The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1900-10-09
nPERSONAL DEVIL
Is A REALITY" I"
Rev. Harshman breaches on the
Personality of Satan. u7
NO ALLEsoRY ABOUT HIM.
interesting Sermon sunday By the Pastor
of the Dueber Avenue M. K.
Church-sunday in the
Churches. A

A sermon on personal devil is some-
thing Of a novelty In these days of So
called advancement and higher criti-
cism. The demand Of the pew Is for q |
merciful religion, with but few Of the
terrors of the law tinfoided, and the |
tendency is toward universalism. Men
do not care for q law that condemns
them, but are looking for an easy plan
of salvation that will allow certain IL
cense without too great consequences.
So 1t is not often that genuine fire
and birthstone sermon is preached in
city pulpits.
Such men as Peter Cartwright, who
thundered the terrors of the law until
men and women fell PROSTATE in their
terror and cried aloud for mercy, are no
more. Nor are there any Jimmy"
Rogers in the active work, who loved to
"take sinners by the nape Of the neck
and hold them over the mouth of hell
until they could smell the birthstone"
But Sunday morning Rev. G. w.
Harshman. at the Dueber avenue church
preached sermon on 'The personality
Of the devip' that excited considerable
comment. There was no attempt to
eliminate the devil or explain him away,
vihe basis Of the sermon was that satan
was personality, who regined over
lesser evil spirits and who had direct in
fluence over human beings.
To substantiate this. he read as les
son the account Of the devil getting
permission from God to persecute Job,
and all through the discourse scripture
was quoted in support of the ground he
took.
His text was Rev. 12:9-"And a great
dragon was cast out, that old serpent
called the devil and satan, which de.
ceiveth the whole world; he was cast
out into the earth, and his angels were
cast out with him."
THE DEVIL A REALITY.
1.-THE Bible reveals and warns US
against such being" said DR.. Harsh
man. "There is no use In trying to dis.
guise the fact that there is devil in
the world. Some people advance the
idea that there Is no devil; that all the
language of the Bible relative to him Is
figurative; that there is no reality about
it, but simply the natural wickedness Of
humanity that constitutes what Is called
the devil.
''This IL directly contrary to the teach
ing Of the Gospel. Read the account of
Jobs temptation. This shows that the
devil not only exists, but is permitted
by God to come into the earth and In
fiuence human beings. In the new tes-
lament the devil is not represented as
an evil principle, but as an evil person.
It was the devil that tempted Judas to
betray the Master. Jesus was tempted
by the devil in the mountain. 1t could
not have been the evil propensities In
his heart, for he had no evil In his heart.
The devil Is not q tempta-
tion, but tempter. He has kingdom
and rules over 1t and has dominion over
lesser devils.
."It is asserted that those who in
Christ's time were dispossessed Of devils.
were simply diseased, but this is not the
case. The Bible distinguishes between
those that were sick, possessed of devils
and lunatic. These were the three
classes. 1t seems clear that Christ
taught differently"
The speaker then recounted the mir
acles where Christ and his disciples cast
out devils and where the devils spoke
audibly, declaring Christ as the son OF
God before any Of his disciples did, the
conclusion being that they knew of him
in another world.
He told of young man asking OF
Ballou, the author of universallsm
what he was going to do with the story
Of the devils going into the herd ol
swine, and Ballou said: II do not
know; wish they had not put that In
the Bible"
HAVE MEN DEVILS NOW.
Continuing the speaker said when
the disciples came back and told the
Master that even devils were subject
unto them, Christ said he saw satan
falling as lightning from heaven!
Whether devils are manifested in mer
now, I cannot say. but there are cases
that cannot explain In any other way
Some men seem impelled to do deeds ol
murder and of violence even though
they struggle against the impulse There
seem to be two personalities at work
one restraining and the other incitine
them to evil. do not say that they ar.
possessed of personal devils, but thai
theory offers a good explanation"
''Whence came satan? Did he exist
from the beginning? No. He was ere.
ated as an angel, with others. He sinned
and fell with others, and was cast into
outer darkness. He was powerful
devil, and 1t was he who first tempted
Adam and Eve. Christ came to destroy
the works OF the devil, whose power ID
limited, as In the case of Job-he, was
not allowed to take Jobs life."
"God sometimes uses satan to test
good men and punish evil men. have
heard persons teach that there was nc
devil. but they are mistaken. Teacf
that there Is devil and warn al
against the evil effects Of sin. 1t wal
satan who attempted Ananias and
Saphira. He is called the father Of LEI
and tries to destroy you. He sets snarel
for you and administers opiates Il
quiet conscience. We need to resist him
Resist the devil and he will flee from