REFORMER v. POPE. 257 predictions concerning Antichrist was that he would travesty the birth of Christ from a virgin by being born of a nun by a Bishop. Luther's marriage with the nun Catharine von Bora came sufficiently near the prediction to be welcomed by his enemies. The source of his inspiration as understood by Catholics is cleverly indicated in a caricature of the period (Fig. 14). Fig. 13.-ANTICHRIST'S DESCENT (L. Cranach). The theory that the Papacy represents Antichrist has so long been the solemn belief of rebels against its authority, that it has become a vulgarised article of Protestant faith. On the other hand, Catholics appear to take a political and prospective view of Antichrist. Cardinal Manning, in his pastoral following the election of Leo XIII., said: 'A tide of revolution has swept over all countries. Every people in Europe is inwardly divided VOL. II. R 258 against itself, and the old society of Christendom, with its laws, its sanctities, and its stability, is giving way before the popular will, which has no law, or rather which claims to be a law to itself. This is at least the forerunning sign of the Lawless One, who in his own time shall be revealed.' MODERN NOTIONS OF ANTICHRIST. Fig. 14.-LUTHER'S DEVIL AS SEEN BY CATHOLICS. Throughout the endless exchange of epithets, it has been made clear that Antichrist is the reductio ad absurdum of the notion of a personal Devil. From the day when the word was first coined, it has assumed every variety of shape, has fitted with equal precision the most contrarious things and persons; and the need of such a novel form at one point or another in the progress of controversy is a satire on the inadequacy of Satan and his ancient ministers. Bygone Devils cannot represent new animosities. The ascent of every ecclesiastical or theological system is traceable in massacres and martyr IRRELIGIOUS religGIONS. 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 is my watchword? '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.' |