Supernatural Religion Volume I Part 14

and other miracles, for centuries devoutly and implicitly believed, are now commonly repudiated, and have sunk into discredit and contempt. The question is inevitably suggested how so much can be abandoned and the remnant still be upheld.

As an essential part of our inquiry into the value of the evidence for miracles, we must endeavour to ascertain whether those who are said to have witnessed the supposed miraculous occurrences were either competent to appreciate them aright, or likely to report them without exaggeration. For this purpose, we must consider what was known of the order of nature in the age in which miracles are said to have taken place, and what was the intellectual character of the people amongst whom they are reported to have been performed. Nothing is more rare, even amongst intelligent and cultivated men, than accuracy of observation and correctness of report, even in matters of sufficient importance to attract vivid attention, and in which there is no special interest unconsciously to bias the observer. It will scarcely be denied, however, that in persons of fervid imagination, and with a strong natural love of the marvellous, whose minds are not only unrestrained by specific knowledge, but predisposed by superst.i.tion towards false conclusions, the probability of inaccuracy and exaggeration is enormously

{97}

increased. If we add to this such a disturbing element as religious excitement, inaccuracy, exaggeration, and extravagance are certain to occur. The effect of even one of these influences, religious feeling, in warping the judgment, is admitted by one of the most uncompromising supporters of miracles. "It is doubtless the tendency of religious minds," says Dr. Newman, "to imagine mysteries and wonders where there are none; and much more, where causes of awe really exist, will they unintentionally mis-state, exaggerate, and embellish, when they set themselves to relate what they have witnessed or have heard;" and he adds: "and further, the imagination, as is well known, is a fruitful cause of apparent miracles."(1) We need not offer any evidence that the miracles which we have to examine were witnessed and reported by persons exposed to the effects of the strongest possible religious feeling and excitement, and our attention may, therefore, be more freely directed to the inquiry how far this influence was modified by other circ.u.mstances.

Did the Jews at the time of Jesus possess such calmness of judgment and sobriety of imagination as to inspire us with any confidence in accounts of marvellous occurrences, unwitnessed except by them, and limited to their time, which contradict all knowledge and all experience? Were their minds sufficiently enlightened and free from superst.i.tion to warrant our attaching weight to their report of events of such an astounding nature? and were they themselves sufficiently impressed with the exceptional character of

{98}

any apparent supernatural and miraculous interference with the order of nature?

Let an English historian and divine, who will be acknowledged as no prejudiced witness, bear testimony upon some of these points. "Nor is it less important," says the late Dean Milman, "throughout the early history of Christianity, to seize the spirit of the times. Events which appear to us so extraordinary, that we can scarcely conceive that they should either fail in exciting a powerful sensation, or ever be obliterated from the popular remembrance, in their own day might pa.s.s off as of little more than ordinary occurrence. During the whole life of Christ, and the early propagation of the religion, it must be borne in mind that they took place in an age, and among a people, which superst.i.tion had made so familiar with what were supposed to be preternatural events, that wonders awakened no emotion, or were speedily superseded by some new demand on the ever-ready belief. The Jews of that period not only believed that the Supreme Being had the power of controlling the course of nature, but that the same influence was possessed by mult.i.tudes of subordinate spirits, both good and evil.

Where the pious Christian of the present day would behold the direct agency of the Almighty, the Jews would invariably have interposed an angel as the author or ministerial agent in the wonderful transaction.

Where the Christian moralist would condemn the fierce pa.s.sion, the ungovernable l.u.s.t, or the inhuman temper, the Jew discerned the workings of diabolical possession. Scarcely a malady was endured, or crime committed, but it was traced to the operation of one of these myriad daemons, who watched every opportunity

{99}

of exercising their malice in the sufferings and the sins of men."(1)

Another English divine, of certainly not less orthodoxy, but of much greater knowledge of Hebrew literature, bears similar testimony regarding the Jewish nation at the same period. "Not to be more tedious, therefore, in this matter," (regarding the Bath Kol, a Jewish superst.i.tion,)" let two things only be observed: I. That the nation, under the second Temple, was given to magical arts beyond measure; and, II. That it was given to an easiness of believing all manner of delusions beyond measure."(2) And in another place: "It is a disputable case, whether the Jewish nation were more mad with superst.i.tion in matters of religion, or with superst.i.tion in curious arts:--I. There was not a people upon earth that studied or attributed more to dreams than they. II. There was hardly any people in the whole world that more used, or were more fond of, amulets, charms, mutterings, exorcisms, and all kinds of enchantments. We might here produce innumerable instances."(3) We shall presently see that these statements are far from being exaggerated.

No reader of the Old Testament can fail to have been struck by the singularly credulous fickleness of the Jewish mind. Although claiming the t.i.tle of the specially selected people of Jehovah, the Israelites exhibited a constant and inveterate tendency to forsake his service for the wors.h.i.+p of other G.o.ds. The mighty "signs and wonders" which G.o.d is represented as incessantly working

{100}

on their behalf, and in their sight, had apparently no effect upon them. The miraculous even then had, as it would seem, already lost all novelty, and ceased, according to the records, to excite more than mere pa.s.sing astonishment. The leaders and prophets of Israel had a perpetual struggle to restrain the people from "following after" heathen deities, and whilst the burden of the Prophets is one grand denunciation of the idolatry into which the nation was incessantly falling, the verdict of the historical books upon the several kings and rulers of Israel proves how common it was, and how rare even the nominal service of Jehovah.

At the best the mind of the Jewish nation only after long and slow progression, attained the idea of a perfect monotheism, but added to the belief in Jehovah the recognition of a host of other G.o.ds, over whom it merely gave him supremacy.(1) This is apparent even in the first commandment: "Thou shalt have no other G.o.ds before me;" and the necessity for such a law received its ill.u.s.tration from a people who are represented as actually wors.h.i.+pping the golden calf, made for them by the complaisant Aaron, during the very time that the great Decalogue was being written on the Mount by his colleague Moses.(2) It is not, therefore, to be wondered at that, at a later period, and throughout patristic days, the G.o.ds of the Greeks and other heathen nations were so far gently treated, that, although repudiated as Deities,

{101}

they were recognized as Demons. In the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, where "idols" are spoken of in the Hebrew, the word is sometimes translated "demons;" as, for instance, Psalm xcvi. 5 is rendered: "For all the G.o.ds of the nations are demons."(l) The national superst.i.tion betrays itself in this and many other pa.s.sages of this version, which so well represented the views of the first ages of the Church that the Fathers regarded it as miraculous. Irenaeus relates how Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, brought seventy of the elders of the Jews together to Alexandria in order to translate the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, but fearing that they might agree amongst themselves to conceal the real meaning of the Hebrew, he separated them, and commanded each to make a translation. When the seventy translations of the Bible were completed and compared, it was found that, by the inspiration of G.o.d, the very same words and the very same names from beginning to end had been used by them all.(2) The same superst.i.tion is quite as clearly expressed in the New Testament. The Apostle Paul, for instance, speaking of things sacrificed to idols, says: "But (I say) that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to G.o.d; and I would not that ye should be partakers with

{102}

demons. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of demons; ye cannot partake of the Lord's table, and of the table of demons."(l)

The apocryphal Book of Tobit affords some ill.u.s.tration of the opinions of the more enlightened Jews during the last century before the commencement of the Christian era.(2) The angel Raphael prescribes, as an infallible means of driving a demon out of man or woman so effectually that it should never more come back, fumigation with the heart and liver of a fish.(3) By this exorcism the demon Asmodeus, who from love of Sara, the daughter of Raguel, has strangled seven husbands who attempted to marry her,(4) is overcome, and flies into "the uttermost parts of Egypt," where the angel binds him.(5) The belief in demons, and in the necessity of exorcism, is so complete that the author sees no incongruity in describing the angel Raphael, who has been sent, in answer to prayer, specially to help him, as instructing Tobias to adopt such means of subjecting demons. Raphael is described in this book as the angel of healing,(6) the office generally a.s.signed to him by the Fathers. He is also represented as saying of himself that he is one of the seven holy angels which present the prayers of the saints to G.o.d.(7)

{103}

There are many curious particulars regarding angels and demons in the Book of Enoch.(1) This work, which is quoted by the author of the Epistle of Jude,(2) and by some of the Fathers, as inspired Scripture,(3) was supposed by Tertullian to have survived the universal deluge, or to have been afterwards transmitted by means of Noah, the great-grandson of the author Enoch.(4) It may be a.s.signed to about a century before Christ, but additions were made to the text, and more especially to its angelology, extending probably to after the commencement of our era.(5) It undoubtedly represents views popularly prevailing about the epoch in which we are interested. The author not only relates the fall of the angels through love for the daughters of men, but gives the names of twenty-one of them and of their leaders; of whom Jequn was he who seduced the holy angels, and Ashbeel it was who gave them evil counsel and corrupted them.(6) A third, Gadreel,(7) was he who seduced Eve. He also taught to the children of men the use and manufacture of all murderous weapons, of coats of mail, s.h.i.+elds,

{104}

swords, and of all the implements of death. Another evil angel, named Penemue, taught them many mysteries of wisdom. He instructed men in the art of writing with paper [--Greek--] and ink, by means of which, the author remarks, many fall into sin even to the present day. Kaodeja, another evil angel, taught the human race all the wicked practices of spirits and demons,(1) and also magic and exorcism.(2) The offspring of the fallen angels and of the daughters of men were giants, whose height was 3000 ells;(3) of these are the demons working evil upon earth.(4) Azazel taught men various arts: the making of bracelets and ornaments; the use of cosmetics, the way to beautify the eyebrows; precious stones, and all dye-stuffs and metals; whilst other wicked angels instructed them in all kinds of pernicious knowledge.(5) The elements and all the phenomena of nature are controlled and produced by the agency of angels.

Uriel is the angel of thunder and earthquakes; Raphael, of the spirits of men; Raguel is the angel who executes vengeance on the world and the stars; Michael is set over the best of mankind, i.e., over the people of Israel;(6) Saraqael, over the souls of the children of men, who are misled by the spirits of sin; and Gabriel is over serpents and over Paradise, and over the Cherubim.(7) Enoch is shown the mystery of all the operations of nature, and the action of the elements, and he describes the spirits which guide them, and control the thunder and lightning and the winds; the spirit of the seas, who curbs them with his might, or tosses them forth and scatters them through the mountains of the earth; the

{105}

spirit of h.o.a.r frost, and the spirit of hail, and the spirit of snow.

There are, in fact, special spirits set over every phenomenon of nature--frost, thaw, mist, rain, light, and so on.(1) The heavens and the earth are filled with spirits. Raphael is the angel set over all the diseases and wounds of mankind, Gabriel over all powers, and Fanuel over the penitence and the hope of those who inherit eternal life.(2) The decree for the destruction of the human race goes forth from the presence of the Lord, because men know all the mysteries of the angels, all the evil works of Satan, and all the secret might and power of those who practise the art of magic, and the power of conjuring, and such arts.(3) The stars are represented as animated beings.(4) Enoch sees seven stars bound together in s.p.a.ce like great mountains, and flaming as with fire; and he inquires of the angel who leads him, on account of what sin they are so bound? Uriel informs him that they are stars which have transgressed the commands of the Highest G.o.d, and they are thus bound until ten thousand worlds, the number of the days of their transgression, shall be accomplished.(5) The belief that sun, moon, and stars were living ent.i.ties possessed of souls was generally held by the Jews at the beginning of our era, along with Greek philosophers, and we shall presently see it expressed by the Fathers. Philo Judaeus considers the stars spiritual beings full of virtue and perfection,(6) and that to them is granted lords.h.i.+p over other heavenly bodies, not absolute, but as viceroys under the Supreme

{106}

Being.(1) We find a similar view regarding the nature of the stars expressed in the Apocalypse,(2) and it constantly appears in the Talmud and Targums.(3) An angel of the sun and moon is described in the Ascensio Isaiae.(4)

We are able to obtain a full and minute conception of the belief regarding angels and demons and their influence over cosmical phenomena, as well as of other superst.i.tions current amongst the Jews at the time of Jesus,(5) from the Talmud, Targums, and other Rabbinical sources. We cannot, however, do more, here, than merely glance at these voluminous materials. The angels are perfectly pure spirits, without sin, and not visible to mortal eyes. When they come down to earth on any mission, they are clad in light and veiled in air. If, however, they remain longer than seven days on earth, they become so clogged with the earthly matter in which they have been immersed that they cannot again ascend to the upper heavens.(6) Their mult.i.tude is innumerable,(7) and new angels are every day created, who in succession praise

{107}

G.o.d and make way for others.(1) The expression, "host of heaven," is a common one in the Old Testament, and the idea was developed into a heavenly army. The first Gospel represents Jesus as speaking of "more than twelve legions of angels."(2) Every angel has one particular duty to perform, and no more; thus of the three angels who appeared to Abraham, one was sent to announce that Sarah should have a son, the second to rescue Lot, and the third to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.(3) The angels serve G.o.d in the administration of the universe, and to special angels are a.s.signed the different parts of nature. "There is not a thing in the world, not even a little herb, over which there is not an angel set, and everything happens according to the command of these appointed angels."(4) It will be remembered that the agency of angels is frequently introduced in the Old Testament, and still more so in the Septuagint version, by alterations of the text. One notable case of such agency may be referred to, where the pestilence which is sent to punish David for numbering the people is said to be caused by an angel, whom David even sees. The Lord is represented as repenting of the evil, when the angel was stretching forth his hand against Jerusalem, and bidding him stay his hand after the angel had destroyed seventy thousand men by the pestilence.(5) This theory of disease has prevailed until comparatively recent times. The names of many of the superintending angels are given, as, for instance: Jehuel

{108}

is set over fire, Michael over water, Jechiel over wild beasts, and Anpiel over birds. Over cattle Hariel is appointed, and Samniel over created things moving in the waters, and over the face of the earth; Messannahel over reptiles, Deliel over fish. Ruchiel is set over the winds, Gabriel over thunder and also over fire, and over the ripening of fruit, Xuriel over hail, Makturiel over rocks, Alpiel over fruit-bearing trees, Saroel over those which do not bear fruit, and Sandalfon over the human race; and under each of these there are subordinate angels.(1) It was believed that there were two angels of Death, one for those who died out of the land of Israel, who was an evil angel, called Samael (and at other times Satan, Asmodeus, &c), and the other, who presided over the dead of the land of Israel, the holy angel Gabriel; and under these there was a host of evil spirits and angels.(2) The Jews were unanimous in a.s.serting that angels superintend the various operations of nature, although there is some difference in the names a.s.signed to these angels.(3) The Sohar on Numbers states that "Michael, Gabriel, Nuriel, Raphael are set over the four elements, water, fire, air, earth."(4) We shall presently sec how general this belief regarding angels was amongst the Fathers, but it is also expressed in the New Testament. In the Apocalypse there appears an angel

{109}

who has power over fire,(1) and in another place four angels have power to hurt the earth and the sea.(2) The angels were likewise the instructors of men, and communicated knowledge to the Patriarchs. The angel Gabriel taught Joseph the seventy languages of the earth.(3) It appears, however, that there was one language--the Syriac--which the angels do not understand, and for this reason men were not permitted to pray for things needful, in that tongue.(4) Angels are appointed as princes over the seventy nations of the world; but the Jews consider the angels set over Gentile nations merely demons.(6) The Septuagint translation of Deuteronomy x.x.xii. 8 introduces the statement into the Old Testament. Instead of the Most High, when he divided to the nations their inheritance, setting the bounds of the people "according to the number of the children of Israel," the pa.s.sage becomes, "according to the number of the angels of G.o.d" [--Greek--]. The number of the nations was fixed at seventy, the number of the souls who went down into Egypt.(6) The Jerusalem Targum on Genesis xi. 7, 8, reads as follows: "G.o.d spake to the seventy angels which stand before him: Come, let us go down and confound their language that they may not understand each other. And the Word of the Lord appeared there (at Babel), with the seventy angels, according to the seventy nations, and

{110}

each had the language of the people which was allotted to him, and the record of the writing in his hand, and scattered the nations from thence over the whole earth, in seventy languages, so that the one did not understand what the other said."(l) Michael was the angel of the people of Israel,(2) and he is always set in the highest place amongst the angels, and often called the High Priest of Heaven.(3) It was believed that the angels of the nations fought in heaven when their allotted peoples made war on earth. We see an allusion to this in the Book of Daniel,(4) and in the Apocalypse there is "war in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought, and his angels."(5) The Jews of the time of Jesus not only held that there were angels set over the nations, but also that each individual had a guardian angel.(6) This belief appears in several places in the New Testament. For instance, Jesus is represented as saying of the children: "For I say unto you that their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven."(7) Again, in the Acts of the Apostles, when Peter is delivered from prison by an angel, and comes to the house of his friend, they will not believe the maid who had opened the gate and seen him, but say: "It is his angel" [--Greek--].8 The pa.s.sage in the Epistle to the Hebrews will likewise be remembered, where it is said of the angels: "Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth for ministry on

{111}

account of them who shall be heirs of salvation."(1) There was at the same time a singular belief that when any person went into the private closet, the guardian angel remained at the door till he came out again, and in the Talmud a prayer is given for strength and help under the circ.u.mstances, and that the guardian angel may wait while the person is there. The reason why the angel does not enter is that such places are haunted by demons.(2)

The belief in demons at the time of Jesus was equally emphatic and comprehensive, and we need scarcely mention that the New Testament is full of references to them.(3) They are in the air, on earth, in the bodies of men and animals, and even at the bottom of the sea.(4) They are the offspring of the fallen angels who loved the daughters of men.(5) They have wings like the angels, and can fly from one end of heaven to another; they obtain a knowledge of the future, like the angels, by listening behind the veil of the Temple of G.o.d in Heaven.(6) Their number is infinite. The earth is so full of them that if man had power to see he could not exist, on account of them; there are more demons than men, and they are about as close as the earth thrown up out of a newly-made grave.(7) It is stated that each man has

10,000 demons at his right hand, and 1,000 on his left, and the pa.s.sage continues: "The crush on the Sabbath in the Synagogue arises from them, also the dresses of the Rabbins become so soon old and torn through their rubbing; in like manner they cause the tottering of the feet. He who wishes to discover these spirits must take sifted ashes and strew them about his bed, and in the morning he will perceive their footprints upon them like a c.o.c.k's tread. If any one wish to see them, he must take the afterbirth of a black cat, which has been littered by a first-born black cat, whose mother was also a first-birth, burn and reduce it to powder, and put some of it in his eyes, and he will see them."(l) Sometimes demons a.s.sume the form of a goat. Evil spirits fly chiefly during the darkness, for they are children of night.(2) For this reason the Talmud states that men are forbidden to greet any one by night, lest it might be a devil,(3) or to go out alone even by day, but much more by night, into solitary places.(4) It was likewise forbidden for any man to sleep alone in a house, because any one so doing would be seized by the she-devil Lilith, and die.(5) Further, no man should drink water by night on account of the demon Schafriri, the angel of blindness.(6)

{113}

An evil spirit descended on any one going into a cemetery by night.(1) A necromancer is defined as one who fasts and lodges at night amongst tombs in order that the evil spirit may come upon him.(2) Demons, however, take more especial delight in foul and offensive places, and an evil spirit inhabits every private closet in the world.(3) Demons haunt deserted places, ruins, graves, and certain kinds of trees.(4) We find indications of these superst.i.tions throughout the Gospels. The possessed are represented as dwelling among the tombs, and being driven by the unclean spirits into the wilderness, and the demons can find no rest in clean places.(5) Demons also frequented springs and fountains.(6) The episode of the angel who was said to descend at certain seasons and trouble the water of the pool of Bethesda, so that he who first stepped in was cured of whatever disease he had, may be mentioned here in pa.s.sing, although the pa.s.sage is not found in some of the older MSS.

of the fourth Gospel,(7) and it is argued by some that it is a later interpolation. There were demons who hurt those who did not wash their hands before meat. "s.h.i.+bta is an evil spirit which sits upon men's hands in the night; and if any touch his food with unwashen hands, that spirit sits upon that food, and there is danger from it."(8)

{114}

The demon Asmodeus is frequently called the king of the devils,(1) and it was believed that he tempted people to apostatize; he it was who enticed Noah into his drunkenness, and led Solomon into sin.(2) He is represented as alternately ascending to study in the School of the heavenly Jerusalem, and descending to study in the school of the earth.(3) The injury of the human race in every possible way was believed to be the chief delight of evil spirits. The Talmud and other Rabbinical writings are full of references to demoniacal possession, but we need not enter into details upon this point, as the New Testament itself presents sufficient evidence regarding it. Not only one evil spirit could enter into a body, but many took possession of the same individual. There are many instances mentioned in the Gospels, such as Mary Magdalene, "out of whom went seven demons" [--Greek--],4 and the man whose name was Legion, because "many demons" [--Greek--] were entered into him.(5) Demons likewise entered into the bodies of animals, and in the narrative to which we have just referred, the demons, on being expelled from the man, request that they may be allowed to enter into the herd of swine, which being permitted, "the demons went out of

{115}

the man into the swine, and the herd ran violently down the cliff into the lake, and were drowned,"(1) the evil spirits, as usual, taking pleasure only in the destruction and injury of man and beast. Besides "possession," all the diseases of men and animals were ascribed to the action of the devil and of demons.(2) In the Gospels, for instance, the woman with a spirit of infirmity, who was bowed together and could not lift herself up, is described as "bound by Satan," although the case was not one of demoniacal possession.(3)