St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-09-29
PERSONAL DEVIL.

This is TO be red letter day for the
Chicago pulpits. During the past week
at one of the regular meetings of the
pastors of the city an orthodox Baptist
clergyman of approved piety and great
eminence. and one whose views and
opinions on all theological questions
have commanded the respect of his
brethren in the ministry, arose and de-
liberately asserted that there was no
devil; that the mysterious being who
had been pictured to all the generations
of earth since the earliest dawn of crea-
ton as a clOven- footed old demon, with
a horn-bedeeked head, who went roar
ing up and down the earth like a roar
ing lion seeking whom he might devOur,
was only myth, and had no more place
or existence in creation than the veneer
able Santa Claus. He backed up this as
sertiOn with asuperfcially logical but in
reality a strained argument based on
Scriptural texts. As natural result,
the good old brother succeeded in stir
ring up a theological hornets nest in
that ministerial meeting, and it was
agreed that all the pulpits in Chicago to-
day should stand in solid phalanX in
support of the personal identity of His
Satanic Majesty. In other words, the
devil will get such boost in Chicago
to-day as he never had before; and that
is saying good deal.
A denial of the personality of the
devil is not new thing, and yet those
who assert it usually get safely beyond
the pale of orthodoxy before risking the
assertion. This is the first recorded in
stance CT an orthodox clergyman, still
holding to the orthodox faith and
retaining his clerical relations with
an orthodox church, who has been bold
enough to attack the superstition of
the ages. No amount of theological
sOphistry can eliminate the DEVILS per-
sonality from the Bible. In both the
Old and the New Testaments his figure
is as clearly outlined as that of Deity.
From the first chapter of Genesis to the
last chapter of Revelation his individu-
atty is distinct, and always the same
cunning archfiend whose mission is to
do evil and evil continually. If MOSES
against him by the IngerSOllian inf
dels, his first and most grlevous mis-
take was in introducing the devil with
such highly wrought dramatic effect in
that famous Garden of Eden scene, for
upon that has hinged all the misery OF
ADAMS posterity.
A good many things might be elimi-
mated from the Bible and still leave the
pulpit standing room, but the devil
is not one of them. If belief
in his personality be destroyed.
those sublime displays of moral hero
ism by the patriarchs. the prophets,
the apostles and the martyrs count for
nothing. ABRAHAM's faith. JOBS
ndelity. DANIELS patriotism. DAvID'S
intrepidity, SoL0MoN's wealth and wis
dom, ELIJAH's sanctity, IsAIAH's in
spiration, and the grandeur OF the moral
triumphs achieved by the innumerable
army pictured in the Apocalypse all
vanish like an idle dream when the
devil disappears from the orthodox
faith.
b Modern theology having robbed hell
of its terrors, what deterrent force does
it propose to supply to keep mankind
in the middle of the road, if the devil
is to be dethroned and to have his tail
chopped off? We do not know what
position the Chicago preachers will take
to-day, but we do know that if
they permit the personality of the
devil to be destroyed there will be no
further use for the pulpit in this world.
If there is no hell to shun and no devil
to dread, why should there be an exer-
ton to save souls, or why should there
be an expenditure of millions annually
to support ministry without mission?
These are questions that will probably
disturb the minds of the Chicago
preachers to-day. But to the congrega-
ton without will be suggested the
query: If there is no real devil, how is
it that the world is filled with his imps?
Therein lies the argument in support of
personal devil. The evil there is in
the world could not exist without a
great first cause. His Satanic Majesty
may not be the traditional cloven-foOted
gentleman at whose head MARTIN LU-
THEIRS inkstand was hurled; he may be
hOrnless and hoOfiess; yet the world
cannot deny his existence as long as his
works are apparent.
-zzHn