New-York tribune., 1875-12-11
THE LECTURE.


England. This respect points us to an earlier world
when repusive degrading to speak Of devils
In fact demon and devil degraded still bear indca
tions Of their high birth Demon ia the root the
word as deity. The Latin word for God, deus, is
still preserved and devil with an c two es is the gypsy
for God In other names it is the Beelzebub
is really the God ofhe Lucifer means hghtbearer,
and the applied TO she morning star aud, IN
deed might name in this list many others And these
Names mental images agree with our fables IN which all
these declared To have fallen from bright abode
early ages this fable of rebeiOus spirits falling out OF
heaven was taken in literal way. Jupiter believed
have thrown Vulcan from heaven. He took nine days
falling, and was lamcd by the fail. 1t WAS in
that way that Vulcan got his lameness,
and it that Lucfer, thrust from heaven,
and falling usual his feet. got a club foot
ascrbed to him. We have therefore to deal with deites
If would find the origin of demon In the elaborate
contrivances good and evil, primitive man felt him
self surrounded by these gods, and in the dyerses OF
these cOnryances found themselves surrounded by
innumerable laws We have long taken gods and god
desses the laws OF which science has taught
the way OF unmaskng the to unvail and reveal
them, and those masks now belong TO the mythology OF
nations. And having done their part in investing each
phase OF nature with sentiment, they remain to be re-
corded with primitive They remain now as records
OF our own primitive history what you and did, when
10000 years ago sacrificed the banks OF the
Sile
In those distant days, in the period Of the earliest
personincation OF nature no such thing d
devil was conceived Of There was no
malignant spirit ever thought OF. Clouds
were described cows and the rain as their milk the
rainbow serpon;-a these metaphors were retained
until they resulted in ignorance and supeIstu0nand uht
they became real instead Of ideal images ana soon after
they petTed in the minds OF the people they
were thought of good or bad They were con
ceiyed powers and thought OF good and bad
was in this way that they were forms OF
nature with power to be good and power 20 be bad Iat
conception OF the spirit not as good or evil Dut SID
ply as sometimes affecting and sometimes benehtlng
men And after man began TO Personify after his
observation, and began to detect the good and ev
element nature he conceived them not as merely good
or merely bad. The why We find no devils III
primitive books the religious books Of men, il because
no devils needed the gods being amply equal to any
evil doings that had 10 be gotten up. iaugbter But
when this happy family of gods vas broken up
there yet such thing devil ana II is OF the
utmost importance to remember what is the mytho-
logical distinction between devil and demon. devil j.
spirit who does evil for the sake OF being evil, does
harm for the sake OF doing HARM and is wicked for It's
own sake demon, on the contrary is simply poor
wandering being whose harm simply incidental 10 the
satisfaction OF his pressing necessities lie Ia tie
most pitiful being the shark which is impoled by
his hunger. The demons in all were supposed to
be ghosts wandering around, either suffering
from cold OF heat, the persOniiCations OF hun
ger and thirst, what evil they DO Beng SID
ply incidental to the satisfaction OF thelT
earthly necessities, and the way 10 deal with them was to
offer them sacrifices When these primitive distinctions
in the demons and deities took place, the deity ree
ented by them good and the demon representa- by
them was bad The dees represented the pure sky the
bright sunlight tie air The demon represented the
black cloud the storm, the lightning, all the horrible
things and particularly all the terrible things III nature
and the obstacles which men had TO encounter And indeed
by gathering together the demons ia which man has
believed we ind, by stage, what the obstacles
we're with whch-the difficulties with vhich-man
had to contend in his struggle for existence.
WHAT DEMONS PERsONIFIED.
First OF all there was hunger IL tins part, in every
part Of the world the chief struggle Of man was fOr MS
daily bread. He had to wiring his life from nature lie
had TO get his ash the animals in the forests birds
IN the air and he saw all around MIN living, and by the
same avocaton and seemed TO be spirit OF hunger
abroad There seemed TO be hunger principle IN the
universe and AT the same the resources Of nature
we're 80 rare the animals fishes and birds so hard 70 GEL
" bord IN Jiye MIN A stone when he wanted bread that
be imagined that there was an invisible Dehs shIAiiS
yoracous who wanted the fishes and cattle iOr hinseH.
rms tbe world was conquered. There Is an AIllcdh
tribe whose representation Of their devll Is a
5Iev' Srex and mouth to swallow it, bat
otherwise nothing but stomach ana that ueEI "a
type OF One-half the demons IN Whch hanHinh nLv o @
Heved ghoul that makes the iraD shu1der on
the desert, ana is the vampire IN Whch the Oeti
beeves-the vampire Wilch not ynIy 'aAs % , & inad od
bird but goes the bodies OF those VINO are dead anu
takes them from their graves ana waste wastes & away g iS
of the living. Only last year, Mt WlIlah hOe H,sOies
had the body Of his daughter taken up and the heart
burncd because il believed tlat she Was dfh"lns ne
whole family To the grave Win WIN nc, hei, ~, VIZ" Gas NV '
an dy ing Of consumption as she had done A.. a., ,,
The race has been haunted by TINS demon u!dt 20 pUtn ~
al0ut seeking whom Il may deyOur II TeNeaied I'D
many words. our g0bin ls intiey OeIus hat si sr7i
Tbjs sunle demon Of hunger had wide ana ullNefsai
belief Every thing In nature that seemed 10 swallow up
something regarded as one OF the Soracous ~
il was the work Of "a Demon II the sun was echPsed, IL
was a similar work. MOI long ago ths Lhs!sh ooNcIn
meh' men eut sem Solar ecljpse When the officers Lad
arranged the instruments and apparatus , on h the
very morning OF the eclipse, the hdtiN NIlHou1 %
knowledge of the officers, had gathered arse PIE on
brushwOOd ana az soon az the tcile ~ ,,: TleV
brush and screamed at the top Oi tbelr N0ces Iney
Thought the about 70 deVOur them. lhe Io.
a. 6e smoke rose up that the atmosphere would
presently be filed with the smoke, ana tat tne Nhoo
object of the expedition might be defeated
tiicers scattered the brush and traInpled upon v hS'
II ygss typs of the that there hhOuld ,. 70
tramule out the smoke When IL ODscuTos the 'sVn va
science fAppause Not only this, bat when tht echlse %
H, be .tiTes threw out All the food they mad IN thcr
hOuses which TO TO tins den0h' II yOu w s
this alone and satisfy my sen on soi 'Ns 9'
The English astOnished at the length oi tln ma @
the old dragon story had survived III I-nsia'' ~ & ,t
notable fIct that the superstition wac the SAINT ta'
nad to England over the hIn@i,alAy @ az - IN rt-neT
we're drowned The news came 10 the helshDoLins
village that the mine was Hooded ana Iu & % rnncd at
drowned and all the women wen, gu. "nu % soIi,g hut
the Ton of their voices snentauOn no leeAhs, pt
simply yelling at the top Of the pt Ihesy ""io i @
ped ~ Eat aud stayed all day and all night-all on
i6e same principle Thai the Hndoos threw oul az @ sie
food-aud asked why tucf uu t.i4sf 'Ne'
~ nn rms there was enanee that the sons and fathers
NAV be remarked that all the demons that have ever
heen uainted have been painted lean anu nAnsI ,.
Shakespeare causes oar 10 Say, on ,,''s of an
I'm and hungry look" Such were TIE demons VI an an
to,Ii.v The German says that however Iu Ho VI & y
e vet behlnd them their backs are tboTOu-Hiy Hoo
aNd tIev are 80 hn that they rarely cast snauoh
cannot we upon all the varieties OF demons ,ne a.
ces the difficulties, which nave IuIhisleu e4ie g
Iic,b men nave believed. They remain III meuIehe
Where there plague, 1t was the presence presence W var&
daynon The cholera great Whlte woman, f.iy
benTIifnl ana snowy white. The poet says hae ,ne
ga.te-n neone fel by OF thousands before tHe
E,oVe , scase thew regarded II as deInOn lie say
vno u @ -, 80 noems that he went forih ana sa" Inls
"a and " " bO art tnOuF Anu he s'iu