The Mark of the Beast

ty on a weekday afternoon, was one of the very youngest of the "coming men" of the English church. Tall, thin, with a magnificent head crowned by a mane of hair that was fast becoming prematurel

entered upon his charge, preached but once only, then met with an accident that laid him low for seven years. The seven years were fru

hand. He lived in close communion with God, and his soul burned within him as he delivered-not an address, not a sermon, but the message of God. The music of the voluntary was filling all the church, while the offering was being ta

vey the won

ext: "Did not I choose you the t

re is but one devil in the universe, but there are myriads of demons, falle

eyes swept the sea of faces. Then in q

as you are? or, was he a demon? Jesus Christ our Lord, who knew as

was fixed on the preacher, necks were strained for

of the term, or was he a demon incarnated? What does the Bible say about him? In considering this I ask you each to put from your mind, as far as

vil, whose intent was to frustrate God's plans. In all his foul work of destruction and confusion, the Devil, from the time of the Fall in Eden, has ever been busy counterfei

hat God had Himself become incarnate, so that He might deliver man-for we must never forget that 'God was in Christ reconciling the wor

of people who had been literally holding their breath, were compelled

am not concerned with the effect, I am concerned only with a great and important truth, as it seems to me, and a truth which will, I beli

ore doing so let me acknowledge my indebtedness for the inceptive thought of all I have said, and

n John 17, verse 12, and again it is Jesus who makes the solemn declaration: 'Those whom Thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the Son of Perdition.' The third text I would draw your attenti

found time to marvel at the facile ease and certainty of touch with which he handled his little pocket Bible, and turned to the desir

just now, that I believe Judas Iscariot to have been an incarnated demon, and incarnated by the Devil

ey were that believed not, and who should betray Him.' And knowing everything, he said of the Betrayer, 'I have chosen-he is a demon.' If our Lord had said 'one of you has a demon,' the whole statement would have been different, for many, in Christ's days, w

real nature of Judas Iscariot. He is called the 'son of Simon,' as regards the huma

to his own place.' We need spend no time in any detailed arguments as to whether this 'place' to which he went in the under-world, was Tartarus or elsewhere, it was 'his own place,' the place of imprisoned demons, the place where o

is service. In the silence, that deepened, the ticking of the clock in the

d far over the Reading Desk. Then stretching out his

u will, if you can. I believe that 'The Man of Sin,' 'The Anti

sonation, he will necessarily be a Jew, for otherwise, the Jews (who will have largely returned to their own land, and will have built

rn. We, here, may never reach the point of the 'Benediction' at the arranged close of this service, for Jesus may come and call up to Himself everyone of His own in this place.

shall be cast into the Hell reserved for the Devil, for Anti-christ, for the demons; or,

, fascinating,-bewitching, in fact, since 'all the world will wonder after him'-yes, somewhere in the world, perhaps in this very city where we are now gathered, is the young man who, present

ad hands, they heard the old, old "Benediction" as they had never heard it before: "May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love

tion passed out of the several exits of the church. Among

the handsome young fellow who walked with such a regal air beside his mother, Judith Montmarte. Like Saul, i

in certain of the English circles was he known. Those who knew him, whether men or wo

d from the ken of the world. Where she went, wh

dame Apleon, and her child was Lucien Apleon. No one ever heard o

be the most accomplished man in everything, that the world had ever known. The greatest scientists were babes before him. As artist, sculptor, poet, musician,

ucien Apleon, was Ralph Bastin. It was his last day in London, previo

stin had recalled that wonderful service. One special moment of its recal