When that bright spirit, afterwards known as Satan, rose in rebellion
against the Almighty Ruler of the Universe, presumptuously thinking
himself equal to him in strength and following, he was overthrown by the
Great Power and cast with his followers out of Heaven down to his future
dwelling, flaming Hell.
Nine days he and his horrid crew fell through Chaos into the flaming pit
yawning to receive them, and there lay for nine days,--rendered still more
miserable by the thought of their immortality and the eternal bliss they
had forfeited. Then Satan, rousing himself from the stupor consequent upon
the fall, half rose and addressed the next in power to himself, Beelzebub.
"Thou art the same, yet not the same," said he; "changed, lost is some of
thy former brightness. Yet why repine? While we live, while we have so
large a following, all is not lost. Our hate still lives, and have we but
strength enough, we may still revenge ourselves upon him who thrust us
into this accursed place."
Rising from the lake, his great shield slung over his shoulders, the
unconquered archangel walked over the burning marl to the beach of that
fiery sea, and there with chiding words addressed the legions strewn
around him. The great army rose hastily at the voice of its chief and
passed before him, spirits whose heavenly names were now forever lost, who
later became the gods of the idolaters. There was mighty Moloch, Chemos,
those who later went by the general names of Baalim and
Ashtaroth,--Thammuz, Dagon, Rimmon, Osiris, Isis, Orus and their train,
Belial, and last of all, the Ionian gods.
His despair in part dissipated by the sight of this heroic array, their
prince, towering high above all, addressed them. No one had foreseen the
calamity that had overtaken them. Who could have guessed the power of the
Almighty? But though overthrown they were not totally defeated. A rumor
had long since been rife of the creation of another world with which they
could interfere. At any rate, there must never be peace between them and
the heavenly Powers. War there must be, war in secret, or war waged
openly. As he ended, shield clashed against shield, and swords, quickly
drawn, flashed before his eyes, and loud cries hurled defiance to Heaven.
The legions, led by Mammon, who in Heaven had been an honored architect,
sought a hill near by, and quickly emptying it of its rich store of gold
and jewels, built a massive structure. Like a temple in form was it, and
round about it stood Doric columns overlaid with gold. No king of any
future state could boast of a grander hall than this palace of Pandemonium
which was so quickly reared upon a hill in Hell, and to which the heralds'
trumpets now summoned all the host.
On the massive throne, blazing with jewels, sat the fallen spirit, and
thus addressed his followers: "Our success is sure in whatever we
undertake. We shall never be riven with internecine warfare, for surely no
one will quarrel over precedence in Hell. Therefore, united, we can, sure
of our success, debate of the way in which we shall take up our warfare
with the powers that have overthrown us."
Moloch, Belial, Mammon, and Beelzebub spoke. Moloch was in favor of open
war, since nothing could be worse than Hell, and continued assault against
the Most High would, in annoying him, be a sweet revenge. Belial, who
though timorous and slothful, was a persuasive orator, denounced Moloch's
plan. Since the ruler of Heaven was all-powerful, and they immortal, no
one knew to what greater misery he could push them; perhaps he would bury
them in boiling pitch to eternity, or inflict a thousand undreamed-of
tortures. War, open and secret, he disliked, since it was impossible to
conceal aught from the eye of the Most High. To make the best of Hell
seemed all that was possible; in time they might become inured to its
flames and better days might come, if they but accepted their doom
patiently.
Mammon also considered war impossible. They could never hope to overcome
the Almighty; neither could they hope nor wish for a reconciliation, for
how hateful would be an eternity spent in cringing to one whom they hated.
The desert soil of Hell teemed with riches, they could find peaceful
pursuits, and it was his advice to continue there in quiet, untroubled by
any thoughts of revenge.
Amid the murmur of applause that followed Mammon's speech, Beelzebub, than
whom none towered higher save Satan, arose, his face grave, his attitude
majestic. "Would you, Thrones and Imperial Powers," he cried, "think to
build up a kingdom here, secure from the arm of Heaven? Have you so soon
forgotten that this is not a kingdom ceded to you by the Most High, but a
dungeon in which he has shut you for your everlasting punishment? Never
will he forget that you are his prisoners; your lot will not be peace, but
custody and stripes. What return can we make, then, but to think out some
slow but sure and sweet revenge? It is not necessary to attempt to scale
the walls of Heaven. Other things remain. There is this new world, his
plaything. It may lie exposed, and we can at least make the attempt to
seize it and lay it waste, and thus vex him." As he saw their eyes
sparkle, he continued: "We may in this attempt come near to the steps of
our old abode and breathe again its delicious airs instead of these
hellish flames. But first we must find some one, strong, wary, and
watchful, to send in search of it."
Satan strode forth, his courage and his consciousness of it making his
face shine with transcendent glory. "Long is the way and hard; its dangers
unknown and terrible, but I should be a poor sovereign did I hesitate in
the attempt to seek it out. I do not refuse the sovereignty, for I fear
not to accept as great a share of hazard as of honor. Stay here; charm
away your time, and I will seek deliverance abroad for all of us."
As he spoke he rose to depart, fearful lest others might now offer to go
and share the glory with him.
The legions rose with a sound like thunder, bowed in deepest reverence and
went forth, some, to explore their dismal abode, others to amuse
themselves at games, others to discuss Free Will and Fate, while their
leader pursued his way toward the gate of Hell.
The nine-fold gates were of brass, iron, and adamantine rock, reaching
high to the mighty roof, and most horrible were the Shapes that guarded
it.
On one side sat a creature, woman to the waist, below, a serpent,
surrounded by a crew of hell hounds, forever barking and then seeking
refuge within her. On the other, a Shape, black, fierce, terrible, crowned
with the likeness of a kingly crown, and shaking in its hands a dreadful
dart. As he strode, Hell trembled. Satan, undaunted, met him with fierce
words. As the two stood, their lances pointed at each other, the woman
shrieked and ran between them.
"Father, rush not upon thy son! Son, raise not thy hand against thy
father!" She then explained that she was Satan's daughter, Sin, who had
sprung from his head full grown, and that she later became by him the
mother of the creature called Death who sat with her to guard the gates.
Satan at once unfolded to them his plan of seeking the new world and
making a happy home for both Sin and Death, where they could forever find
food to gratify their hideous cravings. Charmed by his highly-colored
pictures, and forgetful of the commands from above, Sin opened the mighty
doors, so that the flames of Hell spread far out into Chaos, but her
strength failed her when she attempted to close them again.
For a moment Satan looked out into the mixture of Hot and Cold and Moist
and Dry that formed Chaos, and then started forth, now rising, now
falling, his wings heavy with the dense masses, now wading, now creeping,
until at last he reached the spot where was fixed the throne of Chaos and
of Night. Here Satan learned of the situation of the new world and soon
caught a glimpse of it, hanging like a star, by a golden chain, from
Heaven.
Sitting in Heaven, high throned above all, God, all-seeing, all-knowing,
was conscious of Satan's escape from Hell and his approach to the new
world. To his Son, sitting on his right hand, he pointed out the fallen
spirit. "No prescribed bounds can shut our Adversary in; nor can the
chains of hell hold him. To our new world he goes, and there, by no fault
of mine, will pervert man, whom I have placed therein, with a free will;
so to remain until he enthralls himself. Man will fall as did Satan, but
as Satan was self-tempted, and man will be deceived by another, the latter
shall find grace where his tempter did not."
Great was the joy of the Son when he learned that man would receive mercy
for his transgression. "Pardon and mercy he shall receive," declared the
Father, "but some one must be willing to expiate his sin for him; the just
must die for the unjust. Who in Heaven is willing to make the sacrifice?"
For a moment all the Heavenly quire stood mute; then the Son of God spoke
and implored his Father to let his anger fall on him, since he could not
wholly die, but could arise from death and subdue his vanquisher.
When his Father accepted the sacrifice, and named him Son of God and Man
who should hereafter be Universal King, Ruler of Heaven and Earth, Heaven
rang with the shouts of the Angels, who, casting down their amaranthine
wreaths until the golden pavement was covered with the garlands, took
their golden harps and sang the praises of the Father and the Son.
While they sang, Satan walked over the vast globe on which he had
alighted, through what in after years, when the world was peopled, was to
be the Paradise of Fools, the spot to which the spirits of all things
transitory and vain, of those who had worked for their reward in life
instead of in Heaven, would come. He walked around the dark globe until,
directed by a gleam of light, he found the spot where a ladder led up to
Heaven. Just below it, down through the spheres, was the seat of Paradise
to which he was bending his way.
Down through the crystal spheres he bent his way toward the Sun, which
attracted him by its superior splendor. Espying Uriel, the Angel of the
Sun, he quickly took the form of a youthful Cherub, and, approaching
Uriel, told him that having heard of the new world he had been seized by a
longing to quit the bands of Cherubim and see for himself the wonderful
work of the Creator.
Directed by the unsuspecting Uriel, Satan sped downward and standing upon
the top of Niphates, surveyed Eden.
As he looked, his spirit was troubled. He had brought Hell with him, and
his unhappy thoughts boiled and surged in his troubled mind. "Sun, I hate
thee, because thy beams recall to me what I was and how I fell. The
matchless King of Heaven deserved no such return from me. His service was
easy. Had I only been created a lower Power!--But even then, might not
some higher one have led me into temptation? What shall I do, whither
shall I fly, to escape infinite wrath, and infinite despair? Hell is
around me, I myself am Hell! There is no hope for me. Submission is the
only way left, and I could not unsay what I have said; I could never
bridge the gulf made by my revolt. Farewell to remorse! Good is forever
lost to me, and I must now make Evil my good. I can at least divide the
empire of the world with the King of Heaven."
As he realized how his bitter thoughts had dimmed his countenance he
smoothed it over with outward calm, but not before Uriel, from the Sun,
had noted and wondered over his strange gestures.
Leaping over the high natural walls of Paradise, Satan, in the form of a
cormorant, perched himself on the Tree of Life. Beautiful was the scene
before him. All the trees and plants were of the noblest kind. In the
midst of them stood the Tree of Life with its golden fruit, and not far
off the Tree of Knowledge. Southward through Eden ran a river, which,
passing under a huge hill, emerged into four great streams wandering
through many afterwards famous realms. Between the rows of trees stretched
level lawns where grazed the happy flocks, and over the green mead were
sprinkled flowers of every hue. No fairer scene ever met living eyes, and
fairest of all were the two stately forms, in whose looks shone the
divinity of their Maker. Hand in hand they passed through the garden,
refreshed themselves with the delicious fruits, and were happy in each
other.
As he gazed on them while the animals fell asleep and the sun sank below
the horizon, Satan, still torn with conflicting emotions, ruminated over
the unhappiness he was to bring the lovely pair. He admired them, he could
love them; they had not harmed him, but he must bring unhappiness upon
them because of their likeness to their Creator. Through them only could
he obtain his longed-for revenge.
Anxious to learn where to attack them, he prowled about them, now as a
lion, now as a tiger, listening to their conversation. They spoke of their
garden, of the Tree of Life, and of the forbidden Tree of Knowledge. "In
the day ye eat thereof, ye shall surely die," had been their warning. Eve
recalled the day of her creation, when she had first fled from Adam, and
then yielded to his embraces, and Satan, watching their caresses, envied
and hardened his heart. "Live while ye may!" he muttered. "Soon will I
return and offer you new woes for your present pleasures."
In the mean time, Gabriel, warned by Uriel, who suspected that an evil
spirit had crept into Paradise, had set watches around the garden.
Ithuriel and Zephon, sent to search for him, spied Satan in the form of a
toad, sitting near the ear of Eve, tainting her dreams with foul whispers.
Touched by Ithuriel's spear, he was forced to resume his own shape and was
taken to Gabriel. The angry Satan attempted to use force, but warned by a
sign from Heaven that his strength was insufficient, fled, murmuring,
through the night.
When morning dawned on Eden, a morn of unimaginable beauty, Adam waked Eve
from her restless slumbers, and heard her troubled dreams, in which she
had been tempted to taste of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. He
comforted her, and after their morning hymn, in which they glorified their
Creator, they set about their pleasant work of pruning the too luxuriant
vines of their Paradise. In the mean time, the Father above, knowing the
design of Satan, and determined that man should not fall without warning,
sent Raphael down to Adam to tell him that he was threatened by an enemy,
and that, as a free agent, if he fell, his sin would be upon his own head.
Six-winged Raphael swept down through the spheres and stood in Paradise,
welcomed by Adam. Eve hastened to set before their guest every delicacy
that Eden knew, and while she was preparing these Adam listened to the
Angel's warning.
To emphasize the sin of disobedience, Raphael related to the pair the
story of Satan's conspiracy with the other powers because the Father had
proclaimed the power of his Son. The Father, knowing Satan's confidence in
himself, had allowed him for two days to fight an equal number of his
legions of angels, among whom was Abdiel who had fled, indignant, from
Satan's ranks, and on the third day, when the legions of evil lay crushed
beneath the mountains which the shining angels had heaped upon them, the
Son of God drove forth in his chariot, and single-handed, forced them
before him, terror-stricken, until, Heaven's wall having opened, they fell
downward for nine days, in horror and confusion into the depths of Hell.
The Messiah, returning home in triumph in his chariot, was welcomed by the
bright orders into the home of his Father.
Delighted by the recital of Raphael, Adam asked him to relate the story of
the Creation, and explain to him the motion of the celestial bodies. He
then told Raphael of his own creation; how he awoke as from a sleep and
found the Sun above him and around him the pleasant groves of Paradise;
how he named the animals as they passed before him, according to the will
of God, and how he had pleaded with his Maker for a companion and equal,
until the Creator, casting him into a sound sleep, took from his side a
rib and formed from it his beauteous Eve. As Adam concluded, the setting
sun warned Raphael to depart.
Satan, after fleeing from Gabriel, had hidden in the dark parts of the
earth, so that he could creep in at night unseen of Uriel. After the
eighth night, he crept in past the watchful Cherubim, and stealing into
Paradise, wrapped in the mist rising over the river that, shooting
underground, rose up as a fountain near the Tree of Life, he crept, though
not without loathing, into the serpent, in which form he could best evade
the watchful eyes of the heavenly guards and accomplish his purpose.
When morning dawned, Eve asked Adam for once to permit her to work alone,
so that they might accomplish more. Adam, who constantly desired her
presence, prayed her to remain, warning her of the enemy of whom Raphael
had spoken, and telling her that they could resist temptation more easily
together than when separated. But Eve was obdurate, and Adam finally
consented that she should go alone to work.
As she moved among the groves, tying up the drooping flowers, like to
Pomona in her prime, or to Ceres, the sight of so much beauty, goodness,
and innocence moved even the serpent, as he approached, intent on the
destruction of her happiness. But as he looked, the thought of her joy but
tortured him the more, since happiness was no longer possible for him.
This was before the serpent had been compelled to crawl his whole length
on the ground, and as he moved on, fold on fold, his head proudly reared,
his scales brilliant in color, he was not an unpleasant object to look
upon. He circled about Eve as though lost in admiration, until her
attention was attracted, and then astounded her by addressing her in her
own language. When she demanded by what means he had acquired speech, he
told her by the plucking and eating of a certain tree in the garden, which
he had no sooner tasted than he felt his inward powers to develop until he
found himself capable of speech.
Eve at once asked him to take her to the tree, but when she recognized the
forbidden Tree of Knowledge, she demurred, assuring the serpent that God
had commanded them not to touch it, for if they ate of it, they should
surely die. "Am I not alive?" asked her tempter, "and have I not eaten of
it? Is it not a rank injustice that you should be forbidden to taste it
and to lack the Knowledge of Good and Evil which it would give you? Where
can the offence lie? It must be envy that causes such a prohibition."
His words, the sight of the fruit, and natural hunger all prevailed on
Eve, and she plucked a branch from the tree and tasted the fruit. As she
ate she saw Adam coming in search of her, holding a garland which he had
been binding to crown her. To his reproaches, she replied with the
arguments of her tempter, until Adam, in despair, determined to taste the
apple that he might not lose Eve. Paradise without her would not be
Paradise, and no new wife could make him forget her.
After the first exhilaration of the food was past they began to reproach
each other, mindful of their destiny, of which they had been warned by
Raphael, and, engaged in this fruitless chiding, they were found by the
Son, who, informed of their transgression by the angels, sought them out
in their place of concealment. Adam and Eve he sentenced to a life of
sorrow and labor, the serpent to go despised and ever at enmity with man.
Then, pitying the unhappy pair, he clad them in skins and re-ascended to
Heaven.
While this was occurring in Eden, Sin and Death, feeling in some
mysterious way the success of their parent, determined to leave Hell and
seek their new home. Passing through Chaos, they pushed the heavy elements
this way and that, cementing them with Death's mace until they constructed
of them a bridge from the gates of Hell to the point on earth at which
Satan had first alighted, and here met him, just returning, flushed with
success, to Hell.
All the followers of Satan were gathered in Pandemonium to hear the news
of his success, which he related, overjoyed at having wrought the ruin of
mankind and revenged himself on God by so small a thing as the eating of
an apple. As he concluded and stood waiting their applause, he heard a
universal hiss, and saw himself surrounded by serpents, and himself
changing into an enormous dragon. The great hall was filled with the
monsters, scorpions, asps, hydras, and those who stood waiting without
with applause for their leader were likewise changed into loathsome
reptiles. Without the hall a grove sprang up, loaded with tempting fruit,
but when, tortured with thirst, they tried to eat, it turned in their
mouths to bitter ashes. After a time they were permitted to take again
their own shapes, but were compelled to resume this serpent-form for a
certain number of days each year, to crush their pride.
When God saw the entrance of Sin and Death into the world, he proclaimed
to his Saints that their seeming victory was but temporary, and that
eventually his Son would defeat Sin, Death, and the Grave, and seal up the
mouth of Hell. Then, as the Halleluias rang out, he ordered the angels to
make certain changes in the universe as a punishment to man. The Sun was
so to move as to affect the earth alternately with a cold and heat almost
unbearable; to the Moon were assigned her motions; the other planets were
to join in various ways, often "unbenign." The winds were assigned their
stations to torment the earth and sea, and the thunder was set to strike
terror to the heart of man. The poles of the earth were pushed aslant, and
soon the effects of the changes were felt in heat, cold, wind, and storm.
Adam, though absorbed in his own misery and momentarily expecting Death,
saw the changes, and bemoaned his woes the more. How would his mysterious
progeny despise him, since he was the cause of their being brought into
the world of woe! When Eve attempted to comfort him he drove her from him
with harsh words, saying that in time to come women would be the unhappy
cause of all man's misery, as she had been of his. At last, seeing the
futility of his outcries Adam began to cheer his wife, recalling the
promise that their offspring should crush the head of the serpent, and
suggested to her that they go to their former place of prayer and pour
forth to God their true contrition and repentance.
The glad Son, presenting these prayers at his Father's throne, interceded
with him for them, since their contrition now was worth more than their
worship in a state of innocence. His intercession was accepted, but since
they had lost the two gifts of Happiness and Immortality, they must leave
the garden lest they be tempted to taste next of the Tree of Life and make
their woe eternal.
Michael was sent down to drive them from the garden, and if the pair
seemed repentant and disconsolate he was ordered to comfort them with the
promise of better days and to reveal to them somewhat of the future. In
habit as a man Michael descended and declared to Adam and Eve that they
could no longer abide in Paradise. When Adam, himself broken with grief,
attempted to console the heart-broken Eve, the Angel comforted her also,
and causing a sleep to fall upon her, led Adam to a hill-top, whence could
be seen the hemisphere of the earth, soon to be covered by the seats of
empires.
Touching Adam's eyes with three drops from the well of life, the Angel
showed him a long panorama, beginning with the crime of Cain, and showing
the building of the Ark and its landing on Ararat. When he perceived that
Adam's eyes were weary, he recited to him the story of Abraham, of the
deliverance from Egypt, the wandering in the Wilderness, of the royal
stock of David from which would spring the seed so often promised Adam,
who should ascend the hereditary throne, and whose glory should be
universal.
Overjoyed, Adam inquired when would take place the final death stroke to
Satan, the bruising with the Victor's heel. Michael responded that Satan
was not to be destroyed, but his works in Adam and his seed, and that the
sacrifice of the Son's life for man would forever crush the strength of
Satan's progeny, Sin and Death. Then, to that Heaven to which he would
reascend, the faithful would go when the time came for the world's
dissolution, and there would be received into the bliss eternal.
Strengthened and sustained, Adam went down from the mount and met Eve,
just awaking from comforting dreams.
The Cherubim descended, and, urged by the Angel, the two took their way
into the wide world that lay before them, and looking back beheld the
flaming swords of the Cherubim at the gates of their lost Paradise.