Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1874-06-20
,EiA GAZETTE VIRGINIA ADVERTISER
THE DEVIL DISCUSSED.

ILondon Correspondence Cincinnati Com. !
4 few evenings ago there occurred in Lon
dou a curious meeting, aud Que which prooa biy
Loudon alone of all cities On eartn could have
gathered. There exists here society called
the Liberal Uoion," which meets from tune
TO time for the purpose of carrying on Socra,-
;c aud dialetieal discussions. On the occasion
TO which | refer it met to discuss-the devil.
There were present persons from different
varts of the world. Among the speakers could
he heard DOw the American, and next the
ngIish accent; the Irish brugue jostIed the
Scotch dialect the German and the French
tones mingled 10 the air The Parsee and the
hussuman, she Sirghaese aud the BeDgalee,
the Brahmin pundlt and the Brahmo-SeniaJ
preacher; the Buddhist, and even Japanese
i,ouuciau-aIl these were present 10 the Bee
,hoveu Rooms, Harley street: to discuss the
origin, natural history and iuture Of the arch
cuemy Of mankind.
Nor was the composition Of the English au-
dence, as to theological derivation, less re.
malkable. 90 the platform Father Sutield,
lately OF the Church of Rome, sal beside Rev.
C.. Ioysey, late Of the Church Of Eug aod, and
near these were couple OF eminent spiritual
lists. ln the audience l observed the Rev.
Robert Laird Collier, whose discourse at the
Unitarian anniversary last week IS pronounced
pood, but mystical" Lady Buwrlng, widow
of the late Sir John, who, with her dlstln-
guished husband, has resided so long IN Siam
and China, was present. Aud indeed the mix
ture of persous Of unique experience was such
that respect for your space induces me to leave
tito the reader simmagnatioo. The subject was
introduced to the crowded audience in an ad
dress by Dr. Zelfi, German, who, as lee.
rt and Suh1patS
has gained very high reputation. The Doc
tor entered upou his theme with true German
research, and also German enthusiasm. He
gave Us critical history of Lillth, Adam s
FIRST wife, who, according to rabbioical legends,
was heartess beauty, but whose heartless-
ness appeared to CONSIST in her having refused
10 acknowledge the superiority OF Adam, or to
submit 10 him. Lilith was the first strong
minded woman, and 10 these days would stand
better chance OF being appreciated than
auvpg the ancient rabbins, who bestowed all
their admiration on Eve, who was the wife
made out OF Adam rib, and quie submisslS e
to him. The children of Ll.th became the
devils that swarm in the universe. They are
the germs of the demons believed in by al!
races. BY strict law OF evolution, DIR. Zclta
maintained that these old shapes OF evil ser
pcnt, dragons, &c-had teen raised in the
devils of Christeudom. Then he gave subtle,
critical comparison between the Satan OF Mil
ton aud Goethe's Mephistopheles. The tor
mcr was IA fallen angel, viii some remains OF
hls high original nature remaining III hun,
while Mephlstopees was simply man WITH all
the higher nature eradcated and the animal
nature developed iuto the most artistic CON-
rlet, ness. At times the audience was excited
to merrimert, rather by certain inherent
dIoIlery in the theme than by the manner III
which It was treated-whch was scholarly and
scientific For some reason or other people 10.
cline nowadays to laugh When that dread being
is spoken of, the mention of whom once had
pawcr to blanch the bravest chet k. When DR..
Zcrtf had flushed, Mr. Vor>ey arose and cali
I'd attention to the evidence which the leading
H. brew scholars, kaisch among others, had
suprcd that the Jews had never formed any
uollou of an evil spirit The chapters referring
to the serpent i'll Eden did not belong to the
original Book of Gcuesls, hut were imported
there after the Babylonish captivity the con
ccptiou Of q dcmou serpent, equally with the
Satan of Job, having been received from other
races.
Another speaker, an American, pointed out
one pecuiiarity Of the story copcernlng the ser
pent 10 Eden, which indicated that its origin
was not Sheuitic. but Aryan-namely, the
Singular curse that was pronounced upon IL
that it should forever crawl on lis belly 10
the dust. As it is the nature OF the serpent
to move in that way, this curse has always puz-
7ed the rabbins, some of whom said that pre-
vIOusly the serpeot was shaped like camel
Dr. Adam Clarke thought 1t bad been before
the curse, like an ape. But the curse became
Fery plain if connected with the doctrine Of
transmigratiou, unknown to the Shemitic race,
but familiar to the Aryou. Every animal was
believed by the latter to contain q soul which
was on its way from form TO form, and the curse
GU the serpent was that because OF Its offence
it should not rise 10 the scale OF being, but re-
main forever 10 the crawling form, which other
wise would but temporarily have held IT, And
now there was presented the sufficiently curl.
Gus fact that some Of the Indians present, as
representing the Aryan race at Its fountain.
head, were by no neaus disposed to submit to
the theory that the devil originated with them.
Mr. z. G. Mczoomdar, the coadjutor OF Re
shub Chuuder Sen, who has recently arrived IN
this couptry, arose, and, 10 an extremely inter-
estug speech, declared that they had never
had devil 10 Iudia. They had thirty-three
million de,ies, and were all full-there was DO
loom left for The devil. Moreover, these mil
lions Of gods aud goddesscs had distributed be-
tween them all the qualities and powers which
Christianity ascribed to the devil, and ne
was not needed to explain any phenomena,
The ludiau But, which some thought meant
devil, was simply, to the popular lmaglna-
ton, ghost, and the Bakshasas were prob
ably he original Inhabitants of India, who,
having been exterminsted after severe battles,
We're represented in folk lore as a race OF de-
Muns. NJ. Mozoomdar said that 10 India spec
ua'lve philosophy had greatly exceeded moral
evolution. aod because it fitted in with the
philosophy of universal first cause, or panthe-
lSm, the Hiudoos did not-realize the moral ne
| cesslty which other races had found OF distin-
gushing evil from good, and giving it separ-
ate persouifcation. Coomara Swamy- the lat
!. Ter word isa title equivalent to lord, the
gentleman being member Of the Council OF
I Ceylon-was Inclined to doubt the conclusions
OF the Brahmo, and said that there was one
aspect OF Hindoo philosophy in which it sup
Piled the material out of which devils might be
developed by the human imagination. That
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