The Devil, was Forced to Father the Failures of God.
All the fathers of the church believed in devils. All the saints won
their crowns by overcoming devils. All the popes and cardinals, bishops
and priests, believed in devils. Most of their time was occupied in
fighting devils. The whole Catholic world, from the lowest layman to the
highest priest, believed in devils. They proved the existence of devils
by the New Testament. They knew that these devils were citizens of hell.
They knew that Satan was their king. They knew that hell was made for
the Devil and his angels.
The founders of all the Protestant churches--the makers of all the
orthodox creeds--all the leading Protestant theologians, from Luther to
the president of Princeton College--were, and are, firm believers in
the Devil. All the great commentators believed in the Devil as firmly as
they did in God.
Under the "Scheme of Salvation" the Devil was a necessity. Somebody had
to be responsible for the thorns and thistles, for the cruelties and
crimes. Somebody had to father the mistakes of God. The Devil was the
scapegoat of Jehovah.
For hundreds of years, good, honest, zealous Christians contended
against the Devil. They fought him day and night, and the thought that
they had beaten him gave to their dying lips the smile of victory.
For centuries the church taught that the natural man was totally
depraved; that he was by nature a child of the Devil, and that new-born
babes were tenanted by unclean spirits.
As late as the middle of the sixteenth century, every infant that was
baptized was, by that ceremony, freed from a devil. When the holy water
was applied the priest said: "I command thee, thou unclean spirit, in
the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, that thou
come out and depart from this infant, whom our Lord Jesus Christ has
vouchsafed to call to his holy baptism, to be made a member of his body,
and of his holy congregation."
At that time the fathers--the theologians, the commentators--agreed that
unbaptized children, including those that were born dead, went to hell.
And these same fathers--theologians and commentators--said: "God is
love."
These babes were pure as Pity's tears, innocent as their mother's
loving smiles, and yet the makers of our creeds believed and taught
that leering, unclean fiends inhabited their dimpled flesh. O, the
unsearchable riches of Christianity!
For many centuries the church filled the world with devils--with
malicious spirits that caused storm and tempest, disease, accident and
death--that filled the night with visions of despair; with prophecies
that drove the dreamers mad. These devils assumed a thousand
forms--countless disguises in their efforts to capture souls and destroy
the church. They deceived sometimes the wisest and the best; made
priests forget their vows. They melted virtue's snow in passion's fire,
and in cunning ways entrapped and smirched the innocent and good. These
devils gave witches and wizards their supernatural powers, and told them
the secrets of the future.
Millions of men and women were destroyed because they had sold
themselves to the Devil.
At that time Christians really believed the New Testament. They knew
it was the inspired word of God, and so believing, so knowing--as they
thought--they became insane.
No man has genius enough to describe the agonies that have been
inflicted on innocent men and women because of this absurd belief. How
it darkened the mind, hardened the heart, and poisoned life! It made the
Universe a madhouse presided over by an insane God.
Think! Why would a merciful God allow his children to be the victims
of devils? Why would a decent God allow his worshipers to believe in
devils, and by reason of that belief to persecute, torture and burn
their fellow-men?
Christians did not ask these questions. They believed the Bible; they
had confidence in the words of Christ.