, 1874-10-25
Writers Who Have Dealt with
These Subjects.
Appearance OF Satan.

old as the history Of 1nau, and plays prominent
part oysn in the religion Of the Oldest 1aces OF
India. At first, outside Of the teachings OF tho
Scriptures, the only conception WAS Of
SOME suADowY BE1So,
hals human, who exertcd his powera intcrnit-
tlnsly, and seemingly without purpose; but. a.
men began to realize their numerous fa:lu1ea
and nsfortunes ~ they felt moro deeply the
pgesence OF BONE stronger power than them
selves, the evil spirit was endowed with new pro-
portions; acquired in the minds OF the human
race nen attributes, and nearer proximity. BY
some races the good and evil were blended, and
united ID one deity; by others thu Divine Beng
WAS perfectly holy, the devil utterly deprayed-
Az the human raco advanced, the attributes
formerly ascrited to one being were erected. il
the term nay be 10 used, into separate ex-
istences, and man WAS said to Le governed BY
MULTITUDE OF INVISIBLE SPIRITS
who controlled his avery action, and left him i
weak and passive nubject Of others Wills. This
was no doub: very satisfactory belief, and made
it immensely easy when some unfortunate mortal
had done wrong to conveniently shift 1t OF on
some imp, who was the cause OF it.
THE supDH1srs
seem to hare drawn the idea out to the finest
possible length. They had four classes OF ev1l
spirits. eome in the form, Ut man, others in the
shape Of birds, OF beasts, fshes, vampires
whatever they may be,-snakes, dvarfs, and
man-eating og.es. How they ever compiled a
directory Of them so rs to throw on each parlicu-
lar imp y particular Elm. or Nhether the who1o
four classes were indiscrlminately held account
able for every shortcoming Of every iuckless sin
ner has not as yet been determined.
THE ANT-LQYlSG GREEKS
did not feel inclined to subject themselves to
any such dire diyinlties, but ma1o their gods
rlth sufficient impe1fections 10 allow 1 sus-
p,cion that they could sometimes be tho lnst1-
goodness. In fact. old Joso himself u2s : jolly
old lellow,-a kind Of person with whom Wycher-
Icy. Congrevr, and Farqnhar would have been
delighted to be acquainted The Iitans and Ate.
however, appear to have been considered as evil
spirits by tho Greeks. and in later times rer1
convenient community of demons was invented,
which. it is said, relieved Plato considerably
when he was engaged in attempting to &C
count for the origin q am Hsre tS
shoulders Of the Atlas. like spirits of darkness,
and ayen Horace would acknowledge that this is
knot which onlr . god cond unite. Although
the ancient Uiudooa appear, as above stated, to
have preempted the icld,
seem to have turned their attention to the
creation Of devils, outside Of what the Scriptures
tell. The Talmudists originated the internal
brood BY saying that Eve was not Adams first
love, bns that, by = previous wife. named Lilis
or Li|ith, be had whole family OF devils.
Goethe s!so, either resurrecting this unfortunate
mother Of w1ckednces or creating another, intro
duccs a Lil1th in his Wa1purgs night-scene in
- Faus:." But OF all creations in the spirit
world, that OF
"CSp1SE,"
by Fouque. is lucomparaDr the best Although
aha ia1 n av[
not belong to tho subject in hand, yet ~ re-
lief to the sombre figures already called up, and
to DIVE away tho sulphurous odor WHICH must
be beg inning to be perceived Undlne may DO
character, when the handspring OF character-a
souls absent. Is inimitable: Like Fouque's Un-
dine though without the delicate discrmn alton,
is Dra1e's "Culprlt Fay" But above both.
though With creator approximation to humau-
ity, is
SHAKarEARE's "AnIEL~"
Certainly the great dramat!st must have eagerly
devoured all the tales Of COLLINS and demons he
could obtain. Imagine him, after an unsuc-
cessful poaching excursion after some
neighbor's hare, sitting down by the
roadside and devourins Glan.,ls DE
proprietatibus rernm inscriptum." black
little folio on the general history Of devils or.
when he vas perhaps tormented By the blue
devils himself consequent on conjnga! d1tfer-
ence OF opinion between himself aud his Ann.
.
'* Fractatus de Lamis ct Phitonicis Muleribus."
an interesting Little work on witches, incanta-
tions anG caressing By tae devil Think OF
Shakspeare's wondering if there was aav differ
ence between & careselns By the devil and
conbing Of bis head with ,hree-legSed STOOL by
bis wife. Possibly, IS 1t preparation to writ
inE the witch scene IN Macbeth, the Bard Of
Avon perused the Life of Cornelius Agrippa,
magician. said to contain some curious infor-
nation about raising devils. notions OF hell, de-
mons, wltchcraft, ETC.. OF Martin Luthers Table
Talk, containing, as is said, nina OF wealth on
the subjects OF hell, tho devil, demons, Purga-
tory, witches, w1tchcraft, and similar pleasant
subjects.
Judging, however. from the complaints ofson
made at the present time, reprint OF tue Lie
of Agrlppa would be useless, as so much IL al
ready known Of the mode Of raising the devil
generally that any further attempt at giring ln-
formation would be. If not impossible, at least
By tue way.
MARTIN LUTHER
must have had some valuable knowledge ss to
His Satanic Mnjesty, il, as Id confidently
stated, he had Al interview With
that parsonage. How fortunate It
would have been If como entcrptislng reporter
had only interviewed the worthy monk. We
old tonpter actually WAS horned or not. or aa to
tho fact Of his possession OF q caudal append
age. and its use, o. as to whether, finally, bus
sable hue was or was not caused oy the bosae
of ink which tho eas1To monk launched ~ HIS
head. But newspapers were not in e1istencs
then in Germany. and no ubiquitous interviewer
the creation Of the present century, WAS ready
to supply the lacking information
TIE GEHNASs,
OF all nations since the Greeks, appear to have
had the most lively and realizing oelef in evil
spirits Goblins. elres, gnomes, sprites, witch
e., and numerous other spocaes Of un-
seen or supe1hunan creations, are to DO
found described in their writings. The
Black Forest teens With them they dit
along the Rhine. peer out Of tho windows OF
iccaying castles, and haunt us in the recesaes Of
the mountains. Schiller must hare been fresh
frou, tho reading Of some tales Of demona when |
he wrote his Is Kobberz," aud Goethe brings the
y hole fell crew to dance welcome to the lost |
soul of Faust aud the beautiful Margaret. |
They change their shape, ride on bEoomsticks, |
and fa1row soTs, until the firm heart OF Faust |
eau no longer endure the horIid gathering, ana |
the scales drop from his eyes - he sees the
mouse fall from the lipu of one whom he had a.
most deemed An angel Of light. Mothers ter41ly |
their children BY the suggestion OF the appear
anco of some OF there uncanny beings, and me
belief even to-day their existence ia as rea! N
some parta Of Germany Is It "aa n7s
aun3red 7eArs ago. '' The devil te beating his |
% nshAx y IN II old 14SpAa pxoyAEb used 10 a. |