The New York herald., 1879-03-03
FIFTH AVENUE BAPTIST CHURCH.
sArANs PERsoNALrrY-sERMoN BY THE REV.
DIR. ARAIITAGE.

DIR. ARMITAGE.
The Rev. DR.. Armitage preached on satans per-
sonality. As simple matter of fact. in all time.
the worla over. have believed in the devil.
That is they have believed in misc hevous. terror
striking being. known by some given name. who has
obtained and exercised mysterious and corrupt in
fuence on their minds. Many millions of Christians
examining the greatest encounter on record be-
tween the arch aend and the Son of God and all
connecting with some of the most essential truths
in Christianity. They do not hold the doctrine of
Satanic existence keystone in the Christian arch
but they cannot see how it may be removed with
out indirectly affecting their whole sphere of
Christian faith and duty. They hold that
one of the chief ends of Christ's mission into
the world ito destroy the works of the devil"
But II there are such works to be destroyed be-
there is no devil to do them. then the purpose
of that mission is undermined and the symmetry Of
the Christian system is broken. OF course it will
follow that their devotional fears the humiliation
which they practise. and the prayers which they
offer for deliverance from the tempter. become in
that case. popular delusions and ludicrous errors
For instead of wrestling manfuy with the real foe
they but the votaries Of vulgar superstition
dealing blows at an imaginary enemy and energeti-
cally beating the air.
THE BIBLE THE STANDARD.
The reverend Doctor reviewed the various notions
concerning the devil which have prevailed at diff
fercnt times all of which, he said corruptions
of the biblical ideal The use of the term devil,
merely q poetic ethical personifcation of evil,
is not he claimed, found in the New Testament.
Nothing be clearer than the account of Christ's
actual encounter with Satan in person Jesus met
him in the desert the temple and the moun-
tain and passed through a threefold struggle
with him. The facts of this narrative
recorded in exactly the same style which
records all the other narratives of Chrsts life. If
this record is parable. myth or vision, have
no evidence that His birth, death and resurrection
are not the The theory of the temptation
which that 1t il not actual fact be
proved. If there is outside tempter the sinless
heart Of Christ could not engender the blasphemes
OF that temptation, and in fact nothing short OF the
rawlings of lunacy could have seized his celestial
mind and landed it on the brink of such bold bias
phemes. Whether Satan present in the form of
q man or some other figure have information,
any more than we have of the form in which the
great angel Gabriel appeared to Mary Daniel The
Apostle Paul attributes to him the power to take upon
him the form of angel OF light and Shakespeare
expresses 1t. the devil has power to assume pleas
ing shape The evangelist renders Satan just per-
sonal Christ Both these characters are historical
or both allcgorical Besides, the
which would exclude Satan from proper personality
in the temptation would exclude the proper person
ality OF those angels who came and ministered to
Christ ut its close. Neither Christ His apostles
speak of Satan poetic figure or fabulous image
abstract evil principle power OF evil, genius
of destruction, but as solemn and literal entity.
There n defniteness about all their utterances
cernng the awful character which stamps him with
the ndelible marks OF life