CHAPTER XXI.

PERSONALITY OF SATAN.

NOTHER gentleman of a "rationalistic" turn of

mind, not being quite satisfied with my reply to

Mr. Y. on "The Personality of Satan," wrote me a private letter on the subject, and the following is the substance of my reply to it :

You think there is a strong tendency in me "to interpret the Scriptures literally." This I freely acknowledge, and should be sorry indeed to possess a "tendency" to do otherwise. That many passages of Scripture are to be understood figuratively, is, of course, undeniable; but to suppose that Scripture, which is the revelation of God's will to man, is to be generally so interpreted, is not only at variance with the dictates of sound reason, but is the height of absurdity, and a reflection upon the wisdom of its Author. The Bible is a practical book, designed to furnish mankind with practical information and instruction relative to their highest interests both for time and eternity; and even the parabolical and figurative it contains are invariably representations of the literal and the real. It will be admitted that no nonsense comes from God; for every figurative description, therefore, there must be a corresponding actual: but supposing, for instance, the event narrated in reference to the devils "entering the swine" be figurative as the "tendency" in you to figurative interpre

tation leads you to suppose-what possible event in human history or experience, may I ask, does it represent? or what possible relation has such a narration, if figurative, to human morals? You cannot form a rational conception of any. Reason, therefore, unbiassed, must here decide in favour of the literal. And so, if we consult reason and common sense, must the narrative of events throughout the entire inspired volume be understood, except where there are manifest indications of the figurative. And if any passage when viewed separately, appears doubtful, then its import must be determined by a reference to other passages having either a direct or an indirect relation to the same subject.

By these common sense rules we are to be guided in the interpretation of all Scripture; and being so guided, we are inevitably driven to the conclusion that the swine of the Scripture narrative were literally possessed with the spirits of devils, and actually drowned as the consequence. By such an exigesis, we are also driven to the conclusion, that, as in Job's case, power is sometimes actually given to Satan. under certain restrictions, to control the elements within a limited sphere, and to work other miracles for the accomplishment of certain Divine purposes for which, as instruments or agents, under God, from their depraved natures they are doubtless well fitted. Men may quibble and try to deceive themselves as they please, but with the Word of God in our hands there is no denying the fact, that God does thus use fallen spirits instrumentally. God's own people are frequently tried, and punished or afflicted for their good through their instrumentality. And they are ever ready, as they are peculiarly fitted, to exercise their malicious power against the people of God-against the persons or property of the righteous and godly; and the

more righteous and upright in heart they are, the more eager are they to make their malicious onsets upon them, as we see in Satan's dealings with upright Job.

It is vain for men to call this matter of history into question; for that the events actually transpired, God's Word, legitimately interpreted, positively declares, and any other than a literal interpretation would be nothing short of sheer nonsense. We may go further. With this example before us, it would not be unreasonable to suppose that this is but a sample of what He has done of a similar nature, both before and since. Looking at the event as described, it appears to us to very closely resemble natural occurrences as they take place from time to time-not, it may be, of so marked a character, because they are not designed to be recorded as Scripture examples. Apart from the revelation of Scripture, had we been eye-witnesses to the event as it occurred in Job's experience, we should not have seen in it any violence done by an invisible power to the customary and regular operation of nature's laws. We should simply have seen but the ruin of a rich man and his family attended with remarkably calamitous circumstances, but all apparently in accordance with the unobstructed working of the laws by which natural events are governed. There was first his property stolen by the Sabean and Chaldean bands of robbers; then destroyed by the falling of fire, or the lightning, from heaven; next the calamitous death of his children from the fall of a house, occasioned by a strong wind; and, finally, the breaking out upon his body of a well-known disease.

Who has not known, or read of men, and even whole families, who, from some cause, have been visited with judgments or calamities of a kindred character, only varying, of course, in detail. The spiritual agency, whether

angelic or diabolical, by which God inflicts His judgments on either individuals or nations, is, of course, none the less present because it is invisible. The Scripture has, in Job's case, doubtless, simply furnished us with an example of what is and ever has been going on and taking place above and around us. It is but what is usually styled God's providence, the executing of His judgments and mercies in the earth; and, according to His Word, He is pleased to execute them through both angelic and satanic agencies, instrumentally. Pope's couplet,

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The first Almighty Cause,

Acts not by partial, but by general laws,"

may sound very fine in poetry, but it denies God's particular providence. It implies that when God first established those general laws, He decreed that they should invariably take their general course, without being interfered with by the particular interventions of His providence. But who gave man authority to make so bold an assertion? The opposite may be as boldly asserted, and as plausibly maintained by the principles of reason and observation. But this matter is not left to be settled by unaided human reason. The "first Almighty Cause" has settled the matter Himself by a Divine Revelation. He therein shows, that as the great whole necessarily includes the individual parts, so the general laws include and are constantly modified by the particular-that it was no more, nor sooner, decreed that general laws should be established in the economy of creation, redemption, &c., than that particular laws, or, in other words, the particular and unceasing interposition of His providence, should also be established to modify and regulate those general laws so as to secure an illimitable succession of particular, and, in the Divine

mind, clearly defined results. It thus appears, no less from reason than from Scripture that Job's experience is the result of the special interposition of God's providence.

But whether Job's trial be classed with remarkable providences or with miracles properly so called, it is all the same so far as the "delegated power," of which you speak, is concerned. It is as easy for God to delegate power to an angel or a devil as to a human being; and in Job's case, no greater degree of power would be required, and in no other sense would it need to be delegated than as it was delegated to Moses who drew water with a rod from the rock, Elijah who commanded fire to descend from heaven, or the apostles who healed the sick and brought to life the dead, all through the controlling or reversing of the customary order of nature's laws. Good and bad men, good and evil angels, the elements with the laws appertaining thereto, are all God's servants or agents, and according to His Word, He employs and governs them all no less in accordance with the immutable principles of righteousness, than "according to the good pleasure of His will.”

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I have given to the devil," you say, "not only powers of speech but also of locomotion;" but you will please observe that it is not I who have given it him, but God; and I merely quote God's own Word to prove it. The common sense method of understanding and interpreting the passage, "Walketh about as a roaring lion," is not that he walks about as a human being walks, but with the locomotive powers peculiar to a spirit. And when we speak of the personality of the devil, we do not refer to any particu lar form as distinguishing him from other spiritual beings. This we can have no conception of, except as confined to material bodies such as we possess. Material bodies, or