, 1876-11-12

THE CHICAGO TRIBUN
walk up and down the streets Of Babylon arm
| in arm with Daniel, but they may sometimes
forget that Daniel WIS not an exhortcr in .
Methodist meetinghouse; Nebuehadnezza1 z al
great m anachronism as their discussion OF
7sHamlet.n But this sort Of error is very com.
mon. Ministers will often take line from
Genesis, and turning 1t over In the light OF sub
! or against infant baptism. They might quite as
Tatioually draw from the same source Of argu..
ments against the use OF tobacco, or in favor Of
tho latest Partisan mode in ladies' bonnets:
| Prof Huxley, in his late course OF lectures,
rendered himself the target for much scornfu1
comment by speaking OF the "Miltonlc theory
Milton's account Of the creation
is more purely original than any of
Shakspeare's works. And Milton's "Paradise
than one of MIR. Moody's discourses. We laugh
at tue painter who puts duck-huntcr into his
picture OF tue Garden OF Eden, but We think
nothing Of Milton's bringing in a fu1l-aedgcd
devil there. Not until the time Of St. John is
Satan charged, in the Scriptures, with tempting
our first parents. The tcmpter OF Genesis was
serpent, pure and simple, and though his line
OF argument and action bear presumably the
marks OF Satanic inspiration, he Is alluded to as
serpent only, and as serpent is cursed above
all the beasts OF the field. Subsequent Scrip,
ture makes no assertion which identifies beyond
doubt the snake, IN this instance, with the per-
sonality OF the father Of lies and Of evil,-the
devil par excellence. Even the words of St:
John, referred to above, concerning "that old
serpent, which is the devil,' contain rather q
Wherefore, in the interest Of justice, submit
that some law of limitations should be applied
to the charges Of the preachers Of to-day.
1t is evident, then, that the author
man-whether Moses, Or, as I think, some
earlier writer-meant that the tempter was an
actual bona dde snake, or otherwise the curse
addressed to it, "On thy belly shalt thou go,
aud dust shalt thou eat Ill the days Of thy life,
is meaningless. The glaring error in natural
sertion that scrpents eat dust, no commentator
has yet adequately dealt with. The skcptical
reader may DC forgiven for judging that the in-
spiration Of the text is rather knocked in the
head, ITO Use somewhat inelegant but forci-
bic expression,-by this palpabic mistake in
fact.
The Satan OF the Old Testament was not q
tcmptcr, in our sense OF the word. In the Book
Of Job, Satan is but another name for Ahrimun
the spirit of darkness in Chaldean mythology,
not being written BY IN lsraelite, is hardly in
any sense imbued with the predominant thcolo-
Ey Of the Testament, to-wt: The religious be-
lief Of the Jews. Further, the faith OF Israel,
credited absolute aud omnpoten: power to je-
Of rood and evil alike for His own wise purpose
It was the Lord who sent scourges and plaques
upon mankind, the Lord who - hardened Pha-
raoh's heart" ~, the Lord, make good aud
vales the Old Testament throughout,- God,
the Almighty, was Omnipotent, US far us His
dealings with men we're concerned. not only for
rood, but for evil The leathen belief in the
wasrins forces Of good and H. Of whom It the be one one
other, had no place in the theology Of the Jew.
Whether tie current Christian Faith nartaics
the more of Jewish or Of hcathen dogma in
this matter, would beg nv reader To decide
the text, "TRe Devil, as d roaring lion, Walketh
about, seeking whom he NAV deyour'n IF l,c
cap satisfy himself with~his decision, credit
him with remarkable~6oyers of tliscr;roinstion
At the beginning Of the Christian era there
were multituucs Of devils, mostly OF heathen
gods. ~B6t these were simply had spirits. The
arch-6eud Satan, or the Devil with q capital d.
lMd NO necessary connection with these, but was
popu1arly supposed to be their leader. Here
and there Throughout the New Testament az in |
the temptation 0f Christ and various illusions,
be is the temptcr Of mankind par excellence, rs ]
we'll as the author and designer Of evil, the |
prince Of darkness
During the times Of 'tthe Fathers u all the |
devils seem to have been engaged in |
tempting. Each saint had one or
two waiting upon him, irving to lead [
him aside from the path of virtue. During the
Middle Ages, Satan first appeared with horns I
and tail He also developed new characteris-
lice; lie BECAME much less dignificd than
formerly, and dealt more openly and familiarly |
with mankind. Often he was very stupid, but |
sometimes he BETRAYED q keen sense OF hu,nor.
Since Luther threw his inkstand at him, he has