Tama County Republican. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1867-1872, 1869-04-08

Titles by Which He has been
Known-Bclief of Our Ancestors
witchcraft aud Ohicr super.
stitiOns.
HIS Satanic Majesty" has had many
titles. The Egyptians called him
Typhon; the Greeks, Titan; the Per-
slams, Ohromaze. The Scotch have
gwen him several names, as "Auld
Clootie," which is supposed TO allude
to his cloren teet. They also call him
"Auld Ane (the Old One); aud still
another Scottish appellation for him
is "Auld Hornie, which is based on
the popular belief that his Satanic
Majesty is supplied with horns. Ac-
cordlngto learned German theologian
there are 44.435,55G devils. The
usual German expletive is "ten thous
and tuyiels," but this calculation rem
ders it a used up exclamation. Our
ancestors firmly believed that it was
possible for person to be possessed
by devil. For thousands Of years,
indeed, humanity has held this creed,
or this superstition; nor, in the face OF
the many instances of demoniacal pos
session recorded in the Scriptures, can
we refuse without impiety to credit
the stories OF men, women and chill
dreu who have had devils which
have been miraculously cast out The
good men who translated the Bible in
to the English tongue were the con-
temporaries OF the witch. finders. The
King to whom they dedicated their
grand lab. r had himself written a
ponderous treatise against witch craft.
They came from their task, their
brains heated by Oriental imagery
and unable, perhap, TO draw nice
distinctions between lofty allegory
and naked fact, to detect the super
natura! in every relation of social lite,
and to find devils everywhere. The
old tiend of the Medieval legends
the Gothic devil with horns and hoots,
saucer eyes and tail vas resuscitated
in the bright morning of the Protest
ant Reformation From the accession
of James until the end of the reign OF
the Second Charles, ,'the State Trials"
TEEN with records Of deviltry. Let a
woman be old and ugly and cross
grained, and especially rheumatic, and
straightway commerce with a familiar
fiend was imputed to her. Many
such miserable old crones, who had
been scourged. dncked and beated
nearly to deaths door, were tain to
avoid iurtber torture hefor elhey reach
ed the stake, to confess they had col
leagued with the devil" in the likeness
OF 4 black man, about a foot and a
halt high In France, At the same
period, the nuns OF Loudun were pos
sessed by devil in the shape Of tom
cat, speaking tolerabls Latin. In
Sweden the children were plagued
with the Evil one, who was regularly
exercised out oil whole troops OF urchins
every Sunday at the church door by
means Of birch rod. And the devil
even crossed the Atlantic, and caught
hold of people in Virginia, and wash
erwomen and cocks of Salem and 9TH
er parts OF New England.
The imagination OF the Chinese has
invented no fewer than ten devils and
hclls. One presides over hell stuck
full Of knives another an iron tank
filled with boiling water; third is a
hell of ice; in another the punishment
il pulling out the tongues Of those
who tell lies; another hell Of poison
ons; serpents; in another the victim
is drawn into pieces; another hell
of blackness aud darkness; and in
praying they say: MAY l not fall
into the hell of swords" or into this
or that place of torment.