But singular and surprising are the notions of the New Testament regarding men possessed by demons 12. They are so perplexing, that it seems difficult to understand by what perversion of thought and by what anomalies of historical development, such fancies could possibly be grafted upon any monotheistic religion.

The chief and ruler of the demons is Satan, who now stands out in all his moral hideousness. His nature is sufficiently indicated by his names; for he is described as the "Slanderer" or "Devil" (dáẞoλos); the "Accuser" of men before God day and night; "Beelzebub"13 or "Beelzebul" and "Belial" (Beliar); the "great Dragon" or the "old Serpent", who deceives the whole world; "the Liar and the father of lies"; the "Wicked"; the "Prince" or "the God of this world" of frivolity, sin, and ignorance, or "the Prince of the Power of the air”; the "Adversary" who, "as a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour"; the "Messenger of death"; "the Author of all evil”, of deceit and calamity, from the beginning of the world; the wily "Antagonist" of God's kingdom, of Christ's followers and his work; the cunning "Seducer" of the weak, and the shameless tempter of the pious and of Christ himself 15. His subjects or "angels" are the demons or the wicked and unclean spirits 16, often identified with the pagan idols 17, and classified according to their rank as principalities, powers, and rulers of darkness 18. Now these demons enter into the bodies of men, and vast numbers of them, up to a "legion", often dwell in one individual. They afflict their wretched victims with melancholy or raving madness, with epilepsy and paralysis, with loss of speech,

ΧΠ. 22; 1 Pet. III. 22; 2 Pet. II. 11; Jude 9, 14; Rev. V. 11, 12; VII. 1—3, 11, 12; VIII. 3 sqq.; XII. 7; XIV. 6 sqq.; XV. 1 sqq.; XVI. 1 sqq.; XVIII. 1 sqq.; XIX. 10, 14; XXII. 9.

12 Δαιμονιζόμενοι, ἔχοντες δαιμό. νια, ὀχλούμενοι ὑπὸ πνευμάτων ἀκαθάρτων.

13 Comp. 2 Ki. I. 2, 3, 6 ab, the lord of flies or noxious insects.

14 Dominus (2) stercoris (1); comp. Lightfoot in Matth. XII. 24 (Op. II. 323).

15 Σατᾶν or Σατανᾶς, διάβολος, κατfrop (in Jewish writings frequently

מ' or מקטרג or the participle ,קטיגור

, in contradistinction to the defender Guvýyopos or wiped ña

sight, and hearing; or they force them to live in rags and tatters near tombs or in deserts. But they are cast out or "rebuked" by Christ through the spirit and holiness of God, and by his disciples and other believers through the power of his name; and then they escape to parched and dreary places (avoooot Tónot), seeking rest which they never find; or they are driven into unclean beasts, such as swine, which then are seized with wild frenzy, and furiously rush into death; yet sometimes they return from their desolate retreats with other demons as auxiliaries, to enter and torment the wretched sufferer anew, and to render his condition worse than ever. They appear in many shapes, even as frogs. They differ in degrees of iniquity. Like the false prophets, they often utter predictions, and work signs and wonders, for deceit and destruction. Yet they believe in God, and tremble before His holiness. Fallen by their own guilt, like Satan, from an original state of innocence, "as lightning falls from heaven", they govern in the realms of darkness; but in due time they will be condemned, subdued, and disarmed by the Messiah, and, bound in everlasting chains, they and their master will be hurled down into the fathomless pit, where, in the lake of fire and brimstone, they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. This final overthrow of Satan and his subordinate hosts, his ultimate expulsion from the kingdom of this world, and the transformation of men from "children of the devil" into "children of God", are among the principal objects of Christ's work and mission2.

1 It is well known, that some Fathers of the Church (as Gregory of Nyssa and Nazianzen, and Basil) and with them many modern theologians (as Michaelis, Baumgarten, Delitzsch, a. o.), place the fall of the angels and the struggle of Satan between the first and second verses of Genesis, when the world, originally perfect, was transformed into a "bottomless abyss" (see, however, Comm. on Gen. p. 61).

2 These remarks are based upon a large number of passages, which prove how much the minds of the New Testament writers were absorbed by their demonology. See Matth. IV. 1-11, 24; VIII. 16, 28-35; IX. 32-34; X. 1, 8, 25; XI. 18; XII. 22

28, 43-45; XIII. 19, 38-42; XV. 22, 28; XVII, 15, 18; Mark I. 12, 13, 23-27; III. 22; V. 2-13; VI. 13; VII. 29, 30; IX. 17-29; XVI. 17; Luke IV. 1-13, 33-36, 41; VI. 18; VIII. 2, 12, 27-36; IX. 39; X. 1720; XI. 15, 18-26; XIII. 11, 16, 32; XXII. 3, 31; John VII. 20; VIII. 44, 49; X. 20; XII. 31; XIV. 30; XVI. 11; Acts V. 3, 16; X. 38; XIII. 10; XVI. 16-18; XIX. 3; XXVI. 18; Rom. VIII. 38; XVI. 20; 1 Cor. V. 5; VII. 5; X. 20, 21; XV.24-27, 54—57;

Cor. II. 11; IV. 4; VI. 15; XI. 3,14, 15; XII. 7; Ephes. II. 2; VI. 11—13, 16; Col. I. 13; 1 Thess. II. 18; III. 5; 2 Thess. H. 9, 10; 1 Tim. I. 20; III. 6, 7; IV. 1-3; V. 15; 2 Tim. II. 26; Hebr. II. 14; James II. 19; 1 Pet. V.

Vain attempts have been made to banish the demonology from the number of Christian doctrines, merely because it is fantastic and irrational. Jesus and the apostles, it has been contended, accommodated themselves to popular superstitions and fancies, but did not permit them to influence the new faith of which, however, they form an essential part. Still more objectionable is the assumption that, for moral and practical ends, they used the "current language", but did not connect with it the current notions, since they did not take the terms in their literal sense. Such principles, applied as they have been to other difficult subjects also, as the Biblical statements in reference to natural sciences, render a sound interpretation impossible. It is indeed remarkable that the fourth gospel, though occasionally mentioning angels and the "devil" or "the prince of this world", only once or twice alludes to demons; but it would be unsafe to conclude from this silence of Christ's most familiar disciple, that "Jesus did not believe demons to be real powers"7, and that the other evangelists represent incorrectly their master's views on the subject. Satan is a prominent, if not almost the central figure in Christian dogmas. Jesus and his disciples recognise his hostility to human peace and righteousness as a formidable force; they assign the fullest reality to the suffering of the "possessed" and to its presumed cause; and they are, according to the gospels, distinguished from the bulk of the people merely by their closer alliance with the Divine spirit, before which the mischievous creatures tremble. Therefore, their teaching implies a clear dualism. Paul distinctly contrasts the empire of Satan, or of malice and darkness, with the empire of God and Christ, or of virtue and light. It is a futile endeavour to de

8, 9; 2 Pet. II. 4; 1 John III. 8-10; IV. 1-3; Jude 6; Rev. II. 9, 24; IX. 1; XII. 3, 7—10, 13-17; XIV. 12—15; XVI. 13, 14; XIX. 20; XX. 1-3, 7-10.

The arguments brought forward in defence of those views are necessarily weak; comp. f. i. Cölln Bibl. Theol. II. 73 ("the wisdom of the physician seemed to demand indulgence to prejudices, which facilitated the success of the cure"; etc.); ib. p. 231; De Welle, Bibl. Dogm. I. § 242; etc.

I. 52; V. 4; XII. 29; XX. 12.

5 VII. 20; VIII. 44; XII. 31; XIV. 30; XVI. 11.

6 VIII. 48, 49; X. 20, 21.

7 Cölln, Bibl. Theol. II. 73; comp. p. 233; see also the wavering and symbolising remarks of Schenkel in his Bibel-Lexic. I. pp. 115-118 (Satan is merely "die gottentfremdete Macht der Zeitlichkeit, Diesseitigkeit, Sinnlichkeit, dessen, was im vierten Evangelium Welt heisst, überhaupt").

8 Comp. De Wette, Bibl. Dogm. I.

§ 241.

9 Comp. John XII. 31; XIV. 30; XVI. 11; etc.

prive Satan of a personal existence, and to regard him as "a hostile power of evil ever at work against the good"; or to attribute to him "merely a symbolical meaning", as a "type of iniquitous worldliness" and of "ungodly sensualism": such shadowy abstractions are contradicted by the narratives of the apostles, if not by the speeches of Christ, and they cannot be forced into the writings of Paul without entirely altering and distorting his system. It is true, Satan's condemnation is already pronounced; his dominion is even now powerless to harm the devoted believers in Jesus, though these are few in number; and his strength will be utterly broken, like the rule of death and hell, great day of judgment, when Christ shall appear again on earth as perfect conqueror, and when the empire of ever-lasting life shall begin just as the Parsees believe that Ahriman's authority will be annihilated at the final triumph of Ormuzd after a struggle of 12,000 years. But in the mean time, the main bulk of mankind are kept in his toils. He is the prince of this world and the instigator of evil. He "takes his children captive at his will", and forces them to serve him as his "ministers" (táxovo), to wage war against truth and light, to foster error, superstition, and apostasy, to entrap the unwary in "the lusts of the flesh", to stir up strife and dissension an.ong communities, and to bring persecution and misery upon the faithful. Against his malignant attacks and seductive snares men must ever be fortified; or else they relapse into his grasp, whether temporarily for correction and improvement, or for eternal torture; and with fiendish malice, and armed with "all powers and signs and lying wonders and unrighteous deceit", he strives to frustrate every noble effort of sinborn and sin-laden humanity'.

One additional process remained to be accomplished. The manifold attributes of God and the various manifestations of His power were, by the influence of Greek philosophy, and especially of Platonic ideas, comprised in one supreme and all-embracing Intelligence; the unity of the Divine Being, divided by numberless angels, spirits, and demons, was restored in a new form, under the name of "Logos" or the Divine Word. The Jews were familiar with this notion through the Honover of the Persians, which was conceived as the all-creating Word of Ormuzd and one with his mind, as the purifier of every uncleanness and the future destroyer of Ahriman's empire 3; and thus the

1 Comp. Acts XXVI 18; 2 Cor. VI. 15; Col.I. 13; Eph. VI. 11-13; 2 Tim. III. 26; etc.

2 Plato, Republ. VI. 18,21 (p. 507 B,

511 A); Timaeus c. 18 (p. 51 E, 52 A); comp. Euseb. Praep. Ev. XV. 13.

3 Comp. Izeshne c. XIX; Vendid. XI. XIX; etc.

fourth gospel commences, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ... All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made". In this manner the Trinity was completed—God the Father, the incarnate Son, and the Logos.

4. THE TALMUD AND THE MIDRASHIM.

In these works, Iranic fancies and superstitions are most abundantly reflected; yet the contrasts between Talmudic and the Persian doctrines are as interesting as their parallels: for from the earliest times, the Hebrews modified rather than adopted or originated ideas. We must here confine ourselves to a rapid survey of an almost endless field, and must entirely resist the temptation of following the Kabbalah into the fantastic and gorgeous mazes of its spirit-world.

The angels so teach the Rabbins - were brought forth by God out of nothing, or else out of fire or water, out of air or the snow which lies piled up beneath the throne of God, and which was also employed for the formation of the world. It has been warmly disputed whether they were produced on the second day of Creation, or on the fifth, or at dusk on the sixth; but all doctors agree that they were not called into existence on the first day, lest sceptics contended, that Michael and Gabriel or other spirits assisted God in fashioning the world. For Judaism, keeping aloof from Gnostic views, never regarded God as a "demiurgos", nor attributed to angels the power of creation, and the office of universal governments. On the contrary, anxious in no manner to imperil the strictest monotheism, the Rabbins rather lowered the nature and position of the angels; for they declared that these "created beings", blind and powerless tools in the hand of God with whom they ought never to be confounded 10, must give Him a full