e c to good and evil beings." a Satan is called the prince of this world,' the god of this world,' the 'prince of the power of the air;' and his angels, the rulers of the darkness of this world.' As the material universe is revealed to us as being under the disposition of good angels, so for the trial or punishment of man evil angels are also permitted by GOD to control the agencies of Nature and insinuate evil into the imaginations of men. For example, we read only in Exodus that "the LORD sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground;" but in the Psalm we are told, “He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts. He cast upon them the fierceness of His anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them." Another Psalm speaks of the destruction that wasteth at noonday,' alluding to the fatal effects of a coup du soleil under a Syrian sky; but in the reading of the Septuagint it is 'the demon of noontide,' (arò daiμovíov μeonußpivov.) Saul is afflicted with hypochondria; and we are told that "the SPIRIT of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him: "i and, to leave no room for doubting the objective and external reality of the possession, our LORD cast out devils from a man, and at the same time gave them leave to enter into a herd of swine to cause their destruction. The power of devils in suggesting evil in the minds of men is proved by what is said of Judas, how "the devil put into his heart to betray" JESUS. this is not said without our being previously apprized of the sins, whereby Judas had rendered himself obnoxious to the power of Satan: "This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein."1 But Origen well expounds the manner of devilish temptations. "The reason then is evident," he says; "for, as in things the human purpose alone by itself is imperfect towards the S. Tho. Summ. I. qu. 63, art. 9. Eph. ii. 2. • Ibid. vi. 12. Ex. ix. 23. Ps. lxxviii. 48, 49. h Ps. xci. 6. See Grotius in loc. 1 Sam. xvi. 14. S. Mark v. 13. S. John xiii. 2. 1 Ibid. xii. 6. consummation of good, for by the Divine aid is every thing brought to perfection: so also in contrary things we receive certain beginnings and as it were some seeds of sins from those things which we have naturally in use. But when we have indulged more than is enough, and have not made a stand against the first motions of intemperance, then the hostile influence taking the place of this first transgression instigates and over-urges us, by all means studying to enlarge sins more profusely; we men indeed supplying the occasions. and beginnings of sins, but the adverse powers propagating them more widely and further, if it may be, without any end. We are not however to suppose that aught else befalls us from the good or evil thoughts themselves which are suggested to our hearts, except a commotion only and incitement provoking us to good or to evil. For, when the malignant influence begins to incite us to evil, it is possible for us to cast away from us bad suggestions, and resist the worst persuasions, and altogether do nothing blameably." Therefore is it written, "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life;" and "Be ye angry, and sin not: neither give place to the devil;" "Lest Satan should get an advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices." P m restoration. §. 3. An obscure sect in the ancient Assyria, the Yezi- of their dees, whose tenets are a singular graft of Manichæism and Mahometanism on the old Persian stock, confound Ahriman the Evil Principle with Satan, worship him as 'the Lord of the Evening,' and believe in his ultimate restoration to heaven. I doubt not but the belief in the eternity of Matter has influenced them and others, and the identification with Satan was an after-thought. But let those who lean to the tenet of universal restoration of the lost reflect, that the Yezidee belief is the logical issue of their thought, which Origen also scrupled not to conclude. If it be admitted, why not also the contingency of another Fall? But such dreams are precluded by the dogma of a universal judgment of men and angels. Sir Walter Scott has luminously touched the subject in the Talisman, chap. iii. 198 Of the Creation of the world, and of the six days. CHAPTER X. OF THE CREATION AND GOVERNMENT OF THE WORLD. §. 1. FROM the consideration of things invisible, whereof GOD is the Maker, we now come to the visible. It has been observed by Maimonides, that, "to believe that the world is ancient in the manner set forth by Aristotle, namely, that it is of necessity, that nothing in Nature is changed, that nothing exorbitates outside its custom, (such a position) utterly overturns the Law, arraigns all signs and miracles of falsehood, and also takes away everything which the Law bids us to hope or GOD to fear." He is more indulgent to the theory of Plato, that the heavens are capable of birth and decay; and anticipates little or no injury therefrom to the cause of Revelation. We may hence see the reason for the emphatic assertion of S. Paul, "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the WORD of GOD, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." "In the beginning GOD created the heaven and the earth."s "But to me considering the senses (supplied by) many," says John Scotus Erigena, "nothing occurs more probable, nothing more like the truth, than that in the aforesaid words of Holy Scripture, in the signification namely of heaven and earth, we should understand the primordial causes of the entire creation, which before all things which were created the FATHER had created in His Only-Begotten SoN, Who is named by the appellation of the Beginning;' and that by the name of 'Heaven' we should understand the principal causes of intelligible things and of heavenly essences to More Nevochim, Part. II. c. 25. Heb. xi. 3. • Gen. i. 1. t be signified, but by that of Earth' those of sensible things, wherewith the universe is filled." If then the FATHER creates all things in the Beginning by His WORD, Who is the Beginning of His Processions," we are to expect the perfecting operation of the HOLY GHOST to follow. As Life is the exponent of the working of the SON," So is Motion that of the SPIRIT. And so we read, "And the SPIRIT of GOD moved upon the face of the waters." w "But if, as a certain Syrian is said to have translated it, (who, as S. Basil says, so far retired from worldly wisdom as he approached the doctrine of truth), it be so read, 'And the SPIRIT of GOD cherished the waters,' the meaning will occur more easily. For the HOLY GHOST cherished the primordial causes, which the FATHER had made in the Beginning, that is, in His SON, in order that they might proceed to those things which they cause; that is, He nourished them with the brooding of Divine love; for to this end are eggs brooded on by birds (from whom this metaphor is taken,) that the intimate and invisible power, which lies hid in them, may at distinct places and times burst forth into visible forms and corporal beauties through the operation of fire and air in the humours of seeds and earthly matter." I may remark that if we refer the direct action of GOD in Creation to the production of what Erigena here calls the primordial causes' or seminal originations of things, leaving their development to the ministries of inferior Powers, we exalt rather than impair our conceptions of His greatness. Plato in the Timæus attributes the creation to the agency of inferior Gods; Augustine, who probably never read the Greek text, says he erred. (Opp. Tom. viii. col. 941.) Yet S. Paul saith the Law was given or 'ordained' and 'spoken by angels.' (Gal. iii. 19. Heb. ii. 2.) This notion must be carefully distinguished from the Gnostic creation by Eons. I mean that the Supreme may employ the ministry of angels in developing the seeds which spring from His Fiat or decree. ↑ De Divisione Naturæ, Lib. ii. §. 15, p. 56. "Prov. viii. 22. ▾ S. John i. 4. Gen. i. 2. I entirely reject the interpretation which here under stands a mighty wind,' as inferior to the dignity of the subject. • Συνέθαλπε καὶ ἐζωογόνει τὴν τῶν idáτwv púow. S. Basil. in Hexaëmeron, Homil. ii. Opp. Tom. I. p. 24. Erigena, Lib. ii. §. 19, p. 60. Nor must I fail to notice the remarkable correspondence of Aristophanes's account of the Creation with that of Moses "Earth was not, nor air, nor sky; but in the infinite bosom of Darkness black-winged Night produces first of all an egg, whence as the hours sped on sprang Eros (Love) the desirable, his back resplendent with golden wings, like the rapid gusts of wind. He brooded over Chaos . . but the race of immortals was not, till Love commingled all things." (Birds, 694–700.) In order to accommodate his narrative to the capacity of the Hebrew people Moses describes the process of creation as going on during six days, and its effects reviewed and approved of by the Creator on the seventh; which was therefore called the Sabbath or Rest of GOD, because "on the seventh day GOD ended His work which He had made." z To understand the six days literally to mean days, according to our present experience, seems to be attended with great difficulties; because the existing relations of the planetary system obviously were not in being on the first three 'days,' according to the Mosaic account; and yet our notion of days involves the existence of those relations. S. Augustine, indeed, perceiving the difficulty, attempts a fanciful theory of distinct modes of perception, whereby angelic beings might become cognizant of GOD's work in Creation. "Since the knowledge of the creature in a manner draws towards evening in comparison of the knowledge of the Creator, and also lightens and becomes morning, when it relates to the praise and love of the Creator; nor doth it verge on night, where the Creator is not forsaken of the creature's love." But, besides that not a hint is given us by Moses that he wrote his history with a tacit reference to angelic experiences, where do we find any thing in Holy Scripture to justify us in assuming, that the intelligence of the Blessed Angels can at any moment be otherwise than illuminated with the full radiance of the Presence of GOD? With reason then we may acquiesce in the utter impossibility of a solution. For the world was not made in time, but simultaneously with time. "For that which is made in time is both made before * Gen. ii. 2. S. Aug. De Civitate Dei, Lib. xi. c. 7. Tom. VII. p. 277. |