THE CONTROVERSIALIST I99 



tegral part of the revelation of the nature of the 

 spiritual world promulgated by Jesus of Nazareth." 

 So far he was in agreement with them. 



Belief in spirits, good and bad, guardian angels and 

 maliceful demons, beings filling an intermediate place 

 as lower than gods and greater than men, is a survival 

 of savage ideas as to the presence of innumerable 

 spirits everywhere, and an impulse in certain direc- 

 tions was given to this belief among the Jews during 

 the Exile. The ancient Babylonian idea that disease 

 is due to demons (a belief common to barbaric peo- 

 ples, among whom disease and death are not regarded 

 as natural events), whose expulsion was the business 

 of the exorcist, struck root in Judaism, and hence we 

 find that the references to evil spirits are more fre- 

 quent in the New Testament than in the Old. " Be- 

 lief in possession is distinctive of late Jewish times," l 

 as is that in angels, who become the appointed u mes- 

 sengers " between Jahveh and men ; on whose duties 

 as servants before the heavenly throne the prophets, 

 notably Ezekiel and Zechariah, enlarge ; and whose 

 presence as attendants on the " Son of Man " at the 

 Judgment-Day, is dwelt upon by Jesus. 



It is plain as language can make it, that the writers 

 of the Gospels believed in the existence of Satan and 

 the subordinate ministers of evil as strongly as they 



1 Encyclopedia Biblica : Art. " Demons." 



