Nevada County picayune., 1890-06-11


 sdercd my servant Job that thercis none like him in the earth, perfect and an upright man, one that icnrcth God and cschcwrth eNils inch satan answered the Lord and said, doth Job fear God for nouEht;
 To all who accept the authority and inspiration of the holy scrip lures, there can be no reasonable doubt of the existence of bona lide personal devil The Scriptures speak of him in many places, and represent him as an artful, malignant and for midable adversary of both God and man. Various epithets are employed to designate his character and mis- sion; Appolyon, Abaddon, the Great Red Dragon, Beelzebub, Satan and Devil, all of which are designed to put us on notice that he is an active, interruptions, and malignant enemy, to whose temptations and machina- tions we are exposed. We are also informed by the sacred oracles that he was once an unfallen angel of light, perhaps chief among the elder sons of creation; that he fell by transgression, and in his apo5tasy and fall drew after him third part of the stars of heaven; and that by the mysterious permission of God he i is allowed to roam abroad over the l earth on his mission of temptation and destruction. Perhaps the pro- batiouary state of the human family would be incomplete without this snbiection to temptation from with out in any event we are never tempted above that winch we are able to bear, and in every tempta- ton way is provided for our escape. Besides, we have the assurance that they who are for Us are more than they that are | doilllSl HS
 The Scriptural proof of the exist encc and evil agency of this tormid- able spirit of darkness is very full and conclusive, leaving no room for reasonable doubt. The trial of Job furnishes strong and convincing proof of the personality and malig- nifty of Satan, and the temptation by | him of our Savior in the wilderness is equally striking in the proofs of actual personality, excluding any presumption that it was mere evil principal or tendency that suggested and urged these powerful tempta- tions. But as there may be some even in the church who entertain doubts on this subject, and as there are others outside the fold who re- pudiate this doctrine of Christianity, we propose to offer some reasons outside of the Bible which furnish strong presumptivc proof of the truth of the doctrine in question. In these reasons we appeal to the experience and observation of our readers.
 First, then, there is q class of
 
 crimes which stigmatize and disgrace humanity, such as cold-blooded mur- der, robbery, incendiaryism, etc.. which can not be explained upon any other theory than the existence and agency of personal devil. When men give place to the devil, or yield to his subtle temptations, they arc prepared to perpetrate crimes thai are revoltiag to the sense and con science of the wOrld--crimes, too, from which they themselves woulo have shrunk with horror before theil consciences had been perverted an( scared by the influences coming iron the powers of darkness. We main tain that the devil is the direct in stigator of those horrible crimes per petrated now and then in the land the bare recital of which makes th' blood curdle with horror. Again evil thoughts and suggestions of fear ful import are iustilled into the mlnd' of the best men, presenting tempta- tions to commit deeds from which thC persons themselves recoil with un utterable horror. Surely these awful suggestions, these terrible tempta tions, come from the great tempter the arch adversary of God and man As an evidence that they proceed from this source, it is only necessary to reflect that those pure and gooq men to whom these solicitations arc made are conscious that their nature is foreign to such suggestions, and rises up in rebellion against the cours' of action to which they lead.
 Such are some of the reasons out side of the Bible for the doctrine 0 personal devil. How and why h' , can tempt people in all parts of tho earth at the same time, when 1t | not claimed that he is omnipresent f may be explained by the vast mum ! | t..,.. .f n,.l s,.;,its, oll nf whom ofi