Chapter IX · (continued 2)

It would be as useless to discuss, at this point, the actuality of what are called "spectres," as of other things named fairies, pixies, gnomes, or sprites. Of the existence of such there is abundance of evidence; and for hundreds of years there was not a human being who did not believe in them. But there was even stronger proof that the world stood still, and the sun went round it, and during untold centuries all who thought on the matter believed the statement. Yet in these days all the testimony is regarded as worthless in the presence of the stern facts of science; and ghosts are only believed in by such as write treatises upon squaring the circle, perpetual motion, and the plane figure of the earth. We shall take up the subject at length in our next chapter.

If we were to follow the bent of our inclination, we should now endeavour to prove that the Jews had no idea of an angelic mythology prior to the Babylonian captivity, and that they had no distinct literature prior to the Grecian and Edomite captivity referred to in Joel, Amos, Obadiah, and Micah, except possibly such records and written laws as may be styled "annals" or "year-books;" and, as a consequence, that all parts of the Old Testament in which angelic beings figure are comparatively modern, having been fabricated after the long sojourn of the Jews in Babylon. But to carry out this intention would require a treatise rather than an essay, and I must content myself with saying that I believe it to be affirmed by all Hebrew scholars, that up to the time of Nebuchadnezzar—or Hezekiah—the sole unseen power recognized by the Jews was Jehovah alone. They did not believe either in angel or devil What their ideas were we may shortly describe*:—

1. Angels were spirits, being also ministers (Heb. L 7.) They were a flaming fire (Ps. civ. 4); compare Jud. xiii. 20, and Acts vii. 35—that is, spirits are made of a combustible material which is, however, incombustible!

2. They could assume the form of men, and were identical with God (see Gen. xviii. 19; Tobit, and Luke i.): that is to say, they were masters, yet servants—the sender and the sent at the same time!

3. Their faces were terrible (Jud. xiii. 6); but they also shone (Acts vi. 15) and yet they were so good-looking and handsome that the Sodomites fell in love with them as Jupiter did with Ganymede (Gen. xix).

4 One was the superintendent of destruction, and was visible on one occasion to David (2 Sam. xxiv. 16, 17), to Oman, his sons, and to the elders of Israel (1 Chron. xxi. 16-20.) His weapon was a sword (ibid.) He certainly must have had flesh and bones. It would be an interesting matter to inquire whether the sword was as spiritual as the angel was.

5. One angel was outwitted by a donkey (see Numb. xxii. 22-33.) Yet this angel was God (comp. Numb. xxii. 35, and xxiv. 4, 15,16). It is marvellous to me how any one can read this history of Balaam and his ass, and notice how the animal turned God from His purpose (see chap, xxii. 33), and yet believe the story to be of divine origin!

6. They are made of light (Luke ii. 9), yet can talk the vernacular, and can be counterfeited by Satan (2 Cor. xi. 14); but how he manages it, and whether he then ceases to be a roaring lion or a fallen angel "reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day" (Jude 6), is a matter for surmise.

7. One of them fought with the Devil, and kept his temper (Jude 9.) Of the language used in the disputation we do not know; nor can we tell how the two recognized each other.

8. Some of them are guilty of folly (Job. iv. 18), and some sinned—how, one does not know—and were cast down to hell, and delivered into chains of darkness. It is fitting that beings who have no flesh and bones should be bound by fetters that have no reality (2 Peter ii. 4).

9. Some were discontented with their home and were punished (Jude 6); but where their original habitation was, or why it was regarded as so miserable that another place was desired, is a mystery.

10. They have food provided for them (Ps. lxxviii. 25), and they eat like men (Gen. xviii. 8; and xix. 3), consequently angels must have flesh, blood, and a stomach to digest victuals. Sometimes instead of eating food they order it to be burned, and the smoke from the viands serves as a vehicle to heaven (Jud. xiii. 19, 20).

11. Their number is twenty thousand (Ps. lxviii. 17).

12. They are chariots (ibid), yet they walk and get their feet dusty (Gen. xviii. and xix. 2; compare Jud. ii. 1; vi. 12); the chariots are of fire, and so are the horses (2 Kings vi. 17); but they are also clouds (Ps. civ. 3).

13. They are taught military discipline and arranged in "legions" (Matt xxvi. 53).

14. They are sexless (Mark xii. 25), yet were men when they appeared to Abraham, Sarah, and the Sodomites (Gen. xviii, xix.).

15. They are liable to do wrong, and will be judged by men, some time or other (1 Oor. vi. 2, 3). As in this passage the angels are put below the saints, and in Gen. xviii. and xix., it is clear that Elohim and Jehovah were angels, it follows that holy men, when raised, will be superior to the power that gave them heaven!

16. Though sexless, the angels, or sons of God, may be captivated by the beauty of woman, and engender giants with them in a very human fashion (Gen. vi).

17. They are very sensitive respecting the hair of women, and require it to be covered in worship—at other times they probably are not so particular. Although they minister upon those who are heirs of salvation (Heb. i. 14), they might be tempted from their business, if they were to see a pretty snood in golden tresses hid (1 Cor. xi. 10).

18. Every child has an angel, or rather angels, to look after it (Matt, xviii. 10), which leads to the belief that the number of angels has increased since the sixty-eighth Psalm was written, when there were only 20,000, and perhaps a few more.*

19. Some angels are evil, but are much the same as the good (Ps. lxxviii 49), in their power of doing mischief.

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 God 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 God 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."

"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 xxxii. 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.

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 assume to possess of the celestial court has descended to us from heathen or pagan sources, and that the pictorial designs which pass current for likenesses of angels or archangels have descended from Egyptians, Assyrians, Persians, Grecians, Etruscans, and Romans, and cannot pretend to anything approaching to a revelation from God.

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 God 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 hell, 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 quantity. The expression of "fallen angels" is a pregnant text; it recalls to our mind the passage—"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 hell, 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 Hell.

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, Hell has been assigned 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 God'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 principality—for both meanings may be assigned to the original words—surely man must treat his heretic fellow on a similar plan. God, 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 Hell, 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 associated 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 identity with Satan, who is represented as telling God 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 God 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 God and daughters of men. Nay, in one verse (chap, liii. 6) it is distinctly declared that one cause why the wrath of God 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 God 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 hoards, 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—God 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 superstitious 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 Assyrian, Babylonian, and Egyptian mythology.