The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1876-01-27
the African painted him white.

Laughter
The Arabs impaired the idea of the
Devil ,nto their religion, and said that
he was once the greatest of the Arch
angels and made of ETHEREAL fire, that after
Adam had been created all the angels were
called to worship him, and all obeyed ex-
cept one, who said, 81 will not bow'down
and worship one made OF clay,
for which he was sent out of paradise,
and he said II will always lie in wait for
man
The lecturer then told Of the story of
Adams first wife. She WAS called
"Lilhth," and WAS created out OF the
same clay, at the same time rs Adam. She
was most beautiful, and was told that
she must be Adams ''help-mate" This
honor she respectfully but proudly de-
clined, because she thought she was as
good as Adam herself. For this rebel
lion she was discharged from Paradise.
and Eve was created from Adams rib,
$50 that this annoying question might
never again be raised" Laughter J
Lillith became the type OF all cold
passioned beauties; and was. related,
IN many respects, to the Medusa.
If she looked upon any one he was
facinated and died, and when found,
single golden hair encirc!ed his heart.
She looked into Paradise to see if Adam
and Eve enjoyed themselves. She was
not Jealous, and didn't regret the man,
but did the garden. Laughter. She per-
suaded the seraph, Hebrew for serpent)
who guarded the gate to lend her his
form, which he did, because nothing
could be refused so beautiful creature.
She crawled into Paradise and knowing
Ewes curiosity, as only one woman can
know another, promised her Il great deal
of happiness il she would only eat that
apple. Growing out OF this legend, In
the middle ages, devils were pictured
with the upper part of the bodyof female;
This was the theory upon which Michael
Angelo painted his celebrated fresco in
the Sisteni Chapel.
| y Now, ladies and gentlemen, men had
two great mierations. The first, the
geographical-tromt the hot torrid to cold
frigld zones. The second from the dark
ness of the old ages into the enlighten-
ment of the new, and when Christianity
came into Europe it found the demons
only little pixies which sometimes an-
noyed people and were no longer strong
and formidable. The missionaries
brought the idea of Satan among these
ustions AS II great, powerful
Devil, but he became associated
with these declining pixies, and
the ogrcs, till, in the Middle ages,
Satan began to be laughed at and called
odd Nick" lie had place in the Ger
man miracle plays; was brought upon
the stage covered with black feathers,
and was the butt of the audience, wind
ing up by being kicked head first from
the stage, amid the laughter of the audi.
ence. That was the lowest stage of Satan,
and he was destined to resuscItation.
Then came an idea of devil Of power
and the era of witchcraft and familiar
spirits prevailed. The masses accepted
the Christian idea that these pagan ,deities
We're devils, and the priests playing upon
their superstition, gained complete con-
troll over them. Then followed such
prlestly oppression that the people
came to accept the ancient beliefs,
taking the ground that the pagan
devils were much more lnerciful than the
Christian. The Devil that the Puritans
had was not very respectable nor pre-
sentable figure, so Milton had 10 20 back
to the old Persian mythology for his con-
cepton of Satan. We can see through
out the whole drama the old Persian idea
is represented by Mlton's devil, who is
almost the exact likeness Of Il proud Eng
lish lord. But it was in Germany that
the Devil gained his Highest evolution in
our time Here he WAS the embodiment
of moral evil. We know very well
that the most formidable thing in
religion is intellectual skcptiCism.
The priests represented the Devil as SIM
ply u university student, and when the
Universities became the power in Ger
many they retorted by representing the
Devil as monk. Here we have the
great typical divisions Of the era of the
reformation. There was a great shocI,
when the powers of light and darkness
met; there could be no compromise
Luther thought he saw devil
and threw his IL kstand at him, and | re-
member of seeing the dent and the spots
of ink looking as fresh as il they were
made yesterday, as have no doubt they
were. Laughter. Mephistopheles, the
creation OF Goethe was the intellectual
idea of Satan. Faust wants to be rich,
and Mephistopheles brings out a printing
press and floods the land with paper
money. Laughter.
Now, whatever may be said Of
that it is Goethes idea of the printing
press. Faust sees the utter vanity oil
beauty and fame and goes away into r
wilderness among savagcs and by un-
firing and perseverIng effort Of years
rendered it civilized and like II
garden among the mountains.
When he lies down to die the
evil spirits come for his soul, but the
good angels pclt them away with roses
which sting them until they fee away
This is the allegory where II
mind has been consecrated to the good of
mankind. No phantoms can come near
him; they can not come near the soul
that has found its JOY in living for men,
and in making the earth purer and holier,
a rose which has been evoked from thOrns.
WASHINGTON COUNTY ITEMS.