Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1906-02-27
DEVIL WORSHIP.

To most people, the assertion that
devil-worship actually is practised In
our enlightened age, in the very CEN
ters Of so-caled Christian civilization.
no doubt appears incredible, but Vance
Thomson, in an article In Everybody's
Magazine. says the evil powers are
honored in scores OF temples under
different names. The writer says he
kncws q little temple" in Bruges
whore the followers of Lucifcr gather,
and not far from the Pantheon in Paris
there Is al altar to Pandemon He
does not describe in detail the cere-
monies he has witnessed In the devil
chapel. but he says:
"a couple OF years ago visited one
ot the chapels; II was in the rue
Rochechouart. The Black Mass, which
l have no desire to describe, was cele-
biated. 1t was Friday at three o'clock.
over the altar was a winged figure OF
LuC'fer amid flames he trampled un.
der foot a rocodlle-symboI OF the
church. A few days ago found the
chapel closed, only after patient re-
searCh did ! md the new abode OF the
Sntai .sts. Their chapel now Is I'm a
great apartment house, at No. % rue du
Rulsseau, within the shadow Of the ca
thedral o. the Sacred Heart on Mont
n.artre. As OF old. Satan Is worshiped;
every Friday the Luclferans gather,
could name many OF them-men not
llnkI own In the learned professions.
Some Of them have influence enough
t. secGre now and then n right OF mid
night entry to the catacombs, there
amid skulls and bones, with orgies |
O. not core to describe, they have wor-
SLIPPED the spirit Of evil--callng uuon
B3phomct. upon Lucifer and Beelzebub
and Ashtoroth and Moloch. with cries
and w0il'rg hysterla. This attempt to
rc-estahish the worship OF the Fallen
Arch6npel IT, | think. the most re-
inurkIbie manifestation OF modern oc-
oultlsm."
It Is. But il Is the perfectly logical
sequence Of the rejection Of the author
It's 81 the God OF heaven. Man must
worship. u ia his nature to do so. Even
turing mo reign Of terror when re-
liglon was 20 be reegated to the past
and 'rea'tt" was to reign supreme,
mon bowed In alteration before a frall
woman, Il Is therefore not surprising
to learn that the tendency Of those who
rejec; God Is toward the worship OF
the deyn.
There IL a strange people inhabitlng
q corner OF kurdlstan OF which II Is
said that their religion Is devil wor-
ship. They are known as Yields" a
word said to mean worshipers, Though
they are devoted to the prince Of dark
moss they are not said to be wicked.
on the contrary their reputation Is
much better than that Of the Kurds
Travellers say that they do not wor-
ship the evil one because they love and
admire him, but because they think
that some day. he may again be re-
stored to favor and in that case they
know he viii betricnd them, Accord
ing TO a description written in the nth
century, they argue thus:
1T is not our duty to rail, as the
Turks and Christians do, against the
devil. although he Is exceedingly dis
obedieut and rebelllous against God,
no more than II is our duty 10 curse
any minister Of the court who has fall
len out of his princes favor Nay, on
the contrary, We feel rather obliged to
pray 10 him. because he may, perhaps,
some day return TO the favor Of his
prince"
According 10 this narrative the Yea.
Ids never even pronounce the name Of
the fallen angel They refer TO him
as, he that you wot o. or, "hc
who is cursed by the foolish and Ignor-
ant"
The tribe has not Jared well under
the protection Of the devil II was, at
one time large and powerful. Today