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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.
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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