One of the peculiar
phenomena of nature is called the mirage, which is as
deceitful as it is beautiful. It's an optical illusion, and
may be seen on land or sea. It's due to reflections of light
between two strata of air differently heated, and is one of
the most singular wonders in nature. Sometime in the desert
there suddenly arises in the distance a beautiful body of
water upon the bosom of which lie enchanted islands, above the
top of whose woody grove rise, high and stately, the turrets
of castles, or the minarets of mosques. So realistic,
oftimtes, is this fairy lake that it deceives the natural
instinct of the camel and the anaytical reasoning faculty of
man.
Once while
returning late at night from a boat ride on a lake, we were
suddenly and unexpectedly confronted by an island, so it
seemed, which lay directly across our path. Knowing, from
years of acquaintance with that lake, that there was no island
in that body of water, we watched this remarkable phenomenon
with intenseness and great curiosity. The longer we looked
upon it, the larger and more distinct it seemed to grow. It
being late, and knowing well the nature of a mirage, we headed
for the apparent obstruction, which vanished before us, and
soon we arrived safely at our destination.
Sin, also, is
deceiving, and like the deceptive mirage, it leads the
unsuspecting one on, farther and farther from home, the paths
of duty, virtue, and from God. Sin hangs false pictures before
the minds and hearts of both young and old---of extreme
pleasure in a life of indulgence, or of enjoyment to be found
in the days that are yet to come. The enemy of souls is
forever making promises he can never fulfill. I'm convinced
beyond a reasonable doubt, that if I could interrogate the
readers of this, one by one, their testimony would confirm my
argument, that sin holds out greater inducements and promises
than it can ever fulfill. To most of us the dream of life has
not come true. The air-castles that we build while we were
young have failed to materialize, and the bright anticipations
have found in life's unfoldment more withered leaves than
golden fruit.
The Old Man's Story...
With the aid of a
stout cane, the aged pilgrim climbed the steps and sat down
upon a soft-seated chair.
"Stranger," he said
to me, "I'm an old man; but once I was young and strong like
you. Being normal in every way, I decided to make the best of
life, so I built my house for future happiness upon the
pillars of a companion, children, home, and money. I found a
wife, but was too busy gathering material for a home to
appreciate her as I should have done. Two children came to
bless our lives---a boy and a girl---but I was too busy making
and saving money to really appreciate those dear little ones.
Time sped on, and the birdlings flew away. Wife and I were
left alone again---verily, the two ends of life seemed to have
met---and then I discovered, for the first time, that we were
growing old. Troubles seldom come single handed, and one month
following the death of our daughter [here the old man wept]
came the terrible news that our son had been accidently
killed, in a distant State. Our children were gone, and thus
one of the pillars upon which my house of happiness was
founded crumbled, and the whole structure accordingly became
weakened. My companion was a brave little woman, but the loss
of both our children gradually worked upon her mind and
health, and within one short year she, too, passed away." Here
the old man wept aloud.
When composed, he
continued, "Stranger, it was a sad day to me, when I laid my
wife away up there [pointing toward something that I couldn't
see], and thus another pillar crumbled and fell. That building
[pointing to what seemed at a distance to be a mansion] used
to be our home, but now it's "gorgeous emptiness"---I can't
bear to stay in it even for one day. I have some money laid
by, but what pleasure does it bring to me? I'm old in years.
Most all whom I've loved are gone, and I seem to be in
everybody's way, so day by day I sit here upon the porch
alone."
The whistle blew,
announcing the approach of my train, so I bade the aged man
good-bye and hastened away. The lesson I learned that day is
indelibly stamped upon the walls of my memory, and from the
promise founded on what the old man laid down, I deduct that
unless we have something more enduring than those things
mentioned by the aged teacher, we're sure to be disappointed
down near the end of life's fitful day. Solomon, the wisest
man who lived prior to the coming of our Master, wrote the
following words, which contain both a promise and a warning:
"Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the
evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt
say, I have no pleasure in them" (Eccl. 12:1).
Deceitfulness of Riches...
By reading
carefully the history of nations, we discover that, generally,
an age of luxury is followed by an age of decay. The love of
money has been rightly called the root of all evil. Men, in
their mad rush for gold, become so intoxicated, they seemingly
forget that a good name is rather to be chosen than great
riches, and that hone, virtue, and character are of more worth
than the treasures of land and sea. Men will run the risk of
losing their lives on ice-clad mountains, under tropical suns,
and down among the coral reefs of the ocean---and when the
sought-for riches are found, they don't satisfy. "He that
loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver."---Bible.
A young lawyer who
had struggled long and hard to succeed in his practice, and to
build for himself a substantial home, at last was employed in
a case involving nearly a million dollars. His services, upon
the percentage basis, would have netted him, possibly one
hundred thousand dollars. He worked day and night upon the
problems involved; but one week before he was to make his
final and, as he hoped, successful effort, he was stricken
down with typhoid fever. He promised his faithful physician
that he'd remember him well, if he succeeded in checking the
disease. The young lawyer grew worse. A consultation of many
skilled doctors was called, and the sick man told them that he
would remember them well, if his life was spared. He still
grew worse, and feeling that his life was being rapidly
consumed by that awful burning, he called his physician into
his room and promised him all the money the case in question
would bring, if he would only see him safely through. The
faithful doctor told him frankly that he couldn't prescribe
for life---only for health. In that hour the young lawyer
discovered that life was of more value than money; but in
search of money he lost both, dying while young, and the
bright-colored bubble of wealth bursting when almost within
his grasp.
It doesn't appear
to me to be the part of wisdom, or of prudence, to spend a
whole lifetime in the pursuit of those things we must leave
behind us at the grave. Far better would it be that we provide
for ourselves bags that wax not old---treasures beyond the
grave, where moth doesn't corrupt, nor thieves break through
and steal. If the Cascade Mountains were nuggets of silver,
and the seven seas were liquid gold, and I could possess them
all by rejecting the Word of God and Jesus Christ, I would
say, Give me Christ and the fulness of his love, and you may
have all else beside. To the Christian man or woman, Christ is
the chief among ten thousand, and the One altogether lovely,
In him are hid all the treasures of riches and wisdom---all
things necessarey to make us both safe and happy.
Deception of Environment and Social Position...
While distance is
supposed to lend enchantment, yet "all is not gold that
glitters". So many times in life we're liable to think that if
our lot were different, as to associates, troubles, and such
like, we should be more happy and more efficient; but the
basis of such reasoning is false. If the veil that covers the
defects of those things which appears so pleasing and inviting
in the distance could suddently be taken away, many times, no
coubt, we 'd discover that those nearest us were, after all,
the truest and best. Thus the mirage of environment or of
social position leads many away to the soul-destroying deserts
of discontent.
The story's told of
a girl who, while walking along the street one day, wished she
had been born a boy, as she saw one pass her upon his wheel.
The boy, in turn, wished that he were grown, so that he could
become a chauffeur like the man who had just passed by in a
huge car. The chauffeur wished he were the governor, who at
that moment was passing, sitting beside his beautiful wife.
The governor, tired out with the affairs of state, with its
complex problems, seeing the chauffeur, wished that he had no
more brain-racking problems to solve than the young man
sitting idly in the car. The young man, being chauffeur for a
busy doctor, having no Sundays and few vacations, wished he
were a boy again, like the one he saw riding on his wheel. The
boy, believing himself much abused because of an occasional
task he was asked to perform, wished he had been born a girl,
like the one he saw passing with a basket on her arm, "For
then," thought he, "all I should have to do would be to play
the piano and eat chocolate candy."
A Foolish Girl...
History tells the
story of a peasant girl who was beautiful in features and
perfect in form. She was petted, courted, and loved by all
with whom she associated. Being too proud to be contented with
her humble surrounding, she ran away to a distant seashore.
The king of a small country saw her and immediately laid his
plans to make her his wife. With cunning and great words of
flattery, he finally persuaded her to go with him and become a
"queen." This so stimulated her self-pride that her heart
became deceitful and hard. A great financial depression came
upon that country, and people were starving everywhere, while
the queen was living in luxury. One day a committee went to
the royal palace, and the spokesman pleaded in earnestness
that some means be provided by which their mothers, wives, and
children could be supplied with food. The haughty queen
replied, "If your mothers, wives, and children are as hungry
as you say, let them eat grass with the horses." Those honest
men were stung to the quick, and her sarcastic, heartless
remark sowed a seed that resulted in a complete overthrow of
that king's authority, and a mob broke into the royal palace
and, seizing the beautiful but heartless queen, cut off her
head, stuffed her mouth with grass, put her head upon a pole,
and carried it through the streets of the city. The mirage of
inordiate desire suddenly disappeared, but not until her frail
bark had been wrecked upon uncharted rocks.
Napoleon Bonaparte...
That great general,
Napoleon Bonaparte, was deceived twice in life. While he was
leading his army through the northern part of Africa, it was
necessary for them to pass over a portion of the great Sahara
Desert. His soldiers had been hoarding their scant supply of
water; but seeing a small lake, as he supposed, a few miles in
advance, Napoleon gave permission for them to drink all the
water they had in their canteens. After marching for hours and
getting no nearer the supposed lake, he ordered a halt, and
said to one of his generals, "We've been following a mirage,"
and it was true. He was deceived again when he thought he
could conquer the world. His power was overthrown and he was
imprisioned a short time at Elba. Escaping, he commanded
another army, hoping to conquer England. He was mistaken. No
man could conquer the world who wasn't able to conquer
himself. He'd received the two highest honors his country and
religion could bestow: He was proclaimed First Consul of
France, the highest civil honor his country could give. The
pope set aside a church rule by leaving the Vatican to attend
his coronation in Paris---the highest ecclesiastical honor the
church could bestow upon such an occasion. Intoxicated and
hypnotized by the mirage of sin, he marched blindly on, and
met his final military defeat at Waterloo, and soon was sent
in exile. He landed at St. Helena on Oct. 15, 1815. He died in
1821, and his body remaind on that dreary island until 1840.
He died the same as the pirate died and the wild flowers
bloomed above the graves of the two characters---one who
defied the laws of civilization, and the other who might have
given to history her brightest page.
Let's ask
ourselves...what direction am I traveling? Who's my leader?
Many are following the mirage of evil, but that way leads down
into the valley where disappointment and remorse of conscience
ever await; it leads down to the borderland of eternal woe; it
leads to death. By following Christ the soul is led upward and
onward, above and beyond the sun-kissed mountains of earth and
time, until, at last, it reaches the heavenly country, where
friendship is real, companions are true, and where love shall
never die.
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