Origin of Evil
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angels, would show what must be the fruit of setting aside the divine
authority. It would testify that with the existence of God’s government
and His law is bound up the well-being of all the creatures He has
made. Thus the history of this terrible experiment of rebellion was to
be a perpetual safeguard to all holy intelligences, to prevent them from
being deceived as to the nature of transgression, to save them from
committing sin and suffering its punishments.
To the very close of the controversy in heaven the great usurper
continued to justify himself. When it was announced that with all
his sympathizers he must be expelled from the abodes of bliss, then
the rebel leader boldly avowed his contempt for the Creator’s law.
He reiterated his claim that angels needed no control, but should be
left to follow their own will, which would ever guide them right.
He denounced the divine statutes as a restriction of their liberty and
declared that it was his purpose to secure the abolition of law; that,
freed from this restraint, the hosts of heaven might enter upon a more
exalted, more glorious state of existence.
With one accord, Satan and his host threw the blame of their rebel-
lion wholly upon Christ, declaring that if they had not been reproved,
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they would never have rebelled. Thus stubborn and defiant in their
disloyalty, seeking vainly to overthrow the government of God, yet
blasphemously claiming to be themselves the innocent victims of op-
pressive power, the archrebel and all his sympathizers were at last
banished from heaven.
The same spirit that prompted rebellion in heaven still inspires
rebellion on earth. Satan has continued with men the same policy
which he pursued with the angels. His spirit now reigns in the children
of disobedience. Like him they seek to break down the restraints of
the law of God and promise men liberty through transgression of its
precepts. Reproof of sin still arouses the spirit of hatred and resistance.
When God’s messages of warning are brought home to the conscience,
Satan leads men to justify themselves and to seek the sympathy of
others in their course of sin. Instead of correcting their errors, they
excite indignation against the reprover, as if he were the sole cause of
difficulty. From the days of righteous Abel to our own time such is the
spirit which has been displayed toward those who dare to condemn
sin.