The Messiah in Moses and the Prophets

by Eleazar Lord

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.”