Relation of the antagonism between the Messiah and the great
Adversary to the local, personal, and visible Manifestations of
the former--Modes of Visibility on the part of the latter,
through human agents and various instrumentalities.
The antagonism between the Messiah and the great Adversary, which, in the
Scriptures, is conspicuous in all that relates to idolatry and other
principal forms of impiety, and the means employed to counteract and
punish them, strongly implies and confirms the reality and visibility of
the local personal appearances and acts recorded of the delegated Person.
The scene of that antagonism was on the earth. It involved an abiding
enmity and active hostility between the followers of the respective
leaders, separated the descendants of Adam into two hostile parties, and
was carried on by means of their visible agency in all the forms in which
they could express their inward sentiments, and in all the relations they
sustained to the Divine Lawgiver, to the Arch-apostate, and to one
another. In so far, then, as their acts and doings were visible in
carrying on this warfare, it was requisite that the means of opposing,
counteracting and condemning them should be visibly exhibited, that they
might be observed, rightly judged of, and productive of appropriate moral
effects.
But granting this to be apparent from the nature of the case, so far as
concerns the agency of righteous men on one side, and that of wicked men
on the other; it may at first be thought not to require any visible
manifestations or acts of the Divine leader of the righteous, any more
than of the apostate leader of the wicked. The sequel may show that such
visibility in respect to both was exhibited; by the one, to whom it
occasioned no difficulty in any respect, in whatever mode, and to
whatever extent he pleased; by the other, in whatever ways it was
possible for him to render himself visible, by subjecting the bodies of
men or of inferior animals to his possession and control, and through
their physical organs acting and speaking, and thereby giving visibility
to his acts and audible utterance to his words; or by counterfeit
apparitions, and by such arts and jugglery as his followers, the
magicians of Egypt and elsewhere, practised with such success as to
render their apparent acts undistinguishable from real ones.
That he had the power of occupying and actuating the bodies of men and
of inferior animals, is shown by what is recorded of him and of the
demons under him, in the New Testament; and it is very evident from what
was said by the Jews on various occasions, that such possessions were no
matter of surprise or doubt; and that they well understood that it was
Satan, Baal-Zebub, the prince of the demons, that was cast out by the
power of Christ, is evident from his question when answering them on one
occasion, "How can Satan cast out Satan?"
In that which, from the events in Eden to the day of Pentecost, was
remarkable as a dispensation of visible agencies and results, visible
teachings, rites, ordinances, institutions, mercies and judgments,
manifestations and events, the Adversary carried on his system of
hostility and rivalry by visible agents and instruments, as will be
illustrated with reference to the all but universal system of idolatry
of which he was the head under the name of Baal, and in which he was
represented by visible images without number, and had innumerable
priests and counterfeits of all the visible accompaniments of the system
prescribed for the worship of Jehovah.
In the progress of that dispensation it is observable, not only that the
Divine Messenger appeared in the visible likeness, and, at its close, in
the nature of man, but also that created spiritual beings, angels,
appeared visibly from time to time, and at the advent, resurrection and
ascension of Christ. The power of rendering themselves visible, if it
resided in the unfallen angels, and was a condition of their nature, is
likely to have been retained and exercised by the fallen. And if--as
hypocrites, by their outward and visible acts, make themselves appear to
be honest and true--Satan can deceive by assuming the appearance of an
angel of light, he is likely to have exercised that power in every way
possible to him and conducive to his ends. Possessing capacities little
conceived of or comprehended by mortals; capacities indicated by the
attitude of opposition and rivalship which he assumed towards his
Creator and rightful Sovereign, the omnipotent and omniscient One; by
the boldness and perseverance of his rebellion, the vastness of the
results which he accomplished in the seduction of his celestial
followers, and the ruin of this world, the indescribable audacity of his
personal encounter in the wilderness with the incarnate Word, and the
still more amazing desperateness of the conflicts predicted in the
Apocalypse; who can doubt but that he had at all times ways and means of
rendering his agency visible, directly and by instruments at his
command?
It is plain, from the narrative of the temptation in the wilderness,
that he was locally present, and in a way implying relations to physical
things analogous to those of men; to the atmosphere, as the medium of
sound and of vision; to the earth, as a basis of locomotion; that he
uttered words and exerted physical power. So in the narrative of Job,
and that of the scene in Paradise, to specify no others, such physical
and visible acts are ascribed to him as plainly as acts visibly of a
similar nature are affirmed of the two angels who, with Jehovah, came to
Abraham in the form of men, partook as men of his repast, and at parting
from Jehovah and Abraham, "turned their faces and went towards Sodom."
His policy as a deceiver would have been defeated, had he stood forth
manifest in such form to mortal eyes as clearly to identify him, and
expose his malignity and betray his evil designs towards the human race,
while yet in a state of probation with reference to their repentance and
salvation. He succeeded with them, for the most part, by subtlety,
craft, falsehood exhibiting counterfeit resemblances of goodness, and
working through visible agents actuated by him, and instrumentalities
which served as screens. Thus, in the first temptation, having no
alternative prior to the fall, he actuated an irrational creature,
erect, perhaps, originally, in form, and otherwise preëminently adapted
to his purpose, but afterwards by the curse (denounced on the visible
agent as an intelligent person, in whom the fallen spirit and the animal
were united as by a mock incarnation) degraded to crawl upon the ground,
and called the serpent; while the actuating intelligent agent was
forewarned of the enmity and prolonged hostility which would ensue
between him and his followers and the race which he had seduced. The
narrative, 1 Kings xxii. 19-23, shows that Satan could inspire false
prophets, sorcerers and magicians; and the exercise of that power is
doubtless to be supposed in respect to all those who are called false
prophets, sorcerers, diviners, &c.; those who inquired of Baal-Zebub, or
consulted any of the oracles of the idolatrous party.
There are in the annals of sorcery and witchcraft innumerable
illustrations of the agency, pretensions and purposes of the Evil One in
securing the homage of men, and employing them as instruments of his
antagonism. The following notices are taken from "Narratives of Sorcery
and Magic, from the most authentic sources. By Thomas Wright, M. A., F.
S. A." This work relates chiefly to the sentiments, practices, judicial
trials, confessions and executions of sorcerers and magicians, in the
thirteenth and four ensuing centuries, in England, Scotland, France,
Spain, Germany, and other countries of Europe. A belief in sorcery, as a
kind of supernatural agency, was then universally prevalent, and was
manifested in two different forms, sorcery and magic. "The magician
differed from the witch in this: that while the latter was an ignorant
instrument in the hands of the demons, the former had become their
master by the powerful intermediation of a science which was only within
the reach of a few, and which these beings were unable to disobey." Of
this _science_ there were several schools in Europe. The professed
object of those who studied it was to acquire the power of coercing the
Evil One. In practice, the magicians, tempted by ambition, avarice, or
some other passion, generally made "the final sacrifice," that is,
formally sold their souls to Satan. Thus, in the tenth century,
"Gerbert is said to have sold himself, on condition of being made a
pope."
"The witch held a lower degree in the scale of forbidden knowledge. She
was a slave without recompense; she had sold herself without any
apparent object, unless it were the mere power of doing evil." "It has
been an article of popular belief, from the earliest period of the
history of the nations of western Europe, that women were more easily
brought into connection with the spiritual world than men; priestesses
were the favorite agents of the deities of the ages of paganism. During
the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the power of the witches to do
mischief was derived from a direct compact with the Demon, [Devil,] whom
they were bound to worship with certain rites and ceremonies, the
shadows of those which had, in remoter ages, been performed in honor of
the pagan gods." In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, "the witches
met together by night, in solitary places, to worship their master, who
appeared to them in the shape of a cat or a goat, or sometimes in that
of a man. At these meetings they had feasts, and some were appointed to
serve at table, while others received reward or punishment, according to
their zeal in the service of the Evil One. Hither also they brought
children which they had stolen from their cradles, and which were
sometimes torn to pieces and devoured. We see here the first outlines of
the witches' 'Sabbath' of a later age."
In the progress of the narratives there are abundant testimonies to the
following opinions and practices:
1. That it was Satan, the arch-apostate, personally, with whom they
entered into compact; selling to him their souls for a consideration,
and covenanting to worship and serve him, and to renounce Christ and
blaspheme his name.
Thus, in the confession of a Dr. Fian, of Scotland, of "the origin of
his acquaintance with the Devil," while meditating how he should be
revenged of his landlord, "The Devil suddenly made his appearance, clad
in white raiment, and said to him, 'Will ye be my servant, and adore me,
and ye shall never want?' The Doctor assented to the terms, and, at the
suggestion of the Evil One, revenged himself." And in that of Ganfridi,
a French Catholic priest: "The Demon appeared to him in a human form,
and said to him, 'What do you desire of me?'" After stating what he
wanted, "the Demon promised to grant him his desires, on condition that
he would give up to him entirely his 'body, soul, and works;' to which
he agreed," excepting only to his performing the sacraments as a priest.
2. They had what they termed "Sabbaths," when they met for the worship
of Satan; and also periodical feasts, appointed on days set apart for
festivals of the Romish Church.
Ganfridi, the priest above mentioned, "gave an account of the Sabbaths,
at which he was a regular attendant. When he was ready to go--it was
usually at night--he either went to the open window of his chamber, or
proceeded through the door into the open air. There Lucifer made his
appearance, and took him in an instant to their place of meeting, where
the orgies of the witches and sorcerers lasted usually from three to
four hours. Ganfridi divided the victims of the Evil One into three
classes: the novices, the sorcerers, and the magicians. On arriving at
the meeting, they all worshipped the Demon, according to their several
ranks; the novices falling flat on their faces, the sorcerers kneeling
with their heads and bodies humbly bowed down, and the magicians, who
stood highest in importance, only kneeling. After this they all went
through the formality of denying God and the saints. Then they had a
diabolical service in burlesque of that of the Church, at which the Evil
One served as priest in a violet chasuble; the elevation of the demon
host was announced by a wooden bell, and the sacrament itself was made
of unleavened bread. The scenes of unutterable licentiousness which
followed, resembled those of other witch meetings."
In the early part of the seventeenth century, in Labourd, at the
south-west corner of France, nearly all the families of a population of
thirty thousand were subjects of sorcery. At their "Sabbaths," which
were numerously attended every Wednesday and Friday night, "Satan,
seated on a throne, appeared in the shape of a large black man with
horns, and sometimes in other forms. The ceremonies of worship, the
feasting, the dance, and the license which followed, are described in
all their particulars, in a multitude of confessions."
In Navarre, the delusion was no less prevalent. The ordinary Sabbaths
were held every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evening. "The form assumed
by the Demon was that of a man with a sad and choleric countenance, very
black and very ugly. He was seated on a lofty throne, black as ebony,
and sometimes gilt, with all the accessories calculated to inspire
reverence. On his head was a crown of small horns, with two larger ones
behind, and another larger one on the forehead. It was the latter which
gave a light somewhat greater than that of the moon, but less than that
of the sun, which served to illumine the assembly. His eyes were large
and round, and terrible to look at; his beard like that of a goat, and
the lower part of his body had the form of that animal, &c. His worship
was conducted with the same forms and ceremonies as in Labourd. After
the worship of the Demon followed a travestie of the Christian mass;
after the mass, the usual licentiousness, then the feast. Before they
left, the Demon preached to them on the duties they had contracted
towards him, exhorted them to go and injure their fellow-creatures, and
to practise every kind of wickedness, and gave them powders and liquors
for poisoning and destroying. He often accompanied them himself when
some great evil was to be done."
3. In the confessions of those who were tried and executed, it is
related in numerous instances that they had, on their first admission at
the Sabbath rites and orgies, formally renounced Christ, and uttered
blasphemous expressions. It was an article of their compact that they
should not, at any of their assemblies, mention the name of Christ; (an
interdict similar to that of the Yezzidis, or worshippers of Satan, near
Mosul, mentioned by M. Layard;) and it is affirmed that whenever his
name was inadvertently articulated, the assembly was instantly
dispersed.
4. It was held that the initiated received from the Evil One a
particular mark on their persons, to distinguish them as his; that Satan
often appeared to them unexpectedly in the form of a goat, a black dog,
a cat, a horse, or a toad; and that each new witch received a toad, cat,
or other animal, as an imp or familiar to attend them constantly. They
pretended to raise storms, destroy vessels and crops, torment and kill
animals and men by their sorcery; and for such crimes many thousands of
them were accused, tried, and put to death.