second place, that not only is a man his own worst
enemy, but that no enemy outside of man's self can vitally hurt him,
except so far as he places himself within the enemy's power. This is
not to say that other people cannot hurt us; still less is it to say
that it is not their will and wish to hurt us. To commit oneself to
such a statement would be to speak in the teeth of the commonest
experience of human life. There are men, and women too, who have the
will, the wish, and the power to hurt us. They are, as Christ said of
this brood in His day, of their "father the devil." To say a kind word
about any one, to do a generous turn for others on the road of life,
would be to them a positive task. There are people with whom I would
as soon think of entrusting anything I held sacred, as I would think of
risking the blood in my veins to the instinct of a deadly snake.

Nor is it want of charity to say this; it is want of sense to deny it.
"Beware of men" is as much a word of Jesus as His command to love one
another. There does not seem to be in the mind of most people any
clear conception of the attitude of Christ towards sin and sinful
people. And this confusion is at the bottom of many of our speculative
difficulties, as well as of our practical troubles in the Christian
Church. When we are convinced that a man's policy and his motives as
translated in his policy are inimical to the highest interests of
others, to the commonwealth of good, then we owe it to ourselves and
others to speak and act upon our conviction.

There are men, again, whose vested interests mean our hurt, working
through institutions that are co-extensive with our civilization. Look
about you on the effects of drink, and then think how attractive its
surface accessories are made. Consider the men who make fortunes out
of lust itself; how seductive they make the openings and avenues which
end in the lethal chambers wherein are dead men's bones. We have in
our midst a well-organized body of men who make it their business for
money to trade upon and to tempt the lowest and most dangerous forces
of our carnal nature. And what does it mean when these men are, by the
acknowledgment of public sentiment, the representatives of what is
called "legitimate business"? It can only mean that the sentiment
which should be the active and protective side of a worthy manhood is
being used to destroy it.

Beware of men who say to evil: "Be thou my good!"