upon- ivity. Mty of Qg hell v'ill be is our 3thing. ice by ito the United ilty of )ut not se per it, trial A.nd if of the ly this ioting, 0, and e shall easily direct, untryi and this not including the expense of making laws for the suppression of crime, the building of prisons, the support of magistrates and police, and the whole corps of execu- tive officers. The expense of prisons alone in Great Britain is re- ported to have amounted, in a single year, to more than §2,000,000. And the, nuiiiber ot persons convicted of crime the same year was not leas than 25,000. But who furnish our criminals and paupers, and how are they made such t A recent publication states that of the criminals in New York City for twenty-one months, 31,0ii8 were natives of this country, whiJe 89,589 were foreigners ; of whom 60,442 were Irish; 9,488 Germans, and 4,000 English. Of 28,821 persons admitted to the alms-house in ten years, 22,468 were foreignera; 15,94.i were Irish, 1,240 Gtjrmans, and 1,297 English. During the same time, of 60,015 admitted to Bellevue Hospital, 41,851 were foreigners. Of 4,335 inmates of the lunatic asylum, 3,360 were foreigners. Of 251,814 committed to the city prison, only 69,385 were natives, while 86,431 professed to be members of the Church of Rome. And we have elsewhere seen that a very large per centage of our crimi- nals are made such by the use of intoxicating drinks, one of the most direct and sure agencies of the Devil. But the masterpiece of invention by which Satan has contrived to monopolize the wealth of this world, and to secure to hir- dlf the power wealth gives, is that of Pagan Beliqions. The following fleets will indicate something of the profusion of expenditure on account of spurious religions. The celebration of a single feast of the Hindoo goddess, Doorga, costs at Calcutta alone $2,500,000. And besides this, the bloody sacrifices are enormous. A single indi- vidual (a Rajah) has been knowa to expend at this festival $45,000. There have been sacrifices on this occasion 30,000 sheep, and a single Rajah has been known to o^ 65,000 animals at a single festival Indeed, the peom^ 16 i' i 242 THE FOOT-PRINTS OP SATAN. hold'everjrthing subject to the call of their gods — money^ childreD, their own bodies and souls. Temples are usually built by individuals. Some cost $10,000, some $].00,000, others cost millions. In the kingdom of Siam, for a population of four or five millions, there are at least 20,000 priests, and a > propor- tionate number of splendid and costly pagodas, all sup- ported by onerous exactions on a priest-ridden people. The mass of the people, rich and poor, expend far the larger moiety of their earnings or incor:i3 in offerings to idols, and the countless rites and fssti ah connected with idol worship. The following list of articles a single wealthy native has been known to offer at the celebration of one festival : 80,000 poun^^s of sugar, 1,000 suits of cloth gar- ments, 1,000 suits of silks, and 1,000 offerings of rice and fruits ; and anotiier to expend upwards of $150,000 at a single festival, and $50,000 annually to the end of his life. It is no uncommon occurrence that a wealthy family is reduced to poverty througn then* profuse and ostentatious offerings to their gods. The Rajah of Burdwan spends $125,000 annually upon priests and idols. Rev. Mr. Werthrecht, speaking of a visit he made to this Rajah, says, " I found him sitting in his treasury. Fifty bags of money, containing $2,000 «ach, were placed before him. ** What," said I, " are you doing with all this money ? " " It is for my gods," said he. "How ?" asked I, " One part is to' be «ent to Be- nares, where I have two fine temples on the river side, and many priests who pray for me. Another part goes to Juggernaut, and a third to Gunga." Here is one native, annually spending on a class of idle and worse than use- less Brahmins, $100,000. Let the rich Christian receive a profitable hint from the example of this poor, deluded idolater. How long woxild it require a similar liberality on the part of Christians in order to extend the blessings of the gospel to the ends of the earth ? It is computed by Rev. Mr. Dean, that the Chinese ex- -money^ usually 100,000, r or five propor- all sup- . people, far the rings to ied with wealthy 1 of one loth gar- rice and )00 at a f his life, iamily is ntatious lly upon Lng of a 1 sitting $2,000 are you is," said to Be- side, and goes to e native, ban use- receive deluded iberalifcy )lessings nese ex- WHAT THE PAPACY COSTS. 24S pgid annually for mcewse alone, to bum before their idols, not less than $360,000,000. And we are told of a Hindoo who expended half a million of dollars in a single festival, and of another who spent two and a half millions for the support of idolatry. There is a temple in Mengoon (the largest in the Bur- man Empire) which covers twelve acres of ground. In the centre is a room twenty cubits square, in which are placed images of each member of the royal family made of pure gold, the amount of gold in each image equalling in weight the individual for whom it was made; also images of each nobleman in the empire, made of solid silver, and the silver weighed against each man. Every- thing about this pagoda is on a scale of vastness almost overpowering. For example, the lions that guard the stairs leading from the river up to the sacred enclo- sure, though in a crouchant posture, are ninety feet in height. The celebrated Taj, of Agra, the mausoleum erected by the Emperor Shah Jehan in memory of his favourite be- gum, Noor Mahal, would now cost to build it in India, it is said, not less than $50,000,000. Or turn we to the Romish Church, we meet illustrations none the less striking. This grand counterfeit of the true faith has richly merited the title it has been awarded, of being a " Church of money." Had Satan no other purpose in the invention and support of this form of religion than the monopoly of incalculable pe- cuniary treasures, and by these means abstracting them from the great arena of human progress and Christian benevolence, the design would be worthy of the original. We can go into no calculations as to the millions on mil- lions that are wrenched from the people and absorbed in the paraphernalia of the Scarlet Beast. In Kev. xvi. 11- 19, we have a singular description of the superabounding- riches of this great religious delusion. Mammon has laid the abundance of his riches at the feet of this reli- 244 THE FOOT-PBINTS OP SATAN. ffion. How this is done we have a notable iUiwtration in the exactions of this Church in every Catholic country. We may select Ireland as an example. The history of that priest-ridden, povertj'^-stricken country furnishes a melancholy chapter on the misery and starvation of a people ground beneath the iron heel of spiritual des- potism. But do those who pityingly read this chapter of priestly extortions, comprehend their magnitude ? Do they real- ize what stupendous sums the Komish priesthood yearly abstract from the industrial avocations of that country ? The following short and imperfect list comprises nearly $7,000,000 which that already poverty-stricken people are annually paying to support the unwarrantable pre- tensions of an almost useless priesthood : for confessions $1,500,000, for burials $150,000, for unctions $300,000, for marriages $1,800,000, for delivering from purgatory $500,- 000, for church collections $2,500,000. This does little more than indicate the mode by which that Church extorts money from the people, and the enor- mous suras which it extorts. And if starving Ireland pays seven millions annually, simply for the half-dozen items named, who shall tell us of the immense revenues of the Woman on the Scarlet Beast in countries more wealthy ?— to say nothing of the nameless wealth held by the Church of Rome as her more permanent inheritance. In nothing perhaps are the cunning devices of our great enemy more conspicuous than in his mon:^poly of money. Well does he understand that money answers all things. In the form of bribes it imperils the best in- terests of a free people, persuades to every crime and per- petrates every mischief. There is no viHainy so black, no murder so atrocious, that its perpetration cannot be bought off with money. Money as an incentive to crime, blinda the mind, renders obtuse the heart, sears the conscience, obliterates the line between wrong and right, and makes man th3 victim of dishonesty and shameless wrong. The HT7MAN DEPRAVITT. 245 most disgusting specimens of this species of human de- pravity and of Satanic incarnation are, at this moment, cursing our large cities. Men of wealth, position, educa- tion and professional standing, are, by means of bribery and financial chicanery, perpetrating gigantic frauds themselves, and using the power of their immense and ill- gotten wealth to demoralize and cornipt others, encourag- ing them in the same fraudulent course while they them- selves reap the wages of their unblushing iniquity. The most blighting curse in a community is a rich man who uses his riches only to oppress and demoralize the people. The power of such a man is irresistible, and if it be arrayed against virtue, morality and religion, it is a living irjurse. Money, when not sanctified, cherishes pride, absorbs the whole man in the interests of mammon, blinds the eyes of the mind to all future realities, and makes the man but the bond slave of the world, the flesh and the Devil. Instead of the overwhelming power which money is fitted to exercise for good in the world, it is made, by its perversion, the mightiest agency for evil. Avarice, covetousness, love of hoarding — all instigations of the Evil One — absorb a world of the earth's treasures, and consequently abstract them from the various uses of benevolence, philanthropy and human improvement. What he cannot subsidize directly in his own service he will lock up in the gloomy cells of the miser, and thus quite as effectively withdraw it from the purposes of use- ful activity. How much is thus perverted and completely neutralized, as to any benefit to man or beast, it is im- possible to make any probable estimate. Hundreds of millions are in this way put beyond the reach of any hu- man utility. It was the accui^ed love of gold that moved the Spa- niards to ravage the ten itories of Mexico, to violate every principle of justice and humanity, to massacre the people, and to Derpetrate the most horrid cruelties. And it was 246 THE FOOT-PRINTS OP SATAN. E\. I I I 1 1' the same love of gold which originated the nefarious slave tmde, and perpetuated, in more lands than ours, the hea- ven-provoking wrong of human bondogd. And, as somewhat akin, at least in general consequences, we may add that of a groat variety of unrighteous invest- menta of property, which not only contribute nothing to human advancement or happiness, but, on the contrary, inHict unmeasured curses — such are investments in distil- leries and in intoxicating drinks, in gin palaces and splen- did gambling-houses, in theatres and stocks, in Sabbath- desecrating companies, and in ten thousand ways in which money is made to serve the Devil and not God. It is thus that " sin reigns unto death," monopolizing the silver and the gold, and taking the cattle on a thous- and hills and making them serve the purposes of his own vile machinations. All concede money to be an agency of vast power— of almost unlimited power. And we have, to some extent, shown how this power is used — how perverted and made to serve the worst interests of man. But an enemy hath uone this. In the " restitution of all things," money shall be rescued from the hands of the Usurper and restored to the service of its rightful owner. " In the latter days " we shall see what a ccmplete transformation there will be in the world when the power and influenco of money shall be used to favour the cause of righteousness on the earth and to beautify the New Jerusalem come down from heaven. The Hght use of property, with all the feelings, principles and activities implied in such a use, will bring about the Millennium. Inference : What a beautiful, glorious world this will be when the silver and the gold and all its precious things shall be made to contribute to its restitution to its Eden state ! And when all its vast resources shall be appropri- ated to bless, and no more to curse man, what an immense population the earth will be capable of sustaining ! i jii )us slave >he hea- quences, invest- ;hing to ontrary, n distil- d splen- iabbath- ^ays in God. polizing L thous- his own ^wer— of extent, id made ny hath ley shall itored to r days" ere will r money i on the le down all the h a use, :his will IS things ts £den ppropri- immense XII. THE PERVERSION OF WEALTH. (Continued.) REGAL AND ARISTOCRATIC EXTRAVAGANCE — GREAT ESTATES — TEMPTATIONS OF RICHES — WASTE OF WEALTH IN THE MATTER OF RELIGION — TEMPLE OF BELUS— JUGGERNAUT — ST. PETER'S AT ROME — TEMPLE OF SERINGAPORE— PRO- TESTANT EXTRAVAGANCE. Wb do not forget that money is a great power, designed on the part of the great Giver as a mighty agency for good. We are in little danger of over-estimating the responsibilities of those who are favoured of heaven with an abundance of the good things of this world. Had it been the good pleasure of God to have made an equal distribution of these good things, there doubtless would have besn a happy competence, as we have said, to every community, family or individual — enough to supply every need and minister to every legitimate want and reasonable luxury, but nothing for wanton waste or wicked extrava- gance — nothing to minister to a single vice. The silver and the gold, the products of the mine and the forest, of the sea and the dry land, if equally distributed, would give a generous portion to all. But such is not the plan of Providence. It is rather to 248 THB FOOT-PMNTS OF BATiN. ii make a very unegudl distribution — to giye to the favoured few an abundance, and to the great mas8e8 sparingly. The plan seems to be to make the few the almoner» of the many. Instead of directly 8Uf)plyii]g the wants of the multitudes, he makes the favoured few act in his stead to scatter his bounties to the dostitute. In either case he makes it a test of character and a means of grace — the rich how they give, the poor how they receive. We are not wi'jhout delightful examples of the God-like generosity of the rich. Yet these are but the exceptions. The rich receive bountifully, but " consume it on their lusts," Examples of this kind are, alas ! but too abundant. We shall quote a few : I Regal Extravagance. — Kings and queens have re- sponsibiTitiies in proportion to the profusion of wealth which falls to their lot. In the day of Zion's glory, when a pure religion shall reign in the whole earth, kings shall become nursing fathers and queens nursing mothers to the Church. They shall bring their silver and their gold with them and devote it " to the name of the Lord their God." The influence of their exalted position, the power of their wealth, shall be made to beautify Zion — to build up her walls, te enlarge her borders that she may become co- extensive with the earth. When this shall be, the day of Zion's triumph shall be near. But how different it is now I Princely wealth is to a lamentable extent but the representative of princelj' ex- travagance. Yet we do not nere forget what is due to position. We would not measure the king by the subject, out accord to him all that by position he may appropriately claim ; yet we shall, in these high places, meet much to be set down to a foolish, wicked extravagance. A few examples will illustrate. We may take as a fair specimen, perhaps, the regal expenditures of Great Britain. England is a limited monarchy, and we have. a right to expect, where the voice of the people is heard, where the people control the COST OF ▲ QTTEHf. 24d firances, resal expenditures would be measurably re- strained. A few statistics will show. We shall not pretend to give a full list of items. The regular annual allowance of the Queen of Eng- land is £385,000, or nearly ^2,000,000 ; of which £60,000 ($300,000) are assigned for the Queen's own private use, and the remainder is expended in the departments of the Lord Chamberlain, the Lord Steward, the Master of the Horse, the Clerk of the Kitchen, the Gentlemen of the Wine and Beer Cellars, the Mistress of the Robes, the Groom of the Robes ; to say nothing of Maids of Honour, Lords in waiting. Hereditary Grand Falconer, and scores of others, consisting mostly of men and women of aristo- cratic rank, all lustily paid, and nearly all sinecures ; and in royal bounties, charities, pensions and special services ; all to keey^ up the domestic arrangements of royalty. This, however, does not include the expense of a large military corps kept up for the defence and show of the royal state. Again we see how the money goes as it slips through royal "fingers, in the exchange of kingly presents. Take the following, of recent occurrence, as an example, though not among the most munificent. The Rajah of Cashmere has sent to Queen Victoria a tent of Cashmere shawls, with a bedstead of carved gold, the whole valued at $750 000. But this sinks into the shade as of minor worth when compared with the present of Cleopatra, the famous Queen of Egypt, to her lover Antony. It was a diamond valued at £800,000, or $4,000,000. We refer to England only as an example. Some other European courts far outshine her in the gorgeousness of kingly display, as the imperial throne of France, Russia, Austria, Spain. Take a single item. The diadem worn by the Princess Olga of Russia, presented by her imperial father, cost 18,000,000 of francs, or $3,384,000. The bingle central diamond cost a million of francs. For a " sick man," says a recent writer, the Sultan of 1 pi '4 " " 1 1 1 i ' 1 1 U- 1 4 ' h ' ' II ic 260 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. Turkey manaffes to dispose of a heap of money upon the personal gratincation of himself and Household. To " keep the pot boiling " in the imperial kitchen costs $116,160 per month, whilst the royal steeds run away with $38,720 m the same period, supposed to be required to keep orien- tal nags iu good condition. Five princesses and their husbands modesily content themselves with the bagatelle of $267,000 for the r ecessary expenses of thirty whole days, and a brother of the Sultan hardly makes both ends meet with $48,400 per month. Then thirty-six wives of the Sultan {dear creatures !) are cut off with $] ,548.80 per month each, to which out of charity an annual present of $4,840,000, or $403,333 per month, is distributed among them, by v hich means they are enabled to "keep up appearances," and et a supply of sweetmeats, besides buying a few jewels, perhaps. The grand mistress of the treasure, with her twelve female assistants, contrive to perform their duties on a stipend of a trifle over $30,000 per month , and the 780 female slaves of the imperial harem, who contribute to the pleasure of His Majesty, require only $56,000 to satisfy their moderate wants uuring the same period. The chief of the eunuchs takes ^•34,848, and a thousand janitors and body guards are pro- vided for at the rate of $67,760 per month. The Sultan is fond of music, and a dozen bands charm him for the trifle of $77,74C per month. The Sultan does not forget 1 is old friends, and so those girls, married or unmarried, who have left the harem, are cons«)led for the loss of the light of his countenance by pensions amounting altogether to a little over half a million of dollars once in thirty days. And thus the list goes on, until an aggregate of $3,932,- 314 per month, or $47,187,768 yearly, is reached. And all for the Sultan and his household. The amount and items seem fabulous, but a French paper avows that they are copied from the imperial registers themselves. And the humble fisherman at Rome has been able thus far to gather up the fragments on the shores, so as to secure ^*«.k M EXPENDITURE OF WEALTH IN PALACES. 251 ipon the ro " keep $116,160 . $38,720 Bp orien- nd their bagatelle y whole, oth ends wives of U ,548.80 J present d among keep up , besides IS of the ifcrive to $30,000 imperial Majesty, "e wants ihs takes J are pro- e Sultan 1 for the ot forget married, s of the together rty days. $3,932,- And all nd items hey are ble thus ;0 secure a very comfortable subsistence. The income of the Pope is said to be $8,000,000. Of this, $500,000 are appropri- ated to his private affairs, $2,192,000 to pay interests, $2,700,000 to support the army and police, $600,000 to support prisons, and $24,000 to schools. Had we a voice in the councils of His Holiness, we would recommend an exchange of prison and school appropriations. $600,000 forschools would, in a few years, render $24,000 for prisons quite sufficient. But would we witners the yet more profuse expenditure of wealth in palaces and imperial ?r»urts, we must turn to the more luxuriant Orient. The ancient kings of Babylo- nia, of Persia, of India, and at a later date the imperial court of the great Moguls, shone with splendour no longer seen. They were the concentration of the boundless wealth of the East — of her silver and gold and precious stones. Yet they ministered only to the baser passions of man : to pride, ambition, love of pleasure, and the merest outward show. They had no power to bless the masses, to enlight- en the ignorant, or diffuse the blessings of civilization and a pure religion. Take as a specimen : The famous Peacock Throne of the Great Mogul of Delhi cost 160,500,000 pounds ster- ling — money enough to defray the whole expenses of Christian institutions for the next generation. " If all the churches, chapels and cathedrals of Scotland," says one, " were swallowed up by an earthquake, a mere frac- tion of its value would be more than sufficient to rebuild them all and replenish them with all the needed furni- ture." The palace of the King of Oude, Kaiser Bagh, is said to have cost four millions of dollars. A glance at the salaries of European potentates and the expense of royalty will appropriately supplem^int the above statistics. The Emperor of Russia has a salary of $8,250,000; the Sultan of Turkey, $6,000,000; Napoleon III., $6,000,000; Emperor of Austria, $4,000,000; King 252 THE rOOT-FBIKTB OF SATAN. ii li mi of Prussia, $3,000.000 ; Victor Emmanuel, $2,400,000 ; Victoria, $2,200,000 ; Isabella of Spain, $1,800,000; Leo- pold of Belgium, $500,000. President Grant receives $26,000. The above gives the Emperor of Russia $25,000 a day ; the Sultan of Turkey, $18,000 ; Napoleon, $14,000 ; Emperor of Austria, $10,000 ; King of Prussia, $8,210 ; Victor Em- manuel, $6,340 ; Queen Victoria, $6,270; Leopold, $1,643 ; and President Grant, $68.50. And another list of not lens amount represents the appropriations granted for household expenses. In the above statement we have left out the " pickings ** (to use an expression of great modem significance), which in some of our great cities are esteemed of considerably more account than lawful salaries by officeholders. How Louis Napoleon has destroyed the power of France is thus described by the Army and Navy Journal : " The truth is, France has been completely betrayed by the empire. Compelled by his insecure tenure upon power to purchase the support of the statesmen who managed the civil, and the generals who managed the mi- litary affairs of the nation, the Emperor has favoured fraud in every branch of the service. Receiving a larger civil list than any othei monarch in Europe, amounting to 37,- 000,000 francis in money, and the free possession of palaces, parks and gardens, his entire income is put at 42,000,000 francs, or $8,000,000 in ,^old. But this was far from enough. The crowds that syrprra the streets of Paris, forming a Republic out of a despotism, tell of the fraud by which he has taken enormous sums from the army fund, amounting, it is said, to a further total of 60,000,000 francs. The commutation money paid in by rich conscripts has been taken, and the old soldiers who should be found ^ in the ranks as substitutes are not there. Pay is drawn for re^ments at their maximum strength, which lack one-third of it. Forage, subsistence, munitions, f i' have been paid for, but not bought. In spite of the enormous ANCIENT EXTRATAOANCB. 159 cost of the armament of the country, Gen. Trochu was obliged to tell a crowd of new-made republicans that there were no arms for them." • • But this direct larceny was by no means all. The fraud was carried still farther, and " fat contracts " have been more common in France than in any other country in the world. The truth is, the personal government was con- ducted by a set of bold but very needy adventurers ; and if the misfortunes of the ringleader are of a kind to silence the voice of accusation, the infinitely greater misfortunes of the people he has misled are such as to rouse it again. History has borne to us the report of many instances of the most foolish extravagance among the old Romans. We copy the following : Cleopatra, at an entertainment given to Antony, swal- lowed a pearl (dissolved in vinegar) worth £80,000. Claudius, the Comedian, swallowed one worth £8,000. One single dish cost Esopus £80,000, and Caligula spent the same for one supper; while the more economical Heliogabalus contented himself with a £20,000 supper. The usual cost of a repast for Lentulus was $20,000. The same is said to be true of LucuUus. Missilla gave for the house of Antony £400,000. The fish in Lentulus's pond sold for £3c,000. Otho, to finish a part of Nero's palace, spent £187,000. And to climax the whole (if it be not fabulous), Scaurus is M-id to have paid for his country house and grounds $5,852,000. When put by the side of some of these instances of regal extravagance, Napoleon's display at his second mar- riage (with Maria Louisa) seems quite modest. The ser- vice of plate alone used ac the banquet on that occasion cost 2,000,000 francs. But it shall not always be so. The silver and the gold are the Lord's ; and he will be honoured with his own. The time will come when these royal gifts and bounties yet more bountifully " will flow together" to adorn the throne of the Great King — to beautify the pla^ > of hia 254 THE FOOT-PEINTS OP SATAN. I I sanctuary. " Kings shall bring their presents unto thee. The kings of Tarshish and the isles (the nations of Europe) shall bring presents ; the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down be- fore him ; all nations shall serve him." When Qod shall appear to lift up Zion, now trodden down, " kings shall come to the brightness of her rising. They shall bring gold and incense" — shall lay their riches and honour and glory at the feet of the Great King ; and thus shall they " show forth the praises of the Lord." II. History is not wanting in illustrations of the un- natural accumulations in the hands of a few, and their wasteful and wicked extravagance, and of the conse- quent impoverishment of the many. England again fur- nishes examples of this perverted wealth — perverted, be- cause locked up in the hands df a few, and for the most part squandered in luxury or sunk into the bottomless pit of dissipation, and consequently withheld from the great arena of every-day utility, — both in ministering to the common wants and comforts of the masses for whom they were providentially intended, — and from the yet wider arena of public improvement and human progress. And of all, and above all, perhaps the gigantic land mo- nopoly of the English aristocracy is the most disastrous. The Marquis of Breadalbane rides out of hib house a hundred miles in a straight line to the sea, on his own property. The Duke of Sutherland owns the County of Sutherland, stretching across Scotland from sea to sea. The Duke of Devonshire, besides his other estates, owns 9fi,000 acres in the County of Derby. The Duke of Rich- mond has 40,000 acres at Goodwood, and 300,000 at Gor- don Castle. The Duke of Norfolk's park, in the Hebri- des, contains 500,000 acres. The large domains are grow- ing larger. The great estates are absorbing the small freeholds. In 1786, the soil of England was owned by 200,000 corporations and proprietors, and in 1822 by 32,- 000. These broad estates find room on this narrow WICKED LAND MONOPOLIES. 255 island. All 07er England, scattered at short intervals among ship-yards, mines and forges, are the paradises of the nobles, where the live-long repose and refinement are heightened by the contrast with the roar of industry and necessity out of which you have stepped We append to the above the E'tiglish commentary rather than our own. Of this land monopoly an English writer says : " We should be shocked at the men who would, if they could, seal up the waters in their original fountains, and sell them by measure to fellow-beings famishing with thirst. We should in no qualified terms denounce those who, if they had the power, would bottle up the air and let it out for a price to fellow-mortals gasping for breath. We should feel an unutterable detestation of any who would, if they could, fence out the sun, and let in here and there a ray of the sweet light to those who could pay for it. How, then, can we justify and consent that our laws should authorize some men to cover with title deeds, and 'hold as their own, millions of acres which they can- not occupy, and know not how to improve, while mil- lions of their fellow beings who have hands to work thQ soil, and skill to direct their labour, have not a rod of earth on which to rear a dwelling place, much less a field, a vineyard, an orchard, or a garden — as every Jew had — from which to gather food for his family ? " What an astounding fact it is, showing to what lengths Christian men may go in this iniquity of land mo- nopoly, that the soil of Great Britain, occupiedby 36,- 000,000 of people, should all be held by a few thousands; that immense tracts are kept unoccupied, that they may be occasionally visited by their lordly owners for pur- poses of idle and cruel sports, and that those portions of land which the monopolists allow to be used for the pur- poses for which God made the earth should be leased and re-leased at such rates that the men and women who till them can, by their utmost diligence and economy, raise S56 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. bareW enough to pay first rents, and the tithes, and then to kc ^) themselves from (Starvation ! " And who too often is the landlord ? Lord Courtenay, son of the Earl of Devon, has an immense estate, yet he is said to owe £1,200,000, or $6,000,000, and can pay but ten shillings on the pound. During the past few years lie has been living at the raie of £100,000, or $500,000 a year. His tailor's bill in a single year amounted to twelve thousand pounds. But we may come nearer home, even to our own plain republican people. A Philadelphia letter-writer says of a party which was given by Mrs. Bush, a millionnaire of that city, a few days ago : ** About two thousand invitations were issued, and the entire cost of the entertainment, I am informed, was in the vicinity of $20,000, the bare items of bouviuets alone costing $1,000, which were distributed in elegant pro- fusion around her splendid man-^ion. It was nothing but one incessant revelling in luxury from beginning to end. At half-past four in the morning green tea, sweet bread, and terrapins, as the closing feast preparatory to the de- parture of the remaining guests, were served up." And we more than suspect that Madame Rush is not the only millionaire in this land of republican simplicity who goes into those little twenty thousand dollar episodes. The following little item shows how the money goes in one of our young and thriving towns of the West : In one year Quincy, III, spent $2,604,000 for groceries, $3,682,000 for liquors and $.,008,000 for tobacco. But how much faster would she grow, and how much more healthful would be her thrift, if these vast resources, now perverted only to weaken and demoralize and sadly retard her real prosperity, were employed to further her educational, physical or moral interests. Bub Quincy is probably not at all singular in her perversion, and worse than waste, of her resources. Perhaps the Devil finds a fairer field for his monopo- :» JL _, — .- Jl ' -^ THE COST OF DEAB WOMAN. 257 lies of wealth in the covering of the outer man than in the feeding of the inner. Dress, dress, extravagance in dress, is his darling device. We shall not pretend to ad- duce exact statistics here ; but only present what some people say on this delicate theme, and leave the gentle reader to compare what we say with what «/i3 may hap- pen to know. " There are in New York and Brooklyn not less than five thousand ladies whose dress bill could not average less than two thousand dollars each, or ten millions for all. " There are five thousand more whose dress expenses will average one thousand eajch, or five millions of dol- lars for the whole number, and five millions of dollars more would not cover the dress expenses of those whose bills average every year from two to five hundred dollars. Thus, at a low estimate, the anmial cost of dressing our fashionable ladies is twenty millions of dollars. Per- haps we should not exceed the truth if we estimated the annual cost of dressing and jewelling the ladies of New York and its vicinity at from thirty to forty millions of dollars, " What wonder that poverty and suffering are so rife in that city ! Twenty millions of dollars, to say the least, wasted in finery and extravagance — worse than wasted!" ^ ^ -^ Or see how another writer puts it. He says : " It is estimated that there are 600,000 ladies in the United States that spend $250 a year, on an average, for for- eign dry-goods, equal to $125,000,000 annually." So much capital withdrawn from home industry and ex- pended in foreign markets. No wonder exchano^e is so against us. It is said there are not wanting individual ladies who spend on dress alone from $2,000 to $10,000 a year. " A fashionable dry-goods dealer advertises a lace scarf worth fifteen hundred doUars. Another has a bridal dress 17 258 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. for whicli he asks twelve hundred dollars. ^ Bonnets at two hundred dollars are not unfrequcntly sold. Cash- meres, from three hundred and upwards to two thousand dollars, are seen hy dozens in a walk alonfi; Broadway. A hundred dollars is quite a common price for a silk gown. In a word, extravagance in dress has reached a height which would have frightened our prudent grandmothers and appalled their hushands. A fashionable lady spends annually on her milliner, mantua-maker and lace-dealer a sum that would have supported an entire household, even in her own rank in life, in the days of Mrs. Wash- ington." Add to this, expenditures for opera tickets, for a sum- mer trip to the Springs, and for a score of other inevit- able et ceteras, and you get some idea of the compara- tively wanton waste of money carried on year after year by thousands, if not by tens of thousands, of American women. But is this wanton waste and wicked extravagance a sin only of women ? A disgusting tale might be rehear- sed on the other side. Wine, cigars, horse-racing, and many foolish and some unmentionable expenditures ab- sorb their millions, which do but too nearly match with the millions squandered by the other sex. Take the fol- lowing, which recently appeared in a New York paper, as perhaps not altogether a rare specimen of a Wall-street spwg, who would seem only to need a little more age, and tact and experience, and the means of gratification, to make him a full-grown man in all the fooleries and sins of a fashionable extravagance : "Fast Young Men in New Fori. — To show your read- ers that extravagance here is Dot such an exception as those people probably will say who prefer to take a rose- coloured view of things financial, I append a copy of a stray piece of paper, apparently forming a part of a me- morandum-book, which was found on the street a few days since by one of our New York journalibts. The FAST T0I7NO MAN*S BILL. 259 latter penxtifted me to copy it. It appeared to be the page of a diary, on which a conscientious Wall-street youth had put down hi? expenses for September 3rd. Here they are : Breakfast at Delmonico $6.00 Omnibus to WallStreet 10 Sundries to facilitate bu'^^ ness affairs 3.00 Bet and lost a hat 10.00 To a poor man '. 05 Luncheon at Delmonico 2.00 ]{ efreshments in the afternoon 2.00 ' Omnibus going up town 10 Dinner at the Hoffman House 9.00 Carriage for self and Miss Z 10.00 Ice cream for Miss Z ... 1.00 Having brought Miss Z. home, went to Pierce's a?id lost 22.00 Went to Morrissey to regain what I had lost at Pierce's, and lost again 47.00 Left Morrissey and took another carriage 3.50 A man is not made of wood 25.00 Total expenses for September 3rd $140,75 " Now, I do not wish to be understood as saying that all Wall Street people waste their monpy day after day in the above style, but I do say that the memorandum picked up by my journalist' c friend gives a fair example of the manner in which a large class of our influential young men live nowadays. It is they who give what is called tone to * society,* and it is only when they com- mence to reduce their daily expenses that theib is the least glimmering of a hof)e that our public expendi- tures will be kept within bounds." But does not the habit of profuse expenuiture make the same individuals liberal givers in every work of be- 2G0 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. Tu'volence and philanthropy ? In reply to this the wri- tor already quoted well exclaims : " Give of their substance to objects charitable or merci- ful ! What have they to give for any benevolent enter- prise after deducting bills for dress, equipage, pastimes, luxurious feastings? Give? What have they to give when all is on the back or in the wardrpbe ? The great mass of the people are living above their income. Who can doubt that this wicked expenditure of God's bounty to gratify pride, ostentation, fashionable etiquette, is one special cause of the present awful visitation, the fearful judgments of the Almighty ?" But other instances of waste yet more senseless and disgusting might be quoted. A single example will suf- fice. There died recently in London a notorious glutton. Some called him a princely glutton. In ten years he ate up a fortune of £150,000. He traversed all Europe to gratify his appetite, and had agents in China, Mexico and Canada to supply him with all the rarest delicacies. A single dish cost £50. He waited till his patrimony was consumed before he quitted life. When the fatal day arrived, only one guinea, a single shirt and a battered hat remained. With the guinea he bought a woodcock, which he had served up in the highest style of the culin- ary art — gave himself two hv^urs' rest for an easy diges- tion; then jumped into the Thames from the Westmin- ster Bridge. We may take the following appropriation of a much smaller sum as a beautiful and noteworthy contrast : "How Many Hearts were made Happy. — A wealthy lady in Boston on New-year's Day prepai-ed a bountiful feast for 1,500 poor children of that city in Faneuil Hafl, and at the close presented each one with a comfortable garment and a pair of shoes." The following may be taken in contrast, though it is to be feared it does not exhibit any very singular example of extravagance. A host of our really fashionable women this the wri- DOLLARS FOR RIBBONS, PENNIES FOB 9HRIST. 261 — may we ^ay fashionable Christian woman ? — will think the kdy in question quite modest in her outward adorn- ments. Some one puts it thus : " What I have seen. — I have seen a woman professing to love Christ more than the world, clad in a silk dress costing $75 ; ipaking up and trimming of same, $40 ; bonnet, (or apology for one,) $G5 ; velvet mantle, $150; diamond ring, $500 ; watch, chain and pin and other trappings, $300 ; total, $J,100 — all hung upon one frail, dying worm, I have seen her at a meeting in behalf of homeless wanderers in New York, wipe her eyes upon an expensive, embroidered handkerchief at the story of their sutTerings, and when the contribution-box came round, take from liw AvcU-fiUed portemonnaie, of costly work- manship, twenty-five cents to aid the society formed to promote their welfare. * Ah,' thought I, * dollars for rib- Ibons and pennioo for Christ !' " If we revert to Roman history we shall meet in the private fortunes of great personages illustrations yet more striking. Croesus possessed in landed property a fortune equal to $8,600,000, besides a large amount of money, slaves and furniture, which amounted to an equal sum. He used to say that a citizen who had not a sufficient sum to support an army or a legion, did not deserve the title of a rich man. The philosopher Seneca had a fortune of $17,500,- 000. Tiberius, at his death, left $118,120,000, which Caligula spent in less than twelve months. Vespasian, on ascending the throne, estimated all the expenses of the State at $175,000,000. The debts of Milo amount ed to $3,000,000. Caesar, before he entered upon any office, owed $14,975,000. He had purchased the friendship of Curio for $2,500, and that of Lucius Paulus for $1,500,000. At the time of the assassination of Julius Caesar, Antony was in debt to the amount of $15,000,000 : he owed this fium on the ides of March, and it was paid by the kalends of April ; he squandered $2,086,000,000. Lentulus, the I 262 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. * !': friend of Cicero, is said to have been worth $4,000,000. Apicius spent in dissipation and debauchery (he was the great glutton) £500,000, or $2,500,000 ; and finding, on lo 'ing ■ to his affairs, that he had only £800,000, (S* ^ ^' , H),) he poisoned himself, not regarding that sum as Si Hl'h* for his maintenance. Ak. j^ wii- *^hese we may rank the Rothschilds. Thfcde millionnaires arw kings — reign ^ 'th a power mightier than diplomacy, mightier than war -r- than common kingly powor. It is the power of gold. How rich the Roths- childs are, nobody knows. They are the heirs of Dives and Croesus. Their wealth is a great mysterious problem, which no calculation can solve. The power which springs from it is the grander and more imperial because of its unknown and hitherto unmeasured extent. If I should guess at the millions, I should probably fall far on this side of the fact. The mystery of their wealth is, like the ob- scurity which hangs around the every-day life of kings, one of the sources of the awe with which the people re- gard them. I do not think that any save the Rothschilds themselves know it. In the announcement of the death of Mr. Crawshay, the great iron-manufacturer in England, it is stated that he left an estate of seven million pounds, or $35,000,000. Modern wealth has an acknowledged pre-eminence \n point of practical utility, and as a power for human pro- gress, over the wealth of the ancients. They were rich in gold and silver and precious stones, yet they were not, in the modern sense of the term, a commercial people. Their immense wealth in the precious metals consisted, not as at present in a large circulating medium, but in ornaments and drinking vessels, temple furniture and utensils, in shields and targets of gold, and the like. It did comparatively little to promote the commerce of that period, and as little to advance the general interests cf society. The ancient Persians abounded in the precious metak and minerals beyond anything we can at the pres- E-1 • WEALTH OP THE ANCIENTS. 263 ent day well conceive. We read of the " Immortals " of Darius, a choice troop of 10,000 men, who appeared at the battle of Issus clad in robes of gold embroidery, adorned with precious stones, and wore about their necks massy collars of pure gold. The chariot of Darius was supported by statues of gold, and the beams, axle, and wheels were studded with precious stones. Hannibal n*' asured by the bushel the ear-rings taken from the Roma. ^^ i in at the battle of Oannse. One is astonished at the immense am u .-< of gold and silver and precious stones which were ^.^w^o by tne early conquerors of India, Egypt and South Auierica — not so much as a circulating medium or a re[ wi tative of trade as in the hoarded treasures of temples, sacred utensils, and ornamental trajipings. The riches of the ancients, like their learning and science, was of little practical util- ity. It had little to do with commerce or public improve- ment.* It was scarcely known then ae a lever of human prepress, or as an angel of mercy to alleviate human sufiering by a well-directed philanthropy. Doubtless there was never a time when the power of money was made to contribute so essentially to the bless- ing and elevating our race as at the present time. It is not because we yet have more of the precious metals in use than the ancients had, but because we make a better use of them. California and Australia, and all other El Dorados, may pour their precious treasures into our land for years to come before we shall be " replenished " as was the land of Judah in the days of David and Solomon. We have spoken of the wrong done to others — the pri- vations and hardships suffered by the masses, from the overgrown estates of the few ; a surplus in the one case, a rioting in luxury and dissipation among a few, with a consequent privation and destitution, uudue labour and a life-struggle for a common livelihood among the many. Yet we would not overlook what too often proves the yet more deleterious influence of inflated wealth on the own- I ■i 26i THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. ers themselves. We speak not now of the pride, and overweening and tyrannical spirit too often engendered by wealth, nor simply of the extravagance and pleasure- loving proclivities thereby cherished, but of the sadly de- moralizing influence of wealth upon the worldly mind — especially that of sudden wealth. Cases like the follow- ing are not rare. In 1864, one of the principal oil farms in Western Pennsylvania, the daily income of which was $2,000, was bequeathed to a young man of twenty. He was bewil- dered by his good fortune, and at once entered on a career of mad debauchery, in which he squandered two millions of dollars in twenty months. He is now a door-keeper at a place of amusement, and the farm has been sold for taxes due the Government. The young Duke of Hamil- ton, the representative of the Stuarts, and of the first family in Scotland, some years ago succeeded to an estate the annual income of which was $850,000. By means of horse-racing and attendant forms of dissipation, every one of his lands, his palaces, and town residences, was soon in the hands of Jew money-lenders, and he a pen- sioner of his creditors. Fools and their money are soon parted. The temptations of riches and the facilities they afford for hurtful and forbidden gratifications, make the posses- sion of them doubly dangerous, and impose responsibili- tfes and administer cautions of the most serious character. He that spake as never man spake, gave no needless alarm when he said, " How hardly shall they that have riches (that trust in riches) enter into the kingdom of God. For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for the rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." III. We have already in another connection adduced examples of the enormous waste of wealth in the matter of false religions. We shall add a few more, and then pre- sent a few statistics showing that the true Church is but too deeply involved in the same sin. *• ■■'.J 'I COST OP HEATHEN TEMPLES. 265 >n a career It is known to have been the custom of the ancients to make their temples the repositories of vast riches, as well as to spend fabulous sums in the edifices and the appur- tenances thereof. The temple of Belus in Babylon was an accumulation of two thousand years. Xerxes, on his return from his Grecian expedition, having first plundered this temple of its immense riches, demolished it entirely. He took away gold, it is said, to the value of £21,000,000, or $100,000,000. The image which Nebuchadnezzar set up was of gold, sixty-six feet high. Another image is de- scribed — it may be the original one of the temple — forty feet in height, of pure gold, which contained riches to the amount of a thousand Babylonian talents, or £3,500,000. And various lesser images contained in the aggregate 6,000 talents, or £17,000,000. Xerxes carried off a golden statue of a god twelve cubits in height. Besides these, vast sums were invested in furniture, utensils, vest- ments, statues, tables, censors, sacred vessels, and altars for sacrifice, all of the purest gold, said to be valued at $100,000,000. This famous temple, having the external appearance of consisting of eight towers built one above the other, stood on a base which was a square of a furlong on each side, and its topmost tower is said to have been a furlong in height, giving the whole the appearance of being one huge pyramid, more magnificent than the pyramids of Egypt. " We have good reason to believe," says Roljin, " as Bochart asserts, that this is the very same tower which was built there at the confusion of the languages," Such a supposition (if it be no more) would seem to give additional appropriateness to our general title. This most stupendous of all idol temples may be taken as the first great, bold challenge of the god of this world in the fierce conflict now fairly inaugurated for the dominion of the earth. The Temple of Juggernaut at Puri, in the district of Orissa, India, built in the 12th century, is said to have 266 THE FOOT-PRnrrS OP SATAN. Iti(! I ;ii cost $2,000,000. The principal tower rises to the height of 184 feet The wall which surrounds the tennple is twenty-one feet high, . forming an enclosure 550 feet square. And if we add to this first item in the account the uncounted treasures invested in the paraphernalia of the temple, in the expense of worship, in the rich offerings which are continually made, in pilgriuiages thither, and in the annual festivals and immense processions, we have an amount exceeding the entire aggregate expended for Christian missions in India the last fifty years. Yet this is but au item when compared with the expen- ditures of the Papal Church. St. Peter's church at Rome is said to have cost, first and last, $200,000,000. But this is no more than the beginning of Rome's expendi- tures. The investment in the brick and mortar of that magnificent edifice is but a small part of the wealth of Sb. Peter's. The silver and gold, the sacred vessels and costly vestments, diamonds, precious stones — ^in all un- told treasures — are abstracted from the common utilities of life and from the great works of philanthropy and be- nevolence with which the Church of Christ stands charged, and made but to pamper the pride, the ambition and ex- travagance of the Papal hierarchy. A late traveller, speaking of the churches of Rome and the immense amounts of treasure invested in these struc- tures, snys, " The aggregate would pay the national debt of the United States,' which is more than two thousand million dollars. What superstition and devotion to a spurious Church haa done may yet be done by a holy de- votion to the true Church. When she shall receive the full Pentecostal baptism spoken of by the Prophet Joel, and the " power " of the Holy Ghost shall come upon her, the channels of her benevolence shall overtiow, no re- sources shall be wanting for any good work, even to the moral renovation of our entire world. To say nothing of the Vatican, or of Pontifical palaces, or the palatial residences of cardinals, or of the untold UONinr AND PAPAL ROUE. 267 sums lavished in regal profusion on the heads of the hier- archy, it will be sufficiently suggestive if we may catoh a glimpse of a certain procession but too frequently wit- nessed by gazers in the Papal capital. It is a procession of the Pope and his cardinals, the successors of the poor fishermen and of Him who had not where to lay his head, as on some great State or rather Church occasion they show themselves to the people. The Hight is suggestive as to how the money goes in the Holy City — how poor Peter's pence are expended. An eye-witness speaks of the princely carriages of the Pope's cortege, lined with scarlet of the richest texture. The trappings of the horses, the liveries of the coachmen and footmen, the uniform of the Papal guard, as also the garniture of his throne and the stool for his feet, are of the same glaring hue and costly materials. " Each cardinal has three footmen, one to help him out of the carriage, another to support his scarlet robe, and a third to carry his scarlet parasol." Paganism furnishes a parallel to this. Indeed, the more false a religion, the more lavish the waste of wealth upon it. This is one of the favourite devices of the Devil. India affords examples. Dr. Duff's description of the temple of Beringapore will serve our purpose as one of many : " It is a mile square, and in the centre of each side is a tower ot gigantic height, the lowest pillars of which are single pieces of stone, forty feet long and live feet square, reminding the spectator of the stones of Solomon's temple. Within the outer square are six others, three hundred feet distant from each other, and between them are numerous halls. The roof is supported by one thousand pillars, each of one solid block of stone, very finely carved with iigures of the gods and other devices. Siva, the god of the place, is formed entirely of gold in solid pieces, the entire heif>;hti of the statue being fifteen feet. The platfornr. also on wldca the god rests is of gold. All his ornanjects are m propor- tion to bis size. The quantity of emeralds, pearls, and 268 THE POOT-PEINTS OF SATAN. other precious stones which adorn him is immense. No jeweller's shop in London could exhibit anything like it. The whole gives an idea of the immense power of Brah- minism in former days, grinding down the people and turning all their wealth towards themselves." How humiliating the comparison of all this with the stinted measure of expenditure for the support and diffu- sion of the true religion. The one is by tens, hundreds, or thousands, the other by millions and hundreds of mil- lions. It was not exactly a vain boast of the tempter that the world with its power, wealth and glory was his. His claims have as yet been almost aniversally conceded. And we would that we did not feel constrained here to pass a stricture on a certain class of good and highly re- spectable Protestant churches of the present day. We hear of church edifices costing one, two, or three hundred thousand dollars (or more), ami the cr^rrent annual expenses of the same churches, five, ten, or twenty thousand; while they would think themselves pressed beyond endurance if called on to give a tithe of this sum for the furtherance of benevolent and philanthropic purposes. It is said that the annual aggregate expenses of three churches in New York are seventy thousand dollars. We do not object to a generous expenditure ; but only ask why, in a locality where a church edifice costing forty or fifty thousand dollars is suited to the locality and would afford all needed accommodations, it should be allowed to absorb $100,000, leaving the church with a burdensome debt, perhaps, and affording a never-failing excuse for a most stinted benevolence, and this at a period when the Master is opening the whole world for its renovation, and, as never before, is calling on his people for the most generous and enlarged benevolence. XIII. PERVERSION OF THE PRESS. THE PERIODICAL PRESS — RELIGIOUS PRESS — PRESS CATER- ING TO FRAUD, CORRUPTION — LICENJIOUSNESS AND IN- FIDELITY — ROMANCE — FICTION — HISTORY— THE TONGUE — MUSIC AND SONG — THE CHURCH AND THE OPERA. A SUBJECT kindred to the last is the press. The dis- covery of the art of printing is confessedly a very marked era in the annals of human progress. It revealed a new and hitherto unconceived power in furtherance of all the higher and best interests of man. And the time of this discovery claims some special notice. It was just as the energies of the truth and the Church, of civilization and reform, were rousing themselves from their long sleep of g thousand years. Christianity was now as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber and rejoicing as a strong man to run a race. Here commenced a new era in the history of the Chris- tian Church. The night was far spent, the day was at hand. Henceforth she should be nerved with new strength and clad in new armour, and should put forth a new life and go forth to new victories. And among the elements oi power and progress now vouchsafed to her, the press was not the least. I say vouchsafed to the Church, to the one Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church — to Christianity as a 1 * 270 THE FOOT-PEINTS OF SATAN. power for the renovation of the world and its final subju- gation to Emanuel. The press is a boon to Christian- ity. It has hitherto been confined almost exclusively to Christian nations. Pagan nations have, up to this day, scarcely used the press at all, and Mahoramedan nations but very partiplly. And its use among Chris- tian nations has been, it is believed, very much in the ratio of the purity of the Christianity current among them. We may therefore, we think, safely assume that the art of printing and the press was a loan to Christianity — or rather to the Reformed Church — to stimulate intellect, to diffuse knowledge, and to perpetuate the triumphs of religion. As subordinate to these ends, the press is in no inferior degree the servant of science, the powerful agent of civilization, and the auxiliary of every human pursuit. Were it my province at present to speak of the power of the press, I should be in no danger of overrating its importance. Its relations to education, to science, to the whole subject of human improvement, to the cause of benevolence and the final conversion of the world, are important above all we are in a position at present to conceive. We are so accustomed to contemplate human affairs in connection with the press and its wonderful realizations that we can form no adequate conception how many degrees the dial of human improvement would be turned back without it. But for this the history of the arts and sciences of the present day might be lost in the mists of coming ages, as those of past ages only live in a few imperfect relics and traditions. Our contidence that the tide of barbarism shall never again run over these fair fields of science, of art and of religion, is because all these modern advancements stand chronicled in the enduring page of history. Every science, every art, every invention, discovery or improvement that bloiises our age is written and printed, and cannot be lost. Every succeed- THK POWER OF THE FBESS. 271 subju- ristian- asively bo thiy imedan Chiis- iu the among lat the mity — itellect, jphs of 8 is in )werful human power zing its to the Luse of Id, are ent to human aderful caption would tory of lost in ly live fidence ti over )ecauRe in the every ur age icceed- infjp generation will read, digest and improve on the past, and in their turn leave their record to those who shall follow. They can never again he buried beneath the rubbish of time. But for the printing press the forty millions of copies of the Word of God which lie as good seed scattered broad- cast over the world, and are accessible to half the popula- tion of the globe, translated as it is into KiO different languages, would be reduced to some few hundreds of cppies, and these imprisoned in the libraries of the learned and opulent, and generally inaccessible because locked up in an unknown tongue. The tedious and expensive pro- cess of transcribing the Bible with a pen would scarcely allow a more favourable supposition. And what would be found to be so disastrously true in respect to the multiplication and diffusion of the Bible, would not be less true in respect to education, to commerce, and to the whole business and progress of the world. Annihilate the mighty enginery of the press, and you would Heem to bring to a most painful stand-still a great part of the machinery which now keeps in motion the wheels of the world's business and advancement. But my business is not with the power of the press, though it is invested with one of the mightiest elements of power which works in human affairs. We are at present concerned with the perversion of this power, and may arrange what we would say on this topic under the following heads, viz. : the perverpion of the periodical press— of the religious press — the prostitution of the press to the service of fraud, of coiruption, of hurtful amusements, of licentiousness, of infidelity and all sorts of religious error. The Devil never subsidized in his service a mightier engine of mischief, than when he laid his sacrilegious hands on the press. A popular, well- written book is a power for good 6t for evil beyond any possible calculation. Thousands and scores of thousands may read it on its first issue, and if it be an exponent f m •fill '';r 272 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. of the truth, and cf a sound morality, it may endure to all coming generations, a healing medicine to the soul — the aliment of growth and of mental and spiritual ' vigour. On the contrary, if it be the vehicle of error, of immorality and vice, it is a poison thrown broadcast over the living masses of men, and eternity alone can compute the number of its victims, or the amoini; o£ its mischief. We shall not attempt to present full statiistict, but only to indicate the deplorable extent to which the press is perverted and made to sujDserve the purposes »f our arch Foe. I. We may call attention to the pcriodiciii p:en. We are in no danger of over-estimating the iniiueUo-e of the newspaper and periodical. As some one has said : " The nev.'^spnper is the great educator of tlv nineteenth century. There is no force to be compare i ^» ^ ..h it ; it is book, pulpit, platform, and forum, all i;- one , fa ad there is not an interes<-r- >ligious, literary, commercial, scien- tific, agricultural, o. neohnnical — that ia not within its grasp. All our churcKeB, schools, colleges, asylums, and art-galleries feti the qvtak'Bg of the printing-press." The preached gospel is justly conceded to be one of the mightiest agencies for moral reform and human progress, to say nothing of its higher mission. Yet this agency is confined within narrow limits when compared with the influence of the periodical press. Once or twice in seven days the pulpit speaks to a few thousand congregations of a few hundreds each, while the newspaper is the morn- ing visitant of the millions, seven days in the week and three hundred and sixty -five days in the year. In the parlour and the kitchen, in field and in workshop it is the daily, the hourly preacher. It whispers its truth or its error, irapar'.s food or infuses poison by the wayside — in the railway car, in the street and in the coun^^'ng-room. A small liiinority of a people are reached by the preacher. Tli«) surging massea rise up to welcome the daily messages POWER OF THE PBESS. 273 enaure to the piritual f error, 'oadcast )ne can t o£ its LCt; , but press is ar arch ^*!. We of the eteenth t; it is d there scien- thiij its ms, and e of the »rogress, ;ency is ith the a seven jgations e morn- sek and In the it is the h or its side — in g-room. reach er. lessages of the press. "The newspaper is omnipotent the land over." " Why, next to the Bible, the newspaper — ^swift- winged and everywhere present, flying over the fence, shoved under the door, tossed into the counting-house, laid on the work-43ench, and hawked through the cars. All read it — white and black — German, Irish, Swiss, Spaniard, French, and American; — old and young, good and bad, sick and well — ^before breakfast, after- tea, Mon- day morning and Saturday night, Sunda3' and week-day." And what may we not expect of the press when ^t shall put on its great strength — when it shall be sanctifie d- - consecrated to the truth, liberty and righteousness — when it shall come forth from the dark chambers of sin and corruption, and go forth as the herald of light and linow- ledge among all nations ? Aided by the vastly increfjficd facilities for travel and by the telegraph (which is Iho press winged with lightning), extended into overy nook and comer of the earth, the press shall become the gren-t preacher — the angel flying through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach.. Not the tiooV, not the teacher, not the preacher shall, from day t^^ da^- bring their daily supplies to tribes and tongues and peoples that shall daily crave the bread of life, butt' ^ daily p^per — the ten thousand times ten thousand st .ms of sancti- fied knowledge — ^the rills and the river of the living waters, shall daily, and hourly, and wi ti the speed of lightning, course over the broad expanse i the earbh, and feiiiilize all its arid wastes. We do not mean the press shall i [.plant or in the slightest degree impair the power of the gospel ministry, but rather give it increased \'igour, honour and beauty. In its high and holy sphere, the sacred office shall be yet more influential and honoured. But alas, for the perversion of the press ! Its sad pros- tration before the Dagon of this world The almighty newspaper — the daily, the weekly, and tLo monthly peri- odical — how few of these now give utterance to the 18 J ■ -j »■ ♦ 274 THE FOOT-PBINTS CF SATAN. 1 fi "i'l '*iM 51 'lili' sweet messages of truth and righteousness ! How many are the merest pack-horses of sin and shame, while the great mass are neutral for good and only potent for error or frivolity. We shaJJ. not pretend to define the proportions by sta- tistics. The common observation of any one will suffice. What proportion of all^ the newspapers and periodicals within your knowledge are vehicles of truth, and safe suides in the great realities of morality and religion ? The g;reat majority are either " mute spectators of the conflict with Satan, or array themselves under his banner by their actual opposition to gospel truth and its develop- ment." Of 220 newspapers published in New York, only 46 (or one-fifth) profess to be channeis of religious influence, while of the remaining 17 ■ fifteen desecrate the Sabbath by making their appearance on that day, twelve are avowedly the organs of German infidelity and rationalism, and eight bend their energies to the task of sustaining and propagating Popery ; leaving 139 newspapers which may be classed as secular. In addition there are issued from the press in our midst 118 distinct periodicals and magazines, of which 1-6 only are edited with a view to the dissemination of religious intelligence and instruction. But the open avowed infidelity of some of these publi- cations — their open opposition to the Sabbath, the Bible, the Church and the gospel ministry, and to a pure reli- gion, is not the worst of the evil. Their virus lies deeper, more latent, more subtle, poisonous and pernicious. They have not less of the world and the flesh than the infidel publications of a former age, but more of the Devil — ^more of concealed scepticism, more baptized infidelity, more rottenness of heart beneath a fair exterior. Under the profession of a more liberal Christianity, a " Chris- tianity for the times," there lurks a poison more danger- ous because more subtle than ever cursed the world in THE REIJGIOUS PRESS. 275 r many lile the 3r error by sta- suffice. iodicals ad safe iligion ? of the banner levelop- y 46 (or ifluence, Sabbath elve are onalism, staining s which ar midst l6 only celigious ie publi- le Bible, are reli- 3 deeper, micious. ihan the he Devil ifidelity, Under *' Chris- 1 danger- world in the days of Paine or Voltaire. Indeed, the Devil has, through these ten thousand daily avenues of influence, turned reformer, teacher, preacher — anything that may the most effectually subserve the purposes of his craft. As eays another when writing on the same theme, " I have purposely avoided particularizing individual exam- ples of recklessness and immorality in the management of that mighty engine which makes the pen more powerful than the sword ; and, if practicable, it would be appropri- ate to follow out this train of thought, and enlarge upon the influence of the metropolitan press, and its almost controlling power over minds and consciences. — But alas ! that this influence is so largely perverted and made only a power for evil." Our periodical preas is by no u dins guiltless as it re- spects immoral teachings and influences. Few of our jour- nals and periodicals are decidedly on the side of religion, or even of sound morality. " If any one doubt that the powers of darkness, the agents of the adversary of souls, have broken loose upon the world, and are working with prodigious energy at the present day, he need but glance at some of the issues of the periodical press and see in what adroit, seductive forms the Enemy is presenting temptation to youthful minds. The agents of evil here display a degree of wis- dom in aiming at the young which the friends of truth may wisely emulate. The snares are laid everywhere to catch the feet of the unwary. The great city, so filled with wickedness, is full of traps and pitfalls into which young men are falling every day to their ruin." And among the chief of these pitfalls is a corrupt literature. II. The perversion of the religious v'r ess. We use the term not to designate the true religion, but what in com- mon parlance is called religion. The press is confessedly a mighty agency in the diC'usion and defence of our blessed religion. Tt gives light and power to the Church. It gives expansion to revelation. How restricted was the ,1 'tH', 1^ 276 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. Word of God — within what narrow limits would it now be confined hut for the press ! The preacher of the gos- pel proclaima the word, he stereotypes his utterances, whether they be the words of his lips or the more ma- tured thoughts of his study — writes them as with a pen of iron and the point of a diamond, indelible as if inscribed on the enduring rock. The press gives wings to revela- tion which shall never cease till the end of the earth shall hear thereof But we need here only adduce the judgment of our enemies as to the power of the religious press. Nothing do the enemies of Christianity so fear as the influence of the press. No pains have been spared to resist it. If they cannot suppress it, they pervert it — turn its moni- tions against the truth. Never has that wisdom which is from beneath been more craftily engaged than in its resis- tance to the religious press where resistance was practic- able, or monopoly and perversion where opposition was vain. Among Pagan nations, where the reign of the Wicked One bore unquestioned sway, the press had neither place nor power. And the same is essentially true among Mohammedan nations. Not till Christianity introduced the Christian press among the nations before unevangel- ized, as an aggressive power against their sins and errors, did their master introduce the infidel press as a defensive power. The press, like coal and the English language, is Protestant and Christian. It is only by extortion, perver- sion and abuse that it is ever used in the defence of error, infidelity or sin, or in any way to the disadvantage of the truth and a pure Christianity. Yet it has been made a most formidable antagonist of all Christian truth. The father of lies would seem to have exhausted all his wisdom and skill, his depravity and power, in getting up false philosophies of religion, false theologies, religious fictions — anything and everything that should seem to " know God," yet " glorify Him not A CORRUPT LITERATURE. 277 as God "^anything and everything that should parry the arrows of the truth and satisfy the mind with error. The religious press is teeming with books just enough charged with evangelical truth to beguile the unwary mind, and allay his fears while he is drinking the very dregs of infi- delity, disguised and attenuated, yet just enough savoured with a deadly yet covert scepticism to neutralize all the truth. Here we might instance all such works as " Kenan's Lifeof Jesus," "Ecce Homo," and most of our modem books of fiction. And most of these books are religious. Tak- ing the garb of religion, they stealthily stab religion to the heart. And when we consider that books of this character, together with the productions of the irreligious periodical press, constitute far the greater portion of the reading of our people, we may form some idea of the controlling power in this line of influence which the Devil has over the mind of such a people. And if it be so in nations where Christianity has had the growth and maturity of centuries, much more may we expect to find it so among heathen and unevangelized, where it is but recently introduced. The press is no sooner made an element of influence on the one side to defend and diffuse the truth, than it is brought in as a great antagonistic power to refute if it can, but if not, to pervert the truth and clothe error in its garb. As an ex- ample we may instance what has recently been reported from Syria, especially from Beyrout. There the Devil more than keeps pace with the missionary in the use of the press. In Beyrout there are seven presses that *' are print- ing books of injurious tendency." One only (the mission- ary press) is sending out the healing waters into the thirsty ground — seven to one. It has recently been announced with great satisfaction and gratitude, as a promising sign of the times, that the Bible has been translated into Arabic. The hundred mil- lions of that singular race, scattered as they are over all ! i , I 278 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. Western Asia and throughout the great continent of Africa, may now read the wonderful things of God. But no sooner does light arise upon those benighted, regions, than the prince of darkness in like manner, by his enchantments, seeks to smother the light by a yet thicker darkness. No sooner is it announced that the Bible has become an open book for the sons of Ishmael, •and that the press shall give it wings, than the Devil finds translations to transfer into Arabic, and the infidel press to multiply and infidel clubs to propagate the writ- ings of Voltaire, Eug^ns Sue and such productions. But at this very point there comes to us a delightful instance of how the Devil sometimes gets foiled in his devices. At the very time in Beyrout when a great flood of infidel publications was pouring into that point, and threatening to arrest in its very incipiency the work of the gospel, a Scottish missionary relates the following fact : " Among those who had been led favourably to regard the claims of Christianity was a young lady, the daughter and heiress of a Jewish family, who manifested a disposi- tion to give her heart to Christ. And there came one to her father, saying, * You need not distress yourself about her conversion ; I have a book that will quench any desire she may have towards Christianity.' The book was Kenan's ' Life of Jesus.' It was placed in her hands. She was a young lady of about nineteen, well educated, gifted by nature with a keen mind, sharpened by judicious discipline. She read it, and so deeply was she interested that she read it a second time ; and then she came to this missionary, and said, * Kenan's man never Uved. Kenan's concessions to Jesus, as to what he was, prove that he was and must have been divine.' Kenan's book settled the que^ion in her mind, and she came forward to receive Christian baptism." But the machinations of our enemy to oppose the pro- gress of the truth in Syria are not peculiar. In India, THE PRESS AND THE ROMISH PRIEHTHOOD. 279 in China, and on the islands of the sea, wherever the gos- Sel has taken root and the press is used for its diffusion and ftfence, the infidel press is sure to be used to counteract its influence. The policy is to shut out the press from the heathen as long as possible. And all heatnen countries are but too sad illustrations how effectually this has been done. But when in the course of events — in the advance- ment of civilization, in the progress of light and know- . ledge, in the increased facilities for communication with civilized and Christian nations, and yet more especially in the spread over the world of a pure Christianity, the press could no longer be shut out, the policy becomes to so pervert it as to make it an engine of corruption and mischief And in this work of " rule or ruin" — prohibiting the press, or perverting and subsidizing it to their own use, the benefit of their own craft, the Papists perhaps pre- sent the most notable example. The press is as really prohibited to the people of Papal countries as it is to those of Pagan lands. It is in either case effectually mo- nopolized by the few, and that chiefly by the priesthood. Wherever contact with Protestantism, or the progress of civil and religious liberty, has forced on Papists the free- dom of the press, they have not left a stone unturned so to prostitute it as to neutralize its influence for good, and to make it the abettor and support of error and infidelity, or at least the channel of a corrupting and hurtful litera- ture. And thus the press, which was designed to be, and which is fitted to be, one of the greatest blessings to a people, is made one of the greatest curses. . Had we room for statistics here we might exhibit an appalling catalogue of the issues of the Papal press, which are fitted and designed to propagate anything but the pure and unperverted truth of the New Testament. There is indeed in circulation an incredible amount of literature tinctured with a spirit of hostility to revealed religion, and calculated to sow the seeds of doubt and .-* mmmmm IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) A ^ >% 1.0 I.I Ki 1^ iH' [^ U£ 12.0 12.2 m 1.25 1 1.4. 1 1.6 < 6" ► v [^^ /^o V m THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. error in .the minds of those who, like the old Athenians, " employ themselves in nothing else but either in telling or in hearing some new thing." German Rationalism and Pantheism, with all the brood of idle speculations hatched out in foreign lands ; Popery, in many respects worse than infidelity, aiming at empire with character- istic ambition — perhaps hoping to prej)are, even here, a home for the Sovereign Pontiff — each has its literature and its press, energetic and influential in their respective spheres and languages, wanting only the ability to sub- vert republicanism and overthrow evangeUcal religibn. And as with the press, so with education. In Pagan or purely Papal countries, " ignorance is the mpcher of devotion." ti our Republican Protestant country, where education is popular and cannot be suppressed, the Papists affect a laudable zeal for it. They seize on the most eligi- ble localities for their immense educational establishments, spare no expense in their erection, and leave nothing jm- done that shall draw into their fascinating toils the un- wary youth of Protestant families. Ajidhere we might rehearse a sad tale of the press as prostitnted to fraud and corruption and subsidized in the service of party rancours and party politics, and as made to cater to the worst passions and habits of man. It is the ever-ieady agency by which the gambler, the pimp, the rum-seller, advertise their nefarious trades and allure their willing victims. Perhaps in nothing does the prince of darkness more diabolically exult in his wiles and in the works of his hands than in the use he makeb of the press in the putrid domains of licentiousness. Licentious literature, which, under cunning disguises, or with fearless efirontery, circulates among us, defying all decency, slipping the morals of all classes, is doing Satan's work with most mischievous energy. But here it is difficult to gather very definite details. That ob- scene books and prints are published, imported, and sold in our cities and through the country, is a fact which we 't '' COttRTTPT LITERAIURE. 281 un- lere ob- old we all are familias with. Whatever their source or their number, it is easy to estimate their evil potency; and, were the truth told, we should learn, I doubt not, that to the influence of this inflaming agency it is due that so many young men and women fall away iilto evil courses and make shipwreck of character and hope. , The statistics of this great source of sin and suffering, could they be collected, would be of most solemn interest; but to him who would attempt the collection I can only reecho the warning voice of a distinguished clergyman of this city, who, when consulted upon this subject, said to me, ''.Sir, you had better handle the castaway rags of a small-pox hospital, than meddle with matters connected with the class of writings to which you refer." Bishop Bayley, in a late charge, gave a veiy timely warning on this important theme. He well says : " If we are bound by every principle of our religion to avoid bad company, we are equally bound to avoid bad books — ^for of all evil, corrupting company, the worst is a bad book. There can be no And so it was until the Church lapsed into a conformi- ty to the world, departing from her primitive simplicity, ^ ritten id by 3, who would ad aid ie, and ivealtih jte?' to leather iprove- church aire, ly here turn to Qgrega- lurch — 3t three Sacred r is con- , caching of di- . e soul, praise. >f glass, d the hlege of ^hipping Let oXl lie praise \ed with IS and J in their lye come , )nformi- ipUcity, VEE DEVIL IN MUSIC AND SONG. 289 and ^coming assimilated to the taate and usages of worldly men. Then, in like manner as the people of false religions serve their god by proxy through the priest, so, in the decadence of a live Christianity, do the people jdeld to a hired quartette the service of sacred song. 19 XIV. SATAN IN FALSE RELIGIONS. THE ORIGIN, HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF FALSE RELI- GIONS — ^THEIR RELATION TO THE ONE TRUE RELIGION — THE REVELATION FROM HEAVEN. The author not long since prepared a treatise on the origin, history, and philosophy of false reli^ons, but espe- cially on their historic relations to the one Divine religion, the revelation from heaven. It was designed for a sepa- rate volume, but as it will serve as an extendi illustra- tion of our present theme we subsidize it to our purpose here. Every people vrill have a religion ; and whatever that religion may be, it is sure to have a controlling in- fluence. Give the Devil this control and he asks no more. This means the control of mind, money, social influence and governmental power — ^a cdntrol of the whole man. If a pure, true religion be the richest inheritance a mortal can be heir to, a false, corrupt religion is the veriest curse, and consequently the stronghold of the adversary. On nothing is he so intently fixed as to corrupt and divest of all spiritual strength the true religion, and to nurture and give power to a false religion. In his perversion of wealth, learning, fashion, habit, he monopolizes in each a mighty power for evil, and hinders an immense amount of good* But in the perversion of THE POWER OF RELIGION. 291 5 RELI- gXIGION on the ^t espe- •eligion, asepa- illustra- purposo iatever iling in- more, ifluence Iman. " |a mort al it curse, On ^ divest nurture labit, he hinders ["ersion of religion the monopoly is wholesale. For in this mono- poly not only are wealth, learning, political power, fashion, and habit thrown into the arms of the world's god and adversary, but the yet mightier elements of priestly in- fluence, man's religious instincts and a pretended Divine sanction are made to play a yet more fearfulpart in the great drama of sin and ruin which the Arch-Foe is acting in our world. Religion is confessedly one of the mightiest elements of power that work amon^ men. All religions have their martyrs. No sacrifices nave been too expensive, i)o suf- ^ferinffs, no inflictions too severe, that men will not endure for their religion's sake. They will make pilgrimages, they will afflict their bodies, and pour out their treasures if you can but persuade them that these are effective reli- gious acts, that will advance their eternal interests. Man's religious instinct is, the world over, exceedingly strong and controlling. Well knowing this, our subtle Foe has left no device untried that he might monopolize and turn • to his own account this all-pervadinff element of power. And in nothing has he shown more adroitness, or secured a more universal control over the human mind. The brief survey we shall be able to take of false religions will but too obviously indicate how successfully he has turned the religious instincts of men to his own account. A favourite and very successful scheme of the Devil is, first to falsify religion, anf' then to make the falsified re- ligion exclusive. He thus holds the keys of heaven, and would shut out all who will not conform to his dictation. Exclusiveness — ^intolerance — is a very sure sign of a spu- rious religion. In the survey we propose to take of false religions in order to detect in them the footsteps of the Foe, we shall consider their origin and history — their philosophy and general character — their practical tendencies, results and influence on the social and domestic condition, on litera- ture, civilization, government, and human character in general. We shall have occasion to canvass the practical 292 THE POOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. bearings of religious intolerance, and the powers for evil which have been exercised by religious Jratemitiea or great religious orders. The great prevailing systems of false religions, as Bomanism, Islamism, and various sys- tems of idolatry, will com^ under re vie?/. The ORIGIN and HISTORT of false religions will -suffice for the present chapter. Nor shall we, from the nature of the subject, be able to do more than to generalize where we have but uncertain historical records. It has ever been the policy of Satan to forestall the purposes of God and to set up a counterfeit of what the Lord hath declared he will do. There is perhaps na such thing as an absolutely and originally false reli- gion. . • What we call false religions, and what have practically error and falsehood enou^ in them to make them almost altogether bad, are really but the counterfeits of a true re- ligion. God probably inaugurates no system which Satan , does not mimic. What he cannot counteract and destroy, he will counterfeit. "We shall assume at the outset that the true idea of re- . ligion is a matter of Divine revelation. That man should love, serve and honour his God, was in the beginning a lesson taught by God Himself This does not, however, preclude the idea that nature uttered .t voice responsive to man's innate religious instinct, and urged home upon him the same lessons of duty and reverence. "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth forth the works of his hands." The succession of day and night proclaim the goodness of God. " There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard." Divided as the inhabitants of the earth originally were according to speech, the import of the passage is that there is no nation, or people, or tribe where nature'« volume is not open, and all who will may there trace the foot- steps of a God. God has stamped his image on all his works. Every created thing shadows forth an all-per- vading Deity. QOD SPEAKING IN NATUBE. 293 ►r evil )ie8 or jms of s sys- suffice aature where 01 tHe at the ips nor e reli- 5tically « almost irue re- 1 Satan estroy, St of re- should aninga jwever, isive to )onhim leavens howeth of day :e is no heard." y were at there )lume is le foot- all his aU-per- * * In nature's open volume they did read Truths of the mightiest import, and in awe Bow down in humble heart, an unseen power adore." Though sin has effaced this image— ^has done what it could to blot out every vestige of a Deity from the earth, yet the idea of one presiding and supreme Divinity is deeply engraven on the very frontlets of nature's works. The evidence may be obscured, and a knowledge of Him be perverted, but man, though without the written reve- lation, will be for ever inexcusable if he do not discern and revere this God. Were conscience allowed her supre- macy, and reason not contravened, there could be no such thing as a denial of God. But God has not left man to grope his way by this lesser light. He has given him the clearer light of reve- lation. And this has been a light increasing in its bril- liancy, through every dispensation of grace, from the first announceir>.ent of the promise to Adam to the full efful- gence of the heavenly light as it shines from the uplifted cross, and so onward till it shall appear in the millennial glory and be consummated in the perfect light of the new Jerusalem. In order that we may trace the progress and the better estimate the mischief which the Enemy hath done, through his counterfeits or perversions of religion, known as false religions, we shall need to take a brief view at least of the different phases or dispensations in which the true religion has appeared and advanced in our world. It will serve our present purpose to consider it under the three general aspects : the Patriarchal, the Abrahamic, the Mosaic, and the Christian. As these are but succes- sive steps of advancement from a less to a more perfect condition, God revealing himself more and more, and at each step„ bringing life and immortality more clearly to light, so the Enemy adjusts his malignant schemes for counteracting the successful execution of the benevolent purposes of Heaven. In nothing has the hand of the 294 THE FOOT-PRINTS OP SATAN. Adversary appeared more conspicuous than in his master- ly counterworkings to thwart, if possible, the purposes and workings of Heaven. In respect to the origin of all false religions we are concerned chiefly with the times of the Patriarchal and Abrahamic dispensations ; while in the subsequent modi- fications of these same systems we shall have occasion oft6n to refer to the Mosaic and the Christian dispensa- tions. With the gradations of these systems from a legs to a more perfect state we shall see how, in his counter- plotting and counterworking, the Devil had occasion to modify, change, add to or take from an old system so as to fit it to a change of the times. A system of idolatry^that would be effective to his purpose in a dark, gross age of the world, would be offensive and altogether inoperative in a different age. Hence his change of strategy and tactics to suit the times and the conditions of the world. In the brief survey we shall have occasion to take of the Patriarchal religion and of corresponding false reli- fions, we need not go back beyond the Deluge. Yet no oubt if we had the data we should find a no less strik- ing illustration of our subject in those earlier centuries. The general corruption tliat then prevailed (for God de- clares that all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth) — the universal degeneracy which so soon covered the earth, of course involved a most melancholy perversion of the true religion, and of consequence corresponding in- ventions of false religions. God had revealed himself to Adam and the true worship had been established, and a knowledge of salvation through a Mediator was made known and for a long time preserved. This religion was some centuries after Adam revived in the days of Enos, and still centuries later it stands on record that Enoch walkfef" with God, and was not, for God took him. How the great Enen^.;'- of man and of God was allowed to plunge the. early generations of men into sin and guilt — ^to insti- gate them to swerve from the true faith, and to change RELIGION OF THE PATRIARCHS. 295 the truth of God, whom they knew, into a lie, and to wor- ship and serve the creature rather than the Creator, we do not, in its details, know< The general corruption that prevailed is but the too sure voucher that he did so. Such a state of degeneracy could scarcely have been, except as a result of a grievous perversion of all true religion and as the legitimate point of a false system. But we have no need to go beyond the Flood. The religion of Noah was the true Patriarchal religion. It was the same as Adam and Seth and Enos and Enoch had professed and practised, and the same which after- wards warmed the hearts and guided the lives of Abraham and David and Isaiah. It was the acknowledgment of the one only living and true God, the supreme governor and creator of all things, and of one mediator between God and man. We meet with the Church here in its merest pupilage, from which, through different dispensa- tions, it goes up from one school to another — ^in the Mosaic, under the ministration of angels — ^till it reaches the Chris- tian dispensation, when it is under the dispensation of the Son. As some one has said, " The whole of the Old Tes- tament may be taken as one great and comprehensive system of outlines — ^and the New, as one perpetual system of admirable correspondences in the form of finished pic- tures." We may then expect to find in the religion of the Pa- triarchs only the rudest outlines of that great and glorious system of revelation and religion which is found matured in Christianity, and perfected in the final and universal reign of Christ upon the earth. Let us then direct our inquiries for a few moments to the question. What was the religion of the Patriarchs ? This inquiry is the more pertinent to our present subject, inasmuch as it is generally believed that no period was more likely to have been the period of the general apos- tasy which occurred some time in the Patriarchal age than the period just preceding the call of Abraham, And 296 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. i consequently it follows that the ancient systems of idola- try -vniich sprung up, corrupt and corrupting, were the offspring — ^mther the perveraiona — of that first rude form of the true religion which was transmitted through Noah to his posterity. For a knowledge of the religion of the generations that lived during the first 2,000 years of the world we may have recourse to the book of Job as the only document extant to which we may with confidence refer. From this source we learn that the leading features of the religion of these ancient saints were that God is one, supreme, all-wise and glorious, the creator and ruler of all things; that the universe and all things that appear therein were not the works of chance, but were created by this one God — ^that He is a moral governor, dispensing rewards and punishments according to his character. The existence of angels and superior orders of intelligences was recognized, and the doctrine of evil spirits was received, aud the existence of an arch-fiend called Satan, who was allowed great control in the affairs of men. Again, the ancients fully admitted the fait of man's fall and apostasy from all moral purity, and his propenseness to all evil, and equally did they concede the necessity of a scheme of reconciliation with God through a substitute. The peni- tent they believed would find favour. But on the subject of the future life, if we take Job fas I suppose we may) as a fair exponent of belief of the Patriarchal age, of the immortality of the soul and a state of rewards and pun- ishments after death, we shall find but little light. Their notions here were exceedingly vague and confused. " K a man die, shall he live again ? " " Man dieth and wasteth away, yea he giveth up the ghost,^and where is he T* The future was to them *' The land of darkness and the -shadow of death — The land of darkness, like the blackness of the shadow of death, Where there is no order, and where its shining is like blackness." BELIQION OF THE il^CIENTS, 297 the ith, Another prominent feature in this ancient religion was that God should be worshipped through sacrifices and burnt offerings. And what4s exceedingly interesting, and seems happily in advance of the senenU character of their religion, these ancients set a high value on the fruits of personal piety. The necessity of holiness of life, trust in God, truth, integrity, charity, hospitality, sincerity, were everywhere commended and insisted on. Here I might introduce a very singular and interesting character as an illustration of the religion of these very times. I refer to Melchizedec, King of Salem, king of peace, priest of the Most High God, to whom Abraham paid tithes. He was probably a Canaanitish prince of the olden, the longer-lived generation, who maintained the knowledge and worship of God, which did not seem up to this time so generally lost in Canaan as in the land from which Abraham came. Here we are able to trace a con- necting link between the religion of Abraham and that of Noah and Enoch, i.e., to trace the true religion through tha,t ^ark period which intervened between the pri/mitive religion of the world and the reformation under Abraham — through the " dark ages " of the old world. We have, as seen in this brief compendium of the an- cient faith, not only the outlines of the revealed religion, both in its present expanded and yet expanding condi- tion, but we have before us the system of faith and prac- tice which, by the perversion of sin and the devices of Satan, gave rise to all the corrupt schemes of idolatry which cursed the ancient world, and which, with modi- fications to suit the times, have cursed the world to the present day. The device of the Devil has been not to suppress or in any way to discourage man's religious " instinct, but rather to cherish it. Hoxwould have all men very religious, and fain would he have them fancy they are practising the religion prescribed by God, while at the same time, by a wicked perversion, he would make religion the sorriest counteifeit of what God requires, 298 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. The leading false religions which have firom time im- memorial held the greater portion of the inhabitants of the earth in social and civil, as well as in moral and spiritual bondage, are Sabianism^ Magianism, Brahminism, Buddhism, Mohammedanism and the Papacy. It will not be necessary that we attempt to trace in order each one of these impure streams up to the particular fountain of which it is the corrupt issue. It is enough that we mark the perversion and duly note the stupendous mischief which the great Adversary of man and God has perpe- trated by the wholesale monopoly of religion to his vile purposes. In all his monopolies of wealth, learning, influ- ence, custom, habit, fashion, amusements, he only entered the outer courts of humanity, controlling man's happiness and destiny through his secular interests, resources and prerogatives. But here he intrudes into the inner sanc- tuary of his soul, and confronts him in his most sacred interests with his God. As man, in his consecrated mo- ments, draws near his heavenly Father and asks bread, the hand of the Foe gives him a stone. If he asks a fish, he gives him a serpent, and a scorpion for an egg. One of the most ancient forms of idolatry of which we know, was Sabianism. This was the religion of the Assy- rians, from wh'ch Abraham separated mmself when he came out from Jr of the Chaldees. In a remote period of antiquity this religion was " diffused over Asia by the science of the Chaldeans and the arms of the Assyrians." From Asia it passed into Egypt, and from thence to the Grecians, *' who propagated it to all the western nations of the. world." We can form no estimate of the millions, the hundreds of miUions of the human race who for many and long centuries have been held in the bondage of corruption by this system of religion. Practically, it was a moral miasma, breathing spiritual pestilence and death over aU those vast regions of the East. It was the parent of despotism, religious and civil. It was the cancer-worm that blighted the social and domestic rela.. THE BELIOION OF SABIUS. 299 leiin- .ntsof I and inism, ill not ;h one bain of ) mark ischief perpe- ais vile r, influ- entered ppiness ces and Br sanc- , sacred ,ted mo- 3 bread, :s a fish, hicb we he Assy- yhen he e period by the Syrians." e to the _ nations millions, for many ndage of ically, it ence and was the was the (stic rela<- tions over which it extended^ and polluted the wholefonn- tain of the human heart Jts superstitions and mummer- ies, and burdensome exactions and debasing influences through all the varied avenues of life, made it a huge agency — an all-pervading and influential agency by which to control the vast multitudes over which it exercised dominion. He that can control the religious instincts of a people —direct their rites, superstitions, worship and belief, wants very little of a supreme control over such a people. When man's Arch-Foe then becomes the high pnest at the altar, he flnds himself at the helm of human affairs, and he may guide them as he wilL From no other point may he exercise so supreme a control In order the more effectually to secure such a control, our Enemy's policy is to make a false religion, not only as nearly lUce the true religion as possible, but he is careful to have it fouhded on the same great original truths. Hence we find the religion of Babel — of Babylon— of the great Baby- lonish Empire — founded on the great truths of revelation. Sabius, after whom the system is supposed to be named, was the son of Seth. They were wont to appeal for authority to the sacred books of Adam, Seth and Enoch. The truth doubtless is, the compilers of that ancient religious code had before them the great truths of revela- tion, as they had been made known to Adam, Seth, Enoch, and the holy men who lived before the Flood, and trans- mitted through Noah to succeeding generations. The acknowledgment of the one supreme God, Creator of the heavens and the earth, the Preserver, the Benefactor and the Controller of all things ; the concession that man is a sinner, and can never, without the interposition of another, restore himself to the favour of an offended God, were, theoretically, items of belief Hence the prayers, the worship and the offerings which they made to God. Yet while they were matters of creed, not one of these truths was left unperverted, and hence they became null and void. 800 THE -700T-PBINTS OF SATAN. So effectually perverted were they for all practical pur- 'poses, as to become the sheerest falsehoods. Though they knew God, they worshipped him not as God, but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise — ^for they had all the boasted wisdom of the Chaldeans to guide them — ^they became fools, and changed the glpry of the incor- ruptible God into an image. The whole is expressed in a word, " They changed the truth of God into a. lie." First they worwiipped the heavenly bodies, the sun, moon, and stars, as the most obvious representatives of the one supreme God, and as the supposed tabernacles of the divine intelligence. But as these heavenly bodies, by their rising and setting, were half the time removed from their sight, they had recourse to imiagea which they might worship in the absence of the planets, and to these images they gave the names of the planets which they repre- sented. This being, as is supposed, the origin of image- worship, as the adoration of tne heavenly bodies was the origin of all the idolatry that has prevailed in . the wprld, we should expect to meet, as we actually do meet, in all ancient mythologies and in all modem systems of Pagan- ism, such deities as Saturn, Jupiter, Apollo, Mercury, Venus and Diana. And as this primitive system of ido- latry extended itself from its centre in the Cliialdean Em- pire, " diffused over Asia by the science of the Chaldeans and the arms of the Assyrians," passing into Egypt and thence into Greece, may we not receive this system as constituting substantially the national religions of Greece and Rome? We allow for modifications and changes which the progress of civilization, philosophy and revela- tion had in the meantime producfed — an important mo- dification of which was the introduction of hero-worship, or the deification and worship of departed men who had greatly distinguished themselves in life. - The singular agreement which this system has with the religion of the Jews, either with that revealed to Abra- FIBST ST8TEM OF IDOLATBT. 301 I pur- lithey lecame ft was r they 3 them incor- edin a le STin, ives of teles of lies, by )d from ^ might images r repre- image- e^as the -wprld, b, in all Pagan- lercury, of ido- )aii Em- lialdeans ypt and rstem as f Greece changes i revela- iant mo- worship, who had , with the to Abra- ham, or that more advanced system committed to Moses (though Sabianism may be earlier in existence than either), is accounted for from the fact that both are derived from the same general source. All they had in commoh was a matter of divine reveHtion. It had been revealed to the Patriarchs. And what would seenl to vindicate their lineage from the true religion as revealed to the earlier Patriarchs and renewed and enlarged in the Abrahamic dispensation, is the fact alluded to by Gibbon, that " & ' slight infusion of the gospel transformed the last remnant of these pol3rtheists into the Christians of St. John." Even Christianity in its best estate is b\it a return to, and a new and a vastiy enlarged and perfected edition of, the religion vouchsafed to the Patriarchs. But in taking the above view of the origin of this first great system of idolatry — for the religion of the ancient Babylonians deserves no other name — ^we would not be understood as, holding that the heaven-inspired religion of Noah and Abraham is responsible for this and all the false religions that have since cursed the world. " An enemy bath done this." Did not the great husbandman sow good seed in his field ? Whence then the' tares ? A pure religion is the grand agency by which God controls the mind of man. The Enemy here steps in, and by a gross perversion of this same religion makes it the might- iest agency by which to corrupt and « hold* in spiritual bondage the willing dupes of error. Gladly would we know more of this ancient religion — how men in those remote ages of antiquity, who, like the men in every succeeding generation, ioved not to retain God in their thoughts, gradually swerved from the sim- plicity of the truth, perverting .one truth after another, „ till they changed the truth of God into a lie. Countless millions were for ages its ignorant votaries. " Professing themselves 'to be wise," in this most essential concern " became fools." . In its sad perversion, what was once a < true religion became but a corrupt and a corrupting ■t^i IP ■ li 802 THE FOOT-PRIim OF SATAN. superstition, and in practice but the sheerest idolatry. But for its error we might admire its antiquity. It was the oldest of a series of false religions which have held in mental and social, as well as in civil and religious bondage, the greater part of the human race, from that remote atiti- quity to the presenir moment. It was the religion of ancient Nineveh — the religion of great Babylon. Its shrines were enriched by the wealth of the kings of Assyria, and its temples were the resort of the ancient sages and philosophers of that first great empire. Fancy can scarcely retrace the steps of time back to the period when those temples teemed not with willing worshippers, and those altars smoked not with victims. While Rome was yet in her infancy and Greece was not known, the glory of Nineveh and Babylon had departed. Before Abraham left the plains of Mamre, or Jonah had preached repentance in the great and wicked city, before Israel had a king or Jerusalem a temple, this great superstition held its empire over the teeming millions of the great East. And the records of ail time can never tell the amount of ignorance and corruption, of fraud and despotism, of cruelty and degradation which the great Enemy of man was able to innict on our race through this one system of false religion. No form of false religion has ever held in bondage so many millions of immortal beings. None ever spread desolation and spiritual death over re- gions so extensive, or for so long a period of time. For we must bear in mind that this Sabianism is the mother of idolatry — the original of a system of idol worship which, as remodelled from time to time, and always mo\dded to suit the times, is that great spiritual agency for evil by which the Devil has never failed to exercise an all- controlling power over the human mind ever since the apostasy. An early modification of this original system appears in the next great system of idolatry, known as Magianism. This we may regard as a reformation of Sabianism, and MA0IA17XSM AND Z0S0A8TEB. SOS perhaps bore the same relation to the Abrahamio dispensa- tion tnat Sabianism did to the Patriarchal. It was a spe- cious advance in error to correspond with the advance of truth — the second grand device of Satan to deceive the nations — to monopolize the religious sentiment — ^to con- trol men through their religious instincts. When they ask an egg, again he gives them a scorpion. Magianism is remarkable among faLs^ religions for the amount of truth it embodied. It was a close approxima- tion to the religion of the Jews. This, however, is especi- ally true only as we find it reformed by the celebrated Zoroaster. Indeed, this famous priest and philosopher and reformer is believed to have been a Jew. He is said to have been, in early life, in the service of one of the pro- phets (Daniel, as is generally supposed), where he became thoroughly conversant with the Jewish Scriptures, and acquainted with the faith and worship, the liturgy and ceremonial of that people. Hence the large accessions received from that source. But let us see, first, what we can find of the original system as it existed from Abraham to Moses, and thence onward to its reformation near the close of the captivity of Israel in Babylon. We have scant material for sucn researches — little but the few allusions in the Old Testa- ment — a few glimpses of light amidst the darkness of the tombs, yet enough to warrant the belief that this form of false religion was the exact counterfeit of the religion of the long period indicated. The progress of revelation and of civilization had cast so much light over the nations of Western Asia, where flourished the first great empires, and over which had prevailed the first great system of idol- atry, that this ancient idolatry had become too gross longer to hold the mind of the people in bondage. And hence the modification which was now invented. It must have been the counterfeit, not, as before, of Job ancT the older Patriarchs, but of Abraham and his descendants. The call of Abraham and the covenant made with that S04 THE FOOT-PRINTS OP SATAN. Patriarch, and the new revelations of the divine character now made, placed the true religion on a higher level than ever before, and presented the character ofGod in a lijjht never before known. The unity and spirituality of God were now especially vindicated in opposition to the poly- theism and materiality of Ood which had charactcirized the religions of preceding ages. Consequently we find the new Vamped form of idolatry acknowledging one supreme Ood, eternal, self-existent, the Creator and Governor of all thinga And they admitted the resur- rection of the body, a future judgment, and future re- wards and punishment. And they held in great abhor- rence' the worship of images. The doctrine of the fall of man and the apostasy of angels, and the Scripture origin of sin, they at least in theory, admitted. Yet though they knew God, they worshipped him not as God, and were, in the practical bearings of their religion, scarcely less vain in their imaginations than the idolatrous nations whose religion they professed to reform. They worshipped not God as a spirit, nor as a pure and holy being, but paid divine honours to fire, the light, and the sun, fanc3dng, as they did, that these were the best representatives of the Deity, and' hence the most suiti^^le objects of worship. This was the religion of the ancient Medes and Persians, which prevailed for centuries among the people of those extensive regions, and which still exists, imder the name of Fire Worship, among a respectable remnant in Persia and India to this day.'" The great characteristic of this religion was the cele- brated " two principles," for a belief of which the fire- worshippers are so well known. They believed that from 'eternity there existed two beings, Ormuzd and Ahriman, * A fragment of the Zoroastrian oracles declares of God that "he the first is indestructible, eternal, unbegotten, indivisible, dissimilar ; the dispenser of all good, incorruptible, the best of the gwxi, the wisest of the wise ; he is the father of equity and justice, self*taught, physical, and perfect an^l wise, and the only inventor of the sacred philosophy." ANCIENT FIB£-WORSHIPPER& 806 raxjter Lthan b light f God poly- btirized re find Lg one >r and resur- atQ re- abhor- ) fall of J origin though iod, and scarcely nations •shipped 3ut paid lying, as B of the worship. Persians, of those he name n Persia ihe cele- ihe fire- latfrom Miriman, A "ie the imilar; the le wisest of t, physical, iloiophy. which they denominated principles of the universe. Or- muzd is pure, eternal light, the original sonrce of all perfection. Ahriman, too, they say, was originally of the light, but because he envied the light of Ormuzd, he- obscured his own, became the enemy of Ormuzd and the father of evil, and of all wicked beings who are confede- rate with him in a constant warfare with the good. To Ormuzd they attributed the creation of all good beings, and to Ahriman the creation of evil beings. The one class are the servants of the wicked god, and the other of the good god. One is the author of all evil, the other of all good. The good dwell with Ormuzd in light, the other with Ahriman in darkness. And so after death the good go to dwell for ever in a world of light with Ormuzd, and the wicked are coni^gned over to Ahriman to dwell for ever with him in a -world of darkness. Who does not here discern the true idea of Qod and the Devil ? The pride and envy of the evil god and the perpetual war- fare kept up between the two, and the final victory which they oelieved the good should achieve over the evil, leave no doubt whence they derived their idea of the two principles which held so prominent a place in their religion. But there seems to have been at least a sect among them, even before the reformation by the great Zoroaster, who came yet nearer to the truth. They held that the food god only was eternal, and that the other was created, tut Siev, however, agree that there will be a continual conflict between the two till the end of the world, when the good god shall overcome the evil god, and henceforth each shall have his own appropriate world : the good god his world of light, with all good men and good beings of whatever grade; and the evil god have his world of darkness, with all wicked beings. And light being the truest symbol dT good, and darkness of evil, they worshipped the good god through the fire as being the cause of light, and especially did they worship the sun 20 306 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. m m as being in their opinion the most perfect, and causing the most perfect light. And the evil god they always associated with darkness, as the fittest emblem of wicked- ness. The Magians erected neither staiues nor temples nor altai's to their gods, but offered their sacrifices and paid their adorations in the open air, and generally on the tops of hills or in high places. Turning their faces to the East, they worshipped the rising sun. An undoubted re- ference is made to this ancient worship, this species of idolatry, in Ezek. viii. 16. Among the "abominations'* shown to the Prophet which the children of Israel com- mitted in the holy temple, was the one to which we refer : "He brought me to the inner court of the Lord's house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, be- tween the porch and the altar, were about five-and-twenty men with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the East, and they worshipped the sun toward the East," That is, they had turned their backs on the true worship of God and had gone •over to that of the Magians, the religion of the people about them. The holy of holies, in which was the She- kinah of the divine presence, being on the west end of the temple, all that came to worship God turned their faces to the west, or toward the holy place. These twenty- five men, by turning their faces towards the rising sun, turned their backs upon the altar of God, showing they woi-shipped, not the God of Israel, but the God of the Magians. And not unlikely the "horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun," but which Josiah, when he cleaned the temple of abominations, took away, and the "chariots of the sun which he burnt with fire," belonged to the same species of worship. And possibly another feature of the same . idolatrous worship was alluded to when the Prophet saw again what the " ancients of the house of Israel did in the dark." He saw seventy men ADVANCE OF THE TRUE RELIGION. 307 causing r always wicked- iples nor and paid L the tops s to the ibted re- jpecies of linations' •ael com- rhich we d's house. Lord, be- id-twenty the Lord> orshipped id turned had gone the people the She- est end of • •ned their se twenty- ising sun, ving they od of the le kings of I, when he y, and the ' belonged y another illuded to nts of the enty men standing in a secluded part of the temple, every man holding in his hand a censer, and a thick cloud of incense went up. From the investigations of Hammer, who is good au- thority on a subject of thi^kind, ifc would appear that Ma- gianism, or the pure fire-worship, was even prior to Sa- bianism, which we have supposed to be the earliest perversion of religion or form of idolatry. He speaks of the "pure fire-worship as the oldest religion of the Bactro- Medean race," and that from this the worship of the * heavenly bodies, orSabianism, sprung. On this supposi- tion, Sabianism was the corruption of the ancient and the less degenerate form of idolatry, and the Magianism of the Modes and Persians of a later date was a reform in re- lation to i Fabianism, though but a return to the primitive form and doctrines of Ancient Magianism. The period we have assigned to this form of idolatry is a long one. Through this period we may trace a very signal advance of the true religion. It extended from Abraham to Moses, and onward through the reforms in the days of Samuel and David, Josiah and Hezekiah, em- bracing the glowing visions of Messiah-s coming reign which Isaiah saw, and yet onward to the nulsss evangel- ical teachings of Daniel and Malachi. Dririn^^ this period of more than fifteen hundred years, religion had ad- vanced from the confused and fragmentary btatri in which Abraham found it into the organized and advanced con- dition into which Moses brought it, and into the yet . more perfect state in which David and Daniel left it. The rude tabernacle had grown into the glorious temple. The few detached and traditionary truths of -the Patriarchs r had given place ^>o the historical books, to the Psalms of David, to the teachings and predictions of the Prophets — indeed, to the entire Old Testament. A Church had been organized with a code of laws, public worship had been instituted, and a regular priesthood had been appointed. At the close of this period religion was, as compared with 308 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. the scanty growth and development at the heginning of the period, ISslq a " woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, andupon her head a crown of twelve stars." If our theory be true, we are now again to look for a new counterfeit, which shall be so' far an advance on the last of the Enemy's devices that it shall correspond with the progress made in the true religion. This corresponding advance in the counterfeit became needful not only on ac- count of the clearer views and the more evangelical teach- ings of Isaiah, Daniel and the later Prophets, hut on ac- ' count of the imprecsive lesson which had been taught the professed Israel of God by the captivity in Babylon. That calamity, by means not altogether obvious, was an effec- tual cure of Israel's great moral disease, his inveterate proneness to idolatry. Even in the wilderness, so soonafter those wonderful manifestations of God in their deliverance, Aaron set up the golden calf, the Apis of the Egyptians, and the people worshipped it. And through aU their ' subsequent history they were prone to go after the gods of the heathen. But the captivity wrought an effectual cure. Henceforth an idol in Israel was nothing. Such a thorough conviction of the sin of idolatry, and so prompt and decided an abstinence from it on the part of Israel, imperatively demanded a corresponding change in the antagonistic system. If reform be the order of the day in the Church, Satan is sure to turn reformer. Hence the change which now came over the spirit, or rather over the form, of the prevailing system of idolatry. And hence the reformatory measures of the great Zoroas- ter. He was to Magianism what Moses was to the true religion. The reformation now called for was to meet the marked advance of religion, as now illustrated in Judaism, inaugurated by Moses, and matured by a long succession of holy men and prophets down to the captivity. Magianism, as reformed by Zoroaster, met this demand, and furnished another striking example how errorists are ZOROASTER AND DANIEL. S09 " ever learning, but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth." The wisdom of the world in its best type, philosophy in its profoundest researches, does but approx- imate — does but feel after the truth, as revealed in Christ. It may aim at, but can never reach th^ mark or secure the prize. Magianism, as reformed by Zoroaster, is per- haps the nearest approximation ever made by any false religion to the truth. Yet it is no nearer to the truth than a close counterfeit is to a genuine coin. A brief examination of this specious counterfeit, in its reformed costume, will justify such an opinion. The celebrated Zoroaster, as I have said, is believed to have been contemporary with Daniel during his sojourn in Babylon, and conversant with the prophets and reli- gious teachers of that period. And it is asserted that he was for some years nearly associated with one of the pro- phets — probably Daniel Hence he had ample oppor- tunities to become acquainted with the Jewish Scriptures and the Jewish religion. And here no doubt he conceived the idea of remodelling the religion of the Persians so as to adapt it better to the increased light which the revela- tion had shed on the world through the people who wor- shipped the God of Zion. Indeed, he drew so largely on the Sacred Scriptures, and conformed his system so nearly to Judaism, that the engrossed elements of truth some- times seem to predominate over the original elements of the old system which he pretended to reform. The chief and most important reformation which he made was in respect to its first^principle, that God is one and supreme and eternal, self-existent and independent, who created both light and darkness, out of which he made all other things ; that these are in a state of conflict which will continue to the end of the world ; that then there shall be a resurrection and a general judgment, and that just retribution shall be rendered unto men according to their works ; the angel of darkness with his followers shall be consigned to a place of everlasting darkness and 310 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. 11. i punishment, and the angel of light, with his disciples, introduced into a state of everlasting light and happiness, after which light and darkness shall no more interfere with each other. The remodelling and reforming the then existing system of idolatry under Zoroaster, was a policy urged upon our great adversary by the remarkable events of the time. Zoroaster is believed to have lived in the eventful times of Daniel, and to 1 .,ve known of his holy living, and sin- gular wisdom and' convincing testimony to the truth, of JNebuchadnezzar and his visions and dreams, and the inter- pretations thereof, of Daniel's three friends and the over- whelming conviction the fiery trial of their faith must have produced, and of Cyrus and the conspicuous part he acted in the great passing drama as the chosen instrument in the hands of the great King. The slightest allusion to the events of those times would seem enough to produce the profoundest conviction that the hand of God — ^yea, the spirit of God — ^was at work mightily among the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of Babylon, as also in Medea and Persia, and in all the principal nations of Asia. The design of the extraordinary providential movements, (jrod informs us, was twofold — 1st, the deliverance of IsraeJ ; and 2nd, the making known his supreme power and Godhead among all the nations of the earth : " For the sake of Jacob my servant, and Israel mine elect. And that they may kr-^w from the rising cf the sun, and from the wesf,that there is none beside me." Of the widespread an^ profound impressions produced on those people and nations we may receive as a satis- factory index the public confessions and declarations of the proud and idolatrous Nebuchadnezzar and of King Darius : " Of a truth it is that your God is the God of gods and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets." And King Darius wrote unto all people, nations and languages, that in QyQiy dominion of my kingdom "men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the REFOBM OF IDOLATBT. 311 living God, and his kingdom that which shall aot be de- stroyed." It was under the pressure of such a state of things that he who now saw his craft in serious danger set him- self to remodel and reform the prevailing system of idol- atry and suit it to the times. Hence Zoroaster and the Zendavesta. Never perhaps did man's Arch-En. my make larger concessions to the true and the right, and draw more liberally from the great fountain of all truth. Such hom- age was he constrained to pay to the onward march of truth and righteousness. >> in XV. FALSE UUmm-(Contmued,) HISTORIC RELIGION — ^PROGRESSIVE REVELATION — GOD RE- VEA^iS HIMSELF AS THE WORLD CAN BEAR IT — ^TRACES OF THE TRUE RELIGION IN ALL FALSE SYSTEMS— OSIRIS — CHRISTIANITY A RELIGION FOR MAN — UNRESTRICTED. There is much of interest in the origin, the history und philosophy of False Religions. Constituting as they do the most subtle combination of all the engines of mischief which the great adversary wields, there is much in them, * when contemplated as perversions and counterfeits of the true, both to admire and lament. We meet in them not so much absolute falsehood, as truth perverted and coun- terfeited to the peril of man's interests in this life, and his eternal undoing in the life to come. False religions have, as we have shown, a common ori- gin ; and they have more in common than is generally supposed. Based on practical atheism, it is not easy to determine which recognizes the least of God. Neither Paganism, Popery, or Mohammedanism questions the ab- stract being of God. Such a monstrosity falls only within the dark domains of Atheism. Reason and conscience never said, "There is no God." This is the language only of the perverted heart. God has stamped his image on all his works. The heavens declare the being and agency of God. The succession of day and night proclaims it — everything shadows forth an all-pervading deity. THE TRIUMPH OF SIN. 313 False religions have formed a crafty compromise be- tween the conflicting elements of man. They yield to Beason who knows there is a God, and to Conscience who feels it, the abstract fact of the divine existence, but grant to the heart, which has no complacency in the character of the God of reason and conscience, the prerogative of clothing this being with attributes congenial with its own corrupt natiu-e. Hence the invention of other gods and the imputing to the true God a fictitious character. And hence the fabrication of corresponding systems of religion. Yet, in the compromise, the heart, de facto, has the advan- tage. For while it theoretically acloiowledges the being of one supreme God by adding at the same time a multi- tude of lesser deities to which it pays its supreme homage, it practically loses sight of both the being and authority of the true God. Here is the dark triumph of sin. It has placed a black and impenetrable cloud between* the effulgence of the eternal throne and this lower world. It has covered the earth with darkness — done its utmost to shut out God from the world, and to usurp his dominion over this part of his empire. It has changed the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. In order to take a just view of the great systems of false religions which have obtained in the world it will be necessary' to premise the following things : I. God reveals himself to the world as the world can bear it, or is prepared to receive it. And we must of con- sequence look for something corresponding to this in tho" various systems of religion which have prevailed in dif- ferent ages of the world and in different countries. And wo may add that the same revelation becomes a source of mor^ or less light according to the condition of the people it enlightens. In a given amount of sunshine the half- blind man sees but little compared with the man of clear and open vision ; and they who are enveloped in fog, little 314 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. n I compared with them who bask in the noonday sun. Every new acquisition of knowledge, every well-directed mental improvement, every advancement in society, casts new light upon, or rather educes new light from, the sacred page. And so we may say of the cultivation of every Christian virtue and the cherishing of every right affec- tion. The same truth as contemplated from different points, for different purposes, with different feeUngs and affections, with a clearer vision and at a greater or less distance, appears in new beauties and relations, and assumes new importance. It will, therefore, correct our views and moderate our censures when contemplating what are denominated false religions, if we take good heed, as we pass to our chrono- logy, to our geography, physical, political, and moral, and to the entire condition of the people as to knowledge, mental improvement and civilization. A religion which is essentially false in one age or condition of the world, might have been essentially true in another age or condi- tion. For an illustration of this we need go no further back than Judaism. II. Another point to be borne in mind is the Tnental and moral improvement of our raxie. Tlie cpndition of the human race is progressive. Partial and local retro- gressions have at times, and for considerable portions of time, occurred ; yet these should be regarded rather as the temporary results of the ebullitions, the confusions and apparent dissolutions which usually precede the in- troduction and establishment of a new and better order of things, than as real retrogressions. It is the " shaking " of those things which shall be " removed." To us, who reckon time by months and years, centuries appear a long preparatory season. But He who inhabits eternity, and pla^ for infinite duration, feels no such restraints. With Him a thousand years are as one day. The true religion, like Christian civilization, is progres- sive, and we can trace its onward and upward progress GRADUAL REVELATION. S15 Every [ mental sts new e Bacred >f every bt affec- lifferent ngs and or less »ns, and rate our ted false chrono- sral, and owledge, n which e world, )r condi- further mentaZ iition of al retro- rtions of ather as )nfusions > the in- er order ihaking " us, who ar a long lity, and i. With progres- progress through all its continuous channels — Ethiopian, Egyptian, Phoenician, Bahylonian and Indian — to the Greek and Roman, and onward to the present highly-civilized na- tions, and we discover that Providence has used each of these nations, as far as in their times and circumstances they could be used, to advance the great work of man's moral renovation, (which is the object of the true religion,) and then transferred it to their successors with all the accumulated advantages of their respective predecessors. Could we stand in the council chamber of heaven, and with the eye of Omniscience survey in the field of our vision the whole of the di^dne procedure towards our world, we should see a steady, onward, irresistible march of Providence, executing the divine purposes, and at every step approaching the goal of a final and glorious consum- mation. But standing as we do at an infinite remove from the Imperial centre, and amidst all the darkness, disorders and perversion of sin, where so much is to be undone before God's peculiar work on earth can be done — ^where there must be so much pulling down of both superstructure and fouhdation before the true Temple can be reared and completed, preparatory work often ap- pears to us not the work of progress, but of retrogression. The correct view we believe is, that the energies of Providence are engaged to erect a perfect building — ^to elaborate and complete a perfect system. But as he will do this through the medium of human sagacity and toil, all possible systems, we had almost said, are permitted to exist while the great building — the true system — is in progress, that an endless variety of facts may be elicited, experiments tried and results arrived at, from which, as from a profuse mass and medley, human wisdom may choose the good and eschew the bad, and, under the eye of the great Architect, produce the perfect temple. Hence the many strange systems, developments and fantasies which have been permitted, not only in religion, but in politics, ethics, etc. They are the materials from which 'h- 316 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. to select. The middle ages were peculiarly prolific in these, and as peculiarly preparatory to the advanced state of the world which followed This advanced state was a result — a compound — a fabric tion from preexisting ma- terials, all thrown into the crucible together, fusecf— the dross being removed- — and run in a new mould. III. It comports with the divine plan that fdn should have its perfect work. Earth is a usurped province — Satan is the "god of this world." And the history of his reign is written with a pen of iron, and shall be read in heavenly places, an indelible lesson throughout the inter- minable duration of eternity, presenting an awfully edify- ing contrast of the misery of sin and the beauty of holi- ness. The world is a vast machine, in every part made right, and if managed right could produce nothing but holiness and happiness. Yet under the administration of his Sa- tanic Majesty, so completely perverted is everything that the world is as notorious for violence and corruption as, under a right regimen, it would be for peace and purity. In allowing Satan to dabble, as he is always disposed to, in the religious affairs of the world, in politics, in the social and domestic economy of men, in their science and literature, and in yielding him the vast resources of the world, God has furnished all his intelligent creatures a durable and melancholy specimen of what sort of use sin makes of things and creatures originally and intrinsically good. And when this miserable experiment shall have been sufficiently tried, and its results made sufficiently maiifest, the great King, the rightful Sovereign, shall put down the Usurper and exhibit on the same field the diametrically opposite, the infinite, beneficent and glorious results of His reign. The extravagances, superstitions and cruelties of false religions — or, as Carlyle would have it, " their bewildering, inextricable jungle of delusions, conclusions, falsehoods and absurdities," stand before us as so many perversions HISTORT OF THE TRUE RELIGION. 317 )rolific in Dced state ato was a sting ma- iisei— the in should )rovince — tory of his le read in the inter- dlly edify- ,y of holi- lade right, it holiness of his Sa- thing that ruption as, ,nd purity, isposed to, ics, in the icience and rces of the sreatures a of use sin atrinsically shall have sufficiently reign, shall le field the i,nd glorious ies of false )ewildering, falsehoods perversions of the truth — the " many inventions " of sin — not original errors, but corruptions and perversions. We shall now undertake to confirm what we have before asserted, that religion, philosophically regarded, is one grand, consecutive, progressive system, from its germ in the family of the first Adam to its glorious consummation in the family of the second Adam. And that correspond- ing with this there has run a parallel series of counter- feits, imitating the genuine in form and lettering, yet in- trinsically possessing little or nothing in common. Satan is a bold and accurate imitator, not (from policy only) an inventor, in the things of religion. He too well knows the force of man's religious instinct, and too well understands that there is a spirit in man which " witness- es with the spirit of God, approving as heaven-bom the religion of God's revealing, wnether it be shadowed forth but obscurely, or revealed clearly, to expect to palm on the world a sheer fabrication of his own. He pays to divine wisdom the forced homage of clothing his falsehoods in the costume of truth — ^in the panoply of heaven. In taking a brief survey of the successive and progressive developments of true religion, we shall be able to trace a sieries of corresponding counterfeits by which the Devil has contrived to blind the eyes and delude the souls of the tribes and kindreds of the earth in the different ages of the world. Throughout the whole he has not failed to keep pace with the march of providential development, changing and modifying, adding and subtracting as the world advanced, and has, one after another, opened the successive scenes in the great drama of redemption. We date the history of the true religion in the family of Adam. Immediately on the Fall, a remedy for the great moral disease of man was revealed and the Church of God instituted, and from this point radiates the first rays of light.over a dark world. This light increased and spread through a succession of holy men composing the Church from Adam to Noah. The posterity of Seth tran&- 318 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. mitted the blessing through many generations, and doubt- less among many tribes of the newly-peopled earth. In the days of Enos there was a remarkable extension of the Church, and Enoch was a city set on a hill which could not be hid. There must have been at least a very general knowledge of the true God and of the way in which he ought to be worshipped among the nations who lived be- fore the Flood. Nor is it certain that men had fallen into idolatry, or that any great systems of religious error had yet been consolidated. Wickedness there was, and violefice and coiTuption, which cried to heaven for vengeance, yet perhaps not yet organized into system. Noah trans- planted the germ of antediluvian piety into the new world, where it took root and early spread over the newly -peopled , earth. Then followed the clearer manifestation of the truth to Abraham, which continued from the calling of the father of the faithful till the giving of the law at Sinai. Then came the gorgeous ceremonial of the tabernacle in the wilderness, shadowing foi^h new truths and elucidating old ones, and all looking fc ./ard with a clearer distinct- ness to Christ, the great reality. Then followed the spiritual kingdom of Christ, or the setting up of the true tabernacle. In Judaism which was the growth of a thousand years, and of which modem Judaism is the Popery, we meet the first great rescue and concentration of whatever was true in former systems of religion. In Christianity we have the first true Church. This is the summation of the whole. But we are at present interested rather to trace the cor- responding counterfeits, that we may see how men swerved from the simple truth aS taught in nature's book, worship- ping the work rather than the great Worker, the creature than the Creator, yet in the perversion there still remain the indubitable traces of the original and the time. As an example of this, we may refer to the well-known Incarnations of Vishnu of Hindoo mythology, in which we • • OSTRIS THE EQTPTIAN MESSIAH. 319 can scarcely fail to discover the true idea of the Incarna- tion of the true Deity. But we are furnished in ancient mythology with a yet more striking illustration in the case of Osiris, the celebrated hero-god of the Egyptians. This Deity, about whom clustered all their hopes of im- mortality, was fabled to have slept in death and to have risen triumphant over the powers of evil. He was ac- knowledged as the god to be worshipped throughout the great valley of the Nile. There is something singular in the history of this In- carnation. Osiris is the Messiah of the old Egyptian re- ligion. And it is remarkable how many of the attributes of the true Messiah are made to appear in him. He was the Judge of the living and the dead. The oath taken in his name was the most solemn and inviolable of all oaths. Goodness was his primary attribute, and that goodness was displayed in his leaving the abodes of Paradise, taking a human form, going about doing good, and then sinking into death, in a conflict with evil, that he ntight rise again to spread blessings over the worla, and be rewarded with the office of Judge of the living and the dead. Osiris is called the " Grace Manifester," " Truth Revealer," " Opener of Good." The ancient records speak of him, too, as " full of grace and truth." He was the supreme God in ^SyP*> ^'^d the only one whose name was never pro- nounced. In all these points there is certainly a very singular similarity of attributes — life, death and resurrection — ^with that of the Christian's Messiah. But whence this assimi- lation ? Perchance it may be replied that Abraham had clear conceptions of Him who was to come, and that he communicated this knowledge to the Egpytians on his first visit to their country. But hefore Abraham was, this singular ritual of Osiris was known and celebrated. " Tombs as old as the Pyramids declare all this." Others trace this knowledge through a channel further back, making these the indelible traces of the preaching of Noah 1 tf 320 THE FOOT-PIUNTS OF SATAN. on the mind of tho world, Noah was a preacher of righteousness. His immediate posterity, acquainted, no doubt, with the revelations already extant concerning the Messiah, settled in Egypt — became the founders of an Empire there, the compilers of their sacred books and the originators of their religious system. Regarding all false religions as merely perversions of the one true religion, we may assume that the religion of ancient Egypt was made up of such religious notions as ' were extant at the time ; consequently it is not strange that so prominent an element or idea as that of an in- carnation of the Deity should have been drawn from the true religion and incorporated in this ancient system of idolatry. But all this was scarcely more than physical religion — at most but intellectual, involving little or nothing of the moral element. It worshipped a natural divinity, a god of power, valour, prowess, the grand architect and gar- nishor of the heavens. . Not till a much later period do we find the moral ele- ment introduced into religious beliefs. That the divine power which they worshipped had a moral basis — that God is a moral governor, and men subjects of a moral gov- ernment, they did not discover. The introduction of this element was an advanced step in the history of religion — the result of a special revelation. How much of the moral was introduced into these early systems from reve- lations made to the Patriarchs and early prophets, we cannot determine. True it is that the darkness of human depravity soon overshadowed the fairest of these forms of belief. The light in them became darkness. And we now can only discover the true by its counterfeit. Seeing the spurious coin, we judge of the genuine. In the progress of religious belief, I said, came Judaivm — not a Tiew religion, but a new dispensation of the ancient faith, clothed in new light, and the moral element more distinctly marked. Moses was not an originator, but a NEW LIGHT FROM SINAI. 321 compiler. The beggarly elements of the world were now clothed in a celestial dress. The physical yielded to the moral. Gbd revealed himself as the moral governor. The scattered rays of light which had hitherto done little more among the nations than to make the surrounding darkness visible, seem now concentrated on Sinai, burst forth from the terrible cloud with all the vividness of a new revela- tion and aU the terribleness of the divine majesty chal- lenging the homage and love of a rebellious race. These collected rays were woven into a beam, which we call the divine law. What of God had been but indistinctly shadowed forth in nature or imperfectly revealed to the Patriarchs was now clearly maide known. His moral character was made to stand out in bold relief of which his law was made the transcript. Doctrines, duties, pre- cepts were of consequence marked with equal clearness. It was a new and vastly improved edition of any previous system of faith. It was truth developed, defined, emanci- pated, as coming from the hands of the Patriarchs to whom Qod had entrusted the clearest revelations of himself— or truth rescued from the abuse, corruption and darkness into which it had fallen in the hands of surrounding Pagan nations. An imposing ceremonial — ^new only in its form — ^was now adopted. Here again Moses was not the originator. Most of the rites and ceremonies of the Levitical law were already in vogue. Moses collected the scattered fragments and wrote them in a book ; reduced a distract- ed ceremonial to order; defined the number, circumstances and uses of such rites as God approved; instituted an or- der of men who should take charge of the sacerdotal de- partment ; designated the persons who should hold office, and made the whole more clearly significant. It now be- came a system with an officiating priesthood and a law, all setting forth a Messiah who should come. We have noted, as we have pasided through the dark generations of idolatry, vestiges of light and truth — light- 21 i'l 322 THE FOOT-PRINTS OP SATAN. I \i I 1 1 houses guiding wrecked mariners in the way of life. A very remarkable instance of this we meet in the follow- ing hymn of Cleanthes, dating back into a remote anti- quity, and justly regarded as a remarkable testimony to the truth — a light shining through long ages of darkness. It was read by St. Paul — quoted on Mars Hill. It sets forth God as the Creator of all things, the Benefactor, supreme King and Judge, exposes the folly of idolatry, and inculcates a pure morality : " Great Jove, most glorious of the immortal gods, Wide known by many names, Almighty One, Ring of all nature, ruling all by law, We mortals thee adore, as duty calls ; For thou our Father art, and we thy sons. On whom thu gift of speech thou hast bestowed Alone of all that live and move on earth. Thee, therefore, will I praise ; and ceaseless show To all thy glory and thy mighty power. This beauteous system circlmg round the earth Obeys thy will, and, wheresoe'er thou leadest, ■ Freely submits itself to thy control. Such is, in thine unconquerable hands. The two-edged, fiery, deathless thtmderbolt ; Thy minister of power, before whose stroke All nature quails, and trembling, stands aghast : By which the common reason thou dost guide, Pervading all things, filling radiant worlds. The sun, the moon, and all the host of stars, So great art thou, the universal King. Without thee naught is done on earth, God I Nor in the heavens above, nor in the sea ; Naaght save the deeds unwise of sinful men. Yet harmony from diicord thou dost bring : 'fhat which is hateful, thou dost render fair ; Evil and goo(^ dost so co-ordinate, That eventjsting reason shall bear sway : Which sinful men, blinded, forsake and shun. Deceived and hapless, seeking fancied good. The law of God they wiU not see nor hear ; Which if they would, obey, would lead to life. But they unhappy rush, each in his way. For glory some in eager conflict strive : Others are lost inglorious, seeking gain ; To pleasure others turn and sensual joys, HMtisg to ruin, whilst th«y seek for lif«. RESCUE OF LOST TRUTHS. 323 But thou, O Jove ! the giver -of all good, Darting the lightning from th v home of clouds, Permit not man to perish darkling thus : From folly save them : brinff them to the light : Give them to know the everlasting law Bv which in righteousness thou rulest all ; That wo, thus Honoured, may return to thee Meet honour, and with hymns declare thy deeds. And though we die, hand down thy deathless praise. Since nor to men nor gods is higher me< d. Than ever to extol with righteous praise The glorious, universal King Divine." I have said there was originally truth in the old systems of Paganism — they were originally founded in truth — much of reality in them — a worship of God as they knew him, saw him, or through the sources by which he re- vealed himself to them. But times change. What was true in its time, became false. Further revelations gave men higher views of God' on the one hand, and further developments of human depravity led men to lose sight of God in the objects they worshipped as true emblems of the divinity, and to worship these objects themselves. The old systems existed for a purpose — answered that purpose — ^lasted or will last till the good and true is trans- fused in the new system and then will die, having done the work of their generation. The design of Judaism (as of Christianity) therefore in her indignant denunciations of Paganism, is not the con- demnation of the truth which was then revealed, but it is to bring religion hack to that trutn — and not that truth only, but to that truth as expounded and cleared from the dross of error and its boundaries enlarged by the rich accessions of all subsequent revelations. New mines were opened, richer and more abundant, and yet all the pure gold of the old ones was carefully preserved and worked into the new tabernacle. But the general views here taken, supply, in this connection, another thought. It is that we discover herein reasons for one common and universal religion Iff' 324 THE FOOT-PMNTS OP SATAN. which shall finally pervade every human heart, and en- close in its broad fold the entire family of man. All nature proclaims such a consummation for man, and in equal distinctness proclaims Christianity to be sucn a religion. It is, as no other religion, adapted to man's wants, to nis progress and to his fml development, whether it I . in this life or the life to come. It is under the auspices of this form of religion that mind is quick- ened and matured, and made to subserve the great pur- poses of human advancement — ^that human genius is set on the alert of invention and discovery — that the powers of nature are evolved, applied and appropriated to man's use and progress. It is this form of religion which addresses itself to the heart, and cultivates the moral feelings and evolves and applies the moral powers of man. *It ad- dresses itself to the whole man, develops all his powers, and fits him for his full and £nal destiny. It is a service, adoration and praise paid to the God of nature. It is a supreme veneration of the power that made the worTd and keeps every star in its course, and manages the great and universal machine as he pleases. It is the supreme admiration of the wisdom which de- vises, adjusts, preserves and adapts all things so as to secure the whole against a single failure, and to bring out of the whole the great and benevolent end designed. It is the " transcendent wonder" of the love and benevolence of God in so forming, controlling and adjusting aU things j^H to bring good out of the whole. No poison is so venom- ous that it is not made to yield a sweet, no cloud so dark, no tempest so devastating, no providential dispon- sation so disastrous that it yields not in the end some permanent and substantial good. In the highest possible sense, then, the religion of Garist is a natural religion. Did we need further proof of this we should land it in its peculiar adaptations to the social and dvil progress of man. It is this form of reli- gion which, either in its more immediate bearings, or in CHRISTIANITT FOR MAN. 325 and en- for man, 7 to be apted to lopment. is under is quick- •eat pur- ius is set 8 powers Dan's use i/ddresses ings and *It ad- i powers, e Gk)d of wer that irse, and ) pleases, 'hich de- so as to •ring out ned. It evolence 11 things ) venom- cloud so dispon- nd some igion of er proof IS to the I of reli- gs, or in in its remoter outcoings, is revolutionizing the world. It has made the eaith to disgorge its mineral wealth, and has moulded it into every conceivable utensil, tool or machine that can contribute to human progress. It has in the form of modern commerce, traversed every sea, made nations neighbours, increased beyond all precedent the wealth of the world, checkered every land with rail- ways and telegraphs, and conveyed abroad the messen- gers of the cross and supplied the means and appliances for the universal diffusion of the gospel.- It has trans- lated the Bible into almost every foreign tongue, and given a power and ubiquity to the press quite unknown in the world before. It is the author of all the freedom in the world — the founder of all constitutional govern- ment, and it has pervaded the world at large with a higher degree of intelligence, and the diffusion of the higher type of civilization 'which now blesses the world. And what but the expansive, rousing, enterprising spirit infused by Christianity has so stimulated the imAgratory instincts of men at the present day ? These are indica- tive of the no distant advances which await our race — precursive of the breaking up of the old reclusive habits of the species, and introductory of a system by which dif- ferent branches of the human family become better known to each other, and by an interchange of sentiment and thoughts, as well as of the commodities of com- merce, they contribute to a mutual and indefinite advance- ment. Christianity, as its most obvious impress indicates and its most spontaneous workings everywhere vouch, was made for man — for roan in his expansion into a fuU man- hood — for whom, as the proprietor and controller of all the powers and resources of nature as placed at his dis- posal for his advancement, whether physical, mental, or religious, and for the realization of all he is promised, or all he is capable of, here or hereafter. No other religion has ever exercised in the world such 326 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF BATAN. » ■ ^ transforming power, no other containsi^in itself the ele- ments of such transformations. False religions are local in Iheir character — temporary in duration, and mercenary in; their application, and degrading and oppressive in proportion as their spirit pervades the hearts and minds of their votaries. They are most obviously made for the priest, the king, and the Devil and not for the people — ^not for the expansion of the human mind — not for the culti- vation of the human heart — not to elevate society, cherish freedom, define and protect human rights, or bless the race. There are two features of our religion which, contem- plated in the present connection, commend it as a religion especikUy for tturni. They are its %oci(il character, and its teaching ministry. In these two features it differs essen- tially from all fake religions, and challenged its claims to universal regard and adoption by the whole family of man. In proportion as a religion is spurious it substitutes a rit- ual for a sermon, r ceremonial and a solitary worship for the social and puLx^c worship of the sanctuary — penance for repentance, and the dogmas of priests for the simple teachings of the word of God. l> XVI. MODERN SPURIOUS RELIGIONS. THEIR PRACTICAL TENDENCIES — RESULTS — ^INFLUENCE ON SOCIETY— ON GOVERNMENTS, AND ON CHARACTER JN GENERAL — ROME PAPAL AND ROME P/GAN— POINTS OF AGREEMENT. We turn next to the handiwork of our great adversary, as seen in hin schemes for deluding and then monopolizing the human mind, and the powers and resources of man, through more modem forms of faLse religions. As times change, and the world advances, the pnnce of darkness changes his tactics and the mode of his attack. Hence the different ^hases of idolatry, while the nature ar d spirit remain the Rame. Modem false religions have usually been divided into three general classes: Paganism, Mohammedanism and Bomanism. These have a common origin, and they have in their deleterious results on the condition of man more in common than is generally supposed. Based as they all are on a practical atheism, it is sometimes difficult to de- termine which of them recognizes the least of the true God. In theory they all acknowledge one supreme God. But in practice they as unifonnly deny him. Neither call in quevtion the abstract being of God. 928 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. Such a monstrosity only falls within the dark domains of atheism. In nothing do we more distinctly see the conflict between the corrupt heart, and reason and a right consci- ence, than in the existence and character of these three forms of false religion. They propose a compromise be- tween the conflicting elements of man. Reason hnowa there is a Qod, conscience feels it and recognizes his right of dominion over us, but the heart denies and revolts. It disdains to acknowledge any such authority. Having no complacency in the character of such a God, it would rather have no God. Hence the invention of other gods and of corresponding sysijems of religion. To the demands of reason and conscience that God be recognized, the heart so far 3delds, in the instance of falsQ religions, fu^ to grant the abstract fact of a God ; but reserves to itself the prerogative of clothing this Being with attributes congenial with its own corrupt nature. Or it only theoretically acknowledges the being of one supreme God, then adds other lesser deities te whom it pays adorations and praises, while practically it loses sight of both the being and authority of the true God. What, then, has sin done i It has cast a dark and impenetrable cloud between the effulgence of the great white throne and this lower world. It has covered the earth with darkness and its inhabitants with a gross darkness. It has exercised the uttermost of the power that has been granti 1 it, to shut out God from the world and to usurp his d' f^inion over this part of his empire. How this is done appears in the cursory survey we have taken of the principal false religions that have afflicted our world and covered its inhabitants .rith weeping, lamentation and woe almost from the time that God said, " the day i/n which ye eat thsreof ye shall die" IDOLATBT A SIGN OF FALSE BELIQION. 829 imams of conflict it consci- 3se three >mise be- ll hnowa his right olts. It aving no t would iponding God be ^nce of a God; ing this corrupt le being ities to kctically Jie true irk and e great 3overed with a of the d from t of his '^ey we ^ have J ,/ith le that U die." Idolatry has been the prevailing characteristic of every false religion. By which we mean, not necessarily a for- mal prostration to idols, but an attempt to detract from the most excellent character of God, to think of him and to act as if he were such a one as ourselves, or to substi- tute something in his place. The particular form that idolatry has assumed in different countries and in differ- ent ages of the world, has, as we have seen, depended on the circumstances under which it has existed. The spirit has been essentially the same, but the external shape has varied with the intellectual culture of a nation, with their moral condition, with the degree of the knowledge they may have attained, and to no inconsiderable extent with the general progress of learning and moral science in the world at large. All these things, though they have not essentially changed the nature or essence of idolatry, have modified its appea/rancea, and not unfre- quently changed its name. Wherever, by strange moral obliquity, a comparatively polished and learned people have been idolaters, they have refined on the grossness of the general system till they have shom{it of many of its more glaring deformities, as well as of some of its more gross enormities, and thus suited it te the age and cir- cumstances in which it was te exist ; while, on the other hand, in the darker ages of the world, or among a more ignorant and debased people, it has presentedjja grosser form and been exemplified in more cruelties and abomi- nations. We may be the more shocked with the latter, while we more thoroughly abhor the aggravated guilt of the former. So insidiously were men at first beguiled inte idolatry, that we do not greatly wonder at the success of the tempter. No one can look upon the broad expanse of heaven, set with ten thousand brilliant gems, in the midst of which the imperial sun has placed his tabernacle as an Eastern monarch in the midst of his shining hosts, or where the moon bears her mild sway by night, and displays her 830 THE FOOT-PEINTS OF SATAN. 1?! chastened glory, and not be awed into reverence, and be constrained to explain how great, how good, how glorious is he who garnished the heavens as well as he that laid the foundations of the earth. But if we add to the idea the andenta had of the heavens, the notions we have gained bv the developments of modern science — if we admit the innumerable hosts of planets that adorn the concave of heaven to be' so many worlds like our own, moving majesticallyround their respective suns and revolv- ing about their axes, producing the revolutions of day and night and the vicissitudes of the seasons, and thus ntting them as suitable abodes for animal life — if we admit the numberless stars that twinkle in the uttermost verge of space, to be so many suns — the centres of so many systems tiat revolve about them, we are overawed by the power, the excellency, and the majesty of Him who spoke them into existence by the word of his power. To one who did not know the deceitfulness of sin it might seem but a little departure from the true worship to pay honours to the hosts of the firmament as representatives of God. For in nothing is there shadowed forth more of the infinite Jeho- vah. Just, as, at a later period ir. the history of idolatry, it seemed but a slight departure from the worship of the true God to worship Him with the help of pictures and muiges — and then through the medium of saints and angels, but in the end it proved to be but an entering wedge of a system of idolatry that has done more than any other to keep the human mind in bondage. Such has been the origin of idolatry in two very differ- ent ages — ^the one, the idolatry of the Pagan world ; and the other of the Christian world. Pagans use the same arguments to vindicate idol worship that Romanists do to defend the idolatry of their religion. The one differs from the other, in little else than in name and in some of the modes of performing their worship. The one is this idol- atry of a Christian age, the other of a Pagan age. Both were devices ol the Arch-Fiend to cheat men out of a know- ^m.-,femimmmi^^ MAHOMMEDANISM. S31 and be glorious that laid the idea we have 3 — if "we it adorn our own, id revolv- f dajr and IS fitting dmit the verge of T systems e power, >ke them ) who did ut a little rs to the For in lite Jeho- idolatry, ip of the urea and lints and entering than any ry differ- >rld; and bhe same ists do to 5ers from le of the thie idol- e. Both fa know- ledge of God, and finally to beguile them of their immortal soms. Mohammedanism, the other principal form of idolatry, bears nearly the same relation to Paganism that Romanism does to Christianity, in this respect, that it is a modifica- tion of idolatry suited to the clunate, habits, mental cul- ture and moral tastes of those extensive Oriental nations that had heretofore been Pagan. It was nearly contem- porary in its origin with Romanism, and is as peculiarly suited to the regions of country over which it was destined to spread, as Romanism is to its respective field. Here it is worthy of remark that the introduction and promulgation of Christianity in our world produced a very marked change in all the existing systems of idolatry. A new light broke in upon the world, and idolatry had now to be essentially modified so as to suit the new state into which the world was brought by the introduction of Chris- tianity. In some respects it must be made more subtle, in other things less gross. Here it must suffer an ampu- tat on of excrescences or of decayed parts, there it must receive an addition. Some systems were thus modified or remodelled where others were compelled to give place to altogether a new order of things. Of the former are Brahminism of India, and Buddhism of India and China and the Eastern portions of Asia, and of the latter we may instance the old systems of idolatry that were spread over Per ia, Arabia, and all the western portion of Asia and the adjoining regions of Europe. The first were modified as to some of their objects and modes of worship — ^and the idea of the incarnation of the Deity and of vicarious atonement were introduced, though in so corrupted a foim as to make them serve none of the great purposes of incarnation and atonement by Jesus Christ ; while the other systems that I have named gave place to Mohammedanism, which preserved the spirit of the old systems under a new costume to suit the spirit of the times. ► I ; 882 THE rOOT-PBINTS OF 8ATAN. What, then, have we before us as the legitimate offspring of sin and the power and craft of Satan ? Nothing less than the monster Idolatry in its threefold deformity of Pa^nism, Papacy and Mohammedanism. Would we here estimate the magnitude of the evil in- flicted on our world, we must commence a calculation which the arithmetic of eternal ages can only finish ; we must estimate all the evils of idolatry since the first de- parture from Qod ; we must survey all the mental desola- tions it has produced; we must bring into the estimate all the moral wastes that have followed its awful march. Not a germ of moral growth can thrive — nor scarcely exist on the soil of idolatry. Every generous affection of the heart is paralyzed, every aspiring and noble exercise ef the mind smothered. Mind is in bondage — the whole man is a slave where wood and stone, or any created thing receives thp honours that are alone due to God. Who can estimate the misery, the degradation, the ignorance that are entailed on an idolatrous people ? Who can count up the worth of the social affections it has blighted, and the social happiness it has destroyed ? Who can calculate the domestic ties it has severed, and the wretchedness it has produced in the tenderest relations in life ? Or if we advert but for a moment to the yet more blighting influence, if possible, it exercises on man's civil relations — on laws and governments, we yet more sadly lament the dire mischiefs of sin afid the wilea of our Foe. It is the father of despotism, of oppression and war, but never of true liberty, of national prosperity and thrift. But all calculations fail when we attempt to estimate things of such a nature. It is not in any one thing, nor in aU we have named or can name, that all the evils of idolatry appear. Its dismal details are met everywhere. It hardens the heart, dries up the natural affections, saps the foundations of virtue, corrupts the fountain of moral principles, and blasts all that is lovely and dignified in man^ I THE W0B8T OF IDOLATBT. S88 offspring lin^ less >nnxty of evil in- Iculation lish; we first de- U desola- imate all march. :ely exist n of the ercise ef hole man 3d thing Who can nee that iount up and the ulate the 98 it has ei more ai's civil re sadly our Foe. s^ar, but hrift. estimate ing, nor evils of ywhere. )ns, saps >f mond lified in The worst of heathenism is not seen in a few widow bunungs— or in the annual exposure of a few thousand infants — or in the exposure of as many sick, infirm and aged on the banks of the sacred river— or in Uie lone and severe pilgrimages that are performed, and the cruel and bloody penances that are suffered. These may attract the attention and shock the senses of the traveller or the superficial observer, and thus appelur the worst of Pagan- ism. But you must look farther to see the desolation of its abominations. This can only be seen in the withering influence it has in all the ordinary relations of life. Ut enters into everything and leaves the marks of its desola- tion everywhere. \ personal acquamtance only can con- vey to the mind what sin hath done In the establishment and support of idolatry. Here it has achieved its saddest triumph. It has enthralled the mind of more than three- fourths of the human family. It has robbed them of their happiness — disrobed them of their innocence and shut them out from the smiles of heaven. Would we here get more adequate and correct ideas of the machinations and mischiefs of man's great Foe, we must look away to where " Satan's seat " is, and contem- plate sin in its less controlled sphere. We must see what it has done in enslaving nations, and poisoning the streams of life among congregated millions. We must let the eye for a moment pass over the dark domains of idolatry. Having classed Romanism among systems of idolatry, the reader may ask proofs, if there be any, to justify such a classification. Is the Papacy Christianity, or is it but a new edition, under another title, of old Pagan Home ? a new, improved, and more mischievously ruinous engine in the hands of our adversary by which to enslave the nations and decoy to death. That Romanism is a stu- pendous power in the world is but too obvious. But is it a power for good or for evil, for Christ or for the Devil 1 Do we find it engaged in the interests of freedom, of hu- I 334 THE FOOT-PRINTS OP SATAN. manity, of a Christian civilization, of light, knowledge and a pure religion, or in the service of despotism, oppres- sion, persecution, ignorance and all kinds of immorality and impurity ? The following points of resemblance will speak for themselves. In origin and subsequent development it would soem nearly allied to Paganism. It is a, system of idolatry whose basis is infidelity, yet its idolatry is in form and pretence Christianized and its infidelity tbv^ practical unbelief of the Christian v^^ctrines it professes. It is the grand counterfeit of Christianity, its material the same as that which made up the religion of Pagan Rome, its form and lettering stolen from the image and superscription of the religion of Calvary. We may represent her as a woman, whose form and .whosf ! features, though awry, and marred and disfigured by meretricious ornaments and fragments from Pagan shrines, are essentially Christian, yet whose spirit and power is that of the Pagan Beast whose bulls and ana- themas are thunderbolts borrowed from Jupiter, whose costume is stolen from the temples of difierent heathen deities, or from the wardrobe of Judaism. From the Persian priest she received her tiara, from the Roman augur her staff, from the Jewish rabbin her embroidered mantle, and her scarlet attire from the great red dragcn. From the undying flame on Apollo's shrine she bor- rowed the idea of the ever-lighted candles which illumine her altars, and from the vestal virgins that once found sanctuary In her temples, reappeared in the temples of Christian Rome the obsequious handmaids of our Lady, who sitteth on the seven hills, changed somewhat, but not in spirit, and equally subserving the purposes of a corrupt Church and a licentious priesthood. Let Rome, if she will, christen this unfortunate appen- dage to her sfl^nctuaries by the name of nuns, or by the more taking appellation of " Sisters of Charity," (and some of these we honour for their works of mercy,) they ll BOME PAGAN: ROHlS PAPAL. 835 nowledge n, oppres- amorality speak for ipment it elity, yet d and its *^ 3ctrines istianity, e religion from the iry. form and disfigured >m Pagan pirit and and ana- «r, whose ) heathen From the e Koman broideied id dragon. she bor- L illumine ice found emples of )ur Lady, ,t, but not a corrupt ,te appen- )r by the ty," (and •cy,) they are but the vestals of Paganism, reintroduced on the stage from behind the curtain whither they had retired on the approach of the sun that arose amidst the hills of Judea, and made to act a part not dissimilar in its nature, yet amidst halls hung with other drapery, and to cater to the passions of an audience whose tastes were less gross, yet whose corrupt soul demanded in substance the same ali- ment. Paganism revived in the. form of Christianity. Saints took the place of gods and heroes — ^pictures and images the place of idols. Were we here to go into detail we could verify all we have intimated touching the identity of Romish and Pagan idolatry, showing that Rome has done little more than to recoM old material, to remould without destroy- ing its nature, and reconstruct a new image — ^which, in- deed, is not new, it being in its moral image but a fac- simile of the old. It has, indeed, affixed on it a new superscription — ^given it a new name and sealed it with a new mark, and made its hand point towards the cross, while it is full of abominations as foul as ever polluted thd shrines of Babylon or Sodom. The following comparison between the religions of Rome and Brahma will exhibit at least some of the grounds we have for the opinion that the Papacy is but a counterfeit of Christianity, and but a republication of a volume in tV • form of false religions, which has been un- rolling itseli with the revolutions of time, the same in spirit and matter, though varying in type and form, to accommodate itself to man's religious instinct as modi- fied in different stages of development in society and in human improvement. The intelligent reader will supply the counterfeit of Popery while we refer to several points of agreement as exhibited on the part of Brahminism. The Hindoos in theory acknowledge one supreme God, yet worship him only through some medium, hence the multiplicity of their gode. The Brahmins, in defence of idolatry, affirm I r 335 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. li that their images and visible representations are but helps to devotion, not necessary for the learned and holy, but indispensable for the ignorant and unstable, who can- not contemplate divine essences and indulge in holy abstractions, but must have some viaihle object before them in order to fix the mi/nd. Speaketh not Rome the same thing ? The Hindoos have their gooroos, mediators and intercessors between them and their gods — ^their m^endiccmts, as gosav-nees, varagees — ^th ^ir hermits, monks and devotees — ^their Shuts, answerii^g ".c Romish Friars — ^their vashias, wives of the gods, or nuTis. PUgrimages, penances, bodily inflictions, are the rank luxuriance of a heathen soil transplanted to Roman ground. The Hin- doos believe righteousness may he accumulated by good works, p6nances, etc., and be transferred to others — which may be bought and sold. They perform the Shaadhu for their dead relation , i.e., feast them through the mouths of the Brahmins, and give money to the priests to get their souls out of Purgatory. They use the Mosary-r- perform Jupu Tupu (repetition of prayers, names of deities, and various penances) — ^practise numerous fast- ings and observe endless feasts and holy-days— have the holy water, which is of two kinds : the first, one of the five natural products of the cow ; the other, the water in which the priest has dipped his toe. They divide sin into inward and outward — venal and morl-al--make the igno- rance of the people and their servility to the priest prime articles of their faith — carefully keep from them the Shastas or sacred bo -is, locked up in an unknown tongue — make religion the especial and almost exclusive business of the priest — carry out their gods in solemn procession — us© bells in their worship — and keep lights burning continually, especially at the tombs of deceased relatives. Indeed the Romanists of India are scarcely in a single particular behind their Hindoo neighbours in the obser- vance of heathen rites and superstitions. Their priests exercise over their minds the same unlimited control, work ! i^i; ROMISH AND HINDOO IDOLATBT. 337 are but id holy, i7ho can- in holy t before »ome the lediators a — ^their s, monks Friars [rimages, nee of a he Hin- by good others — SJiaadhu ugh the priests to losa/ry-r- lames of ous fast- have the tte of the water in Q sin into the igno- 3st prime bhem the m tongue 3 business yrocession burning relatives. a single he obset- Lr priests fcrol, work on their fears and superstitions in the same way, practise pioua frafids and worship their images, apparently with the same spirit and in nearly the same form as the Hin- doos. We libel the Hindoo if we call him a worse idola- ter than the Romanist. Compare the gorgeous mummery of the fSte in honour of St. Rosalia at Palermo, in the island of Sicil3'^, called '* Corso Trionfale," with the festival of Juggernaut in Hindostan, and tell me, if you can, which has in it the most of heathenism. Read, who can, a description of Rosalia's car, of its decorations and gorgeous trappings — of the shouts and adorations of a tumultuous throng of superstitious, ignorant votaries, and not believe himself in the land of Orissa. Substitute Juggernaut for the name of the Sicilian goddess, change a few other names, and give the whole a Brahminian costume and scenery, and wherein has the heathenisiA of Sicily the preeminence over that of Orissa ? It is a difierence in name but not in spirit — in pretension and arrogance and hypocrisy, without the remotest resemblance to the religion of the meek and lowly One. No one can read the history of the early corruption of the Church, from the third to the seventh century, and remain ignorant of the source from which this corruption mainly originated. The assimilation of the Christian Church, in many of its rites, usages and modes of wor- ship, with those of the heathen, is wofuUy striking. The great and good Constantino himself contributed much to deck the Church with the meretricious ornaments of Paganism. The denial to the people of the Bible is a feature of the Ir oacy borrowed from Paganism. As in the one case, so in the other, the sacred books are only for the Priesthood. Romanism, like Pagan religions, is a religion of sense, Its emotions produced by sensible objects, as images, pic- tures, and things material. The idea of sin dwelling in the animal system is stolen from heathen philosophy. 22 I ■f I! il 838 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. I!i So, of consequence, physical mortifications, in which the Papal religion abounds, appear in discreditable rivalry of their heathen original. Again, persecution, which has 1)een so distinguishing a feature of tlie religion of Rome, is of Pagan origin. The conquest of a country was the conquest of its gods. There was not often much ostensible resistance to the new divinities of the conquerors ; and no visible persecution. Pagans and Papists walk together because agreed in all essential points. They live in harmony, as in India at the present day, and see no occasion for persecution. Masses for ike dead are none other than the practice of the Shradh among the Hindoos, in a poor apology of a Christian dress. The near relatives of the deceased as- semble generally on the bank of some river, or about a tank where they perform numerous ceremonies called Shradh, in honour of and ^r the supposed benefit of the dead. It is usual to perform a i...onthly Shradh for the first year of the death of a parent, and once or more in every year is Shradh performed for all their ancestors. These rites are believed to be very meritorious, as well as to give pleasure to the departed, and greatly to inure to their benefit. Hence great importance is attached to them, and no pains or money spared in sending succour to their departed ones. And who does not here see the origin of Romish masses for the dead as a most prominent rite of the Romish Church ? In the garb of Pope as universal bishop, the Pontifex Maximus of Rome Pagan has once more appeared ; its priesthood, its pompous rites and gorgeous dresses, its sacrifices, incense and altars are all borrowed, partly from Pagan Rome, partly from Judaism. Its holy days, fasts, feasts, saints' days, are purely of heathen pedigree. Heathen idols have in modern Rome received a new no- menclature. Jupiter is now St. Peter. Apollo is St. John. Venus is the Madonna. " The secoMct Beast gives power to the image of the first Beast." (Rev. xiii. 15.) ROME PAPAL: ROME PAGAN. 339 rhich the rivalry of uishing a jin. The its gods. the new irsecution. eed in all India at tion. )ractice of )logy of a :eased as- about a lies called jfit of the Ih for the r more in ancestors, as well as ) inure to tached to g succour re see the prominent > Pontifex eared; its iresses, its Lrtly from lays, fasts, pedigree, a new no- >llo is St. least gives , xiii. 15.) Rome Papal is Rome Pagan perpetuated, modified and adjusted to the spirit and progress of the times. The image of St. Mary usurps the place, in the Pantheon at Rome, once occupied by the colossal statue of Jupiter Ultor. The superb bronze statue of Jupiter, ninety feet in height, whicn rises above the high altar of St. Peter's, was pillaged from the old Roman Pantheon. And the beautiful porphyry urn which adorned its portico now embellishes the g(>rgeous chapel of St. John Lateran. The house of All Saints at Rome Papal was once the house of All Gods (the Pantheon) of Rome Pagan. The " Holy Chair," which used to be brought out and exhibited to the gazo of the admiring multitude on the day of its festival (Jan. 28th), was on one of those occa- sions (in 1662) discovered to be covered with heathenish and obscene carvings, representing the doings of Hercules. And not thinking this exactly complimentary to the taste of St. Peter in the selection of his chair, the parties con- cerned have since suffered it to repose quietly in the chancel. So much fur the pagan origin of this famous relic. But this famous chair, it seems, has been allowed to tell another tale of the cotiimon brotherhood of false religions. We are not only able to trace so near a connection be- tween Rome Papal and Rome Pagan that we feel no dif- ficulty in taking the one as the legitimate successor of the other, but we discover to our further surprise (if Lady Morgan's account of St. Peter's chair be relied on) that Rome and Mecca have a nearer relation than had been supposed. From our lady's account (in her book on Italy) it would seem that an old carving was found on it when subjected to a sacrilegious examination in the days of Napoleon — an inscription to this effect, " There is BUT ONE God, and Mohammed is his Prophet" The very creed of the Mussulman, and a very befitting one to appear on the chief seat of the Papal Beast. If our position be correct that Popery is. the summa- -^ ■ jx ' uia ' -^ ' . T .iu-niiiJUJ.iM-tj.ijju. ' m p a w iij HPWwHWBiwawwiwi''' S40 THE rOOT-PllINTS OF SAa'AN. f tion and concentration of all past Bystems of error and religious delusion, modified and suited to the times — the masterpiece of the Devil, then this symbolical connection with Islam and the old Pagan worship is as wo should expect. Believing as we do that the true Temple is built of materials collected from all bygone systems and experi- ences — from all the right and the good of the past, going in to make up the one true Temple, and to vindicate the immortality of the good and the right, so we believe we are to look for a corresponding summation and concentra- tion of the ways, means, materials and modes of working employed by our great adversary in the stupendous work of false religions. His systems, too, are progressive — ac- cumulative — all past systems represented in the present, and his Itist, his climax, his consummation. Indeed, the traveller in Rome is at once struck with the resemblance of the present worship of the Romans with the old Pagan mythology of ancient Rome. Popery is little more than old Roman Paganism ir^ a new dress. Yet we concede that the errors of Romanism are not "absolute falsehood, but corrupted truths." Or rather " the principal delusions which have at different times ex- ercised a pernicious iutluence over humanity were founded, not on absolute falsehood, but on misconceived and per- verted truths," and therefore are deserving of commisera- tion as well as blame. Again, Egyptian mythology is made to contribute its quota to adorn the Pantheon of Papal Rome and to make up the number of its gods. The moon, we know, was the principal emblem of the mother god of Egypt. Hence we meet the Papal goddess (the Virgin) painted on the windows of Romish cathedrals, standing on the moon. The tapers, too, burnt before Romish altars, had, from the earliest times, been used to light up the splendour of Egyptian altars in the darkness of their temples. From the same source, too, was derived the custom of shaving the crown of the head, which the Egyptian priests prac- ticed centuries before the religion of Rome was known. BOMAMIbM — DEISM — PAaAKTSM. Ml }rror and raes — the )niiection '6 should e is built J experi- ist, going icate the elieve we oncentra- working ous work islve — ac- e present, : with the ans with Popery Ih ew dress. a are not Or rather times ex- 3 founded, and per- )mmisera- ribute its i to make :now, was t. Hence jd on the he moon. , from the endour of js. From f shaving ests prac- known. Bosman, a Dutch writer, speaking of Romish missions amonff the very degraded ragans of Guinea, supposes " the Romanists must be the most successful missionaries among them on account of the near resemblance of Roman- ism to the religion of the people of Guinea. They a^ree with them in several particulars, especially in their ridicu- lous ceremonies, in their abstinence from certain kinds of food at certain times, and in their reliance on antiuuity and the like." The Negroes, however, seemed to take a more common-sense view of the matter, judging that " so small a change was not worth the making." Or we may say Romanism assimilates to Deism in ita avowed denial of the supreme authority of revelation ; to Mohammedanism, in its resort to force to propagate itself and extend its dogmas ; and to Paganism, in its idolatry and the gorgeousness of its worship. Again, the corruptions of Jtici5a?«m/ have contributed no inconsiderable share to the Papacy. Like the Papists, the Jews do not approve of a man's reading much of the Bible, because it may lead him to speculate. They say the Rabbinical commentaries are as much as it is proper for the people to know. Who does not discern the proto- type of the Papacy here ? and the foot-prints of the great deceiver in both ? Jesuitical casuistry is as much a feature of modern Judaism as of Popery. Both systems are pervaded by a spirit of craft, selfishness and spiritual tyranny. Popery is Grentile Rabbinism — makes traditions at least of equal authority with the Bible, and makes the Church the expounder of both. Absolution is a doctrine of per- verted Judaism. All obligations were solved on the great day of atonement. Improving on this, the Romish priest can, for money, absolve from all sins past and grant indul- gence for all sms in the future. I I XVII. FALSE UUGlOm— (Continued.) POPERY THE GREAT COUNTERFEIT— GREAT TRUTHS WHICH ROME HAS PRESERVED YET PERVERTED — PAGANISM CON- TRIBUTED LARGELY TO POPEUY. But we must not overlook or fail to credit Rome with certain great radical truths and certain essential features of a true religion, which, in spite of r.U her sad and mortal perversions, and as gems among an irretrievable heap of rubbish, she has retained — the form and not the spirit. And what is quite worthy of notice, Rome has preserved seme truths in greater distinctness than Protestantism has, as the form and the superscription of the counterfeit is sometimes found to be more perfect than those of the real metal. It will not be amiss here to enumerate some of the particulars in which Rome has preserved certain great truths and outlines of Christianity with great distinctness, yet so caricatured and perverted them as to more than neutralize their power — to make them the hiding of her Eower for evil more than justifying the appellation we ave applied to her as the great Counterfeit of Christi- anity. Nor need we confine our remarks to Rome. Other false religions exhibit unmistakable traces of revealed TRACES OF THE TBUE RELIGION. 343 rs WHICH IISM CON- )ine with eaturesof d mortal 5 heap of he spirit. Dreserved itism has, iterfeit is f the real »e of the lin great binctness, ore than g of her Eition we Christi- . Other revealed truth, which, like diamonds in huge heaps of rubbish, lie dormant and powerless, but stand as so many lights shin- ing (though dimly) in dark places. To rescue and burnish and reset in the diadem of truth these fragmentary gems is the work of an all-renovatinff Christianity. The work of the missionary, philosophically speaking, is not so much to introduce new ideas into the mind of the heathen as to revive and correct old ones — to remove the rubbish by which sin and ignorance have buried from sight the ori- ginal truths on which the given system is built — to tear away the hey, wood and stubble, and reproduce the silver, gold and precious stones of pristine truth. They know God, yet nerve him not as God. They have their saviours, atoners, substitutes — mediators many. The idea of sacri- fice and atonement is rife among them, but all perverted. They believe in the native depravity of man — the neces- sity of another's righteousness to be set to their account—in a state of future reward and punishment — in all the fun- damental truths of our religion. Yet practically they ignore the whole. Through the excessive blindness of their minds they have totally perverted the ways of the Lord. The idea of sacrifices and burnt offerings — notice of a universal deluge — the recognition by Pagans, Moslems, and Christians of every name, of Abraham as the great man of the whole religious world, and the universal honour that has been accorded to Moses and the prophets, are foot-prints in the desert that no moral siroccos have ever been able to obliterate. And yet more remarkable is the general adoption of the division of time into weeks. From the Christian nations in Europe to the Chinese Sea, inclu- ding Egyptians, Greeks, Chinese and Romans, we trace at least a traditional connection with the true religion. In India the division of time into weeks has all along been observed. The nomenclature of the days is derived from the names of the sun, moon and planets, exactly as in Europe. The remembrance, however, of the seventh U ' jmUi. 1 I X. i gLIBM B i »,■»■ ■X • 344 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. as a Sabbath, or sacred day of rest, has been completely lost. Yet enough remains to indicate its origin, yet stripped of all which sin and Satan would have expunged. Jt'erhaps there is no religion which has not trum mixed with whatever ingredients constitute it. " Paganism," says Carlyle, '* is a V6racious expression of the earnest, awestruck feelings o\ man towards the universe." — Pa- ganism emblemed chiefly the operations of nature, the " efforts, vicissitude, combinations and destinies of things and men in the world ; " while " Christianism " emblems the laws of human dutv, the moral law of man. The one for the sensuous nature, the other for the moral. Indeed we shall di&CDver traces of the true religion running through all the turuid streams of idolatry. The institu- tion of sacrifice for sin, for example, as practised first in Eden, and thence down through all after generations, prefiguring the great reality, was doubtless a positive in- stitution, and not a dictate, as many suppose, of natural religion. But it is more especially to Eomanism that we would look for our illustrations. Let us first trace some of the great truths incorporated in this colossal system of error and delusion, and then see how they are perverted and abused. I. The Papists are right in the honour they give to the Head of the Church. He is worthy of all hanour, of su- preme reverence, and untiring service. He is infallible. But they grievously aistake in putting a man in the 'place of God, and of honouring and serving the creature and not the Creator. Too much importance cannot be attached to the idea of headship in the Church. And having put the crown upon the right head, we cannot bow at his feet too submissively or ascribe to him too ecstatic praise. And here we discover the tru^e foundation for the infallibility of the head of the Church. No Church holds this doctrine more firmly than the Romish, yet wickedly ascribes to a fallible man what belongs only to the infal- vt INPALLIBILITT OF TfeE CHURCH. 345 ■)mpletely iyin, yet ixpunged. ith mixed n igaiiism earnest, se."— Pa- iture, the of things emblems The one Indeed running e institu- d first in Derations, )sitive in- >f natural VQ would ae of the 1 of error erted and ve to the ir, of su- infallible. ,n in the creature tannot be ch. And nnot bow 3 ecstatic on for the rch holds wickedly bhe infal- lible God. Christ has been constituted the head over all, 8ui>reme, infallible; God's Vicegerent, Lawgiver, King and Jud^e.. How skilfully and adroitly has he been counterfeited, whether it be Pope, Grand Lama, or the Prophet of Mecca. II. The infallibility of the Church, and Absolution by the priest, are not so much errors as perverted truths, re- tained more distinctly by the Romish Church than by the Protestant. Tmth is infallible. The true Clmrch is rooted and grounded^on the truth, end just so far as she is a living demonstration of the truth, she is infallible. The error lies in predicating of a conupt or partially sancti- fied Church, what is true only of a perfect Church. And of the much-abused dogma of absolution it is a delightful truth that the priest or the minister of Christ may declare sins forgiven to all who truly repent and believe. And no doubt it is the privilege of Christ's ministers to attain to that skilfulness in divine things, that discrimination in " discerning spirits" that he may declare, not in his own name, but in that of his Master, that the sins of this or that man are forgiven. Apostolic faith shall bring back apostolic gifts and graces. III. The Romish communion has retained the only ap- propriate appellation of the Christian Church : the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church. She claims what the true Church of Christ has a right to, catholicity, apostolicity, sanctity, unity, unchangeableness. As the Ijody shall be- come like its infallible head it shall show forth these cha- racteristics, beautiful as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem and terrible as an army with banners. What Rome claims to be, the true Church of Jesus Christ shall be. IV. Another interesting feature of the true religion which Rome has retained even more perfectly than Pro- testantism, is the idea of one great local Centre. This seems a dictate of natural religion — (or perhaps matter of very early revelation) — which has met a very ready re- sponse in the economy of nearly aU fqnus of religion. 346 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. Different systems of Paganism have their centres. The idolatrous Arabs, before the reform of Mohammed, had their Kaaba and the Black Stone, the Mohammedans their Mecca, Brahminism its Benares. The Magians had their great Fire Temple, and the worshippers of the Grand Lama made the place of his throne the great rallying point for half the population of the globe. And more con- spicuously than all, Boine i& the grand centre of the Papacy. The Pope, St. Peter's, the Vatican, relics, saints, the Holy Virgin, severally and jointly make up the great rallying-point of Romanism. Mecca, the present centre of Islamiam, was a great reli- gious centre generations before the world had ever heard of Mohammed. Perchance the Sabians worshipped there. There was the famous Black Stone and the well Zemzem, about which for centuries bowed the congregated tribed of Arabia, and over which in time arose the celebrated Kaaba, the oldest fragment of the misty past. The same time-honuured and temple-consecrated spot remained a great religious centre, remodelled and reconsecrated by Mohammed, towards which 180,000,000 of souls, stretching over two continents, from the Chinese Sea to the Atlantic, bowed their faces. Here, from the remotest regions of Islamism, multitudes annually congregate as to the great centre. Jerusalem was the ce itre of Judaism. Mount Zion, the Temple, the visible Shekinali, was the grand centre of the Jews' dispensation. All faces were turned towards the Holy City. Every Jew must go up to Jerusalem to worship. The fact is significant that the great Lawgiver should give so decided an importance to Jerusalem as a local centre of a dispensation which in an important sense he made a model dispensation. It would seem to indicate that the religious instincts which led all ancient systems of religion to such a choice were innate aL * nght, and worthy to be imitated. And we have here mas than an intimation that thatjiigher, holier, more expansive andmore THE NEW JF.BUSALEM. 847 res. The ned, had ans their lad their e Grand rallying nore con- of the s, saints, the great Peat reli- ^er heard ed there. Zemzem, id tribes ilebrated the same nained a rated by bretching Atlantic, igions of 'he great Zion, the re of the ards the lalem to lawgiver em as a nt sense indicate systems fht, and than an indmore difFasive dispensation of grace for which we look, and which we believe hastens on apace, shall have its grand centre in kind like the Jerusalem and Mount Zion and the Holy Temple of its illustrious prototype, but in degree vastly more splendid and worthy of the highly exalted and glo- rious dispensation it shall represent. The grand centre towards which all true religion tends, and about which it must finally revolve, is the Cross — the great centre of attraction : some tending thither by affinity, some by repulsion — repelling from themselves all which will not in its nature be attracted towards the great centre ; the attractive power of divine love ; the centre Christ, love personified. All that is true in reli- gion is susceptible of attraction. The true gold of piety — the ffema of the moral firmament — are the sparkling stars, shedding their borrowed yet brilliant light, and re- volving about the Sun. Towards it all hearts look — about it the whole spiritual universe revolves — system about system — the less about the greater, but all about the Grand Centre. But we mean more than this. We mean that Chris- tianity, when it shall have taken possession of the earth in its millennial glory, and our glorious King shall reign, shall have its visible centre ; that Jerusalem shall become the grand Metropolis of the new Kingdom ; that the Jews shall repossess the land which was given them for an ever- lasting inheritance ; that the Holy City shall be rebuilt in proportions and grandeur before unknown, and the Temple shall arise on Mount Zion in splendour such as Solomon never saw. What Jerusalem was to the Jews, this new Jerusalem shall be to the whole body of the faithful of every nation and tongue and kindred. Thither shall go up, at least by their representatives, all tribes and nations to Jerusalem to worship. We believe the simple announcement of Zechariah, that " all the families of the earth shall come up unto Jerusalem, even fr'^'n year to year, to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of Tabernacles.' 848 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. And we believe Ezekiel's glowing descriptions of the Holy City yet to arise, and of the magnificent Temple that shall be the glory thereof, and of the glory of the worship to be performed there, and the beauty of holi- ness that shall dwell there, shall all be realised in this great world's centre and exposition of the ways and works, the honours and spoils, the virtues and graces of Christianity in the glory of its highest earthly perfec- tion. We may form some conception of what Jerusalem shall be in the earlier generations of that indefinitely long period called the Millennium, when the riches of the Gen- tiles shall flow into it and kings shall bring their gold and incense. Who can conceive the beauty and grandeur of the city of the Great King after the adornments of but a single generation ? But add to this a thousand years — perchance myriads of years — and look again upon the lloiy City, after that the silver and the gold, and the labour and the skill of a renovated world are laid at the feet of the Great King, and the possessors thereof vie with each other for the honour of adoring the place where his pre- sence and glory more especially dwell. But we may not slop here. Not only shall the conse- crated nations and tribes, in the highly exalted condition of the millennial state of the Church, have their great centre of holy influences and more exalted privileges, where Immanuel more especially dwells, which we have called New Jerusalem, the city of the Great King, but there shall follow, after a short and most eventful era, (the last death-struggle of the Foe,) the future, final and everlasting reign of the saints upon the earth. ** Such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth." "The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell therein for ever." " The r^eek shall inherit the earth." And when the King shall appear in his consummated glory ; when in the midst of ten thousand times ten thousand angels, and of the countless multitudes of the redeemed from Adam to the h&t soul converted, he shall PILGRIMAGE A TRUE IDEA. 349 0^ the Temple of the )f holi- I this ^8 and aces of perfec- usaxem \y long le Gen- old and deur of )f but a jrears — on the I labour feet of th each lis pre- 3 conse- ndition r great vileges, ve have ng, but ful era, lal and Such as jhteous "The nmated aes ten of the 16 shall appear and take the Mediatorial throne, -where shall be his footstool ? where his abode ? where the place of his throne ? Bo it that his gloriou« presence blesses every soul, in the remotest regions of his wide domains, yet is there not a grand and glorious centre from which emanate, as rays from the sun, all light, all love, all beneficence ? Is there not a place of his throne — a place of his abode ? And as this Mediatorial kingdom is an earthly kingdom, has it not an earthly metropolis ? In harmony with this idea John saw the new Jerusalem come from heaven. It was the heavenly state come down to earth. It was the earthly Jerusalem made heavenly — a fit abode for angels — for the spirits of just men made perfect — a fit abode for the Great King. Then most emphatically shall Jerusalem^ be the glory of the whole earth. V. It may be inferred, from what has been said of centres, that pilgrimage is a true idea, the dictate of a high order of piety, most sadly perverted and made the source of untold evils by nearly all false religions, yet an idea preserved by them more correctly than by the true religion. The devout Jew turned his face towards Jeru- salem, the city of his God, and longed to set his foot on the sacred soil where, amidst all the symbols of his re- ligion, he might bow in the holy Temple. With a like yearning the deluded Moslem sets his face towards Mecca, and feels that a pilgrimage thither is worth the toil of a lifetime. The Hindoo looks to Benares or Juggernaut as the great point of attraction and centre and radiating point of all his superstitious fancies. In the practice itself there is couched an interesting truth, but when perverted in the service of superstition it is the source of un- mitigated evil. There is scarcely a practice among the heathen that brings with it more suftering, demoraliza- tion and death ; while, on the other hand, some of the highest, purest aspirations of the Christian soul might dictate a visit to the great central temple of the God he worships. As Jerusalem shall again become the i. r 350 THE FOOT-PBINTS OF SATAN. great centre and metropolis of the true religion — as " the law shall go out of Zion and the word of God from Jerusalem," all who honour God and love the ways of Zion, will long to bow down in the Great Temple with their kindred in Christ from Ihe remotest regions of the ^earth, and to offer the sacrifice of praise upon the common altar. VI. Again we find buried beneath the grossest super- stitions and idolatrous regard, another truth — we mean a profound veneration for the Church and the priesthood. With Romanists the Church is everything and the priest supreme. There is no sacrifice so burdensome — no sin so heinous that the Papist will not commit, if satisfied , that the Church requires it or the priest commands it. He would sooner violate every command in the Decalogue than to eat meat on Friday. The " traditions of men" are everything ; the commandments of God, if in conflict with these, are nothing. Now the error does not lie in too great an honour paid to the Church and the priesthood. If the Church were what she should be, and what she shall be, a fac-simile — a veritable demonstration of the truth as it is in Jesus ; if the priesthood — the Gospel ministry, were perfect pat- terns of the One Great High Priest and Bishop of our souls, such homage, such veneration would be altogether suitable and right. And in proportion as the Church and her priesthood approximate their destined and approaching perfection, they shall be worthy the honour supposed. The error lies in according such honour to a Church notoriously corrupt and idolatrous, and to a priesthood which, when not restrained by extraneous powers, has been characterized by an avarice, ambition, licentiousness and cruelty, which has made them a reproach and a by- word the world over. The Church, when she shall have gathered within herself all the good in the world (which is really her own), and repelled all the bad (for which she can have no possible affinity) — when she shall be con- THE DAILY SERVICE REVIVED. 351 ■as "the od from ways of pie with s of the common it super- we mean iesthood. le priest — no sin satisfied lands it. lecalogue of men" 1 conflict lOur paid rch were -simile — n Jesus; L-fect pat- »p of our 1 together urch and noaching supposed. Church riesthood v^ers, has tiousness md a by- lall have i (which irhich she be con- formed in Christ, and Christ formed in her, the hope of glory — when she shall put on her bridal attire and appear as the Lamb's wife, she then shall stand forth all glorious and worthy of all honour. ^ VII. Another feature which the Papists have preserved better th«n Protestants is the Daily Service in the church. While the former have retained the form (we cannot say the spirit), the latter have scarcely retained it in anywise. Jewish synagogues, Heathen temples, and Mahom- medan mosques, are daily open for worship. This is, as it should be, a dictate of natural religion — an instinct of the pious heart. While the practice in the spurious re- ligions referred to, does little but to keep up the form and . to bind closer the bonds of superstition ; among the de- . vout worshippers of the one true and holy God it would be a daily recognition of obligations for mercies past and present, a time for daily thanksgiving, prayer and praise, a demonstration to the world that our religion is not casual, not occasional, not a mere form or profession, or the business merely of a Sunday, but that it is a practical, pei'sonal, every-day matter — the day begun with God — God publicly recognized as our Helper in all that day's affairs, our Guide and Shield, our Benefactor and Saviour. The Daily Service was a marked feature of the Apos- tolic and early Christian Church. They assembleu daily not only for prayer and praise and reading the word of God, but for " the breaking of bread." And as the Chris- tian Church shall return to her primitive simplicity and practice — to the form and spirit of the Apostolic Church, the Daily Service will no doubt be revived. This is the monition of every revival of religion, the dictate of every pious soul. We see an incipiency of this practice in the case of the " Protracted Meetings," and yet more distinctly in the Daily Prayer Meeting. For fifteen years that " upper chamber " in New York has held out the token J *i 352 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. of a return to the usages of the primitive Church. And the few other meetings of a like character that have ex- istence in other cities of our land do but cherish the idea that the time is not distant when the children of our common Father shall assemble themselves together to seek day by day their daily bread in the place of prayer. VIII. The Papal communion has with much truth been called a Church of money. Certain it is that no confederation has so successfully drawn out the resources of its members, or so adroitly applied them to her own extension and aggrandizement. Money, we know, is'a tremendous power, whether for good or for evil. And no Church has realized this power like the Romish. She has secured in her membership, and used with a vengeance, what the Protestant Church has failed to secure, and what she sadly suffers for the lack of, ' vi:5., a systematii, uni- versal benevolence. We should not in the case of Rome call it benevolence. We mean the giving, and the always giving, of the whole membership to support the Church. The rich are made to give of their abundance, and the poor as surely give of their penury. The poorest servant girl monthly, if not weekly, divides her scanty pittance with the Church. The secret of Rome's enormous power lies very much in the pecuniary treasures that have been put at her disposal. But for money her tyranny would ha^e been harmless. With it she trampled kings under foot and spoiled kingdoms, and rioted in blood, and tyrannized over nations, and became the mother of harlots and all abominations. Most sigimlly has the Devil here shown wha t money can do to give expansion and power and aggrandizement to a great system of despotism, op- pression and corruption. The world's history does not afford another such instance of the perversion of money. Yet what, might Rome not have done for good, had her uncounted millions been devoted, not to the support and aggrandizement of a great and corriipl system of tyranny, founded on ignorance, but to the extenaion of that king- I. And ave ex- he idea of our jther to prayer, h truth that no esources ler own low, is*a And no 3h. She ingeance, md what t»3, unir of Rome le always Church, and the t servant pittance lis power ave been ly would gs under 00(3, b-nd Df harlots tevil here id power tism, op- does not money. , had her »port and tyranny, lat king- MONET AND THE CFURCH. 353 dom of love and light and liberty and pe&ce and purity, which the blessed Iinnianuel came to establish. It would translate the Bible, into every language on the face of the earth, send a missionary into every city, village and ham- let, supply a school for everj' youth, a library for every town, and a hospital for all the sick and infirm. It would, under God, establish the reign of peace and right- eousness on earth. What Rome has failed to do through the gross perver- sion of her means, the Protestant Church is bound to do. She must then call out her resources and apply them for good. It is, in the aspect we are now considering the work, a matter of money — of consecrated wealth. And here we scarcely need more than to boiTow from an enemy his system of bringing the silver and the gold into the treasury of ths Lord. We must in the higher and holier sense of the term be a Church of money — of consecrated wealth. Not till men shall buy and sell and get gain for the Lord — not till men shall consecrate all they have to their Divine Master, will the great and good work of rais- ing the lowly, of enlightening the ignorant, of reclaiming the wandering and restoring to life them who are dead in trespasses and sins, be done. Never was a time when the cause of our Divine Master so much needed money. Having stated some of the features which have been preserved more distinctly in the counterfeit than in the true Church — preserved in form, though sadly perverted in fact — we now turn to certain other resemblances and connections between the true and the false, which will further illustrate how largely false religions have drawn from the one true, revealed religion. Original revelation declared the one true God. Pagan- ism appeared as its corruption, substitutin'^ gods many and lords many. The second great period of revelation, announcing Immanuel, God with us, declares the one me- diator between God and man, the one advocate and inter- cessor before the eternal Throne. Rome, in common with 23 rl 354 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. false religions, substitutes false mediators. Both adopt the same visible signs of corruption, the w( rship of images. In tracing error back to a perversion of the truth, some one has said, " Idolatry originated in the perversion of the doctrine of the Godhead and the deification of their fellow- men in the natural aspirations of mankind, labouring un- der the efiects of the Fall, after an approachable interces- sor." The errors of the heathen, then, were efforts of human nature " to feel and find God," as he is revealed in the Scriptures. The triune God, discernible in the mul- tiplication of gods, and the incarnate God, in the deifica- tion of men and heroes. The idea of incarnation and atonement is met, though in a wretchedly perverted form, in most false religions — especially in the modem form known as Bomanism, and in that very ancient, long-continued, far-reaching and still existing system known as Brahminism. There we meet ten well-recognized incarnations, and atonements without number. That the fundamental notions of religion were at an early period after the Deluge carried abroad by the dis- persing tribes, is evident from the fact of their reappear- ance in all ancient systems of ttij thology. Though mixed, confused, and buried beneath such a mass of historic, geographical and fabulous elements, yet they have aU re- tained a sufficient amount of truth to indicate the^ great fountain from which they are derived. Our subject finds so apt an illustraiion in the following paragraphs of Dr. Duff" that we do not hesitate to transfer them to our pages : — " Of all the systems of false religion ever fabricated by the perverse ingenuity of fallen man, Hindooism is surely the most stupendous — whether we consider the boundless extent of its range or the boundless multiplicity of its component parts. Of all systems of false religion it is that which seems to embody the largest amount and vari- ety of semblances and counterfeits of divinely revealed DR. DUFF ON SPUR10T7S RELIGIONS. 355 adopt nages. some of the ellow- ig un- terces- )rt8 of aledin e mul- ieifica- though gions — 5in, and ng and here we Qements e at an the dis- mixed, historic, all re- e great following transfer cated hy I is surely Doundless Ity of its lion it is land vari- fdjGU and doctrines. In this respect it appears to hold the same relation to the primitive patriarchal faith that Roman Catholicism does to the primitive apostolic faith. It is in fact the Popery of primitive patriarchal Chris- tianity. All the terms and names expressive of the sub- limest truths, oiiginally levealed from heaven, it still re- tains. And under these it contrives to inculcate diamet- rically opposite and contradictory errors. Its account of the creation and destruction of the universe — of the floods and conflagrations to which it is alternately sub- jected — of the divine origin, present sinfulness and final destiny of the soul, together with many conjugate and subsidiary statements, must be regarded as embodying, under the corruptions of tradition and the exaggerations of fancy, some of the grandest truths ever communicated by the Almighty to man, whether before or after the Fall. Its nomenclature on the subject of the unity and spitntu- olity of the one great, supreme, self-existent Lord, is most copious, but when analyzed it presents us with nothing better than an intinite negation. Its vocabulary descrip- tive of the natural attributes of the Great Spirit super- abounds to overflowing, but it evacuates every one of them of absolute perfection. " There is unchangeahleness, though constantly subject, at the confluence of certain cycles of time, not merely to alteration of plans a»:d purposes, but to change of essence. There is omnipotence, but bereft of creative energy it is limited to the power of education and fabrication. There is omniscience, but it is restricted to the brief period of wakefulness, at the time of manifesting the Universe. As to the moral attributes, the chief deity has none at all." Again, there is no lack in false religions of a fragmen- tary evidence of a belief in one only supreme God. And there is something in the gorgeous ceremonial and external forms of false religions, which afford glimpses of that beautiful form which came down from heaven. In- 656 TFE FOOT-PRINTS OP SlTAJf. deed, there is much in the external of Romanism which would S' m'to ^ ^loHg to the Church in her more advanced conditio? 'Hyi spirit, the soul is gone, yet beautiful forms and t &\i\ idid ritual — the adornment of the dead — this exte ;ii o^rnty, under happier auspices, maybe- come the type of li^ t awful and celestial beauty which pertains to the pure in heart, and dw )lls in its prefection only in the mind of God. Their Church edifices " pos- sess a wonderful charm for their fine proportions and an- tique air." Nor must we forget that amidst the corrup- tions of Rome we may recognize some of the great and all-transforming elements of Christianity — like stars mingled with clouds and gloom, yet stars still. Indeed, we meet, in one of the most offensive and dan- gerous features of this religion, a devotedneaa to the Church, a self-denial — self-abnegation — a consecration of life, money, talent, everything — a oneness of idea and purpose, which in itself is altogether worthy the imita- tion of every member of the Christian Church. We re- fer to the order of the Jesuits. They have the right idea, as an abstract principle, of what the disciple of Jesus should be. Every disciple of Loyola stands pledged, unr der sanction of the most solemn oath, that he will obey the behests of his Church, — that he will favour her inter- est, defend her honour, contribute to her aggrandizement by a full and unwavering consecration of life to her ser- vice. Were it a service done for Christ and his Church with a pure heart and a good conscience, instead of a de- votion to Mary, Peter and an apostate Church — were the design of such consecration of life to enlighten the ignor- ant, reclaim the vicious, preach the gospel and save the souls of the perishing — the devotion of the Jesuit would be worthy of all praise, and of the imitation of every one calling himself after the name of Christ. The Church of Rome has been greatly indebted for her extension and aggrandizement to the crafty and unscru- pulous, untiring devotion of this famous fraternity. It DEVOTION OF JESUITS. 867 ht . l)een paralyzed, great battle for the J shorn of her great is the lack uf such devotioD — the absence of a high and holy consecration to her Divine Master, that has done more than anything else to hinder the Christian Church in her onward march to the conquest of the world. That high order of consecration which nerved for her mission the Apostolic Church, and gave her a power which enabled her to carry the good tidings of the ; ;>el to the whole known world in about thirty years, ai»v ir jt convincing- ly to vindicate to the world her ci nis i > be the One Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Churc^ L-bsided, and the Church declined, and her power She had essayed to go up to tL' world's conquest, and failed beca. strength. V/hiie on the other hand the Devil, by a most skilful monopoly, has secured for a bad cause what we have failed to secure for a good cause. Had the true Church been as devoted, as thoroughly consecrated, as indefati- gably active for truth and righteousness — for the exten- sion of the Church, the salvation of souls and the con- version of the world, as the misnamed Order of Jesus has been to bind men in the chains of a galling despotism, and debase them by rites and superstitions stolen from Paganism, this apostate world would long since have been reclaimed from the dominion of sin, and all tribes and nations been given to Christ for an everlasting king- dom. But we will not question the divine plan. As God has been pleased to surrender for a time to the god of the world the powers and resources and elements for progress of this material world, that it may been seen whut a wretched business he can make of it all, so in everything that relates to the spiritual interests of man, he is for a time allowed a predominating control. False religions are his strongholds. From this vantage ground he wield? the mightiest weapons of his power. Ancient Paganism served his purpose in the darker periods of the world. A 858 THE rpOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. f«8i ;i lit cbristiaDized Paganism is made to arise, to serve the same purpose in an enlightened age of the world. This we think all history warrants us in assuming to be " the inas- terpiece of all the contrivances '>f the Bevil against the kingdom of Christ — the Anti-Christ" — *' a summation of religious error" — a compound or result of all previous systems. As Paganism was the counterfeit or the Popery of the old Patriarchal religion, and Mohammedanism the Popery or counterfeit of Judaism, Romanism is the Popery or counterfeit of Christianity — perhaps the perfection and climax of that " mystery of iniquity * which the Arch- Fiend is allowed to practise among the sons of men ; though we have our apprehensions that as light and true piety increase, and the Church of Christ rises and ex- panda and takes a higher level, his Satanic Majesty may feel the-necessity of perpetrating upon the world hi3 final grand counterfeit, which shall serve his purpose in the advanced and rapidly advancing condition of the world. Having now shown how largely false religions are in- debted to the one true revealed religion for many pre- cious truths which have existed as gems amidst huge heaps of rubbish, we shall in the next chapter show how largely the Papacy, the now prevailing counterfeit, has drawn from Paganism. In other words, present the Papal sys- tem as a baptized and christianized Paganism — a new edition of the old book, got up to suit the times. XVIII. FALSE RELIGIONS-ROMANISM. HOW INDEBTED TO PAGANISM — FESTIVALS — MONKERY — ROSARY — CHARMS — IDOLATRY — PURGATORY — NO BIBLE — PERSECUTION — ALL FEATURES DERIVED FROM PAGAN- ISM. In order to a full revelation of God's gracious purposes towards our world, it is needful, as hinted in our last chapter, that there should be a full revelation of sin. Sin being the malady and grace the remedy, the full efficacy of the latter can be revealed only in the complete revela- tion of the former. The Apostle cautioned the Thessalon- ians against an error they had somehow fallen into res- pecting the coming of Christ and the completion of the woi'k of human redemption. They supposed the end of all things was at hand. Paul says no ; before the wind- ing up of the great drama of human salvation, scenes of heretofore unparalleled interest are yet to transpire. Before the Lord Jesus Christ shall come and gather in his elect and finish the mediatorial work, sin must do its per- fect work — must act itself out — show itself — exhibit its strength, its maturity, its malignity, its bitter fruits — must firstshow what if can do in all the varied circumstances and relations of life — how evil and bitter a thing it is — and how sure it is to meet the frown and curse of Heaven. 860 THS FOOT-PBINTS OF SATAIT. Sin must be revealed, and mnst^'thow itself the ton of perdition — the great destroyer, and sure to be destroyed. It is befitting in the great scheme — it is needful that sin should have its perfect development. For this purpose sin was admitted into the world, and its chief author and agent, the Devil, is allowed to become, by usurpation, the god of this world. This world should first become the servant of sin, that it might be seen what a wretched world sin could make it. And then should it become the servant of God and of righteousness that it might appear how beautiful a world it shall be when its rightful owner shall restore it to his favour. Sin shall first have its day. Sin shall reign. But sin shall come to an end, and righteous- ness shall enjoy an everlasting dominion. We propose to continue our notices of the usurpations of sin, and of him that has the power of sin, by adducing a few instances in which the Papacy is largely indebted to Paganism. And this to an extent that makes its sys- tem decidedly more Pagan than Christian. In doing this we hope again to make it appear what a cunningly devised scheme this system is, and what a tremendous power for evil. It might seem to suffice to speak only of the general analogies of the Papacy and Paganism. We may take Hindooism as a specimen. The Christian resident in India is the daily witness of rites, superstitions and ceremonies practised by Hindoos which are known to have been theirs from time immemorial, yet which differ only in name from the religious observances in Rome. A writer who from personal observation knew well what he affirms, sa3^s, " I need not stop to point out to the intelligent reader the analogy which here appears, (he is speaking of services for the dead,) and the many striking analo- gies which will be seen between Hindooism and Popery. The Heat/tenismoi' the Papacy is a subject which deserves vastly more attention in the controversy with Romanists than it has heretofore received. In India we «ee not only. ...$?* TBI PAFACT AND PAGANISM. 361 ■on of troyed. Ill that )urpose lor and ion, the me the d world servant (ir how er shall ly. Sin hteous- rpations dducins n deb ted its sys- ling this devised wer for general ay take in India emonies ve been in name er who affirms, elligent peaking 7 analo- Popery. * le»erves manists lot only .«fif the idolatry of Popery itself, which is everywhere mani- fest, but we see its heathenism, in its conformity to Hindoo rites, usages and superstitions." Along the whole line of existence and history of Rome Papal we meet the unmistakable foot-prints of Rome Pagan. Modern Romanism is strangely grafted on Pagan Romanism. We meet the pillar of Trajan surmounted by an image of St. Peter-*- that of Antoninus Pius by a statue of St. Paul — a tit whim of old Rome and new — new wine in old bottles. Many a hoary ruin of an old heathen temple is transfeiTed into a Christian church. Jupiter Gapitolinus — the old statue of this heathen god, has been lustrated by the Popes and consecrated into a statue of St Peter. The Pope is none other than the Pontifex Maximus of the old Roman mythology. Old Roman temples are modern Christian churches — nuns were once vestal virgins — the sprinkling of holy water but A perpe- tuation of the lustration of the old Roman priests. The Pantheon, the place of all gods, becomes in the new order of Romanism the place of all saints. And St. Peter, as he towers aloft in the dizzy height assigned to him, becomes the Jupiter of the Capitol. The worship of gods and heroes has simpl}' given place to the worship of angels and saints, and the goddess of the old Romans has yielded to the virgin, or the goddess of the modern Romans. A traveller in Italy visits the Church of St Paul Major in Naples, and says of it : " This is really the old temple of Castor and Pollux transformed into a church. There stand the old pillars of the heathen temple. Before the door is the statue of a heathen god converted into a statue of St Paul. On either side of the great door and over it are left remaining the pictures of the hett jhen priest?] offering sacrifices, and all over the interior of uhe buildirg are the representations of heathen mythology, mixed and mingled up with the representations of the myths and superstitions of Popery. Priests in their robes were 362 THE FOOT-PRINTS OP SATAN. mumbling mass at its altars, and to a person at all ac- quainted with Jieathen mythology, with Roman anti- quities, and with the way and manner of the worship of the old Italians, the conception on entering this church would be neither violent nor unnatural that he was in a heathen temple, whose altars were sui'2'ounded by heathen priests, upon which they were offering their unmeaning sacri- fices."* Were an old worshipper of Castor and Pollux to rise from the Catacombs and enter the Church of St. Paul Major at Naples, he would feel that although great revo- lutions had taken place in other things, his old temple and its worship were yet mainly the same. There at least were the holy water, the burning candles and the smoking incense, just as he had left them. These last are among the things " received," as Bishop England concedes, "from* the East" and adaptfd and baptized into tjie Romish succession. The grave bishop probably conceded more than he really intended, when he said, " As our re- ligion is received from the East, most of our ancient cus- toms are of Eastern origin." Romish festivals and holy days are the natural bom offsprinfif of the old heathen festivals. The character and the place occupied by the one is almost entirely identical with the other. The name only is changed. This identity in essence and character will appear the more obvious if we advert for a moment to the manner in which these modern, nominally Christian festivals are observed. Their heathen birth-right will at once be betrayed. These festi- vals have no religious character — ^nothing that addresses itself to the heart and conscience, and makes the votary feel he ha.s a God to serve and a soul to save. At the F»>stival of the Resurrection, (which we may take as a single illustration,) preachers are wont i\j entertain their hearers with anything which might excite laughter. One * "Romanism at Home/' Kirwan'i Lettera to Chief Jaetloe Taoej. PAPAL FESTIVALS AND HOLT DATS. 86S all ac- a anti- p of the 1 would leathen priests, I sacri- to rise 3t. Paul it revo- iple and at least imoking B among oncedes, into tjie jonceded ( our re- ent cufl- ral bom jcter and identical identity )vious if ch these d. Their 3se festi- ddresses e votary At the ike as a tin their er. One Taney. relates the grossest indecencies; another recounts the tricks of St. Peter ; others, how adroitly, at an inn, he cheated the host and avoided paying his bill. A Romish festival, everybody too well knows, is but a holy day — a gala day. No matter how serious be the occasion which is nominally celebrated, it is a day of mirth and gay festivities. It may be in commemoration of the birth, death or resurrection of Christ, or descent of the Holy Spirit, or of any other great and deeply interest- iDg event in the history of the Church — it is all the same ; the holy day and its festival stirs up no pious emotions, no grateful aspirations, no sense of true worship. All is form if not frivolity. Were I to relate to a company of ignorant Papists, the frivolous stories retailed by Hindoo priests and mendicants concerning their holy days and their deities — the amours of their gods and the silly tricks of Vishnu among the cowherds — how he proved his divi- nity by making himself invisible that he might steal their milk unperceived, and other naughty tricks which he played with the young maidens of the field as they inno- cently tended their fathers' flocks — should I relate these things with the assurance that i\\^ parties were Ro- mish priests and Romanists, mj?^ hearers would have no scruple to pass it all as good Romanism. Christmas is evidently a festival borrowed from the old Roman Saturnalia. And the mode of its observance in a real Papal country is as void of all religious seriousness or of thoughts or observances appropriate to the day that it professedly commemorates (the glorious advent into our world of our Blessed Saviour), as is the grossly festive observance of the old Pagan festival whose legitimate suc- cessor it is. But we have a yet more melancholy'" perversion in rela- tion to the Sabbath. Here our enemy has achieved one of his saddest victories. The Sabbath is one of the strong- holds of our religion. Demolish this, and the enemy may come in and prowl at will. Rome has made the Sabbath u Till Tl-Ii1i 304 THE rOOT-PBINTS OF SATAN. i' I: the veriest holiday in the calendar. Little ^is left to entitle i^. to the epithet of sacred. The record of a single traveller in France furnishes a befitting commentary on this sad perversion. Writing from Paris, where he was an eye-witness of the things whereof he affirms, he says : " On the Sabbath day, as in the ancient Pagan festival, •the devotee of superstition desires to show forth his glad- ness of heart. How does he do it ? Just as in the Satur- nalia or Lupercalia. Hence the Sabbath day is the file day of the week. Nearly all the public places of exhibi- tion are closed on one day of the week, and that day i« Monday. A cause is that the porters, etc., have been entirely exhausted by the exertions and labours of the Sabbath, when tens of thousands at times visit them. One or two hundred thousand, on a Sabbath of Septem- ber last, stood within the park of Versailles to witness the great dragons of the Fountain pour forth their streams of water. All the arrangement? of the week point to that as the grand holiday. Have the theatres any particular star to introduce to the public? a Sabbath night ^.^. selected. HaA^'e the restaurants or coffee-houses any now discovery in the science of cookery to make known ? the Sabbath is selected. Have the artizans need of a day of rest in the seven ? Monday is selected, since the Lord's day was required for their exhausting dissipation. Sa- turday is invariably, among the lower classes, selected as their marriage day, since they may have unrestrained liberty to feast and frolic on the Lord's day. Bails are, for the same reason, given on Saturday night, that the Sabbath may be employed in carrying out their plans and pleasures. " Are the National Guards to be reviewed, 100,000 of whom are stationed this hour in and around Paris, to en- able the rulers to rule well this happy country ? the said Sabbath is selected. Are railways to be opened, public works to be commenced, horse-races to come off ? the day f • ROMANISM AND HINDOOISM. 865 left to a single iientaty here he affirms, festival, is glad- e Satiir- the fite ' exhibi- t day is /e been 9 of the it them. Septem- Lness the 'earns of ■j to that irticular flight ?.^ my now I'^n ? the I day of J Lord's on. Sa- ected as d liberty , for the Sabbath ms and ).000 of s, to en- the said 1, public the day of the Lord is chosen. At least a dozen times the me- chanic and shopman have offered to send home things on the Lord's day. If a mass is attended in the morning, the rest of the day is clear gain, and can be spent as the de- votee desires." Monks, nuns, and religious orders trace back their ori- ?in to the stagnant pool. They are of heathen parentage, n reading the accounts of Pagan monkery and asceti- cism in Hindostan — how at some periods whole armies of sturdy beggart^, amounting sometimes to ten or twelve thousand, would lay under contribution whole villages — we scarcely know whether we are on Pagan or rapal ground. "When this army of robust saints direct their mai ch to any temple, men of the province through which their road lies, very often fly before them, notwithstand- ing the sanctified character of the Fakeers. But the wo- men ai 3 in general more resolute, and not only remain in their dwellings, but apply frequently for the prayers of these holy persons, which are found to be most effectual in case of sterility. When a Fakeer is at prayers with the lady of the house he leaves either his slipper or his staff at the door, which, if seen by the husband, effect- ually prevents him from disturbing their devotion. Should he be so unfortunate as not to mind these signals, a sound drubbing is the inevitable consequence of his intrusion." Is the reader here reminded of anything in the religion of Rome like this ? If not, let us re^^ert to another fea- ture of Hindooism and see if we can discover the likeness. Every principal temple in India has attached to it not only as large a number of priests, monks and mendicants as its revenue will support, but a corresponding corps of voung women known in religious parlance as wives of the gods, but in common parlance as dancing girls or prosti- tutes. In a single temple (that of Jejury, 24 miles .south of Ahmednugger) there were at one period 250 of these wives of the gods. Mothers devote theii' daughters to the f«: !'; 1= ■I 366 THE FOOT-PBINTS OF SATAN. god from their infancy, and when the girls arrive at a man'iageable age they are wedded to the deity, and after- wards reside at the temple and live for the god, and may not marry a mortal. What say you, votaries of Rome — ^have not these ancient Pagans anticipated you in the idea of nunneries and con- vents ? Nor have you in your other religious orders and fraternities done more than to revive, perpetuate, modify and accommodate to times and places, and baptize with Christian names kindred orders of Rome's ?agan progeni- tors. Pilgrimages, peiiances, bodily inflictions ^re but the legitimate offspring of their Pagan prototype?;. Here I may quote Bernier, tbdD whom fe.v writers on India are more worthy of credit. His de.-oription of Yo- gees is n.uch to the life, and r ossesset" it merit of exhi- biting the manners of this class c^ r,^.ople '■. 3 they were two centuries ago, and as they ^ow are. fie met asceti- cism in India :'\ vt ry much thebarne form in which it has so luxuriantly flct;ri:;],eu on Papal ground. Not only was the country our^ed witbi' lumerable band'; of lazy, worth- less mendicants and u-iVoLees of every cast and kind, but institutions existed not unlike convents and nunneries. He says, " Among the infinity and great diversity of devotees in India, there are numbers who inhabit a kind (if convent, in which there are superiors, and where they make vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, and who live so strange a life that I know not whether you will believe it. These are commonly distinguished by the appellation of Yogees, a great number of whom are to be seen parading about, or sitting almost naked, or lying down nioht and day on ashes, and generally under the branches of large trees." Tho ,se of beads, the rosary-, amulets and charms, date their origin and use back to a period centuries and centuries anterior to their adoption by the Papacy. Be- fore Rome was known — either Pagan or Papal — the old idolaters of Asia sat counting their btsads, wearing their CONVENTS, BEADS, ROSARY. 367 re at a d after- id may ancient id con- era and modify ze with )rogeni- but the iters on 1 of Yo- of exhi- 3y were t asceti- jh it has m\y was , worth- ind, but inneries. jrsity of t a kind i where ice, and jher you i by the ire to be ng down branches charms, iries and 3y. Be- -the old ing their amulets and plying their charms. The Hindoos, the Chinese, the worshippers of the Grand Lama and the followers of the false Prophet, all use these tokens of superstition. The Thibetians use beads, wear the mitre, use the holy water, offer prayers, alms and sacrifices for the dead, have their convents, nuns, priests and monks. So complete is the resemblance that, when one of the first Romish missionaries penetrated Thibet, he came to the conclusion (and very coirectly, we think) that the Devil had set up there an imitation of the rites of the Catholic Church, in order the more effectually to destroy the souls of men. The conclusion should rather be that the priest here discovered tne foot-prints of the Devil in similar rites and appendages of his own Church. ^v. t; . . " The Hindoos use the rosary in the same way a^ the Mahommedans and Papists do. The custom k doiibtlesa brought from the East. Nearly every devoi»ee thero car - ries a string of beads. They are not only carr'^o in tho hand and used as a rosary, but are worn on the arnis, ;.ht> neck, and the body as amulets. I have seen devoivfetj nearly covered with strings of beads. The Hindoo : osery consists of a hundred and eight beads, ^ ; Mahonimeduxi of a hundred and one." * " Repeating the name of some one o"' ne gods is a very common mode of worship. To assist n this exercise a string of beads, pearls or berries is use 1. The worshipper, by removing one of these every timf repeats the name, is enabled easily to reckon his praj ers and know when he has repeated the intended number of repetitions. Some people spend hours in this practice." This is the very common ceremony among the Hindoos called Jupu, by which they fancy they may obtain whatever they desire. And how like the devotees of Pagani'»ai are the Papists in their use of charms and araulets, "Amulets," con- * «« Christian Br&hminism," vol. ii. pp. 88, 90. 1'! I Ii . 868 THE FOOT-PRINTS OP SATAN. tinues the "writer, " are almost universally worn by the Hindoos for the preventing or the curing of diseases, or the driving off of evil spirits. They are made of different materials, and are worn about the arm, the neck or the body. Some consist of a single thread, others are made of leather and set with small shells." Does not the Romish priest in India, too, discover that the Devil has set up another imitation of the rites (rights) of his Church ? Romanism in India, diffused as it extensively is over the whole country, does not offer the slightest rebuke to the grossest superstitions of the country. Though modi- fied in some of its forms, and lames changed to suit the Christian nomenclatur?!, it is in spirit and practice as S'jperstitious and idolaUous as the religions of the land. The image of the Virgin, as also the images of saints, is borne through the streets, gorgeously apparelled and seated beneath a glittering canopy, followed by an army of priests and of the people, just as we see a proces- sion of Hindoo priests and people parading through the streets the> goddess. And so we may say of their charms, incantations, and all their catalogue of supersti- tions. We alluded to holy water, incense and burning candles as among the things wherein Rome may claim a heredi- tary identity with oriental Paganism. Lights were kept perpetually burning on the Pagan altars in Rome by the vestal virgins. And in more ancient heathen temples, lamps and cardies were ever burning on the altars and before the statues of their deities. Incense, too, was always offered to the gods from Pagan altars, and, as^ appears from the sculpture and pictures extant, very much in the manner in which it is now offered in Romish churches — by a boy in a white robe with a censer in his hand. And the use of holy water is purely a heathen custom, traii;iferred from heathenism into the Romish Church for THE MUNTBU. 369 y the 568, or Ferent or the made )t the v'i\ has of his IS over luke to [ modi- ait the bice as te land, lints, is ed and a army proces- hrough f their apersti- candles heredi- ;re kept by the emples, irs and )0, was and, as^ t, very Romish r in his custom, jch for the purpose of facilitating the passing over of the heathen from Paganism to Papacy. What at first was a matter of policy became soon a matter of faith, and now a font of holy water is of far more iniportance to the complete finish of a Romish church than a ^ible. As an example of this we may refer to the wonder- working charm called the Muntru. This is a mystic verse or incantation, the repetition of which is declared to be attended with the most wonderful efiects. The super- stitions and consequent ceremonies connected with the Muntru are prominent features in Hindoo mythology. None but Brahmins and the highest order of the people are allowed to repeat it. Here lies the power of the priest. All things are subject to the ]k >jru. The gods cannot resist it. It is the essence of the Ved&s, the united power of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. It confers all sanctity, pardons ail sin, vsecures all good, temporal and spiritual, and procures everlasting blessedness in the world to come. It possesses the wonderful charm of interchanging good for evil, truth for falsehood, light for darkness, and of confirming such perversions by the most holy sanction. Indeed there is nothing so difficult, so silly, so absurd, that it may not be achieved by this extraordinary Muntru. But have we not all this, in spirit and essence, repre- sented in the magic word of the Romish priest ? to say nothing of the scarcely less magic power of Ave Marias and Paternosters. A word from the priest absolves from sin, makes wrong right, darkness light, falsehood truth. We find the whole reproduced, modernized, Romanized^ but not attenuated or essentially changed, in modem Romanism. The worship of canonized Saints and of Angels is again but obviously a relic of the old idolatry, " Honours paid to rotten hones" says Virgilantius, "and the dust of saints and martyrs, by adoring, kissing and wrapping them up in silk and vessels of gold, and lighting up waxen candles 24 / 370 THE FOOT-PllINTS OP SATAN. »' ;l before them afUr the manner of the heathen, were the %n- signs of idolatry." The chief deity among the Romans of the present day is undoubtedly the Madonna or Virgin Mary ; no more or less than a canonized saint. Indeed, so prominent a place does the worship of this, their god- dess, command in the pantheon of the modem Romans, that we shall be doing no injustice to the whole system if we give it the title of Madonnaism. Read the legends of the Virgin, (which indeed have more authority with the Papists than the Gospels,) or go into their galleries of art, or into the churches of Italy, and you find the Madonna, exalted and glorified, by the so-called Church, above all the lords and gods there worshipped. " It is not surpris- ing, then," as a traveller in Italy well says, "that the Madonna, this factitious Virgin Mary, a divinity, a god- dess, an object of worship, and, according to Protestant ideas, of idolatrous worship, inasmuch as adoration only belongs to God — should be the trump card of the Catholic Church." "The image of the Eternal Father," says an acute traveller in Italy, "indeed, is the leas common in Italian churches, only because, I apprehend, he in less the object of worship. The Virgin is, beyond all comparison, the most adored. Particular saints, in particular places, may indeed divide with her the general homage, but they enjoy at best only a local and sometimes a transient popu- larity ; whereas the worship of the Virgin is universal in all places and by all people, not only, as I fancied before I entered Italy, by females, who might think her, on ac- count of her sex, their most appropriate and zealous inter- cessor, but equally by men, and by priests as well as laymen. After the Virgin, some of the saints seem to be the most worshipped, then our Saviour, and lastly, God. Shocking as this may appear, it is too true. I am sure I do not exaggerate when I say that throughout Italy, Spain, Portugal, and in every country where the Catholic is the exclusive religion of the people, for one knee bent to God, t ousanda are bowed before the shrines of the Virgin and the saints." BOME PAQAN : ROME PAPAL. 871 tho tn- lans of Virgin [ndeed, ir god- bomans, ^stem if [ends of ith the B of art, Eidonna, bove all surpris- hat the , a god- otestant ion only Catholic says an imon in less the iparison, T places, Dut they nt popu- versal in d before r, on ac- us inter- well as Bm to be tly, God. im sure I ut Italy, Catholic :nee bent Bg of the The worship of Brahma in India is called Brahminism, and that of the Grand Lama in Thibet, Lamaism ; so we may, with the same propriety, denominate the worship of the Virgin Madonnaism. But the Virgin, though the chief deity, is but one of a thousand of the hero-gods of Rome. Another mark of the Beast which claims paternity in the old heathen mythologies, is the doctrine of Purgatory. The true origin of this doctrine is un(][uestionably from the rites of heathenism. For, that the ancient heathen believed in such, and performed rites for the dead, " to facilitate their progress after death to the fair tlysian fields," is undeniable. Virgil describes the rites of the funereal pile as necessary to the repose of the departed sf»irit. He introduces the ghost of Palinurus as com- plaining of the neglect of his friends in this regard. Plato divided the condition of departed spirits into three states, viz., those who had purified themselves with philo- sophy and excelled in morality of life ; those exceedingly wicked and incapable of cure ; and a middle sort, who, though they had sinned, had yet repented, and seemed to be in a curable condition. The first would enjoy eternal felicity in the islands of the blessed. The second were at death thrown headlong into hell, to be tormented for ever. The third class went down likewise to hell, to be purified and absolved by their torments, but through the interpo- sition of their friends would be delivered, and attain to honour and happiness. The Papists, in close imitation of this, make/our states or conditions of the dead. The first or lowest is Hell, the place of the damned. The second is Purgatory. The third, the residence of infants who died without baptism. The fourth is Limbo, the abode of the pious who departed this life before the birth of Christ. As among the ancient Pagans, so among the Papists, there was no end of the offerings and labours, the rites and sacrifices for the repose of the dead, and their final restoration to the abodes of 372 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF 8ATAN. the blessed. After the manner of the heathen, 'the priests diligently inculcate the idea that sufferers in Purgatory may receive essential relief fi'om their friends on earth — that the duration of their pains may be shortened by the masses, prayers, alms and other works of piety, called the suffrages of the faithful. But above all, by masses offered by the priest. No pains are spared by the priest to keep this subject before tne people. It is to the Komish, as it is to the Pagan priests, a very profitable subject. Im- mense sums are extorted from the people for prayers and masses for the dead. But we need not resort to antiquity. Existing systems of Paganism are full of purgatorial purifications. The fam- ous skradh of the Hindoos is but a fair prototype of what we meet this day in Kome. Kthis ceremony be performed for a rich man, all the priests and people of caste for many miles around are invited, prayers are offered for the de- ceased, expensive offerings made, rich presents to the Brahmins, a most magnificent display of equipage, cloth- ing and all sorts of paraphernalia, and offerings of flowers and food for the dead, and the most luxurious feasting for the living. Gunga-Govindu Singhu, a person of the writer caste and head-servant to Warren Hastings, is said to have expended, at his mother's shradh, twelve lacs of rupees. A lac is a hundred thousand rupees, and a rupee about half a dollar. And near the same time a native Eajah ex- S ended ten lacs for the benefit of his deceased mother, luch of this is expended in rich offerings, dresses, illumi- nations and feasts. Many persons reduce themselves to beggary for life to secure the name of making a great shradh. It is not unusual for a man to sell his house, stock, and all he has, to defray the expense of this cere- mony. Many borrow large sums which they can never pay, and afterwards go to jail. If a man is inclined to neglect the shradh, he is sure to encounter the vehement admonition of his 'priest, who feels a deep interest that there be no delinquency here. PRAYEBS FOB THE DECEASED. 373 le priests urgatory earth — d by the ailed the es offered t to keep ish, as it act. Tm- lyers and [systems The fam- 3 of what erfonned for many r the de- » to the [e, cloth- >f flowers isting for he writer to have rupees, ee about iiajah ex- mother. s, illumi- iselves to a great IS house, ihis cere- an never Lclined to vehement rest that The services and ceremonies connected with the shradh, like the prayers, masses and offerings for the deliverance of the souls of the departed by the Komish priesthood, are rich fields on which priestly avarice riots most luxuriantly. The unceasing cry is money, money for the benefit of your dead relations. And who, when appealed to amidst asso- ciations so tender, could withhold his generous aid ? Who would not open wide his hands and liberally pour out his treasures to soothe the anguish of a father or mother or some dear relative who is suffering purgatorial fires ? Whether the Romans have really improved on the old Asiatic idea of Purgatory is quite questionable. They have modified it and changed names and called it Chris- tian, but have abated none of its heathenism. , IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I l^yjB |25 |so "^ Mil ■^ ^ 12.2 12.0 m Sf 1*0 1.25 1 1.4 1 1.6 ■" ^ 6" ► V vQ ^>/ >> Photographic Sdences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 XIX. FALSE RELlGIONS-ROMANISM-CCoirftnw^rf.) HOW FURTHER INDEBTED TO, OR RESEMBLING PAGANISM — A NON-TEACHING PRIESTr.OOD — ^NO BCBLE — ^A PERSECUT- ING CHURCH — IDOLATRIES — ^ALL HAVE A COMMON PATER- NITY IN PAGANISM — IS THE PAPACY THE FINAL FORM OF THE GREAT APOSTASY, OR LOOK WE FOR ANOTHER ? ' We shall present some farther illustrations of the rela- tionship with Borne Papal and Rome Pagan, and how largely the Papacy is indebted to other systems of an- cient Paganism. Romanism resembles Paganism in not having a teach- ing priesthood. Here we meet a good line of demarca- tion between a true and false religion. In proportion as a religion is sensuous and corrupt, it rejects instruction, and satisfies itself wHj. ritual observances, penances, and bodily exercises. Forms of Christianity may be judged of by this rule. Departures from the purity and simpli- city of the gospel may first be detected in a diminished demand and relish for pure spiritual teaching on the one hand, and on the other an increased dependence on forms and riteSc Such a Church naturally seeks a clergy who will magnify the altar at the eiq)ense of the pulpit. Th eir teachings become less abundant and less direct in V lued,) NISM — BECUT- PATER- OKM OF a? le rela- id how iof an- i teach- »marca- rtion as ruction, ;es, and judged simpli- inisned on the ence on i, clergy ) pulpit. Urect in Kicking the Bible out of our Public Schools. PROHIBITION OF THE BIBLE. 376 proportion as the life of godliness evaporates in mere forms. Sheer Paganism has no vitality. It is all form, and consequently we find it without any teaching priesthood. It is no pfurt of the priest's duty to teach the people. His official duties all pertain to the ritual. And if we allow the eye but a cursory survey of all religions, fix)m the negation of Paganism up to the simplest, purest form of Christianity, we shall find just so much of a teaching clergy as we find truth and godliness as a basis of reli- gion. What by this standard are we then to judge of Roman- ism ? Does she, in the duties she imposes on her clergy, more resemble Christianity or Paganism 7 Is she a Pa- gan or a Christian Church ? Does she translate, circu- late and teach the Bible like a Christian Church ? Dees she encourage intelligence among her people ? If she has a teaching priesthood, what mean those prayers and services in an unknown tongue ? Give Rome an open Bible and a teaching ministry and she would be Rome no more. Hence, We offer as another point of resemblance and family affinity Rome's prohibiiion of the Bible to the mass of her people. In this she has followed in the footsteps of all spurious religions whose Sacred Books are essentially proscribed to the people. It is claimed tnat the Bible is not prohibited to the laity^ This may be partially true in theory, but essen- tially untrue in fact. We are concerned only with the fact. Does Rome or does she not by every possible means discourage the circulation of the Bible and practi- cally secure its prohibition 1 We need not go beyond the present for a reply. An important feature in the struggle now going on in Italy, and especially in Rome, is the bitter and determin- ed hostility of the rope to the Bible. There is no enemy so mi^ch to be dreaded as the 3iHe, The Pope and the 376 THE FOOT-PBINTS OF SATAN. cardinals, it would seem, cannot feel safe nor sleep sound so long as the Bible is allowed to remain in secret places. The Pope a short time since, in a circular to the arch- bishops and bishops of Itahr, manifested his hatred to- wards the circulation of the Bible in these terms : " Be careful to preserve the people not only from the reading of the papers, but irom reaaing the Bible, which the enemies of the Church and human Society, availing themselves of the aid of Bible Societies, are not ashamed to circulate, and enjoin 'upon the fidthful to shun with horror the reading oi such deadly poison — ^inspiring them at the same time with veneration for the hoW see of St Peter." Every pope for the last twenty years (to go no further back) has not failed to reiterate Home's abhorrence of the Bible and pronounce her anathemas on its circulation. Pope Pius the Ninth proclaims to the world that Bible Societies are insidious and pernicious institutions. Gre- gory XVI., his predecessor, denounced it in terms yet more severe. Rome both fears and hates the Bible. Pope Pius VII., in the year 1816, says of the British and Foreign Bible Society, "It is a crafty device by which the very foundations of religioi^ (i.e. Popery) are undermined. A pestilence and defilement of the faith most dangerous to souls." Leo XII., in 1824, speaking of the institution, says: "It steals with effrontery through the world, condemning the traditions of the holy fathers, and, contrary to the well-known Council of Trent, labours with all its might, and by every means, to translate, or rather to pervert, the Holy Bible into the vulgar lan- guages of the nations." In 1653, a number of bishops convened at Bologna, in Spain, to give Pope Julius III. counsel as to the best means of sustaining the Roman Church against the Re- formation. The following is their language respecting the Scriptures : " Finally, it is necessary that you watch ^and labour, by all means in your power, that as small a wm. ROMISH OPPOSITION TO THE BIBLB. 877 portion as possible of the gospel (above all, in the vulgar tongue) be read in the countries subject to our rule. It is uiis book, after f11, that, more than any other, has raised against us these troubles and these tempests (re- ferring to the excitement of the Reformation), which have brought us to the brink of ruin." The Council of Trent, two years after this, prom\ilgated her famous or rather infamous rules against prohibited books, aimed chiefly at the Bible. The truth is they are afraid to put the Bible in any shape into the hands of the people, lest it should disclose secret abominations. Hence they hedge its circulation about with so many difficulties that the seeming approbation which they some- times give when policy compels, amounts practically to nothing. The following paragraphs, taken from an article in the Christian World, entitled "Hostility of the Romish Church to Protestant versions of the Bible, a mere pre- tence," are so apposite to our subject, we shall do the reader a favour by transferring them to our pages : "There are some who think that the opposition of the Church of Rome to the Bible is not owing to any objec- tion on their part to the book itself, but to the Protes- tant versions of it. But the fact is, the hatred of this fal- len Church goes further and lies deeper. Believing a lie, she hates the book which exposes her falsehoods and over- throws her claims. Hence the conflict between the Pa- pacy and the Bible — Whence all the obloquy heaped on the holy volume — Whence all the Bible-buxnings and cruel imprisonment and slaughter of those who have had the courage to read the Book of God. The objection to the Protestant version is a mere pretence, made use of in Protestant countries to blind the people, and hide from the real issue. Rome hates the Bible in any and view every form. She taught the people of Ireland to call the Protestant Bible the Devil's Book, and she has often burn- ed versions and editions published with the authority of 378 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. 1 1 '< I the Pope. The Biblep* burned at Bogota a few monthB ago were Boman Catholic versions. There is enough in the Douay, or any other Roman translation of the Bible, to open the eyes of the people, and overthrow the whole system of the Papacy. All the editions ever published contain these words : ' For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,' (1 Timothy, ii. 6,) and this text is sufficient to destroy the worship of the Virgin Mary, and to do away with the mediation of saints and angels. " The Reformation, which owes its origin to the Bible, and the spread of Protestantism, which is due to God's blessing on the word of life, have aroused the hostility of Rome to the Holy Scriptures, and led to divers decrees, anathemas and bulls against their circulation. Before the time of Luther many valuable editions of the Bible were published under the auspices of the Roman Church, but since the 16th century very little has been done by popes or prelates to publish and illustrate the Word of God. ** Romanists have often acknowledged that the Bible wias against them, and that their Church could find no support from Holy Scripture. "At the Diet of Augsburg, (A.D. 1530,) as the Bishop , of MentE was looking over the Bible, one of his council- lors said to him : ' What does your Electoral Grace make of this book T to which he replied : * I know not what to make of it, save that all that I find in it is Ojgainst us* At the same Diet, Duke W^illiam of Bavaria, who was strongly opposed to the Reformers, asked Dr. Eck : * Can- not we reiute these opinions by the Holy Scriptures ?' *No,' said he, 'but by the Fathers.' The Bishop of Mentz then said : * The Lutherans show us their belief in Scripture, and we ours out of Scripture.' An Augustiu monk, when he saw Luther reading the Bible, said to him : * Ah, brother Martin, what is there in the Bible ? It is better to read the ancient doctors, who have sucked PROHIBITIOK OF THE BIBLE. 379 the honey of the truth. The Bible is the cause of all our troubles. * " The Church of Rome well knows that no person of common candour and understanding can read the Bible, and not discover a strange discrepancy between its teach- ings and the doctrines of the Papacy. She has, therefore, done all in her power to hinder the study of the Word of God, in direct opposition to the command of our Lord to * search the Scriptures.' " While the Council of Trent declared the Latin Vulgate to be authentic in all public discussions, and did not ab- solutely forbid translations into the vernacular tongue, it prescribed such conditions and regulations as were calcu- lated to limit and prevent the use of them. This Council also permitted the reading of the Bible ; but with such restrictions that the grant amounts to a virtual prohibi- tion, « The fourth rule concerning prohibited books, which was approve! by Pope Pius I v., begins in these words : ' Inasmuch as it is manifest from experience, that if the Holy Bible, translated into the vulgar tongue, be indis- criminately allowed to every one, the temerity of men will cause more evil than good to arise from it ; it is on this point referred to the judgment of the bishops or in- quisitors, who may, by the advice of the priest or confes- sor, permit the reading of the Bible, translated into the vulgar tongue by Catholic authors, to those persons whose faith and piety they apprehend will be augmented, and not injured by it ; and this permission they must have in writing.* " The design of this rule was not to encourage, but ra- ther to discourage and prevent the reading of the sacred volume. In harmony with this intention. Popish writers have given such representations of the Bible as were adapted to repress all desires and attempts to become ac- * Mielv6let'» " life of Luther," pp. 260, 261. 880 THE FOOT-PRINTB OF BATAN. auainted with its saving truths. The^ havo alleged that lie Scriptures are very obscure ; and indeed so unintelli- gible that they cannot be understood without the inter- pretation of the Church. Tliey huve (^^rvned that the Bible has no autfioritv in itself ; and were it not for the au- thoritv of the Church it would vst he more credible tfian jEeop 8 Fables ; that it cannot make men wise unto salva- tion, and is calculated rather to lead them astray, and to be the cause of all manner of errors and heresies. " When we consider that the Church of Rome claims to have a religion based on divine revelation, her efforts and ai*guments to prevent the reading and circulation of the Bible are so absurd, that they would never have been thought of, if there had not been some sinister ends to accomplish. ' No man is displeased th|it others should enjdy the light of the sun, unless he is engaged in some design which it is his interest that others should not see ; and in this case he would wish the gloom of midnight to sit down upon the earth, that he might practise his nefarious deeds with impunity. It is an interest contrary to the Scriptures which has im- pelled the Church of Rome to exert ner power to hinder the circulation.' " This well confirms the conclusion of a grave Romish wiiter, who says, " It is manifest by experience that if the use of the Bible be permitted in the vulgar tongue, more evil than profit will result. It is for this reason the Bible is prohibited with all its parts whether printed or written, in whatsoever vulgar language — also all summaries and abridgments." The following incident is believed to be no more than a fair example of the hatred of the Romish priest to the Bible, and of the demonstration of his aversion when cir- cumstances will allow. A priest was called to perform extreme unction for a man in Ceylon, who was near his end. On entering the house he saw a book on the shelf, and inquired what it was. When told it was a New Tes- ,n m mi PERSECUTT0M8 OF TRI ROMISB CHURCH. 881 tameht, he took it down, tore it in piecei, and trampled it under his feet. As a shrewd writer on Papacy well says, " They are afraid to put the Bible, in any shape, into the hands of the people, lest it should disclose tneir secret abomina- tions." It is not the Protestant translation that is feared, but the Bible. As touching the Bible and its general use, we commend our Roman Catholic friends to the opinion and practice of the great St. Patrick of Ireland. The record says, " He was a great reader and lover of the Bible. He left only two short compositio*"?, but in them he makes forty- three distinct quotations from the Holy Scriptures, and throughout his writings his phraseology is scriptural, showing that the Bible was his daily companion for perusal and meditation. The Papacy has again identified herself with systems of Paganism, in the fact that she is a persecuting Church. Pagan Rome put men to death by myriads, simply be- cause they were Christians. Papal Rome has put millions of Christicms to death because they were not Pagcms. In nothing, perhaps, is Rome more distinctly characterized than' in that oi being a persecuting Church. No history has recorded the number of her victims. Intolerance has not only stood out as an ugly excrescence, but it has from the first been the animating spirit of that huge body. From the very nature of the case, full statistics of num- bers are not to be found. Thousands upon thousands, of whom the world was not worthy, disappeared — were im- mured in prisons, starved, tortured, and either left to die, or secretly murdered, and no record remains. According to the calculations of some, about 200,000 Christian Protestants suffered death, in seven years, un- der Pope Julian ; no less than 100,000 were massacred by the French in the space of three months ; Waldenses who perished amounted to 1,000,000 ; within thirty years the Jesuits destroyed 900,000; under the Duke of Alva, 382 THE rOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. lu'i Ki I' 26,000 were executed by the hangman ; 159,000 by the Irish massacre, besides the vast multitude of whom the world could never be particularly informed, who were proscribed, starved, burnt, assassinated, chained to the galleys for life, immured within the walls of the Bastile, or others of their church and state prisons. According to some, the whole number of persons massacred since the rise of Papacy, including the space of 1,400 years, amounts to 15,000,000. Rome has never failed, when she had the power, to make good her claim to the prophetic title affixed to her, a " Woman drunken with the blood of the saints, AND WITH BLOOD OF THE MARTYRS OF Jesus !" Intoler- ance is her very life and soul. By fire and by sword she has sought to extirpate from the earth all who dared raise the banner of freedom, or resist her spiritual despotism. " The valleys of Piedmont and Switzerland, the sunny plains of France and Holland, the hills of Scotland and the meadows of England, have been made fat with the blood of countless martyrs, who have been sacrificed by the ambition of Papal power." And Rome never changes. Indeed, we may in all truth say the Devil is nowhere so completely at home, so congenially acting out his in- nermost soul, as in the work of religious persecution. But for the burning fact that stands as an indelible blot on the page of history, we could not believe that men could ever become so completely divested of every feature of a decent manhood — could so assume the nature and garb of the Arch Demon — though clad in priestly robes, " the livery of heaven " — as to instigate and stand by and wit- ness tortures inflicted on their kindred according to the flesh, more cruel, more barbarous than the veriest savages ever thought of And all this for no other crime than that of reading the Bible and worshipping God according to the dictates of their own consciences. Men, as men, never surrendered themselves up to a work so completely devilish. This whole work of religious persecution is the foulest incarnation of the Pit. V, 11 KAST CHANGE FBOlf PAGANISM TO ROMANISM. 888 It would now seem almost unnecessary to say that the Papacy resembles the old Pagan systems in the practice of idolatry. We have spoken of the worship of saints and angels — the deification, after the manner of the heathen, of heroes — the worship of the Virgin in like manner as the heathen worship their goddess. We meet at every turn and comer in Papal countries, pictures, images, relics, the cross, and all sorts of emblems of idolatry. In judg- ing of the idolatrous character of Bome Papal, we must have regard to the surroundings. In a country like ours, Romanism is one thing. It appears shorn of much of its deformity— especially of its grosser idolatry. Rome stands forth simply as one of the different forms of the prevalent idolatry of the land. The suppression for a tune, in a Christian land, of her real character, is simply a temporary and temporizing policy. Where Rome exists in heathen countries, she practises no such reserves and deceptions. She appears and acts out herself. In illustration of this, and as showing up Romanism in its real character, we may cite a few instances: The reason given by the historian, why the barbarians (the conquerors of Rome) so easily submitted to the re- ligion of the conquered, is that the established form of the Romish religion approximated so closely to their own superstition and idolatry. The Christian or Komish priests did not differ so much from the heathen priests but that they might be still received and honoured by the barba- rians. And this is a testimony that has been bome in all heathen countries where Romanism has been intro- duced. No wonder the Papists are so successful in mak- ing converts. Only make it for his interest to become a Papist, and the idolater has no difficulty in changing his religion, arising from any radical difference between the two religions in their character and essence. Being al- ready an idolater, he is none the less so after his conver- sion. He substitutes one set of forms for another— one set of idols for another. But he has perhaps been taught no 384 THE POOT-PMNTS OF SATAN. new truth — hfts no more correct views of God or of bis law and ordinances, of duty and obligation, and of the Sirdon of sin through the atoning blood of the crucified nti, than he had while bowing down to his Pagan idols. As has been most extensively ulustrated in British India, the conversion to Bomanism is no more a conversion to Christianity than the passing from the worship of one heathen god to that of another (as the Hindoos often do) is a conversion to the true God ; so it is in all countries where Rome has made her inroads. In point of intelligence, morality, civilization, a purer worship, or in any of the characteristics of a pure Christianity, the great Papal population of India has no pre-eminence over the native idolaters. Of this we have the united testimony of travellers. Speaking of Italy, one says, " If a Pagan from ancient Naples should suddenly arise from his grave, he would feel perfectly at home in the practice of this false Christi- anity. Names have been changed, but the creed and the worship are about the same. Still he meets the household gods, the virgin goddess — ^images, pictures — gods many, and lords many. At the corner of every street, a niche contains the image of the patron saint of the place. When the street is long there are several niches with different saints. On entering the humblest or most splendid shop, you see, opposite the door, the statue of the Virgin or a saint, decked with flowers, and in the evening this image is lighted with candles. The Komish priest, as he wakes up in a heathen land, and in *' the chambers of her imagery," is astonished to meet objects, and to witness rites and observances which have been to him from his youth as familiar as household words. The heathen man, on the other hand, comes to Rome, and not the less wonders that these modem idolaters have so faithfully preserved the image and superscription — ^yea, the life and spirit of the old idolatry. SIMILABITY OF PAGANISM TO BOMANISM. 385 of bis of the ucified L idols. India, sion to of one do) is a 3 where iigence, of the ; Papal native .vellers. ancient ! would Ohristi- ^nd the asehold many, niche When ifferent shop, In or a image n land, 3hed to rvances iliar as other at these image the old i The following testimony of a Chinese missionary more than confirms all we have said. We transcribe a para- graph : " When I was compelled," says Rev. Mr. Smith, *' to observe the details of these idolatrous ceremonies, I could not fail to be impressed with the striking similarity of the rites of Buddha with those of Popery. No unsophis- ticated mind, no mere ordinary observer, could mingle in the scenes which I witnessed in those temples, no one could be transferred from this country to be an eye-witness of those Buddhist ceremonies and superstitions, without being for the moment impressed with the idea, that what he saw was nothing else than Roman Catholicism in China. Would that those who show an unhappy zeal in the main- tenance of the ceremonies of the Church of Rome could be transferred to this heathen land, and there see how closely Pa^tnism assimilates with Romanism, and how intimately Romanism assimilates with Paganism ! There are the same institutions, the same ceremonies, the same rites in the one as in the other. There is the monastery, celibacy, the dress and caps of the priests, the incense, the bells, the rosary of beads, the lighted candles at the altar, the same intonation in the services, the same idea of pur- gatory, the praying in an unknown tongue, the offerings to departed spirits in the temple, the same in ^he Budd- hist temples of China as in the Roman Catholic churches of Europe. And what is still more remarkable, and at the same time shows a melancholy resemblance between the two religions, the principle female god of the Chinese, the Goddess of Mercy, has also the title of Shing Moo, meaning holy mother, and Teen How, which means queen of heaven, and, what is still more remarkable, she is always represented by the image of a woman bearing a male child in her arms ! In fact, the whole system of Buddhist worship, as carried on in China, presents such a strong resemblance to that of the Church of Rome, that an early Jesuit missionary, who visited China, declared that Buddhism must have been the invention of Satan 25 386 THE FOOT-PRINTS OP SATAN. himself, to retard the progress of Christianity by showing its striking similarity wim the Romish wonMp. " Which is the original and which the imitation — Ro- manism or Buddhism V* asks Bishop Eingsley in his record of late travels in the East. Bead the following paragraph, and possibly your decision will be in favour of Buddhism as the original : " On this mountain, which is ascended by thousands of stone steps, is a Buddhist monastery and temples, with all > the appliances for this form of idolatrous worship. Here is a great number of Buddhist priests, who live in a state of celibacy, and look, and act, and worship so much like Roman Catholic priests, the one might be very easily mis- taken for the other. Whether the Romanists learned the mummeries from the Buddhists, or the Buddhists from the Romanists, it is morally certain from the great many points of resemblance, that they had a common origin. Long wax candles were burning before them, and one of them wa° burning incense. These priests live an austere life, refrain from animal food, believe in purgatory, pray for the dead, and live a life of mendicancy. Adjoining this great temple is the Temple of the Goddess of Mercy. One of the idols in this has thirty-six hands, eighteen on each side. Directly in front of this is an image of a Chinese woman, and on either side a great number of smaller idols." In the mirror we have been holding up we have seen the image of the old Paganism reflected in all its essentia] features, yet so modified and chan^ni in name — so adap- ted to the change of times and the progress of the world, and more especially to the progress of the new religion, as to exhibit it as a consummate scheme of diabolism to counteract the benevolent purposes of God for the salva- tion of men, and to establish the empire of Satan over this apostate world. Whether this shall prove the final great counterfeit — the summation on earth of the infernal ma- (;hinations of liIs Satanic Majesty to subvert the divine ANOTHER GBEAT RELIGION TO ARISE. 387 scheme for the restoration of man, and to achieve the ruin of our race, or whether we shall look for another revela- tion of the " mystery of iniquity" — of the "^eceivahleness of unrighteousness," a scheme yet more subtle, seductive and dangerous because assuming yet more of the guise of the true reb'gion, we affirm not. Yet it would seem but analogous with the past to suppose that there yet re- mains to be revealed another phase of the man of sin — or the man of sin, the final manifestation, in relation to which all the preceding dispensations of the Devil were but pre- paratory to the dreadful consummation. There is some ground to satisfy such a surmise. Rc- manism is effete. Its idolatry is too gross for the age. Its rites anrl superatitions belong to a darker age. The world has advanced, knowledge has increased, civilization has made decided progress, and liberty has given unmis- takable tokens that ere long she will unfurl her banners over every nation on the face of the earth. And more than all, the religion of the New Testament has made not- able advance. As the Oriental nations have outgrown the Paganism of bygone ages, so have the Western na- tions become too enlightened and free much longer to tole- rate the semi-Paganism of Rome. Hence our Arch-Foe seems shut up to a corresponding change of tactics, and of his mode of warfare. Rome is still strong — ^mighty in her munitions and strongholds to carry on the warfare under the old rt^gime, but no more suited to the state of the world than old Imperial Rome would be, were she to attempt to cope with modem France or England. She would have the power, but not the adaptedness — the appliances. Rome must change her tactics — put on the modem armour. And the same is yet more true of the religion of Mecca and of the Pagan nations of Asia. They lack the same adaptedness to the times. Hence we infer that the Devil will change his tactics and his whole mode of warfare — that another great anti- 888 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. Christian power shall arise, (emanating out of the mouth of the Dra^on^and of the Beast, and the false Prophet) more formidable because more subtle — more like Chris- tianity in form and pretence, yet more unlike in spirit and essence — a baptized form of modem scepticism and infi- delity, bearing the name of Christ, and professing to be especially a Church for the times, yet more essentially Antichrist than the present Romish apostasy. The Beast without his horns — the Dragon with all his fierce- ness and malignity and eagerness to devour, yet clad in the guise of a lamb, and the false Prophet robed in the vestments of the High Priest of Christianity, yet with all the intolerance of the Arch-Turk. iith let) ris- ind aft. be Phi •ce- in the all 1/ XX. FALSE RELIGIONS-JESUITISM, THE JESUITS — CHAKACTER OF THE FRATERNITY — THE MISSION OF MADURA — POLICY OF THE MISSIONARIES — CHARACTER OF CONVERTS — JESUITS IN AMERICA— THEIR SPIRIT AND POLICY UNCHANGFJ). " The prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me " — " Whose commg is after the workmg of Satan, with all power and signs and wonders, amd with all deceivahleness of unrighteousness." — John xiv. 30 ; 2 Thes. ii. 9, 10. Since the apostasy Satan has been the god of this world. His empire has pervaded the entire territory of humanity. His aim has been to make a complete mon- opoly of all which belongs to man. By sin he has marred the beauty of this lower world, alienated man from his Maker, and as far as possible perverted everything from its original design. He has prevailed to throw all into disorder and darkness and perversion. Christ came to destroy the works of the Devil — to restore the ruins of the Fall, to disarm the Destroyer, and to reinstate man and this earth in their original condition. Our motto presents Christ approaching the crisis of the conflict with the Devil. In Gethseroane should be 390 THE POOT-PRINtS OP SATAN. the great agonizing struggle. He must here suspend fur- ther communication with his disciples. He could not talk much more with them because the prince of this world — ^the power of darkness — ^approached, and he must now grapple with the Arch-Foe. The death-blow to the prince should now be given — and henceforth his kingdom should wane and the prince himself be bound in everlasting chains, and the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom in the whole earth be given to the saints of the Most High. Though for ever done away, and not a vestige of the vast and melancholy insurrection which has so long and so miserably confiised our world, shall remain to disturb the harmony and love and eternal blessedness of the righteous, yet the history of this melancholy insurrection shall never lose its interest — how sin entered the world — why it was permitted — what ends are to be accomplished by it — ^by what agencies and instrumentalities it j^ made to develop itself and to accomplish its ends — what plans, schemes, systems, the prince of this world devises to enthrall man in bondage and to compass his ruin — ^what institutions he perverts — ^what monopolies he secures — ^what agencies he employs. We have already named War, Intemperance, the per- verted use of prop iiy, and false Religions as great and terrific agencies by which the god of this world retains his usurped power, fills the world with woe and heU with victims. We shall now speak of another species of organ- ized action, which he extensively employs for the same purpose, such ia appears in fraternities, institutions, re- ligious orders and the like. It will suMce for our present purpose to speak of the Society of Jesus, or the institute of Ignatius Loyola, com- monly called Jesuitism. We have not selected this subject as a mere abstract or historical question, but as a subject of great practical im- portance in its bearing both on our nation and on the JESUITISM THE MASTERPIECE. 391 One Church, and, by consequence, on the cause of liberty and religion throughout the world. For no other people have more need to become acquainted with the character, nature and extent, design and power of this institution, the means of its advancement and its aim. It is probable the activities of this society are at this moment more busily and more effectively employed in this country than in any other, and possibly with greater hope of success. Jesuitism has, a very singular nistory, and the more we study this history the more shall we become convinced that this is the masterpiece of the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience. It is a consummate system of duplicity, cunning, and power for the maintenance of a control over human mind. I do not know that there exists in our world at the present time another system so fraught with evil, so potential in the support of error, and so dangerous to the cause of liberty and all true religion. * We may therefore regard Jesuitism as Satan's choicest, most adroit and most potent engine for the maintenance of his empire on the earth. The founder of this society was Ignatius Loyola, bom in 1491. A Spanish soldier till 1521, when receiving a severe wound, in the siege of Fampeluna, which disabled him from further military service, ne gave up the profes- sion of a soldier for that of a saint, and soon conceived the idea of forming a new religious order, to be called the Society of Jesus. After thirteen years of study, joumey- ings, self-mortification and penance, this " knight errant of our Blessed Lady," as he should be called, established his order (1634) with seven members. Six years after (1540) it was sanctioned and owned by the Pope, Paul III., who granted to its members the most ample privi- leges, and appointed Ignatius the first general of the Order, with almost despotic power over its members. We thus find Jesuitism and the Komish Church early in alliance. We are not, however, to regard this alliance necessary one. Romanism and the institution of as a 392 THE POOT-PRINTS OP SATAN. Loyola are two distiDct things, met usually in concert, because they are so nearly allied in spirit, and of conse- quence they mutually aid each other. Jesuitism is an in- dependent institution, living by its own life and acting for or against the Church as its own policy dictates. Though it lent the most efficient aid to the cause of Rome, and is generally found in alliance with her, yet the insti- tution has its own ends to compass, which her members will not be diverted from, whether they can be gained with or without, or in spite of the Romish Church. The Pope, in accepting the services of the disciples of Loyola, thought to get instruments for his work. He re- ceived, not servants but a master. Loyola got the toolsj The Papal Church is but the instrument, the tool of the Jesuits — the Beast on which they ride to power and con- quest. And in recalling them after so long a banishment, and again making these "vigorous and experienced rowers," helmsmen of the ship, Rome dM but confess her weakness and inability to cope with the' increasing light, and the progress of liberty and religion in the nineteenth century. The world has probably never seen a "more powerful corrupt, untiring, unscrupulous, invincible organization in any department of human labour, or in any period of human history." " Their moral code," says another, ** is one of hypocrisy, falsehood and filth." They are enemies to all human advancement — ^would turn back the dial of human progress, and plunge the world again into the darkness of the dark ages. Christianity encourages learn- ing, intelligence and mental improvement among the peo- ple — ^it makes disciples. Jesuitism suppresses the human mind — ^makes instruments — tools with which to compass its own ends. It takes " the living man and makes a corpse of him — an automaton— ( Mi world — not merely of knowledge which gives happiness, but of happiness direct And, what is not a little to be admired as a further evidence that God, in the formation of men, designed him for happiness, is that external nature should be so admirably adapted to the physical and moral constitution of man as to make all his intercourse with the external world a source of unmixed happiness. The reason it is not so, is not from any defect in the original arrangement, but from a perversion of it. The sense of seeing is given, not simply that we may, by the exercise of vision, form an acquaintance with ex- ternal nature and facilitate our intercourse with our fellow- men, and throT'.gh such knowledge and intercourse indi- rectly realize much substantial happiness, but it is given as a source of luxury, that we might thereby enjoy the beauties of nature about us. And so with the sense of hearing. It is not merely a source of utility but of pleas- ure. It is the channel that conveys sweet sounds to the soul. It is a charmer. The evil spirit of Saul was tamed by music. There is a charm in the soft notes of harmony which m^lts the most ferocious soul. The serpent tribe are not insensible to the enchanting sounds of music. They are charmed by them. And so we may say of the sense oi smelling. It is not simply a feeler by which to detect what from without is disagreeable, or what would be hurtful to the stomach, or injurious to the lungs, but it is another channel by which fco convey to the immortal tenant within, the sweet odours of nature's most delicate works. And so likewise with the senses oi taste and feeling. They serve the double purposes of protection and 'pleasure, indicating the bene- volent design of the Divine Author, and proving beyond controversy that God intends man should be happy. — Else why do we find Him the author of such an arrange- ment ? Why in the external world so much beauty, and the eye capable of beholding and appreciating it, and con- veying an agreeable sensation to the soul ? Why so SUPREMACY OF CONSCIENCE. 409 happiness, little to be ) formation nal nature and moral Durse with aess. The le original t we may, ) with ex- our fellow- )urse indi- it is given enjoy the le sense of it of pleas- nds to the VBB tamed * harmony pent tribe of music. It is not without is omach, or annel by the sweet • likewise le double the bene- beyond happy.— arrange- uty, and and con- Why so many sweets — and the taste so exactly suited to extract them for the luxury of the inner man ? Why so many pleasant odours, and the organs of smell so completely adapted to inhale them for the regaling the inhabitant within ? And why so many agreeable objects of contact, and the touch so admirably fitted to carry pleasant im- pressions to the soul ? God has, again, established a connection between hxip' pi/ness and bodily exercise. He has nerved the arm with strength, and then made the exercise of this strength con- ducive to happiness. Not only is bodily exercise the procuring cause of our sustenance, and the means by which to gather about us the comforts and luxuries of life, but the direct means of health, physical and moral — and consequently of happiness. But we shall find examples equally .abundant, and more in point, if we look for a moment into man's moral consti- tution. Our first example we will takf^ from the existence of con- science. Man has a conscience, nor is this an accidental pro- perty of the soul, but a constituent part of the system. It is the sun in that system. Its office is to enlighten and rule. Enthroned amidst the lesser faculties of the mind, as a supreme lawgiver and judge, she promulges laws, en- forces duties and executes penalties. The will, the pas- sions, the affections, and the whole mental train are placed at her feet. She commands, approves, rebukes, rewards, and punishes according to the unerring integrity of her nature. And it is a matter of fact to which all who have attended to the operations of their own conscience will accede, that aU her decisions are on the side of virtue. And virtue, by which we mean our whole duty, both to- wards God and man, is the only sure way to happiness and moral purity. We may now ask, what but consenting to and adopt- ing this divine arrangement — what but obeying the law of our nature as developed in this part of our moral cojnr 410 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. stitution — what, in a word, but acknowledging the supre- macy of conscience, need a man do in order to secure hap- piness in this world, and to lay an immovable foundation for infinite felicity in the world to come ? Let us ex- amine a few of her sanctions. One of the first laws of conscience is that the will, the affections, and the mental faculties, shall yield obedience to her authority. What can more directly conduce to happiness than this, and what more destructive of it than the violation of this law ? The usurpation of the heart over the conscience, and the alienation of the affections, and the consequent perversion of the mental powers, is the very root and matter of sin. Conscience proclaims the great fact that there i% a Ood, and demands that every creature render unto Him un- feigned love and gratitude, untiring obedience and ser- vice. She recognizes, too, the relation of man to man, and the consequent duties of justice, mercy and mutual love. Against all these a perverted heart rebels. Rea- son, too, throws the weight of her influence into the scale of conscience. We then have conscience, with her auxi- liary, reason, arrayed in fiei conflict with the heart, backed by a long and vociferous train of rebellious pas- sions, of wayward affections, and by a mental corps of truant faculties. Both parties are stoutly contending for happiness. There can be no doubt whose will be the final victory. God is on the side of conscience. All but conscience and her ally, reason, are usurpers, and will be defeated. Whoever, therefore, yields obedience to the laws of his conscience, meets the approbation of his God. Whoever violates these laws forfeits the divine favour. And (what is not less to our purpose) not only are the duties imposed by conscience good in themselves — produc- tive of peace, good order and happiness, but the perfor- mance of them is always attended with pleasurable emo- tions to the performer. Whereas the course dictated by the heart is neither good in itself, nor its pursuit attended with any continued or substantial happiness. fen" LAWS OP NATURE CONTRAVENED. 411 the mipre- ecure nap- oundation et us ex- ) will, the obedience mduce to of it than the heart affections, powers, is w a Ood, Him un- and ser- to man, 1 mutual i. Rea.- the scale ier auxi- he heart, ous pas- corps of iding for be the All but I will be to the tiis God. ^our. are the produc- perfor- >le emo- ated by btended As another part of our moral constitution we ma)'^ re- fer to the benevolent afections. God has inserted in the very framework of our being the feelings of compassion, sympathy, kindness and benevolence. He has made the exercise of these productive of happiness, while the vio- lation of their laws is the direct road to discomfort and misery. Take compassion : a wretched object is presented, the sight of whose wretchedness instantly elicits the feelings of compassion, a feeling natural to man, or composing a part of his original constitution. This may exist more or less vividly, owing, perhaps, to a want of due exercise. It may be more or less quick in its operation. But the sight of wretchedness draw? ic out. This is a law of our nature. Yet it may be nipped in the bud by avarice or some other chilling product of selfishness, and thus this benevolent law of our nature be overruled. But sup- pose this law to be obeyed, and we shall see a result full of happiness. The sight of wretchedness, I said, excites compassion. By the side of compassion lies sympathy, who, awakened by the moving of her sister compassion, arises, and makes common cause with the suffering object, bathes him in her tears, feels his wounds and his wants, enlists the aid of kindness and calls up benevolence. Now if we analyze these different processes, we shall find happiness to be the result of them all. First, we have the influence pro- duced in the bosom of the giver — the one who affords the relief, a thing entirely separate from the inlluence on the receiver. The exercise of compassion, the kindly inter- position of sympathy, the lovely Teachings forth of bene^ volence, are all pleasurable emotions, springing up in the breast of the giver, and diffusing sweetness and serenity though the whole man. These are fragrant flowers, which first bless the soil where they grow, then delight the eye of the beholder, then send forth their swfeet odours. And, in addition to this, there is the no less beautifying Hi m t i 412 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. influence on the receiver. His temporal wants are sup- plied — ^his wretchedness removed or mitigated, and a por- tion of happiness is thus secured. But this is only a small part. A string is touched in his heart which beats in unison with that of the giver. His grateful heart bursts forth in spontaneous effusions of goodwill, and is responded to in the kindly affections of his benefactor. Thus an influence, like a cloud of sweet and hallowed incense, distilling in its course the dewdrops of celestial happiness, is diffused around on every side— diffused from two points, first from the giver, then from the receiver. This is acting in obedience to the laws of our nature. This is as things would be but for the derangements of sin. What an evil then is sin ! How productive of misery ! And what a happy world this would be, and what never- failing and eternal happiness man had secured, had he in all things obeyed the laws of his constitution ! Were every object of wretchedness allowed to exert its legitimate in- fluence on the spectator, in eliciting his.compassion, accom- panied by sympathy and followed up by the benevolent act, and were every act of benevolence met with a corres- ponding gratitude and goodwill on the part of the recei- ver, how soon would the universal dominion of benevolence commence in this world — how soon the hearts of all be bound together in the golden chains of love — ^how soon heaven be begun on earth ! But suppose — what, alas ! is too generally the fact — that the opposite be true — that conscience be dethroned, her dictates unheeded, her laws trampled under foot, her ways, which are ways of pleasantness, be spurned — sup- .pose the benevolent affections, as they attempt to flow forth in their silver currents, dispensing fertility and joy on either side, be arrested by a seditious, disorganizing train of selfish passions, what then are we to expect as the . natural and necessary result ? Suppose wretchedness fail to excite compassion, and sympathy, hushed to sleep by selfishness, refuse to awake, HABITS AND BAD PASSIONS. 413 s are sup- and a por- iily a small s in unison sts forth in >nded to in 1 influeDce, istilling in is diffused , first from ur nature, ents of sin. )f misery ! hat never- had he in ^ere every timato in- Lon, accom- benevolent h a corres- the recei- enevolence } of all be -how soon bhe fact — dethroned, r foot, her ned — sup- pt to flow y and joy organizing pect as the . ssion, and ! to awake, and benevolence, chained hand and foot by the demon covetousness, come not to the aid of the suffering, what now will follow ? Instead of that divine serenity which pervaded the mind before — instead of that celestial hap- piness that sent up its sweet incense through all the inner man, there would be, on the one hand, obduracy of heart, want of pity, a sense of meanness, self-degradation and vexation, and a host of selfish passions, tormenting in themselves, and putting into the hands of conscience so many scourges by which to inflict her scorpion lashes. Then, instead of the golden chain of love that bound together giver and receiver, we find the object of wretch- edness cut off from the sympathies he thinks his due, now writhing afresh under the tormenting passions of hatred, envy, jealousy or malignity. Were the laws of our nature always thus to be contravened, what heartburning, what tumults, what natural hatred would fill our world ! How would the fires of the Pit be kindled on earth ! Discern ye not here the foot prints of the Foe ? In like manner we might speak of hahit as an element of great power either for good or for evil. A man's habits very much control him. He has only to allow the grati- fication of any appetite, desire or passion to become a habit, and he has in the same degree become a slave to that ap- petite or passion. The Devil is no novice here. In no- thing is he more on the alert to turn all to his advantage. If he can entice his dupe into a repetition of a hurtful in- dulgence till the adamantine chain of habit binds his vic- tim, he is sure of his prey. But look again into the moral structure of man, and you will see there certain seditious, claTnorous, passions, such as ambition, avarice, oovetottsness, pride and vanity, envy and jealousy. These are properly denominated bad passions, and it will be asked how the exercise of these. ^ can be productive of good and result in happiness. I do not say they can. In the form and dress in which they now appear, they are not eompontnt 'jparts of our rrwral i 414 THE rOOT-PBINTS CF SATAN. :--t« constitution, when regarded as the workmanship of a divine hand. I called them seditious, clamorous pctss^^ons. They are usurpen — derangements of our nature, pro- duced by that great moral commotion which broke up the foimtains of the great deep. Far worse and more ter- rific floods have swept over the moral creation than that mighty deluge of waters which once drowned the natural world, removing rocks from their places, overturning mountains, turning the sea upon the dry land, and casting the earth into the sea. Great r.o that natural commotion was — so great that the earth has not yet recovered from theshock — and terrific as was the consequentderangement. the 'moral creation has sustained a more disastrous, a more deranging shock, in the moral deluge which swept over it when the fiery floods of sin burst forth from the Pit and rolled their dreadful waves over this once lovely world. Where once in the natural world were fertile meadows and smiling hills, are now sandy deserts and barren rocks. Where once fruit and flowers, now are thorns and briars. Where once beauty, now is deformity. »5o we find it too in the world of mind. Often we can scarcely distinguish betveen the original formation and the sad derange- ment. The noxious weed has so overgrown and buried from sight the true plant that we almost search for it in vain. A brief examination into the originals of these spurious growths will bring us to the same conclusion as in the other cases, viz., that man is so constituted as to make obedience to the laws of his nature his happiness, and a violation of them his misery. Take Ambition — in the common acceptation of tlie term it is a desire of pre-eminence, but without due regard to the means of obtaining it, or the purpose for which it shall be used. This is the usurper. Now, the original or genuine passion — for which we have no riame, unless we call it a laudable aTnhition — the genuine passion, as placed in the system by the hand of the great Architect,isa desire to excel. A LAUDABLE AMBITION. 415 ship of a tpass^^ons. tiire, pro- broke up more ter- than that tie natural '^ertuming id casting ommotion Bred from mgement. us, a more jpt over it le Pit and ely world. meadows ren rocks, -nd briars, find it too ListinguLsh derange- nd buried 1 for it in le spurious as in the 3 to make less, and a )ftteterm regard to lich it shall or genuine 3 call it a iced in the ire to excelf by aU proper means, and for a good purpose. The original desire may and ought to be pursued. The passion is right. It is of divine origin. God has set us a high mark, and is urging us on to the highest point of excel- lence of which our natures are capable. With a right motive and by all lawful means we ought to strive for the highest possible pre-eminence. This is our duty. It is our happiness. But how different the result of the exercise of the coun- terfeit passion. Where it predominates every bitter root and poisonous plant grows and luxuriates, every evil bird prowls about and preys on all that is lovely and desirable. What hatred and animosities, what heartburnings, what contentions, if not open conflicts, originate in societies from this passion. And if we extend our illustration to nations, what wars — murders — bloodshed — how many tears flow — how many are clad in the habiliments of mourning — how many widows and orphans — ^how many wretched sufferers are made to writhe under the dire calamities inflicted by the demon of ambition. And all this the fruit of the violation of one of the laws of cnr nature. And if such be the consequences of violating a law of our constitution in this probationary state, where the strong arm of God is employed to keep back the sinner from a thousand hurtful violations, what a complete hell would instantly he formed, should God withdraw this restraining influence and allow ever-'- violation to produce the bitter fruits of death. Add to this endless duration, and you have the fire that is never quenched, and the worm that never dies. Take as further illustrations of the perverted passions, avarice a.id covetgusness. These are kindred. They are unruly desires — usurpers — counterfeits — rebels in the mental system, continually at war with the laws of our moral constitution, and striving to supplant every right- ful possessor of the soil. I I' I m i ,! i I 416 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. An inordinate desire is one which yields not to the prescribed rules of integrity. It has neither a worthy object nor does it pursue that object by worthy means. It cannot, therefore, be an original part of our moral con- stitution, for this, formed as it was by a diviae hand, cannot be otherwise than good in itself and good in its operations. Would we know what the genuine passions, of which these are the counterfeits, are, we must look into our own breasts, and we shall instantly discover, among our mental furniture, strong and unconquerable desires for a^quisi- tion and possession. These are the original, or genuine passions — ^the constitutional desires of the soul, right in themselves and productive only of good, and consequently of happiness. For proof of this we must trace the operations both of the usurper and the original passion. It is a matter of experience that the usurper, the inor- dinate desire, is so strong, so unruly, that it is constantly attempting to overstep the rules of moderation, or to violate the laws of integrity, and so craving that it will not — cannot be satisfied with any amount it may acquire here. There is a disparity in the nature of the object, and of the desire which precludes satisfaction. But the desire is rankling, swelling, burning — and the more impetuously as it has been partially gratified. And, unless some strong arm of restraint arrest its progress, gratified it will be by whatever means, lawful or otherwise. Nor will it stop within the precincts of honesty. Avarice will here cast his wanton eye into a neighbour's house, or raise his law- less hand over a neighbour's field — and then what envy- ings and jealousies, what crimination and conflicts, what a world of evil feeling and outrageous action. Suppose all restraint removed — the restraint of civil law, of public opinion, of conscience, and suppose this state of things to be extended from man to man, from community to community and nation to nation, and LAUDABLE D£SIBES. 417 t to the worthy y means. Dral con- le hand, od in its of which our own r mental ofiquiei- genuine right in iquently I both of he inor- nstantly Q, or to it will acquire ect, and le desire tuously B strong 1 be by it stop re cast lis law- enw- s, what )f civil se this 1, from n, and what a world this would be! How would unmixed, unabated misery everywhere stare us in the face ! And all this but the legitimate result of violating one of nature's laws. But the time is at hand when all arresting restraints shall be renjoved — when probation shall cease, and then every violation of constitutional laws shall invariably be followed by its legitimate and awful consequence. What eternal misery must then ensue ! On the other hand, let us trace the operation of the genuine passion, the laudable desire of acquisition and possession, which, by a hand divine, is planted in every human breast. It chooses an adequate and worthy object, and presses on to its accomplishment by the help of ade- quate and worthy means. Above all, it fixes on the durable riches — on unfading honours — on substantial and never-failing pleasures. It regards temporary wealth, honour or pleasure, as temporary, and only auxiliary to the attainment of the great end. The heart set on objects so grand, so infinite, has no place for the ranklings of jealousy. There can be no fear of exhaustion in the objects. These are ample for the full and satisfactory supply of every applicant. As there can be no ground of jealousy, lest others seize on too mixh, so there can be no temptation to trespass on the rights of others. Each may pursue his object as intently and adopt means as vigorously as he please, without the least inter- ference with the rights of others. The more vigorously each pursues his onward course and secures the priceless pearl, the more the good of the whole is advanced. As the mind becomes more absorbed in !he pursuit of the imperishable riches, it has neither time nor occasion for jarrings and bickerings about the things that perish with the using. The result of such a state of things cannot be mistaken. It would remove the occasion of one-half of the woe humanity is heir to. And, besides, a different direction 27 if J' m i ■ ! i 1 iii 14: 418 THE FOOT-PiaNTS OF BATAJf. would be given to the energies of mind, presenting objects before it so much more absorbing and satisfactory, that the ten thousand wicked devices of lawless passions, which now keep the world in strife, would be annihilated. All eyes would then be directed towards, and all liearts be fixed upon distant, infinite and eternal objects. And the happy consequence would be peace, goodwill among men, and, ultimately, "glory to God in the highest." Such would be the legitimate and precious fruits of yielding obedience to the laws of our nature. Remove all counter- acting causes, such as arise from the general depravity of our race, and from the fascinations of the world, and add eternal duration to such a state of things, and we have heaven on earth begun. Another illustration of a kindred character may be de- rived from pride and vanity. Th|se are again usurpers , perversion of constitutional faculties which in them- selves are really good. Pride is an inordinate self- esteem, maliifesting itself in a low estimate or contempt of others. Canity is an inordinate self-esteem, showing itself in a hi^n and unwarrantable estimate of one's self. They are kindred spirits, and equally the perversions of their originals, which aie self-respeci and a desire to be esteemed by others. Self-esteem or pride is a desire of self-aggrandizement, irrespective of the means by which it is obtained, and generally irrespective of the possession or the degire to possess merit. It is the inflation of vanity — ^the wish to appear to be something, whether one be anything or not. The practical tendency of this is altogether towards evil. On the one hand, it fosters insolence and contempt ; and on the other, hatred, envy, jealousy, or a base and a cring- ing spirit, or bitterness and disgust. It looses the tongue of slander, and makes men bite and devour one another. It poisons the fountains of benevolence, and dries up the streams of mutual love. It severs society into the most unnatural divisions, in which the most worthless may lU MAN AS HE WAS MADE. 419 ng objects tory, that ons, which ited. All liearts be And fche Qong men, it." Such f yielding 11 counter- jpravity of 1, and add d we have aay be de- n usurpers I in them- inate self- r contempt n, showing f one's self, versions of esire to he ndizement, ained, and } degire to he wish to ing or not. ■wards evil. Bmpt ; and nd a cring- the tongue le another, ies up the o the most hless may trample on the most meritorious. Such distortions must produce a bitter fruit. Unfounded and insolent claims on the one side, and an indignant resistance on the other, are the very elements of human strife. It was pride that first raised rebellion in heaven, and cast the rebel angels down to hell. Could pride stalk abroad, unchecked by certain in- fluences which now set bounds to its usurpations, what oppression and overweening insolence shou^jd we see on the one hand, and what outbreakings of violence and rancour and malignity on the other. We should soon have a pandemonium on earth — and, duration added, a pan- demonium for eternity. But let us turn for a moment to the genuine plant, upon which this germ of evil growth has been grafted, - and over which it has so spread its luxuriant branches that we can scarcely discover a relic of the original stock. Man, under the lawful influence and the salutary guid- ance of self-respect, would regard himself as the creature of Ood, possessed of a body and a soul — a body of wond- rous conforraation, and a soul of yet more exquisite work- manship. He scarcely need open his Bible to learn that he was created but little lower than the angels. He has a feeling within, as well as overwhelming evidence from without, which assures him that he was made for im- mortality, ""le opens the book of revelation and reads yet more clearly the high destinies of his immortal spirit. Yea more, he there reads a lesson of immortality for his once suffering and dying body : this corruptible shall put on incorrwption, and this mortal shall put on immor- tality. He views himself as a child of immortality. The offspring of a divine original, endowed with such noble faculties — the being of so exalted a destiny — man cannot, when he rightly estimates hims«3lf, but entertain a high self-respect And in proportion as he respects him- self— Sia he esteems himself to be the offspring of God — I m m m m m m ii- 420 THE FOOT-PRINTS OP SATAN. formed in the image of his divine original, bound to a speedy return to Him who made him, and capable of being associated for ever with angels and partaking with them in the labours and felicities of heaven, in the same proportion will be his efforts so to live as to answer the great ends of his being. The son of a king will not de- mean himself by doing a base action, because he is the son of a king. He must sustain a character worthy of royal descent. He must respect ki/maelf as the heir appa- rent to the throne. But how much more will the man who bears in his mind his more than royal descent, and his more exalted destiny than that of mounting an earthly throne or wearing a fading diadem, so shape his earthly career as to walk worthy his high original. He will pur- sue a course that shall honour himself as a creature of God, and honour God his creator. If the son of a king would be deemed unworthy of his high birth if engaged in a mean action, or unworthy of his station if detected in a rebel- lious action, how much more is man, the offspring of the King of kings, the expectant of an eternal kingdom, de- graded when he stoops to commit a mean or a rebellious act. But ai/n is both a mean and a rebellious act, degrad- ing to man, dishonouring to God. It is wholly inconsis- tent with self-respect or self-love. The sinner does not respect hvmself. Were all men to place a just estimate on themselves, and so to employ the powers of their bodies and the fa- culties of their souls as to sustain their noble birthright and to fulfil their high destinies, how it would at once change the aspect of our - /retched world. It would make it a happy world. Man, ; , child of God, would strive with the utmost stretch of his i 7'iies to carry himself worthy so honourable an origin. Again, self-love is made our standard by which to gra- dAiate our love to others. Man must, on tiie principle of self-respect, (or self-love,) regard himself as the creature, the child, the subject of God, and the recipient of every ;J_i'f MAN CANNOT RESTORE HIMSELF. 421 und to a apable of cing with the same iswer the il not de- he is the worthy of leir appa- the man icent, and m earthly is earthly will pur- re of God, would be in a mean 1 a rebel- ag of the ydom, de- rebeUious t, degrad- ' inconsis- does not lemselves, id the fa- birthright d at once >uld make trivewith ilf worthy ch to gra- iDciple of creature, , of every good thing and the expectant of a crown and a kingdom, and must recognize the duties that result from such high and holy relations, and exercise all those feelings, affec- tions, and hopes vhich the consciousness of so noble a birth, of such honourable relations and such exalted ex- pectations are suited to inspire. And then, this is the standard by which he is to estimate his fellow-man — by which he is to regulate his conduct toward him. We are to regard him as altogether such a one as ourselves — as a being of kindred nature, of kindred wants, hopes and destinies. Can you imagine a state of things more conducive to the most exalted happiness ? It only waits for the close of this probationary or mixed state of existence, and to be clothed with eternity, and it woul^ be infinite hap- piness. Were we to analyze other kindred passions we should discern in their perversions, the handiwork J the same malicious Foe. We had designed to educe an argument in support of our proposition from the infinite desires and the noble capacities of the soul — but must say in a word, if man would live as he is Tnade to live, if he would use his body as it was made to be used, and use his soul as it was made to be used-r-if he would respect himself axicordrng to his real dignity — if he would obey the laws of his own nature, he should not fail to be happy here and happy eternally. And here I would distinctly recognize the necessity of the Holy Spirit — the necessity of the powerful arm of God to arrest the sinner in the course of his wicked violations, and to bring him back to obedience of the law of his nature and his God. Man cannot recover himself. He is sunk too low — his heart is fully set in him to do evil. He will not come that he may have life. Hence the in- dispensable necessity of divine influences. Is not the Devil then at work in man by agencies the 422 THE FOOT-PRINTS OP SATAN. most effective, by -wiles the most malicious ? Is he not here achieving his most direful triumphs? It is sad enough that he has laid the physical world in ruins, per- verting everything and changing Eden into a desert. It is sadder that he should achieve the mental and moral ruin of man. In closing this chapter we deduce from the general thought illustrated certain great moral lessons : I. W hat an infinite evil is sin ! How it degrades man in its commission ! How dishonouring to God — how bitter its fruits ! It violates all law, mars all dignity, defaces all beautv, destroys all good, and is the procuring cause of all evil. II. How reasonable a thing is religion ! It is obedience to the laws of our nature. It is the recognition of God in his own proper character, and the using of our bodies and our souls according to their original intent. It is the recognition of those great natural relations which exist between us and our heavenly Father, and between us and our fellow-men, and the discharge of consequent duties. It is the emancipation of our physical, mental and moral faculties from the bondage into which they have been brought by sin, and their restoration to the noble pur- poses for which they were designed. It is a rescue of the soul from the chains and manacles of an outlawry band of passions, and its restoration to the bosom of faith, hope and charity. What more dfesirable, what more ^reason- able ? III. The certainty of the future punishment of the wicked. Misery is the natural consequence of sin. And but for the gracious interposition of divine mercy in secur- ing a probation, it would meet its speedy recompense. Sin in none of its changes can produce holiness. Let things take their course — leave the sinner as, by sin un- repented of, he leaves himself, to pursue a course of dis- obedience to his constitution and to his God, and he must perish. He must eat the legitimate fruit of his own doings. 'i\'U ! .•^^.v THE SINNER A 8ELF-DESTR0TIR 423 3 he not \> is sad ins, per- 8ert. It (1 moral general les man w bitter defaces g cause ^edience of God ' bodies ii is the h exist L us and duties. 1 moral been le pur- B of the band ti, hope reason- of the And i secur- apense. i. Let jin un- of dis- doings. He has forfeited the favour of his Qod, which alone is life. He must suffer the eternal absence of God — of all mercy and goodness, which is the second death. IV. God cannot be charged with injustice or cruelty when he punishes. The sinner is a aelf-dutroyer. He reaps just what he sowed. He feeds his own flames. He nurtures in his own bosom the never-dying worm. He daily carries about with him the elements of his own destruction. Every sin contains in itself the seed of death and endless misery. And why this seed does not at once germinate and mature into the poisonous fruits of the second death, is because it is restrained by the kind Hand till the day of probation be passed. Every trans- gression contains in itself an element of unquenchable fire, and why it does not at once burst forth and burn with all the fury of the Pit is because it is smothered by the hand of Grace divine until the day of recompense come. The moment God shall withdraw that hand, the transgressor is lost for ever. And then — ah! that keenest pang, that he has knowingly, wilfully and eternally de- itroyed himself. He has been allowed seed time and har- vest, summer and winter, sunshine and rain, and will he call God a hard master because he leaves him to reap the fruit of his own doings ? Come, then, self-destroying sinner, stop — look before you — reflect^ — and turn away from the blackness and darkness that await you. Be sure your sin will find you out. You cannot escapr: the all-searching eye of God. Flee while the door of iiope is open. For when once the Master is risen up and shut to the door, and you standing without shall knock, saying, " Open to us/* he shall say, *' I know you not whence ye are I " But now " the Spirit and the Bride say. Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." XXII. SATAN IN THE MARRIAGE RELATION. 1^*1 > IS THE SANCTITT OF MARRIAGE — ^DIVORCE AND DIVORCE LAWS -i-THE FAMILY — HOME — ITS VITAL RELATION TO SOCIETY, TO THE STATE, TO THE CHURCH — EASY DIVORCE FATAL TO THEM ALL — " GIRLS OF THE PERIOD*' AND FAST YOUNG MEN — DEVIL NOWHERE ELSE STRIKES A MORE DEADLY BLOV.. We should quite fail to give the Devil his due, and should overlook a very essential field of his doings among men, (and women,) if we did not advert for a few mo- ments at least to the subject of Divorce, and its bear- ings on the marriage relations, and consequently its vi- tal connection with all the great interests of the family, society, the State and the Church. We have already to some extent exposed the devices of the father of lies in respect to religion — ^how he has stolen away the soul, the life, and left the gilded corpse, and said, " These be thy gods, Israel" And thus has he beguiled countless millions of the race, and made them worship gods that be no gods. No device has been spared to wrest from every form of the true religion its divine vitality, to neutralize its power over the heart, its influence to purify and make godlike, and, like the light and the heat, to warm and enUghten all within its influ- ence. WHAT IS MARRIAGE? 425 PION. ICE LAWS > SOCIETY, [;e FATAI. ST YOUNG S DEADLY due, and ;s among few mo- its bear- ly its vi- e family, 3 devices w he has d corpse, thus has \de them las been igion its leart, its ,he light ts influ- But in the latter days the vile corrupter has, if possible, made a yet more stealthy onset. He has cast the poison into the very springs of all moral, social and domestic in- fluences — polluthig the fountain and thus vitiating all the streams. Morality, religion, aU human progress and pro- sperity feel the wound. It is an assault on the sanctity of marriage. And the sources of this increasing evil we cannot fail to discover, especially in modem Socialism, Fourrierism, Free Love, Mormonism, and in a general and yet important sense, in Communism and the |Intema- tional. But a preliminary inquiry here, and one of vital import, relates to marriage — its intrinsic importance, its relative position and v lue, and the pla;e it holds as a conserva- tive and influential element in the great machinery of human aflairs. But what is marriage ? What is there in this relation that makes it the controlling element here claimed ? It is the union — the unifying of one man and one woman, in all the relations, interests, toils, hopes, joys and sor- rows of life — ^and for life. They are no more twain but one flesh, joined by God, and may not be sundered by man. Each party has its own peculiar capabilities, pro- clivities, susceptibilities and virtues, and each, we may assume, equally needful to the general well-being of the whole. But the efficiency of either is secured only by the co-operation or coalescence of the two. It is " not good" for human progress or happiness that man (or wo- man) should be alone. Hence the divine ordinance of marriage, the imion and harmony of forces radically un- like, yet essential to the greatest good of the whole, and doubly powerful when united. We may name the following as some of the ends secured, and only secured by true Christian marriage. And, first of all, marriage, and marriage only, makes Home. A man, be he ever so good, kind, aflectionate, cannot make a home. Woman, however amiable, lovely 426 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. and untiring in her devotionE, cannot make a home, entire and wanting nothing. Home is the union and blending together of the two. Would we know the full import of the term " Home, sweet home," we need only contrast the homeless, comfortless stopping-place of a heathen family ^if family we may call it) with the true Christian home. In the first we meet with neither intelligence, education, conjugal affections, equality or co-opei-ation, and least of all, with the kind, persuasive, all-powerful influence of the mother j while in the true Christian family we meet the loving relations of husband and wife, parent and child, brother and ';;ister, each personally interested to minister to the happiness, the culture, the respectability and use- fulness of the other, and to render his quota of service and affection to the well-being of the whole. And such an experience and training alone fit the members of a well- ordered family to become useful members of society and almon< )rs of good to the world. Indeed, marriage is really the ouly foundation of aU these highly important relations. In concubinage, and in all the dark and disgusting re- gions of profligacy, there is neither husband nor wife, parent nor child, brother nor sister. There is neither confidence nor love, mental culture nor co-operation. Industry, economy, education, morality, are but the natural concomitants of marriage and the family, but never the growf h of profligacy. None but parents, or those who by affection or some tie of consanguinity place themselves in the family relation as parents, ever think to educate children and train them in the way they should go. And here enters especially the maternal element of a Christian education. This is altogether un- known in a heathen family. Properly to appreciate the value of this kind of education we must go back to the period of the first teachings and guidance of the infant mind by the mother. And here, as Bishop Bayley very justly says : ** The peculiar character and conduct of every one depend MARRIAGE MAKES HOME. 427 ne, entire blending tnport of trast the in family bn home, iucstion, . least of ice of the oaeet the HI child, minister md use- vice and such an a well- Lety and is really elations. ting re- ), parent ofidence but the ly, but ents, or y place • think y they external ler un- ate the to the ) infant ly very depend chiefly upon the influences which surround them in early life. * As the twig is bent the tree's inclined.' The edu- cation of a child, in the full and proper sense of the word, may be said to commence from the moment it opens its eyes and ears to the sights and sounds of the world about ity and of these sights and sounds the words and example of parents are the most impressive and the most enduring. Of all lessons, those learned at the kneesiof a good mother sink the deepest into the mind and heart, and last the longest. Many of the noblest and best men that ever lived and adorned and benefited the world, have declared that, under God, they owed everything that was good and use- ful in their lives to the love of virtue and truthfulness and piety and the fear of God instilled into their hearts by the lips of a pious mother." The mother is the " angel spirit" of the home. Her love never cools. She never tires. Hers is the mission of love. Nothing can atone for the loss of a mother — ^unless it be a mother in a mother's place. But there are no mothers — no children in the endearing sense of the term — ^no sweet and hallowed, all-pervading, all-influential love, save with- in the sacred enclosures of wedlock. Nor is the State less dependent on the family for good citizens. The family is peculiarly the nursery of the State — the source of aU good government, of order, peace and safety. And more especially yet is the family the foundation ad source of all true religious culture. Our blessed reLgion, pure and imdefibd, deigDS not to tread on a soil polluted by the footsteps of profligacy. She must firit purify the Augean stable before she can enter and dwell there. Never may we look for religious culture and the growth of the Christian graces in the ranks of the profligate. Or we might with equal truth affirm that but for mar- riage and its faithful constituent, the family, the institu- tions referred to would have no existence, and that for the good reason that there very soon would be a fatal lack of m\ I m i i I m ' i 428 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. people to constitute either society, Church or nation. Po- pulation depends almost entirely on marriage and the fam- ily st«te. The great majority of the offspring of concubi- nage and profligacy die before or soon after birth, and a large percentage of the miserable remnant die in early childhood. And of the few that survive the very unpro- pitious circumstances of their birth, it may truly be said, it had been better for them and the world if they had never been bom. We speak of probabilities and fzniis as they generally exist. Exceptional cases there cv x, where, by some ab- normal process or exceptional providence, a corrupt tree is allowed to bring foi-th good fruit. Eveiy blow, then, struck at the marriage relation — every sentiment uttered, ev6ry influence used or act committed that impairs its sanctity, is a deadly blow struck at the race — essentially at its existence — if not for its annihilation, yet for its profoundest demoralizption. K marriage and the family occupy the place in the economy of numan affairs which we have assigned them, we can scarcely deprecate in too severe terms any inva- sion of their sacred precincts. And we need not be sur- prised that our enemy has here made some of his most in- sidious attacks, and never more determinedly than at the present moment. Modern lax notions of marriage and easy divorce ar| alarming features of our times. Th^jre is no surer sign of the decadence of public morals and religion than this disregard of the sanctity of marriage. Facility of divorce is one of the most fruitfiil sources of evil which can afflict a community. Ara it is precisely here that we meet some of the most subtle and determined attacks of our ever-watchful Foe. But on whom shall we charge these false and damaging notions of marriage ? Who have assailed the peace, the purity and the permanency of this invaluable domestic relation ? MODERN OBGANIZATIONS. 429 ition. Po- d the fam- )fconcubi- rth, and a 3 in early vry unpro- ly be said, had never generally ' some ab- rrupt tree low, then, it uttered, npairs its issentially ^et for its ce in the led them, my inva- ►t be sur- 3 most in- an at the srorce ar| urer sign ihan this )f divorce !an afflict we meet LS of our lamaging >eace, the domestic We hesitate not to charge a large share of the mischief on certain modem organizations, such as Socialism, Four- rierism, Free Love, Mormonism, Communism, the Interna- tional, and (in a sense we shall explain) Woman's Bights. These modern organizations are little else than t le natu- ral outgrowths of the sly, insidious infidelity whose poi- sonous leaven has infected some of the most sacred rela- tions of life. What infidelity has done directly for religion^ it has done indirectly in the family and society through the organizations named. These in their practical woii- ings are but too surely damaging to the moral idea of marriage. Socialism, whose name, as representing the leading fea- tures of all the " isms" referred to, is Legion, has been de- fined, " a project to pulverize society into its individual ele- ments, then let them come together again according to individual caprice, at least wiuiout the moulding of the present laws of marriage, property and religion." On the question of marriage, the Socialistic Alliance at Geneva, in 1869, gave this decree. We demand " the abolition of marriage, so far as it is a political, religious, judicial, or civil institution." And in the same category we may class Fourrierism and the Oneida Community. The creed of the latter is sufficiently free and easy : ** Every man becomes the hus- band and the brother of every woman, and every woman the wife and sister of every man." Mormonism is here outdone. Brigham Young may yet learn of Brother Noyes. Li Utah you may encounter uncomfortable restrictions in the arrangements of your little domesticities. You may have so many wives and no more — only as many as you lawfully marry, or on oath promise to take for better or for worse. In Oneida there is perfect liberty — ^love free and unrestrained. Every man may find a wife and sister in every woman. Nor nas the man any pre-eminence here. The woman is equally free and privileged in ihe exercise of all her peculiar affinities. 1 !t I ii: 430 T&E FOOT-PRINTS OP SATAN. Comi^qiumsm and the Intemationalfl we maj class in much the same category. The first is strictly a political movement, aiming to overthrow existing forms of govern- ment, the other attempts to revolutionize the relation of capital and labour. Yet they are agreed to join heart and hand with their sister Socialism in her attempts to sub- vert the present forms of social and domestic life. They affiliate in their assaults on marriage, religion and pro- perty. In France, the Internationals are the right arm of the Commune. The most notable feature of the International to-day is that it stands ready to ally itself with any revolutionary element that may help it to secure its ends. In 1869 itre- ceived, to form a constituent part of itself, the Socialist Alliance, which declared against marriage, religion and inheritance. When France fell helpless from the talons of Prussia, the order was issued from London by their Secretary for the Internationals to stiike a blow in Paris, and this bociety became the red right hand of the Commune. Hence the reported affiliation of the Society with the Ultramontane party in Germany against the Liberals, that, helping to destroy all order, they may gather from the loiin the material for their own ambitious schemes. We may well watch the movements of the Society in this country. And in sympathy again with Socialism and Free Love is modern Spiritualism. Its advocates " preach a deadly antipathy to the Christian theory of the relation of the sexes." Where else do denunciations of the servitude of marriage find so congenial a home as in Spiritualistic libraries ? Where else such loose theories of divorce ? W^here else so much nonsense about " affinities," " spirit- ual unions," " twin spirits," and the like ? We named Woman's Rights: as really, rather than con- fessedly, contributing to weaken the nuptial tie, and, to the same extent, to invade the sacred precincts of the family. With much in " Woman's Rights " that would VICTORIA WOODHULL. 431 r class in political f govem- ilation of leart and 8 to sub- 3. They and pro- ght arm to-day is utionary 869 itre- SociaJist jion and he talons by their in Paris, ommune. with the Liberals, her from schemes. Dciety in ree Love a deadly n of the vitude of itualistic divorce ? " spirit- han con- ^ and, to 9 of the it would right woman's wrongs, we are constrained to believe there is, in the animus of this move jaent and in the doubtful utterances of leading members, much which really tends, not so much to right woman's wrongs, as to wrong woman of her rights. If woman would retain her position at the helm of domestic and social influences, and guide the ship, she must be a woman, and not a man. Woman has an enviable position and relative import- ance in forming and fashioning the whole machinery of human affairs. On the throne of the quiet home the Christian wife and mother sits queen, cherishing and dif- fusing an influence which does more to nurture domestic, social and Christian virtues, and fit her children to be good. Christian and useful citizens, than all other influ- ences combined. Would you dethrone her — displace her from her proud and enviable position as a true woman, at the fountain of the sweet, healing, fertiliziDg, all-effi- cient streams that silently course their way over the bleak deserts of humanity, and precipitate her into the storms„ the tempests, the tornadoes, the cataracts of the turbid stream of man's rougher destiny ? The most suspicious feature of the movement in ques- tion is the insidious, if not the open, invasion of the mar- riage relation. Leading members (it may not be the gen- eral membership) give no doubtful utterances here. We may quote the words of a prominent advocate of Woman's Rights (Mrs. Woodhull) in a lecture recently delivered in New York and elsewhere. Ultra as these views may ap- pear, it is to be feared they do but too truly represent a growing sentiment in the ranks Of the initiated. Mrs. Woodhull says : " If it be primarily fhe right of men and women to take on the marriage relation of their own free will and accord, so, too, does it remain their right to determine how long it shall continue and when it shall cease. Suppose a separation is desired because one of the two loves and is loved elsewhere. If the union be maintained by force, at 432 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. leaat two of them, probably all three, are unhappy. But if they separate — ^if the greatest good of the greatest number is allowed to rule, separation is legitimate and desirable. " It is asked, ' What is the legitimate sequence of social freedom ? I reply unhesitatingly, * free love, or freedom of the affections.' 'Are you then a free lover?* I am, and can honestly, in the fulness of my soul, raise my voice to my Maker and thank him that I am. And, to those who denounce me for this, I reply. Yes, I am a free lover. I have an inalienable, constitutional and natural right to love whom I may, to love as long or as short a period as I can, and to change that love every day if I please." Whence such talk ? It is not from the Bible, the Christian Church or a Christian civilization. Nowhere are the teachings of Christianity more direct, clear and sacred than when the marriage relation is the theme. Next to the Church, and the most sure nursery of the Church, stands the family. Annihilate the sanctity of the family, as the doctrine of free love effectually does, and home, sweet home, has lost its charm and power, and the Church its nursery and stronghold. Hence the ma- chinations of the Levil to disturb and impair the influ- ence of, and if possible destroy, our family institutions. And in no way does he so successfully compass this ne- farious end as by his invasion of the sanctuary of marriage. And never was this sanctuary more ruthlessly assailed than at the present day. We can scarcely take up a paper whose columns do not tell disgusting tales of Free Love, Spiritualism, Elopements and Divorce. Let good old staid Connecticut tell the passing tale. It is the record of a single year. The State Librarian, Chailes J. Hoadly, has presented to the Legislature his annual report, giving interesting facts and statistics concerning births, marriages and deaths, during the year 1871, as follows: DIVORCES. 439 f. But p'eatest lie and >f social Teedom I am, lise my ^d, to tt a free natural IS short day if I t>le, the here are d sacred Next to Church, of the oes, and rer, and the ma- e influ- tutions. his ne- uary of assailed a paper e Love, tale. It 'esented eresting deaths, In 1871 there were 409 divorces ^nted, exceeding the number granted in 1870 but by 1. The proportion of di- vorces to the number of marriages during the year was the same as in 1870, namely 1 to 1109. The following table shows how many wero procured in each county, and how many upon the petition of the husband and wife respectively : Divorce$ Husband Wife Countiei, Granted. Petitioner, Petitioner, Hartford 77 29 48 New Haven 109 . 30 79 New London 41 10 31 Fairfield 74 . 23 61 Windham 47 14 . 83 Litchdeld 34 17 17 Middlesex 17 5 U ToUand ; 10 3 7 Total 409 131 278 But wo have as yet scarcely more than entered the vestibule of the great Moloch. We have spoken rather of skirmishing parties bhan of the main enemy. £asy Divorce is the giant foe to the permanency, the happi- ness and the moral efficiency of the marriage state. Our beneficent Father ordained the union of one man and one woman — the twain shall become one flesh — their interests, aims, joys and sorrows, one. Neither party may annul this union except for a single cause, and that cause one which in itself vitiates and annuls the contract of marriage, and nullifies all the beuetiuent influences of the union. That cause is adultery. This strikes the death* blow to all that is sacred and essential in marriage, and so demoralizes all the domestic relations as to make them nothing worth. But how is it that the practice of divorce is, in these latter days, so increased, and its evils so multiplied? Wa 28 w III ' 'it I ii l> ! ml f ' r ■ I 434 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. have alluded to some of the causes, the chief of which is . comprehended in the general term Free Love. This in- corporate!, as its significant cognomen doth imply, the controlling elements of all the others named. Free Love, under some of its Protean forms, is the serpent in the Eden of matrimony that heguiles its myriads and drives them from Paradise to wallow in the filth of moral degradation. Free Love, under what- ever garb the vile seducer appears, is the most fruitful source of divorce, as well as the most deadly foe to public morals. There are subordinate courses of the prevailing lax notions of the marriage relation and of consequent divorce which deserve serious consideration. They are growing evils, and influential of untold mischief Some of these are : The low tone of public sentiment in relation to the sanctity of the marriage relation, the emulation of the poorer classes to imitate the richer, especially in the matter, of female dress. The young man's dear wife often becomes too dear. Domestic complications follow, and it may be final rupture. Then tne fictitious literature of the day contributes largely to false notions of marriage. High notions of living — ^temptations to live above one^s means, not unfrequently disturb the equilibrium of the married state, and work out a disastrous result. Inconsiderate marriages — ^too much freedom of choice— -too much young America — ^has borne its bitter fruit. How many divorces might have been saved by a timely heed to a little judicious advice. And here we would not overlook "ante-natal infanticide" as a modem device of the Devil. The vile offices of the abortionist hold out a lure to the ruin of the virtue and happiness of many a victim. Indeed, in proportion as marriage is discouraged, or, by the state of society or the extravagances of the times, made impracticable, licentiousness is encouraged and the sacredness of the marriage tie impaired, and consequently divorce favoured. ILLEOITIKACT AND DIYOfiCX. 435 which is This in- nply, the as, is the iguiles its lyallow in ider -what- st fruitful ) to public edling lax lonsequent They are ief. Some in relation aulation of ally in the [ wife often ow, and it tureofthe age. High Le s means, le married lonsiderate uch young y divorces ;o a little I overlook le of the Lold out a 3f many a red, or, by bhe times, and the jequently And here we match from a paragraph, headed "Roman- sm and Crime," a choice bit by way of comparison of murders and illegitimate births in Catholic and Protestant countries. We are only concerned with the latter. Rome scores the highest proportion of illegitimate children, the ratio of births of this class being nearly sixty-one times greater in Rome than even in London. In London, for every hundred legitimate births there are four illegitimate^ ; in Leipzig, twenty; in Paris, forty-eight; in Municn, ninety-one ; in Vienna, one hundred and eighteen ; and in Rome, two hundred and forty-three. And murders in yet greater disproportion : In Rome, one in every seven nundred and filty of her inhabitants ; in England, one for one hundred and seventy-eight thousand ; in Holland, one for one hundred and sixty-three thousand ; in Prussia, one for one hundred thousand. Lax laws of divorce are a fruitful source of the evil in question. If one party of the alliance is dissatisfied, or has a grievance, or has an affinity for another mate, and the divorce law in his own State is not sufficiently free and easy, he may go to Chicago or Indiana and find a law to accommodate all customers. Some one has called Indiana *' the Paradise of Free Love," and largely made so by the liberal notions of Robert D. Owen. " In one County Court," says the writer just quoted, " eleven divorces were granted one morning before dinner, and that not a fair morning either. In one case, a pro- minent citizen of another State came to Indiana- went through the usual routine the next morning, obtained his divorce about dinner-time — in the evening was married to his new inamorata, who had accompanied him for the purpose and was staying at the same hotel. Soon they started for home, having no further use for the State of Indiana. He introduced his new wife to her astonished predecessor, whom he notified to pack up and go, as there was no room for her in the house." And she went." A divorce may there be obtained for " any cause for which 436 THE F00T-PP.INT3 OF SATAN. the Court shall clftem it proiior to graut it." A husband may put away a faithful wife in any case in which she becomes pRraonally disagreeable to him, or in her deport- ment obnoxious to him, and he is the sole judge whether she find fuvour in his eyes. But the easy legislation of Indiana is not altogether un- appreciated oy legislators of othei* States. And this, in turn, to give woman her rights in the matter of easy divorce. The State of New York is invited, by a sage legislator, to come to her rescue. " State Senator James Wood can take the premium for his p'«i.i of making divorce easy — for wives. There is no •wife in thi . State who could not, if she set about it, ob- tain a separation, with alimony, under the amendment proposed by Mr. Yf ood, * at the instance (it is said) of judge;^ of the Supreme Court.' (?) This is the amendment, including as a cause of limited divorce, such conduct on the part of the husband towards the wife as shall, without just cause, deprive her of the society of her relatives, or friends, or of attendance upon public worship, or shall designedly render her life unhappy or uncomfortable.' * Relatives/ it will be remarked, is a somewhat compre- hensive word, applying not merely ta mothers-in-law, but to the never-ending procession of cousins (in the legal sense, but not physicaLly) far removed. A brute of a husband has, therefore, but to shut out some one of his wife's relatives who wants to make a free boarding-house of his residence, and there at once is a cause of divorce. But if, for a wonder, the wife's relatives did not afford that practical opening for a way out of wedlock, and for the coveted alimony, then it is only necessary for the wife to prove that she was rendered 'uncomfortable.' Nothing could be easier than this. The want of a carriage, or a box at the opera, or a set of diamonds, or furs, might, in the absence of more serious grounds of discomfort, cause a decidedly 'uncomfortable* sensation with some wives, and, backed by a few tears and an able lawyer, sufficiently husband hich she • (leport- whether 3ther un- 1 this, in of easy y a sage nium for 5re is no it it, ob- endment said) of endment, □duct on [, without atives, or or shall fortahle! compre- -law, but ihe legal ate of a le of his uor-house divorce, ot afford :, and for the wife Nothing lage, or a might, in t, cause a e wives, ifficiently WOMAN IN £D£N. 437 answer as a plea for divorce. Since it is obvious that no wife who wishes to cut loose from her husband and siill have a hold on his purse-strings, could fail to procure a divorce under such a law, Mr. Wood might as well move at once that the connubial relation shall be (on the wife's side) dissolvable at pleasure." If there be one feature in lax divorce laws more to be deprecated than any other, it is the allowing of the crim- inal attachment o^ married persons to result in new mar- riages between the guilty ]^flrties, undermining family virtue, and holding cut the lure of a divorce to persons who would otherwise have lived in peace and content- ment. We would that we might here pronounce woman, dear woman, guiltless as touching the great points in question. In Eden our angelic mother listened to the sJien voice of the Tempter. God made her a woman ; endowed her with beauty and every gl-ace, and all the controlling vir- tues that should make her a queen. Her sphere was to sit at the springs of all human influences and io guide the little streams that go to make up the great fountain of human power and to control the destinies of man. The apostasy has shorn her of much of her primeval power. She has sought out many inventions ; the last of which is christened by the delusive title of Woman's Rights. W^e now refer rather to the offshoots of an or- ganization which is not lacking in good aims for woman's higher dignity and usefulness. Yet all about it that cherishes Free Love and the unsexing of woman is worthy only of reprobation and disgust. And yet another class deserve a passing notice here. We mean " girls of the period," and their counterpart, " fast young men." The iDparing of these two classes on the subject of marriage is anything but favourable. Neither has the first qualification for a happy, or even a comfortable married life. Indeed, he must be a brave man, or a fool, that would marry a modern exquisite, yclept II 488 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. " a girl of the period." And not the less brave, or foolish, tlie young lady who would marry a fast young man. With their present.habits of life and notions of marriage, such an alliance would be a perfect incongruity and misnomer. The divine institution of marriage, its laws, relations, and obligations, has been assailed by every hostile battery, from those of the polygamous Mormons to those of the Free Lovers, whose chief anxiety seems to be to secure the sanction of law in far our of free divorce for the married and of temporary marriage for the unmarried. Between these extremes of abominations, there is a more dangerous foe to be met in the very common reluctance to wedded life which has grown up out of the depravation of modem society. Luxury, fashion, and extravagance have borne their bitter fruits. The clubs have taken place of the family, for thousands of young men whose spendthrift habits generally end in their ruin, body and soul. Of course those of the other sex, with equal devotion to all the show and heartlessness of the same kind of life, natur- ally find their counterpart to the gay and useless careers of the bachelors of the club-house. Even in less fashion- able circles this infection is spreading with fatal effects. The first and only essential of marriage, with many young people, seems to be money. And to this meanest of all the gods that men make to themselves, they sacrifice all that is dearest, sweetest, best of domestic life. " Marriages grow to be more a matter of stocks, furni- ture, and dress, with every generation. The children born of much luxur^^ and little love (if bom at all) be- come more feeble in mind and body, and shorter-lived, until foreigners who judge us from our cities may well question whether Americans in the next century will in- herit America." The prevalence of a pure, living Christianity among a people is the only sure safeguard fc: ' 2;ht ideas of the marriage relation, and the only cure of th 3 prevailing ten- dencies to divorce ; while profiigacy, on the other hand, THE CURSE OF PBOFLIGACT. 439 >r foolish, m. With ise, such nsnomer. ions, and battery, of tne jcure the married Between angerous Wedded f modem ve borne !e of the endthrift soul. Of on to all fe, natur- s careers fashion- d effects, ly young jst of all jrifice all is the bane of both. As marriage cultivates, so profligacy blasts every moral principle and poisons every virtue. The whole class of profligates, male and female, are a scourge and a curse — ^a loathsome blot on the fair face of society. They add nothing to its virtue or morality, its industry or respectability. If they fulfilled the common mission of nature to propagate their own species, we might award them some credit Yet better that tlie race -Trere extinct, than that their species were perpetuated. In- temperance and lust replenish their ranks; death, as a messenger of mercy, cuts short their days, and rids the earth of an unmitigated nuisance. cs, fumi- children J all) be- ter-lived, nay well will in- among a IS of the iling ten- ler hand. ! : I ■ I i I Jo H ill . I XXIIL THE DEVIL IN "LATTER TIMES." HOW HE HAS COME DOWN IN GBEAT WRATH BECAUSE HE KNOWS HE HAS BUT A SHORT TIME — SOME OF HIS MORE RECENT DOINGS — THE SEPOY MUTINY — THE SLAVE- HOLDERS' REBELLION — THE COMMUNE INSURRECTION IN PARIS — THE DEVIL IN NEW YORK — THE RIOT OF 1863 — THAT OF JULY 12TH, 1871 — THE TAMMANY RISC — FRAUDS — MURDERS — ABORTIONS — PESTILENCES — EARTHQUAKES — FIRES — MODERN INFIDELITY, HOW IN- SIDIOUS AND DANGEROUS — THE MAJESTY OF LAW SADLY IMPAIRED. The Devil in these last days is aroused to an unwonted craft and activity. As God hastens his purposes and nears the great and final consummation, the great anta- gonistic power is roused to its last desperate, dying struffffle. N'o doubt the gospel of peace and purity, of lighrand liberty, is rapidly extending and taking posses- sion of the earth. Already the Bible is translated into every principal language, and is becoming a book known and read of all men. Christian civilization is extending. Christian literature is multiplying. The mighty power of the press )s largely engaged in thp interests of evan- gelical religion. Civil and religious liberty is making un- wonted strides, and everywhere imperilling the strung- / ' DESFEBATE EFFOBTS OF THE FOE. 441 5." AUSE HE OF HIS E SLAVE- CTION IN OF 1863 NY RI^Q ENCES — HOW IN- W SADLY nwonted )se8 and at anta- ), dying lU'ity, of ■ posses- :ed into known tending. T power )f evan- :ing un- strung* holds of despotism, and nowhere so ominoi^sly as in the Papal States of Eu""opo. The iron despotism of the Pa- pacy, is broken, we may hope for ever; the mightiest arm of Satanic power palsied. The " Old Man," though still alive, " yet, * by reason of age and of the many shrewd brushes he has met with in his younger days, has grown so crazy and stiff in his joints that he can do little more than sit in his cave's mouth grinning at pilgrims as they go by, and biting his mouth because he cannot come at them. 14 o longer can he, unrestrained, go up and down in the earth, seeking whom he may devour — however he may seem still to say, " You will never mend till more of you are burnt." No wonder his Satanic Majesty isbalarmed. Another kingdom is rising which he well knows is destined to supplant his, and take possession of the whole earth. He knows he is the usurper, and that the rightful prince is coming, and, by no unmistakable progress, is about to take possession of his own. And why should he not come down in ' his wrath — why should he not rally all his forces, employ all his resources, and make one final, des- perate onset % He knows he has but a short time. This is precisely what he is doing. Such an onset is he making. Events of the last few years afford no doubtful illustrations of such an assertion, and no years more strik- ing than those of the last decade. The Sepoy mutiny, the Slaveholders' rebellion, and the late Communal insur- rection in Paris are appalling examples of an infarnal agency in war. The atrocities of •these wars, especially the perpetration of barbarities on prisoners before which the slightest feeling of humanity recoils in a blush of un utterable shame, stare us in the face as of things not human. They are from beneath. They are of the Devil. Humanity may be suborned and made to do the bidding of the Devil, yet the act done is none the less devilish. And we would give the Devil his due. No one will fol- low the bloody footsteps of the insurrection in Paris, and 442 THE POOT-PRINTS OF SAT.LN. note its appalling elvocities,. and yet doubt who was the i)8tigator and the moving agent. But we may not pass this revolting drama so cursorily. *' Rule or Ruin/' as in the late uprising of a people in the interests of slavery, is again written in flaming capitals " on the vesture and on the thigh" of the infernal king. Never was this more appallingly illustrated than in the late civil war in France. Never before did the earth witness a more complete pandemonium. The incarnate demon of war had, we should think, already glutted his insatiable maw in the blood of the hundreds of thou- sands slain in the war just closed — a war ruthlessly waged by the " right arm of the Papacy" in the interests of the Scarlet Beai^ But still intent on bloodshed and slaughter and all the horrors of the Pit, the most unpar- alleled barbarities were perpetrated? in Paris. Not only murder and bloodshed, the most relentless and brutal, were but the common pastimes of the frenzied and de- moniac mob, but there was the most wanton destruction of property — conflagrations — ^the vandal hand ruthlessly laid on the most precious works of art — palaces burnt-— churches desecrated and destroyed — butcheries the most brutal — and a reign of terror as if the foulest flends of the Pit were loosed — and the whole characterized as the most ruthless rebellion against all law, divine or human, and pursued with a wantonness and cruelty unparalleled, and terminated in fire and blood, which will leave its marks on the page of history, never to be effaced. It is but the natural culntination, the legitimate fruit of long- cherished infidelity and the social and moral corruption of France. The horrors of 1789-93 were exceeded by the demoniac frenzy of 1871. The history of the world af- fords no parallel Not only was there the most fiendish destruction of property, of life and of everything that aggrandizes and blesses life, but the religious desecra- tion of the hour yet more repulsively betrayed the foot- prints of the Beast th^t asceoideth out of the bottomless n DISOnSTINO SCENES IN PABIS. 443 > was the Bursorily. )Ie in the ^ capitals nal king. Ein in the he earth ncarnate utted his of thou- iithlessly interests shed and it unpar- ^ot only '. brutal, and de- itruction ithlessly burnt-- he most fiends of id as the human, ralleled, eave its It is of long- ption of I by the 'orld af- fiendish ng that iesecra- he foot- itoxnless Pit. One writing amidst these disgusting sbenes of hor- ror, says : " Not alone are the churches closed, the public offices of religion forbidden, the ministers of religion imprisoned because they are the ministers of religion, and apparent- . ly for no other cause, the churches spoiled, the vessels dedicated to God turned either into private booty or the means of public profligacy, the buildings themselves turned into clubs where the most open blasphemy is en- thusiastically applauded ; not only is all this true, but the use of the outward emblems of religion, such as the cross itself, is absolutely forbidden, on the plea that it is an offence to the liberty of conscience. Beyond this neither wickedness nor folly can any further go. The very signs of religion are proscribed. The pride of the great ancient monarchies of heathendom, towering as it did up to heaven, till, beneath the avenging hand, it was brought down to hell, affords no parallel to this state of things. For that was in the times of ignorance ; this in the nineteenth century of Christian civilization : that was done in nations who had only the light of nature ; this in a nominally Christian city, in the heart of a nominally Christian nation. All decency ,1^ humanity, religion were wantonly outraged." As we descend to details the picture is not the less re- volting. What mathematician can compute the agonies inflicted upon the women and children of France and Germany by the late war ? Think of the agony experi- enced by one child thai dies of starvation. Then stand aghast as you read that 12,000 children under four years of age died of starvation in the siege of Paris. The thought of war's terrible injustice to helpless women and children is enough to fire any man that has a heart, with a holy enthusiasm in the cause of peace. But we propose to come nearer home and nearer to our own times for our illustration. We need not go beyond New York City. Never were the foot-prints of I iMi i,n I : i xl 444 THE FOOT-PllINTS OP S'ATAN. an infernal agency more distinctly impressed. Here xre recognize the handiwork of him who is the arch-enemy of all right and truth, of all peace and purity. But here we must indulge in detail. And we begin with the riot of July 12th, 1871. \et this was but the re-enactment of the diabolical scenes which disgraced the streets of New York in the summer of 1863. The same parties were then engaged, the same demoniac spirit fired them to madness, and the same end was aimed at. As in the former so in the latter case, it was but the natural, the spontaneous outburst of Papal intolerance, bigotry, per- , secution and priestly tyranny ; the same spirit which made the Inquisition, the stake and the block, the strong arguments of the Papacy. Nothing but the strong arm of the Government squelched at the very outset the evil demon, which, if unchecked, Would have blasted the last germ of civil and religious liberty in our land, and con- signed to the dens and caves of the earth the last ves- tige of our Protestant faith. It was but the beginning of desolation, which, by bloodshed and devastation, would have laid waste our fair land and established upon its ruins the throne of the Scarlet Beast, with the Bible, and the' common school, and free thought and civil and reli- gious liberty trampled beneath the tread of an unmitiga- ted spiiitual despotism. Such was the desperate onslaught of 1863, and no thanks to our inveterate foe, or to his liege lords in Go- tham, that the dire attempt failed. Of one thing we may rest assured, that there is nothing the Devil so cor- dis Ijy hates as an open BiMc, common education, free thought and a free religion. And as these are identified with the institutions of America, we may be equally sure that our Enemy, clad in the canonicals of Rome, will not be easily diverted from his designs on this land of the pilgiims. Hence the persistent, unscrupulous political warfare waged in this country by Rome and her partisans. From ROME A PERSECUTING PpWER. 445 lere we enemy But here the riot actment treets of i parties id them s in the iral, the ry, per- which » strong •ng arm bhe evil the last nd con- sist ves- ning of , would ipon its )le, and nd reli- mitiga- ind no in Go- ng we so cor- n, free ■ntified \y sure '^ill not of the rflrfare From the "infallible" High Priest at Rome, down through all the hierarchy to the humblest rural priest, no stone la left unturned, no device untried, no scheme so unscrupulous as not to be adopted to compass the desired end — the su- premacy of the Romish power. And Rome never changes. What she was in the days of the darkest ages she is in spirit now. If she does not attempt to shut out all light, seal up the Bible and keep the people in ignorance and in the most abject servility to the hierarchy, it is simply be- cause she cannot — because times have changed, the world has advanced, light has shone over the dark places of the earth, human rights are acknowledged, and of consequence spiritual tyranny is checked. It is simply for the want of powar. The lion chained is not the. less a lion. It was but the same old leaven at work that in 1863 attempted to re[iroduce in New York the appalling scenes of the St. Bartholomew massacres — deluging the streets in blood, burning hospitals, destroying schools, and devastating churches. And it was but the outcropping of the same spirit — and whence that spirit if nob from beneath ? — the un- changing spirit of persecuting Rome, which instigated, and, to the extent of its power, perpetrated, the outrages of July 12th of ,the year 1871. This day has long been observed by the "Orangemen" in commemoration of the signal victory, under the leadership of William, Prince of Orange, of Protestantism over Papal tyranny in Ireland. It is of consequence a day cordially hated by ail Irish Catholics, and hence the outrages, the bloodshed and mur- ders of that day. But we do not propose to go into details here. An allusion to the disgraceful scenes of th&t event- ful day is enough to call up memories the most painful. The Beast for a little time was unchained, that he might again for a little space devour and lay waste just enough to keep the world apprised of his ul )hanged nature, and what "he would do if not restrained. But the Papal Beast, acting ostensibly as a religious 446 THE FOOT-PRINTS OP SATAN. i; ii I power, is not the only beastly power that assumes to rule and riot in our great metropolis. It is the Scarlet Beast in another costume, still struggling • for power, especially for the power of money, and aiming a deadly blow at the life of our free government and free religion. The name assumed is the " Tammany Ring," and if it be not a verit- able personification of the Romish Papacy, it is an aux- iliary agency, profiered on its part and accepted and used by Rome for the subversion of all civil and religious freedom, and to establish in our land a reign oi the Papacy. Our business with the Ring is as an agency of Satan employed by the enemy of all good in our great metro- polis. In spite of an immense amount of good in iNew York, there is a controlling power for evil. But we insist upon no special designation here. It is enough that the Devil has " come down" unto our great Babylon, proclaim- ing woe, woe, unto the inhabiters thereof We accept the aforementioned Ring as a veritable incarnation. And what is the record of the Ring ? As serpent-like it has dragged its slimy length along through every slough of intemperance, licentiousness, deception, theft, gam- bling and all manner of devilry, crowded with a depth of fraud that puts the veriest heathen to the blush, we may not pretend to follow its serpentine, underground wind- ings. We can only detect some of its more ostensible outgrowths. It has been said, and with too much truth we fear, that, whosoever else may be reckoned of the Ring, we are safe in placing there all loafers, prize fight- ers, felons, and the whole gang of thieves, rum-sellera, drunkards and gamblers. Yet all these precious hordes united are not the authors of a tithe of the mischief which may justly be set at the door of the notorious Ring- leaders. One of the most palpable mischiefs of the Ring, and one which at the very outset identifies its spirit as from the Pit, is that it has struck a deadly blow at the majesty of THE BING AND ITS CONSTITTJENTS. 447 • Bs to rule let Beast especially" 3W at the ['he name >t a verit- an aux- and used religious a of the of Satan b metro- in Ne«7 we insist that tihe ►roclaim- jcept the )ent-like y slough ft, gam- depth of we may d wind- stensible jh truth . of the ;e fight- i-sellera, I hordes mischief IS Ring- and one •om the ijesty of h. w. It has corrupted the judiciary, and so bought up the representatives of the law that the criminal — the thief, the murderer, the meanest or the boldest transgres- sor — if he be of the " gang," or can, by bribe or otherwise, purchase its favour, may defy the demands of justice and laugh the lawgiver to scorn. And consequently, in the same degree, all honest, industrious citizens are made to feel that all right and justice are at the mercy of the mob, so notoriously have fraud, dishonesty, embezzling of public funds, characterized the administration of the Ring. The law has no terror even to the most shamelessly lawless, if he may find refuge in the Ring. A few facts and figures will illustrate. And take first the management of the Ring in the finances of New York City. These " thieves" are already proved to have stolen upward of fifty million of dollars, and in the opinion of competent men who are still looking into our affairs, the real amount embezzled does not fall short of one hundred million. They have doubled the city debt in two years. A very few years of the like rule, or rather misrule, would see the entire aggregate of the real estate of the city vir- tually mortgaged for the debt. The following are a few of the details. The new Court House at once looms up as a monument of Tammany's honesty. Though by no means completed, it has already cost more than $12,000,000. Then come in bills for more than $5,663,000 for furniture of the Court House and re- pairs of armouries and drill rooms ; for plastering and re- pairs, $2,370,464 ; for plumbing and gas works, $1,231,817 46; for awnings, $2?/,563 51. These four bills give an aggregate of more than $9,000,000. We can only judge what the amount of the grand swindle would be, by the fragmentary' items which have slipped out of the common budget. The little charge for the public printing for two years is $1,401,269 ; for sta- tionery, $871,373 ; for advertising, $369,184. A total of $2,641,828 for these three items. moM ;li t 1 ii' • 448 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. t ^ The following is a bill for work, furniture, etc., corering only three months : -^- Furniture. Oo-ty $2,019,639 23 Cxtj. 240,564 C3— $2,860,203 86 Plaster, etc. County $2,905,404 06 City 126,161 90— $3,031,625 96 Plumbing, etc. County $1,231,817 76 City 1.149,874 50— $2,381,092 26 ^ ' Carpenter-work, etc. County $1,421,755 42 City 88,074 29-$l,509,829 71 Safes. County $404,347 72 City 19,030 00— $423,427 72 Awnings. County $41,746 83 City 4,881 00— $46,627 33 Carpenter-work. County ; $62,360 46 City 25,753 60— $88,114 00 Painting. County $256,833 51 City.... 151,481) 86— $408,314 37 Transcript Printing Association. County $127,735 76 City^ 152.971 69— $280,707 45 New York Printing Company* County $1,575,989 54 Cifcy 260,283 81— $1,836,273 35 THE TAlOfANT RIKa. 4/'t* , coTenng 60,203 86 )31,625 96 381,092 26 509,829 71 1423,427 72 346,627 33 $88,114 00 $408,314 37 $280,707 45 H.836,2T3 35 ^'Manufacturing Stationers. County $97,881 21 City 186,499 61— $2vS4,880 82 Total '.. ... $13,151,li<8 89 Or take as another example the public parks of the city. The annual expenditure for iv.> care and mainte- nance only has been $60,000, wh^e te total expendi- tures for seventeen months wa» *3,i - ',543. We need not be surprised then at the for' wdj. gs of tho/se who best know, that the city debt, instead . $125,000,000, as liad been supposed, would prove to ^e ^lot leps than 200,000,- 000, more than half of which \v ^ .ire obliged to credit to the embezzlement of the Ring. " Such a set of tliieves," says an enemy of the Ring, "never were unearthed in this world before." Their motto is, " in business, lie and steal cleverly, and wealth and honour are before you." And the same modesty is shown in the matter of sal" ariea. Though the stipend is of much less account than the " pickings," yet these honest officials are here, too, "wiser in their generation than the children of light," providing not only for therr^selves but for their house- holds. P. B. S — — and four of his relatives have the credit ot receiving salaries to the amount of $104,000 a year — himself $128,000, besides his salary and "pickings" as State Senator. Nor is S an exception. Other members of the Ring come in for a yet much larger share of the spoil. T has the lion's share. And of the scores — ^the hundreds of subordinates who are receiving exorbi- tant salaries, the most are paid to non-occupants, if not to non-existents. On the advent of an honest mau (Assis- tant-Controller Green) into one department, more than three score and ten were, within a few weeks, dismissed as useless incumbents. Nor are we to suppose this any ex- ception to the prodigal expenditure in other departments of municipal affairs. As the frauds perpetrated in the dif- 29 :lV 450 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. H 1 ferent departments have been exposed, we have seen scores of assistant clerks and other supernumeraries reported in each, all drawing salaries — or oftener, others drawing in their names — names which have no existence but in fic- tion and fraud. It is believed safe to say that not a tithe of the money drawn from the treasury to pay bills presented, has gone to pay for services ever rendered, or material furnished, and not a tithe of the men for whom salaries were drawn ever rendered service, if they had any existence at all. But pecuniary frauds, embezzlements and thievings are but the beginning of the diabolical end compassed by the Ring. Everything dear to a free people is perilled. In their efforts to entrench themselves securely, the Tam- many rulers struck a deadly blow at everything honourable in public life. They have done more to debauch the press than anything or anybody in recent times. The courts of justice have been shamefully polluted. The police are made agents of corruption and misrule. The very schools are turned into arenas of political jobbeiy, and rendered the nursery grounds for an alien faith. The commercial credit of the city is tarnished ; our property is wasted away in order that the scum of the earth may ac- quire unheard-of fortunes ; every man's possessions will soon be mortgaged to their full value. This is a dark picture, but it is npt so dark as the reality. "In the reign of the Ring," says one, "a holocaust of wickedness such as society has not seen in later times has followed. Intemperance revels in maddened drunken orgies. Lust pollutes the fountains of social purity most shamelessly and destructively. Sabbath-breaking will make your streets hideous with noise of revellers, your schools will be robbed of every Bible in^uence, and so of every moral in-fluence. Your courts of justice will be shambles where justice is bought and sold like meat, your whole cdmraunity will be a hissing and a by-word in the mouth of the world. It is a solemn and a mighty crisis V. ▲ HOLOCAUST OF WICKEDNESS. 451 seen scores eported in Irawing in but in fic- the money I, has gone furnisned, ere drawn I at all. evings are ised by the rilled. In the Tam- lonourable ii the press e courts of police are The very . jobbery, aith. The )roperty is 1 may ac- ^sions will is a dark olocaust of times has I drunken iirity most iking will Hers, your and 80 of will be neat, your ord in the hty crisis !e in our municipal history. All the best men, without doubt or misgiving, feel this to be so. All good things are at stake. Religion has interests at sta-ke, so has pub- lic morals, so has public order, so has a sound political morality, so has the good name of this metropolis, so has justice — honesty. " With all that is good and great about this city, how much there is to make a thoughtful mind apprehensive and sad ! What a vast amount of crime and misery, what drunkenness. Sabbath-breaking, profligacy of all sorts centre here ! What extravagance characterizes our people ! What corruption invests our high places ! What a horde ' of ignorant and unprincipled creatures make this city the scene of their nefarious pursuits!" Then there are the hidden works of darkness that elude all scrutiny, and yet, from police investigations and me- dical testimony, we can make some calculation of the numbers of those who are leading a life of shame. It will be safe to say that there are 7,600 prostitutes and 2,500 other women who visit houses of assignation, etc., making a total of 10,000. The value of the real and personal property invested in the business cannot be short of $5,- 000,000. And the amount of money spent in houses of ill-fame, and the amounts required for the expenses of criminal and human institutions growing out of the terri- ble evil, must make a total of $5,000,000 more. And then the dreadful havoc here on health and human life I . The average duration of life after entering on a course of prostitution is four years. So that more than 1,800 of these miserable women die every year. But the New York Devil is not a single personage. He is a triune god, three persons, or three .creat devils. They are Fraud, Intemperance and Licentiousne.ss, inspired by the goddess Fashion. Under the fascinations of fashion, ** the filth '^f Taris has been gathered as the gold of Ophir." In the name of art and refinement come vulgar display and wild extravagance, lascivious pleasures, theatrical ^i: !1 I 452 THE rOOT-PBINTS OF SATAN. abominations and domestic ruin. In our churches, wo- men, given to the god of Fashion sit at our communion tables. Folly flaunts its fineiy in our best pews. A rogue purchases immunity by endowing a churchy or build- ing a hospital. If we may judge of the character of the demand from tjie auppl;/, we meet a very good criterion in any of our large furnishing depots. Go into the house of A. T. Stewart and inquire the price simply of ladies' shawls. " Brussels point of the puresl white, $1,000 ; point ap- pliqu^, $1,000 ; black chantilly, $1,()00. .Or, betterthan all, bordered with autumn leaves, $5,000.". This purchased, then dress your lady to match. A two or three thousand dollar dress, jewellery to twice that amount, a bouquet of point lace, representing orange blossoms and other varieties of flowers, with all the paraphernalia needful to make up a modern fashionable lady — a dear creature worth possibly $20,000— a wife or a daughter worth having. Indeed we think we know of one, or did know her in the days of her maidenhood, who is recently reported to have paid $18,000 for six and a half yards of point laee, thus rival- ling Queen Victoria and the Empress Eugenie, who had refused so rare a bargain. This matched, and Senator has the dearest wife of them all. But the Ring of modern celebrity is no new design of Satanic algency. Rings, confederacios, juntas, monopolies have been his darling schemes by which to work. We hear of the " Whisky Ring," the " Canal Ring," the "Erie Ring," the idolatry of fashion, the con-uption of the ballot-box and of the legislature, frauds, false weights and adulterations, dishonest mercantile practices-, an insane passion for speculation and gambling — " keno," " faro," and all the mysteries of the gambling hell. And plenty of politicians there are, who, that they may gain place, poM^er and good " pickings," would not hesitate to sell us to Rome, to burn our Bible, to abolish our Sabbath and free schools, and to deluge our land in rum and ruin. THE INFALLIBILITT DOGBIA. 453 ches, wo- mmunion )ews. A , or build- and from ,ny of our of A. T. !s' shawls, point ap- jr than all, mrchased, thousand )Ouquet of r varieties ) make up h possibly fndeed we e days of mve paid hus rival- who had Senator design of lonopolies ork. We ing," the ion of the ights and lan insane " faro," id plenty jain place, to sell us Dbath and ruin. But our hero does not confine himself to New York City, If not omnipresent, he has peculiar capabilities of locomo- tion. Such wonderful ubiquity has he that while we are watching his movements in our great metropolis, we hear of his doings in London, in Paris, in Rome, seemingly all at the same moment. His late presence and presidency at the (Ecumenical Council of Rome deserves special notion in the records of his doings in these latter days. His most faithful allies and genial friends, the Jesuits, having laboured most insidiously and indefatigably for many a long year to regain lost power, and if possible to consum- mate the supremacy of the Papacy, now, af, a dernier re' sort and desperate attempt, instigated the calling of the council. Having, through the Pope, already a controlling influence at the Vatican, they thought, in his authorized supremacy, to secure for the Order the supreme control of the nations. Hence their indefatigable, unscrupulous scheming for the infallibility of the Pope. And in their I supposed success is verified, in the Romish Hierarchy, the last sign of the great apostasy. Now " that mtin of sin is revealed," ^ so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, sho«ring himself (or claiming) that he is God." Thus the fearful climacteric, the dizzy height of Papal usurpation being reached, we need not wonder that the divina forbearance was exhausted. Heaven could bear no more. The very next day — some say the very day the heaven-provoking act of the Infallibility dogma was passed, heaven's indignation burst forth in the form of that dreadful war waged on the part of the French Em- peror (the right arm of the Papacy) for the defence of th^ Romish Hierarchy, but overruled by indignant heaven to the downfall of his Imperial Majesty and as an awful scourge and humiliation to France. Never did the Devil more signally out/wit himse^ t' Like as in his first rebellion, when he essayed to usurp the throne of the Most High, he now thought to exalt a poor mortal into the place of God, that he should be worship- 454 I ! THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. f)ed as God. But how, in that thunderbolt of war at once et loot»e on France, the strong arm of the Papacy, was " hell from beneath moved to meet him at his coming." " It stirred up all the chief ones of the earth, it raised up from their thrones the kings of the nations." Already is their " pomp brought down," and we seem to hear the fejjiumphal song, " How art thou fallen from heaven, Lucifer ! how art thou cast down to the ground, which did weaken the nations !" France is the most complete personification or realization of Papal Rome. It is Romanism gone to seed. Here is the beau ideal of what the religion of Rome can do for the world. Pointing to France, his Infallibility may proudly repeat the boast, " Is not this the great Babylon that I have built ?" We here see what a nation, possessed of every advantage of military power, of art, science, wealth, culture and commanding position, can be, when existing and developing under the auspices of Papal Rome. In proportion as Ronie is the controlling power, the triune god of France is Fashion, Licentiousness and Infidelity. And no help or hope for her till she shall come out and be separate from a system not less demoralizing than the boldest idolatry. And would that we were not obliged to concede that, as in dress so in the poison of infidelity, Paps riiies the fashion. In nothing do we more distinctly trace the foot- prints of our Foe than in the prevalence of modern infide- lity. It is not the open, defiant infidelity of Hume and Voltaire, but the insidious, covert Christian infidelity of the present day. The Devil is turned reformer, preacher, teacher, author, anything — appears clad in the garb of the Christian, the more adroitly to compass his diabolical ends, edits religious journals when he can, or, as contribu- tor, slyly leavens them with the virus of modern scepti- cism. And especially at the present day is he exercising a boundless control in the realm of fictitm. With an air often of evangelical piety, our works of fiction are but too Vf.( - DANGER OF INFIDELITT. 455 v&T at once apacy, was 3 coming." b raised up A.lready is L) hear the heaven, O which did realization . Here is do for the ly proudly Ion that I ossessed of ce, wealth, sn existinor xoniQ. In bhe triune Infidelity. le out and y than the cede that, I rules the e the foot- jrn infide- Eume and fidelity of , preacher, arb of the diabolical contribu- srn scepti- exercising ith an air re but too often secretly permeated wifch a specious infidelity more dangerous than that of the open scoffer*. It is this kind of infidelity that lurks through the dif- ferent systems of ** liberal Christianity," and is indeed i^ characteristic feature. The following paragraph very aptly e-^presses what we mean. " The fact of-Christ's life and death, the purity of His character, and the sublime and elevated nature of His teachings are acknowledged by both good and bad. In- fidelity assumes a different position. Instead of denying the Bible, it accepts it conditionally — it is an excellent book, but full of imperfections — not to be taken as a guide, but as a help, containing both truth and error. Satan has grown wiser by his long experience with man. He has found that he cannot carry the citadel by storm, and so he has resorted to sapping and mining. He knows that when he can get men to receive the Bible with tlie same respect, and no more, which they do any other good book, he has gained his end — it will in time share a like fate with them. And what makes this form of infidelity the more dangerous, is the stiunge fact that it assumes to be a religious belief, the foundation of a Christian Church." A strange mixture of blasphemy and religion, of rank in- fidelity and pretended reverence for God. But these social, civil and religious eruptions and re*' .volutions are but a part of the modern evolutions of the Wicked One whereby to make his power known, if not to perpetuate his reign upon the earth. Nature responds. Or rather the god of this world uses the tremendous agencies of nature to makf> his power felt, or to compass his ends. Hence earthquakes in divers places, famines, pestilences, floods and tornadoes, and these latter terrific agencies of nature, now more frequent and disastrous than ever before, submerging whole cities and towns, and spreading devastation over large portions of country. The famine in Persia swept over almost the entire length and breadth of the land. The people in every city m 1 ''^"' . '1 i 1 ! i • 't '■ ; iill Bi 1 Hi i j mtA iHB' ' u 1 1 ^^B ii 1 1 i i , \ lii II i ■ i f. A ■ 1 ^H|ii. i 1 ^m (. 1 t i^ ^ ! Hi ! I 1 i HEk i if 45G THE FOOT-PRIMTS OF SATAN. and village died by hundreds. In Ispahan the ravages were fearful, and scarcely a town was exempt from tne dreadful visitation. "Persia," says a dispatch, "seems likely to suffer to the utmost extent all the possible con- sequences of the great disasters of famine and pestilence that have within some months past ravaged her 'fattest provinces. Insurrection is the latest calamity. Insur- rections have taken place at Shiraz and at Tabriz. No doubt as winter comes on and this year's scanty supply of food is exhausted, the people, frantic with hunger and despair, will cease to regard any control but that of a sa- vage instinct, and the country will be still further devas- tated by general pillage and murder. Three thousand die daily, and tens of thousands are dependent on cha- rity." Passing by the unprecedented number of floods, storms, and tornadoes that have devastated many portions of our own country, we notice a single one on quite the opposite side of the globe. A con-espondent says, " The whole country in the neighbourhood of Tien- tsin, China, is inun- dated, and communication only possible by boat The crops are desjtroyed.and large numbers of cattle and human beings have been drowned. The survivors are flocking into Tien-tsin, and camping on the city wall. Their houses, which are built chiefly of mud, are washed a^vay. Great distress will evidently prevail through the winter, and even though, rice may be provided by Government or by private charity, it 'will be almost impossible to provide fuel. The fuel used throughout the North is the millet stalk, and this of course has all been destroyed with the grain. " The fact may bo difficult to repliza, but it is a fact that several people have been drowned in the streets of Pekin — in the ' loughs of mud and water." The North China Herald says that "at Tungchow, people are up to their waists ia water in the principal streets. An appeal for charity has come down from New- V • EARTHQUAKE, HURRICANE, FIREa 457 chwang to aid the survivors of a village which has been entirely swept away by the flood. Some 1,200 lives are reported to have been lost." In New Chiang twenty thousand square miles of ter- ritory were inundated and a thousand persons were drowned. A telegram from Constantinople brings intelligence that the City of Antioch, in Syria, has been visited by an earthquake, causing terrible loss of life. The dispatch states that one-half of the city was totally destroyed and 1,500 persons lost their lives. Great distress prevails in that portion of the city not demolished, and the remain- ing inhabitants are sadly in need of assistance. Advices from Zanzibar say the island had been visited by a terrible hurricane. One hundred and fifty vessels of all classes were sunk or stranded on the coast. The town of Zanzibar was badly damaged, and the loss wa« esti- mated at $10,000,000. Whether it be earthquake, or flood or tornado, or famine or pestilence, it speaks " woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth." But we pass to the great events of this eventful year, the fires of Chicago and the North-west. But why inti- mate, it will be asked, that these and the like dreadful casualties which come in the shape of fires, earthquakes, storms, and tornadoes, are, in any sense, the handiwork of the Devil ? No doubt they are permitted, restrained and overruled by the Divine Hand. Still, if there were no Devil, we apprehend these things would never be. Though it be not conceded that he is necessarily the originator and instigator of them, it will not be denied that he runs riot in them as the delight of his soul. We have been especially struck with the terms inci- dentally used and the epithets applied to desfcribe the ravnges of these fires. They are such as these : " The de- stroying angel," *• the fire devil," " a raging, roaring hell of fire," " run like a conscious fiend drunk with victory," i I (!■! I I ; 458 THE PCOT-PRINTS OP SATAN. "rushed in fury as if some agency of hell wexe its via a tergo." " The reign of lire and brimstone in Sodom and Gomorrah," writes another, " can hardly be compared with the devastating ruin of the fire-fiend in Chicago." "The wind, in devilish league with the fiery element, whistled and howled and madly whirled along the streets, urging and hurrying on the flames t > new feats — to fresh orgies," "Ah, liis Satanic Majesty n: ight gloat in fiendish glee." "The proud city of the prairies, so grand, so magnificent a few days ago, glorious in her beauty and her strength, is laid in dust and a^hc,^ by the withering breath of the destroying engel." And, in appalling correspondence with this, was the fiend-like rage of the PiUiFiiE FlEES in Wisconsin, Michigan, and half a dozen other States and Territories of the North-west, '^he tornad/ of flame — the burn- " ing clouds that drove witl. 'lighl.D^n j speed through the air, were ominously ter.ifi?. The terror-stricken people thougl cie last day had come — "the great day of his wrath." The phcDOfriet,! and results of tliis storm were mysteri- ously strange. In some places the foresi trees lay in every imaginable position, while in others they were carried into winrows. They were mere sticks in the hands of a great power, slashing and whipping the earth, and then made fuel for the work of death. The fields, woods, barns, houses, and even the "air," was on fire, while large balls of fire were revolving and bursting in every direction, igniting everything they came in contact with ; and the whole of this devouring element was driven before a tornado at the rate of a mile a minute. There can be no doubt that the air, strongly charged with electricity, holped on the work of destruction and death. Mr. A. Rirby says he. saw large bodies o" balls of fire in the air, and when they came in contact with anything, they would bound thirty or forty rods away. Others testify ' that they saw large clouds of fire burst into fragments, and sJMStT'W!'.. WISCONSIN AND MICHIGAN FIKES. 459 xe its vie a Sodom and e compp«red in Chicago." jry element, y the streets, ,ts — to fresh t in fiendish > grand, so beauty and le withering lis, was the Wisconsin, L Territories — the burn- bhrough the cken people day of his ere mysteri- lay in every carried into h of a great then made oods, barns, large balls y direction, bh; and the ;n before a e can be no electricity, th. Mr. A. fire in the 7thing, they hers testify gments, and in some instances great tongues of fire like lightning would isoue from these dark clouds and light upon the buildings. Pennies were melted in the pockets of persons who were but little burned. A small bell upon an engine, and a new stove, both standing from twenty to forty feet from any building, were melted. Aud who could have witnessed those strange pheno- mena unmoved ? If people who "isit the ruins since the fire are forced to think that God hid his face in wrath and sent forth his thunderbolts of destruction ; nay, that he gave the very fiends of hell the right Q,nd power to shake the place and burn it up, what must have beeu the feelings of those who passed through the fiery or- deal 1 In Wisconsin alone from 1,200 to 1,800 perished In the flames, and more than ten times the ^.ast number were made homeless and destitute. Some testifv that the tiro did not come upon ^heiii gradually from burning trees and other objects to tha windward, but the first notice they had of it was h whirl- wind of flames, in great clouds from abovp the to dp of trees, which fell upon and envelop 1 everj thing. The atmosphere seemed one of fire. T poor people inhaled it, or the intensely hot air, and fe down dead. This is* verified by the appearance of man of the corpses. They were found dead in the roads and pen spaces where there were no visible marks of the fire near by, with not a trace of burning upon their bodies or iothing. At the Sugar Bush, which is an extended clearing, in some places four miles in width, corpses were found in the open road, be- tween fences which were only slightly burned. No mark of fire was upon them, but they lay there as if asleep. This phenorr^enon seems to explain the fact that so many were killed in compact masses, ^hey seemed to have huddled together in ^those places that wore regarded as the safest, away from buildings, trees and other inflamma- ble material, and there to have died together. Fences m If ff I I If'; i: 'I I ■J ;: 460 THE FOOT-PRINTS OP SATAN. iiii' !;| 466 THE FOOT-PBINTS OP SATAN. joy in ar icipation a pleasure sail across the upper Bay. Within less than five minutes later, about a fourth of these happy holiday seekers were either dead, dying, or suffering intense agony from being scalded by steam and bruised by falling ties and timber. The forward deck of the ferry-boat, which a few minutes before had seemed as safe to tread on as the firm set earth, had suddenly opened under the feet of its occupants, and amid sounds and sights which the mind shrinks from realizing, had given place to a shapeless mass of wood and iron and scaldea and shattered human bodies. In the course of that fatal five minutes a badly caulked joint, a defective plate, something unknown, and destined perhaps to re- main for ever unknown, converted the boiler into an in- strument of the most fearful destruction, and made the expansiveness of the vapour which it contained the cause of ruin, agony and sudden death." Nor can we recall a year so awfully signalized by man- slaughters, murders and suicides, to say nothing of rail- road slaughters. Read the record of a single day, and that too the death-knell of a single journal. " Miss Emily A. Post died from the treatment she re- ceived from Dr. Perry and Mrs. Buskirk."^ Ah ! what a sad tale is here told, and but the repetition of many and many a like tragedy. And here who does not call up a sad remembrance of the beautiful Alice Augusta Bowlsby, and of others who grace or disgrace the annals of the past. Who can read these sickening records and not discern the handiwork of man's inveterate foe ? Sad memorials these of what sin and Satan can do with a world that was once Eden, and which, by the regenerating power of One stronger than he, shall become more than an Eden. Here we leave his Satanic Majesty for the present, still at work, and ever at work, and never more busily, ener- getically, stealthily and determinedly than at the present writing, and all this became h« knows bis time is sbort. ( I per Bay. fourth of dying, or beam and I deck of 1 seemed suddenly Id sounds sing, had iron and course of , defective tps to re- to an in- made the the cause i by man- ig of rail- day, and it she re- l! what a nany and call up a , Bowlsby, Is of the )t discern nemorials that was T of One len. sent, stiU lily, ener- |c present short. XXIV. YET LATER DEMONSTRATIONS OF THE DEVIL IN NEW YORK. THE GREAT ASSASSINAHON — FISK, STOKES AND THEIR CON- FEDERATES — THE PROFANATION OF THE SABBATH ; OPEN- ING LIBRARIES — ^WAR UPON THE BIBLE — ^UPON OUR COMMON SCHOOLS — FRAUDS, DISHONESTY, LICENTIOUS- NESS NO DISGRACE — ^THE REIGN OF A LICENTIOUS LITER- ATURE — ^THE END OF THE DEYIL, AND WHAT OF IT. But we may not take leave of the hero of our tale quite yet. We had hoped he had, in his late antics in our great metropolis, reached a kind of climacteric, and that he would rest a little. But alas! his disquieted spirit knows no rest. As he roamed up and down in the earth, he found no such faithful allies as those in old Qotham. All is moving on, events are thickening, a crisis is approaching, and our arch enemy is on the alert to seize an advantage or forestall a disaster. His plots, stratagems, machinations, are devised and executed with . redouhled craft and virulence. The death record in the City of New York the last ^ear (1871) tells a tale of Sa- tanic triumph not to he mistaken : Deaths by violence, 1,314, viz., 851 killed by accident — 106 suicides — 106 dead bodies of infants found — 179 dead bodies found in the rivers around the ^ity, stabbed, mutilated and other- wise iniured. 468 THE FOOT-PBIKTS OF SATAN. The new year oommencsd with a tragedy nearer akin to the nether world than anything wmch preceded it. It is now Devil against Devil^— a family feud — ^two pro- mising scions playing the assassin one upon the otner. In a freak to do an unusually devilish act and outdo him- self) he instigates one of his faithful servants to become the murderer of another yet more faithful. The late sensation in New York (where Satan's seat is) has roused us to a fresh conception of his terrific reign there. But if Satan be divided against himself ho w shall he stand ? " Every kingdom divided a^inst itself is brought to desolation." Hence a gleam of hope that the colossal Tammany domination is undermined an(f must ere long come to grief. The diabolical act of a confederate in sin, in murderously taking the life of James Fisk, Jr., who outraged all honesty and purity, waged a deadly war on all our social and domestic relations and commer- cial interests, startled the whole nation. Confederates in life, they will not be long separated in death — the one by the assassin's revolver, the other by the hangman's rope (if there be any majesty in law.) Whether we recall the relations of these two notorious actors to one another, or their unenviable character and position in society, we cannot mistake the brand of Cain on both. James Fisk, Jr., wicked, bold, shameless, un- scrupulous in all the ways and means of getting wealth, and that even without a blush of shame, and infamous among all decent people, falls a victim to a notorious rival in fraud and profligacy. With the enterprise of a burglar, the daring of a pirate and the desperation of a gambler, Fisk had heaped up riches. Wealth had given him power, and such was the exercise of that power, that Bench, Bar and Legislature were at times subject to his control "A proprietor of railroads, steamboats and theatres, and of judges and bad men; a profligate debauchee, rolling in os- tenfiitious, dishonest wealth and luxury, defying public opinion and lost to every sense of shame, he became no- A FEABFUL RETBIBUTION, 469 / I torious and infamous" in the eyes of all honest and busi- ness men. " We regard Jim Fisk, Jr.," says another, " as a walk- ing pestilence while he lived, his death by the hand of a wOful murderer as a fearful retribution — ^not a word to mitigate the abhorrence which such a life as his awakened in every upright soul." But, says some apologist, he had a kind heart. Was that a kind heart that could daily insult decency and propriety by his company on the avenue and in the Park ? Has the habitual swindler, the defrauder, the repudiator of his bargains when likely to fail, a kind heart '( But worse than his ill-gotten gains, and his tawdry show, was "the gross immorality of his , life, which he took no pains to conceal. Not content with showing off his ill-gotten wealth, he flaunted his vices in the face of the community with an utter con- tempt for public opinion, and it is a remarkable instance of retribution that he came to his end from the rivalries' and jealousies of his dissolute companions." Bloody and wicked as was the deed by which] this bold, bad man was cut down in his profligacy and shame, there is in the public conscience a fitness of the termi- nation of his career. " The wicked is drawn away in his wickedness." " Thus far shalt thou go and no further." " Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days." " The wicked shall fall by his own wickedness." Such a career, if it end not in an untimely death, is pretty sure to terminate in financial disaster and perso- nal humiliation. Disgusting as such a career must ever appear to all reflecting people, yet, as an example of apparent pecuniary success, how disastrous is its influence on aspiHng young men. He was envied by thousands who saw him appa- rently prospering in his wickedness, as if wealth were alone the road to distinction and honour. While in the very gush of a life of unparalleled fraud, and of *he most shameless dissipation and profligacy, and as the natural 470 THE POOT-PRINTS OP SATAN. fruit of his own corrapt life, he is publidy assassinated in a hotel, by a friend, an associate in knavery and com- panion and rival in profligacy. The murderer of Fisk was a wicked man — a befitting agent to perpetrate the foul deed confided to his hands by their common master. He had a wife and child whom he had forsaken to pursue the slimy footsteps of a wicked woman. We shall hazard no definite speculation here on the policy of the DevU in instigating one faithful ally to the murder of another yet more faithful Wise as the Devil is conceded to be, he has been known before to make mis- takes, to commit blunders, and work against himself. The act itself was worthy its original, but we do not quite comprehend its policy. Why was Fisk stricken down while yet in the very zenith of his strength and glory in the service of his liege lord ? In vain we look around for the man who, by tact, corruption, satanic sa- 'gacity and unbounded activity, can fill the place of James Fisk, Jr. The leaders of Tammany Bing, each in his own sphere, has rendered invaluable service to their mas- ter, and has not failed of a " Well done, good and faith- ful servant." But neither of these could make a Fisk. He seemed to unite in one, more of the attributes of his master than any mere man of modem days. Touth, hope, vigour, great acuteness and quickness of intellect on his side, with subtlety, corruption and. unbounded un- scrupidousness, James Fisk, Jr., stood pre-eminent and alone in a choice portion of his master's vineyard. And who, among the multitude of aspirants for such honours, shall fill the vacancy now made ? Yet how shall we account for it that one loyal subject should wilfully murder another not less loyal? Were thev not children of the same father, united by the ties of brotherhood, heirs to the same destiny, and each in his sphere loyal to the same master ? And why did this master sufier such damage to be inflicted in the sanctum of his own household ? Is there no loyalty to that king, DEVIL AGAINST DEVIL. 471 sinated id com- isk was be foul >r. He pursue on the ' to the e Devil kemis- dmself. do not tricken ;th and ^e look mic sa- r James in his ir mas- i faith- aFisk. s of his Youth, llect on led un- mt and And mours, subject Were ;ho ties mch in lid this anctum Bit king, no subordination to that master, no reverence to that fiitber ? Possibly there is discord there— envyings, jeal- ousies, hate, revenge — Devil against Devil, to get rid of a rival And no wonder if the children of him who is the father of lies, the '' deceivableness of unrighteousness," should be too much like their father, always to live in harmony. In the case in question a little feud arose, a little family rupture, a corroding jealousy about an abandoned woman, and the revolver pronounced the dire decision. Paternal regard is overruled, paternal rule is disregacded, mutual interests are fatally perilled, and brother murders brother. It is a " happy family " no more. And do you not hear tiiat wail 9 It is from beneath. The hosts of hell are moved. Tammany is in teftrs. Tweed weeps. The scores of thousands, if not the hundreds of thousands who congregated to pay a final homage to the victim of his own lusts, do out testify to the consternation felt at the terrific deed and to the deep-seated and wide-spread corruption of the Tammany rule. Yet James Fisk, Jr., was not so low sunk in moral turpitude that be has not found a biographer to per- petuate his brilliant deeds. Such a volume is published and open to the perusal of every young man who would foUow in his distinguished career. One reviewer has expressed, in a single sentence, the opinion of every pure and honest man in the land : " It is a worthless, tawdry biography of a worthless, tawdry rascal." [* The s^te of demoralization prevailing all over the Union is to the right-minded, reflecting citizen, most ap- palling. Murders everywhere, and the murderers almost always screened under various pretexts. It is only neces- sary that the criminal possess wealth — ^have wealthy or influential friends, and he or she may laugh at law. Take * Added to Camadiftn Editicm. 472 THE FOOT-PBnrrS OF SATAN. the following case, from the Topeka {Eam^aaa) CwMMm- wealth, as a sample of the state of society generally : " William Taylor, a quiet, industrious man of colour in Dodge Oity^ Kansas^ earned his living as a public carter. Six valiant drunWen roysterers, finding Tay- lor's mules and waggon standing at a door, at once treat themselves to a free excursion at Taylor's expense. When he remonstrates, these brave white citizens shoot one of his mules. In reply to his further remonstrance, the whole six empty their revolvers into the man himself. This not finishing the work, they follow up with kicks and blows till their victim lies a lifeless corpse on the public street. Yet, although this Dodge Gity, or Fort Dodge, is under military rule, these free and enlightened citizens, and twice as many more like them, waUn at large, none daring or caring to say them nay." And this from l£e Aus- tin ^exaa) JouttwI : — " Between the 1st and 10th of May, 1873, a party consisting of, say half a dozen, more or less, visited a camp of workmen on the railroad (Texas Pacific) twenty miles north of Jefferson, in a state of in- toxication, headed by a Mr. Porter, an old citizen of Cass County. Mr. Porter, the leader, commenced an attack on a negro man, who, the bystanding white man said to Mr. Porter, was a peaceable and unofiending man. The negro pushed Mr. Porter off and kept out of hSi way. At this Mr. Porter took great offence, but, not consider- ing himself sufficiently strong, went back home, recruited his party, and returned in a day or so, and found the duties of the negro as a labourer had caused him to change to a camp some miles distant on the railroad. Thither Mr. Porter and his increased force followed, finding the negro engaged at his labour. Porter assumed to be sheriff, and the others of the party, subordinates, took the negro prisoner, boLad him fast, opened his eyes and spat in them tobacco juice, confined him fast to one of the horses, started off at a fast gait, compelling him to keep up or drag ; or- dered the negro to bow humbly to every white man they met whi BBUTAL 1IUBDKB& 478 nerally : )loiir in public ig Tay. i>t once izpense. s shoot strance, bimself. cksand ) pubuc odg^^ is sitizens, ^e, none lOth of 1, more (Texas I of in- of Cass attack Q said 1. The y. At Qsider- Jniited id the ;hange 'hither Dg the sheriff, negro ithem itarted g; or- 1 they met on the road, and on the streets of a town through which they passed en t(alU. Proceeding on their way to a spot sufficiently retired for their diaoolical purposes, they confined the coloured man between two small trees, so placing him that he could only move his head. Thus located, they deliberately proceeded to make a cross on his forehead by incision widi a knife, and then scalped their victim, iuter thus inflicting on him all the torture of which they were capable^ they retired' a few paces and fiuished their barbarous work by shooting several loads of ammunition into his exposed and defenceless body. After thus cruelly accompliuiing their work, they threw the lifeless body into a stream of water convenient to the scene of action. Thus ended this bloody tragedy, com- mitted in the open light of day, under a pretended cover of law, and in open defiance of the civil authorities. The perpetrators had not, at last accounts, been arrested. The above occurrence took place within thirty miles of the City -of Jefferson, obe or the largest cities of j.exas, and a county settled some quarter of a century. It is stated that Uie perpetrators were composed of old citizens of the County of Cass, in which the transaction occurred."] But we may not 2t>caZi2« these fearful eruptions of satanic outbursts. They are but too characteristic of the wide- spread worldling, greed for riches, lore of pleasure, and reign of fashion, licentiousness and defiance of law, a reck- less disregard of human life, and loose notions of the mar- riage relations. All these are but too indicative of the ruhng demon of the land. As some one very significantly asks : " What is the soil that generates such abnormal growths of iniquity ? What is the atmosphere that nourishes these moral monsters ? But yesterday the Tammany Bingand the Erie KingdominatedCity and State, and openly challenged the power of the nation. They had friends, parasites, henchmen. They lived in pleasure and wantoned in open, shameless vice. They boasted their crimes, and made a merit of their raficalitles, And while ' I 474 THE FOOT-PBINTS OF flATAN. setting at defiance all virtue and all law, human and di* vine, they still received the homage of multitudes who regard success, however gained, as the best of all that is desirable in human lifel With all our detestation of the outrages perpetrated by the bad men whose careers we have now in view, we can- not blame them as the only great sinners in our composite communitv. They were representative men. They ex- emplified m their conduct the operation of sentiments, opinions, and principles which of late have gained an alarming ascendency, and unless that ascendency be broken, we shall continue to have a succession of men in the political and commercial worlds whose art will be employed in prostituting honour, truth, and integrity in the dust. We cannot be supposed to have any sympathy for the deed of murder. Nor is there a well-balanced mind that dare applaud the mean and cowardly act of an assassin. And yet the tragic fate that in -one way or another has overtaken the bold, bad men who had made a lea^e of fraud against the rights and welfare of the public, proves how true it is that the wicked are snared in their own net, and provide methods to ensure their own down- faU. Let us hope that this last additional opening of the abyss will enable many hitherto blind to perceive how certain it is that they who " sow the wind shall reap the whirlwind." " We weave the mystio web of life With colours all our own. And in the field of destiny We reap as we have sown." [* Americans are a money-loving and a money-making people. Does it ever strike any of them how much it costs to make money 1 For example, the lust of wealth * Added to Canadii^ Edition, CHARACTER OF THE AMERICANS. 475 ajgid di* ies who that is •atedby wecan- >inposite hey ex- timents, ined an jncy be men in will be jrity in for the nd that tssassin. her has leagUe public, in their down- of the ^e how eapthe aaking luch it wealth so overrides every other consideratioD, in this countiy that fraud in trade is the rule, instead of the exception. We poison all our provisions with adulterations. We poison even our drugs with cheaper material. We sell shoddy for wool. We sell veneenng for solid wood. We make abominable messes and call it whisky. We make horrible rolls of nastiness and call them cigars. We build wretched shells of bad brick and bad mortar and green wood, and call them houses. We rob and cheat each other all round, and in every trade and business, and we are all so bent on raaking money that we have not time o"* inclination to protest against even the most palpa- ble frauds, but console ourselves when we discover that we have been imposed upon by going forth and swindling somebody else. We pay a heavy price for our natiomu idios3nicrasy. We kill each other quicker than is at all necessary. We pay two or three prices for very inferior articles, as a rule. We spend much money and get very Uttle in return, and we are rapidly destroying our national sense of honesty and integrity. In ^ose be- nighted and slavish countries which are ruled by monarchs, they contrive to live a great deal cheaper, and a good deal better than we can. There, fraud regarded as criminal, and the impostor when de- ls tected is punished severely. There, tricks of trade are looked upon as swindles, and are treated as such. There, honest weights and measures are used. There, woe betide the contractor or architect who shall put up a house in American fashion. There, commercial transactions are based upon fair dealing, and the merchant and trader who should be caught in an openly dishonest scheme would be ostracized, if not proceeded against legall3\ But those are Old Fogy countries, the people of which know nothing about liberty ; who have no Fourth of July, or Wall Street, or codfish or shoddy aristocracies; and who do not recognize the fact that the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (which means money), entitles every man to cheat his neighbour, and bars re(&es8,] 11! 476 THE FOOT-FBINTS OF SATAN. ' But we Bhotddfindiio end of recountinff the doings of this Erince of darkness. Till that angel shall come down from eaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand, and shall lay hold on the dragon, that old serpent which is the Devil and Satan, and shall bind him and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up and set a seal upon him, he will go up and down in the earth, seeking whom he may devour. We will trace his foot-prints for a moment in his viru- lent yet more subtle attacks on the Sabbath; on our common schools ; in his devices to make some of the most flagrant sins fashionable, and so venial; in Darwinism, and the idea that crime is a disease, physical, mental, moral. Much that is trumped up as progress, is but moral retro- gression. The DoTol has turned reformer, that he may the more effectually vitiate all true reform. He has be- come especially interested in matters pertaining to the Church, that he may make men and women bow to the shrine of pride, and fashion and mammon — not only that he may dupe his blind votaries to the peril of their own souls, but that he may shut out the " poor to whom the gospel is preached." But what attiucts our more especial attention just at the present moment is the late assault on the Sabbath, in the form of opening public libraries and art galleries on Sunday. This recent invasion on the sanctity of the Lord's day claims for itself certain specious apologies — yet the more plausible and subtle the more dangerous. It may be it will ever and anon reclaim a stray young man from the more flagrant Sabbath desecration, and gather him into the library, the Academy of Design, or the common Art Gallery, and make him a more specious transgressor. But will it not draw five to one from the churdi and Sabbath school ? There are plenty of the latter who only want the sanction of the pulpit and the press, or rather of public sentiment, and they would be very ready to exchange the sober realities of the sanctuary for gallc moi con< shoi demj have of ai| triec In THE EXPKBDCKMT IN WBASOS, 477 for the fireedom of ihe libiaiy or the excitement of the art gallery. And if the library be open, then ^as a large daw of mondists will demand) why not the picture gallery., the concert hall, the opera-house and the theatre ? And how short and easy would be the transition, and plausible the demand that the dance-house and the race-course should have conceded to them the same freedom. All are places of amusement — and some say of instruction. France has tried it, and we have no doubtful evidence of the result. In Paris the experiment had the freest play under the second empire. To please the masses, all the picture gal- leries were thrown open on Sunday, and so were the theatres and other places of amusement. In due time, and as a natural sequence, " the excitement of the turf " and civil elections came to be added to the routine of the day, which by this time had become little else than a day of recreation and sensual indulgence. But what a finale ! Heaven's indignation slumbered n6t. The religious sen- timent was eaten out of the popular heart, and it left ar prey to the " seven worse spirits " that came and " found It swept and famished.*' Is tnis the kind of history we would have repeat itself in our country ? We have Communists, numerous and defiant They are even now demanding of the municipal government, as a "rights" the occupancy of the City Hall, uie city courts and other public buildings on Sunday, for what they call " free discussion." This granted, these free discussions might in time become a littk too free for our free country. But there is something involved here besides the dissi- pation 'of Sunday pleasure-seeking. Other parties are concerned. Service must be rendered — iuor% must be done, which not only conflicts with the divine command, but necessitates the labours of many who might otherwise be glad to respect the Sabbath. There must be janitors, librarians, ticket agents and helpers and assistants of 478 THE FOOT-PBINTS OF SATAN. I different grades. And what better this than to lay bricks on the Sabbath, or dig ditches or guide the plough ? And near akin are Sunday excursions — jaunts into the country and their consequent recreations and amuse- ments. One may as well laugh over Don Quixote or Artemus Ward in a pleasant grove, afi in the public library. All these things mean the reproduction iii this country of the Qerman^ — or, what is worse, the French — idea of the Sabbath. And compared with this, all the evils connected with our foreign immigration fade into insignificance. The ignorant we may hope to enlighten, the subjects of foreiffli despotism to republicanize, and to liberalize the deluded votaries of the Papacy. But if they are allowed to secularize our Sabbath, and convert it from a day of sacred rest, of divine worship and holy instruction, to a day of pleasure and amusement, we may despair of heaven's favour upon us as a free, Christian people. No- thing so surely entails upon a nation the malediction of heaven as the desecration of the Sabbath. Again, it is a favourite device of Satan to gild over sin — to take away its deformity and make it fashionable. If men and women in high life desecrate the Sabbath — if magistrates and men of high social position, and perhaps members of the Church, will defraud and embezzle and betray a sacred trust, how is the public conscience demo- ralized, and ohe standard of virtue and common honesty prostrate in the dust ! Of this we have had no doubtful proof in our own recent history. The gigantic frauds and embezzlements in high places in our great metropolis made rascalities, which were once looked upon as disgrace- ful and scandalous, popular in all our great cities and throughout the land. And so of other sins, even of those of the most flagrant type. Fashion divests thorn of de- formity, and even makes them fascinating. And a yet bolder attempt is made to screen sins the most enormous, and crimes the most heinous, from all HOPE OF DELIVERANCE. 479 to lay plough ? into the amuse- ixote or 3 public country ea of the snnected iiicance. >jects of dize the allowed day of my to a spair of pie. No- ction of rer sin — %hle. If hath — if perhaps szle and 50 demo- honesty Souhtfui >uds and jtropolis lisgrace- bies and of those I of de- lins the Prom all ffuilt. It is the modern device of treating crime an inaardty. Some of the most daring crimes and outrageous violations of all right and justice, have failed of their retribution on this very plea. What think we of law, of courts and judges, who thus prostrate all law and all justice ? Let this idea once prevail and no crime need fear punishment, no transgression a penalty. Our jails, prisons, and peni- tentiaries would at once pour out on a defenceless commu- nity hordes of thieves, robbers, murderers, the vilest of the vile. For cunning craftiness we know not a more hellish device than this. It is license unrestrained for every crime. What next ? When contemplating, as we have done, the ruins of sin and the riotings of Satan, we are led to exclaim, " How long, Lord, how long ? " Is there no deliverance ? Shall this beautiful earth lie under the curse for ever ? Shall the noble creature, man, made in Qod's own image, made but a little lower than the angels, for ever remain the merest wreck of his high original — ^the bond-slave of sin, the dupe of the Ddvil ? Shall the whole creation groan and travail in pain for ever? We hope better things. We already hail the star of promise. Gleams of light are already seen upon the dark cloud that appears before the dawn. We clip from the "Watchman and Reflector" the following paragraphs, which go to illus- trcte the hope expressed. It is entitled ^' Phases of the Times:" " Times have their phases — phases in the days of Moses or of Solomon, of Caesar, of the great Napoleon — 'Down the ringing grooves of change.' " L Our times are times of mental activity. Cariyle thinks faster than did Plato in his garden of the Aca- demy ; the ' Autocrat' here with us, than Cicero in his Tusculanum villa. High schools are now what universi- ties once were. Books are more numerous now than were I m iVi urn iiniii I 480 THB FOOT-FBINTS OF 8ATAN. reeds in the Kile for papyrus, or strips of parchment, sub- sequently, in all Europe. Inventions, discoveries, strange appliances tread close upon discoveries, inventions, appH- ances, till you wonder, not at what is, but in conjecturing what is to be. Nothing hid is hidden too dcQp for in- vestigation ; nothing remote is too far off ; clear up to the north pole. ^ IL The times are times of violence and rascalities. The war is charged with these, but war or peace, they are upon us. Violence is not confined to the bloody South — rascalities are everywhere: defalcations, malfeasance in office, frauds, embezzlements, forgeries, tricks of trade, smuggling, adulterations, combinations in the gold market and me stock market, bribery — these are some of the names and the things. " in. The times are times of extravagance and indul- gence. Families lose fibre and strength — ^many a son and daughter are ruined. Then, fair women sweep the dirty pavement with their rich dresses, a thing they do not dream of doing in the birthplace of the fashions. " IV. The times are times of religious daring and infi- delity. People at large, children, young men and maidens, have learned to hancUe sacred things very roughly. Boys and girls settle and unsettle ministers. It is the ambition of many a German scholar to crowd into existence one more new scheme of interpretation of Scripture, or a re- adjustment of a particular book of Scripture,not unlikely to force forward a notion whose startling merit it is that it cannot possibly be true. At times the preacher, so called, is an. infidel man clearly, and verily 'takes the stump.' Infidelity is thrust in your face as the autho- rized gospel. " V. The times are times of great improvement and gain to religion. Consistently with all that has gone before, I believe that the world is a better world at this moment than when the sun came up this morning. A quicker un- derstanding of these bad things, our being all alive to them, THE GOOD TIME COMINGU 481 at, sub- strange t appH- cturmg for in- » to the salities. bey are loutb — mce in r trade, market of the I indul- 3on and le dirty do not infi- aidens, Boys abition Lce one a re- olikely is that her, so :es the autho" id gain jfore, I loment :er un- > them, is proof of progress. The light it is that makes us to know the darkness. Mighty forces are lodged with the churches of Christ, and are at work. A kingdom there is that is to dominate. Collateral helps are all abroad, and the great currents of human destiny do set in the right direction, but, under God, the gold in California and ma- monds in Africa ; cotton in one country and the spinning power in the other; steam on their track and on the track of ocean and river ; electric wires over the land and under the depths of the sea ; rumours of war and very battles; pestilence in Persia and tornadoes of fire in America; Mormonism and Mohammedanism; embassies from old China and old Japan, and the killing of Chinese in this newest land ; " the infallibility of the Pope " and the sure fallibility of the Pope; the going abpoad of THE MISSIONARY and the staying at home of the misan- thrope — ^all hasten the day of deliverance and of victory. We can now forecast how the glad earth is to rise in her green and sunshine beauty of holiness to the Lord, as she did not so certainly rise at first, a stony, watery, black- ened, uninhabitable mass. The time of the end is not yet, not yet, but the time of the end shall come." "Yes, the time of the end shall come. Already do we hear the " sound of a going m the tops of the mulberry- trees." It is the Lord going out before us to smite the " hosts of the Philistines." Our enemy is doomed. His strongholds are undermined. His empire on the earth must end. A stronger than he has come, " who shall overcome him and take away from him all the armour wherein he trusted, and divide his spoils." An open Bible, a free press, benevolent and reformatory organi- zations of every name and for every purpose, a host of Christian evangelists scattered through every land, and all the resources, facilities and elements of moral pro- gress furnished by our modern Christian civilization — all give cheering assurance that earth's redemption draweth near. 31 im% ! 11 482 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. ChriBt's mission on earth was to "destroy works of the Devil." Consequently every inroad made by the Gospel, every Bible translated into another tongue, every truth preached, every convert made, every Church organized, IB a direct invasion on the empire of Satan. Christ, as Immanuel, entered the battle-field of a long- contested war. From the first revolt of the great apostate, "there was war in heaven. Michael and his ansels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels, and that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the Devil, and Satan. He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." And being driven out and exiled from heaven, and banished to this planet we call earth, he took possession, set up his standard and became (by usurpation) the god of this world. And how he has monopolized and subsidized to his vile purposes the great elements of power that govern the world — wealth, intellect, education, the press, civil govern- ments and religion, manners, customs, habit and fashion — -ever3rthing which controls the mind and the heart, we have essayed to illustrate in the preceding pages. From Adam to Christ there was no cessation of hostili- ties. So universal was his empire that his dominion was almost undisputed. On the advent of Christ, the right- ful "heir" and king, though he knew that Christ had "come to his own," yet he met him (in the "wilder- ness ") and boldly claimed as his own " all the kingdoms of the world," and challenged Christ's allegiance, as if by this magnificent bribe he might retain the supremacy. But here he received the " deadly wound." From this point the " proud waves were stayed," and the floods of iniquity which he had rolled over the world began to be turned back. From that eventful moment when Jesus said, " Get thee hence, Satan," to the present hour, his empire on the earth has been on the wane. And the " sure word of prophecy " for it, that Christ shall ride forth conquering and to conquer, till he shall put out of THE WEALTH OF THE CHURCH. 483 I of the Qospel, r truth ;anized, a loQg- postato, fonght angels, t cfJled rth,and driven t planet ird and ndhow urposes I world govem- I fashion jart, we hostili- Lon was ) right- ist had wilder- Qgdoms 8 if by acy. Dm this oods of n to be 1 Jesus our, his nd the aH ride out of the way and for ever destroy all the kingdoms and do- minions, principalities and powers of Satui. Every ad- vancement of the kingdom of Christ, every inroad of the Gospel, is a sure prognostic of the approaching downfall of earth's great adversary. And no one can contemplate the progress already made by the Qospel, the facilities and present resources of the Church' for a yet more speedy progress, and not take courage that the day of earths redemption is near. Railways, telegraphs, steamboats, the great increase of wealth in the Qiurch, the progress of science, and the gift of tongues, are the ready agencies of the aggressive host — winged messengers to the ends of the earth. Were the Master now to visit his possessions, he would not be compelled, as of old, to take up the lamentation, " The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has not where to lay his head." (Matt. viii. 20.) Tentmakers and fishermen are no longer the bankers of Zion. To-day she owns the cattle upon a thou- sand hills, the golden harvests of a million fertile fields. She has, also, her manufactories, her shops, her mills, her market-places, her banks, her stores, in ten thousand vil- lages, towns and cities. Her ships, likewise, are on every sea, her silks and teas and furs and precious stones in all the ends of the earth. The islands are sending her gifts. Seba and Sheba are yielding to her their gold. And what means this ? Nothing beyond the simple fact that the people of Christ are becoming "rich and increased in goods." Make no such mistake. Already the Master is annually employing million after million of his earthly treasures for the furtherance of his earthly interests. As the end approaches, not a farthing will accumulate in the hands of nis servants which shall not be in active circula- tion for his glory. But " let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except there come a falling away firsts and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who i'l! 484 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called Qod, or that is worshipped." " TYaa know also that in the last days perilous times shall come." " Fiery triaLs shall try you — ^great tribulations, such as were not firom the begin- ning of the world, no, nor ever shall be." As the field narrows, as the strongholds of Satan are, one after another, captured, the more will he concentrate his forces and the hotter will be the final battle. The nearer the victory, the more desperate the onset of the foe. When the armies of our mediatorial king shall put on their strength, concentrate their forces and close up their ranks — when the king himself shall gird on his sword, ready for the final battle, the enemy shall be aroused to make his last desperate onslaught. And the more desperate his condition the more deadr;r will be the fight. Pleasant as has been the dream that the sapping and mining process of the Oospel shall go on, undermining one stronghold after another, the enemy quietly retiring and yielding a peaceful possession to the invading host-— that the glory of the millennial mom will gently arise upon the " sea of glass," spread out in beautifm contrast to the darkness, the storms and tempests of thk distorted earth, yet the word of unerring truth teaches us, and the well- known character and antecedents of our inveterate foe admonish us that he will not yield the final possession - — even the forlorn hope of all further empire, without such a battle as he never fought before. The Devil will die hard. This accords with the teachings of the inspired Word. Of the several notices of the great and final battle that shall precede the ushering in of the millennial glory, we need refer to but a single one. It is denominated the " slaying of the witnesses." (Eev. xi) This eventful con- flict most obviously follows the great success of the Gospel, which heralds the no distant approach of the millennium — the no doubtful conquest of the world for Christ. VICTORT IN SEEMINO DEFEAT. 486 " When they shall havefiniahed their testvnumyt the beast thatascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war a^inst them and kill them." The overthrow is seem- ingly complete and final — a desperate conflict of the Devil and his hosts, instigated, infuriated by the late triumphs of Christianity, and the no doubtful presage of a final triumph. Just at the crisis when the sacramental host are march- ing on, with banners unfurled, to final victory, the beast from th^ bottomless pit, and his confederated hosts of modem infidelity and sin, make war upon them and over- come them. A striking t3rpe of this we have in the dead- ly assault made on the cnosen tribes at the Bed Sea. After their wonderful deliverance, they triumphantly set their faces towards the promised land, with none to molest. But when they supposed all danger past, they were suddenly confronted Iby a more formidable enemy than ever before. Nothing seemed to await them but discom- fiture and utter destruction. It was (as we anticipate in the antetype) the thick darkness that precedes the dawn. The identitv of the type and antetype is beautifully ap- parent in the wording of the triumphal song, sung over the final victory of the Church and the overUirow of her last enemy. It is the " song of Moses and of the Lamb." The instance adduced is sustained by others referring to the same great event. Again, John saw the " spirits of devils working miracles and going forth to the kings of the earth and to the whole world, to gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty." And after the seeming and temporary triumph of the enemy, and the unexpected and final triumph of the great king and Im- manuel, the angel comes down witn the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand, and he lays hold on the dragon, that old serpent which is the Devil and Satan, and casts him into the bottomless pit, and sets a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more. And here we leave him. XXV. THE fiEMEDY. "THE RESTITUTION OP ALL THINGS" — ^THE CONQUEROR AND THE FINAL AND COMPLETE CONQUEST — THE USURPER DEPOSED AND CAST OUT FOR EVER — ^THE EARTH RENEWED — ^THE RUINS OF THE FAIjL REPAIRED — EDEN RESTORED — ^PARADISE REGAINED — THE UNIVERSAL REIGN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS AND PEACE. " Where Hn abounded, grace did (or aJialt) much more abound ; that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal UfSf by Jesus Christ our Lord."— Bam. v. 20, 21. Having disposed of the Devil — at least for a thousand years — ^the query very naturally arises, What next ? With the great deceiver, corrupter and tempter has passed away every evil humanity is neir to — ^intemperance, fraud and licentiousness ; violence, murder, suicide and war ; the per- version of money and mind, of the press and the tongue ; despotism, oppression and the direst perversion of every good thing. . We have seen what our Enemy hath done — what have been the sore ravages of sin — ^how it has " abounded," how reigned, how spread its desolation everywhere — ^how it has assailed the throne of Ood, raised rebellion in heaven, THE WORST OF SIN. 487 cast out a " third part of heaven's sons," and reserved them in chains of darkness unto the great day. It laid our once beautiful and happy world m ruins, covered it with de- formity, woe, lamentation and death. It has cast his dark mantle over the face of society, beneath whose sickly ^ade every social virtue droops. It has laid man in ruins. The noble structure of his body is marred, deranged, disorganized, enfeebled by ex- cess and disease — ^the direct firuits of sin — and is finally demolished by death. His mental constitution is so completely abused and demoralized, so vitiated and de- based that it remains but little else than the miserable wreck of its once noble original. And his moral confor- mation is still more distorted. It was here that God stamped on man his own image. It was in his moral features that he bore a likeness to his Qod. But so mar- red had he become by sin, that, with an angel's ken, you would look almost in vain to trace a lineament of his god- like original. Before he sinned he shone in moral beauty, the de%ht of his God, but no sooner did he touch the ac- cursed thing than his glory departed. From the crown of his head to the sole of his feet was nothing but deformity — " wounds and bruises and putrefying sores." But it is in the soul, the immortal soul, that sin has made his sorest ravages. You cannot look amiss to read the appalling fact that sin everywhere abounds unto death. It has laid uie soul in ruins. Not only has sin thus abounded unto death, and abounded in its workings of death, but it hath reigned unto death. It has well nigh secured universal empire. It has enslaved the entire race in bondage from the fear of death, and then conmiissioned the king of terrors to exe- cute the dread mandate, " to dust thou shalt return" Nor has the reign of him that had the power of sin ceased when he has dissolved man's earthly fabric. , His might- iest, deadliest triumphs are reserved for the disembodied spirit. There sin shall reign and riot for ever. He 488 THB FOOT-PBINTS OF SATAN. shall cast the wretched minions of his power into the pri- son of everlasting darkness and bind them in chains of eternal fire. But is there^no remedy ? Shall not this in-rolling tide of iniquity be turned back ? Shall sin reign and riot on human happiness, and trample down the noblest part of man, and none be found to rescue the prey from the power of the destroyer ? Is there no eye to pity, no arm that can bring deliverance? Sleeps the compassion of Heaven ? Slumbers the arm of Omnipotence ? No ; the lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed. He has risen up to shake terribly the earth. The prince of darkness trembles on his throne. His empire is sapped in its found- ations. He that rideth forth King of kings and Lord of lords, conquering and to conquer, shall put down the usurper, restore the ruins of the apostacy, reinstate the earth and man in aU their primeval beauty, holiness and honour, claim his purchased inheritance, and reign forever. And then shall toe angels sing the triumphal song of ** Paradise Regained." " This world, over which Satan has lorded it so long, and which for ages has laboured under the primal curse, shall be regenerated. The time is coming when the mark of the beast shall nowhere be seen in all the earth, when the trail of the serpent shall nowhere appear in all its borders, when no storm shall shake its bowers, no earthquake disturb its repose, no blight descend on its flowers, and when the sun shall look down with smiles upon the fair bosom of regenerated nature. Yes, this sin-cursed earth shall be redeemed. It shall be delivered from the dominion of evil ; a new genesis shall overtake it, it shall again be welcomed into the brotherhood of worlds, with a shout louder and sweeter than that which saluted its first advent in the skies." * But " who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed * Rev. ThaddeuB MoRae'i "Lectures on Satan." '■.. IV. THE OBRAT DELITEBEIt. 489 curse. dyed garments from Bozrah ? — this that is glorious in his ap- parel, travelling in the greatness of his strength V He answers: *'I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save " — ^the apreat Deliverer. But " why art thou red in thine appar^ and thy garments like unto him Uiat tread- eth in the wine-press T — "Why these marks of blood and of severe toil on a person of so noble mien ?" He replies : " I have trodden tne wine-press alone, and of the people there was none with me, for I vnll tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled on my garments, and I will stain all my rai- ment. For the day of my vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come." That is, with a holy zeal for the honour of his Father and the happiness of man, and a holy indignation at the impious and daring attempts of Satan, the Lord Jesus Christ assailed Satan and all his angels, and sin and all its adherents, and treading them as in the wine-press of Qod's wrath, gained a glorious victory over sin, and wrought out redemption for man. Much has he already done. Many a glorious victory has he won. And his " apparel is still red and his gar- ments stained with blood. ' He is going on from con- quering to conquer. He will overturn and overturn, and overturn till he wh%|e right it is to reign shaQ come. This is terribly expressed in the concluding part of the passage already quoted : " I will tread down the people in mine anger and make them drunk in mv fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth ' — a dreadful prediction of the final and complete overthrow of sin, and of all who persevere in rebellion aganst the Qreat Ring. Yes, blessed be God, there m a remedy ! There is a balm in Gilead, there is a physician — one that is mighty to save — the Great Deliverer. A gratuitious deliverance. All progress of the gospel, all success of every species of reform, all increase of light, knowledge, civilization and civil liberty are but the sure triumphs of the truth and 490 THE FOOT-PB:fNTS OF SATAK. - !;■; harbingers of the good time coming, prognostics of the approaching end of Satan and his reign upon the earth, and Qod and his government vindicated. Christ comes to ''hk own," is welcomed by his people, his empire on earth is established, and all things, physical, social, intel- lectual, moral and religious, are reinstated in their beauty, utility and gloiy as they came from the hand of the per- fect architect. What, then, are we to look for as the final triumph of grace through our Lord Jesus Christ ? I. The first essential advance towards the "restitution" in question is the setting right of an apostate race in their relation to Qod and hia government. Sin is rebellion, — a casting off of God, and an allegiance to the usurper. The mission of Christ is one of reconciliation, to brine men back to their rightful Sovereign. Sin has alienated man from God, put enmity between Creator and creature, cut off commimication between heaven and earth, and unfitted us for companionship with holy beings. Grace has repaired the breach — ^has brought us into covenant with God — ^makes all who will come, children of God, yea, heirs of God to an immortal inheritance— changes our re- lations from enemies to friends, from aliens and rebels to sons and heirs. It brings them who were afar off into the family of God, and gives them man^ns in their Father's house. It does more than to effect a reconciliation between God and man. It gives citizenship in heaven. It pro- vides a Sanctijier, without which an Atoner would profit nothing. What then will the full realization of the work of atone- ment by Christ, and of sanctification by the Spirit, do for our apostate world ? It will undo what sin has done. It will destroy the works of the Devil. It will turn away the wrath of the Almighty, and remove the cause of man's alienation from his God. Now accessible through the atoning sacrifice, as a father he bids us approach him as children. Redeemed man becomes the companion of an- THE BESTITUTIOK. 401 I of the e earth, omes to ipire on A, intel- beauty, ihe per- imph of itution" I in their Uion, — a uBurper. bo bring lienated 3reature, xth, and . Grace covenant Jod, yea, our re- ebels to Into the Tather's between It pro- d profit jfatone- Lt, do for lone. It rn away of man's ugh the him as of an- gels BA well as of just men made perfect. The grand bar- rier — the otherwise impassable barrier, to man's recovery from the fall, is completely removed. Qod shall again dwell with men. In the earthlv paradise, restored to all its primeval beauty, purity and loveliness, a fit habitation for the everlasting residence of the saints, the " voice of Qod shall again walk," as a loving father with his loyal and loving children. Indeed, it is only through Christ and his redeeming work that we know Qod. We obtain through the volume of nature the merest outlines of the character and the works of God. His existence and his power, wisdom and goodness are inscribed on all his works and ways. But it is through God " as manifest in the flesh" that the godhead is revealed unto men. It is only through the face of Jesus of Nazareth that we see God who is invisible. And only through the atoning blood of the Lamb of God that we understand our true relations to Qod and to his violated law, and his relation to us as the forgiving God. The great wonder in the history of our world — and per- chance of the universe, — ^is the mysterious union of the divine justice and mer^ in the scheme of redemption througli Jesus Christ. How could God vindicate his law and yet treat as guiltless the transgressor ? This is the theme of wonder, praise and adoration of the heavenly hosts throughout eternity. This is what " angels desire to look into." Hence the triumphal song when Christ appeared as the babe of Bethlehem. It was, " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men." II. What this great renovation, or " restitution of all things," shall do for the world. We have seen what sin has done — ^how it has laid the world in ruins — covered it with thorns and briers — filled it with violence, fraud, malice, murder and death, and made it the abode of wretchedness and woe. It has filled the heart of man with every furious and hurtfrd passion, and turned his 492 THE POOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. hand against his fellow and his heart against his God. It has closed the hands of charity, dried up the streams of benevolence, thwarted the kind designs of philanthropy, and bound the world in the frosty chains of selfishness. Grace enters as the great regenerator — ^to bring back the world to its original purity, dignity and moral rectitude, to its pristine beauty and happiness. Christ comes to eradicate the thorn and the briar — to speak peace to the warring elements of strife, to quell the voice of tumult, to stay the hand of violence, to banish every corroding passion from the human breast, to bind all together by the ties of a common brotherhood, and to evidence to all that we are children of the same father, heirs of the same in- heritance and expectants of the same glory. Grace will restore all that sin has taken away. And what signs that the morning cometh have we in the rapid extension of the gospel! How is the desert changed into the fruitful field and the wilderness into the garden of the Lord ! The withering curse, whether in the form of infidelity or idolatry, licentiousness or intempe- rance, has spread, like a pestiferous sirocco, till it has made our world little else than one great moral desert. The gospel standard is set up against it. Nation after nation has been reclaimed, till there are brought under the benign sway of the gospel all the most enlightened, the strongest, the most civilized and refined nations of the earth. And of all the Pagan tribes that remain wedded to their idols there is no considerable nation, the strength of whose civil power is not broken and the vigour of whose religious system is not decidedly on the wane. What has done this ? It is doubtless the resistless encroachments of the gospel. It is the "stone cut out of the mountain without hands," which, having " smote the image," shall fill the whole earth. The victorious banners already wave over many a nation and many an island where fifty years ago Satan reigned without a rival. And, if we may judge from present prognostics, the day is not distant THE DABK DAT IS COMING. 493 when the triumphs of grace shall be co-extensive with the earth. III. But " let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped as Qod, sitting in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." " The mystery of in- iquity doth already work : that Wicked shall be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and destroy with the brightness of his coming." A yet darker day than the Church has yet seen must first come. He that opposeth wiU arise in yet greater wrath, to sink, the last desperate blow. " His coming is after the work- ing of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness." " Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." " This know, that in the last days perilous times shall come." And then follows a catalogue of sins, black and hideous, which shall characterize those " last days." Again we hear of '* mockers in the last time," of "scoffers, walking after their own lusts," and of the " mystery of iniquity." It will be a dark day — the great and dreadful conflict that shall herald the glorious advent of our King. It will be the thick darkness that precedes the dawn of the millennia J glorv. Already we seem to see through that dark irfervening cloud the speedy ap- proach of a glorious day to ZIon — the no distant triumph of light over the power and prince of darkness. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly, for the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain, waiting deliverance from thee. And more than this may we expect. We are promised a phyaical deliverance, a, material renovation of this earth which shall remove all natural evils, take away the thorn and the briar, the desert, the earthquake and the tornado, which shall repair the physical ruins of the fall and re- store the earth to its primeval, Eden state. The earth 494 THE POOT-PBINTS OF SATAN. i> 'm itself shall be renovated and beautified, shall undergo a change analogous to that which takes place in the spiritual world. The long and dreary winter of six thousand years shall pass away. Plagues, dearths, tempests, famines shall be known no more. The flowers, the fruits, the beauty, the salubrity of Eden uncursed shall abound, and the earth again be a paradise and a fit habitation for the sons of God. The curse shall be removed. The earth shall be physically redeemed, when the very " desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose," when the " taint shall be re- moved from the atmosphere and the malaria from the ground," when tempests and tornadoes shall cease to rage and volcanoes shall rend the earth no more. " We, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness ; new — i.e., renewed, restored to its original fertility and beauty — purified by fire, and made again what it was when he that created it pronounced all to be "good" — ^without de- fect or deformity, with no barrenness or deserts, no ex- cess of heat or cold, no devastations by wind or tide, by storm or tempest, but all beauty and fertility, all perfect- ly adapted to the best interests and the supreme happi- ness of man. Such a condition of the earth shall return when our enemy shall be dispossessed of his dominion, bound in chains and cast out for ever, when our blessed Immanuel shall come and claim his own — shall repair all the physi- cal ruins of sin and make earth again a paradise. All things shall then be reclaimed from a long-continued and debasing perversion. The silver and the gold and the cattle on a thousand hills shall be the Lord's. The earth that brings forth all that can make glad the heart of man, and make his face to shine, shall be as the garden of the Lord. Men shall then buy and sell and get gain, that they may honour God and bless their fellow-men. What a change ! It shall write holiness to the Lord on all things. It shall sanctify all the relations of common FABADISE REGAINED. 495 adergo a spiritual nd years nes shall J beauty, and the the sons L shall be 11 rejoice ill be re- from the cease to r heavens s ; new — d beauty 1 when he ihout de- ts, no ex- r tide, by 1 perfect- ae happi- when our bound in Emmanuel he physi- iise. All nued and and the The earth t of man, len of the that they e Lord on f common life — ^all the occupations, resources and powers of man. It shall bless the social and domestic relations, regulate the laws of trade, so that men shall honour God with their substance, disbursing their abundance according to the dictates of a right conscience and the promptings of an en- larged benevolence. It shall make all men pure and peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Wars shall cease, fraud and op- pression shall be no more. Impartial love to man and supreme love to God shall prevail. And then shall be realized in all the beauties of holiness what the angels foreshadowed over the manger at Bethlehem : " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men." Human government, civilization, science, learning, com- merce, war and peace, which had so long done little else than to add power to the original curse and intensify its penalties, shaU henceforth become most efficient agencies for good in the new kingdom. The majesty of law shall no longer be trampled under foot, or the judiciary be cor- rupted, or the guilty allowed to go unpunished. Manners, customs, habits, fashions, pleasures, recreations and all the socialities of life, shall become subservient to the honour of God and the highest good of man. But one aspect of the subject just alluded to deserves more than a casual glance. We have traced the desolat- ing footsteps of our enemy in man's social life. Human happiness is very much suspended here. If tares be sown on this field, man has little to expect but a bitter harvest. Yet true it is, as we have seen, that here our enemy has perpetrated some of his saddest devastations. IV. Let us then see if we can, on the other hand, trace the footsteps of grace as she comes again to repair the ruins of the apostacy. What has grace done for us here ? The venom of sin has spread through all the veins and arteries of society, corroding it to its very vitals. It made selfishness the watchword of every little community, 496 THE FOOT-PRINTS OF SATAN. m ii; i;. and set the green-eyed monster, Jealousy, to watch at every door. It planted deep the tree of discord, and caused to spring up in eveiy nook and corner the unsightly plants of envy, pride, ambition and distrust, Confidence was exiled, and the world set on fire by the tongue of slander. Thus did dn reign in man's social relations unto the workings and wranglings of a lingering death. In proportion to the prevalence of vice, our social relations are vitiated and wretched Not a single social virtue can thrive— can expand into its own native beauty and love- liness and come to maturity under the reign of sin. It can liti(le more than exist, and that only with a ceaseless conflict with opposing elements. But what a change when grace comes to her rescue ! Grace rebukes the raging of the passions, humbles pride, curbs ambition or gives it a lawful direction, extinguishes envy and banishes jealousy. She comes not, but there follows in her train a lovely band of kindred graces, all bearing the image of their maternal origin. Benevolence is her handmaid, humility her cover- ing, and hope the light of her countenance. Around about her you may see, sporting in all the charm and luxuriance of spiritual life. Love, Joy, Peace, Long-suffering, Gentle- ness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness, Temperance. Against these there is no law — they need no law. They can, when left to their own legitimate workings, produce nothing but love and harmony — ^goodwill towards man and glory to God. Adorned with these golden fruits of grace, society can- not be oti orwise than happy. Show me a place where grace reigns, and triumphs over every vice, and I will show you a place where all the social affections and vir- tues are so beautifully developed that society there is al- together happy. But we inquire again, V. What are the achievements of grace on individual character? Sin hath put enmity between God and man, made man an alien and an enemy, unfitt«d him for the discharge of FINAL DBSTINT OF THE EABTH. 497 the duties of life, unfitted him for death or for A happy eternity. Sin has laid the whole man in ruins. Hu body is subject to disease, pain and death, and his soul but the wreck of that godlike thing which God breathed into the earthly tenement of man. But grace comes to restore man to his pristine beauty and stiength, to reinstate him In the image of his God, to open again a communication with heaven, to renew his nriendimip with his God, and to fit him, by the wash- ing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Gho^t, for the companionship of angels, and to open to him the portals of heaven. Grace kindly offers to >uield him from a thousand ills in this life, to make him a better man, more happy and more honourable in every station. — ^to be an angel of mercy to comfort and protect him in the last dark hour of death — ^to go with him through the dark valley, and finally to present him faultless before thepresence of his glory with exceedinff joy. What then are we to conclude shaU be the final and eternal condition and destiny of this earth? It shall undergo a very essential revolution, a purification by fire — sometimes called a destruction — so completely changed that it is called a " new earth." It shall become a fit temple for holiness, the habitation of righl eousness and peace and purity, a suitable dwelling-place for the sons of God. Sin and all its corruption and disquietude, and rebellion, and misery and death, once bani^ed from the earth, and its regeneration once consummated, and this is the " restitution of all things'' to their primeval beauty and perfection. And being once so restored, what shaU be its future and eternal destination ? Before we urge a reply, let us ask what shall be the future local destination of man f The renovation of the earth, we may assume, is but the noteworthy counterpart of the renovation of man. And as the earth, and all things pertaining thereunto, were originally made for man, and as man and the earth mutually shared the curse, 32 Ml 498 THE FOOT-PWNTS OF SATAN. \' for " together they groan and travail in pain," what is more probable than that they shall be finally and for ever united in their future destiny ? This planet earth is the home of our race. Bom here, nurtured here — ^re- joiced, suffered and sorrowed here— character, associations and fiiendships formed here— here Christ came, and suf- fered and died to redeem him — here is a Qethsemane and a Calvary — ^where, rather, amidst associations so sacred and dear, would redeemed man choose his eternal happy home ? Where else would he find an abode so befitting, so congenial ? Nor are we here without the sure word of prophecy, seeming more than to intimate such a realization. ' We are assured the " meek shall inherit the earth." " Those . that wait upon the Lord shall inherit the earth." " Such as be bless^ of the Lord shall inherit the earth." God shall again dwell upon the earth, and the angelic choir shall everywhere sing, " Glory to God in the highest ; on earth peace, goodwill towards men." What more can grace do ? Ah ! there is one thing more that grace Toay do, yea, must do, or you, my impeni- tent reader, are ruined for ever. It must overcome your wicked heart — it must bring you into willing obedience to your only Lord and Master. Has grace done this for you? Grace has provided a way for your escape from eternal ruiii — has ofiered you a full and free pardon — has invited and urged your acceptance. But you have rejected all these gracious offers. You have turned your back on all that a gracious God has done to restore you te the bosom of his love. If grace has done so much for you, and you have as yet done so little for yourself, on what ground do you hope you shall not be a final outcast and lie down in eternal despair, and suffer the just penalty of abused love and a violated law ? Come, then, and let grace do its glorious work in you. Where sin hath abounded, let grace much more abound. 499 EABTH MAN S ETERNAL HOME. I," what is '' and for met earth here — ^re- sociations , and suf- mane and so sacred lal happy befitting, prophecy, ion. ' We « Those ' "Such h." God elic choir ^hest ; on me thing f impeni- )me your bedience this for eternal s invited ected all ck on all LC bosom and you b ground and lie >nalty of Where sin hath so long 'signed working death, let grace reign unto eternal life. Christ shall sit upon the throne of his father David. Soon shall he come and call us hence away. Soon shall the earth put on her robes of beauty and be made the abode of Clirist and his ransomed ones. May we all be of the blessed number to whom upon his coming he will say, " Rise up and come away!" : m you. abound. PAQE ABUSE of wealth 204 A.dam's temptation and sin... 27 Ambition perverted 208, 414 Amusements, cost of 236 Ancients, wealth of the. . 261 , 263 Ancient extravagance . . 251, 263 Ancient wars, losses in. .108, 120 Apostacy, the beginning of evil — the first 26 Apostacy, PapaL 71 Appalling facts of intemper- ance. 143 Assaults upon the early Church 67 Angels, Satan once the chief of. 25 BAD PASSIONS 413 BaronBothschild,the money King.... 232 Beauties of a good life. ... 191 Benevolent affections 411 Benevolence, the world's.... 223 Betrayal of Christ 33 Bible a sealed book, the.. 87, 337 Bible, prohibition of. 375 Bible no authority, the 379 Bible, war upon ihe 480 Brahminism. 335 Buddhism 385 CHRIST'S temptation on the Mount 33 PAGE Christ forewarns the Disciples 80 Christianity a new revektioB 75 Christianity made for man.. 324 Civil war in U.S. , cost of. 106, 113 Church, persecutions of the early 81 Church-services perverted.. 287 Chicago Fire, the 457 Conscience, supremaffv of. . 409 Convents, Beads andKosary 366 Commune Insurrection in Paris 442 Conquest, the final and com- plete. 488 Consecrated wealth. . . . .261, 353 Constantineunitesi^eChuroh and State 84 Com as food versus liquor. . 159 Corrupt literature 273 Cost of Amusements 237 Cost of Heathen temples 265 Cost of Intemperance.. 143,170 Cost of war to Great Britain since the Reformation 92 Crimean War, cost of 210 Crown of England, expense of 249 Cunning and craftiness of the Devil 42 DANIEL and his times 309 Deaths by Papal persecution 381 Death record in New York, 1871. 467 [; 1 602 INDEX. .1 f 34 3G 35 31 31 17 25 56 55 56 23 61 63 PAGE Debts and statistics — war. . . 01 Demoniac spirits 33 Devil, origin of the 25 Devil, expulsion from heaven 21 Devil, God created him an angel 25 Devil ? who is the 22 Devil ? where is the 23 Devil, names given to the. . 17 Devil, his tremendous power 23 Devil, his attributes, the. . . 24 Devil, cunning and craftiness of the. 42 Devil, his characteristics, the 25 Devil, his deceptions, the. . Devil, hi«» delusions, the. . . . Devil, his imitation of mira- cles Devil, his power of locomo- tion Devil, his physical powers, the Devil, god of this world, the Devil, once the chief of angels Devil before the Deluge, the Devil in Bible times, the. . . Devil in Old Testament times Devil before Sinai, the 59 Devil, miracles wrought by the Devil, he turns the nations of the earth to idolatry.. Devil in New Testament times Devil, his corruption of the Church 67 Devil in "Latter times," the 440 Devil in man, the 405 Devil in New York, the. . . . 467 Devil, the end of the 481 Disasters on land and sea 379,465 Dishonesty of the liquor traffic 163 Divorce and divorce laws. . . 433 Dogma of infaUibiUty. 128, 345, 453 PAOB Dollars for ribbons, pennies for Christ 261 Draft Riot of 1863 in New York 443 Dr. Duff on spurious relig- ions 364 EDEN restored 497 Egyptian mythology 340 Elijah's contest with Baal. . 35 Eloquence, power of 188 Examples of good and bad lives contrasted 189 Exorbitant salaries. . . . 235, 249 Expenses of royalty. . . . 251, 262 Expense of the crown of England .. 249 Expenses, Sultan of Turkey. 252 Expenses of the United States Government. . 93 Extravagance in fashionable society 256 Extravagance in high places 206, 229, 451 Extravagance of greatestates 230, 254 Extravagance verstis benevo- lence 223,260 FALSE religions, common origin of 327 Famine, fire and floods 123 Fast young men 268, 437 Fire worshippers 304 Fisk, Stokes' assassination of 468 Final triumph of peace. . . . 481 Fourrierism 425 Free love and its evils 425 Fruits of municipal corrup- tion 447 Funeral extravagance 235 Future punishment 422 GIANT intellects perverted. 186 " Girls of the period " 437 INDEX. 503 FAOB God, perfect law of 43 God speaking in nature .... 293 Goddess Fashion, the 451 Gambling hells and crime . . 239 HAND of the Devil in his- tory 19 Hindooism 335 History of false religions.. 292 History of idolatry 70 History, perversion of . . 198, 283 History, Papal perversion of. 1 98 Historic religion 312 Holy Spirit, necessity of the 421 Horrors of the early perse- cutions 79 Hymn read by St. Paul on Mars Hill 322 IDOLATRY, history of . . . . 298 Income of the Pope of Rome 251 Income of Queen Victoria . . 249 Income of foreign potentates 251 Infallibility, the dogma of 89, 128, 345, 453 Infidel publications 275 Illegitimacy and divorce. . . . 435 Inordinate desires 416 Inquisition, the 84 Intellect and business 196 Intellect, perversion of the . . 183 Instigators of war, who are they? 122 Intemperance a terrific agen- cy for evil 142 Intemperance, 1870, statistics of distilled liquors. . . 143 Intemperance, startling stat- istical comparisons. . . 143 Intemperance, yearly cost of liquors inUnit'd States 144 Intemperance and labour. . . 146 Intemperance, ap])ulliiigfacts from New York 148 PAOB Intemperance, internal reve- nue statistics 160, 216 Intemperance, statistics of malt liquors in United States 152 Intemperance, statistics of New York city 154 Intemperance in Great Bri- tain 156 Intemperance in France 157 Intemperance ; com as food verms liquor 159 Intemperance, its loss to the nation 160,169 Intemperance, judicial testi- mony on liquor and crime 176 Intemperance, yearly fruits of 148,161 Intemperance a foe to na- tional prosperity 169 Intemperance, physical ef- fects of 177 Intemperance, its eflFects on mind and morals .... 172 Intemperance flie autli »r of shocking disasters... 179 JESUITS, early rise of the. 88 Jesuitism, cha.'acter of 389 Jesuitism, foundation and history 391 Jesuitism, subtil ty of 393 Jesuitism, animus of 395 Jesuitism and missionaries. . 395 Jewish religion, the 300 Job, the early religious his- torian 296 Judas, the accursed kiss of. . 33 Judicial testimony on liqvor and crime ,. 176 KINGS and queens, salaries of ,....,.. 251 604 INDEX. i' f PAOB LAW of God perfect, the. . 43 Lawiof nature contravened. 411 Lax laws of divorce 435 Learned professiong, the 193 Liberal Ohristianity 454 Libraries open on the Sab- bath 476 Licentiousness in high places 451 Licentious literature. .. 280, 482 Liquor statistics of United States 143 Literary talents perverted. . 195 Lives ox ffreat men contrasted 190 Loss of life in ancient and modem wars 109 Luther and the Reforma- *' tion 87 Luxury versus poverty 231 MAN the image of God, 405, 419 Man in every sense perverted 407 Man cannot restore himself. 421 Magnitude and mischief of sin 40 Marri' 20, the sanctity of.. 425 Marriage makes , home. . . . 425 Martyrdom of the Apostles. 80 Mental resources and activi- ties 184 Medical testimony on spirit- uous liquors 177 Milton and Dante, ideas of 25, 28 Missionary appropriations.. 223 Modem extravagance 228 Mohammedanism 331 Moneyperverted— see Wealth 203 Money misdirected 206 Money wickedly applied 210 Money expended in liquor. . 214 Money expended in opium. . 222 Money expended in tobacco. 219 Money expended in wars. . . 211 Money spent in amusements. 238 Money spent in war might do, what , , . . 96 PAGE Money and the Church. . . . 362 Mural effects of intemperance 145, 173 Mormonism 429 Music, perversion of. . . 197, 286 Mythology, Egyptian 340 NAMES given to the Devil. 18 Nero, the Roman tyrant. ... 81 (ECUMENICAL CouncU of Rome 453 Opera and Church, the .... 287 Opium and its effects 165 Opium, statistics of 221 Origin of false Religions 292, 327 Origin of idolatry 300, 327 Osiris, the Egyptian Messiah 319 PAGANISM a falseReligion 330 Papal apostacy, the 71 Papacy and Paganism 360 Papal persecutions 381 Papal prayers for the deceased 371 Papal perversion of history.. 198 Paradise changed to a pan* demonium 32 Paradise regained 488 Patriarchal religion 294 Purgatory, the doctrine of. . 373 Perversion of history.*. 198, 283 Perversion of the periodical Press 272 Perversion of religion, the.. 327 Perversion of the religious Press 275 Perversion of speech, the. . . 284 Perversion of literary talent, the 195 Perversion of intellect, the . . 184 Perversion of wealth, the.. 204 Perversion of music and song, the 197,286 Persecutions, the ten first. . 81 1:1 INDEX. ) 505 PAOS Peneontions of the Romish Church 380 Peter's denial 34 Pilgrimage the true idea 349 Politics and politicians. ... 69 Pope of Rome, income of.. 261 Popery the great counterfeit 343 Popery and waste of money. 266 Popular notions of Satan. . 26 Power of a good life, the.. 190 Power of eloquence, the. . . . 188 Power of religion, the 291 Power of speech, the 284 Power of the printing press. 269 Pride the sin of apostate angels 28 Physical effects of intemper- ance 177 Pride 420 Profliga<^, the curse of 439 Progressive revelation. 313 Prohibition of the Bible .... 376 Protestant extravagance 268 QUEEN of England's salary 249 REFORMATION, the 87 Religion and science 200 Regal extravagance. . . . 242, 263 Reugions, history of false. . 329 Rescue of lost truths. ...*.. 326 Restitution of all things. . . . 486 Revelations from Sinai 321 Revolt in heaven led by Satan 27 Riot of 1863, in New York, the 444 Riot 12th of July, 1871, upon " Orangemen " 445 Rites and ceremonies of false worshippers, 321,332,401 Romance and fiction 275 Romanism a false religion . . 334 Romish Church in America. 89 Romanism and crime 435 Romish festivals and holy days 363 PAOI Romish hostility to the Bible 337,377 Romish priesthood claim mir- acles 36 Romanism resembles Pagan- ism 375 Ruin repaired, the 482 Rum the gpreat destroyer 147, 162, 171, 214 SABBATH a holiday, the.. 363 Sabbath, profanation of the 476 Sacrifices of the North and South in the civil war 113 Salaries of European mon- arohs 261 Sanctity of marriage 426 Satan had no tempter 27 Satan leads the revolt In heaven. 27 Satan in false religions 290 Satan in the early Church. . 74 Satan's power over the ele- ments 32 Satan in the marriage relation 424 Satanic majesty alarmed, his 441 Satan in war 91 Satan, why represented as bhwk 29 Science and true religion.. 201 Senses, perversion of the five 407 Sinner a self -destroyer, the. . 423 Sin entailed upon the human family 61 Sin charged with all existing evil 62 Sin the cause of all human woe 42 Sin, why permitted 41 Sin as affecting our relations to God 46 Sin as affecting human gov- ernment 45 Sin as affecting our social relations. 60 Sin, the wont of 487 ^06 INDEX. i. PAGE Sin as affecting divine gov- ernment 43 Smoking, effects of 167 Socialism 426 Song, perversion of 197, 286 Speech, perversion of 284 SpirituaUsm, modem 430 Spirit rappings 37 Spurious religions, modem. 320 St. Paul on Mars Hill .... 322 Statistics of liquorand intem- perance. . 143,149,152,168 Spaniards ravage Mexico for gold 245 Supremacy of conscience .... 410 TAMMANY Ring 446 Tammany frauds 447 Theatres and their cost. . 238 Tobacco statistics 167, 218 True religion, history of 317 Triumph of righteousness, the final 489 UNIVERSAL reign of right- eousness and peace... 497 Unrighteous investments... 246 Untold evils of intemperance 144 Untold evils of war Ill Usurper deposed and cast out, the 489 Use and abuse of wealth 204 United States census statis- tics of liquor 143 VANITY and pride 418 WAR^its untold evils 120 War, the expense of 91 War, revolution not refonn- ation 124 War, its moral devastations. 124 War, its desolations 131 War, its demoralizing effects 135 War contradicts Christianity 139 FAU£ War as an art perfected . . . 105 War, who are the instigators of 122 War-debts, who pays them ? 98 War, with startling compari- sons 100 War and agriculture 103 War and benevolence 102 War-debt of Christian nations 92, 97 War and public debt of Eu- rope 97 War — strength of ancient armies 121 War, cost of standing armies 211 Wars, sacrifice of life in an- ' cient 108,121 War, cost of the Revolution- ary. 92 Wai , the cost of 1812 92 War, cost of the Florida. ... 92 War, cost of the Mexican. . . 92 War, cost and losses of the Ci- vil, 1861-5.. 106,115,130 War, horrors of Libby Prison and Andersonville 119,130 Wars, cost of European. . 94,210 Wars, cost of Indian 95 Wars, sacrifices of life in , Napoleon's Ill War-saying of Napoleon Bo- naparte 136 War, cost of Italian 21 1 War, cost of the Franco- Prussian 107,128 War, statistics by Baron Von Reden 103 War, t^^mptations of military life 136 War, no necessity of 139 War, duty of Christians con- cerning 140 Wealth— see Money, 203 Wealth consecrated 352 Weal Ih, perversion of 203 \ "^ \\ TV W w w w Wi ". lit V.;',''4* i ■ ~4 INDEl. 507 PAUfi ... 105 bors .... 122 3m] 98 »ari- ... 100 ...103 ....102 ions 92,97 Eu- .... 97 jient .... 121 ncies 211 * . an- 108, 121 bion- .... 92 .... 92 .. 92 n... 92 eCi- ,115,130 ison 119,130 . 94,210 .. 95 in .... in Bo- ... 136 ... 211 co- 107, 128 iVon .... 103 tary . 136 ,. 139 con- .. 140 .. 21)3 .. 352 .. 203 PAQE Wealth versus poverty 230 Wealth of the ancients.. 261,263 Wealth, waste of^ in Pagan Reli^/ion 241,265 Wealth, waste of, in Chinese worship 243 Wealth, waste of, in the Ro- mish Ch\irch 244, 266 Wealth, waste of, in the Pro- testant Church 268 Wedding extravagance 206 Whaling Fleet disaster, the. 465 Woman in Eden 437 Woman's rights 429 ' PAOIS What is man ?. 406 What is marriage ? 426 What hath sin done ?. 42 Why is sin permitted 1 40 XERXES' army and losses, 109, 122 YEARLY fruits of intem- perance 149, 162 ZOROASTER founds a new religion 303