PREFACE XV 



of wicked and malignant spiritual beings, governed 

 and directed by a supreme devil the moral 

 antithesis and enemy of the supreme God 

 their theory of salvation by the Messiah falls to 

 pieces. " To this end was the Son of God mani- 

 fested, that he might destroy the works of the 

 devil." i 



The half-hearted religiosity of latter-day Chris- 

 tianity may choose to ignore the fact; but it 

 remains none the less true, that he who refuses to 

 accept the demonology of the Gospels rejects the 

 revelation of a spiritual world, made in them, as 

 much as if he denied the existence of such a person 

 as Jesus of Nazareth ; and deserves, as much as any 

 one can do, to be ear-marked " infidel " by our 

 gentle shepherds. 



Now that which I thought it desirable to make 

 perfectly clear, on my own account, and for the 

 sake of those who find their capacity of belief in 

 the Gospel theory of the universe failing them, is 

 the fact, that, in my judgment, the demonology of 

 primitive Christianity is totally devoid of founda- 

 tion ; and that no man, who is guided by the 

 rules of investigation which are found to lead 

 to the discovery of truth in other matters, not 

 merely of science, but in the everyday affairs of 

 life, will arrive at any other conclusion. To those 

 who profess to be otherwise guided, I have nothing 



1 1 John iii. 8. 



