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T HE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
WHAT ABOUT THE DEVH j Men don’t believe in a devil now As their fathers used to do; They’ve forced the door of the broadest creed To let his majesty through; There isn’t a print of his cloven foot Or a fiery dart from his bow To be found in the earth- or the air today, For the world has voted so. They say he doesn’t ,go round about As a roaring lion now, But whom shall we hold responsible For the everlasting row To be heard in home and church and state To the earth’s remotest bound, If the devil by a unanimous vote Is nowhere to be found? Who is it mixing the fatal draught That palsies heart and brain, And loads the bier of each passing year With ten hundred thousand slain? Who blights the bloom of the land to day With the fiery breath of hell, If the devil isn’t and never was? Won’t somebody rise and. tell? Who dogs the steps of the toiling saint. And digs the pits for his feet? Who sows the tares in the fields of time Whereyer God sows His wheat? The devil was voted not to be, And of course the thing is true, But who is doing the kind of work • The devil used to do? Won’t somebody step to the front forth with, And make his bow, and show How the frauds and the crimes of a single day spring up? We want to know. The devil was fairly voted out, And of course the devil’s gone, But simple people want to know Who carries the business on. — Selected (Gem Cyclop, p. 175.)
sons for such exuberant joy and should be able to give those reasons to others. This Is an experience to be appreciated, but not sought, for it is not one of the best gifts, but, after all a sort of child ish affair, which, if demanded as a sign, is an evidence of unbelief and imma turity rather than of faith and maturity. It is an experience between the soul and God and not therefore for the public assembly, unless it is explained to others who are present and do not understand it. Seeking to speak in unknown lan guages is not of God; but what we all need is the enduement of the Holy Spirit as we speak in a language all can un derstand. Disorderly confusion in the public assemblv is not of God, and should, therefore, be avoided. We should trust the Holy Spirit for power without demanding a sign, for the spirit that demands a sign is itself a sign of unbelief, and is no more pleasing to Christ now than it was when He was on earth. We need to guard against the wiles of the devil who is ready to counterfeit any spectacular display of the Spirit’s working which we may seek in disobedience to the revealed will of the Spirit, wnose mission is not to re- ve'al Himself, but Christ. The fruits of the Spirit wh'rh we are to cultivate are .“ love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gen tleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance,” and the Spirit is ready to endue us with power in witnessing for Christ and not for Himself. Jesus said, "Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit i 3 come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me.” When we a,re bearing effective testimony for Christ and souls are being saved, we may be sure that we have the baptism of the Spirit and our faith should be strong enough to trust Him without de manding of Ham a sign which might attract our Vision from Christ and center-it upon this spectacular display.
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