IRRELIGIOUS RELIGIONS. 259 doms; each of these, whether on one side or the other, helps to develop a new devil. The story of Antichrist shows devils in the making. Meantime, to eyes that see how every system so built up must sacrifice a virtue at every stage of its ascent, it will be sufficiently clear that every powerful Church is Adversary of the religion it claims to represent. Buddhism is Antibuddha; Islam is Antimohammed; Christianity is Antichrist. ( 260 ) CHAPTER XXII. THE PRIDE OF LIFE. - The curse of Iblis-Samaël as Democrat-His vindication by Christ and Paul-Asmodäus-History of the name-Aschmedai of the Jews-Book of Tobit - Doré's 'Triumph of Christianity' — Aucassin and Nicolette Asmodeus in the convent - The Asmodeus of Le Sage-Mephistopheles-Blake's 'Marriage of Heaven and Hell'—The Devil and the artists-Sádi's Vision of Satan-Arts of the Devil-Suspicion of beauty-Earthly and heavenly mansions-Deacon versus Devil. On the parapet of the external gallery of Nôtre Dame in Paris is the carved form, of human size, represented in our Fig. 15. THE PRIDE OF LIFE. figure (15). There is in the face a remarkable expres sion of pride and satisfaction as he looks forth on the gay city and contemplates all the wickedness in it, but this satisfaction is curiously blended with a look of envy and lust. His elegant head - dress gives him the pomp becoming the Asmodeus presiding over the most brilliant capital in the world. His seat on the fine parapet is in contrast with the THE DOOM OF IBLIS. 261 place assigned him in Eastern traditions - ruins and desert places, but otherwise he fairly fulfilled, no doubt, early ideas in selecting his headquarters at Paris. A mussulman legend says that when, after the Fall of Man, Allah was mitigating the sentences he had pronounced, Iblis (who, as the Koran relates, pleaded and obtained the deferment of his consignment to Hell until the resurrection, and unlimited power over sinners who do not accept the word of Allah) asked 'Where shall I dwell in the meantime ? 'In ruins, tombs, and all other unclean places shunned by man. 'What shall be my food? 'All things slain in the name of idols. 'What shall occupy my leisure hours? 'The curse of Allah until the day of judgment. 'But how shall I contend with man, to whom thou hast granted two guardian angels, and who has received thy revelation? 'Thy progeny shall be more numerous than his,-for for every man that is born, there shall come into the world seven evil spirits—but they shall be powerless against the faithful.' Iblis with wine, song, and dance-the 'pride of life'-is also said to have been aided in entering Paradise by the peacock, which he flattered.1 This fable, though later than the era of Mohammed in form, is as ancient as the myth of Eden in substance. The germ of it is already in the belief that Jehovah 1 Weil's Biblical Legends.' 262 SAMAËL AS DEMOCRAT. separated from the rest of the earth a garden, and from the human world a family of his own, and from the week a day of his own. The reply of the elect to the proud Gentile aristocracy was an ascetic caste established by covenant with the King of kings. This attitude of the pious caste turned the barbaric aristocrats, in a sense, to democrats. Indeed Samaël, in whom the execrated Dukes of Edom were ideally represented, might be almost described as the Democratic Devil. According to an early Jewish legend, Jehovah, having resolved to separate 'men' (ie., Jews) from 'swine' (i.e., idolaters, Gentiles), made circumcision the seal on them as children of Abraham. There having been, however, Jews who were necessarily never circumcised, their souls, it was arranged, should pass at death into the forms of certain sacred birds where they would be purified, and finally united to the elect in Paradise. Now, Samaël, or Adam Belial as he was sometimes called, is said to have appealed to the Creator that this arrangement should include all races of beings. 'Lord of the world!' he said, 'we also are of your creation. Thou art our father. As thou savest the souls of Israel by transforming them that they may be brought back again and made immortal, so also do unto us! Why shouldst thou regard the seed of Abraham before us?' Jehovah answered, 'Have you done the same that Abraham did, who recognised me from his childhood and went into Chaldean fire for love of me? You have seen that I rescued him from your hands, and from the fiery oven which had no power over him, and yet you have not loved and worshipped me. Henceforth speak no more of good or evil.'1 The old rabbinical books which record this conversation do not report Samaël's answer; nor is it necessary: that answer was given by Jesus and Paul breaking down the partitions between Jew and Gentile. It was quite another thing, however, to include the world morally. Jesus, it would seem, aimed at this also; he came 'eating and drinking,' and the orthodox said Samaël was in him. Personally, he declined to substitute even the cosmopolitan rite of baptism for the discredited national rite of circumcision. But Paul was of another mind. His pharisaism was spiritualised and intensified in his new faith, to which the great world was all an Adversary. It was a tremendous concession, this giving up of the gay and beautiful world, with its mirth and amusements, its fine arts and romance to the Devil. Unswerving Nemesis has followed that wild theorem in many forms, of which the most significant is Asmodeus. Asmodäus, or Aêshma-daêva of the Zend texts, the modern Persian Khasm, is etymologically what Carlyle might call 'the god Wish;' aêsha meaning 'wish,' from the Sanskrit root ish, to desire.' An almost standing epithet of Aêshma is Khrvîdra, meaning apparently 'having a hurtful weapon or lance.' He is occasionally mentioned immediately after Anrô-mainyus (Ahriman); sometimes is expressly named as one of his most prominent supporters. In the remarkable combat between Ahuro-mazda (Ormuzd) and Anrômainyus, described in Zam. Y. 46, the good deity summons to his aid Vohumano, Ashavahista, and Fire; while the Evil One is aided by Akômano, Aêshma, and Aji-Daháka.1 Here, therefore, Aêshma appears as opposed to Ashavahista, 'supreme purity' of the Lord of Fire. Aêshma is the spirit of the lower or impure Fire, Lust and Wrath. A Sanskrit text styles him Kossa-deva, 'the god of Wrath.' In Yaçna 27, 35. Śraosha, Aêshma's opponent, is invoked to shield the 1 See vol. i. pp. 58 and 358. |