_And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to_ _pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake._—LUKE xi. 14. The meaning of the term “devil” needs yet to be learned. Its definition as an individual is too limited and contradictory. When the Scripture is understood, [15] the spiritual signification of its terms will be understood, and will contradict the interpretations that the senses give them; and these terms will be found to include the inspired meaning. It could not have been a person that our great Master [20] cast out of another person; therefore the devil herein referred to was an impersonal evil, or whatever worketh ill. In this case it was the evil of dumbness, an error of material sense, cast out by the spiritual truth of being; namely, that speech belongs to Mind instead of matter, [25] and the wrong power, or the lost sense, must yield to the right sense, and exist in Mind. In the Hebrew, “devil” is denominated Abaddon; in the Greek, Apollyon, serpent, liar, the god of this world, etc. The apostle Paul refers to this personality of evil [30] as “the god of this world;” and then defines this god [Page 191.] as “dishonesty, craftiness, handling the word of God [1] deceitfully.” The Hebrew embodies the term “devil” in another term, serpent,—which the senses are supposed to take in,—and then defines this serpent as “more subtle than all the beasts of the field.” Subsequently, [5] the ancients changed the meaning of the term, to their sense, and then the serpent became a symbol of wisdom. The Scripture in John, sixth chapter and seventieth verse, refers to a wicked man as the devil: “Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” Accord- [10] ing to the Scripture, if devil is an individuality, there is more than one devil. In Mark, ninth chapter and thirty- eighth verse, it reads: “Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name.” Here is an assertion indicating the existence of more than one devil; and by omitting the [15] first letter, the name of his satanic majesty is found to be evils, apparent wrong traits, that Christ, Truth, casts out. By no possible interpretation can this passage mean several individuals cast out of another individual no bigger than themselves. The term, being here em- [20] ployed in its plural number, destroys all consistent sup- position of the existence of one personal devil. Again, our text refers to the devil as dumb; but the original devil was a great talker, and was supposed to have out- talked even Truth, and carried the question with Eve. [25] Also, the original texts define him as an “accuser,” a “calumniator,” which would be impossible if he were speechless. These two opposite characters ascribed to him could only be possible as evil beliefs, as different phases of sin or disease made manifest. [30] Let us obey St. Paul’s injunction to reject fables, and accept the Scriptures in their broader, more spiritual [Page 192.]