<pre style="font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">pears to have had its only requital in the odious designa-
tion of the worshippers of Taous as Devil-worshippers,
a label which the Yezedis perhaps accepted as the V/es-
leyans and Friends accepted such names as ' Methodist '
and ' Quaker.'
Mohammed has expiated the many deities he degraded
to devils by being himself turned to an idol (mawmet),
a term of contempt all the more popular for its resem-
blance to ' mummery.' Despite his denunciations of idol-
atry, it is certain that this earlier religion represented by
the Yezedis has never been entirely suppressed even
among his own followers. In Dr. Leitner's interesting
collection there is a lamp, which he obtained from a
mosque, made in the shape of a peacock, and this is but
one of many similar relics of primitive or alien symbolism
found among the Mussulman tribes.
The evolution of demons and devils out of deities was
made real to the popular imagination in every country
where the new religion found art existing, and by alliance
with it was enabled to shape the ideas of the people. The
theoretical degradation of deities of previously fair asso-
ciation could only be completed where they were pre-
sented to the eye in repulsive forms. It will readily
occur to every one that a rationally conceived demon or
devil would not be repulsive. If it were a demon that
man wished to represent, mere euphemism would prevent
its being rendered odious. The main characteristic of a
demon — that which distinguishes it from a devil — is, as
we have seen, that it has a real and human-like motive
for whatever evil it causes. If it afflict or consume man,
it is not from mere malignancy, but because impelled by
the pangs of hunger, lust, or other suffering, like the
famished wolf or shark. And if sacrifices of food were
offered to satisfy its need, equally we might expect that <span style="font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;">no unnecessary insult would be offered in the attempt to </span></pre>
<pre style="font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">portray it But if it were a devil — a being actuated by
simple malevolence — one of its essential functions, temp-
tation, would be destroyed by hideousness. For the work
of seduction we might expect a devil to wear the form of
an angel of light, but by no means to approach his in-
tended victim in any horrible shape, such as would repel
