THE “capito” is a contrivance made for a very humble use; it is simply a tin mousetrap; but although employed for so common a purpose, it possesses features which may not unworthily illustrate some very solemn facts and principles. Let us then consider its construction and use sufficiently to enable us to appreciate the comparison referred to. It consists of a canister placed beside a structure of tin and wire, which exhibits the following features. The entrance to this structure is through an opening of the full width of the front. Upon this entrance the user is instructed to scatter a little flour. The mouse having been thus enticed to enter, finds itself in a chamber from which he cannot return, as his entrance displaces the wire which supports the door, and this now falls and closes behind him. But a passage leads to where tempting bait is nearly but not quite within his reach, and to reach it he climbs an upright channel, once more cutting off his own retreat by an artfully contrived obstacle; and having reached the top platform, so balanced that his weight causes it to tilt, he thereby falls into the canister. This canister being partly filled with water, his condition is now truly helpless and hopeless. One thing more remains to be told. As the platform tilts, it causes the door, by which the mouse entered, to rise, and present the same attractions to another of his tribe as those which have proved so fatal to himself.
Assuredly the “capito” furnishes the grounds of more than one solemn reflection. First, we notice the allurements for the little animal to enter the wide door; as the Saviour says: “Wide is the gate and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat” (Matt. 7:13). And just as the passages of the “capito” are made attractive with bait, and in his vain efforts to secure it the mouse climbs the upright channel, so the sinner pursues after the things of this life and reaches after its honors, occupied with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, until (unless awakened by the Spirit of God to a sense of his need and danger, he finds deliverance through the gospel) he proves that the “end of these things is death.”
So we read in James 1:15, “When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” But the solemn lesson does not end here; for the tilting of the platform re-erects the entrance door, so that the “capito” is once more fitted to ensnare and betray to its death another mouse. It is thus again that the scripture says: “No man dieth to himself” (Rom. 14:7). The context of this sentence makes its twofold aspect, very striking in relation to the life and death both of the believer and the unbeliever. Respecting the former we read again in Rev. 14:13, “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.”
But how solemn the contrast in the death of the unbeliever. The history of the kings of Israel affords many solemn examples of those who did evil in the sight of the Lord, causing Israel to sin, and left behind them altars to Baal and other stumbling blocks wherewith the people were caused to sin against the God of their fathers.
How many an infidel author has found the remembrance of his writings, circulated beyond his power to recall them, like thorns in his dying pillow, while his deluded readers have continued to receive soul damage from their perusal, and so his works, in this awful sense, do follow him. Dear reader, we leave these suggestions with you, trusting that the Lord, who is the searcher of all hearts, will graciously use them to your profit. As the “capito” reminds us of the threefold forms of soul delusion—the world, the flesh, and the devil—may we turn therefrom to the one Almighty Deliverer from their power, Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and for ever!
J.