RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Devil Devotion
between the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of Satan, and this conviction draws forth the vivid exhortations to fight manfully and with the armor of God, and to resist by prayer and vigilance. It may be said with Dorner that the conviction of a great struggle going on between the two kingdoms of darkness and light, a struggle in which we all may take part, is adapted to produce an earnest conception of evil, and develop watchfulness and tension of the moral energies. D. S. Schaff. Bibliography: Lists of literature (very partial) are found in M. Osborn, Die Teuielsliteratur des xvi. Jahrhunderts, Berlin, 1893; Bibliotheca diabolica: A Selection of Books relating to the Devil, New York, 1874.
On Biblical ideas consult the works on Biblical theologv, particularly: H. Schultz, O. T. Theology, London, 1892; A. B. Davidson, Theology of O. T., pp. 300-355, Edinburgh, 1904; W. Beyschlag, TV. T. Theology, Edinburgh, 1896; DB, iv. 407-412; EB, iv. 4296-4300; JE, xi. 68-71.
On the Christian conception the works on dogmatics, especially those by J. P. Lange, ii. 569 sqq., Heidelberg, 1852; H. L. Martensen, pp. 213-231, Copenhagen, 1850, Eng. transl., Edinburgh, 1865; J. J. van Oosterzee, ii. 413-422, Utrecht, 1872, Eng. transl.. New York, 1874; J. A. Dorner, ii. 188-217, Berlin, 1881, Eng. transl., Edinburgh, 1880-82. Also Harnack, Dogma, passim, consult Index. Special treatment in: R. Gilpin, Demonologia sacra, London, 1877; A. D. White, Warfare of Science and Religion, 2 vols.. New York, 1898; J. Hansen, Zauberglaube. Inquisition und Hexenprocess im Miltelalter, Munich, 1900; idem, Quellen und U ntersuchungen des Hexenwahns und Hexenverfolgung, Leipsic, 1901; Graf von Hoensbroech, Das Papsttum in seiner kulturellen Wirksamkeit, i. 207-380, ib. 1901.
On the general subject: G. Roskoff, Geschichte des Teufels, i. 175-186, Leipsic, 1869; M. D. Conway, Demonology and Devil-lore, London, 1871; F. T. Hall, Pedigree of the Devil, ib. 1883; E. H. Jewett, Diaholology: The Person and Kingdom of Satan, New York, 1890; P. Carus, Hist, of the Devil, Chicago, 1900 (disappointing); Faivre, La Personalite du Satan, Montauban, 1900; and the works cited under Demon; and Demoniac.
DEVOLUTION, LAW OF : A law which provides for the filling of ecclesiastical offices in an extraordinary manner when those whose duty it is to fill a vacancy fail illegally to observe the proper time or violate the canonical rules. The earlier canon law knows of no devolution right. It arose with the development of a time limit for the filling of vacancies in ecclesiastical offices. At the Lateran council held under Alexander III. in 1179 (capitula 3, 8) it was enacted that all lower livings shall be filled 7,-ithin six months from the time they became vacant, and in case either the bishop or chapter are negligent, the one must act for the other; in case both are negligent, the metropolitan must fill the vacancy. Innocent III. extended this law at the Lateran Council of 1215, and in the collections of decretals and by doctrine and practise the institution was further developed. The present law of the Roman Catholic Church is this: in case the authority having the right of collation illegally fails to fill a vacancy within the prescribed time, or culpably transfers the office to an unworthy person, or violates the rules to be observed on such occasions, the next ecclesiastical superior has the collation ipso jure , he can resign his privilege and allow an appointment by another in due order; but in case he makes use of his right, the same mles apply to him as to the original collator, the difference being only in the person making the appointment. E. Sehling.
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DEVOTION: The response of man to God's revelation of himself. The impression of his reality is so strong upon us that we gaze in awestruck silence upon his incomparable majesty; and devotion is based on this conviction. Its object, the living and eternal God, is beyond and above this world; and hence this spirit has a tendency to shun the world, which may easily be exaggerated. We can not escape from the world, which is the product of our own living consciousness. When man tries, as in what is called mysticism, to grasp the idea of God without relation to this world, he attempts the impossible. This transcendental God can only be found of men when he draws near to them by revealing himself to them; and their devotion to him can only be their willingness to listen when he speaks. God reveals himself in the world about us, to each man in the mode of his own existence, and thus to each in a different way. Knowledge of God is a personal conviction to be gained by each soul for itself. This will not remove us from the world, or free us from the claims of environment. We are rather to find in the latter the source of the strength which is to enable us to realize the invisible and prepare us for the life beyond.
It has been said, as a reproach against religion, that it is much easier to be " devout " than to live a moral life. But this reproach is based upon a false conception of devotion, which is wholly different from mere idle dreaming or emotional enthusiasm. Devotion, while it brings with it the most entrancing delight, is a call to the greatest exertion of spiritual energy. The way to it is through the conscience. A man must know what he is to do and be. This condition once fulfilled, all about him perceive a power from above in him. He is conscious himself of the force of the right. His moments of realization testify for him to the presence of an invisible agent, and lead his thoughts to God.
To abide in the God who has thus revealed himself to us, in what for us are such undeniable facts, is devotion. The words in which others who stand in his presence tell of what they have realized are valuable means to it; they may kindle the fire — but they are not the flame itself. And so likewise the purpose of devotion is not fulfilled until it is translated into activity. It means the decision of the will in favor of good: and this brings light and order into man's ideas of his actual existence, of the significance of his individual position in the world. The realization of duty forces action. Where devotion does not issue in the activity proper to one's vocation the emotions felt fail of their effect. This is the case with some forms of Roman Catholic piety, in which devotion grows not out of a revelation made to the individual, but of the contemplation of traditional conceptions; in which intercourse with one's fellows and labor in the world are considered an interruption of intercourse with God. The Church is bound to proclsiim that for the individual the divine revelation consists of the facts whioh he himself recognizes as indubitable parts of his own existence , such revelation does not necessarily
De Wette Dickinson