Thursday, June 18, 2015

GK Chesterton - evil spirits are diabolically jealous

More from Jousting with the Devil by Fr. Bob Wild on GK Chesterton.

Pages 77:
"Traditionally we understand evil spirits as haters of humankind, envious of our redemption by Christ. We are enjoying the light of Christ; they still live in the darkness they have chosen, and they are diabolically jealous. Thus, black magic becomes inhuman. Chesterton attributes cannibalism and human sacrifice, especially of children, to demons. And when we consider the plague of abortion in our own time, can we fail to see the demons' hatred of the human race at work: "But without dwelling much longer in these dark corners, it may be noted as not irrelevant here that certain anti-human antagonisms seem to recur in this tradition of black magic. There may be suspected as running through it everywhere, for instance, a mystical hatred of the idea of childhood:" (The Everlasting Man, p.122)
Chesterton is grateful that Rome defeated Carthage, and that Christianity did not have to contend with the Carthaginian child-eating Moloch, but instead with the milder Zeus and Saturn and Apollo. It is mostly in our own time that the perverse spirit of Moloch lures millions to commit abortion. And isn't it significant that when the Child of Peace entered upon his earthly pilgrimage the demons unleashed their fury in the destruction of the children in Israel? I highly recommend this chapter in The Everlasting Man as Chesterton's most extensive and penetrating treatment of the influence of demons upon civilization."

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