Illustration. The Defeat. "What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Mark 8:36. Here we see the results of the game lost. Satan has been victorious. With a wild and horrid leer and a deathlike grip he has seized his victim, and in triumph points to the sure but gruesome signs of death,—the skulls and cross-bones. Amidst smoke and flame, the hand of Death rises to strike man with his poisoned dart. In sadness and despair man sits, with covered face, and weeps over his defeat. His hope is gone; he knows no peace; he feels the icy clasp of his conquering foe. With keen regret, he now ponders over his loss of faith, his neglect of prayer, and his failure to study and follow his Guide-book. Life, with its opportunities for gaining the life to come, has been wasted; and now, when too late to make amends, he sees his fatal moves and his great mistakes. The figures on the wall have changed their visage, and seem ready to pounce upon the doomed and helpless man. The lion also has become more fierce, and thirsts for his blood, while the angel turns in sadness from the scene and weeps. The entire view is one of inexpressible sorrow and regret. |