Infected Air
“The devil is called ’ the prince of the power of the air Infected air is drawn into the lungs without pain, and we get a disease before we feel if, and so die of a pestilential air.’’’
Thus doth Satan injure and destroy men’s souls by an influence so subtle and painless that ere a man is aware of it he is inflicted with error or iniquity, and falls a victim to the evil. Whole cities have been carried off by pests arising from causes which the sick ones never suspected, and whole classes of men perish from wild passions which only the devil could have excited to such a pitch. No gas is so impalpable, so penetrating, so all-pervading, so deadly, as the influence of Satan. In these days it is not polite to speak of him; it would seem that he is so much respected by his own children that they cannot endure to hear a word against him. The common doubt of his existence is a proof of his powerful cunning; nothing will serve his turn better than for silly men to dream that he is dead or incapacitated. He laughs in his sleeve, for he is surrounding the very men who deny him, and for him they live and move. His subtlety slays without leaving the stain of blood to alarm other victims: who knoweth the depth of his cunning? Alas, that so many should be so ignorant of his devices as to be unsuspicious of the deadly influence which he breathes into the moral atmosphere!
May the health-giving Spirit of the Lord preserve all new-born hearts, so that they may pass through this pestiferous world unharmed. Surely we may give a spiritual as well as a natural meaning to that promise in the psalm, “Thou shalt not be afraid for the pestilence which walketh in darkness. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.” Doth not the Scripture expressly say,” Sin shall not have dominion over you ‘’? Under the protection of this assurance we may pursue our callings in the midst of this evil generation, and yet remain in vigorous health of soul. God grant it, for Jesu’s sake. Amen.