Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/217

* DEVIL. 179 DEVIL. and Barucli frequently) as the authors of cahimi- ties. Atfordinjj to the representations of these writings, the evil spirits dwell, like the older Hebrew hobgoblins, in waste places, but associate themselves for the injury or destruction of men, enter into iheni as tormentors, and can be ex- pelled only by magical or mysterious means. To this class of beings the heathen deities were reckoned to belong. But even here there is no mention of an oryaniziitiun or kingdom or prince of demons. The first trace of a Uiubulos or Devil proper (and one in all probability .springing from a foreign source) shows itself in the Book of Wisdom (ii. 24), in relation to the seduction of Eve, where it is said that through tlie Devil the necessity of death has come into the world. In the period elapsing between the close of the Apocrypha and the appearance of .Jesus, the Jew- ish ideas of angels, as well as of demons and the Devil, received an extensive development. This angelologj" and dcmonology. wholly foreign to the older Hebrew religion, was derived in all its essential characteristics from the system of Zoroaster, with which the Jews had become familiar by their long and close intercourse with the Persian empire during the exile, and sub- sequently. It .as, however, impossible to trans- fer the dualism of Zoroaster into a creed so purely monotheistic as that of the .Jews; this would have destroyed the foundation on which their entire history rested. Two beings, equally eternal, equally powerful, was an idea which no Hebrew — mindful of the glorious deliverance of his forefathers out of the land of Egj-pt, of the law given amidst the thunders of Sinai, of the manna in the wilderness, of the triumphs in Canaan, and the Golden Psalms of David — could for one moment entertain. But. on the other hand, now that as a nation the Jews were be- come weak and of little account, hemmed in, and crushed by mighty and advancing empires, no conception could seem more true, or prove more consolatory-, than that which permitted them to attribute their misfortunes to the agency of a demoniacal race, headed by a potentate only in- ferior to .Jehovah himself. They could now be- lieve that God had not forsaken His 'chosen people.' Thus, the dualism of Zoroaster sug- gested the kingdom and royalty of Satan, but the doctrine shaped itself in harmony with the national monotheism. The Devil and his demons were represented as having been originally anfiels. who had fallen from their "high estate,' been puni,shed by God, and had therefore as- sumed a position of hostility, without, however, being able materially to frustrate the divine pur- poses. These opinions found an almost universal reception among the people, as well as aiuong those .Jewish theologians who, along with the Mosaic law, held oral tradition to be an authen- tic source of religious doctrine. Indeed, the only .Jewish sect which rejected them was that of the Sadducees. who considered them, as also the doctrines of the resurrection from the dead, of the Messiah, of the Messianic kingdom, of the last judgment, of rewards and pmiishments, and of angels and demons, to be new. outlandish anti- Mosaic myths and theories. This conflict of opinion among the .Tews prevented their ideas of the Devil and demons from obtaining, in spite of their broad diffusion, a dogmatic and syste- matic stability. The populace and the Phari- sees believed fcrvidlv in the existence of such evil spirits; but their conceptions had not only all the heat, but all the confusedness of super- stition. The Xew Testament contains distinct recogni- tion of the prevalence of this extended popular demonology, by which, in particular, various diseases were ascribed to the agency of the evil spirits. Whether this is by accommodation to the ideas of the times has been much discussed, and the solution will depend upon the prevail- ing conception of the nature and character of Christ. Whatever place the New Testament means to give to the lesser demons in the course of human history, its teaching as to the exist- ence and evil influence tipon humanity of the chief evil spirit is beyond question. He bears a great variety of names, as Satan (Matt. iv. 10, etc.), the Devil (as Heb. ii. 14), the Adversary (I. Pet. V. 8), the Enemy (Matt. xiii. 3!)), the Opposer (I. Tim. v. 14), the Traducer of the Brelliren (Pvcv. xii. 10). the Old Serpent (Rev. XX. 2), the Great Dragon (Eev. .xii. '.)), fre- quently Beelzebub (Matt. x. 25), once Belial (II. Cor. vi. 15). These names describe well the character imputed to him. He is the 'evil one,' the 'tempter,' who opposes Jesus and seeks to draw the disciples as well as their Saviour into sin, has power over the world, of which he is the 'Prince' and 'God,' and shows his power in the moral corruption of heathenism. Even in respect to him, popular ideas are allowed to come in, as when his habitation is said to be the 'air'; but such elements do not afleet the main teaching of the Xew Testament. See De- moniac. The primitive Church assimied the personality of the Devil as an unquestionable fact. The New Testament ideas on this point were not only greatly enlarged, but in many respects entirely changed, partly through the introduction of a considerable number of heathen notions, and partly through the dogmatic tendencies of the time, in consequence of which the various statements in the Bible regarding Satan and evil Avere uncritically and unhistorically heaped to- gether, and a doctrine of Satanic agency elabo- rated logically. Holding firmly to the belief of a Satanic kingdom of darkness opposed to Christ's kingdom of light, the majority of the early Christians ascribed all evil, physical as well as moral, to the Devil .and his demons; failures of the crop, sterility, pestilence, murrain among cattle, mental maladies, persecutions of the Christians, individual vices, heresies, astrol- ogy, philosophy, and especially the whole body of heathenism, with its mythology and religious worship. The heathen gods were believed to be conquered by the work of Christ, but not to be wholly powerless: they sank down into demons, and so a part of their mythology- passed info the doctrine of the Devil. It was they who. as demons, meaning to deceive, uttered oracles, were present at sacrifices, and inhaled the sacrificial incense. The doctrine of the lordship of the Devil over the human race, so far as it was unregenerate, gave rise to the custom of exorcising, not only those in whom special signs of demoniacal pos- session a])peared (see Enercumexs), but all candidates for baptism, whetlier infants or adults. (See ExoiiCiSM.) But while the power of the Devil over all not guarded by Christian faith and rites was supreme, over those who were so piotected it was utterly weak. No Christian.