At the time of Christ, popular belief undoubtedly exaggerated the influence of evil spirits. Savage, Life after Death, 113—“While God was at a distance, the demons were very, very near. The air about the earth was full of these evil tempting spirits. They caused shipwreck at sea, and sudden death on land; they blighted the crops; they smote and blasted in the tempests; they took possession of the bodies and the souls of men. They entered into compacts, and took mortgages on men’s souls.” If some good end has been attained in spite of them they feel that “Their labor must be to pervert that end. And out of good still to find means of evil.” In Goethe’s Faust, Margaret detects the evil in Mephistopheles: “You see that he with no soul sympathizes. ’Tis written on his face—he never loved.... Whenever he comes near, I cannot pray.” Mephistopheles describes himself as “Ein Theil von jener Kraft Die stäts das Böse will Und stäts das Gute schafft”—“Part of that power not understood, which always wills the bad, and always works the good”—through the overruling Providence of God. “The devil says his prayers backwards.” “He tried to learn the Basque language, but had to give it up, having learned only three words in two years.” Walter Scott tells us that a certain sulphur spring in Scotland was reputed to owe its quality to an ancient compulsory immersion of Satan in it. Satan’s temptations are represented as both negative and positive,—he takes away the seed sown, and he sows tares. He controls many subordinate evil spirits; there is only one devil, but there are many angels or demons, and through their agency Satan may accomplish his purposes. Satan’s negative agency is shown in _Mark 4:15_—“_when they have heard, straightway cometh Satan, and taketh away the word which hath been sown in them_”; his positive agency in _Mat. 13:38, 39_—“_the tares are the sons of the evil one; and the enemy that sowed them is the devil._” One devil, but many angels: see _Mat. 25:41_—“_the devil and his angels_”; _Mark 5:9_—“_My name is Legion, for we are many_”; _Eph. 2:2_—“_the prince of the powers of the air_”; _6:12_—“_principalities ... powers ... world-rulers of this darkness ... spiritual hosts of wickedness._” The mode of Satan’s access to the human mind we do not know. It may be that by moving upon our physical organism he produces subtle signs of thought and so reaches the understanding and desires. He certainly has the power to present in captivating forms the objects of appetite and selfish ambition, as he did to Christ in the wilderness (_Mat. 4:3, 6, 9_), and to appeal to our love for independence by saying to us, as he did to our first parents—“_ye shall be as God_” (_Gen. 3:5_).