De Tribus Impostoribus, A. D. 1230: The Three Impostors: Translated (with notes and comments) from a French manuscript of the work written in the year 1716, with a dissertation on the original treatise and a bibliography of the various editions
Religion
De Tribus Impostoribus, A. D. 1230: The Three Impostors: Translated (with notes and comments) from a French manuscript of the work written in the year 1716, with a dissertation on the original treatise and a bibliography of the various editions
De tribus impostoribus -- Bibliography; Rationalism
This distinction of good and evil made them name as Demoniacs those
whom we call lunatics, visionaries, madmen and epileptics, and those
who spoke to them in an unknown tongue. A man ill-shaped and of evil
look was to their notion possessed of an unclean spirit, and a mute of
a dumb spirit. Now, these words spirit and demon became so familiar to
them that they spoke of them on all occasions, so that it is evident
that the Jews believed like the Greeks, that these phantoms were not
mere chimeras and visions, but real beings that existed independent
of imagination.
VI.
So it happens that the Bible is quite filled with these words Spirits,
Demons and Fiends, but nowhere is it said when they were first known,
nor the time of their creation, which is hardly pardonable in Moses,
who is earnest in depicting the Creation of Heaven, Earth and Man. No
more then is Jesus Christ who had such close intimacy with them,
who commanded them so absolutely according to the Gospel, and who
spoke so often of angels and good and bad spirits, but without saying
whether they were corporeal or spiritual; which makes it plain that
he knew no more than the Greeks had taught other nations, in which
he is not less culpable than for denying to all men the virtue of
faith and piety which he professed to be able to give them.
But to return to the Spirits. It is certain that the words Demon,
Satan and Devil, are not proper names which designated any individual,
and which never have any credence but among the ignorant; as much
among the Greeks who invented them, as among the Jews where they were
tolerated. So the latter being overrun by them gave them names--which
signified enemy, accuser, inquisitor,--as well to invisible powers
as to their own adversaries, the Gentiles, whom they said inhabited
the Kingdom of Satan; there being none but themselves, in their own
opinion, who dwelt in that of God.
VII.
As Jesus Christ was a Jew, and consequently imbued with these silly
opinions, we read everywhere in the Gospels, and in the writings
of his Disciples, of the Devil, of Satan and Hell as if they were
something real and effective. While it is true, as we have shown,
that there is nothing more imaginary, and when what we have said is
not sufficient to prove it, but two words will suffice to convince
the most obstinate. All Christians agree unanimously that God is
the first principle and the foundation of all things, that he has
created and preserves them, and without his support they would fall
into nothingness. Following this principle it is certain that God
must have created what is called the Devil, and Satan, as well as
the rest, and if he has created both good and evil, why not all the
balance, and if by this principle all evil exists, it can only be by
the intervention of God.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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