THE MORAL OF "THE DEVIL"
[copyrighted 1908 by the American-Journal-Examiner]

In every human organization dwell the Twins - the Angel and the Demon.

The Angel is the real self; the enduring, immortal self, which goes from life to life, from planet to planet, until it has made the circuit and ended where it began--at the Source.

The Demon is man made; it belongs to the changing, perishable bodies which are created anew with each incarnation; and it goes down, and out, into nothingness, with the disintegration of the animal body.

But with each new body, the mortal being usually invents, or adopts, a new Devil.

A few great souls have passed along through earth without such demoniacal association; Christ, the lastest and greatest of the Masters, held converse with the Devil once, on the mountain top, when He was tempted; but that was His only acquaintance with him, because He had finished His circuit, and was ready to become one with God.

A weak man or woman, with good intentions and desirous of leading a moral life, but lacking will power, and inclined to be timid, and fearful, and negative in thought, often adopts a Devil formed by some selfish and licentious person, who fashions Devils by the wholesale and sends them out to roam over the earth, seeking an open door in a weak mind.

When such occurences are analyzed they are usually called hypnotism.

In every liquor saloon, in every gambling den, in every boldly vicious and immoral place, about every race track and pool room, Devils swarm. And the weak, the dissipated, the thoughtless and the irresponsible minds are the open doors for them to mass through, into the dominion of the human citadel.

In many drawing-rooms of fashion, in brillant restaurants and hotels, where the elite congregate; in sensuously decorated studios, Devils also wait day and night, knowing that they will be entertained, if not welcomed, by some of the self-indulgent frequenters of these places.

Many are the devices employed by the Devils of earth to bring about the desired results.

Drinks, drugs, avarice, money mania, jealousy, love of power, desire to outshine neighbors, lust, sensuality, gross appetites, gourmandism, love of praise, personal conceit and egotism, selfishness in every form--all these are webs which the Devils spin about humanity.

Even beautiful, romantic sentiment, memory and imagination, become aids of the Devil, at times, when coarser and more common methods fail in the snaring of a refined soul.

Many a good wife, who shrinks with horror at the thought of a vulgar amour, or of any act which could pain or anger her husband, has been led into the Devil's net by indulging in retrospective dreams of a vanished romance and through the stirring of old ashes to see if one little spark remained.

Letter writing is a favorite pastime of almost all Devils. Once they get a romantic man or woman, with a pen in hand and an unoccupied chamber in the heart, and the breed of Devils who hang about the domestic hearth, hoping to find rooms to let, chuckle in glee.

Wives who have believed themselves happy and satisfied, husbands who have been unconscious of any lack in their lives, have fallen by the wayside through an interesting correspondence with some sympathetic "affinity," who was Devil-instructed to lead them into trouble.

After a man or woman falls into the Devil's snare they both call it Fate, and proclaim their inability to combat the powerful influence of "destiny."

But destiny is man himself.

The Angel dwells always within him, ready to say, "Get thee behind me, Satan," if the man really wants it said.

The angel and the Devil both are completely under man's control; the work of man, here in this sphere and in every other, is to develop the character which will enable him to get back to the Source.

Unless the man directs the Angel to take the ascendancy, there would be no growth in wisdom for him were the Angel to interpose. So he remains silent and lets the Devil do his work, in order that man may find out for himself the pain and folly of such dominion; and in order that when he again encounters the Devil, either in this plane of existence or some other, he may be able to say as Christ said, "Get thee behind me."

Always have there been Devils; always will there be Devils, while humanity is evolving from the lower to the higher states.

But always is there the Angel, ready to lead the soul to conquest and victory if the soul will call.