12 - Devil is Not a Supernatural Being
CHAPTER 12.
- The atheism of believing in a being called the Devil.
- The absurdity of such belief.
- The obstacles to the removal of the belief in such a being. IN the preceding Chapters we have endeavoured to demonstrate that there is no such being as the Devil, and have opened up the true meaning attached to the terms “devil,” “satan,” “demon,” and have shown that these are applicable to conditions in which the primary idea represented in each has appended to it some particularity justifying the distinct appellation.
Little or nothing has been noticed in reference to the absurdity connected with the belief in a devil; the atheistical tendency of such belief; the utter contradiction of such belief to all true notions of God. These points have been particularly avoided and that principally on the ground that no sound and fair reasoner will ever attempt to show the absurdity of an opinion until he has demonstrated its untruth. Untrained and consequently vulgar minds always begin the examination of a question by showing its supposed dangerousness or absurdity, thus awakening the fears or; exciting the laughter-state of mind, both of which are sufficient so far to warp the mind as to prevent its fair course to a legitimate conclusion. Many will, no doubt, attack these expositions in the latter way; will denounce them as dangerous: and those who cannot or will not, or who are afraid or are not allowed to think, will settle the question to their own minds by uttering, with the peculiar conceit which always attends utterance under such circumstances, “Be not led away by strange doctrine.”
Leaving such persons to their own complacency, reminding them, at the same time, of the remark of Lord Bacon, “There are two ways of getting peace, the one is by shutting the eyes, the other is by opening them,” it will be well to exhibit the absurdities, the impossibilities, the atheism connected with the belief in the supposed being called the Devil.
Creation and revelation both teach that God is a God of order. The laws of the creation are the means by which He makes that order manifest. No part of the creation can exist but by the permission of God, and, in existing, must it be regulated by the laws He has appointed for the regulation of that existence. These laws discovered, constitute, in relation to man, truth, and become to man, when used, the source of all physical comfort and of all intellectual and of much moral and religious progress.
God’s laws, whether in the world of creation or the world of revelation, are for the production of good; and as nothing can operate in opposition to the laws of God, all the operations of the universe must be for good. The Devil (supposing him, for the sake of showing the absurdity of his existence, to exist) must, in acting, act through, and by means of, the laws of God: and since he acts - as all his advocates so allow - for the production of evil, he must actually, so to do, make God’s laws, appointed by Him for good, turn to a quite different purpose, namely the production of evil; which is an absurdity, and is the first step to the dread groundwork of atheism. This recognises the Devil as more powerful than God; because, before a person can make a machine serve a purpose directly opposite to that for which it was made, be must have vanquished the original contriver in order to be able to turn that machine to a different purpose. The Devil has the power, according to the common view, of setting aside the laws of God. He can work “miracles” - for a “miracle” is, according to the common view, a subversion of a law of the Creator - and if so, then what becomes of “miracles” as a demonstration of Divine revelation? In fact, almost all the ideas associated with the Devil are such as to make him equal with God.
Thus to the Devil is ascribed omnipotence; if not quite, almost. He is said to have power over the whole of mankind, except a certain few, who are freed from his control; he is said to have thousands of angels, who minister to his royal will and pleasure; he is engaged, it is said, in convulsing kingdoms. He can act on people through the air: he can afflict them with diseases: he can turn the laws of God to purposes for which God did not make them.
He has the character of omniscience. He knows the thoughts of every man, woman and child. He knows the exact moment when to whisper into the ear the seducing error, and he knows also the exact amount to introduce at a time. What is this but omniscience?
He has the character of omnipresence. He is said to be here, there, and everywhere. He is seducing a human being here, and another at the antipodes at the same moment. He enters the heart of the Laplander and of an African at the same precise time. He is constantly watching in every street, lane, alley, glen, not merely of this great kingdom, but of all the kingdoms of the world, at the same time and at the same moment: for, be it observed, we are told that he acts upon men when asleep as well as when awake.
Here then, is a being who, possessing the attributes which those who believe in his existence give to him, has Omnipotence, Omniscience, Omnipresence, and yet these very people, so advocating his existence, proclaim themselves as the only Christians, and denounce all those who disbelieve in the Devil as infidels. These devil-holders are practical atheists; and they who do disbelieve in the Devil are far farther off from atheism than they who believe in such a being.
If there is a God, there cannot be a Devil.
There cannot be two Omnipresents, two Omnipotents, two Omniscients. The two cannot co-exist. If the Devil is, and is such a being as he is represented to be, God must have created him. But can goodness create badness? Can mercy create cruelty? Can virtue beget vice? Can fullness of happiness create envy? Call truth create error? Can rectitude create deceit? When these can, then God can create a devil. But it is said that God permits the Devil to act, Then God rewards him. The common idea is, that the Devil was cast out of heaven for his rebellion, and God sends him to the earth to create a rebellion here! What a method to punish a rebel! - to give him a wide, broad field upon which to carry on his hate. Talk of punishing the Devil by casting him from heaven to earth; it was a reward: the very thing, no doubt, had he existed, he would have wanted. Dismissed from heaven for disobeying God, he comes down to earth to teach men to disobey. If he is an enemy of God, God gives a field on which to show his enmity; if he has malice, here he has abundant opportunity to gratify his malevolent passion. It is absurd. But there is another point of view in which the absurdity of the belief in a being called the Devil becomes apparent. It is this, that there is no necessity for a Devil. A heathen writer remarks: “The Deity should not be called in unless he is needed.” This principle is an excellent one. Let us seek its application in the present instance. There is a certain recognised source of evil, of sin. It is the flesh - that is, active by itself and not in conjunction with the higher faculties. The works of the flesh are described to be these - “For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led by the spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of the which I tell you before, as I also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God,” Galatians 5:17-21.
Now, may it not be asked with confidence, if the flesh is capable of producing all these, what is left to the Devil to do? Is there any vice, my deviation from virtue, which will not come under one or the other of these heads? The phrase, too, “suchlike,” is very expressive.
Let any one detail a vice, “a suggestion of Satan,” which is not a suggestion of the flesh and then will be the time for calling in the aid of a being called the Devil. But what need is there of having two causes for the same thing? If the flesh does it, why have recourse to the “Devil”? Why go a-begging after a “supernatural” agent, when a natural agent is sufficiently causative?
Notwithstanding the previous demonstration of the non-existence of a devil, notwithstanding the present demonstration of the absurd atheism of such belief, notwithstanding the establishment of the non-necessity of such a being to produce the manifestations which are referred to his agency, yet still the Devil will be bugged by many who profess to hate him most. Though the belief in him is the nightmare of the soul, and though thousands groan, mentally oppressed by such belief, still they will not let the monster go. Why? Because men cannot easily shake off their early-received opinions. It is a hard thing to tear away from early associations. But because some men have not courage or power to do this, are those who are able to remain bound in chains? No, surely. A second cause is, that the Devil forms a part, as some State-made bishop writes, of “the economy of grace”; that is, it is so tied up in the bundle of beliefs, that the good are afraid, if they lose one stick in the bundle, the whole would tumble to pieces. Therefore, they wilt not run the risk of touching it, and thus a mere form deprives them of their liberty. But the most powerful obstacle to the expulsion of the Devil is the paid parsonry. They cannot afford to give up the invisible Devil. He is one of the best articles of their stock-in-trade; through this article they are enabled to hoodwink mankind; and men, when thus hoodwinked, can be pillaged; they therefore take the Devil under their special keeping: they are regularly sent for (just like a physician to a patient) when a house is supposed to be haunted, or visited by supernatural beings: and instead of telling the people honestly “there are no such beings,” they go through a long rigmarole of prayers to God to remove the evil, whereas the evil is altogether dependent upon natural causes, and would, by the removal of these natural causes, disappear. This they know, but take care not to let the people know; or if they do allow that many such peculiar matters do depend upon natural causes, they keep a little store of “ devildom” behind, in maintaining that supernatural agency in certain cases cannot be denied. They leave the particular cases undefined; and thus this little rider to their bill of deliverance from these “supernaturals” renders the deliverance in effect, null and void; for who is to tell what are the causes?
However, the axe is laid at the root of the tree; it has been done with hearty good will and most diligent perseverance; and that the blessing of Him who is truth may attend the labour has been the encouragement throughout, and is the hope in this investigation.
FINIS