Ancient Faiths And Modern Part 20

20. Every heir of salvation has an angel to minister to him in some way or other (Heb. i. 14); so have Roman babies--see note.

21. The angels are only a trifle superior to men (Ps. viii. 5), and in the invisible world will be inferior to them if the latter be saints (1 Cor. vi. 3; Heb. ii. 5).

22. They can speak all sorts of languages (1 Cor. xiii. 1); that which Michael and the devil used (Jude 9) has not been revealed to us.

23. They use a trumpet, probably as immaterial as themselves, and make a great noise thereby (Matt xxiv. 31); and horses (Zech. i. and Rev. vi).

24. They have wings and can fly (Rev. viii. 13; xiv. 6), although they are chariots.

25. When on earth they are clothed with a long white garment, have a face like lightning, and one can appear to be two, or not appear at all to some, though very distinctly seen by others (see Matt xxviii. 2, 3; Mark xvi. 5; Luke xxiv. 4; John xx. 12).

Of all the angels mentioned in the Apocalypse we need not write. One of the best accounts I have met with of the angelic mythology of the Hebrews is in Coheleth, or The Book of Ecclesiastes, by Rev. Dr.

Ginsburg (Longman, London, 1861). It is written in explanation of Ch. v.

5, wherein is the expression, "Do not say before the angel that it was error" (page 340), and the following remarks are condensed therefrom:-- "The angels occupy different rank and offices--seven of them as the highest functionaries; princes or archangels surround the throne of G.o.d and form the cabinet--(1) Michael, the prime minister, the guardian of the Jewish nation, the opponent of Satan (Zech. iii. 1, 2), of the prince of Persia (Dan. x. 13, 20), the conservator of the corpse of Moses (Jude 9), and the dragon (Rev. xii); (2) Raphael, who presides over the sanitary affairs (Tobit iii. 17, xii. 15)--'When G.o.d would cure any sick person,' says St. Jerome, 'he sends the archangel Raphael, one of the seven spirits before his throne, to accomplish the cure.' There can be little doubt that this was the angel who went down at certain seasons to move the waters of the pool to cure the impotent people (John v. 4); (3) Gabriel, the messenger to announce or to effect deliverance, also a presence angel (Luke i. 11-20, 26-35); (4) Uriel, mentioned in Esdras (2 b., ch. iv., w. 1 and 20). In Targums these four are represented as surrounding the throne of the divine majesty, but all do not agree; Jonathan's arrangement is--Michael at the right, Uriel at the left, Gabriel before, and Raphael behind.* The fifth, sixth, and seventh archangels are Phaniel, Raguel, and Sarakiel."

* An observation such as this distinctly shows how completely the ideas of angels are a.s.sociated with gross anthropomorphism.

"Next to the cabinet comes the privy council, composed of four and twenty crowned elders (1 Kings xxii. 19; Rev. iv. 4; vii. 13; viii. 3), who surround the throne, before whom Christ will confess those who confessed him. Then comes the council, consisting of the seventy angel princes--the provincial governors presiding over the affairs of the seventy nations into which the human family is divided." Hence the Targumic paraphrase on Gen. xi. 7, 8--"_The Lord said to the seventy presence angels, Come now and let us go down, and there let us confound their language, so that one may not understand the language of the other. And the Lord manifested himself against that city, and with him were the seventy angels according to the seventy nations_." Hence the Septuagint translation of Deut x.x.xii. 8--"When the Most High divided the nations... he set the boundaries... according to the number of the angels." The doctor also notices the four angels mentioned in Zech. vi, who seem to have the management of four great monarchies, but he does not advert to the angels of the seven churches spoken of in the Apocalypse. He then proceeds--"Then comes the innumerable company of presence angels, since every individual has a guardian angel as well as every nation"... St Jerome, remarking upon Matt, xviii. 10, says,--"_Great is the dignity of these little ones, for every one of them has from his very birth an angel dedicated to guard him_."* When St. Peter was chained in his prison, his angel released him (Acts xiii.

7,11), and the damsel who opened a house door for him was told that he who was knocking was Peter's angel.

* We have never been able to see the force of this remark, unless the idea of children having guardian angels was a.s.sociated with the belief that these beings left them when they grew up. If the adults standing round Jesus had each an individual warden, there would be nothing peculiar in the warning given in the verse referred to. It is, however, just possible that the notion existed that it was to adults only that tutelary spirits were a.s.signed, and that the prophet of Nazareth declared that each infant had a protecting genius as well as every man.

Then there are angels who preside over all the phenomena of nature.

One presides over the sun (Eev. xix. 17); angels guard the storm and lightning (Ps. civ. 4); four angels have charge over the four winds (Rev. vii. 1, 2); an angel presides over the waters (Rev. xvi. 5); and another over the temple altar (Rev. xiv. 18).

We need not pursue this subject further; enough has been said to show that the Hebrew ideas of angels differ in no essential respect from those of other nations, who, if not older than the Jews, were certainly never influenced by the Hebrews. From the evidence before us, we are constrained to believe that the knowledge which we a.s.sume to possess of the celestial court has descended to us from heathen or pagan sources, and that the pictorial designs which pa.s.s current for likenesses of angels or archangels have descended from Egyptians, a.s.syrians, Persians, Grecians, Etruscans, and Romans, and cannot pretend to anything approaching to a revelation from G.o.d.

We have already remarked that the Hebrew notions of the heavenly hierarchy are evidence of a gross anthropomorphism; they indicate a belief in the existence of a monarch having a face and back, a right hand and a left, ears and a mouth, and a wherewithal for sitting upon a throne--the part which was shown, as we are told, to Moses; they tell of a theology that recognizes places in the universe where G.o.d is not, and of which He has no cognizance save through messengers. If this be so, what shall we say of the hagiology which tells us that there was on one occasion a conspiracy amongst the courtiers of the celestial ruler, a discovery of treason, and a punishment of the offenders as dire as the most malignant man could invent? We have often thought that no human being, unless he were vile, brutal, sensual, clever, disappointed, and revengeful, could have invented the idea of h.e.l.l, and that none would ever have believed in it unless he was both timid, thoughtless, and malignant The dormant hate of the orthodox against opponents is an awful quant.i.ty. The expression of "fallen angels" is a pregnant text; it recalls to our mind the pa.s.sage--"Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me" (Ps. xli. 9). It reminds us of David, Absalom and Ahitophel, of Solomon and Jeroboam, of Joram and Jehu, Benhadad and Hazael, Louis XVIII. and Marshal Ney. We feel sure that an individual who could write the words--"If we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries" (Heb. x. 26, 27), could readily have invented a h.e.l.l, if he had not found one already made to his hand. The sentence just quoted bears evidence of intense theological spitefulness, and a petty meanness that neither Sakya nor Jesus would have shown. Such thoughts are womanish, not manly, although apostolic.

We can fancy it having been penned by James or John, who once asked Jesus whether they should not call down fire from heaven to consume the Samaritans, simply because the latter were not polite to the master--"because he seemed to be going to Jerusalem" (Luke ix. 53, 54).

But if so, those disciples must have forgotten the rebuke of Jesus--"Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of."

Here we must pause awhile, and consider the idea of various peoples about h.e.l.l.

Some, perhaps we ought to say, many, earthly potentates have encouraged the belief that there is a place in which evildoers, who have escaped punishment for crime in this world will, after their death here, receive their deserts. A place of torment which no man has seen, or can see in life, and which, consequently, anyone can describe, is a wonderful supplement to imperfect police arrangements, and as such, has been fabricated or adopted in various nations. But in all the nations of antiquity, and those which we call pagan, h.e.l.l has been a.s.signed to those who have committed crimes upon earth, such as murder, theft, and the like, and whose evil deeds have outnumbered their good ones. The idea of a torture vault for heretics has, so far as I can learn, been reserved for Christian times, and for nations who punish ecclesiastical offences more severely than the most atrocious crimes. The papal church, wherever she has had power, has punished rejection of her communion far more cruelly than she has dealt with rape, robbery, and murder; and all, who think with her, draw their arguments for so doing from what is said to be G.o.d's method of dealing with His rebellious angels. Surely, the idea runs, if the Almighty, who cannot do wrong, has punished with fire and everlasting torment the ministers who stood in His presence and around His throne, simply because they kept not their position, or did not watch over their princ.i.p.ality--for both meanings may be a.s.signed to the original words--surely man must treat his heretic fellow on a similar plan. G.o.d, runs the argument, made the Devil, and man must multiply his imps. It is true, according to Hebrew and Christian mythology, that the idea of a Devil was not originally in the mind of Jehovah. But when Satan rebelled he was immediately invested with power!

In other words, Lucifer taught Elohim, and thoughtful Christians believe this!!

If we now attempt to frame a history of the modern h.e.l.l, its rulers, its angels, or its devils, we find, in the first place, that the Old Testament contains no idea whatever of Satan being an angel originally bright and fair, but subsequently disobedient, rebellious, conquered, and punished. Nor is the New Testament much more communicative--we find the arch-fiend described as a murderer and as a liar; he also is a.s.sociated with angels, as in the words, "the Devil and his angels."

He is described as "the Prince of the power of the air,"--as "a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." He is "the spirit which worketh in the children of disobedience." He is also represented as telling Jesus, that he is able to dispose of all the kingdoms of the globe, and to give their glory to whom he will. Yet nowhere is a hint breathed that he was once an angel in heaven. The only verse in the whole Bible which is supposed to bear upon this matter, shows that the devil and his imps are not identical with the fallen angels, for Jude distinctly declares (verse 6) that the latter are "reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day," a condition quite incompatible with their ident.i.ty with Satan, who is represented as telling G.o.d that he had been going to and fro through the earth, and walking up and down in it (Job ch. i., v. 7). A conversation then follows the question, which must have been quite impossible had G.o.d recognized him as an escaped convict.

Again, if we turn to the book of Enoch (an apocryphal production, supposed for ages to have been lost, but discovered at the close of the last century in Abyssinia, now first translated from an Ethiopian MS. in the Bodleian Library, by Richard Laurence, LL.D., Archbishop of Cashel; 3d edition, 8vo. Oxford, 1838),--which is, and I think justly, believed to be the authority quoted by Jude, we find a full confirmation of our view of the independence of the Devil or Satan, and the fallen angels.

The foundation of the work is the story-told in the sixth chapter of Genesis. In that work, the angels which kept not their first estate are described as those who preferred intercourse with human females to a celestial celibacy, for in those days there were sons of G.o.d and daughters of men. Nay, in one verse (chap, liii. 6) it is distinctly declared that one cause why the wrath of G.o.d came upon them was that "they became ministers of Satan, and seduced those who dwell upon the earth." In many places a reference is made to the close imprisonment of the angels who had "been polluted with women;" one such will suffice, (chap, xxi. 6), where, on seeing a terrific place, Enoch is told by Uriel "this is the prison of the angels, and here are they kept for ever."

It is not even Satan who tempts the angels, for chapter lxviii. tells us that it was Yekun and Kesabel, two of themselves, who gave evil counsel, and induced their fellows to corrupt their bodies by generating mankind.

It is clear that such a writer does not conceive the possible existence of angelic women.

The nearest approach to evidence of identification is the statement made in the same chapter (w. 6, 7), that Gradrel was the name of one of the leaders of the fallen, and that he seduced Eve. But this testimony is wholly worthless in the face of the fact that he, like all his company, are kept chained up, which Satan certainly is not.

From the foregoing facts and considerations, we can come to no other conclusion than that there is no truth in the angelic mythology current amongst ourselves--for which Milton and his _Paradise Lost_ are mainly responsible. We may, indeed, affirm that a belief in angelic mythology is wholly incompatible with an enlightened religion. If we regard the Almighty as omnipresent and omniscient, we cannot imagine that He can require messengers, or organize an "intelligence department" in Heaven.

A man who is present with his family requires no servant to tell him what each is doing, or to deliver his orders to one or other. So, if G.o.d be always with us, it is downright blasphemy to say that He requires a go-between to let Him know what we are doing, or what He wishes us to do.

In our next chapter we shall enter upon the consideration of a subject closely allied to that of Angels--namely, that of Ghosts, Apparitions, Disembodied Spirits, or by whatever name they are called. These mainly differ from the beings of whom we have treated in the fact that, whereas an angel is a messenger--one sent to do certain duties--a ghost is a being who comes upon the scene, which he or she has quitted, to do or to persuade somebody else to perform something that has been omitted to be done during the life-time of the deceased. In nine-tenths of the stories which we read of "revenans," the returned one is not sent as a messenger, nor does he come for any definite purpose. A man or woman barbarously murdered is painted as haunting the scene where the violence was committed, as flies flit over a carcase. Misers come to brood over their h.o.a.rds, not to use them. In no case which I can remember do the tales represent the ghosts as being sent from either of the two powers--G.o.d and Satan; and to fancy that a deceased man or woman is a free agent after death is, to say the least of it, a proof that the believers in the doctrine do not believe the biblical text--"As the tree falleth so it must lie."

The ideas of Angels and of Ghosts have their origin in what may be called a superst.i.tious education; and credence in the latter is an almost necessary pendant to a belief in the former. Indeed, if we put ourselves into the position of Manoah's wife, Zacharias (Luke i), and Mary, we feel sure that we should not have known whether the being who appeared was an angel or a ghost.

Note.--The reader interested in the subject of this chapter, will find additional information thereupon in Records of the Past (Bag-ster, London, 1873-74; vol. i. 131-135, and vol. iii.139-154). The volumes are inexpensive, and extremely valuable to the student of a.s.syrian, Babylonian, and Egyptian mythology.

CHAPTER X.

The inexorable logic of facts. Saul and the witch of Endor.

Influence of Elisha's bones. The widow's son. Ideas about ghosts--about their power. Papal belief in ghosts. Ritual for exorcisms. St. Dunstan and St. Anthony. The Bible and ghosts. Scriptural ghosts. Ghosts independent of Judaism and Christianity. j.a.panese story. Buddhist priests, like Papalists, exorcise ghosts professionally. Ancient Grecian ghosts. Stories from Homer, Herodotus, Iamblichus. Modern French ghosts. Latin ghosts. Ghosts and lunacy. Ghosts and spiritualism. Mistakes of clairvoyantes.

It is not until we systematically inquire into certain tenets of our own belief, and compare or contrast them with those of other people far removed from us, that we are able to form an opinion about how much we owe to what we call "our peculiar religion," and how much we hold in common with other distant members of the human family.

It is probable that there is scarcely a "Bible Christian" in Great Britain who is not impressed with the truth of the statement made in 2 Tim. i. 10--_viz_., that Christ abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel. But the inexorable logic of facts proves to us that the idea of a life after death existed even amongst some ancient Jews--a people to whom it was certainly not revealed by G.o.d--and amongst nations who have not to this day become acquainted with Jesus, or what we call the Gospel, and who are mainly influenced by the doctrines of Buddha.

To give examples: no one can read the very fabulous story of the Witch of Endor and Saul without recognizing the fact, that both the one and the other are represented by the historian to have believed, that, though the body of the prophet Samuel had been rotting for a long period in its tomb, the spirit of the man was yet existent. Nor does a Bible Christian see anything peculiar in the miracle of the restoration of the dead man mentioned in 2 Kings xiii. 21, who, when he touched the mouldy bones of Elisha, which represented all that was left, on earth, of that distinguished wonder-worker, at once revived, and stood upon his feet.

But the story forces us to believe that the Hebrew writer, who had no revelation from Jehovah about a future life, was, from some cause or other, obliged to allow that the prophet had some sort of existence after his decease. A similar remark may be made respecting the story of the widow's son, given in 1 Kings xvii. 17-23, in which it is clear that both the mother of the child and the prophet believed it to be dead, although the latter acted as if there was yet its living spirit existing somewhere, and capable of being recalled. No simple figure of speech will explain away the doctrine referred to, for there is reference distinctly made to the idea of a life independent of that of the body.

It may well be supposed, that the very extraordinary tales spoken of were introduced into the ancient books by modern Pharisees, as proofs of their faith being superior to that of the Sadducees--it is, indeed, probable that they were so; but into this point we will not enter. We pa.s.s by, in like manner, the real signification of the English word "ghost," and make no reference to the idea of there being a Holy, in contradistinction to a profane, vulgar, and unholy, ghost We may also omit anything more than a bare allusion to the fact that the third member of the Trinity, as it is called, appeared in forms recognizable by the eye; and that when it a.s.sumed an overshadowing condition (Luke i. 35), it acted as a male human body would have done, and impregnated Mary, as Jupiter did Leda. It is rather my desire to call attention to the ideas actually existing, probably in all Christendom, and certainly in Great Britain, respecting "ghosts." They may be thus described.

It is believed by many that certain individuals have, during their lifetime, a power of determining that some immaterial part of their living body shall, after death, a.s.sume the figure and proportions possessed by the person during life, as well as his clothes, &c., and act as if this second self had a real existence, recognizable by men, animals, and even candles,* and a definite worldly purpose. In other cases it is a.s.sumed, that the defunct has not had any particular desire to return to life until after his death has taken place; but that his spirit, having as much power to think without its brains as with them, makes itself apparent with a distinct object, formed, not in the living body, but in the corpse. The purposes generally attributed to ghosts are, to give information about murder or money, to compel religious rites over their dead body, or to punish a relentless oppressor with daily horror. Still further, some suppose that ghosts are doomed for a certain time to walk the earth, and suffer during the day in fires perpetual, till, in some unknown way, the sins of their bodies have been purged away, or until some one, living, has made an atonement for sins committed and unpardoned during the lifetime of the "revenant"

(Shakespeare in Hamlet). The so-called disembodied spirits are supposed to be able to operate upon matter, to throw our atmosphere into waves, producing vision and hearing, and to move from one spot to another. They have, still farther, the power of making and emitting light, and are so partial to using the faculty, that they prefer appearing by night, and in darkness.

* "And the lights in the chamber burnt blue."

--Alonzo the Brave.--Lewis.

Of the real existence of such ghostly beings no devout Romanist can fail to convince himself; for his Church, which claims to be infallible, has provided special services for combating them, and a Papal priest has, many a time, claimed, and attempted to exercise, the power to drive what the French call "revenans," from the earth into the Red Sea. The saintly annals of the Church of Rome are filled with stories of angels, G.o.ds, and devils, who have appeared to holy men of old, either to applaud their conduct, or to try their faith The legends about Saint Dunstan and Saint Anthony are too well known to require repet.i.tion here, and it would be idle to refer to some particularly good ghost story, when everybody knows so many.

The general credit obtained by the tales referred to has been attributed by many to the teaching of the Bible. The apparition of Samuel to Saul; the intercourse between the angel Raphael and Tobit; the manifestation of some celestial beings to Zacharias (Luke i. 11); to Mary (v. 28); to certain shepherds (Luke ii. 9); the statement that some men have entertained angels unawares (Heb. xiii. 2); the transfiguration scene, described in Matt, xvii. and Mark ix., in which Moses and Elias are said to have returned from heaven to earth, with the design of comforting Jesus; and the story of Peter and the angel, told in Acts xii. 6-15--all indicate a firm belief in the existence of ghosts, and form the Christian's warrant for believing in them.

But an extended knowledge of the belief entertained by people other than the followers of Jesus shows that the idea in question is wholly independent of both Judaism and Christianity. A credence in ghosts is profound in j.a.pan, and it resembles, in every respect, that which has been so long current in Europe. If any one, for example, will read a story in A B. Mitford's _Tales of Old j.a.pan_ (Macmillan; London, 1871), ent.i.tled, "The Ghost of Sakura," a village, he will scarcely be able to divest himself of the idea that the legend is of British origin. Without going into the reasons which have convinced me that the writer has fairly given a purely j.a.panese tale, and one wholly untainted by Popish legends, I may shortly indicate the main points in the narrative, which purports to be a true one. A certain lord behaved very badly to his tenants, increasing the imposts upon them until life became a burden. By ordinary pet.i.tions he was unmoved, and it was necessary to have recourse to unusual means. The adoption of a promising plan was, in the mind of its proposer, a positive pa.s.sport to a cruel death, by crucifixion. In a touching leave-taking of his wife, he ends his speech with the words--"I give my life to allay the misery of the people of this estate" (vol. ii, p. 12). His proceedings save the poor peasants, for whom he sacrifices himself, from utter ruin--every grievance which they have is redressed; but their saviour is condemned to be crucified, in which punishment his wife is included, and his sons are to be beheaded before his face.

Unable to save the man, his nearest male friends become priests, and end their days praying and making offerings on behalf of their friends'

souls, and those of the wife and offspring (p. 25), and they collect money enough to erect six bronze memorial Buddhas. "Thus," the tale goes on to say, "did these men, for the sake of Sogoro and his family, give themselves up to works of devotion; and the other villagers also brought food to soothe the spirits of the dead, and prayed for their entry into Paradise; and, as litanies were repeated without intermission, there can be no doubt that Sogoro attained salvation." The next sentence is a Buddhist text, viz.:--

"In Paradise, where the blessings of G.o.d are distributed without favour, the soul learns its faults by the measure of the rewards given.

The l.u.s.ts of the flesh are abandoned, and the soul, purified, attains to the glory of Buddha." I scarcely need mention, to those interested in Buddhism, that this conception of Paradise is very different to that which many persons uphold to be "nothingness." The j.a.panese "Nirvana" is evidently not annihilation.

When Sogoro was to die, the friendly priests entreated the authorities that they might have his body, so as to be able to bury it decently; but the request was only granted after the corpse had been exposed three days and three nights.

At the time appointed, Sogoro and his wife are tied to two crosses, and their children brought out for decapitation. The utterance of the eldest son (aet. 13) is very touching--"Oh my father and mother, I am going before you to Paradise, that happy country, to wait for you. My little brothers and I will be on the banks of the river Sandzu,* and stretch out our hands, and help you across. Farewell, all you who have come to see us die; and now, please cut off my head at once." With this he stretched out his neck, murmuring a last prayer (p. 28).

* The Buddhist Styx, which separates Paradise from h.e.l.l, across which the dead are ferried by an old woman, for whom a small piece of money is buried with them. I may add that such a custom obtains amongst the lower orders in Ireland to this day.

At length it is the parents turn to die, and thus speaks the wife--"Remember, my husband, that from the first you had made up your mind to this fate. What though our bodies be disgracefully exposed on these crosses? (compare Gal. iii. 13). We have the promises of the G.o.ds before us; therefore, mourn not. Let us fix our minds upon death; we are drawing near to Paradise, and shall soon be with the saints. Be calm, my husband. Let us cheerfully lay down our lives for the good of many. Man lives but for one generation, his name for many. A good name is more to be prized than life." "Well said wife; what though we are punished for the many? our pet.i.tion was successful, and there is nothing left to wish for..... For myself, I care not; but that my wife and children should be punished also is too much.... Let my lord fence himself in with iron walls, yet shall my spirit burst through them, and crush his bones, as a return for this deed." As he said this, he looked like the demon Razetsu (p. 30). The execution is completed by thrusting a spear into the side until it comes out at the opposite shoulder, and as it is withdrawn, the blood streams out like a fountain. Ere Sogoro dies, he again threatens his lord to revenge himself upon him in a manner never to be forgotten, and adds--"As a sign, when I am dead, my head shall turn and face towards the castle. When you see this, doubt not that my words shall come true" (p. 31). As Sogoro laid down his life for a n.o.ble cause, he was canonized, and became a tutelar deity of his lord's family. After the execution, those subordinates of the lord of the land were dismissed from their office, who, by their culpable and vile conduct, had made such a catastrophe necessary--a retribution that reminds the reader of that which is said to have fallen on the Jews, because of a death by crucifixion which they brought about. The j.a.panese historian then goes on (p. 34)--"In the history of the world, from the dark ages down to the present time, there are few instances of one man laying down his life for the many, as Sogoro did; n.o.ble and peasant praise him alike."