IX AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY 321 



His residence is heaven, where he is surrounded 

 by the ordered hosts of good spirits ; his angels, or 

 messengers, and the executors of his will through- 

 out the universe. 



On the other hand, the chief of the bad spirits 

 is Satan, the devil par excellence. He and his 

 company of demons are free to roam through all 

 parts of the universe, except the heaven. These 

 bad spirits are far superior to man in power and 

 subtlety ; and their whole energies are devoted to 

 bringing physical and moral evils upon him, and 

 to thwarting, so far as their power goes, the 

 benevolent intentions of the Supreme Being. In 

 fact, the souls and bodies of men form both the 

 theatre and the prize of an incessant warfare 

 between the good and the evil spirits the powers 

 of light and the powers of darkness. By leading 

 Eve astray, Satan brought sin and death upon 

 mankind. As the gods of the heathen, the demons 

 are the founders and maintainers of idolatry ; as 

 the " powers of the air " they afflict mankind with 

 pestilence and famine ; as " unclean spirits " they 

 cause disease of mind and body. 



The significance of the appearance of Jesus, in 

 the capacity of the Messiah, or Christ, is the 

 reversal of the satanic work by putting an end to 

 both sin and death. He announces that the 

 kingdom of God is at hand, when the " Prince of 

 this world " shall be finally " cast out " (John xii. 

 31) from the cosmos, as Jesus, during his earthly 



