To sham defeat is a well-known trick in warfare.
Nothing will sooner disorganize a regiment than to see the enemy routed on the field.
While the fight rages, a man is nerved and strung for he is carrying his life in his hand and knows it.
But with the victory there comes reaction, and men grow careless;...
And there are battles where the enemy has shammed defeat just to inspire that careless spirit.
O sirs, we are not ignorant of his devices!
This old device of sham defeat- have you not seen it?
You fought like a man with your besetting sin and mastered it.
God keep you watchful.
God keep you on your guard.
One careless hour and the routed sin is at the gates again, and the whole battle has to be fought anew.
We thought the sin was dead, and it was only sleeping.
We thought that we had slain that habit, and it is stealing over us again.
We thought we had defeated Satan, and Satan only shammed defeat.
Keep the loins girded and the lamps burning and the hand upon the sword until the end.
Our unseen foe is a consummate strategist.
Many a soul has been lost because it won -won in the first encounter, then said all's well and laid its arms aside...
Till the old sin crept up again and sprang and the last state was worse than the first.
~George H. Morrison
