DEVIL

From Agepedia

DEVIL. Most of the old religions of the East acknowledged a host of demons, who, like their gods, were not originally considered, in a moral point of view, as good or bad, but merely as exercising a salutary or injurious influence. In tfie latter case, they were looked upon as punishing spirits, without inimical or wicked purpose. Seeva, the judging and destroying god of the Indian mythology, is a symbol of the great power of nature, which is alternately beneficial and injurious, but in itself neither good nor evil. The doctrine of Zoroaster, who adopted an evil principle, called Mriman, opposed to the good principle, and served by several orders of inferior spirits (in order to explain the existence of evil in this world), spread the belief in such spirits among the people. The Greek mythology did not distinguish with the same precision between the good and bad spirits. The Titans, it is true, struggled against the gods, but not for any merely moral reason, and the gods are not represented as patterns of pure morality. The cacodemons of the Greek mythology, as, for instance, the Furies, always appear more in the character of punishing than of malignant spirits. On the contrary, Hecate, the goddess of the lower world and of enchantment, and the Lamise, corresponding to the witches of the modern popular belief, have more of what we understand under the diabolical character. Typhon, who partakes in the fate of the Titans, properly belongs to the Egyptian mythology, in which he appears as the origin of evil, under the figure of a horrid monster. Similar to him is Beelzebub, or Beelzebul, who, from the mythology of Western Asia, was introduced into the belief of the Hebrews. But as the captivity of the Hebrews in Babylon had in many respects a decisive influence upon their way of thinking and prevailing notions, by the acquaintance which they there acquired with the ideas of the Chaldeans, the idea of the devil, as the principle of evil, resembling Ahriman, first appeared among the Jews after that captivity. He is called Satanas, in Greek, foapoXos, the fiend, destroyer, antagonist. The word devil is derived from dta,8o\os. This Satan, however, is to be distinguished from the one in the book of Job. The latter is no fiend, but the accuser before the throne of the Almighty, and belongs to the heavenly servants of God. All the conceptions of evil spirits, which had been entertained before the Christian erathe impure Beelzebub, whose breath scattered pestilence ; Belial, the prince of hell; Samael, the seducer and destroyer; Lucifer (the Phosphoros of the Greeks), who lives in the fire; Asmodeus, the devil of marriagewere now amalgamated with that idea of the evil principle, which the Jews had acquiredin Babylon. Thus the Jewish doctrine of evil spirits and their chief was developed. Insane persons, and patients suffering from nervous diseases, which man ifest themselves by epileptic fits, were con sidered as subject to his influence; and 1 people suffering under such diseases were said to " have a devil." The founder of the Christian religion not only did not contradict this doctrine, but made use of it in the instruction of the people, according to several passages of the New Testament. Yet the whole doctrine received from the New Testament a new character; for the devil and his auxiliary spirits are represented there as originally created good, but as having fallen from virtue, and the favor of God, owing to ambition, or other evil dispositions. The Satan of the New Testament is a rebel against God. Endowed with the intellect and power of angels, he uses them since his fall to entangle men in sin, and obtain power over them. He is "the prince of the world" (St. John, xii. 31), the Antichrist, because he constantly opposes the great work of salvation. But, though he succeeds in effecting the perdition of individuals, yet his own damnation, and the eternal victory of good over evil, are certain. The same is taught in Zoroaster's doctrine; yet his devil was evil from eternity. Some early sects, as the Manichreans, likewise gave to Satan existence from eternity ; yet this idea was never adopted by the Christians at large. The doctrine of the New Testament, however, soon became blended with numerous fictions of human imagination, with the va rious superstitions of different countries, and the mythology of the pagans. In Italy, Greece and Germany, this last element was, and to a certain degree still is, blended with the idea of the devil. The gods of the ancients became evil spirits, seeking every opportunity to injure mankind. The excited imagination of hermits, in their lonely retreats, sunk as they were in ignorance, and unable to account for natural appearances, frequently led them to suppose Satan visibly present ; and innumerable stories were told of his appearance, a*nd his attributes distinctly described. Among these w"re horns, a tail, a cloven foot, &c. The writings of the fathers of the church, *lso, contain several passages respecting the appearance of the devil. The sign of the cross was considered as a safeguard against him, and crucifixes were erected on many spots, as, for instance, crossways, where he was supposed to be most likely to present himself. In most works or appearances of an extraordinary character, the devil was supposed to be concerned. How many a dam, bridge, &c, has been built in one night, with his assistance! and every one knows that the monks made the people believe that Faustus invented the art of printing by the help of Satan. In consequence of the cures which Christ and his apostles performed on the possessed, the early church believed in a power, connected with the consecration of priests, to drive out evil spirits; and as early as the third century, particular officers of the church were appointed for this purpose; they were called exorcists, and are to this day the second of the lower orders in the Latin church. The Catholics say, the church employed such inferior ministers for this business, in order to show the contempt which it entertained towards demons (see Dictionnaire de Thiologie, Toulouse, 1817, article Exorciste); but this does not agree with the numberless legends of the power of the devil. (See Exorcism.) The belief in evil spirits, witches, &c, was, in the 17th century, so common, that they became the objects of judicial process. (See Witches.) It cannot be said that the reformation directly overturned this belief. Luther once threw an inkstand at the devil, who interrupted him when he was engaged in translating the Bible ; and, even to this day, the black spot is shown on the wall in his room in the Wartburg. The trials of witches, in the 17th century, took place in Protestant countries, as well as in Catholic ones. With the progress of the natural sciences, however, in the 18th century, many wonderful phenomena became explained, and less was heard of the devil. Our limits will not allow us to give a statement of the opinions of different Christian sects respecting evil spirits.