The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1874-05-21
Gerald Massey, the celebrated English


Gerald Massey, the celebrated English
poet. lectured in Cincinnati a couple of
weeks ago, upon the subject, "Why does
not God kill the DevilF' His lecture
was a very learned and able effort, but it
was far from orthodox. He closed as
follows
Many good people will cry out, in an
agony of earnestness, as Charles Lamb
stammered out in his fun, "D-d-don't de-
prive me of my d-d-devil" How shall
we force people into thinking as we do,
and frighten them into our fold of faith,
if we have no devil for our sheep dog.
People are not sure of their own souls,
whether they are lost or not yet found,
unless the Hebrew genesis be true, and
will feel the world is rather hollow af-
fair without their accustomed devil 1t
will be like depriving some of them of
half their heaven on earth, and the
whole of them heaven hereafter. What
on earth, or in any other place, will they
do-those who have the itch by nature
so strongly for the Calvinistic sulphur
if after all there is no birthstone there,
and they passed out of this life with that
itch upon them, and there is no 'old
scratch" to give them relief? Why. one
would charitably like to believe in a
very little hell for their sakes.
THE REAL DEVIL, AND HOW TO DEAL WITH IT.
There is devil enough. but of another
kind than the one we have been playing
with, and been continually whipping
around the stump. Here the lecturer re-
viewed the belief of modern spiritualism
in the devil and hell, which consists in
the natural Nemesis following broken
laws and dogging the law breaker-a far
more terrible way of realizing the here
after than any abstract IDEA of hell could
afford. We have been amusing our
selves with doll-devil, while inside of
US, and outside of US, and all around
about US, the real devil is working with
most internal activity, and playing the
very devil with this world of ours And
then we have the blasphemous impu-
dence to make God the author of this
dark shadow of ourselves which we have
shed on this creation, and assumed to be
an eclipse from another world of being
Pain, for example, is a consequence of
imperfect conditions. 1t is Gods re-
minder that there is something wrong,
therefore something to be remedied It
is an educating influence. We burn the
darkness and the destiny out of earthly
matter, and transfgure it into glass,
which we can see through. We are here
to apply similar process of revealing to
our darkened and excavated humanity,
so that the light from heaven may shine
through it purely. This was impossible
under the old creed which taught that
pain and suffering was the curse where
with God had unjustly afflicted all for
the sin of one, instead of the benefcent
though stern angel of his presence and
hno Of hrc o1 l. l.
is an awful deal of suffering in the world
that cannot be considered as mere indi-
Vidual question.
We have to bear the accumulated bur-
dens of centuries on centuries of ignor-
norance, or worse STILL of willful crime,
and the burden of the many crushes the
individual to tine earth, and the God of
justice appears to be blind to the special
wrong. He works no immediate miracle
for us even when we suffer for the sins of
of others. Be sure He can turn it to
eternal account if we will let Him. HUI
manity is one, and he has instituted GER
tain laws that deal with US as one, in
spite of our manifold diversities and cler-
lhed doctrine of everyone on-his-own-
hookism. He does not put forth his
hand to take you off your hook when it
happens to run into your flesh or soul
God intends to show us that humanity is
one, and the family more than the indi-
vidual member, and if we do not
accept the revelation lovingly by light of
heaven, it is flashed upon you terribly by
lightning of hell, and the poor neglected
scum and canaille of the Nations rise up
mighty in the strength of disease or dew
1ltry and prove the oneness of humanity
by killing you with the same infection.
We can not shirk our responsibility, we
can not get out of the grip of the isola-
ted law of the whole under any pretense
of individuality. We create the fevers
when we commit the filth, and poison
air and water the Maker sent into the
world sparkling with purity God does
not create poverty. His ceaseless care
and life are spent in creating plenty.
We have sedulously cultivated all man
ner of evil conditions, and then in the
midst of some general calamity, for which
we are criminally responsible, the pray
ing machine of the State is set rotating
tuEiously with 40,000parson power, and