edge and wisdom, constituting a class of beings intermediate between the Creator and the human race.[1] Second, that one of the wisest and most exalted of these beings, conceived the idea—an idea such as no one but the veriest dolt and monster were capable of conceiving—of wresting the government of heaven from the hand of Omnipotence, and actually waged war against the Almighty in the hope of gaining the supremacy; and that, failing in the attempt, he and his followers were cast down from heaven into the gulf of despair, where they still cherish their hostility towards the Ruler of the universe. Bear in mind, also, that this insurrection, war, and ejectment from heaven, are predicated of pure spirits—incorporeal beings—creatures utterly destitute of any kind of body or shape! We submit that such extravagances are the very height of folly and nonsense. One would think they had only to be looked at in a little rational light, to be instantly repudiated.
Let us now turn to the doctrine on this subject as revealed through Swedenborg. He claims to have enjoyed long and open intercourse with the spiritual world, and to have made a truthful revelation respecting both angels and devils—their origin as well as their character and condition. The following are some of the
- ↑ This was the general belief of the old heathen philosophers, as it is of the Mahometans at the present day. The ancient Greeks believed that the demons (which word was used by them in a good sense) were created such, and held a middle rank between the gods and men. Thus Plutarch says: "Those seem to me to have solved very many and great difficulties or doubts, who place the demons εν μεσῳ θεων πον ανθροπων—intermediate between gods and men.,
