Gabriel's Wooing (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1897. Excerpt: ... VII. jfaitb an& iReason. Gl NEW ENGLAND valley; the glory of LJ early morning; the colors and odors of ' summer flowers; birds replying to each other in song; the brook with its music of waters; no human foot or voice intruding. Sprawling on the bank was Beelzebub in full abandon. Could the eye of innocence or nascent sin behold him now, it would recoil with horror. He lies there a languid and chaotic heap, his great chest expanding with draughts of aif, and collapsing as, with hellish sounds, streams of fiery vapor issue from mouth and nose. All the pleasing vestures of mind and body he is wont to wear are cast aside, and hideous deformity alone appears. The utter degradation and loathsomeness of body taint the air; and as he opens wide his red-marked, blearing eyes, their gleam of light shows but the prostitution of the mind. Almost incredible is it to believe that such disorder and darkness could summon up sufficient power and cunning to clothe itself as an angel of light and lead astray the sons of men. Will Satan ever reach the limit of his recuperative powers? If evil be destructive in its nature, will that destruction recoil upon the active principle--the arch-person of evil--and decompose its very being? Will the principle of existence, and the mental powers of Beelzebub become so broken down that the assembling of the attributes of his personality shall become impossible, and he himself vanish in annihilation? A query this, not to be answered at offhand, and never answered by man alone. Whether the " God-shall-be-all-in-all" includes the utter cleansing of the universe from all evil, He whose eye circles all possibilities only knows. Restoration by means of universal salvation is one thought; restoration by partial annihilation is quite another. ...