Spinoza denies the existence of the Devil, and says,
in the Short Treatise, that if he is the mere opposite
of God and has nothing from God, he is simply the
Nothing. But if a philosophical doctrine be true,
it does not follow that as it stands it is applicable
to practical problems. For these a rule may
have to be provided, which, although it may not be
inconsistent with the scientific theorem, differs from
it in form. The Devil is not an invention of
priests for priestly purposes, nor is he merely a
hypothesis to account for facts, but he has been forced
upon us in order that we may be able to deal with them.
Unless we act as though there were an enemy to be
resisted and chained, if we fritter away differences
of kind into differences of degree, we shall make
poor work of life. Spinoza himself assumes that
other commands than God’s may be given to us,
but that we are unhesitatingly to obey His and His
only. “Ad fidem ergo catholicam,”
he says, “ea solummodo pertinent, quae erga
Deum OBEDIENTIA absolute ponit.” Consciousness
seems to testify to the presence of two mortal foes
within us—one Divine and the other diabolic—and
perhaps the strongest evidence is not the rebellion
of the passions, but the picturing and the mental
processes which are almost entirely beyond our control,
and often greatly distress us. We look down
upon them; they are not ours, and yet they are ours,
and we cry out with St. Paul against the law warring
with the law of our minds. Bunyan of course
knows the practical problem and the rule, and to him
the Devil is not merely the tempter to crimes, but
the great Adversary. In the Holy War the chosen
regiments of Diabolus are the Doubters, and notwithstanding
their theologic names, they carried deadlier weapons
than the theologic doubters of to-day. The captain
over the Grace-doubters was Captain Damnation; he over
the Felicity-doubters was Captain Past-hope, and his
ancient-bearer was Mr.
Despair. The nature of
the Doubters is “to put a question upon every
one of the truths of Emanuel, and their country is
called the Land of Doubting, and that land lieth off
and furthest remote to the north between the land
of Darkness and that called the Valley of the Shadow
of Death.” They are not children of the
sun, and although they are not sinners in the common
sense of the word, those that were caught in Mansoul
were promptly executed.
There is nothing to be done but to fight and wait
for the superior help which will come if we do what
we can. Emanuel at first delayed his aid in
the great battle, and the first brunt was left to Captain
Credence. Presently, however, Emanuel appeared
“with colours flying, trumpets sounding, and
the feet of his men scarce touched the ground; they
hasted with such celerity towards the captains that
were engaged that . . . there was not left so much
as one Doubter alive, they lay spread upon the ground
dead men as one would spread dung on the land.”
The dead were buried “lest the fumes and ill-favours
that would arise from them might infect the air and
so annoy the famous town of Mansoul.” But
it will be a fight to the end for Diabolus, and the
lords of the pit escaped.
Copyrights
Pages from a Journal with Other Papers from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
