The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-07-14


ing him to return. 8 he obstinately
refused, they saw a black dog rushing
toward him, and, terrified at the sight
told him to beware of the ugly beast
But he, in his madness, pulled off his
habit, and, throwing it away, betook
himself to flight. And when he had
gone but a few yards the monster
which, while he wore the habit, had
been unable to touch him, having ther
received power, leaped upon him
dragged him to the ground, and stran'
gled him so quickly that the brothers
running up, found him already dead
In general the devil was left free to
devote himself to his main object-the
destruction of souls. To gain this end
there were no pains he would not take,
no situation in which he would not
place himself. "He assumed the like
ness of an elegant young man in order
to lead astray girl called Mariken,
whom he not unnaturally induced to
change her name to Emmerken, any
allusion to the Blessed Virgin being
specially distasteful to him. Through
her means he gained more than a
thousand souls, but was at last robbed
of his chief victim and accomplice
through the efforts of her uncle, a holy
priest, in spite of all his exertiOns, for
he feared that on his return to hell he
would be tormented for his partial i'll
success, like Carthaginian general.
THE DEVIL AS A SERVANT.
So entirely was the devil under Gods
control that he was sometimes even
compelled to minister to his servants.
"Once, when John of Parma, Minis
ter-General of the Friars Minor, was
travelling in winter on visitation to
the countries on this side of the Alps,
the party lost their way, and found
themselves at nightfall in a desert
place among woods. His comrades
asked him anxiously what was to be
done. He answered that they must
ask the divine help, and consider that
God had never failed those who trusted
him; let them, therefore, call on the
Virgin and st. Francis. This they ac-
cordingly did; and, when they had
prayed and sung hymns for a while,
they heard bell struck, which aroused
them to praise God the more, and, fol-
lowing the sound along miry and diff
cult road, they found themselves in
front of an abbey. On their knocking
at the door, several monks opened it at
once, as if they had been expecting
them, brought them to the fire, dried
their clothes, laid supper and prepared
beds for them, seeing to all that they
required with apparent cheerfulness.
After the first watch of the night
John of Parma rose for prayer, and,
hearing the bell which calls the monks
to praise God, he went with them to
the choir, leaving his weary compan-
ions fast asleep.
The priest of the week began the
Office, but without the usual ceremony,
and, emitting the versicle, % Lord
open thou my lips plunged at once, in
a confused way, into that verse of the
Psalm, There are they fallen, all they
that work wickedness;' and the choir
answered, They are cast down, and
shall not be able to stand. This was
said thrice, and Johns suspicious were
aroused; so he commanded them, by
virtue of Christ's Passion, to tell him
who they were. The abbot answered
that they were all angels of darkness,
who by the divine command, had been
sent, unwillingly, to minister to him
and his companions that night, through
the prayers of the mother of God, and
of that standard bearer, your father
st. Francis. TIL en- the whole abbey
vanished, and j ohm of Parma found
himself in cave in the wood, lying on
the bare ground with his companions
CHEATING TIE DEVIL.
One of the devil s favorite plans for
getting souls into his power was to
make a contract with men by which,
in consideration of value received, they
should belong to him at the end of a
certain period. 1.-The price paid varied
according to circumstance. If the man
was a bad shot, it was the power of
hitting whatever he aimed at; if he was
in love, return of his affection by his
sweetheart; or it might be any other
advantage that he most desired at the
time. But in order to induce people to
make these somewhat uneven bargains
a condition was often added by which
they might have a chance of escaping
from the consequences. 1t is the old
argument of the devil to Eve, 'Ye shall
not surely die So, in the case Of the
Frieschutz, the devil was obliged to
tell him in every case what he was
aiming at. \ man in this predicament
was saved, on the day before that on
which he had to carry out his part