THE DEVIL.

Thames Star, Volume XVI, Issue 5023, 17 February 1885, Page 3

THE DEVIL.

(To the Editor of the Evening Star.) Siß.—ln Christian theology the Devil is a personal evil spirit, the cause of ell wickedness and the active enemy of bis creator and man. The name comes from tbe Greek Diabolos which means traduce?. One of the first tasks of man's imagination in the primitive state was to account for the phenomena of nature. On.the one band there appeared to be a bebificient power who scattered welcome gifts upon nan; on the other a harsh and cruel energy that covers the sky witb blackbess, iweepa away his home with torrent or ■tempest, starves, freezes, or 6corcbeß him, poisons him with exhalations, casts him to the beasti of prey; one a God of light wiling in the sun beam, the" other a God of darkness scowling in the thunder cloud, tbe one ruling by good and gentle Spirits, tbe other by fitree and evil demons. Here we have the origin; of dualism, or worships of two Gods, which prevailed amongst tbe »ancient Indians, Persians, Egyptians, and many other nations ; for, instead of the good deities ■lone being worshipped, as might be supposed, the terrible Gods were more adored than they; from fear of their vengance. Belief in a devil nowhere appears in tbe earlier hooks of the Hebrew Bible. Tho serpent that tempted Eve is not represented in Genesis as a great being hostile to God—although in latter times that ingenious interpretation has been accepted ■s the only adequate explanation of tbe phenomena. The first definite appearance of the doctrine, afterwards so folly developed, is in tho Book of/ Job, where Saja >■ mentioned as being amongst the sons of God—but as ninch the servant of the Creator as tbe other angels. A slight development of the .idea appears.in Zechariah, where he appears as being •pposed to tbe Deity, and here is clearly conspicuous the influence of the Persian dualism which took effect upon the Jews daring the captivity. The moral power of God seems to have suffered from this, and the conception of Satan gradually developed from that of an adversary into that of the tempter of mankind. This change in the conception of the moral world is well seen in the account of the temptation of David to number Israel. In Samuel it is said Jehovah moved him to do it, while in Chronicles it is made the work of Satan. The Hebrew idea was influenced evidently by the Persian doctrines and the traditions of Abriman, and the growth of which is particularly manifested in the Apocryphal Books which contain other Alexandrine or Pereian elements, especially the books of Wisdom and Enoch. The likeness to Abriman begins distinctly in this that the devil now adds hatred to-God to his hatred of man. An extraordinary: development of the doctrine finds expression in the New Testament. The devil here takes the position of the author of all evil. He is especially the antagonist of Christians and necessarily so, since the* mission of tbe Messiah was by a victorious struggle with anti-Christ—-the prince of demons the ruler of the powers of the air—the ruler of this world—to establish the kingdom of heaven. In this theory of redemption Trenaus teaches that man having by the fall.become the devil's rightful property it would have been unjust on the part of the Creator to deprive him by violence of bis own. Accordingly tbe devil was able to stipulate that if he gave up his claim on man, Christ should be handed over to him. But in this transaction the devil was outwitted, for when be got Christ he found he could not keep him; having swallowed the bait of his human nature, he was so tortured by the book of his divinity that he was glad to let him go. On through tbe middle ages the doctrine of the fall of Satan and the evil angels became more fnlly developed. Before tbe ninth century the devil was given a variety of forms and features, borrowed from the different pagan mythologiesfiery eyes, red protruding tongue, large horns, a long tail, the hoof of a horse (of the centaurs), or the cloven hoof of the Satyrs. He and his imps made a prey of men at large. A compact cou 1d now be made with the devil, by which the soul could be exchanged for the object of one's greatest desire: this led in the thirteenth century to tbe execution of witches and sorcerers, the supposed servants and accomplices of the devil. It may here be voticed that the name' Lucifer (derived from the Latin light-bringer) was given' to the devil from a mistaken interpretation of the- apostrophe found in Isaiah, "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, sun of the morning." The vulgar conception of the Devil in modern times has been materially affected by tbe writings of poets, theologians, and scientific men. He is spoken of as a fallen majesty, probably because those who'profess to believe in his existence live absolutely as if they held no such belief., There are those who now refuse to believe in the existence of euch a being, but bold, nevertheless, that there is embodied in the conception of a personal. Devil a grand truth. The belief in the existence of tbe Devil is, however, now on its trial. There is beyond all question a profound and widespread suspicion of the unreality of a personal agent in tbe mind of Christendom, but so many grave issues seem to depend en the acceptance or rejection of the doctrine that men will probably remain undecided in their con* Tiotions till they clearly see what tbe suireitder uf the belief really implies. Jf

anything is imperilled which sustains and .strengthens the religious life freble minded prisons will prefer to acknowledge a foibidding illogical mystery rather than nllow their sense of the dire nature of tvil to be permanently weakened. —I am, &c, Cbedenda i

February 16th, 1.885.