The old Iferman and Norse mythologies poured a tlood of heathen fancies into the `doe trim. t f the Devil.' Even Iltihis, at a much earlier period. had trauslal(41 the New Testa ment word dainiou (ir fluinioaion by ithhuitho, I. e. because the old (ler believed in f? mole while the Chris-. tian usas )fum•edi contains no trace of such. The peculiarly- (:01111:111 conception of a now malig nant. now gentle frma/c lives to this day in the German phrase. "The Devil is heating his (when rain and sunshine quickly alter nate). In England and Scotland. too. the phrase is or recently was current, "The Devil and his The nermans ha ye also the proverb, "\Vhere the Devil cannot come. there he sends his gent SOMI. 11111%e1.1•1'. the word (Nab°. has, in violation of the New Testament distinc tion between it and daimon, came to signify de\ its of every or any sort. The dwelling of the De\ it was hell, which, hoverer, according to old (:ernianie and c:.eandinavian notions, was placed in the dreary regions of the north. .11though his oils powers are to be pretty well eon trolled till the coining of .1ntichrist. when lie ex pects to hold carnival, yet, like ancient gods and appears on the earth. lie then as-tinies at times a purely human form, but, like Vitlean, who was thrown down from heaven like )himself. al ul the ...milli. 'Wieland, of Gertnall111011010fly, he 1-• 111111e. lie 1• en•erefl \%1111 11 gray, green, or red cloak. like the 1,„1„,1,1., and dwarfs (see CIANTS and DwA1111, the spirit- of the suppressed heathenism; some times, also, he appears Ida( k and sooty, as befits his dwelling-place and his opposition to a pure (hid. Dui as the old deities, both clan steal and t;ermaii, possessed the power of trans formation to it most rettiarl:able degree, the Devil, through his relationship with these, inherited this power when they vanished from the scene. The folio he most frequently assumed was that of an animal, approximating, in this respeet, to the 1:erman forest spirits and the 1:reek satyrs and faun', 1t one time he shows the foot of a horse or goat with horn. and tail; at another, Ice appears as a black horse. a he-goat, a hog, a wolf, a hell-hound, a raven. a serpent. a worm, a dragon, or a tly. The conception of the pow cl ot the 1/evil was vastly enlarged by the influx of these in•w fancies. In fact, it rose to a new dualism; lint on the other hand. also, many mild and friendly traits of the heathen gods passed over into the popular conception of the Devil, and gave to his nature a quite new, humorous, and even merry side. .‘s, after the introduction of Christianity. offerings were still
occasionally made to the old gods. the Devil shared in these honors. _1 horse, a lie-goat. or a hound was at times sacrificed to him; to the present day the expression 1141. survived, "To 11:111111e a tire for the Ilevir—olivionsly an allu sion to altar-tlanies. Various features of the old Norse gods, especially of Loki and Donar (Thor), the gods of tire and thunder. were also trans ferred to him. Deuce the still current phrases in 1:ermany when thunder is heard: "The Devil lutist be striking,'' and "The runaway goose is gone to the Devil." (Donner, 'thunder.' is the word used for devil in this case.) Every power, too, which. according to the older heathen belief, was lodged in the lesser demons, giants, etc., had now its proper centre in the great fiend himself, who could perform all the pranks attributed to the more grotesque creations of the mythology. and work all the evil of the more malignant spirits; lint, in general, these beings were rather pressed into his service than ab sorbed by him or incarnated in his person.
So did this great. originally Persico-Jinlaie Belief spread itself through all Christian lands, incorporating with itself• tirst, the kindred C(1114ms of the ancient classical world, and, ulti mately, the rich and varied superstitions of out' Teutonic :and Scandinavian forefathers. Thus decked out in the costumes of many different clinics and ages, the image of evil passed into the light of the modern worn]. Every step forvvard that it now took robbed it of sonic potent spell that used to chill the blood and strike the heart with awful horror. :‘ten first lost faith in the o•easional incarnation: then medical science destroyed his claims to the origination of mental phenomena. which lie was once supposed to have caused directly; natural science deprived him of his control over the elements; criticism phtcked from him his borrowed feathers; while metaphysics and a deeper reli exegesis have combined. not, perhaps, to annihilate his personality or deny his influence. but certainly to clothe the former with a more spiritual form. and to limit the latter by a reverential belief in the wisdom and goodness of Cod. Consult: 'Nlaver, //ivto•ia 17Rn) : Dorsi niimonologie (Frankfort, 1"11R1 : id., Zanb•rhitiliot)te/.. (Ma inz, I S'21 "(;) ; (frimm, J)rlircw)re ritholorli• (.1111 1.475 78) ; Conway, flemono/opy am/ Dcri/ Lore (London, 1878) ; Lecanu, llistoire de Satan, sa chute, son mate, scs manifestations, sus c•urrcs (Paris, 1861) ; Sambuga, Der Teufel (Munich. ISlO) ; and see DEMONOLOGY; WITCH CRAFT; ANGEL, etc.