The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1889-11-15
Is There a Personal Devil?

When the senses have been lulled or
perhaps dulled with the cloying flow
of saccharine melody there is bracing
refreshment in the contrast of forceful
or even harsh harmonies. The blast
of trumpet and the crash of cymbals
are tonic as of the strong north wind.
In like manner in an age when most
people seem either unable to believe
anything, or ashamed to say that they
do, there is something of relief and
stimulant in a sudden utterance of
faith.
1t is not necessary to pronounce any
Judgment upon the theological differ
ences of the day in order to recognize
certain sense of fatigue at the sheer
OF the materialist, the cold Indifference
of the agnostic, and the castanean
merriment of the scurrilous atheist.
There is a rooted conviction in the
minds, even OF those who formulate no
creed of their own, that the great work
of the world has been done by believ-
ers in time of belief. The faith and
devotion of the fanatic kindle the ad-
miration of those who have no enthusi-
asm and the one-idea men are the
heroes Right or wrong-and the de-
cision is beyond the jurisdiction of
secular newspaper-the revolt against
old fashioned Christianity has an en-
feebling effect. It would be mistake
to look for this result only in the out
side, non-religious world. What are
called the orthordox churches seem to
have dropped one after another the dis
tinctive doctrines of former genera
lions, or at least to have suppressed
them. How often nowadays is heard
a downright sermon on hell and eternal
punishment? When sermons in refu-
tation of such doctrines are delivered
from liberal pulpits they seem to be
wholly unnecessary. 1t is as if fight
ing men of straw, or arguing against
the reality of medieval myths.
Whether or not the race is, in the
course of religious evolution-to adopt
the cant phrase of denial-approaching
larger and more reasonable views, it
must be confessed that the immediate
process is enervating.
So that to the languid skeptic no less
than to the torpid Christian there is a
delightful and reviving surprise in en-
countering unexpectedly a man who
has the courage to announce his adj
hesion to a venerable article of faith.
It is safe to say that, from the
evangelical strongholds of the Heights
to the nationalistic outposts of South
Brooklyn, the assertion by DR.. Lyman
Abbott of his belief in the personality
of the devil has exerted quickening
intellectual influence, whether sympa-
thetic or antagonistic. For the pre-
sent purpose it makes no difference
whether one shares the belief or
whether it is well or i'll founded. How
ever this may be both the Journalist,
who has been pretending to rest upon
foundations which he is in fact rejects,
and the "come-outer,' who has been
busy with the painful task of construct
ing substantial castles upon clouds,
will draw long breath of relief as
they exclaim, Here at last is a man
who actually believes something and
isn't afraid to say so.''
Perhaps DR.. Abbott could hardly
have chosen a bolder point from which
to throw out his challenge to his
materialistic, Agnostic contemporaries
than the alleged personality of the
devil. Many even of those who hold
fast to cardinal principles have dis
missed the Satanic individuality as
childish superstition. Brooklyn Eagle.
The ORIGINAL Cr11SOa