The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-03-31
THE EVOLUTION OF THE DEVIL.
BY REV. CHARLES FLUHRER, D. d.
Grand Rapids, Mich.)

LII Is sure pIOOl JudG d uOgI1d lS uUOul-
ed when people treat it with ridicule,
and such fate has overtaken the idea
of personal devil. Yet there was time
when it's belief was we'll nigh universal.
We owe to a Rabinnical tradition the
curious conceit that the devils we're the
last of the six days work of creation.
According to it they were made SO late
in the day that no light was left by
which the Almighty could see to form
their bodies. The next day being the
Sabbath they were obliged to do with
out physical organism of their own,
and ever since have appropriated other
means of manifestation. In some as
pect the devil was supposed to be in
perpetual conflict with the saints, and
no good work could be undertaken that
he did not attempt to frustrate. In the
Catholic church he was ubiquitous
parsonage as the numerous works Of
art testify. Luther, who headed the
Protestant revolt, believed thoroughly
in the devil, as the inkstand episode
bears witness; while in the Evangelical
church down to within a century, be-
lief in the devil was one of the corner
stones of the faith. Milton, Dante and
Goethe have been chief of the many to
make him prominent in literature.
Now where an idea obtains such wide
expression there must be universal con-
ditiOns to give rise to it =; and the war
rant is found in certain aspects of ma.
ture and human life. AS men in early
times looked around them and analy-
zed their own experience they found
their state one of imperfection. They
found heat and cold, summer and win
ter, sunshine and cloud, fertility and
barrenness, pleasure and pain, life and
death. Each benefcent force or phenOm-
enOD seemed to have its opposite; and
this dualism became the mOther-source
out of which devils were ultimately
evolved. Seeing opposite forces striv-
ing for the mastery, the next step of the
human mind was to persOnify them.
In all of the ancient religions, Egypt
ain, Hindu, Persian, Assyrian and
Greek, with traces in the early Hebrew,
the principal gods represent natural
| phenomena, such as the sun, fire, gen.
GRAFTON. But the sun-god was not uni
formly beneicent in his operations.
He not only gave light and quickened
fifes but his heat produced drought,
whitening of vegetation and putrefac
tion, as well. Hence there came about
the idea that the sun-god had an evil
as we'll as good element in his nature.
The next step would be to separate
him into two gods. An illustration is
| found in the Hindu words Siyi and 81
The first means destruction, and it was
undoubtedly derived from the word 81,
which means its very opposite-to
thrive. So at length the god that per-
formed two functions became separated
into two being. Another illustration
is found in the Ph9nician words Baal
or god, and Beelzebuh, or devil. Baal
is the sun-g0d and Beelzebub the god
of flies. The sun produces beneficent
light and warmth, but the same beams
cause putrifaction, which attracts flies.
In differentiating the two functions of
the sun, the beneficent one retained
the dignifled personifcation of god,
while the other was degraded into an
inferior deity. In this way the devil
got his start. He came of divine par
entage, and the Germans have a word
which expresses it exactly; their ab-
gOtt means eX-god. The devil is be-
ing who at some time has been deity,
but has lost that exalted position and
this theory harmOniZes with the uni
versal tradition that he is fallen spirit.
1t has also been noticed that in the
religions which have come into serious
contact, the gods of one system appear
as devils in the other. The Hindu De
vas, or gods, for instance, are in the
Persian system Daevas, or devils. This
grew out of sectarian feeling or relig-
iOus prOpagandism. To prevent vOtar-
les from going over to another faith, the
gods of that system were brought into
disrepute by being made demons. Or,
the cOnquering missionaries, unable to
make a complete change in belief, re-
cOgnized the old gods, but gave them a
lower station, just as the Christians,
unable to abolish the Roman Saturna-
liza, transformed it into Christmas.
Thus we see the non-beneficent func-
tiOn of Deity on its way to become
devil. But this does not happen at
once. A demon is the first result, and
demon differs from devil in NOR
al degree. A demon has no moral char
acter, or is simply immoral, like de-
structive natural forces, as the tornado,
the earthquake and the hunger of beasts
forces which indeed the demon typi-
Ges. But since the tendency is to be-
come more marked in character, the
demon at length changes into the devil,
or a being of purely malignant spirit.
This is the pure devil, doing harm for
the sake Of harm. But even in this &C.