The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1906-10-19
pOINTLtSS OPENINGS.
THE Df5vIL.
The Union

Concerning the OFF gin, source OF
life, and term of en- flstence of this
very energetic perl lsonage, spirit,
demon. or what-not 1 know moth.
ing. Indeed, the orr Fgln of evil is a
question that has pus zzled moralists,
and metaphysicians
from time immemori: u. Just when
the devil began to bc, whence he
came and what he wal made for l
know not. Scholars ,f olden times
claimed that there weIl Re two forces
in the world, good anfd bad, ema-
mating from two sources, a good
god and an evil OF e; these were
disciples of dualistic thcories. Still
others who think Rhilosophically,
claim that mana disobcdicncc
created within the Nndividual man
a demon spirit, and} that all men
possess a personal devil. And still
others believe thatf God, the one
righteous God is II ihe beginning of
all things, both ph hEsical and meta
physical. Consequently, He is the
Creator of the d,evil. Well, let
these things be as they may, the
fact remains that t here is devil,
and he is much in elvidencc in the
world of thought :lpnd action. a
thousand personal dtvils there may
be, and no doubt iare, but | am
convinced that there, is one great,
big, powerful center devil. a
devil there is | am sure, who for
some inscrutable reason has share
in the ruling of this planct-a devil
who delights in mocking us from
the cradle to the grave
Believing that devil does exist,
what then is he, where does he
dwell, and what is his work?
First, he must, of course, be "a
spirit; for, his territory of work
and action is in the spirit realm;
and his omniscicnce, omnipresence,
all demand it. TO hold his grip
upon the lines of SO many lives, he
must be Il spirit. The idea of
physical body is contrary to reason.
Certainly, these human representa-
tons of his Satanic majesty, such
as we see in Faust" are very
good and true. They convey an
idea that is indeed impressive.
With horns and hoof, forked tail, a
grinning malicious face, and bodily
color of burning red,-we are
posed with an idea not soon ban
ished. Anyhow, he is a spirit and
rules spirits. AS to the nature of
this spirit we have certain founda-
ton for knowledge. 1t is q devil
ish nature-but there my express
sion becomes tautologous. Thep,
the nature of this spirit is the quin-
tessence of all meanness and vis-
ciousness; all that is wrong, unholy
and low and the summa summarum
of.all those attributes and character
istics pertaining to morality not pos
sessed by God. Name all God s attri-
butes, take their antonyms, add
these together and you have the
DEVILS nature.
The DEVILS work is of three
kinds; viz, to oppose all good, to
tear down good work, and to sug-
gest plans and help carry out evil
work. mo sooner is a temple
built to God, than the devil builds
a chapel hard by' is a fact beyond
dispute. When good motives sug-
gcst themselves to man, the devil
introduces his side of the question;
not in open plain apparel, but
always in some plausible, pleasant
and desirable form. Oh, no! The
devil is too smart to tell the truth;
he hides his designs beneath some
thing that appeals to mans nature.
In opposing good thought and good
deeds, the devil is ingenious
beyond our comprehension; there
are few arguments that he cannot
meet plausibly, or at least with
seeming plausibility. And when
man begins to give ear to these sug-
gestions. his progress on the gioOd
road is amazingly slow.
But great deal of good has baon
dome in the. world, and the devil
has job on his hands to tear this
down. Through his human
agencies, he works day and night
at this task. Effort is made to
turn the results of good mems lives
into evil channels, to make their
work count for naught, and thus
make easy the growth of wrong.
AS designer the devil is, in truth ,
"a most versatile and original
genius. He has suggestion for
every step man contemplates, adj