[1] In the pre-petrified era of Theology this hope appears to have visited the minds of some, Origen for instance. But by many centuries of utilisation the Devil became so essential to the throne of Christianity that theologians were more ready to spare God from their system than Satan. ‘Even the clever Madame de Staël,’ said Goethe, ‘was greatly scandalised that I kept the Devil in such good-humour. In the presence of God the Father, she insisted upon it, he ought to be more grim and spiteful. What will she say if she sees him promoted a step higher,—nay, perhaps, meets him in heaven?’ Though, in another conversation with Falk, Goethe intimates that he had written a passage ‘where the Devil himself receives grace and mercy from God,’ the artistic theory of his poem could permit no nearer approach to this than those closing lines (Faust, II.) in which Mephistopheles reproaches the ‘case-hardened Devil’ and himself for their mismanagement. To the isolated, the not yet humanised, intellect sensuality is evil when senseless, and its hell is folly.
[2] ‘Demonialite,’ 60–62, &c. We may hope that this learned man, during his tenure of office under the Inquisition, had some mercy for the poor devils dragged before that tribunal.
[3] ‘Reverberations.’ By W. M. W. Call, M.A., Cambridge. Second Edition. Trübner & Co., 1876.
[4] The Holy Grail was believed to have been fashioned from the largest of all diamonds, lost from the crown of Satan as he fell from Heaven. Guarded by angels until used at the Last Supper, it was ultimately secured by Arthur’s knight, Percival, and—such is the irony of mythology—indirectly by the aid of Satan’s own son, Merlin!
Chapter XXVIII.
Animalism.
Celsus on Satan—Ferocities of inward nature—The Devil of Lust—Celibacy—Blue Beards—Shudendozi—A lady in distress—Bahirawa—The Black Prince—Madana Yaksenyo—Fair fascinators—Devil of Jealousy—Eve’s jealousy—Noah’s wife—How Satan entered the Ark—Shipwrights’ Dirge—The Second Fall—The Drunken curse—Solomon’s Fall—Cellar Devils—Gluttony—The Vatican haunted—Avarice—Animalised Devils—Man-shaped Animals.
‘The christians,’ said Celsus, ‘dream of some antagonist to God—a devil, whom they call Satanas, who thwarted God when he wished to benefit mankind. The Son of God suffered death from Satanas, but they tell us we are to defy him, and to bear the worst he can do; Satanas will come again and work miracles, and pretend to be God, but we are not to believe him. The Greeks tell of a war among the gods; army against army, one led by Saturn, and one by Ophincus; of challenges and battles; the vanquished falling into the ocean, the victors reigning in heaven. In the Mysteries we have the rebellion of the Titans, and the fables of Typhon, and Horus, and Osiris. The story of the Devil plotting against man is stranger than either of these. The Son of God is injured by the Devil, and charges us to fight against him at our peril. Why not punish the Devil instead of threatening poor wretches whom he deceives?’[1]