itself with burning zeal and determination. Insects, birds, and beasts of prey are full of vitality; to them pertain the keenest sense, the brightest eye, the swiftest wing: and in the moral sphere base and mischievous workers display a like vehemence and resolution. Were the devil's book of martyrs written, it would be the biggest volume in the world, and its record of what is done and suffered for the kingdom of darkness would outrival all chronicles of heroism and sacrifice in nobler causes.

The cleverness of evil is suggested. "That they may do it well, cleverly, they do it with both hands." "Their excellence is in evil." They gain dreadful skill and wisdom in the execution of evil devices, and cleverness in this direction is their delight. They argue for error with a speciousness that might deceive the very elect. As artificial gems closely resemble the genuine jewel, perplexing even the experts; the most false and destructive intellectual theories are cut with logic and burnished with fancy until the devil's paste easily becomes mistaken for God's jewels of light. The same cleverness is exhibited in the realm of equivocal pleasure. See those palaces of passion at the street corner -mirrors, music, maidens. Marianne North, writing about the forests of Brazil, speaks of the trees as being decorated with "spiders' webs, green, gold, or silver, glittering in the morning

sun, often spangled with diamond dew"; but the worst spider knows best how to weave seductive webs for the souls of men. This cleverness is revealed in war. The skill of our generation is nowhere more in evidence than in engines of destruction and the science of war. Beautiful is

the bird of peace; yet the bird of blood has the brighter eye. And what astonishing cleverness is displayed in crime! Day by day the rogue's astuteness surprises us.

The ingenuity of wick

edness is inexhaustible. The originality of the race is exhibited in courts of justice as perhaps nowhere else. Thus the kingdom of evil reveals genius as well as energy. The Chinese proverb asks, "What would not the lion do if it were the monkey also?" But in evil the lion is the monkey also, the force of the one being combined with the craft of the other. An Indian fable relates that Brahma inquired of the Spirit of Power, "Who is stronger than thou?" and he replied, "Cunning." In wickedness, however, we have strength and cleverness, passion and policy, the wrath of the lion and the subtlety of the serpent.

The concord of evil is disclosed. "" They weave it together." They twist and intertwine their schemings and interests as a rope twisted of many threads. The text furnishes a graphic illustration of this cooperation in the perverting of justice. The prince is in need of money, the

judge is open to a bribe, and the rich man is ready to pay for the verdict. With nods and winks they arrive at an understanding. Singly the fraud would be impossible, but common diplomatic action brings the evil device to pass. In Isaiah we have an instance: "They helped every one his neighbor; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage. So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smiteth the anvil" (41: 6, 7). Jeremiah gives a different view of the same unanimity : "The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven" (7: 18). They mutually stimulate, supplement, and succor one another. It is thus to-day with the workers of iniquity-to commit, defend, and propagate evil hand joins in hand. Sin is ever anti-social; but common fear or greed will for a while overcome its centrifugal force, and bring about surprising combinations of wicked men and equivocal parties for ends of mutual advantage and security. We see it in politics, commerce, and social life. Thus a mighty, passionate, and subtle conspiracy seeks to thwart the law, kingdom, and purpose of God.

Does not this insight into the world of evil suggest to Christian men what is required of them if they are to deal successfully with it? The enthusiasm of evil must be checkmated by

the enthusiasm of good. Sin is essentially weak; but just as an invalid may be formidable in fever or in madness, so there is a dangerous force in kindled evil. Granted that at last wickedness is impotence, yet is it alarming in the hands of resolute men. Truth in its essence is mighty; it is, however, unavailing in the hands of apathetic men. Bulwer Lytton remarks that "Truth without zeal never won a victory." The fanaticism of evil can only be mastered by the enthusiasm of good. The cleverness of evil must be baulked by the statesmanship of wisdom. We must put brains into the cause of personal virtue, and in public life the diplomacy of evil can only be successfully withstood by the diplomacy of righteousness. Good people are often simple in a sense not intended by revelation. We must blend the wisdom of the serpent with the harmlessness of the dove. If the concord of evil is to be frustrated, if the covenant which the wicked have made with hell and with one another is to be disannulled, the righteous must dwell together in unity and strengthen each other's hands in God.

XXXVII

SELF-RECOVERY

If peradventure God may give them repentance unto the knowledge of the truth, and they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil.-2 Tim. 2 : 25, 26.

HEMSELVES." Those who have lost faith, character, or hope must remember how largely the question of recovery

"

must be solved by themselves. Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool," is the plaint of a multitude: they do not attain salvation because they are not be-) friended and helped. True the Christian is capable of rendering invaluable aid to the fallen, and it is a sad thing when he neglects the gracious opportunity; but the concern of every fallen man is first and chiefly with himself. How much in the whole range of human life at lasts rests with ourselves! We look to society, government, kindred, and friends to protect and rescue us, when our salvation is primarily a matter of personal decision and effort. We hear much about "Local Veto," and of the glorious things that would follow the passing of this law: it would, we are assured, banish intemperance,