Thibodaux minerva. [volume] (Thibodaux, La.) 18??-1858, 1853-11-19
Reported for the New York Tribune.
Sermon on Satan.
BY THE REV. T. w. HIGGINsoN.

CONSIDERABLE curiosity was eAclleu Dy the
announcement that the Rev. T. w. Higgin
son, lUnitarian) of Massachusetts,, woule
preach on the subject of "Satan-the Gen
uine and the Ficticious," at the Chinese
Buildings on Sunday morning, and an ap
preciatng audience responded to the an
nouncement
The preacher announced the subject of his
sermon to be: Satan, the genuine ami the
fetitious," and began by inquiring whence
came the idea of any invisible beings
Gods, demons, fairies, witches? They all
came through the soul of man, call it in
spired as we would. Human souls were
windows through which we looked into un-
seen mysteries. What a range of windows
from Jesus to Judas-from the conception of
God in Jesus mind to the conception of
Satan in the mind of Judas! We form our
own opinions by the help of others.
All nations have mythology, which is
gradually simpli6ed, This the Rev. gentle
man illustrated by the growth of pine tree,
which is al first confused mass of leaves
and stems, until gradually one perfect stem
grows up, and the leaves that fringed it fall
away. The Puritans had their mythology
three Gods and one principal Satan, with
good many minor ones. Their Gods were
worshipped in cold churches on hill-tops I:
the altar of the demons was barn door, and
the offering horseshoe, TO keep him away!
Men still believed in Satan, and like to do So
because it gives sort of excitement to life,
and, as they love to read Of murders and ac-
cidents in newspapers, SO they love to read
Of Satan and his deeds.
The opinion was advanced, that the pre-
yalent view Of Satan was growing miller,
but he did not fear him less for being genteeI.
The cold, modern MephistopheIes was very
formidable. When the great naturalist
Baron Culver contemplated the popular
devil, he exclaimed, You cannot de-
ceive me. Hoofs and horns belong to
the less ferocious graminvorous class of
animals, not the carnivorous." When he
appeared in the same form to the imagna-
ton of Martin Luther, the great Reformer
cody threw an inkstand at his head So all
sensible people could afford to treat such
devil as that. 1t is the Prince Of Darkness
as gentleman, that is most to be dreaded.
If he shows nothing but the cloven foot he
isno, very bad. Ii is when he is most human
that he is most dangerous. We must fight
Satan, but he must be the genuine one He
must not, on the post mortem examination,
prove counterfeit-some Louis Napoleon
Of the realms of darkness He would not
have us fight with only feeole Satans, or
with merely defunct and extinct Satans.
The preacher proceeded to describe these
two classes: First those who fight with
obsolete errors, and are good shots at any
thing that is dead already. These he COM
pared to some respectable citizen, crazed by
books Of Geology, and going out to light the
Plesiosaurus. The world admires him for
this, and does not wish him to touch the
wolves in sleeps clothing, or the bulls and
bears Of the Stock Exchange, or to bring a
whip among those who sell doves and oxen
in the market.
Those who fight feeble Satans were those
who, passing by the real evils of society,
could not only protest against some trifing
practice, such as sitting in prayer, or offer
prizes for tracts against dancing. Dr.. Beech
er told Mr.. Garrison that he had too many
irons in the fire to become an Aboltionist.
He was kiadlng the final flames round Arius
aid Socinus and Boston Unitariauism, andhe
had no room there for Loker and Legree.
But the worshipers of Satan knew in whom
they believed, and were not so easily de-
ceived: The preacher described three gen.
uine demons:
L. The demon of Bigotry. under which
head he spoke OF laws iorbidding Atheists
to testify, and of case in Massachusetts,
where rumseller was allowed to 90 free
because he was a church member. He also
spoke Of the WEAKNESS and Journalism of the
ordinary church service. The landscape
would be beautiful if every stceple meant a
prayer, but il seldom is so.
2, The demon of Sensual Pleasure No
one expects to 60 far, hand in hand, with
this demon. They only go for short walk,
onl is hard to find the way back again. See
The snow-fakes fall in the river. They 90
there for experience" and "to see life"
and they live fast, oh! fast enough, only
they disappear and never tell us how they
like it. Aad so young men and women dis
appear. They become mere slaves, and can
not return if they would. An old woman
said she had been for 80 years the slave of
snuf-box. If you had ever found your
selves (said the preacher) at the mouth of
great river, as have, afioat in a little boat
on an ebb tide, rushing out like thousand
locomotives. and your only oar breaking
you can Judge how man feels when the
@1s s'oo Vi nAS OWH pdSSlOuS 10 Cdtl yillS
him out TO sea
3. There is the demon of ambition. You
think of this as belonging only 10 some great
salesman, who has regarded all his powers
amerely SO much more coin to buy fortune
and promotion with. 1t was terrible to think
Of these men, to be sure. ... n
Mr. Higginson then sketched the Egyp-
!ian idea Of a Judgment Of the Dead BY the
Living, in which all who had any complaint
70 make against bad man might come IN
mperson to make il at his death. After des-
e',blag the supposed pageant wildly, he
ssked if those present had no share Iii il.
True they may have done no great wrongs,
io - they had not had the chance-buf had
ney done no little ones! The petiiest am
0l'ol might leadto Is deep tragedy as the
gleatest.
The everyday demons are no feeble Sa-
aaa nor extinct ones. They are genuine
sad gigantic. Their ample garments trail
s'o1nd US, and blind our eyes, SO that we can
ao see the social evils which beset Us. We do
aetti1mph over our tempter in the wilder
aess y Jesus did, and therefore angels do
" come and minister to US. The comfort
~ ne knowledge that the earth rolls on,
I'm I'M God's eye upon it, and is coming grad
ssl'y INTO the sunshine. AS he began with
" Iext, lthe preacher concluded he would
ss'se " calling attention to better one, by
'AsCh, u was declared that If Satan hath