says, (Matthew xiii. 24), “The kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while men slept, his enemy (mark the expression) his enemy came, and sowed tares among the wheat; but when the blade sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.  So the servants of the householder came near, and said unto him, ’ Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? whence, then, hath it tares?’ And he saith unto them, an enemy hath done this.”  You know the rest of the parable.  The explanation of it is as follows:—­“He who soweth the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and the good seed are the sons of the kingdom, and the tares are the sons of the Evil One, and the enemy who sowed them is the Devil.”  Here you see, as far as it goes, a precise agreement with the doctrine of Zoroaster; and to complete the resemblance, you need but to recollect, that at the day of Judgment, according to the words of Jesus, the wicked go into the fire prepared for the Devil and his angels; and the righteous go into life eternal with the Son of God.

But is there not a Satan mentioned in the Old Testament, and is he not there represented as an evil and malevolent angel?  I think not.  This notion probably arises from the habit of interpreting the Old Testament by the New.  The Satan mentioned in the Old Testament, is represented as God’s minister of punishment, and as much his faithful servant as any of his angels.  The prologue to the book of Job certainly supposes that this angel of punishment, by office, appeared in the court of Heaven, nay, he is ranked among “the Sons of God.”  This Satan is merely the supposed chief of those ministers of God’s will, whose office is to execute his ordered commands upon the guilty, and who may be sometimes, as in the case of Job, the minister of probation only, rather than of punishment; and there is no reason why he should be ashamed of his office more than the General of an army, or the Judges of the criminal courts, who, though they are not unfrequently ministers of punishment are not, therefore, excluded the royal presence; but on the contrary, their office is considered as honourable;—­i. e., punishment without malevolence, does not pollute the inflictor.  Consider the story of the destruction of Sodom, Genesis xix.; of Egypt; Exodus xxii.; of Sennacherib, 1 Kings xxix. 35; also Joshua v. 13.  The term Satan signifies an adversary, and is applied to any angel sent upon an errand of punishment For example, Numbers xxii. 23, “The Angel of the Lord stood in the way, for an adversary (literally, for a Satan) against Balaam, with his sword drawn in his hand.”  “Curse ye Meroz, saith the Angel of the Lord,” whose office is to punish.  So also Psalms xxxv. 5, “Let the Angel (of punishment) of the Lord chase them, (i. e., drive them before him in a military manner; pursue them:) let their way be dark and slippery, and the Angel of the Lord following them.”

2 Samuel xxiv. 16:—­“The Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel—­the angel (of punishment) stretched forth his hand and smote the people.”—­1 Chronicles xxi. 16:—­“David saw the angel (of punishment) having a drawn sword in his hand.”