Must we conclude that all these lapses, coming in direct conflict with human weal and happiness, are just "happen-sos"? Unthinkable! "Satan hindered," declares the great apostle. "The prince of Persia withstood me twenty and one days," says the angel. VII THE GREAT MAGICIAN "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."--_Ephesians vi. 11._ "For they are the spirits of devils working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world."--_Revelation xvi. 14._ From the earliest records of history men have lived who seemed to possess strange, occult powers. Magicians--performing miracles, setting aside, apparently, well-known physical laws. Moses met the sorcerers and magicians of Egypt in close competition. There are men to-day, on lecture platforms, performing feats which are miracles; there seems to be no visible explanation. "The hand is quicker than the eye," it is said; watches are pounded to pieces before your eyes, the fragments crammed into a gun; the gun is discharged, and the watch will be hanging on a hook, running as if nothing had happened. We once saw a man sewed up in a tarpaulin, placed in a huge trunk, and the trunk strapped securely. In less than five minutes the man came out from an enclosure where the trunk was placed; not one buckle loosened, and not one stitch in the tarpaulin broken. Cannonballs are taken from hats; live ducks, rabbits, and a dozen tin vessels are drawn from one hat in rapid succession. Cards are made to jump out of the deck when called by name. One magician laid his assistant on a table, cut off his head with a large knife, lifted the gory head by the hair and placed it on another table; then carried on a conversation with the severed head in the presence of the astonished audience. Every one knows these wonderful feats are done by some kind of magic, but for all we can see they are done; the most astute observer cannot detect the secret. The Apostle exhorts the believers to put on the whole armour of God, to be able to stand (not to be swept away or captured) against the wiles of the Devil. Then the Devil is a trickster--a sleight-of-hand performer--a magician. One of his many methods to accomplish his purpose, we find, is delusion: practicing sleights, tricks, and works of magic on the gullibility of his victims.