The existence of a being like Satan is alleged as constituting an enormous difficulty against the statements of the New Testament. A numerous class of writers dismiss the idea of his existence as unworthy of serious argument, and endeavour to dispose of it with a sneer. This world however contains numerous analogous cases of very evil men endowed with the highest mental powers, who have exerted the most injurious influences on others. Their existence is a fact; and the difficulties attending it cannot be got rid of by any kind of evasion. The objections that have been urged in connection with this subject are not founded on the facts of the moral universe as they exist; but on _à priori_ principles alone. It has been affirmed to be incredible that Almighty God should have permitted the existence of such a being as Satan; or if his existence is permitted, that he can be allowed to interfere in the affairs of men. In dealing with this question it is evident that I must proceed on the supposition that I am reasoning with theists only. The whole question is irrelevant on the principles of Pantheism or Atheism, or, to put the case more distinctly, on such principles there is no greater difficulty in supposing that nature has evolved evil beings superior to men in their faculties and powers in some other part of the universe, than that it has evolved evil men, who are gifted with high forms of intelligence in this; or even that such beings should be capable of interfering in human affairs. If Pantheism or Atheism is a correct account of the facts of the universe, it is impossible to say what kind of beings nature may have evolved in the past, or may evolve in the future from her prolific womb. But if it is once conceded that a personal God exists, who is the moral Governor of the Universe, the affirmation that the existence of such beings is inconsistent with his attributes, is only another form of asserting that the existence of moral evil is incompatible with them. The ground of its existence has been a problem, into which the human mind has striven to penetrate from the earliest dawn of thought, without ever approaching to its solution; but into this question it is useless to enter. In the present argument we are dealing with facts, and the existence of aggravated forms of moral evil in the universe is a fact. If there be a God, it must be consistent with his attributes. The real difficulty lies in its existence at all in the universe of a God who is all‐powerful and good.