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• - — —*— - “GOD REQUIRES NO MAN TO BELIEVE WHAT IS UNREASONABLE.”* Yol. III. ATLANTA, GA. JULY 8, 1882. N UMBER 8. UtEamta tlnliaifsatkt. Published on the 8th and 23d of each month. TERMS: .... one Dollar per annum, Editor’s residence, 100 Windsor Street. Entered at the Atlanta Pos^ Office as second class ■mail matter. One copy one year, - - - - $1.00 “ “ six months, 50 “ “ three months, - 25 THE FOX PROPHETS. BY KEY. IIOSEA BALLOU. “O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.”—Ezekiel xiii, d. The Prophets of God were few in Israel, while the false prophets were numerous; and there seems to have been no small contest between them. As would naturally be expected, the many false prophets en deavored to study the disposition of a per verse and wicked people, and accommo date their testimony in a way to suit their prejudices, and improve their ignorance and superstition in the best manner tor their own emolument and popularity; while on the other hand, the few prophets of God were under the necessity of bear ing testimony against the many, contrary to the corrupt traditions and dispositions of the people, whereby they rendered themselves unpopular and despised. The false prophets of Israel were to the people in their day what false teachers are now to the Christian commonwealth. St. Peter has accommodated us with a com parison which justifies this remark. He says: “ But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bringing upon themselves swift destruc tion. And many shall follow their per nicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.” By this comparison the Apostle signi fied the art and cunning which character ize the false teachers in the Christian dis pensation as well as the false prophets un der the former. He says, they shall “privi ly bring in damnable heresies.” That is, they will do this with great art and cal culation. This naturally brings the figure used in our text to mind, “ O Israel, thy prophets'are like the foxes in the deserts.” The fox is noted for his cunning; and with this quality he combines cruelty, be ing an animal which lives on prey. The first effort of false prophets and of false teachers is to make the people who are to be the subjects of their erroneous ministry, believe that they are .sent of God. Until this point is gained the false teacher can entertain no favorable hopes f success; but he well knows that the moment he can make the people believe that God sent him, he has little or noth ing to fear, and that his advancement is secured. "With these views, the false prophets and teachers came to the people with a most solemn account of being sent of God; they speak in God’s name and say, “Hear ye the word of the Lord, thus saith the Lord.” It may be well for us to notice what Ezekiel.says of the prophets in the chap ter where our text is recorded: “ Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Is rael that prophesy, and say unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, hear ye the word of the Lord ; thus saith the Lord God, woe unto the foolish pro phets that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing. They have seen van ity and lying divination,saying, the Lord saith; and the Lord hath not sent them; and hey have made others to hope that they would confirm the word. Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have }~e not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, the Lord saith it ; albeit I have not spoken it?” By this representation we learn that the riilse prophets fondled their own spirit, and not the spirit of God; they saw vis ions of lies and not of truth ; they pre tended to come to the people in the name of the Lord, when he had not sent them and when his word was not in their mouth. In all this the artful cunning of the fox is evidently seen, if these prophets had told the people that God had not sent them, but that they would prophesy as well as they could out of their own heart, the people would have paid but little at tention to them, and perhaps none to their testimony. Therefore, in order to gain the confidence of the people, it was nec essary to make them believe that they came in the name of the Lord, with Ills word and spirit. discerning man, with a slight acquaint ance with human nature, would at once be put on his guard by this manner of communication. But false teacl ers of re ligion spend a long time to learn the art of making the people believe that God has sent them, and if we may indulge in the figure of speech used in our text, the young foxes have old ones to train them in their arts. These false teachers, like the old Jewish Pharisees, will so disfigure their faces, put on such a solemn visage, speak in such a lamentable, mournful tone of voice, use a set of solemn words, stand and speak in such a peculiar attitude, that the ear of the hearer is strangely devoted to sounds, and his eyes set wide open at something which appears more like an imaginary spectre than like a fellow mortal. In all this awful solem nity, the people are told that they are ev ery moment exposed to fall into hell, and under the burning wrath of an highly of fended God; that their children are nat urally heirs of endless vengeance, and that there is but one way for any escape, which is to adhere strictly to their testi mony, and receive it as the word of God. A fearful trembling now seizes weak.and delicate nerves, and the power of sympa thy conveys the action to the more strong and stable, and the conclusion becomes general that the man is sent of God, and that to reject his doctrine will expose the people to all the threatenirgs which are so positively denounced. This method of deceiving the people was not introduced of a sudden ; it was brought on by degrees and established by custom and tradition, so that now the business goes on as regularly as other em ployments in society. The old foxes know exactly when the young are fitted for their labors, and the people are already prepared, waiting and longing for the de ception. Now this is the method by which false teachers introduce themselves into their ministry, and impose themselves on the Christian church as the ministers of Christ. Their first attempt is to make the people believe that God has sent them. To this end they bear testimony of them selves, and say that they are sent of God. It is remarkable how such means succeed with the people. The false teacher tolls his own story ; he informs the people that he is solely devoted to their good ; that his own interest is entirely out ot the ques tion ; that he would not have come to them if the command of the Lord was not on him so to do. Should a man of business be told by a stranger that he had come a great distance to trade with him, but had not the least desire to gain any thing to himself by the traffic; that his only motive was to advance his interest and to make him rich and opulent, there is not one in a thousand, perhaps, who would be deceived in this way. Every As has been remarked, the fox unites in his nature both cunning and cruelty. For this reason Jesus called Herod a fox. Ho was told to depart, because Herod would kill him. To this he replied : “Go tell that fox, behold 1 cast out devils, and I do Cures to-day and to-morrow, and the third day l shall be perfected.” This cunning and cruelty are plainly discerni ble in the false teachers of religion. They ! are cunning to deceive, and cruel to tor ment the deceived. In the chapter where our text is recorded, the Lord accuses the false prophets of crying peace ; “and there was no peace.” So false teachers now in form the people that if they will receive their doctrine they will have peace; but the fact is, there is no peace in believing their testimony, for they prophesy out of their own corrupt and partial hearts, and the doctrine they preach is like the hearts which invent it, full of craft and cruelty. It affects a great deal of compassion and love for the people, who are exposed to