Chapter XII: Section IV: Good And Evil Angels (2)

On the “_man of sin_,” see Wm. Arnold Stevens, in Bap. Quar. Rev.,
July, 1889:328-360. As in _Daniel 11:36_, the great enemy of the
faith, he who “_shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above
every God_”, is the Syrian King, Antiochus Epiphanes, so the man
of lawlessness described by Paul in _2 Thess. 2:3, 4_ was “the
corrupt and impious Judaism of the apostolic age.” This only had
its seat in the temple of God. It was doomed to destruction when
the Lord should come at the fall of Jerusalem. But this fulfilment
does not preclude a future and final fulfilment of the prophecy.

Contrasts between the Holy Spirit and the spirit of evil: 1. The dove, and the serpent; 2. the father of lies, and the Spirit of truth; 3. men possessed by dumb spirits, and men given wonderful utterance in diverse tongues; 4. the murderer from the beginning, and the life-giving Spirit, who regenerates the soul and quickens our mortal bodies; 5. the adversary, and the Helper; 6. the slanderer, and the Advocate; 7. Satan’s sifting, and the Master’s winnowing; 8. the organizing intelligence and malignity of the evil one, and the Holy Spirit’s combination of all the forces of matter and mind to build up the kingdom of God; 9. the strong man fully armed, and a stronger than he; 10. the evil one who works only evil, and the holy One who is the author of holiness in the hearts of men. The opposition of evil angels, at first and ever since their fall, may be a reason why they are incapable of redemption.

(_b_) They hinder man’s temporal and eternal welfare,—sometimes by exercising a certain control over natural phenomena, but more commonly by subjecting man’s soul to temptation. Possession of man’s being, either physical or spiritual, by demons, is also recognized in Scripture.

Control of natural phenomena is ascribed to evil spirits in _Job
1:12, 16, 19_ and _2:7_—“_all that he hath is in thy power_”—and
Satan uses lightning, whirlwind, disease, for his purposes; _Luke
13:11, 16_—“_a woman that had a spirit of infirmity ... whom Satan
had bound, lo, these eighteen years_”; _Acts 10:38_—“_healing all
that were oppressed of the devil_”; _2 Cor. 12:7_—“_a thorn in the
flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me_”; _1 Thess. 2:18_—“_we
would fain have come unto you, I Paul once and again; and Satan
hindered us_”; _Heb. 2:14_—“_him that had the power of death, that
is, the devil._” Temptation is ascribed to evil spirits in _Gen.
3:1_ _sq._—“_Now the serpent was more subtle_”; _cf._ _Rev.
20:2_—“_the old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan_”; _Mat.
4:3_—“_the tempter came_”; _John 13:27_—“_after the sop, then
entered Satan into him_”; _Acts 5:3_—“_why hath Satan filled thy
heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?_” _Eph. 2:2_—“_the spirit that
now worketh in the sons of disobedience_”; _1 Thess. 3:5_—“_lest
by any means the tempter had tempted you_”; _1 Pet 5:8_—“_your
adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking
whom he may devour._”

At the time of Christ, popular belief undoubtedly exaggerated the
influence of evil spirits. Savage, Life after Death, 113—“While
God was at a distance, the demons were very, very near. The air
about the earth was full of these evil tempting spirits. They
caused shipwreck at sea, and sudden death on land; they blighted
the crops; they smote and blasted in the tempests; they took
possession of the bodies and the souls of men. They entered into
compacts, and took mortgages on men’s souls.” If some good end has
been attained in spite of them they feel that “Their labor must be
to pervert that end. And out of good still to find means of evil.”
In Goethe’s Faust, Margaret detects the evil in Mephistopheles:
“You see that he with no soul sympathizes. ’Tis written on his
face—he never loved.... Whenever he comes near, I cannot pray.”
Mephistopheles describes himself as “Ein Theil von jener Kraft Die
stäts das Böse will Und stäts das Gute schafft”—“Part of that
power not understood, which always wills the bad, and always works
the good”—through the overruling Providence of God. “The devil
says his prayers backwards.” “He tried to learn the Basque
language, but had to give it up, having learned only three words
in two years.” Walter Scott tells us that a certain sulphur spring
in Scotland was reputed to owe its quality to an ancient
compulsory immersion of Satan in it.

Satan’s temptations are represented as both negative and
positive,—he takes away the seed sown, and he sows tares. He
controls many subordinate evil spirits; there is only one devil,
but there are many angels or demons, and through their agency
Satan may accomplish his purposes.

Satan’s negative agency is shown in _Mark 4:15_—“_when they have
heard, straightway cometh Satan, and taketh away the word which
hath been sown in them_”; his positive agency in _Mat. 13:38,
39_—“_the tares are the sons of the evil one; and the enemy that
sowed them is the devil._” One devil, but many angels: see _Mat.
25:41_—“_the devil and his angels_”; _Mark 5:9_—“_My name is
Legion, for we are many_”; _Eph. 2:2_—“_the prince of the powers
of the air_”; _6:12_—“_principalities ... powers ... world-rulers
of this darkness ... spiritual hosts of wickedness._” The mode of
Satan’s access to the human mind we do not know. It may be that by
moving upon our physical organism he produces subtle signs of
thought and so reaches the understanding and desires. He certainly
has the power to present in captivating forms the objects of
appetite and selfish ambition, as he did to Christ in the
wilderness (_Mat. 4:3, 6, 9_), and to appeal to our love for
independence by saying to us, as he did to our first parents—“_ye
shall be as God_” (_Gen. 3:5_).

C. C. Everett, Essays Theol. and Lit., 186-218, on The Devil: “If
the supernatural powers would only hold themselves aloof and not
interfere with the natural processes of the world, there would be
no sickness, no death, no sorrow.... This shows a real, though
perhaps unconscious, faith in the goodness and trustworthiness of
nature. The world in itself is a source only of good. Here is the
germ of a positive religion, though this religion when it appears,
may adopt the form of supernaturalism.” If there was no Satan,
then Christ’s temptations came from within, and showed a
predisposition to evil on his own part.

Possession is distinguished from bodily or mental disease, though such disease often accompanies possession or results from it.—The demons speak in their own persons, with supernatural knowledge, and they are directly addressed by Christ. Jesus recognizes Satanic agency in these cases of possession, and he rejoices in the casting out of demons, as a sign of Satan’s downfall. These facts render it impossible to interpret the narratives of demoniac possession as popular descriptions of abnormal physical or mental conditions.

Possession may apparently be either physical, as in the case of
the Gerasene demoniacs (_Mark 5:2-4_), or spiritual, as in the
case of the “_maid having a spirit of divination_” (_Acts 16:16_),
where the body does not seem to have been affected. It is
distinguished from bodily disease: see _Mat. 17:15,
18_—“_epileptic ... the demon went out from him: and the boy was
cured_”; _Mark 9:25_—“_Thou dumb and deaf spirit_”; _3:11,
12_—“_the unclean spirits ... cried, saying, Thou art the Son of
God. And he charged them much that they should not make him
known_”; _Luke 8:30, 31_—“_And Jesus asked him, What is thy name?
And he said, Legion; for many demons were entered unto him. And
they entreated him that he would not command them to depart into
the abyss_”; _10:17, 18_—“_And the seventy returned with joy,
saying, Lord, even the demons are subject unto us in thy name. And
he said unto them, I beheld Satan fallen as lightning from
heaven._”

These descriptions of personal intercourse between Christ and the demons cannot be interpreted as metaphorical. “In the temptation of Christ and in the possession of the swine, imagination could have no place. Christ was _above_ its delusions; the brutes were _below_ them.” Farrar (Life of Christ, 1:337-341, and 2:excursus vii), while he admits the existence and agency of good angels, very inconsistently gives a metaphorical interpretation to the Scriptural accounts of evil angels. We find corroborative evidence of the Scripture doctrine in the domination which one wicked man frequently exercises over others; in the opinion of some modern physicians in charge of the insane, that certain phenomena in their patients’ experience are best explained by supposing an actual subjection of the will to a foreign power; and, finally, in the influence of the Holy Spirit upon the human heart. See Trench, Miracles, 125-136; Smith’s Bible Dictionary, 1:586—“Possession is distinguished from mere temptation by the complete or incomplete loss of the sufferer’s reason or power of will; his actions, words, and almost his thoughts, are mastered by the evil spirit, till his personality seems to be destroyed, or at least so overborne as to produce the consciousness of a twofold will within him like that in a dream. In the ordinary assaults and temptations of Satan, the will itself yields consciously, and by yielding gradually assumes, without losing its apparent freedom of action, the characteristics of the Satanic nature. It is solicited, urged, and persuaded against the strivings of grace, but it is not overborne.”

T. H. Wright, The Finger of God, argues that Jesus, in his mention of demoniacs, accommodated himself to the beliefs of his time. Fisher, Nature and Method of Revelation, 274, with reference to Weiss’s Meyer on _Mat. 4:24_, gives Meyer’s arguments against demoniacal possession as follows: 1. the absence of references to demoniacal possession in the Old Testament, and the fact that so-called demoniacs were cured by exorcists; 2. that no clear case of possession occurs at present; 3. that there is no notice of demoniacal possession in John’s Gospel, though the overcoming of Satan is there made a part of the Messiah’s work and Satan is said to enter into a man’s mind and take control there (_John 13:27_); 4. and that the so-called demoniacs are not, as would be expected, of a diabolic temper and filled with malignant feelings toward Christ. Harnack, Wesen des Christenthums, 38—“The popular belief in demon-possession gave form to the conceptions of those who had nervous diseases, so that they expressed themselves in language proper only to those who were actually possessed. Jesus is no believer in Christian Science: he calls sickness sickness and health health; but he regards all disease as a proof and effect of the working of the evil one.”

On _Mark 1:21-34_, see Maclaren in S. S. Times, Jan. 23, 1904—“We
are told by some that this demoniac was an epileptic. Possibly;
but, if the epilepsy was not the result of possession, why should
it take the shape of violent hatred of Jesus? And what is there in
epilepsy to give discernment of his character and the purpose of
his mission?” Not Jesus’ exorcism of demons as a fact, but his
casting them out by a word, was our Lord’s wonderful
characteristic. Nevius, Demon-Possession, 240—“May not
demon-possession be only a different, a more advanced, form of
hypnotism?... It is possible that these evil spirits are familiar
with the organism of the nervous system, and are capable of acting
upon and influencing mankind in accordance with physical and
psychological laws.... The hypnotic trance may be effected,
without the use of physical organs, by the mere force of
will-power, spirit acting upon spirit.” Nevius quotes F. W. A.
Myers, Fortnightly Rev., Nov. 1885—“One such discovery, that of
telepathy, or the transference of thought and sensation from mind
to mind without the agency of the recognized organs of sense, has,
as I hold, been already achieved.” See Bennet, Diseases of the
Bible; Kedney, Diabolology; and references in Poole’s Synopsis,
1:343; also Bramwell, Hypnotism, 358-398.

(_c_) Yet, in spite of themselves, they execute God’s plans of punishing the ungodly, of chastening the good, and of illustrating the nature and fate of moral evil.

Punishing the ungodly: _Ps. 78:49_—“_He cast upon them the
fierceness of his anger, Wrath and indignation, and trouble, A
band of angels of evil_”; _1 K. 22:23_—“_Jehovah hath put a lying
spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets; and Jehovah hath
spoken evil concerning thee._” In _Luke 22:31_, Satan’s sifting
accomplishes the opposite of the sifter’s intention, and the same
as the Master’s winnowing (Maclaren).

Chastening the good: see _Job, chapters 1_ and _2_; _1 Cor.
5:5_—“_deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the
flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord
Jesus_”; _cf._ _1 Tim. 1:20_—“_Hymenæus and Alexander; whom I
delivered onto Satan, that they might be taught not to
blaspheme._” This delivering to Satan for the destruction of the
flesh seems to have involved four things: (1) excommunication from
the church; (2) authoritative infliction of bodily disease or
death; (3) loss of all protection from good angels, who minister
only to saints; (4) subjection to the buffetings and tormentings
of the great accuser. Gould, in Am. Com. on _1 Cor. 5:5_, regards
“delivering to Satan” as merely putting a man out of the church by
excommunication. This of itself was equivalent to banishing him
into “the world,” of which Satan was the ruler.

Evil spirits illustrate the nature and fate of moral evil: see
_Mat 8:29_—“_art thou come hither to torment us before the time?_”
_25:41_—“_eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his
angels_”; _2 Thess. 2:8_—“_then shall be revealed the lawless
one_”; _James 2:19_—“_the demons also believe, and shudder_”;
_Rev. 12:9, 12_—“_the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole
world ... the devil is gone down unto you, having great wrath,
knowing that he hath but a short time_”; _20:10_—“_cast into the
lake of fire ... tormented day and night for ever and ever._”

It is an interesting question whether Scripture recognizes any
special connection of evil spirits with the systems of idolatry,
witchcraft, and spiritualism which burden the world. _1 Cor.
10:20_—“_the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice
to demons, and not to God_”; _2 Thess. 2:9_—“_the working of Satan
with all power and signs of lying wonders_”—would seem to favor an
affirmative answer. But _1 Cor. 8:4_—“_concerning therefore the
eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is
anything in the world_”—seems to favor a negative answer. This
last may, however, mean that “the beings whom the idols are
designed to _represent_ have no existence, although it is
afterwards shown (_10:20_) that there are _other_ beings connected
with false worship” (Ann. Par. Bible, _in loco_). “Heathenism is
the reign of the devil” (Meyer), and while the heathen think
themselves to be sacrificing to Jupiter or Venus, they are really
“_sacrificing to demons_,” and are thus furthering the plans of a
malignant spirit who uses these forms of false religion as a means
of enslaving their souls. In like manner, the network of
influences which support the papacy, spiritualism, modern
unbelief, is difficult of explanation, unless we believe in a
superhuman intelligence which organizes these forces against God.
In these, as well as in heathen religions, there are facts
inexplicable upon merely natural principles of disease and
delusion.

Nevius, Demon-Possession, 294—“Paul teaches that the gods
mentioned under different names are imaginary and non-existent;
but that, behind and in connection with these gods, there are
demons who make use of idolatry to draw men away from God; and it
is to these that the heathen are unconsciously rendering obedience
and service.... It is most reasonable to believe that the
sufferings of people bewitched were caused by the devil, not by
the so-called witches. Let us substitute ‘devilcraft’ for
‘witchcraft.’... Had the courts in Salem proceeded on the
Scriptural presumption that the testimony of those under the
control of evil spirits would, in the nature of the case, be
false, such a thing as the Salem tragedy would never have been
known.”

A survey of the Scripture testimony with regard to the employments of evil spirits leads to the following general conclusions:

First,—the power of evil spirits over men is not independent of the human will. This power cannot be exercised without at least the original consent of the human will, and may be resisted and shaken off through prayer and faith in God.

_Luke 22:31, 40_—“_Satan asked to have you, that he might sift you
as wheat.... Pray that ye enter not into temptation_”; _Eph.
6:11_—“_Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to
stand against the wiles of the devil_”; _16_—“_the shield of
faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of
the evil one_”; _James 4:7_—“_resist the devil, and he will flee
from you_”; _1 Pet. 5:9_—“_whom withstand stedfast in your
faith._” The coals are already in the human heart, in the shape of
corrupt inclinations; Satan only blows them into flame. The double
source of sin is illustrated in _Acts 5:3, 4_—“_Why hath Satan
filled thy heart?... How is it that thou hast conceived this thing
in thine heart?_” The Satanic impulse could have been resisted,
and “_after it was_” suggested, it was still “_in his own power_,”
as was the land that he had sold (Maclaren).

The soul is a castle into which even the king of evil spirits
cannot enter without receiving permission from within. Bp.
Wordsworth: “The devil may _tempt_ us to fall, but he cannot
_make_ us fall; he may persuade us to cast _ourselves_ down, but
he cannot _cast_ us down.” E. G. Robinson: “It is left to us
whether the devil shall get control of us. We pack off on the
devil’s shoulders much of our own wrong doing, just as Adam had
the impertinence to tell God that the woman did the mischief.”
Both God and Satan stand at the door and knock, but neither heaven
nor hell can come in unless we will. “We cannot prevent the birds
from flying over our heads, but we can prevent them from making
their nests in our hair.” _Mat 12:43-45_—“_The unclean spirit,
when he is gone out of a man_”—suggests that the man who gets rid
of one vice but does not occupy his mind with better things is
ready to be repossessed. “_Seven other spirits more evil than
himself_” implies that some demons are more wicked than others and
so are harder to cast out (_Mark 9:29_). The Jews had cast out
idolatry, but other and worse sins had taken possession of them.

Hudson, Law of Psychic Phenomena, 129—“The hypnotic subject cannot
be controlled so far as to make him do what he knows to be wrong,
unless he himself voluntarily assents.” A. S. Hart: “Unless one is
willing to be hypnotized, no one can put him under the influence.
The more intelligent one is, the more susceptible. Hypnotism
requires the subject to do two-thirds of the work, while the
instructor does only one-third—that of telling the subject what to
do. It is not an inherent influence, nor a gift, but can be
learned by any one who can read. It is impossible to compel a
person to do wrong while under the influence, for the subject
retains a consciousness of the difference between right and
wrong.”

Höffding, Outlines of Psychology, 330-335—“Some persons have the
power of intentionally calling up hallucinations; but it often
happens to them as to Goethe’s Zauberlehrling, or
apprentice-magician, that the phantoms gain power over them and
will not be again dispersed. Goethe’s Fischer—‘Half she drew him
down and half he sank’—repeats the duality in the second term; for
to sink is to let one’s self sink.” Manton, the Puritan: “A
stranger cannot call off a dog from the flock, but the Shepherd
can do so with a word; so the Lord can easily rebuke Satan when he
finds him most violent.” Spurgeon, the modern Puritan, remarks on
the above: “O Lord, when I am worried by my great enemy, call him
off, I pray thee! Let me hear a voice saying: ‘_Jehovah rebuke
thee, O Satan; even Jehovah that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke
thee!_’ (_Zech. 3:2)_. By thine election of me, rebuke him, I pray
thee, and deliver me from ‘_the power of the dog_’! (_Ps.
22:20)_.”

Secondly,—their power is limited, both in time and in extent, by the permissive will of God. Evil spirits are neither omnipotent, omniscient, nor omnipresent. We are to attribute disease and natural calamity to their agency, only when this is matter of special revelation. Opposed to God as evil spirits are, God compels them to serve his purposes. Their power for harm lasts but for a season, and ultimate judgment and punishment will vindicate God’s permission of their evil agency.

_1 Cor. 10:13_—“_God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be
tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation make
also the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it_”; _Jude
6_—“_angels which kept not their own beginning, but left their
proper habitation, he hath kept in everlasting bonds under
darkness unto the judgment of the great day._”

Luther saw Satan nearer to man than his coat, or his shirt, or even his skin. In all misfortune he saw the devil’s work. Was there a conflagration in the town? By looking closely you might see a demon blowing upon the flame. Pestilence and storm he attributed to Satan. All this was a relic of the mediæval exaggerations of Satan’s power. It was then supposed that men might make covenants with the evil one, in which supernatural power was purchased at the price of final perdition (see Goethe’s Faust).

Scripture furnishes no warrant for such representations. There
seems to have been permitted a special activity of Satan in
temptation and possession during our Savior’s ministry, in order
that Christ’s power might be demonstrated. By his death Jesus
brought “_to naught him that had the power of death, that is, the
devil_” (_Heb. 2:14)_ and “_having despoiled the principalities
and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them in it_,” _i. e._, in the Cross (_Col. 2:15_). _1 John
3:8_—“_To this end was the Son of God manifested, that he might
destroy the works of the devil._” Evil spirits now exist and act
only upon sufferance. McLeod, Temptation of our Lord, 24—“Satan’s
power is limited, (1) by the fact that he is a creature; (2) by
the fact of God’s providence; (3) by the fact of his own
wickedness.”

Genung, Epic of the Inner Life, 136—“Having neither fixed
principle in himself nor connection with the source of order
outside, Satan has not prophetic ability. He can appeal to chance,
but he cannot foresee. So Goethe’s Mephistopheles insolently
boasts that he can lead Faust astray: ‘What will you bet? There’s
still a chance to gain him, If unto me full leave you give Gently
upon _my_ road to train him!’ And in _Job 1:11; 2:5_, Satan
wagers: ‘_He will renounce thee to thy face._’ ” William Ashmore:
“Is Satan omnipresent? No, but he is very spry. Is he bound? Yes,
but with a rather loose rope.” In the Persian story, God scattered
seed. The devil buried it, and sent the rain to rot it. But soon
it sprang up, and the wilderness blossomed as the rose.

II. Objections to the Doctrine of Angels.

1. To the doctrine of angels in general.

It is objected:

(_a_) That it is opposed to the modern scientific view of the world, as a system of definite forces and laws.—We reply that, whatever truth there may be in this modern view, it does not exclude the play of divine or human free agency. It does not, therefore, exclude the possibility of angelic agency.

Ladd, Philosophy of Knowledge, 332—“It is easier to believe in
angels than in ether; in God rather than atoms; and in the history
of his kingdom as a divine self-revelation rather than in the
physicist’s or the biologist’s purely mechanical process of
evolution.”

(_b_) That it is opposed to the modern doctrine of infinite space above and beneath us—a space peopled with worlds. With the surrender of the old conception of the firmament, as a boundary separating this world from the regions beyond, it is claimed that we must give up all belief in a heaven of the angels.—We reply that the notions of an infinite universe, of heaven as a definite place, and of spirits as confined to fixed locality, are without certain warrant either in reason or in Scripture. We know nothing of the modes of existence of pure spirits.

What we know of the universe is certainly finite. Angels are
apparently incorporeal beings, and as such are free from all laws
of matter and space. Heaven and hell are essentially conditions,
corresponding to character—conditions in which the body and the
surroundings of the soul express and reflect its inward state. The
main thing to be insisted on is therefore the state; place is
merely incidental. The fact that Christ ascended to heaven with a
human body, and that the saints are to possess glorified bodies,
would seem to imply that heaven is a place. Christ’s declaration
with regard to him who is “_able to destroy both soul and body in
hell_” (_Mat. 10:28_) affords some reason for believing that hell
is also a place.

Where heaven and hell are, is not revealed to us. But it is not
necessary to suppose that they are in some remote part of the
universe; for aught we know, they may be right about us, so that
if our eyes were opened, like those of the prophet’s servant (_2
Kings 6:17_), we ourselves should behold them. Upon ground of
_Eph. 2:2_—“_prince of the __ powers of the air_”—and _3:10_—“_the
principalities and the powers in the heavenly places_”—some have
assigned the atmosphere of the earth as the abode of angelic
spirits, both good and evil. But the expressions “_air_” and
“_heavenly places_” may be merely metaphorical designations of
their spiritual method of existence.

The idealistic philosophy, which regards time and space as merely
subjective forms of our human thinking and as not conditioning the
thought of God, may possibly afford some additional aid in the
consideration of this problem. If matter be only the expression of
God’s mind and will, having no existence apart from his
intelligence and volition, the question of place ceases to have
significance. Heaven is in that case simply the state in which God
manifests himself in his grace, and hell is the state in which a
moral being finds himself in opposition to God, and God in
opposition to him. Christ can manifest himself to his followers in
all parts of the earth and to all the inhabitants of heaven at one
and the same time (_John 14:21_; _Mat. 28:20_; _Rev. 1:7_). Angels
in like manner, being purely spiritual beings, may be free from
the laws of space and time, and may not be limited to any fixed
locality.

We prefer therefore to leave the question of place undecided, and
to accept the existence and working of angels both good and evil
as a matter of faith, without professing to understand their
relations to space. For the rationalistic view, see Strauss,
Glaubenslehre, 1:670-675. _Per contra_, see Van Oosterzee,
Christian Dogmatics, 1:308-317; Martensen, Christian Dogmatics,
127-136.

2. To the doctrine of evil angels in particular.

It is objected that:

(_a_) The idea of the fall of angels is self-contradictory, since a fall determined by pride presupposes pride—that is, a fall before the fall.—We reply that the objection confounds the occasion of sin with the sin itself. The outward motive to disobedience is not disobedience. The fall took place only when that outward motive was chosen by free will. When the motive of independence was selfishly adopted, only then did the innocent desire for knowledge and power become pride and sin. How an evil volition could originate in spirits created pure is an insoluble problem. Our faith in God’s holiness, however, compels us to attribute the origin of this evil volition, not to the Creator, but to the creature.

There can be no sinful propensity before there is sin. The reason
of the _first_ sin can not be sin itself. This would be to make
sin a necessary development; to deny the holiness of God the
Creator; to leave the ground of theism for pantheism.

(_b_) It is irrational to suppose that Satan should have been able to change his whole nature by a single act, so that he thenceforth willed only evil.—But we reply that the circumstances of that decision are unknown to us; while the power of single acts permanently to change character is matter of observation among men.

Instance the effect, upon character and life, of a single act of
falsehood or embezzlement. The first glass of intoxicating drink,
and the first yielding to impure suggestion, often establish
nerve-tracts in the brain and associations in the mind which are
not reversed and overcome for a whole lifetime. “Sow an act, and
you reap a habit; sow a habit, and you reap a character; sow a
character, and you reap a destiny.” And what is true of men, may
be also true of angels.

(_c_) It is impossible that so wise a being should enter upon a hopeless rebellion.—We answer that no amount of mere knowledge ensures right moral action. If men gratify present passion, in spite of their knowledge that the sin involves present misery and future perdition, it is not impossible that Satan may have done the same.

Scherer, Essays on English Literature, 139, puts this objection as
follows: “The idea of Satan is a contradictory idea; for it is
contradictory to know God and yet attempt rivalry with him.” But
we must remember that understanding is the servant of will, and is
darkened by will. Many clever men fail to see what belongs to
their peace. It is the very madness of sin, that it persists in
iniquity, even when it sees and fears the approaching judgment of
God. Jonathan Edwards: “Although the devil be exceedingly crafty
and subtle, yet he is one of the greatest fools and blockheads in
the world, as the subtlest of wicked men are. Sin is of such a
nature that it strangely infatuates and stultifies the mind.” One
of Ben Jonson’s plays has, for its title: “The Devil is an Ass.”

Schleiermacher, Die Christliche Glaube, 1:210, urges that
continual wickedness must have weakened Satan’s understanding, so
that he could be no longer feared, and he adds: “Nothing is easier
than to contend against emotional evil.” On the other hand, there
seems evidence in Scripture of a progressive rage and devastating
activity in the case of the evil one, beginning in Genesis and
culminating in the Revelation. With this increasing malignity
there is also abundant evidence of his unwisdom. We may instance
the devil’s mistakes in misrepresenting 1. God to man (_Gen.
3:1_—“_hath God said?_”). 2. Man to himself (_Gen. 3:4_—“_Ye shall
not surely die_”). 3. Man to God (_Job 1:9_—“_Doth Job fear God
for naught?_”). 4. God to himself (_Mat. 4:3_—“_If thou art the
Son of God_”). 5. Himself to man (_2 Cor. 11:14_—“_Satan
fashioneth himself into an angel of light_”). 6. Himself to
himself (_Rev. 12:12_—“_the devil is gone down unto you, having
great wrath_”—thinking he could successfully oppose God or destroy
man).

(_d_) It is inconsistent with the benevolence of God to create and uphold spirits, who he knows will be and do evil.—We reply that this is no more inconsistent with God’s benevolence than the creation and preservation of men, whose action God overrules for the furtherance of his purposes, and whose iniquity he finally brings to light and punishes.

Seduction of the pure by the impure, piracy, slavery, and war,
have all been permitted among men. It is no more inconsistent with
God’s benevolence to permit them among angelic spirits. Caroline
Fox tells of Emerson and Carlyle that the latter once led his
friend, the serene philosopher, through the abominations of the
streets of London at midnight, asking him with grim humor at every
few steps: “Do you believe in the devil now?” Emerson replied that
the more he saw of the English people, the greater and better he
thought them. It must have been because with such depths beneath
them they could notwithstanding reach such heights of
civilization. Even vice and misery can be overruled for good, and
the fate of evil angels may be made a warning to the universe.

(_e_) The notion of organization among evil spirits is self-contradictory, since the nature of evil is to sunder and divide.—We reply that such organization of evil spirits is no more impossible than the organization of wicked men, for the purpose of furthering their selfish ends. Common hatred to God may constitute a principle of union among them, as among men.

Wicked men succeed in their plans only by adhering in some way to
the good. Even a robber-horde must have laws, and there is a sort
of “honor among thieves.” Else the world would be a pandemonium,
and society would be what Hobbes called it: “bellum omnium contra
omnes.” See art. on Satan, by Whitehouse, in Hastings, Dictionary
of the Bible: “Some personalities are ganglionic centres of a
nervous system, incarnations of evil influence. The Bible teaches
that Satan is such a centre.”

But the organizing power of Satan has its limitations. Nevius,
Demon-Possession, 279—“Satan is not omniscient, and it is not
certain that all demons are perfectly subject to his control. Want
of vigilance on his part, and personal ambition in them, may
obstruct and delay the execution of his plans, as among men.” An
English parliamentarian comforted himself by saying: “If the fleas
were all of one mind, they would have us out of bed.” Plato,
Lysis, 214—“The good are like one another, and friends to one
another, and the bad are never at unity with one another or with
themselves; for they are passionate and restless, and anything
which is at variance and enmity with itself is not likely to be in
union or harmony with any other thing.”

(_f_) The doctrine is morally pernicious, as transferring the blame of human sin to the being or beings who tempt men thereto.—We reply that neither conscience nor Scripture allows temptation to be an excuse for sin, or regards Satan as having power to compel the human will. The objection, moreover, contradicts our observation,—for only where the personal existence of Satan is recognized, do we find sin recognized in its true nature.

The diabolic character of sin makes it more guilty and abhorred.
The immorality lies, not in the maintenance, but in the denial, of
the doctrine. Giving up the doctrine of Satan is connected with
laxity in the administration of criminal justice. Penalty comes to
be regarded as only deterrent or reformatory.

(_g_) The doctrine degrades man, by representing him as the tool and slave of Satan.—We reply that it does indeed show his actual state to be degraded, but only with the result of exalting our idea of his original dignity, and of his possible glory in Christ. The fact that man’s sin was suggested from without, and not from within, may be the one mitigating circumstance which renders possible his redemption.

It rather puts a stigma upon human nature to say that it is _not_
fallen—that its present condition is its original and normal
state. Nor is it worth while to attribute to man a dignity he does
not possess, if thereby we deprive him of the dignity that may be
his. Satan’s sin was, in its essence, sin against the Holy Ghost,
for which there can be no “_Father, forgive them, for they know
not what they do_” (_Luke 23:34_), since it was choosing evil with
the _mala gaudia mentis_, or the clearest intuition that it was
evil. If there be no devil, then man himself is devil. It has been
said of Voltaire, that without believing in a devil, he saw him
everywhere—even where he was not. Christian, in Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s
Progress, takes comfort when he finds that the blasphemous
suggestions which came to him in the dark valley were suggestions
from the fiend that pursued him. If all temptation is from within,
our case would seem hopeless. But if “_an enemy hath done this_”
(_Mat. 13:28_), then there is hope. And so we may accept the
maxim: “Nullus diabolus, nullus Redemptor.” Unitarians have no
Captain of their Salvation, and so have no Adversary against whom
to contend. See Trench, Studies in the Gospels, 17; Birks,
Difficulties of Belief, 78-100; Ebrard, Dogmatik, 1:291-293. Many
of the objections and answers mentioned above have been taken from
Philippi, Glaubenslehre, 3:251-284, where a fuller statement of
them may be found.

III. Practical uses of the Doctrine of Angels.

A. Uses of the doctrine of good angels.

(_a_) It gives us a new sense of the greatness of the divine resources, and of God’s grace in our creation, to think of the multitude of unfallen intelligences who executed the divine purposes before man appeared.

(_b_) It strengthens our faith in God’s providential care, to know that spirits of so high rank are deputed to minister to creatures who are environed with temptations and are conscious of sin.

(_c_) It teaches us humility, that beings of so much greater knowledge and power than ours should gladly perform these unnoticed services, in behalf of those whose only claim upon them is that they are children of the same common Father.

(_d_) It helps us in the struggle against sin, to learn that these messengers of God are near, to mark our wrong doing if we fall, and to sustain us if we resist temptation.

(_e_) It enlarges our conceptions of the dignity of our own being, and of the boundless possibilities of our future existence, to remember these forms of typical innocence and love, that praise and serve God unceasingly in heaven.

Instance the appearance of angels in Jacob’s life at Bethel (_Gen.
28:12_—Jacob’s conversion?) and at Mahanaim (_Gen. 32:1, 2_—two
camps, of angels, on the right hand and on the left; _cf._ _Ps.
34:7_—“_The angel of Jehovah encampeth round about them that fear
him, And delivereth them_”); so too the Angel at Penuel that
struggled with Jacob at his entering the promised land (_Gen.
32:24_; _cf._ _Hos. 12:3, 4_—“_in his manhood he had power with
God: yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed_”), and “_the
angel who hath redeemed me from all evil_” (_Gen. 48:16_) to whom
Jacob refers on his dying bed. Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene:
“And is there care in heaven? and is there love In heavenly
spirits to these creatures base That may compassion of their evils
move? There is; else much more wretched were the case Of men than
beasts. But O, th’ exceeding grace Of highest God that loves his
creatures so, And all his works with mercy doth embrace, That
blessed angels he sends to and fro To serve to wicked man, to
serve his wicked foe! How oft do they their silver bowers leave
And come to succor us who succor want! How oft do they with golden
pinions cleave The flitting skies like flying pursuivant, Against
foul fiends to aid us militant! They for us fight; they watch and
duly ward, And their bright squadrons round about us plant; And
all for love, and nothing for reward. Oh, why should heavenly God
for men have such regard!”

It shows us that sin is not mere finiteness, to see these finite
intelligences that maintained their integrity. Shakespeare, Henry
VIII, 2:2—“He counsels a divorce—a loss of her That, like a jewel,
has hung twenty years About his neck, yet never lost her lustre;
Of her that loves him with that excellence That angels love good
men with; even of her That, when the greatest stroke of fortune
falls, Will bless the king.” Measure for Measure, 2:2—“Man, proud
man, Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven, As makes the
angels weep.”

B. Uses of the doctrine of evil angels.

(_a_) It illustrates the real nature of sin, and the depth of the ruin to which it may bring the soul, to reflect upon the present moral condition and eternal wretchedness to which these spirits, so highly endowed, have brought themselves by their rebellion against God.

(_b_) It inspires a salutary fear and hatred of the first subtle approaches of evil from within or from without, to remember that these may be the covert advances of a personal and malignant being, who seeks to overcome our virtue and to involve us in his own apostasy and destruction.

(_c_) It shuts us up to Christ, as the only Being who is able to deliver us or others from the enemy of all good.

(_d_) It teaches us that our salvation is wholly of grace, since for such multitudes of rebellious spirits no atonement and no renewal were provided—simple justice having its way, with no mercy to interpose or save.

Philippi, in his Glaubenslehre, 3:151-284, suggests the following
relations of the doctrine of Satan to the doctrine of sin: 1.
Since Satan is a fallen _angel_, who once was pure, evil is not
self-existent or necessary. Sin does not belong to the substance
which God created, but is a later addition. 2. Since Satan is a
purely _spiritual_ creature, sin cannot have its origin in mere
sensuousness, or in the mere possession of a physical nature. 3.
Since Satan is not a _weak_ and _poorly endowed_ creature, sin is
not a necessary result of weakness and limitation. 4. Since Satan
is _confirmed in evil_, sin is not necessarily a transient or
remediable act of will. 5. Since in Satan sin _does not come to an
end_, sin is not a step of creaturely development, or a stage of
progress to something higher and better. On the uses of the
doctrine, see also Van Oosterzee, Christian Dogmatics, 1:316;
Robert Hall, Works, 3:35-51; Brooks, Satan and his Devices.

“They never sank so low, They are not raised so high; They never
knew such depths of woe, Such heights of majesty. The Savior did
not join Their nature to his own; For them he shed no blood
divine. Nor heaved a single groan.” If no redemption has been
provided for them, it may be because: 1. sin originated with them;
2. the sin which they committed was “_an eternal sin_” (_cf._
_Mark 3:29_); 3. they sinned with clearer intellect and fuller
knowledge than ours (_cf._ _Luke 23:34_); 4. their incorporeal
being aggravated their sin and made it analogous to our sinning
against the Holy Spirit (_cf._ _Mat. 12:31, 32_); 5. this
incorporeal being gave no opportunity for Christ to objectify his
grace and visibly to join himself to them (_cf._ _Heb. 2:16_); 6.
their persistence in evil, in spite of their growing knowledge of
the character of God as exhibited in human history, has resulted
in a hardening of heart which is not susceptible of salvation.

Yet angels were created in Christ (_Col. 1:16_); they consist in
him (_Col. 1:17_); he must suffer in their sin; God would save
them, if he consistently could. Dr. G. W. Samson held that the
Logos became an angel before he became man, and that this explains
his appearances as “_the angel of Jehovah_” in the Old Testament
(_Gen. 22:11_). It is not asserted that _all_ fallen angels shall
be eternally tormented (_Rev. 14:10_). In terms equally strong
(_Mat. 25:41_; _Rev. 20:10_) the existence of a place of eternal
punishment for wicked men is declared, but nevertheless we do not
believe that all men will go there, in spite of the fact that all
men are wicked. The silence of Scripture with regard to a
provision of salvation for fallen angels does not prove that there
is no such provision. _2 Pet. 2:4_ shows that evil angels have not
received _final_ judgment, but are in a temporary state of
existence, and their final state is yet to be revealed. If God has
not already provided, may he not yet provide redemption for them,
and the “_elect angels_” (_1 Tim. 5:21_) be those whom God has
predestinated to stand this future probation and be saved, while
only those who persist in their rebellion will be consigned to the
lake of fire and brimstone (_Rev. 20:10_)?

The keeper of a young tigress patted her head and she licked his
hand. But when she grew older she seized his hand with her teeth
and began to craunch it. He pulled away his hand in shreds. He
learned not to fondle a tigress. Let us learn not to fondle Satan.
Let us not be “_ignorant of his devices_” (_2 Cor. 2:11_). It is
not well to keep loaded firearms in the chimney corner. “They who
fear the adder’s sting will not come near her hissing.” Talmage:
“O Lord, help us to hear the serpent’s rattle before we feel its
fangs.” Ian Maclaren, Cure of Souls, 215—The pastor trembles for a
soul, “when he sees the destroyer hovering over it like a hawk
poised in midair, and would have it gathered beneath Christ’s
wing.”

Thomas K. Beecher: “Suppose I lived on Broadway where the crowd
was surging past in both directions all the time. Would I leave my
doors and windows open, saying to the crowd of strangers: ‘Enter
my door, pass through my hall, come into my parlor, make
yourselves at home in my dining-room, go up into my bedchambers’?
No! I would have my windows and doors barred and locked against
intruders, to be opened only to me and mine and those I would have
as companions. Yet here we see foolish men and women stretching
out their arms and saying to the spirits of the vasty deep: ‘Come
in, and take possession of me. Write with my hands, think with my
brain, speak with my lips, walk with my feet, use me as a medium
for whatever you will.’ God respects the sanctity of man’s spirit.
Even Christ stands at the door and knocks. Holy Spirit, fill me,
so that there shall be room for no other!” (_Rev. 3:20_; _Eph.
5:18_.)