The New View of Hell/Chapter 11
XI.
THE DEVIL AND SATAN.
NO treatise upon the subject that has thus far engaged our attention, would be satisfactory to an inquiring mind, which did not embrace an explanation of the terms Devil and Satan. 'These words occur very often in the New Testament, and in the closest possible connection with the term Hell. What is Swedenborg's explanation of them? Or what is the doctrine revealed through him concerning the Devil and Satan?
We know what doctrine had been generally taught and accepted by Christians up to the time he wrote. It was that of a personal Devil—an individual of unparalleled malignity, the implacable enemy of both God and man, and endued with little less than omnipotent power. And this idea agrees with the literal teaching of the Bible. It also appears from the literal sense of some passages (and this, too, has been the accepted doctrine among Christians) as if this almost omnipotent evil spirit, was once an inhabitant of the highest heaven—foremost among the heavenly host in wisdom and all angelic graces;—one
"who, in the happy realms of light,
Clothed with transcendent brightness, did outshine
Myriads though bright;"—
but who, on account of his impious attempt to overthrow the divine government and establish himself on the throne of the universe, was cast down from heaven, and became thereby the prince of the bottomless pit, the commander in chief of all the hosts of hell. (See Is. xii. 14); Jude 6th v.; Rev. ix. 11.)
Such was the generally accepted doctrine of the Devil a hundred years ago. And it is believed by many at the present day. A high authority where definitions are in question (Noah Webster), defines Satan to be "the grand adversary of man; the devil, or prince of darkness; the chief of the fallen angels; the arch-fiend." And in an abridgement of his great work, we find Devil defined thus:—"In the Christian theology—a fallen angel expelled from heaven for rebellion against God; the chief of the fallen angels."'
From these definitions we learn that the notion which Christians have generally attached to these words, has been precisely that expressed by Milton in his great epic, where he introduces Satan as one
"cast out from heaven, with all his host
Of rebel angels; by whose aid aspiring
To set himself in glory above his peers,
He trusted to have equaled the Most High
If He opposed; and with ambitious aim
Against the throne and monarchy of God,
Raised impious war in heaven, and battle proud,
With vain attempt. Him the almighty Power
Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal sky,
With hideous ruin and combustion, down
To bottomless perdition; there to dwell
In adamantine chains and penal fire,
Who durst defy the Omnipotent to arms."
But there are not a few at the present day, both within and outside of all the churches—and their number is steadily increasing—who do not believe a word of this old and once popular doctrine of the Devil. They reject that whole story about the war in heaven, and the overthrow and expulsion of the rebel hosts, as fabulous. And if any one is curious to know the origin of this notion about the "fallen angels" let him read attentively the critical remarks of Dr. Moses Stuart on the Apochryphal book of Enoch, from which it is evident that the apostle Jude quoted. The conclusion of this learned writer is briefly stated thus: "Probable I must deem it to be, that Jude has quoted the book of Enoch; because he seems, in what he says of the angels who kept not their first estate, but left their habitation and are reserved in chains of darkness, to allude to the account of apostate angels as given in the book of Enoch." (Stuart on the Apocalypse, Vol. I., p. 51-73.)
The old doctrine on this subject, then, is clearly one that belongs to a superstitious and unenlightened age. It bears about it the air of fable. Our reason and the enlightened sentiment of the present day repudiate it utterly.
Let us turn, now, to the new doctrine revealed through Swedenborg; and see if that be as unreasonable or improbable as the old. What, according to this new revelation, is the Devil and Satan of Scripture?
Consider that evil spirits are not all in the same kind or degree of evil. They are not all alike, any more than men on earth or angels in heaven. There are innumerable varieties of evil in hell, as there are of good in heaven. And those who are in similar kinds and degrees of evil, prefer to be together. They are therefore drawn by the law of spiritual affinity into the same society. Every devil is carried to that particular society whose general character most nearly resembles his own. There he finds himself at home. He is drawn to it by an irresistible attraction—for in the other world each one goes where his ruling love leads him. Spirits can no more resist or cut themselves loose from the law of spiritual attraction, than our earth can resist or cut itself loose from the law of material attraction.
By virtue of this law, and of the endless variety of goods and evils in the other world, both in kind and in degree, there are in heaven and in hell a countless number of societies, each one of which is in some specific kind and degree of good or evil. All the societies in heaven, viewed collectively, constitute one gigantic Man or Angel; and are often called by Swedenborg Maximus Homo—the Grand Man. The meaning of this is, that the connection, interdependence, and mutual relation of the innumerable societies composing the whole angelic heaven, and the uses which they severally perform, correspond to the harmonious relation existing between the different organs of the human body, and their respective functions.
And since the mutual relation and dependence of all the angelic societies is such that the whole heaven appears before the Lord as one symmetrical and colossal Man or Angel, so the infernal societies are so related and united that all hell appears as one gigantic and deformed Monster or Devil. The difference in their appearance corresponds exactly to the difference in their character. And this is as the difference between a single angel and devil, one of whom is a form of all that is pure and good, and therefore indescribably beautiful; the other a form of all that is evil and loathsome, and therefore hideous.
This, according to Swedenborg, is what we are to understand by the Devil and Satan so often mentioned in Scripture. Each of these is a collective term when used in its widest sense, and denotes all the infernal societies viewed as a single individual. There is an organic connection among infernal spirits. One life pervades them all, and that is the life of self-love and the lusts therein originating,—just as one kind of blood, pure or impure, courses through all parts of the human body even to its remotest extremities. And as the whole body conspires in producing the slightest motion of any limb—a foot, an arm, a hand or a finger—so all hell conspires in the perpetration of every wicked deed—in every evil purpose, word, or work.
We see, then, that, according to the New doctrine, no single individual as chief of the fallen angels, is meant by these Scripture terms, but all evil spirits in the complex,—or some one of the infernal societies with whose every act and purpose the whole conspires. Devil is the term employed when hell is spoken of with more especial reference to the evil loves that reign there: and Satan, when it is spoken of with more especial reference to its false persuasions.
And because all hell is in a state of opposition to what is good and true, and perpetually conspires to destroy man spiritually, by the sphere of evil and falsity which continually issues from it as a poisonous exhalation, therefore we read that the Devil "was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own [i, e., according to his own nature]; for he is a liar and the father of it." Nothing but falsity is in agreement with evil. Therefore nothing but lies can come forth from the hearts of those who are essentially evil—supremely selfish—when they speak from their own nature.
So reasonable is the view here presented, and so much more satisfactory than the Old doctrine, that we are not surprised to find it beginning to be accepted by some of the acutest minds and profoundest thinkers even among those commonly reputed orthodox. To cite here, by way of illustration, a single passage from that most fascinating work, Nature and the Supernatural, from the pen of Dr. Horace Bushnell, unquestionably one of the ablest theologians in America. Speaking of the doctrine of the Manichees or disciples of Zoroaster, this writer says:
"If their good principle, called God by us, is taken as a being, and their bad principle as only a condition privative; one as a positive and real cause, the other as a bad possibility that environs God from eternity, waiting to become a fact and certain to become a fact when the opportunity is given, it is even so. And then it folllows that the moment God creates a realm of powers, the bad possibility as certainly becomes a bad actuality, Satan, or Devil, in esse; not a bad omnipresence over against God, and his equal—that is a monstrous and horrible conception—but an outbreaking evil or empire of evil in created spirits, according to their order. For Satan, or the Devil, taken in the singular, is not the name of any particular person, neither is it a personation merely of temptation, or impersonal evil, as many insist; for there is really no such thing as impersonal in the sense of moral evil: but the name is a name that generalizes bad persons or spirits, with their bad thoughts or characters, many in one. That there is any single one of them who, by distinction or pre-eminence, is called Satan, or Devil, is wholly improbable. The name is one taken up by the imagination, to designate or embody, in a conception the mind can most easily wield, the all or total of bad minds or powers."—pp. 134, '5.
I do not know whether this learned writer derived the view here expressed from Swedenborg, or whether he reached it by a kind of spiritual intuition. In either case the testimony of such a mind is equally valuable. The doctrine, we see, is identically the same as that revealed through Swedenborg.
Pursuing our inquiry,—we find that the word Angel is used in Scripture in a manner similar to the word Devil, as explained by Swedenborg. Sometimes it is used to denote a single individual, sometimes a single angelic society, and sometimes the whole angelic heaven which is an angel in the largest form. Thus the seer of Patmos speaks of the angels of the churches of Ephesus. Smyrna, Thyatira, etc., by which are meant the angelic societies connected with and presiding over these churches. We read also in Psalms: "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them." Here "the angel of the Lord" means the whole angelic heaven.
But heaven is the same in each and all of its parts, as it is in the whole. Therefore the word angel, which is sometimes used in Scripture to denote the whole angelic heaven, or some society thereof, is also used in the plural (angels) to denote two or more individuals; for every angel is a heaven in the smallest form.
Similar remarks may be made with reference to the use of the word devil. It is used in the singular as a collective term to denote all hell in the complex; and again we find the same word often used in the plural (devils), denoting individual evil spirits, or the constituent parts of hell, which are similar in character to the whole.
We use the term man in precisely the same way. We sometimes apply it to a single individual, and sometimes to the race. It is often used in this latter sense in the Bible, as a collective term. As where it is said: "God made man in his own image." "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God shall man live." Again we use this word in the plural (men), when speaking of a number of individuals, or of mankind in general.
And what is more common than to hear a country, a kingdom, or state, or other community of persons spoken of as a single individual. Every one speaks of England, France, Germany, the United States, etc., or the people of these countries viewed collectively, as one person, with the same familiarity and the same confidence of being understood, as he would speak of Mr. Smith or Mr. Jones, his next door neighbor.
Now if Man is often used as a collective term to denote the entire human race, and Angel in like manner to denote the whole angelic heaven, why should not Devil be used in the same way to denote all evil spirits in the complex? or, as Dr. Bushnell expresses it, "the total of bad minds"? These are all animated by one and the same bad spirit; they all breathe hatred, cruelty, revenge and murder; they are all joined in an alliance of evil; they all conspire to work deeds of darkness; and viewed collectively, what are they but one inhuman Monster or Devil?
And this view has the clear testimony of Scripture as well as of reason in its support. For we read of one "that was possessed with the devil," who was "always, night and day, in the mountains and in the tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones." This poor, devil-possessed creature met Jesus as He came out of the ship; and as soon as he saw Him "he ran and worshiped Him, and cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God?" And Jesus, commanding the unclean spirit to come out of the man, "asked him. What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion; for we are many."—Mark v. 9. And immediately after, this same unclean spirit, called in verses 15 and 16 "the devil," is spoken of in the plural as "the unclean spirits." and "all the devils."
There are a number of other names by which the Devil is called in Scripture, each of which expresses something of the essential nature of hell; such as, Angel of the bottomless pit, Prince of this world, Prince of darkness, Destroyer, Beelzebub, Belial, Adversary, Accuser, Deceiver, Liar, Murderer, Tormentor, Serpent, Lucifer, Leviathan and Dragon. Such are the significant names which we find in the Bible sometimes applied to the collective body of evil spirits in the other world, who, viewed as one individual, are more frequently called the Devil and Satan. And how completely do such names justify the following language of Swedenborg:
"As heaven, from the Lord, by mutual love, constitutes as it were one Man or one soul, and thus regards one end which is the preservation and salvation of all to eternity; so on the other hand hell, from proprium, by self-love and the love of the world, that is, by hatred, constitutes one Devil or one mind, and thus regards one end, which is the destruction and damnation of all to eternity. That such is the tendency of each has been granted me to perceive many thousands of times." (Arcana Cœlestia 694.)
We thus see that the New doctrine on this, as on other subjects, is quite different from the Old. The Devil, according to Swedenborg's disclosures, is not the personal one described by Milton, and hitherto believed in by Christians generally. Nor is he a fabulous or imaginary being, but one whose existence and reality the philosphic inquirer readily admits. Nay, he is one whose existence we are compelled to admit, the moment we admit that each one takes his own character with him into the other world, and that those of similar character are there drawn together, and held together and act together as one.
And something—nay, much, I think—is gained, when the Devil, whom intelligent people were fast coming to look upon as a fabulous sort of being, is so presented that all doubt about his existence and reality as well as his nature, is banished. It places the Scripture in a different light, and inspires fresh confidence in its divinity.
And seeing what the essential nature of the Devil is, we may see what it is to be influenced and led by him—and what to be led by the Lord. When we earnestly strive to know and do the right—when we look to the Lord and seek to regulate our lives according to his revealed will, then we suffer ourselves to be led and governed by Him.
But when we seek only to do our own wills—when we heed the promptings of self-love more than the still small voice of truth and duty, then we breathe the atmosphere of hell; our spirits act in conjunction with the infernals; we are led and governed by the Devil.
And when we consider what legions there are who constitute the Devil, and who are banded together in a conspiracy against all that is good and true and holy in human hearts and human society, how clear and imperative becomes the need of an almighty Arm to save us! and how earnestly should we seek the Divine protecting sphere! How anxious should we be to know the truth, and how careful to govern our lives according to its requirements—ever acknowledging the Lord's own immediate presence and power in the truths we learn and do! This is the only way we can secure for ourselves the protection of that Arm which alone can shield us against the power of hell.
How imminent is our spiritual danger, how watchful we ought to be over our hearts and lives, how much we need the Divine protection, and how that protection is best ensured, will appear from the following extract from Swedenborg's Heaven and Hell:
"Every spirit is his own good or his own evil, because he is his own love. Therefore, as an angelic spirit thinks, wills, speaks, and acts from his own good, so does an infernal spirit from his own evil; and to think, will, speak, and act, from evil itself, is to do so from all the things which are included in the evil. It was otherwise when he lived in the body. The evil of the man's spirit was then restrained by the bonds, in which every one is held by the law, by his love of gain and honor, and through fear of losing them; on which account the evil of his spirit could not then break out, and manifest itself in its own intrinsic nature. Besides, the evil of the man's spirit then lay wrapped up and veiled in external probity, sincerity, justice, and the affection of truth and good, of which such a man has made an oral profession, and has assumed an appearance for the sake of the world. Under these outward semblances, the evil lay so covered up and concealed, that he was scarcely aware himself that his spirit contained so great wickedness and subtlety, or that in himself he was such a devil as he becomes after death, when his spirit comes into itself, and into its own nature. Such wickedness then manifests itself as exceeds all belief. There are thousands of evils which burst forth from evil itself, among which, also, are such as cannot be expressed in the words of any language. I have been permitted to learn and comprehend their nature by much experience; for it has been granted me by the Lord to be in the spiritual world as to my spirit, and at the same time in the natural world as to my body. This I can testify, that their wickedness is so great, that it is hardly possible to describe a thousandth part of it; and furthermore, that unless the Lord protected man, it would be impossible for him ever to be rescued from hell; for there are with every man both spirits from hell and angels from heaven; and the Lord cannot protect a man, unless he acknowledge the Divine, and live the life of faith and charity; for otherwise, he averts himself from the Lord, and turns toward infernal spirits, and thus becomes imbued as to his spirit with similar wickedness."—577.