. The history of the devil and the idea of evil; from the earliest times to the present day . ple. ** * Christianity was not the only religion which prom-ised deliverance from evil through the saving power ofblood and by means of a vicarious atonement, for weknow of the immortality-promising mysteries, and espe-cially of the cult of Mithras, which had embodied manyideas and ceremonies that are also met with in Chris-tianity. The early Christians belonged exclusively to thelower walks of life, and the earliest Church authorities,with few exceptions, were by no means cultured orhighly educated p
. The history of the devil and the idea of evil; from the earliest times to the present day . ple. ** * Christianity was not the only religion which prom-ised deliverance from evil through the saving power ofblood and by means of a vicarious atonement, for weknow of the immortality-promising mysteries, and espe-cially of the cult of Mithras, which had embodied manyideas and ceremonies that are also met with in Chris-tianity. The early Christians belonged exclusively to thelower walks of life, and the earliest Church authorities,with few exceptions, were by no means cultured orhighly educated persons. Some Christian writers werequite talented men ; but few of the Church fathers can besaid to have enjoyed more than a mediocre philosophy, for instance, did not enter intoChristian minds directly, but only through the channelsof Philos books. Thus it is natural that Christians werelacking both in knowledge as to the origin of manyof their rites and also in critique, and when they wereconfronted with the same practices and conceptions 220 THE HISTORY OF THE Mithras Monument of Ostburken. among non-Christians, they were puzzled and found noother explanation for such remarkable coincidences, than the guiles of Satan. Eventhe most peculiarly Christiansacrament, the Lords Supper,was, according to the tes-timony of Justin Martyr,celebrated by the Persians inthe same way as by the Chris-tians ; * and Justin is in-genuous enough to attributethis coincidence without theslightest hesitation to the in-fluence of evil spirits. Tertullian is also aware of manysimilarities between Church institutions and the paganmodes of Mithras worship, which observation prompted him to declare that Satan imi-tates the sacraments of Devil appears to have beenvery cunning in those daj^s, forif he had not daring spies inheaven, he must himself haveanticipated the Lords plans ; forthe pagan institutions spokenof as Satanic imitations, such as the Persian haoma sacri-
Size: 1598px × 1563px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubje, booksubjectdemonology
