Daemonia
Edward Elliott engaged in a discussion of Joseph Mede's Apostasy of the Last Times. He considered the distinction between the Devil (in the singular) and demons (in their generality). The Devil or Satan, he said, meant "the Accuser" or prosecutor of mankind as used in a courtroom sense. His opposite number was "the comforter", or Christ as humanity's advocate. Thus, the devil, although evil, has had his part to play in the heavenly system. Zechariah 3: 1 says, "And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and satan standing at his right hand to resist him."
It is not the devil but the multitude of demons which Revelation cites as the source of idolatry. Idols are empty and lifeless until humans imbue them with evil powers thought of as being derived from their ancestors. The sort of demons Christ cast out are both real and malign in intent. But, said Edward Elliott, this was very little different from the cult of the saints practised by the church in apostasy. It was the deification of dead men.
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