Years ago on the billboards and in the shop windows in Melbourne, Australia, might be seen the announcement that Gounod's "Faust," the operatic version of Goethe's "Faust," was to be produced at the Princess Theater. The advertisements in the daily papers stated that these performances would be presented with great splendor, eminent artists being engaged, and magnificent scenic representations produced. Public interest was thoroughly aroused, and the spacious and richly furnished house was crowded night after night. The opera was "running smoothly,' when a sudden and tragic occurrence startled the city to its center.
It may be well to state that Goethe's "Faust" has for its plot Mephistopheles (the devil) entering into a pact with Faust, an old, world-weary man. The covenant with hell was on this wise: Faust agreed to sell his soul to the devil, the price being a definite number of years of youth and pleasure. The devil, who ever and anon had dogged the path of Faust, announced to his victim that the time that he should receive his purchased possession had come. The closing scene of the drama revealed the devil in scarlet dress, pointed hat and shoes, prepared to receive his prey. Faust is there; and suddenly Satan wrapped him in a scarlet cloak and carried him away to the infernal regions below.
Remorse, horror and hell close the awful scene. Amid the unearthly glare of blue and red flames and clouds of sulfurous smoke, Faust and the devil descend through the floor into the pictured hell. Such was the scene which crowded stall and balcony, pit and galleries, in the great haunt of pleasure.
But what means that sudden hush behind the scenes, those blanched cheeks, those fear-stricken artists? Hear this, my readers! Frederici in the role of the devil, reaches the floor beneath, still holding Faust in his arms. Suddenly he relaxes his grasp, staggers, and falls down dead!
In vain the terror of the attendants, the sympathy of the fellow actors, and the hurried summons for medical help. Frederici's beautiful deep voice will be heard no more. No human skill can avail to bring him back to life. The dishonored body is fast stiffening into the rigidity of death. There he lies, with the scarlet mantle, and the red dress, the pointed cap and shoes, the grim witnesses of the fact that he who impersonated the devil has suddenly passed into eternity, "to give account of the deeds done in the body."
At the funeral of Frederici another startling incident transpired. The grave was surrounded by a large number of famous singers and actors. The minister, while reading the burial service, suddenly became unconscious, and for some time could not be restored. It is affirmed that just as he reached the words "in sure and certain hope of resurrection to eternal life," he swooned and fell, and had to be carried away. An actor standing near finished the reading of the service at the grave.
May we not ask, Are these solemn occurrences to be treated lightly? Have they no voice or lesson?
The past twenty years have marked the growth of a spirit in which the solemn realities of the world to come and the awful power of the devil have been turned into ridicule and made the subject of ungodly jest. Judgment is with God. We know neither the times nor the methods of His working. This we know, that "judgment is His strange work," that in which the Divine Being has no pleasure. Has He not said: "As I live... I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live"? Ezek. 33:11.
How many who read these pages know of some who may already have entered into the covenant with death and hell? The god of this world, the devil, seeks and finds today thousands of Fausts, prepared to sell their souls for "the pleasures of sin for a season."
Friend, the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave His life for sinners, longs for you to be eternally saved, and is calling to you: "Come unto Me,... and I will give you rest." Matt. 11:28.
If you continue to refuse to come to Him now and accept Him as your Savior, He will someday say to you: "Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Matt. 25:41.