THE PHANTOM WORLD: THE HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRITS, APPARITIONS, &c. &c. 

 FROM THE FRENCH OF AUGUSTINE CALMET. 

 WITH A PREFACE AND NOTES BY THE REV. HENRY CHRISTMAS, M. A. , F. R. S. , F. S. A. , LIBRARIAN AND SECRETARY OF SION COLLEGE. 

Quemadmodùm multa fieri non posse, priusquam facta sunt, judicantur;ita multa quoque, quĉ antiquitùs facta, quia nos ea non vidimus, nequeratione assequimur, ex iis esse, quĉ fieri non potuerunt, judicamus. Quĉ certè summa insipientia est. --PLIN. _Hist. Nat. _ lib. Vii. C. 1. 

 TWO VOLUMES IN ONE. 

 PHILADELPHIA: A. HART, LATE CAREY & HART. 1850. 

 PHILADELPHIA: T. K. AND P. G. COLLINS, PRINTERS. 

 TO HENRY JAMES SLACK, ESQ. , F. G. S. &c. &c. &c. 

 MY DEAR HENRY--

I inscribe these volumes with your name to record a friendship whichhas lasted from our infancy, tain____________ suspicion, and darkenedby no shadow. 

So long as eminent talents can challenge admiration, varied andextensive acquirements command respect, and unfeigned virtues ensureesteem and regard, so long will you have no common claim to them all;and none will pay the tribute more gladly than your affectionate

 Friend and Cousin, HENRY CHRISTMAS. 

 SION COLLEGE, _March, 1850. _

INTRODUCTION. 

Among the many phases presented by human credulity, few are moreinteresting than those which regard the realities of the invisibleworld. If the opinions which have been held on this subject werewritten and gathered together they would form hundreds of volumes--ifthey were arranged and digested they would form a few, but mostimportant. It is not merely because there is in almost every humanerror a substratum of truth, and that the more important the subjectthe more important the substratum, but because the investigation willgive almost a history of human aberrations, that this otherwiseunpromising topic assumes so high an interest. The superstitions ofevery age, for no age is free from them, will present the popularmodes of thinking in an intelligible and easily accessible form, andmay be taken as a means of gauging (if the expression be permitted)the philosophical and metaphysical capacities of the period. In thislight, the volumes here presented to the reader will be found of greatvalue, for they give a picture of the popular mind at a time or greatinterest, and furnish a clue to many difficulties in the ecclesiasticalaffairs of that era. In the time of Calmet, cases of demoniacalpossession, and instances of returns from the world of spirits, werereputed to be of no uncommon occurrence. The church was continuallycalled on to exert her powers of exorcism; and the instances gatheredby Calmet, and related in this work, may be taken as fair specimens ofthe rest. It is then, first, as a storehouse of facts, or reputedfacts, that Calmet compiled the work now in the reader's hands--as thefoundation on which to rear what superstructure of system they pleased;and secondly, as a means of giving his own opinions, in a detached anddesultory way, as the subjects came under his notice. The value of thefirst will consist in their _evidence_--and of this the reader will beas capable of judging as the compiler; that of the second will dependon their truth--and of this, too, we are as well, and in some respectsbetter, able to judge than Calmet himself. Those accustomed to requirerigid evidence will be but ill satisfied with the greater part of thatwhich will be found in this work; simple assertion for the most partsuffices--often first made long after the facts, or supposed facts, related, and not unfrequently far off from the places where they werealleged to have taken place. But these cases are often the _best_authenticated, for in the more modern ones there is frequently such anevident mistake in the whole nature of the case, that all thespiritual deductions made from it fall to the ground. 

Not a few instances of so-called demoniacal possession are capable ofbeing resolved into cataleptic trance, a state not unlike thatproduced by mesmerism, and in which many of the same phenomena seemnaturally to display themselves; the well-known instance of the youngservant girl, related by Coleridge, who, though ignorant and uneducated, could during her sleep-walking discourse learnedly in rabbinicalHebrew, would furnish a case in point. The circumstance of her oldmaster having been in the habit of walking about the house at night, reading from rabbinical books aloud and in a declamatory manner; theimpression made by the strange sounds upon her youthful imagination;their accurate retention by a memory, which, however, could onlyreproduce them in an abnormal condition--all teach us many mostinteresting psychological facts, which, had this young girl falleninto other hands, would have been useless in a philosophical point ofview, and would have been only used to establish the doctrine ofdiabolical possession and ecclesiastical exorcism. We should have beentold how skilled was the fallen angel in rabbinical traditions, andhow wholesome a terror he entertained of the Jesuits, the Capuchins, or the _Fratres Minimi_, as the case might be. Not a few of the mostremarkable cases of supposed _modern_ possession are to be accountedfor by involuntary or natural mesmerism. Indeed the same view seems tobe taken by a popular minister of the church (Mr. Mac Niel), in ourown day, viz. , that mesmerism and diabolical possession are frequentlyidentical. Our difference with him is that we should consider thecases called by the two names as all natural, and he would considerthem as all supernatural. And here, to avoid misconception, or rathermisinterpretation, let me at once observe, that I speak thus of_modern_ and _recorded_ cases only, accepting _literally_ all relatedin the New Testament, and not presuming to say that similar cases_might_ not occur now. Calmet, however, may be supposed to havecollected all the most remarkable of modern times, and I am compelledto say I believe not one of them. But when we pass from the evidenceof truth, in which they are so wanting, to the evidence of fraud andcollusion by which many are so characterized, we shall have less wonderat the general spread of infidelity in times somewhat later, on allsubjects not susceptible of ocular demonstration. Where a systemclaimed to be received as a whole, or not at all, it is hardly to bewondered at that when some portion was manifestly wrong, its ownrequirements should be complied with, and the whole rejected. Thesystem which required an implicit belief in such absurdities as thoserelated in these volumes, and placed them on a level with the mostawful verities of religion, might indeed make some interested use ofthem in an age of comparative darkness, but certainly contained withinitself the seeds of destruction, and which could not fail to germinateas soon as light fell upon them. The state of Calmet's own mind, asrevealed in this book, is curious and interesting. The belief _of theintellect_ in much which he relates is evidently gone, the belief _ofthe will_ but partially remains. There is a painful sense ofuncertainty as to whether certain things _ought_ not to be receivedmore fully than he felt himself able to receive them, and he gladlyfollows in many cases the example of Herodotus of old, merely relatingstories without comment, save by stating that they had not fallenunder his own observation. 

The time, indeed, had hardly come to assert freedom of belief onsubjects such as these. Theology embraced philosophy, and the HolyInquisition defended the orthodoxy of both; and if the investigatorsof Calmet's day were permitted to hold, with some limitation, theCopernican theory, it was far otherwise with regard to the world ofspirits, and its connection with our own. The rotundity of the earthaffected neither shrines nor exorcisms; metaphysical truth might doboth one and the other; and the cry of "Great is Diana of theEphesians, " was not raised in the capital of Asia Minor, till the"craft by which we get our wealth" was proved to be in danger. 

Reflections such as these are painfully forced on us by the evidentfraud exhibited by many of the actors in the scenes of exorcismnarrated by Calmet, the vile purposes to which the services of thechurch were turned, and the recklessness with which the supposed orpretended evil, and equally pretended remedy, were used for politicalintrigue or state oppression. 

Independent of these conclusions, there is something lamentable in astate of the public mind, which was so little prone to examination asto receive such a mass of superstition without sifting the wheat, forsuch there undoubtedly is, from the chaff. Calmet's work containsenough, had we the minor circumstances in each case preserved, to setat rest many philosophic doubts, and to illustrate many physicalfacts; and to those who desire to know what was believed by ourChristian forefathers, and why it was believed, the compilation isabsolutely invaluable. Calmet was a man of naturally cool, calmjudgment, possessed of singular learning, and was pious and truthful. A short sketch of his life will not, perhaps, be unacceptable to thereader. 

Augustine Calmet was born in the year 1672, at a village nearCommerci, in Lorraine. He early gave proofs of aptitude for study, andan opportunity was speedily offered of devoting himself to a life oflearning. In his sixteenth year he became a Benedictine of theCongregation of St. Vannes, and prosecuted his theological and suchphilosophical studies as the time allowed with great success. He wassoon appointed to teach the younger portion of the community, and gavein this employment such decided satisfaction to his superiors, that hewas soon marked for preferment. His chief study was the Scriptures;and in the twenty-second year of his age, a period unusually early, inan age when all benefices and beneficial employments were matters ofsale, he was appointed to be sub-prior of the monastery of Munster, inAlsace, where he presided over an academy. This academy consisted often or twelve monks, and its object was the investigation ofScripture. Calmet was not idle in his new position; besidescommunicating so much valuable information as to make his pupils thebest biblical scholars of the country, he made extensive collectionsfor his Commentary on the Old and New Testaments, and for his stillmore celebrated work, the History of the Bible. These materials hesubsequently digested and arranged. The Commentary, a work of immensevalue, was published in separate volumes from 1707 to 1716. His laborsattracted renewed and increased attention, and the offer of abishopric was made to him, which he unhesitatingly declined. 

In 1718, he was elected to the abbacy of St. Leopold, in Nancy; andten years afterwards, to that of Senones, where he spent the remainderof his days. His writings are numerous--two have been alreadymentioned--and so great was the popularity attained by hisCommentaries, that they have been translated into no fewer than sixlanguages within ten years. It exhibits a favorable aspect of theauthor's mind, and gives a very high idea of his erudition. One causewhich tended greatly to its universal acceptability, was its singularfreedom from sectarian bitterness. Protestants as well as Romanistsmay use it with equal satisfaction; and accordingly, it is considereda work of standard authority in England as much as on the continent. 

In addition to these Commentaries, and his History of the Bible, andFragments, (the best edition of which latter work in English, is byIsaac Taylor, ) he wrote the "Ecclesiastical and Civil History ofLorraine;" "A Catalogue of the Writers of Lorraine;" "UniversalHistory, Sacred and Profane;" a small collection of Reveries; and awork entitled, "A Literal, Moral, and Historical Commentary on theRule of St. Benedict, " a work which is full of curious information onancient customs, particularly ecclesiastical. He is among the few, also, who have written on ancient music. He lived to a good old age;and died regretted and much respected in 1757. 

Of all his works, the one presented here to the reader, is perhaps themost popular; it went rapidly through many editions, and received fromthe author's hand continual corrections and additions. To say that itis characterized by uniform judgment, would be to give it a praisesomewhat different as well as somewhat greater than that which itmerits. It is a vast repertory of legends, more or less probable; someof which have very little foundation--and some which Calmet himselfwould have done well to omit, though _now_, as a picture of the beliefentertained in that day, they greatly add to the value of the book. For the same reasons which have caused the retention of thesepassages, no alterations have been made in the citations fromScripture, which being translations from the Vulgate, necessarilydiffer in phraseology from the version in use among ourselves. Theapocryphal books too are quoted, and the story of Bel and the Dragonreferred to as a part of the prophecy of Daniel; but what is ofconsequence to observe, is, that _doctrines_ are founded on thesetranslations, and on those very points in which they differ from ourown. 

If the history of popery, and especially that form and development ofit exhibited in the monastic orders, be ever written, this work willbe of the greatest importance:--it will show the means by whichdominion was obtained over the minds of the ignorant; how the mostsacred mysteries were perverted; and frauds, which can hardly betermed pious, used to support institutions which can scarcely becalled religious. That the spirits of the dead should be permitted toreturn to earth, under circumstances the most grotesque, to supportthe doctrines of masses for the dead, purgatory and propitiatorypenance; that demons should be exorcised to give testimony to themerits of rival orders of monks and friars; that relics, many of themsupposititious, and many of the most disgusting and blasphemouscharacter, should have power to affect the eternal state of thedeparted; and that _all_ saints, angels, demons, and the ghosts of thedeparted, should support, with great variations indeed, the corruptdealings of a corrupt priesthood--form a creed worthy of the darkestand most unworthy days of heathenism. 

There is, however, one excuse, or rather palliation, for thesuperstition of that time. In periods of great public depravity--andfew epochs have been more depraved than that in which Calmetlived--Satan has great power. With a ruler like the regent Duke ofOrleans, with a Church governor like Cardinal Dubois, it would appearthat the civil and ecclesiastical authority of France had sold itself, like Ahab of old, to work wickedness; or, as the apostle says, "towork all uncleanness with greediness. " In an age so characterized, itdoes not seem at all improbable that portentous events should fromtime to time occur; that the servants of the devil should bestrengthened together with their master; that many should be givenover to strong delusions and to believe a lie; and that the evil partof the invisible world should be permitted to ally itself more closelywith the men of an age so congenial. Real cases of demoniacalpossession might, perhaps, be met with, and though scarcely amenableto the exorcisms of a clergy so corrupt as that of France in that day, they would yet justify a belief in the reality of those cases got upfor the sake of filthy lucre, personal ambition, or private revenge. If the public mind was prepared for a belief in such cases, there werenot wanting men to turn it to profitable account; and the quietstudent who believed the efficacy of the means used, and was scarcelyaware of the wickedness of the age in which he lived, might easily beinduced to credit the tales told him of demons expelled by the powerof a church, to which in the beginning an authority to do so hadundoubtedly been given, and whose awful corruptions were to him atleast greatly veiled. 

Calmet was a man of great integrity and considerable acumen, but hepassed an innocent and exemplary life in studious seclusion; he mixedlittle with the world at large, resided remote "from courts, andcamps, and strife of war or peace;" and there appears occasionally inhis writings a kind of nervous apprehension lest the dogmas of thechurch to which he was pledged should be less capable than he couldwish of satisfactory investigation. When he meets with tales likethose of the vampires or vroucolacas, which concern only what heconsidered a heretical church, and with which, therefore, he mightdeal according to his own will--apply to them the ordinary rules ofevidence, and treat them as mundane affairs--there he isclear-sighted, critical and acute, and accordingly he discusses thematter philosophically and logically, and concludes without fear ofsinning against the church, that the whole is delusion. When, on theother hand, he has to deal with cases of demoniacal possession, incountries under the rule of the Roman hierarchy, he contents himselfwith the decisions of the scholastic divines and the opinions of thefathers, and makes frequent references to the decrees of variousprovincial parliaments. The effects of such a state of mind uponscientific and especially metaphysical investigation, may be easilyimagined, and are to be traced more or less distinctly in every pageof the work before us. 

To conclude: books like this--the "Disquisitiones Magicĉ" of Delrio, the "Demonomanie" of Bodin, the "Malleus Maleficarum" of Sprengel, andthe like, are at no time to be regarded merely as subjects ofamusement; they have their philosophical value; they have a stillgreater historical value; and they show how far even upright minds maybe warped by imperfect education, and slavish deference to authority. 

The edition here followed is that of 1751, which contains the latestcorrections of the author, and several additional pieces, which areall included in the present volumes. 

 SION COLLEGE, LONDON WALL, _April, 1850. _

CONTENTS. PAGE

PREFACE xv

CHAPTER

I. The Appearance of Good Angels proved by the Books of the Old Testament 37

II. The Appearance of Good Angels proved by the Books of the New Testament 38

III. Under what form have Good Angels appeared? 41

IV. Opinions of the Jews, Christians, Mahometans, and Oriental Nations, concerning the Apparitions of Good Angels 44

V. Opinion of the Greeks and Romans on the Apparitions of Good Genii 47

VI. The Apparition of Bad Angels proved by the Holy Scriptures--Under what Form they have appeared 50

VII. Of Magic 57

VIII. Objections to the Reality of Magic 61

IX. Reply to the Objections 63

X. Examination of the Affair of Hocque, Magician 67

XI. Magic of the Egyptians and Chaldeans 70

XII. Magic among the Greeks and Romans 73

XIII. Examples which prove the Reality of Magic 75

XIV. Effects of Magic according to the Poets 81

XV. Of the Pagan Oracles 83

XVI. The Certainty of the Event predicted, is not always a proof that the Prediction comes from God 86

XVII. Reasons which lead us to believe that the greater part of the Ancient Oracles were only Impositions of the Priests and Priestesses, who feigned that they were inspired by God 89

XVIII. On Sorcerers and Sorceresses, or Witches 93

XIX. Instances of Sorcerers and Witches being, as they said, transported to the Sabbath 98

XX. Story of Louis Gaufredi and Magdalen de la Palud, owned by themselves to be a Sorcerer and Sorceress 102

XXI. Reasons which prove the Possibility of Sorcerers and Witches being transported to the Sabbath 106

XXII. Continuation of the same Subject 111

XXIII. Obsession and Possession of the Devil 114

XXIV. The Truth and Reality of Possession and Obsession by the Devil proved from Scripture 117

XXV. Examples of Real Possessions caused by the Devil 119

XXVI. Continuation of the same Subject 123

XXVII. Objections against the Obsessions and Possessions of the Demon--Reply to the Objections 128

XXVIII. Continuation of Objections against Possessions, and some Replies to those Objections 132

XXIX. Of Familiar Spirits 138

XXX. Some other Examples of Elves 142

XXXI. Spirits that keep Watch over Treasure 149

XXXII. Other instances of Hidden Treasures, which were guarded by Good or Bad Spirits 153

XXXIII. Spectres which appear, and predict things unknown and to come 156

XXXIV. Other Apparitions of Spectres 159

XXXV. Examination of the Apparition of a pretended Spectre 163

XXXVI. Of Spectres which haunt Houses 165

XXXVII. Other Instances of Spectres which haunt certain Houses 170

XXXVIII. Prodigious effects of Imagination in those Men or Women who believe they hold Intercourse with the Demon 172

XXXIX. Return and Apparitions of Souls after the Death of the Body, proved from Scripture 176

XL. Apparitions of Spirits proved from History 180

XLI. More Instances of Apparitions 185

XLII. On the Apparitions of Spirits who imprint their Hands on Clothes or on Wood 190

XLIII. Opinions of the Jews, Greeks, and Latins, concerning the Dead who are left unburied 195

XLIV. Examination of what is required or revealed to the Living by the Dead who return to Earth 201

XLV. Apparitions of Men still alive, to other living Men, absent, and very distant from each other 204

XLVI. Arguments concerning Apparitions 216

XLVII. Objections against Apparitions, and Replies to those Objections 221

XLVIII. Some other Objections and Replies 224

XLIX. The Secrets of Physics and Chemistry taken for supernatural things 229

L. Conclusion of the Treatise on Apparitions 232

LI. Way of explaining Apparitions 235

LII. The difficulty of explaining the manner in which Apparitions make their appearance, whatever system may be proposed on the subject 237

DISSERTATION ON THE GHOSTS WHO RETURN TO EARTH BODILY, THEEXCOMMUNICATED, THE OUPIRES OR VAMPIRES, VROUCOLACAS, ETC. 241

PREFACE 243

CHAPTER

I. The Resurrection of a Dead Person is the Work of God only 247

II. Revival of Persons who were not really Dead 249

III. Resurrection of a Man who had been buried Three Years, resuscitated by St. Stanislaus 251

IV. Can a Man really Dead appear in his own Body? 253

V. Revival or Apparition of a Girl who had been Dead some Months 256

VI. A Woman taken Alive from her Tomb 259

VII. Revenans, or Vampires of Moravia 260

VIII. Dead Persons in Hungary who suck the Blood of the Living 262

IX. Narrative of a Vampire from the Jewish Letters, Letter 137 263

X. Other Instances of Revenans. --Continuation of the "Gleaner" 264

XI. Argument of the Author of the Jewish Letters, concerning Revenans 266

XII. Continuation of the argument of the Dutch Gleaner 270

XIII. Narrative from the "Mercure Gallant" of 1693 and 1694 on Revenans 272

XIV. Conjectures of the "Glaneur de Hollandais" 273

XV. Another Letter on Ghosts 276

XVI. Pretended Vestiges of Vampirism in Antiquity 278

XVII. Ghosts in Northern Countries 282

XVIII. Ghosts in England 283

XIX. Ghosts in Peru 284

XX. Ghosts in Lapland 285

XXI. Return of a Man who had been Dead some Months 285

XXII. Excommunicated Persons who went out of Churches 289

XXIII. Some Instances of the Excommunicated being rejected or cast out of Consecrated Ground 291

XXIV. Instance of an Excommunicated Martyr being cast out of the Ground 292

XXV. A Man cast out of the Church for having refused to pay Tithes 293

XXVI. Instances of Persons who have given Signs of Life after their Death, and have withdrawn themselves respectfully to make room for more worthy Persons 294

XXVII. People who perform Pilgrimage after Death 296

XXVIII. Reasoning upon the Excommunicated who go out of Churches 297

XXIX. Do the Excommunicated rot in the Earth? 300

XXX. Instances to show that the Excommunicated do not rot, and that they appear to the Living 301

XXXI. Instances of these Returns to Earth of the Excommunicated 302

XXXII. A Vroucolacan exhumed in the presence of M. De Tournefort 304

XXXIII. Has the Demon power to kill, and then to restore to Life? 308

XXXIV. Examination of the Opinion that the Demon can restore Animation to a Dead Body 310

XXXV. Instances of Phantoms which have appeared to the Living and given many Signs of Life 313

XXXVI. Devoting People to Death, practised by the Heathens 314

XXXVII. Instances of dooming to Death among Christians 317

XXXVIII. Instances of Persons who have promised to give each other News of themselves from the other World 321

XXXIX. Extracts from the Political Works of the Abbé de St. Pierre 325

XL. Divers Systems to explain Ghosts 331

XLI. Divers Instances of Persons being Buried Alive 333

XLII. Instances of Drowned Persons who have come back to Life and Health 335

XLIII. Instances of Women thought Dead who came to Life again 337

XLIV. Can these Instances be applied to the Hungarian Revenans? 339

XLV. Dead People who chew in their Graves and devour their own Flesh 340

XLVI. Singular Example of a Hungarian Revenant 341

XLVII. Argument on this matter 343

XLVIII. Are the Vampires or Revenans really Dead? 344

XLIX. Instance of a Man named Curma being sent back to this World 351

L. Instances of Persons who fall into Ecstatic Trances when they will, and remain senseless 354

LI. Application of such Instances to Vampires 356

LII. Examination of the Opinion that the Demon fascinates the Eyes of those to whom Vampires appear 360

LIII. Instances of Resuscitated Persons who relate what they saw in the other World 361

LIV. The Traditions of the Pagans on the other Life, are derived from the Hebrews and Egyptians 364

LV. Instances of Christians being Resuscitated and sent back to this World. --Vision of Vetinus, a Monk of Augia 366

LVI. Vision of Bertholdas, related by Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims 368

LVII. Vision of St. Fursius 369

LVIII. Vision of a Protestant of York, and others 371

LIX. Conclusion of this Dissertation 374

LX. Moral Impossibility that Ghosts can come out of their Tombs 376

LXI. What is related of the Bodies of the Excommunicated who walk out of Churches, is subject to very great Difficulties (in Belief and Explanation) 378

LXII. Remarks on the Dissertation, concerning the Spirit which came to St. Maur des Fossés 380

LXIII. Dissertation of an Anonymous Writer on what should be thought of the Appearance of Spirits, on Occasion of the Adventure at St. Maur, in 1706 387

 Letter of the Marquis Maffei on Magic 407

 Letter of the Reverend Father Dom Calmet, to M. Debure 440

PREFACE. 

The great number of authors who have written upon the apparitions ofangels, demons, and disembodied souls is not unknown to me; and I donot presume sufficiently on my own capacity to believe that I shallsucceed better in it than they have done, and that I shall enhancetheir knowledge and their discoveries. I am perfectly sensible that Iexpose myself to criticism, and perhaps to the mockery of manyreaders, who regard this matter as done with, and decried in the mindsof philosophers, learned men, and many theologians. I must not reckoneither on the approbation of the people, whose want of discernmentprevents their being competent judges of this same. My aim is not tofoment superstition, nor to feed the vain curiosity of visionaries, and those who believe without examination everything that is relatedto them as soon as they find therein anything marvelous andsupernatural. I write only for reasonable and unprejudiced minds, which examine things seriously and coolly; I speak only for those whoassent even to known truth but after mature reflection, who know howto doubt of what is uncertain, to suspend their judgment on what isdoubtful, and to deny what is manifestly false. 

As for pretended freethinkers, who reject everything to distinguishthemselves, and to place themselves above the common herd, I leavethem in their elevated sphere; they will think of this work as theymay consider proper, and as it is not calculated for them, apparentlythey will not take the trouble to read it. 

I undertook it for my own information, and to form to myself a justidea of all that is said on the apparitions of angels, of the demon, and of disembodied souls. I wished to see how far that matter wascertain or uncertain, true or false, known or unknown, clear orobscure. 

In this great number of facts which I have collected I have endeavoredto make a choice, and not to heap together too great a multitude ofthem, for fear that in the too numerous examples the doubtful mightnot harm the certain, and in wishing to prove too much I might proveabsolutely nothing. There will, even amongst those I have cited, befound some which will not easily be credited by many readers, and Iallow them to regard them as not related. 

I beg those readers, nevertheless, to discern justly amongst thesefacts and instances; after which they can with me form theiropinion--affirm, deny, or remain in doubt. 

From the respect which every man owes to truth, and the venerationwhich a Christian and a priest owes to religion, it appeared to mevery important to undeceive people respecting the opinion which theyhave of apparitions, if they believe them all to be true; or toinstruct them and show them the truth and reality of a great number, if they think them all false. It is always shameful to be deceived;_____________________and in regard to religion, to believe on lightgrounds, to remain wilfully in doubt, or to maintain oneself withoutany reason in superstition and illusion; it is already much to knowhow to doubt wisely, and not to form a decided opinion beyond what onereally knows. 

I never had any idea of treating profoundly the matter of apparitions;I have treated of it, as it were, by chance, and occasionally. Myfirst and principal object was to discourse of the vampires ofHungary. In collecting my materials on that subject, I found manythings concerning apparitions; the great number of these embarrassedthis treatise on vampires. I detached some of them, and thus havecomposed this treatise on apparitions: there still remains a largenumber of them, which I might have separated for the betterarrangement of this treatise. Many persons here have taken theaccessory for the principal, and have paid more attention to the firstpart than to the second, which was, however, the first and theprincipal in my design. For I own I have always been much struck withwhat was related of the vampires or ghosts of Hungary, Moravia, andPoland; of the vroucolacas of Greece; and of the excommunicated, whoare said not to rot. I thought I ought to bestow on it all theattention in my power; and I have deemed it right to treat on thissubject in a particular dissertation. After having deeply studied it, and obtaining as much information as I was able, I found littlesolidity and certainty on the subject; which, joined to the opinion ofsome prudent and respectable persons whom I consulted, had induced meto give up my design entirely, and to renounce laboring on a subjectwhich is so contradictory, and embraces so much uncertainty. 

But looking at the matter in another point of view, I resumed my pen, decided upon undeceiving the public, if I found that what was said ofit was absolutely false; showing that what is uttered on this subjectis uncertain, and that one ought to be very reserved in pronouncing onthese vampires, which have made so much noise in the world for acertain time, and still divide opinions at this day, even in thecountries which are the scene of their pretended return, and wherethey appear; or to show that what has been said and written on thissubject is not destitute of probability, and that the subject of thereturn of vampires is worthy the attention of the curious and thelearned, and deserves to be seriously studied, to have the factsrelated of it examined, and the causes, circumstances, and meanssounded deeply. 

I am then about to examine this question as a historian, philosopher, and theologian. As a historian, I shall endeavor to discover the truthof the facts; as a philosopher, I shall examine the causes andcircumstances; lastly, the knowledge or light of theology will causeme to deduce consequences as relating to religion. Thus I do not writein the hope of convincing freethinkers and pyrrhonians, who will notallow the existence of ghosts or vampires, nor even of the apparitionsof angels, demons, and spirits; nor to intimidate those weak andcredulous, by relating to them extraordinary stories of apparitions. Ido not reckon either on curing the superstitious of their errors, northe people of their prepossessions; not even on correcting the abuseswhich arise from this unenlightened belief, nor of doing away all thedoubts which may be formed on apparitions; still less do I pretend toerect myself as a judge and censor of the works and sentiments ofothers, nor to distinguish myself, make myself a name, or divertmyself, by spreading abroad dangerous doubts upon a subject whichconcerns religion, and from which they might make wrong deductionsagainst the certainty of the Scriptures, and against the unshakendogmas of our creed. I shall treat it as solidly and gravely as itmerits; and I pray God to give me that knowledge which is necessary todo it successfully. 

I exhort my reader to distinguish between the facts related, and themanner in which they happened. The fact may be certain, and the way inwhich it occurred unknown. Scripture relates certain apparitions ofangels and disembodied souls; these instances are indubitable andfound in the revelations of the holy books; but the manner in whichGod operated the resurrections, or in which he permitted theseapparitions to take place, is hidden among his secrets. It isallowable for us to examine them, to seek out the circumstances, andpropound some conjectures on the manner in which it all came to pass;but it would be rash to decide upon a matter which God has not thoughtproper to reveal to us. I say as much in proportion, concerning thestories related by sensible, contemporary, and judicious authors, whosimply relate the facts without entering into the examination of thecircumstances, of which, perhaps, they themselves were not wellinformed. 

It has already been objected to me, that I cited poets and authors oflittle credit, in support of a thing so grave and so disputed as theapparition of spirits: such authorities, they say, are more calculatedto cast a doubt on apparitions, than to establish the truth of them. 

But I cite those authors as witnesses of the opinions of nations; andI count it not a small thing in the extreme license of opinions, whichat this day predominates in the world, amongst those even who make aprofession of Christianity, to be able to show that the ancient Greeksand Romans thought that souls were immortal, that they subsisted afterthe death of the body, and that there was another life, in which theyreceived the reward of their good actions, or the chastisement oftheir crimes. 

Those sentiments which we read in the poets, are also repeated in thefathers of the church, and the pagan and Christian historians; but asthey did not pretend to think them weighty, nor to approve them inrepeating them, it must not be imputed to me either, that I have anyintention of authorizing. For instance, what I have related of themanes, or lares; of the evocation of souls after the death of thebody; of the avidity of these souls to suck the blood of the immolatedanimals, of the shape of the soul separated from the body, of theinquietude of souls which have no rest until their bodies are underground; of those superstitious statues of wax which are devoted andconsecrated under the name of certain persons whom the magicianspretended to kill by burning and stabbing their effigies of wax; ofthe transportation of wizards and witches through the air, and oftheir assemblies of the Sabbath; all those things are related both inthe works of the philosophers and pagan historians, as well as in thepoets. 

I know the value of one and the other, and I esteem them as theydeserve; but I think that in treating this matter, it is important tomake known to our readers the ancient superstitions, the vulgar orcommon opinions, and the prejudices of nations, to be able to refutethem, and bring back the figures to truths, by freeing them from whatpoesy had added for the embellishment of the poem, and the amusementof the reader. 

Moreover, I generally repeat this kind of thing, only when it isapropos of certain facts avowed by historians, and by other grave andrational authors; and sometimes rather as an ornament of thediscourse, or to enliven the matter, than to derive thence certainproofs and consequences necessary for the dogma, or to certify thefacts and give weight to my recital. 

I know how little we must depend on what Lucian says on this subject;he only speaks of it to make game of it. Philostratus, Jamblicus, andsome others, do not merit more consideration; therefore I quote themonly to refute them, or to show how far idle and ridiculous credulityhas been carried on these matters, which were laughed at by the mostsensible among the heathens themselves. 

The consequences which I deduce from all these stories, and thesepoetical fictions, and the manner in which I speak of them in thecourse of this dissertation, sufficiently vouch that esteem, and giveas true and certain only what is so in fact; and that I do not wish toimpose on my reader, by relating many things which I myself regard asfalse, or as doubtful, or even as fabulous. But that ought to beprejudicial to the dogma of the immortality of the soul, and to thatof another life, not to the truth of certain apparitions related inScripture, or proved elsewhere by good testimony. 

The first edition of this work having been printed in my absence, andupon an incorrect copy, several misprints have occurred, and evenexpressions and phrases displeasing and interrupted. I have tried toremedy this in a second edition, and to cast light on those passageswhich they noticed as demanding explanation, and correcting what mightoffend scrupulous readers, and prevent the bad consequences whichmight be derived from what I had said. I have even done more in thisthird edition. I have retrenched several passages; others I havesuppressed; I have profited by the advice which has been given me; andI have replied to the objections which have been made. 

People have complained that I took no part, and did not come to adecision on several difficulties which I propose, and that I leave myreader in uncertainty. 

I make but little defence against this reproach; I should require morejustification if I decided without a perfect knowledge of causes, forone side of the question, at the risk of embracing an error, and offalling into a still greater impropriety. There is wisdom insuspending one's judgment till we have succeeded in finding the verytruth. 

I have also been told, that certain persons have made a joke of somefacts which I have related. If I have related them as certain, andthey afford just cause for pleasantry, let the condemnation pass; butif I cited them as fabulous and false, they present no subject forpleasantry; _Falsum non est de ratione faceti. _

There are certain persons who delight in jesting on the most seriousthings, and who spare nothing, either sacred or profane. The historiesof the Old and New Testament, the most sacred ceremonies of ourreligion, the lives of the most respectable saints, are not safe fromtheir dull, tasteless pleasantry. 

I have been reproached for having related several false histories, several doubtful facts, and several fabulous events. This is true; butI give them for what they are. I have declared several times, that Idid not vouch for their truth, that I repeated them to show how falseand ridiculous they were, and to deprive them of the credit they mighthave with the people; and if I had gone at length into theirrefutation, I thought it right to let my reader have the pleasure ofrefuting them, supposing him to possess enough good sense andself-sufficiency, to form his own judgment upon them, and feel thesame contempt for such stories that I do myself. It is doing too muchhonor to certain things to refute them seriously. 

But another objection, and a much more serious one, is said to be, what I say of the illusions of the demon, leading some persons todoubt of the truth of the apparitions related in Scripture, as well asof the others suspected of falsehood. 

I answer, that the consequences deduced from principles are not right, except when things are equal, and the subjects and circumstances thesame; without that there can be no application of principles. Thefacts to which my reasoning applies are related by authors of smallauthority, by ordinary or common-place historians, bearing nocharacter which deserves a belief of anything superhuman. I can, without attacking their person or their merit, advance that they mayhave been badly informed, prepossessed, and mistaken; that the spiritof seduction may have been of the party; that the senses, theimagination, and superstition, may have made them take that for truth, which was only seeming. 

But, in regard to the apparitions related in the Holy Scriptures, theyborrow their infallible authority from the sacred and inspired authorswho wrote them; they are verified by the events which followed them, by the execution or fulfilment of predictions made many agespreceding; and which could neither be done, nor foreseen, norperformed, either by the human mind, or by the strength of man, noteven by the angel of darkness. 

I am but little concerned at the opinion passed on myself and myintentions in the publication of this treatise. Some have thought thatI did it to destroy the popular and common idea of apparitions, and tomake it appear ridiculous; and I acknowledge that those who read thiswork attentively and without prejudice, will remark in it morearguments for doubting what the people believe on this point, thanthey will find to favor the contrary opinion. If I have treated thissubject seriously, it is only in what regards those facts in whichreligion and the truth of Scripture is interested; those which areindifferent I have left to the censure of sensible people, and thecriticism of the learned and of philosophical minds. 

I declare that I consider as true all the apparitions related in thesacred books of the Old and New Testament; without pretending, however, that it is not allowable to explain them, and reduce them toa natural and likely sense, by retrenching what is too marvelous aboutthem, which might rebut enlightened persons. I think on that point Imay apply the principle of St. Paul;[1] "the letter killeth, and theSpirit giveth life. "

As to the other apparitions and visions related in Christian, Jewish, or heathen authors, I do my best to discern amongst them, and I exhortmy readers to do the same; but I blame and disapprove the outrageouscriticism of those who deny everything, and make difficulties ofeverything, in order to distinguish themselves by their pretendedstrength of mind, and to authorize themselves to deny everything, andto dispute the most certain facts, and in general all that savors ofthe marvelous, and which appears above the ordinary laws of nature. St. Paul permits us to examine and prove everything: _Omnia probate_;but he desires us to hold fast that which is good and true: _quodbonum est tenete_. [2]

Footnotes:

[1] 2 Cor. Iii. 16. 

[2] 1 Thess. V. 21. 

ADVERTISEMENT. 

Every body talks of apparitions of angels and demons, and of soulsseparated from the body. The reality of these apparitions isconsidered as certain by many persons, while others deride them andtreat them as altogether visionary. 

I have determined to examine this matter, just to see what certitudethere can be on this point; and I shall divide this Dissertation intofour parts. In the first, I shall speak of good angels; in the second, of the appearance of bad angels; in the third, of the apparitions ofsouls of the dead; and in the fourth, of the appearance of living mento others living, absent, distant, and this unknown to those whoappear. I shall occasionally add something on magic, wizards, andwitches; on the Sabbath, oracles, and obsession and possession bydemons. 

THE PHANTOM WORLD. 

CHAPTER I. 

THE APPEARANCE OF GOOD ANGELS PROVED BY THE BOOKS OF THE OLDTESTAMENT. 

The apparitions or appearances of good angels are frequently mentionedin the books of the Old Testament. He who was stationed at theentrance of the terrestrial Paradise[3] was a cherub, armed with aflaming sword; those who appeared to Abraham, and who promised that heshould have a son;[4] those who appeared to Lot, and predicted to himthe ruin of Sodom, and other guilty cities;[5] he who spoke to Hagarin the desert, [6] and commanded her to return to the dwelling ofAbraham, and to remain submissive to Sarah, her mistress; those whoappeared to Jacob, on his journey into Mesopotamia, ascending anddescending the mysterious ladder;[7] he who taught him how to causehis sheep to bring forth young differently marked;[8] he who wrestledwith Jacob on his return from Mesopotamia, [9]--were angels of light, and benevolent ones; the same as he who spoke with Moses from theburning bush on Horeb, [10] and who gave him the tables of the law onMount Sinai. That Angel who takes generally the name of GOD, andacts in his name, and with his authority;[11] who served as a guide tothe Hebrews in the desert, hidden during the day in a dark cloud, andshining during the night; he who spoke to Balaam, and threatened tokill his she-ass;[12] he, lastly, who contended with Satan for thebody of Moses;[13]--all these angels were without doubt good angels. 

We must think the same of him who presented himself armed to Joshua onthe plain of Jericho, [14] and who declared himself head of the army ofthe Lord; it is believed, with reason, that it was the angel Michael. He who showed himself to the wife of Manoah, [15] the father of Samson, and afterwards to Manoah himself. He who announced to Gideon that heshould deliver Israel from the power of the Midianites. [16] The angelGabriel, who appeared to Daniel, at Babylon;[17] and Raphael whoconducted the young Tobias to Rages, in Media. [18]

The prophecy of the Prophet Zechariah is full of visions ofangels. [19] In the books of the Old Testament the throne of the Lordis described as resting on cherubim; and the God of Israel isrepresented as having before his throne[20] seven principal angels, always ready to execute his orders, and four cherubim singing hispraises, and adoring his sovereign holiness; the whole making a sortof allusion to what they saw in the court of the ancient Persiankings, [21] where there were seven principal officers who saw his face, approached his person, and were called the eyes and ears of the king. 

Footnotes:

[3] Gen. Iii. 24. 

[4] Gen. Xviii. 1-3. 

[5] Gen. Xix. 

[6] Gen. Xxi. 17. 

[7] Gen. Xxviii. 12. 

[8] Gen. Xxxi. 10, 11. 

[9] Gen. Xxxii. 

[10] Exod. Iii. 6, 7. 

[11] Exod. Iii. Iv. 

[12] Numb. Xxii. Xxiii. 

[13] Jude 9. 

[14] Josh. V. 13. 

[15] Judges xiii. 

[16] Judges vi. Vii. 

[17] Dan. Viii. 16; ix. 21. 

[18] Tobit v. 

[19] Zech. V. 9, 10, 11, &c. 

[20] Psalm xvii. 10; lxxix. 2, &c. 

[21] Tobit xii. Zech. Iv. 10. Rev. I. 4. 

CHAPTER II. 

THE APPEARANCE OF GOOD ANGELS PROVED BY THE BOOKS OF THE NEWTESTAMENT. 

The books of the New Testament are in the same manner full of factswhich prove the apparition of good angels. The angel Gabriel appearedto Zachariah the father of John the Baptist, and predicted to him thefuture birth of the Forerunner. [22] The Jews, who saw Zachariah comeout of the temple, after having remained within it a longer time thanusual, having remarked that he was struck dumb, had no doubt but thathe had seen some apparition of an angel. The same Gabriel announced toMary the future birth of the Messiah. [23] When Jesus was born inBethlehem, the angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds in thenight, [24] and declared to them that the Saviour of the world was bornat Bethlehem. There is every reason to believe that the star whichappeared to the Magi in the East, and which led them straight toJerusalem, and thence to Bethlehem, was directed by a good angel. [25]St. Joseph was warned by a celestial spirit to retire into Egypt, withthe mother and the infant Christ, for fear that Jesus should fall intothe hands of Herod, and be involved in the massacre of the Innocents. The same angel informed Joseph of the death of King Herod, and toldhim to return to the land of Israel. 

After the temptation of Jesus Christ in the wilderness, angels cameand brought him food. [26] The demon tempter said to Jesus Christ thatGod had commanded his angels to lead him, and to prevent him fromstumbling against a stone; which is taken from the 92d Psalm, andproves the belief of the Jews on the article of guardian angels. TheSaviour confirms the same truth when he says that the angels ofchildren constantly behold the face of the celestial Father. [27] Atthe last judgment, the good angels will separate the just, [28] andlead them to the kingdom of heaven, while they will precipitate thewicked into eternal fire. 

At the agony of Jesus Christ in the garden of Olives, an angeldescended from heaven to console him. [29] After his resurrection, angels appeared to the holy women who had come to his tomb to embalmhim. [30] In the Acts of the Apostles, they appeared to the apostles assoon as Jesus had ascended into heaven; and the angel of the Lord cameand opened the doors of the prison where the apostles were confined, and set them at liberty. [31] In the same book, St. Stephen tells usthat the law was given to Moses by the ministration of angels;[32]consequently, those were angels who appeared on Sinai and Horeb, andwho spoke to him in the name of God, as his ambassadors, and asinvested with his authority; also, the same Moses, speaking of theangel of the Lord, who was to introduce Israel into the Promised Land, says that "the name of God is in him. "[33] St. Peter, being in prison, is delivered from thence by an angel, [34] who conducted him the lengthof a street, and disappeared. St. Peter, knocking at the door of thehouse in which his brethren were, they could not believe that it washe; they thought that it was his angel who knocked and spoke. St. Paul, instructed in the school of the Pharisees, thought as they didon the subject of angels; he believed in their existence, inopposition to the Sadducees, [35] and supposed that they could appear. When this apostle, having been arrested by the Romans, related to thepeople how he had been overthrown at Damascus, the Pharisees, who werepresent, replied to those who exclaimed against him--"How do we know, if an angel or a spirit hath not spoken to him?" St. Luke says that aMacedonian (apparently the angel of Macedonia) appeared to St. Paul, and begged him to come and announce the Gospel in that country. 

St. John, in the Apocalypse, speaks of the seven angels who presidedover the churches in Asia. I know that these seven angels are thebishops of these churches, but the ecclesiastical tradition will haveit that every church has its tutelary angel. In the same book, theApocalypse, are related divers appearances of angels. All Christianantiquity has recognized them; the synagogue also has recognized them;so that it may be affirmed that nothing is more certain than theexistence of good angels and their apparitions. 

I place in the number of apparitions, not only those of good or badangels, and the spirits of the dead who show themselves to the living, but also those of the living who show themselves to the angels orsouls of the dead; whether these apparitions are seen in dreams, orduring sleep, or awaking; whether they manifest themselves to allthose who are present, or only to the persons to whom God judgesproper to manifest them. For instance, in the Apocalypse, [36] St. Johnsaw the four animals, and the four-and-twenty elders, who were clothedin white garments and wore crowns of gold upon their heads, and wereseated on thrones around that of the Almighty, who prostratedthemselves before the throne of the Eternal, and cast their crowns athis feet. 

And, elsewhere: "I saw four angels standing at the four corners of theworld, [37] who held back the four winds and prevented them fromblowing on the earth; then I saw another angel, who rose on the sideof the east, and who cried out to the four angels who had orders tohurt the earth, Do no harm to the earth, or the sea, or the trees, until we have impressed a sign on the foreheads of the servants ofGod. And I heard that the number of those who received this sign (ormark) was a hundred and forty-four thousand. Afterwards I saw aninnumerable multitude of all nations, tribes, people, and languages, standing before the throne of the Most High, arrayed in whitegarments, and having palms in their hands. "

And in the same book[38] St. John says, after having described themajesty of the throne of God, and the adoration paid to him by theangels and saints prostrate before him, one of the elders said tohim, --"Those whom you see covered with white robes, are those who havesuffered great trials and afflictions, and have washed their robes inthe blood of the Lamb; for which reason they stand before the throneof God, and will do so night and day in his temple; and He who isseated on the throne will reign over them, and the angel which is inthe midst of the throne will conduct them to the fountains of livingwater. " And, again, [39] "I saw under the altar of God the souls ofthose who have been put to death for defending the Word of God, andfor the testimony which they have rendered; they cried with a loudvoice, saying, When, O Lord, wilt thou not avenge our blood upon thosewho are on the earth?" &c. 

All these apparitions, and several others similar to them, which mightbe related as being derived from the holy books as well as fromauthentic histories, are true apparitions, although neither the angelsnor the martyrs spoken of in the Apocalypse came and presentedthemselves to St. John; but, on the contrary, this apostle wastransported in spirit to heaven, to see there what we have justrelated. These are apparitions which may be called passive on the partof the angels and holy martyrs, and active on the part of the holyapostle who saw them. 

Footnotes:

[22] Luke i. 10-12, &c. 

[23] Luke i. 26, 27, &c. 

[24] Luke ii. 9, 10. 

[25] Matt. Ii. 13, 14, 20. 

[26] Matt. Iv. 6, 11. 

[27] Matt. Xviii. 16. 

[28] Matt. Xiii. 45, 46. 

[29] Luke xxii. 43. 

[30] Matt. Xxviii. John. 

[31] Acts v. 19. 

[32] Acts vii. 30, 35. 

[33] Exod. Xxiii. 21. 

[34] Acts xii. 8, 9. 

[35] Rom. I. 18. 1 Cor. Iv. 9; vi. 3; xii. 7. Gal. Iii. 19. Acts xvi. 9; xxiii. 9. Rev. I. 11. 

[36] Rev. Iv. 4, 10. 

[37] Rev. Vii. 1-3, 9, &c. 

[38] Rev. Vii. 13, 14. 

[39] Rev. Vi. 9, 10. 

CHAPTER III. 

UNDER WHAT FORM HAVE GOOD ANGELS APPEARED?

The most usual form in which good angels appear, both in the OldTestament and the New, is the human form. It was in that shape theyshowed themselves to Abraham, Lot, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Manoah thefather of Samson, to David, Tobit, the Prophets; and in the NewTestament they appeared in the same form to the Holy Virgin, toZachariah the father of John the Baptist, to Jesus Christ after hisfast of forty days, and to him again in his agony in the Garden ofOlives. They showed themselves in the same form to the holy womenafter the resurrection of the Saviour. The one who appeared toJoshua[40] on the plain of Jericho appeared apparently in the guise ofa warrior, since Joshua asks him, "Art thou for us, or for ouradversaries?"

Sometimes they hide themselves under some form which has resemblanceto the human shape, like him who appeared to Moses in the burningbush, [41] and who led the Israelites in the desert in the form of acloud, dense and dark during the day, but luminous at night. [42] ThePsalmist tells us that God makes his angels serve as a piercing windand a burning fire, to execute his orders. [43]

The cherubim, so often spoken of in the Scriptures, and who aredescribed as serving for a throne to the majesty of God, werehieroglyphical figures, something like the sphinx of the Egyptians;those which are described in Ezekiel[44] are like animals composed ofthe figure of a man, having the wings of an eagle, the feet of an ox;their heads were composed of the face of a man, an ox, a lion, and aneagle, two of their wings were spread towards their fellows, and twoothers covered their body; they were brilliant as burning coals, aslighted lamps, as the fiery heavens when they send forth thelightning's flash--they were terrible to look upon. 

The one who appeared to Daniel[45] was different from those we havejust described; he was in the shape of a man, covered with a linengarment, and round his loins a girdle of very fine gold; his body wasshining as a chrysolite, his face as a flash of lightning; his eyesdarted fire like a lamp; his arms and all the lower part of his bodywas like brass melted in the furnace; his voice was loud as that of amultitude of people. 

St. John, in the Apocalypse, [46] saw around the throne of the MostHigh four animals, which doubtless were four angels; they were coveredwith eyes before and behind. The first resembled a lion, the second anox, the third had the form of a man, and the fourth was like an eaglewith outspread wings; each of them had six wings, and they neverceased to cry night and day, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, whowas, and is, and is to come. "

The angel who was placed at the entrance of the terrestrial paradisewas armed with a shining sword, [47] as well as the one who appeared toBalaam, [48] and who threatened, or was near killing both himself andhis ass; and so, apparently, was the one who showed himself to Joshuain the plain of Jericho, [49] and the angel who appeared to David, ready to smite all Israel. The angel Raphael guided the young Tobiasto Ragès under the human form of a traveler. [50] The angel who wasseen by the holy woman at the sepulchre of the Saviour, who overthrewthe large stone which closed the mouth of the tomb, and who was seatedupon it, had a countenance which shone like lightning, and garmentswhite as snow. [51]

In the Acts of the Apostles, [52] the angel who extricated them fromprison, and told them to go boldly and preach Jesus Christ in thetemple, also appeared to them in a human form. The manner in which hedelivered them from the dungeon is quite miraculous; for the chiefpriests having commanded that they should appear before them, thosewho were sent found the prison securely closed, the guards wide awake;but having caused the doors to be opened, they found the dungeonempty. How could an angel without opening, or any fracture of thedoors, thus extricate men from prison without either the guards or thejailer perceiving anything of the matter? The thing is beyond anyknown powers of nature; but it is no more impossible than to see ourSaviour, after his resurrection, invested with flesh and bones, as hehimself says, come forth from his sepulchre, without opening it, andwithout breaking the seals, [53] enter the chamber wherein were theapostles without opening the doors, [54] and speak to the disciplesgoing to Emmaus without making himself known to them; then, afterhaving opened their eyes, disappear and become invisible. [55] Duringthe forty days that he remained upon earth till his ascension, hedrank and ate with them, he spoke to them, he appeared to them; but heshowed himself only to those witnesses who were pre-ordained by theeternal Father to bear testimony to his resurrection. 

The angel who appeared to the centurion Cornelius, a pagan, butfearing God, answered his questions, and discovered to him unknownthings, which things came to pass. 

Sometimes the angels, without assuming any visible shape, give proofsof their presence by intelligible voices, by inspirations, by sensibleeffects, by dreams, or by revelations of things unknown, whetherfuture or past. Sometimes by striking with blindness, or infusing aspirit of uncertainty or stupidity in the minds of those whom Godwills should feel the effects of his wrath; for instance, it is saidin the Scriptures that the Israelites heard no distinct speech, andbeheld no form on Horeb when God spoke to Moses and gave him theLaw. [56]

The angel who might have killed Balaam's ass was not at firstperceived by the prophet;[57] Daniel was the only one who beheld theangel Gabriel, who revealed to him the mystery of the great empireswhich were to succeed each other. [58]

When the Lord spoke for the first time to Samuel, and predicted to himthe evils which he would inflict on the family of the high-priest Eli, the young prophet saw no visible form; he only heard a voice, which heat first mistook for that of the high-priest Eli, not being yetaccustomed to distinguish the voice of God from that of a man. 

The angels who guided Lot and his family from Sodom and Gomorrah wereat first perceived under a human form by the inhabitants of the city;but afterwards these same angels struck the men with blindness, andthus prevented them from finding the door of Lot's house, into whichthey would have entered by force. 

Thus, then, angels do not always appear under a visible or sensibleform, nor in a figure uniformly the same; but they give proofs oftheir presence by an infinity of different ways--by inspirations, byvoices, by prodigies, by miraculous effects, by predictions of thefuture, and other things hidden and impenetrable to the human mind. 

St. Cyprian relates that an African bishop, falling ill during thepersecution, earnestly requested to have the viaticum administered tohim; at the same time he saw, as it were, a young man, with a majesticair, and shining with such extraordinary lustre that the eyes ofmortals could not have beheld him without terror; nevertheless, thebishop was not alarmed. This angel said to him, angrily, and in amenacing tone, "You fear to suffer. You do not wish to leave thisworld. What would you have me do for you?" (or "What can I do foryou?") The good bishop comprehended that these words alike regardedhim and the other Christians who feared persecution and death. Thebishop talked to them, encouraged them, and exhorted them to armthemselves with patience to support the tortures with which they werethreatened. He received the communion, and died in peace. We shallfind in different histories an infinite number of other apparitions ofangels under a human form. 

Footnotes:

[40] Josh. V. 29. 

[41] Exod. Iii. 3, 44. 

[42] Exod. Xiii. Xiv. 

[43] Psalm civ. 4. 

[44] Ezek. I. 4, 6. 

[45] Dan. X. 5. 

[46] Rev. Iv. 7, 8. 

[47] Gen. Iii. 24. 

[48] Numb. Xxii. 22, 23. 

[49] 1 Chron. Xxi. 16. 

[50] Tobit v. 5. 

[51] Matt. Xxviii. 3. 

[52] Acts ii. 

[53] Matt. Xxviii. 1, 2. 

[54] John xix. 20. 

[55] Luke xxiii. 15-17, &c. 

[56] Deut. Iv. 15. 

[57] Numb. Xii. 22, 23. 

[58] Dan. X. 7, 8. 

CHAPTER IV. 

OPINIONS OF THE JEWS, CHRISTIANS, MAHOMETANS, AND ORIENTAL NATIONSCONCERNING THE APPARITIONS OF GOOD ANGELS. 

After what we have just related from the books of the Old and NewTestament, it cannot be disavowed that the Jews in general, theapostles, the Christians, and their disciples have commonly believedin the apparitions of good angels. The Sadducees, who denied theexistence and the apparition of angels, were commonly considered bythe Jews as heretics, and as supporting an erroneous doctrine. JesusChrist refutes them in the Gospel. The Jews of our days believeliterally what is related in the Old Testament, concerning the angelswho appeared to Abraham, Lot, and other patriarchs. It was the beliefof the Pharisees and of the apostles in the time of our Saviour, asmay be seen by the writings of the apostles and by the whole of theGospel. 

The Mahometans believe, as do the Jews and Christians, that goodangels appear to men sometimes under a human form; that they appearedto Abraham and Lot; that they punished the inhabitants of Sodom; thatthe archangel Gabriel appeared to Mahomet, and revealed to him allthat is laid down in his Koran: that the genii are of a middle nature, between man and angel;[59] that they eat, drink, beget children; thatthey die, and can foresee things to come. In consequence of thisprinciple or idea, they believe that there are male and female genii;that the males, whom the Persians call by the name of _Dives_, arebad, very ugly, and mischievous, making war against the _Peris_, whoare the females. The Rabbis will have it that these genii were born ofAdam alone, without any concurrence of his wife Eve, or of any otherwoman, and that they are what we call _ignis fatuii_ (or wanderinglights). 

The antiquity of these opinions touching the corporality of angelsappears in several _old_ writers, who, deceived by the apocryphal bookwhich passes under the name of the _Book of Enoch_, have explained ofthe angels what is said in Genesis, [60] "_That the children of God, having seen the daughters of men, fell in love with their beauty, wedded them, and begot giants of them. _" Several of the ancientFathers[61] have adopted this opinion, which is now given up byeverybody, with the exception of some new writers, who desire torevive the idea of the corporality of angels, demons, and souls--anopinion which is absolutely incompatible with that of the Catholicchurch, which holds that angels are of a nature entirely distinct frommatter. 

I acknowledge that, according to their system, the affair ofapparitions could be more easily explained; it is easier to conceivethat a corporeal substance should appear, and render itself visible toour eyes, than a substance purely spiritual; but this is not the placeto reason on a philosophical question, on which different hypothesescould be freely grounded, and to choose that which should explainthese appearances in the most plausible manner, even though it answerin the most satisfactory manner the question asked, and the objectionsformed against the facts, and against the proposed manner of statingthem. 

The question is resolved, and the matter decided. The church and theCatholic schools hold that angels, demons, and reasonable souls, aredisengaged from all matter; the same church and the same school holdit as certain that good and bad angels, and souls separated from thebody, sometimes appear by the will and with the permission of God:there we must stop; as to the manner of explaining these apparitions, we must, without losing sight of the certain principle of theimmateriality of these substances, explain them according to theanalogy of the Christian and Catholic faith, acknowledged sincerelythat in this matter there are certain depths which we cannot sound, and confine our mind and information within the limits of thatobedience which we owe to the authority of the church, that canneither err nor deceive us. 

The apparitions of good angels and of guardian angels are frequentlymentioned in the Old as in the New Testament. When the Apostle St. Peter had left the prison by the assistance of an angel, and went andknocked at the door where the brethren were, they believed that it washis angel and not himself who knocked. [62] And when Cornelius theCenturion prayed to God in his own house, an angel (apparently hisgood angel) appeared to him, and told him to send and fetch Peter, whowas then at Joppa. [63]

St. Paul desires that at church no woman should appear among themwithout her face being veiled, because of the angels;[64] doubtlessfrom respect to the good angels who presided in these assemblies. Thesame St. Paul reassures those who were with him in danger of almostinevitable shipwreck, by telling them that his angel had appeared tohim[65] and assured him that they should arrive safe at the end oftheir voyage. 

In the Old Testament, we likewise read of several apparitions ofangels, which can hardly be explained but as of guardian angels; forinstance, the one who appeared to Hagar in the wilderness, andcommanded her to return and submit herself to Sarah her mistress;[66]and the angel who appeared to Abraham, as he was about to immolateIsaac his son, and told him that God was satisfied with hisobedience;[67] and when the same Abraham sent his servant Eleazer intoMesopotamia, to ask for a wife for his son Isaac, he told him that theGod of heaven, who had promised to give him the land of Canaan, wouldsend his angel[68] to dispose all things according to his wishes. Examples of similar apparitions of tutelary angels, derived from theOld Testament, might here be multiplied, but the circumstance does notrequire a greater number of proofs. 

Under the new dispensation, the apparitions of good angels, ofguardian spirits, are not less frequent in most authentic stories;there are few saints to whom God has not granted similar favors: wemay cite, in particular, St. Frances, a Roman lady of the sixteenthcentury, who saw her guardian angel, and he talked to her, instructedher, and corrected her. 

Footnotes:

[59] D'Herbelot, Bibl. Orient. _Perith. Dives_, 785. Idem, 243, p. 85. 

[60] Gen. Vi. 2. 

[61] Joseph. Antiq. Lib. I. C. 4. Philo, De Gigantibus. Justin. Apol. Turtul. De Animâ. _Vide_ Commentatores in Gen. Iv. 

[62] Acts xii. 15. 

[63] Acts x. 2, 3. 

[64] 1 Cor. Xi. 10. 

[65] Acts xxvii. 21, 22. 

[66] Gen. Xvi. 9. 

[67] Gen. Xxii. 11, 17. 

[68] Gen. Xxiv. 7. 

CHAPTER V. 

OPINION OF THE GREEKS AND ROMANS ON THE APPARITIONS OF GOOD GENII. 

Jamblichus, a disciple of Porphyry, [69] has treated the matter ofgenii and their apparition more profoundly than any other author ofantiquity. It would seem, to hear him discourse, that he knew both thegenii and their qualities, and that he had with them the most intimateand continual converse. He affirms that our eyes are delighted by theappearance of the gods, that the apparitions of the archangels areterrible; those of angels are milder; but when demons and heroesappear, they inspire terror; the archontes, who preside over thisworld, cause at the same time an impression of grief and fear. Theapparition of souls is not quite so disagreeable as that of heroes. Inthe appearance of the gods there is order and mildness, confusion anddisorder in that of demons, and tumult in that of the archontes. 

When the gods show themselves, it seems as if the heavens, the sun andmoon, were all about to be annihilated; one would think that the earthcould not support their presence. On the appearance of an archangel, there is an earthquake in every part of the world; it is preceded by astronger light than that which accompanies the apparition of theangels; at the appearance of a demon it is less strong, and diminishesstill more when it is a hero who shows himself. 

The apparitions of the gods are very luminous; those of angels andarchangels less so; those of demons are dark, but less dark than thoseof heroes. The archontes, who preside over the brightest things inthis world, are luminous; but those which are occupied only with whatis material, are dark. When souls appear, they resemble a shade. Hecontinues his description of these apparitions, and enters intotiresome details on the subject; one would say, to hear him, that thatthere was a most intimate and habitual connection between the gods, the angels, the demons, and the souls separated from the body, andhimself. But all this is only the work of his imagination; he knew nomore than any other concerning a matter which is above the reach ofman's understanding. He had never seen any apparitions of gods orheroes, or archontes; unless we say that there are veritable demonswhich sometimes appear to men. But to discern them one from the other, as Jamblichus pretends to do, is mere illusion. 

The Greeks and Romans, like the Hebrews and Christians, acknowledgedtwo sorts of genii, some good and beneficent, the others bad, andcausing evil. The ancients even believed that every one of us receivedat our birth a good and an evil genius; the former procured ushappiness and prosperity, the latter engaged us in unfortunateenterprises, inspired us with unruly desires, and cast us into theworst misfortunes. They assigned genii, not only to every person, butalso to every house, every city, and every province. [70] These geniiare considered as good, beneficent, [71] and worthy of the worship ofthose who invoke them. They were represented sometimes under the formof a serpent, sometimes as a child or a youth. Flowers, incense, cakes, and wine were offered to them. [72] Men swore by the names ofthe genii. [73] It was a great crime to perjure one's self after havingsworn by the genius of the emperor, says Tertullian;[74] _Citius apudvos per omnes Deos, quàm per unicum Genium Cĉsaris perjuratur. _

We often see on medals the inscription, GENIO POPULI ROMANI; andwhen the Romans landed in a country, they failed not to salute andadore its genius, and to offer him sacrifices. [75] In short, there wasneither kingdom, nor province, nor town, nor house, nor door, noredifice, whether public or private, which had not its genius. [76]

We have seen above what Jamblichus informs us concerning apparitionsof the gods, genii, good and bad angels, heroes, and the archontes whopreside over the government of the world. 

Homer, the most ancient of Greek writers, and the most celebratedtheologian of Paganism, relates several apparitions both of gods andheroes, and also of the dead. In the Odyssey, [77] he representsUlysses going to consult the sorcerer Tiresias; and this divinerhaving prepared a grave or trench full of blood to evoke the manes, Ulysses draws his sword to prevent them from coming to drink thisblood, for which they thirst; but which they were not allowed to tastebefore they had answered the questions put to them. They believed alsothat the souls of the dead could not rest, and that they wanderedaround their dead bodies so long as the corpse remained uninhumed. 

Even after they were interred, food was offered them; above everythinghoney was given, as if leaving their tomb they came to taste what wasoffered them. [78] They were persuaded that the demons loved the smokeof sacrifices, melody, the blood of victims, and intercourse withwomen; that they were attached for a time to certain spots and certainedifices which they infested. They believed that souls separated fromthe gross and terrestrial body, preserved after death one more subtileand elastic, having the form of that they had quitted; that thesebodies were luminous, and like the stars; that they retained aninclination for those things which they had loved during their life onearth, and that often they appeared gliding around their tombs. 

To bring back all this to the matter here treated of, that is to say, to the appearance of good angels, we may note, that in the same mannerthat we attach to the apparitions of good angels the idea of tutelaryspirits of kingdoms, provinces, and nations, and of each of us inparticular--as, for instance, the Prince of the kingdom of Persia, orthe angel of that nation, who resisted the archangel Gabriel duringtwenty-one days, as we read in Daniel;[79] the angel of Macedonia, whoappeared to St. Paul, [80] and of whom we have spoken before; thearchangel St. Michael, who is considered as the chief of the people ofGod and the armies of Israel;[81] and the guardian angels deputed byGod to guide us and guard us all the days of our life--so we may saythat the Greeks and Romans, being Gentiles, believed that certainsorts of spirits, which they imagined were good and beneficent, protected their kingdoms, provinces, towns, and private houses. 

They paid them a superstitious and idolatrous worship, as to domesticdivinities; they invoked them, offered them a kind of sacrifice andofferings of incense, cakes, honey, and wine, &c. --but not bloodysacrifices. [82]

The Platonicians taught that carnal and voluptuous men could not seetheir genii, because their mind was not sufficiently pure, nor enoughdisengaged from sensual things; but that men who were wise, moderate, and temperate, and who applied themselves to serious and sublimesubjects, could see them; as Socrates, for instance, who had hisfamiliar genius, whom he consulted, to whose advice he listened, andwhom he beheld, at least with the eyes of the mind. 

If the oracles of Greece and other countries are reckoned in thenumber of apparitions of bad spirits, we may also recollect the goodspirits who have announced things to come, and have assisted theprophets and inspired persons, whether in the Old Testament or theNew. The angel Gabriel was sent to Daniel[83] to instruct himconcerning the vision of the four great monarchies, and theaccomplishment of the seventy weeks, which were to put an end to thecaptivity. The prophet Zechariah says expressly that _the angel whoappeared unto him_[84] revealed to him what he must say--he repeats itin five or six places; St. John, in the Apocalypse, [85] says the samething, that God had sent his angel to inspire him with what he was tosay to the Churches. Elsewhere[86] he again makes mention of the angelwho talked with him, and who took in his presence the dimensions ofthe heavenly Jerusalem. And again, St. Paul in his Epistle to theHebrews, [87] "If what has been predicted by the angels may pass forcertain. "

From all we have just said, it results that the apparitions of goodangels are not only possible, but also very real; that they have oftenappeared, and under diverse forms; that the Hebrews, Christians, Mahometans, Greeks, and Romans have believed in them; that when theyhave not sensibly appeared, they have given proofs of their presencein several different ways. We shall examine elsewhere how we canexplain the kind of apparition, whether of good or bad angels, orsouls separated from the body. 

Footnotes:

[69] Jamblic. Lib. Ii. Cap. 3 & 5. 

[70] "Quod te per Genium, dextramque Deosque Penates, Obsecro et obtestor. "--_Horat. _ lib. I. Epist. 7. 94. 

 ----"Dum cunctis supplex advolveris aris, Ei mitem Genium Domini prĉsentis adoras. " _Stac. _ lib. V. Syl. I. 73. 

[71] Antiquitée expliquée, tom. I. 

[72] Perseus, Satire ii. 

[73] Senec. Epist. 12. 

[74] Tertull. Apol. C. 23. 

[75] "Troja vale, rapimur, clamant; dant oscula terrĉ Troades. "--_Ovid. Metam. _, lib. Xiii. 421. 

[76] "Quamquam cur Genium Romĉ, mihi fingitis unum? Cùm portis, domibus; thermis, stabulis soleatis, Assignare suos Genios?"--_Prudent. Contra Symmach. _

[77] Odyss. XI. Sub. Fin. _Vid. _ Horat. Lib. I. Satire 7, &c. 

[78] Virgil. Ĉneid. I. 6. August. Serm. 15. De SS. Et Quĉst. 5. InDeut. I. 5 c. 43. _Vide_ Spencer, de Leg. Hebrĉor. Ritual. 

[79] Dan. X. 13. 

[80] Acts xvi. 9. 

[81] Josh. V. 13. Dan. X. 13, 21; xii. 1. Judg. V. 6. Rev. Xii. 7

[82] _Forsitan quis quĉrat, quid causĉ sit, ut merum fundendum sitgenio_, non hostiam faciendam putaverint. . . . _Scilicet ut die natalimunus_ annale genio solverent, manum à coede ac sanguineabstinerent. --Censorin. De Die Natali, c. 2. Vide Taffin de AnnoSĉcul. 

[83] Dan. Viii. 16; ix. 21. 

[84] Zech. I. 10, 13, 14, 19; ii. 3, 4; iv. 1, 4, 5; v. 5, 10. 

[85] Rev. I. 1. 

[86] Rev. X. 8, 9, &c. ; xi. 1, 2, 3, &c. 

[87] Heb. Ii. 2. 

CHAPTER VI. 

THE APPARITION OF BAD ANGELS PROVED BY THE HOLY SCRIPTURES--UNDER WHATFORM THEY HAVE APPEARED. 

The books of the Old and New Testament, together with sacred andprofane history, are full of relations of the apparition of badspirits. The first, the most famous, and the most fatal apparition ofSatan, is that of the appearance of this evil spirit to Eve, the firstwoman, [88] in the form of a serpent, which animal served as theinstrument of that seducing demon in order to deceive her and induceher to sin. Since that time he has always chosen to appear under thatform rather than any other; so in Scripture he is often termed _theOld Serpent_;[89] and it is said that the infernal dragon foughtagainst the woman who figured or represented the church; that thearchangel St. Michael vanquished him and cast him down from heaven. Hehas often appeared to the servants of God in the form of a dragon, andhe has caused himself to be adored by unbelievers in this form, in agreat number of places: at Babylon, for instance, they worshiped aliving dragon, [90] which Daniel killed by making it swallow a ball orbolus, composed of ingredients of a mortally poisonous nature. Theserpent was consecrated to Apollo, the god of physic and of oracles;and the pagans had a sort of divination by means of serpents, whichthey called _Ophiomantia_. 

The Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans worshiped serpents, and regardedthem as divine. [91] They brought to Rome the serpent of Epidaurus, towhich they paid divine honors. The Egyptians considered vipers asdivinities. [92] The Israelites adored the brazen serpent elevated byMoses in the desert, [93] and which was in after times broken in piecesby the holy king Hezekiah. [94]

St. Augustine[95] assures us that the Manichĉans regarded the serpentas the Christ, and said that this animal had opened the eyes of Adamand Eve by the bad counsel which he gave them. We almost always seethe form of the serpent in the magical figures[96] _Akraxas_ and_Abrachadabra_, which were held in veneration among the Basilidianheretics, who, like the Manichĉans, acknowledge two principles in allthings--the one good, the other bad; _Abraxas_ in Hebrew signifies_that bad principle_, or the father of evil; _ab-ra-achad-ab-ra_, _thefather of evil_, _the sole father of evil_, or the only badprinciple. 

St. Augustine[97] remarks that no animal has been more subject to theeffects of enchantment and magic than the serpent, as if to punish himfor having seduced the first woman by his imposture. 

However, the demon has usually assumed the human form when he wouldtempt mankind; it was thus that he appeared to Jesus Christ in thedesert;[98] that he tempted him and told him to change the stones intobread that he might satisfy his hunger; that he transported him, theSaviour, to the highest pinnacle of the temple, and showed him all thekingdoms of the world, and offered him the enjoyment of them. 

The angel who wrestled with Jacob at Peniel, [99] on his return fromhis journey into Mesopotamia, was a bad angel, according to someancient writers; others, as Severus Sulpicius[100] and some Rabbis, have thought that it was the angel of Esau, who had come to combatwith Jacob; but the greater number believe that it was a good angel. And would Jacob have asked him for his blessing had he deemed him abad angel? But however that fact may be taken, it is not doubtful thatthe demon has appeared in a human form. 

Several stories, both ancient and modern, are related which inform usthat the demon has appeared to those whom he wished to seduce, or whohave been so unhappy as to invoke his aid, or make a compact with him, as a man taller than the common stature, dressed in black, and with arough ungracious manner; making a thousand fine promises to those towhom he appeared, but which promises were always deceitful, and neverfollowed by a real effect. I can even believe that they beheld whatexisted only in their own confused and deranged ideas. 

At Molsheim, [101] in the chapel of St. Ignatius in the Jesuits'church, may be seen a celebrated inscription, which contains thehistory of a young German gentleman, named Michael Louis, of the houseof Boubenhoren, who, having been sent by his parents when very youngto the court of the Duke of Lorraine, to learn the French language, lost all his money at cards: reduced to despair, he resolved to givehimself to the demon, if that bad spirit would or could give him somegood money; for he doubted that he would only furnish him withcounterfeit and bad coin. As he was meditating on this idea, suddenlyhe beheld before him a youth of his own age, well made, well dressed, who, having asked him the cause of his uneasiness, presented him witha handful of money, and told him to try if it was good. He desired himto meet him at that place the next day. 

Michael returned to his companions, who were still at play, and notonly regained all the money he had lost, but won all that of hiscompanions. Then he went in search of his demon, who asked as hisreward three drops of his blood, which he received in an acorn-cup;after which, presenting a pen to Michael, he desired him to write whathe should dictate. He then dictated some unknown words, which he madehim write on two different bits of paper, [102] one of which remainedin the possession of the demon, the other was inserted in Michael'sarm, at the same place whence the demon had drawn the blood. And thedemon said to him, "I engage myself to serve you during seven years, after which you will unreservedly belong to me. "

The young man consented to this, though with a feeling of horror; andthe demon never failed to appear to him day and night under variousforms, and taught him many unknown and curious things, but whichalways tended to evil. The fatal termination of the seven years wasapproaching, and the young man was then about twenty years old. Hereturned to his father's house, when the demon to whom he had givenhimself inspired him with the idea of poisoning his father and mother, of setting fire to their château, and then killing himself. He triedto commit all these crimes, but God did not allow him to succeed inthese attempts. The gun with which he wished to kill himself missedfire twice, and the poison did not take effect on his father andmother. 

More and more uneasy, he revealed to some of his father's domesticsthe miserable state in which he found himself, and entreated them toprocure him some succor. At the same time the demon seized him, andbent his body back, so that he was near breaking his bones. Hismother, who had adopted the heresy of Suenfeld, and had induced herson to follow it also, not finding in her sect any help against thedemon that possessed or obseded him, was constrained to place him inthe hands of some monks. But he soon withdrew from them and retired toIslade, from whence he was brought back to Molsheim by his brother, acanon of Wurzburg, who put him again into the hands of fathers of thesociety. Then it was that the demon made still more violent effortsagainst him, appearing to him in the form of ferocious animals. Oneday, amongst others, the demon, wearing the form of a hairy savage, threw on the ground a schedule, or compact, different from the trueone which he had extorted from the young man, to try by means of thisfalse appearance to withdraw him from the hands of those who kept him, and prevent his making his general confession. At last they fixed onthe 20th of October, 1603, as the day for being in the Chapel of St. Ignatius, and to cause to be brought the true schedule containing thecompact made with the demon. The young man there made profession ofthe Catholic and orthodox faith, renounced the demon, and received theholy sacrament. Then, uttering horrible cries, he said he saw as itwere two he-goats of immeasurable size, which, holding up theirforefeet (standing on their hindlegs), held between their claws, eachone separately, one of the schedules or agreements. But as soon as theexorcisms were begun, and the priests invoked the name of St. Ignatius, the two he-goats fled away, and there came from the left armor hand of the young man, almost without pain, and without leaving anyscar, the compact, which fell at the feet of the exorcist. 

There now wanted only the second compact, which had remained in thepower of the demon. They recommenced their exorcisms, and invoked St. Ignatius, and promised to say a mass in honor of the saint; at thesame moment there appeared a tall stork, deformed and badly made, wholet fall the second schedule from his beak, and they found it on thealtar. 

The pope, Paul V. , caused information of the truth of these facts tobe taken by the commissionary-deputies, M. Adam, Suffragan ofStrasburg, and George, Abbot of Altorf, who were juridicallyinterrogated, and who affirmed that the deliverance of this young manwas principally due, after God, to the intercession of St. Ignatius. 

The same story is related rather more at length in Bartoli's Life ofSt. Ignatius Loyola. 

Melancthon owns[103] that he has seen several spectres, and conversedwith them several times; and Jerome Cardan affirms that his father, Fassius Cardanus, saw demons whenever he pleased, apparently in ahuman form. Bad spirits sometimes appear also under the figure of alion, a dog, or a cat, or some other animal--as a bull, a horse, or araven; for the pretended sorcerers and sorceresses relate that at the(witches') Sabbath he is seen under several different forms of men, animals, and birds; whether he takes the shape of these animals, orwhether he makes use of the animals themselves as instruments todeceive or harm, or whether he simply affects the senses andimagination of those whom he has fascinated and who give themselves tohim; for in all the appearances of the demon we must always be on ourguard, and mistrust his stratagems and malice. St. Peter[104] tells usthat Satan is always roaming round about us, like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And St. Paul, in more places thanone, [105] warns us to mistrust the snares of the devil, and to holdourselves on our guard against him. 

Sulpicius Severus, [106] in the life of St. Martin, relates a fewexamples of persons who were deceived by apparitions of the demon, whotransformed himself into an angel of light. A young man of very highrank, and who was afterwards elevated to the priesthood, havingdevoted himself to God in a monastery, imagined that he held conversewith angels; and as they would not believe him, he said that thefollowing night God would give him a white robe, with which he wouldappear amongst them. In fact, at midnight the monastery was shaken aswith an earthquake, the cell of the young man was all brilliant withlight, and they heard a noise like that of many persons going to andfro, and speaking. 

After that, coming forth from his cell, he showed to the brothers (ofthe convent) the tunic with which he was clothed: it was made of astuff of admirable whiteness, shining as purple, and soextraordinarily fine in texture that they had never seen anything likeit, and could not tell from what substance it was woven. 

They passed the rest of the night in singing psalms of thanksgiving, and in the morning they wished to conduct him to St. Martin. Heresisted as much as he could, saying that he had been expresslyforbidden to appear in his presence. As they were pressing him tocome, the tunic vanished, which led every one present to suppose thatthe whole thing was an illusion of the demon. 

Another solitary suffered himself to be persuaded that he was Eli;another that he was St. John the Evangelist. One day, the demon wishedto mislead St. Martin himself, appearing to him, having on a royalrobe, wearing on his head a rich diadem, ornamented with gold andprecious stones, golden sandals, and all the apparel of a greatprince. Addressing himself to Martin, he said to him, "Acknowledge me, Martin; I am Jesus Christ, who, wishing to descend to earth, haveresolved to manifest myself to thee first of all. " St. Martin remainedsilent at first, fearing some snare; and the phantom having repeatedto him that he was the Christ, Martin replied: "My Lord Jesus Christdid not say that he should come clothed in purple and decked withdiamonds. I shall not acknowledge him unless he appears in that sameform in which he suffered death, and unless I see the marks of hiscross and passion. "

At these words the demon disappeared; and Sulpicius Severus affirmsthat he relates this as he heard it from the mouth of St. Martinhimself. A little before this, he says that Satan showed himself tohim sometimes under the form of Jupiter, or Mercury, or Venus, orMinerva; and sometimes he was to reproach Martin greatly because, bybaptism, he had converted and regenerated so many great sinners. Butthe saint despised him, drove him away by the sign of the cross, andanswered him that baptism and repentance effaced all sins in those whowere sincere converts. 

All this proves the malice, envy, and fraud of the devil against thesaints, on the one side; and on the other, the weakness anduselessness of his efforts against the true servants of God, and thatit is but too true he often appears in a visible form. 

In the histories of the saints we sometimes see that he hides himselfunder the form of a woman, to tempt pious hermits and lead them intoevil; sometimes in the form of a traveler, a priest, a monk, or an_angel of light_, [107] to mislead simple minded people, and cause themto err; for everything suits his purpose, provided he can exercise hismalice and hatred against men. 

When Satan appeared before the Lord in the midst of his holy angels, and asked permission of God to tempt Job, [108] and try his patiencethrough everything that was dearest to that holy man, he doubtlesspresented himself in his natural state, simply as a spirit, but fullof rage against the saints, and in all the deformity of his sin andrebellion. 

But when he says, in the Books of Kings, _that he will be a lyingspirit in the mouth of false prophets_, [109] and that God allows himto put in force his ill-will, we must not imagine that he showshimself corporeally to the eyes of the false prophets of King Ahab; heonly inspired the falsehood in their minds--they believed it, andpersuaded the king of the same. Amongst the visible appearances ofSatan may be placed mortalities, wars, tempests, public and privatecalamities, which God sends upon nations, provinces, cities, andfamilies, whom the Almighty causes to feel the terrible effects of hiswrath and just vengeance. Thus the exterminating angel kills thefirst-born of the Egyptians. [110] The same angel strikes with deaththe inhabitants of the guilty cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. [111] Hedoes the same with Onan, who committed an abominable action. [112] _Thewicked man seeks only division and quarrels_, says the sage; _and thecruel angel shall be sent against him_. [113] And the Psalmist, speaking of the plagues which the Lord inflicted upon Egypt, says thathe sent evil angels among them. 

When David, in a spirit of vanity, caused his people to be numbered, God showed him an angel hovering over Jerusalem, ready to smite anddestroy it. I do not say decidedly whether it was a good or a badangel, since it is certain that sometimes the Lord employs good angelsto execute his vengeance against the wicked. But it is thought that itwas the devil who slew eighty-five thousand men of the army ofSennacherib. And in the Apocalypse, those are also evil angels whopour out on the earth the phials of wrath, and caused all the scourgesset down in that holy book. 

We shall also place amongst the appearances and works of Satan falseChrists, false prophets, Pagan oracles, magicians, sorcerers, andsorceresses, those who are inspired by the spirit of Python, theobsession and possession of demons, those who pretend to predict thefuture, and whose predictions are sometimes fulfilled; those who makecompacts with the devil to discover treasures and enrich themselves;those who make use of charms; evocations by means of magic;enchantment; the being devoted to death by a vow; the deceptions ofidolatrous priests, who feigned that their gods ate and drank and hadcommerce with women--all these can only be the work of Satan, and mustbe ranked with what the Scripture calls _the depths of Satan_. [114] Weshall say something on this subject in the course of the treatise. 

Footnotes:

[88] Gen. Iii. 1, 23. 

[89] Rev. Xii. 9. 

[90] Bel and the Dragon. 

[91] Wisd. Xi. 16. 

[92] Elian. Hist. Animal. 

[93] Numb. Xxi. 2 Kings xviii. 4. 

[94] On this subject, see a work of profound learning, and asinteresting as profound, on "The Worship of the Serpent, " by the Rev. John Bathurst Deane, M. A. F. S. A. 

[95] Aug. Tom. Viii. Pp. 28, 284. 

[96] _Ab-racha_, pater _mali_, or pater _malus_. 

[97] August. De Gen. Ad Lit. 1. Ii. C. 18. 

[98] Matt. Iv. 9, 10, &c. 

[99] Gen. Xxxii. 24, 25. 

[100] Sever. Sulpit. Hist. Sac. 

[101] A small city or town of the Electorate of Cologne, situated on ariver of the same name. 

[102] There were in all ten letters, the greater part of them Greek, but which formed no (apparent) sense. They were to be seen atMolsheim, in the tablet which bore a representation of this miracle. 

[103] Lib. De Anima. 

[104] 1 Pet. Iii. 8. 

[105] Eph. Vi. 11. 1 Tim. Iii. 7. 

[106] Sulpit. Sever. Vit. St. Martin, b. Xv. 

[107] 2 Cor. Xi. 14. 

[108] Job i. 6-8. 

[109] 1 Kings xxii. 21. 

[110] Exod. Ix. 6. 

[111] Gen. Xviii. 13, 14. 

[112] Gen. Xxxviii. 

[113] Prov. Xvii. 11. 

[114] Rev. Ii. 24. 

CHAPTER VII. 

OF MAGIC. 

Many persons regard magic, magicians, witchcraft, and charms as fablesand illusions, the effects of imagination in weak minds, who, foolishly persuaded of the excessive power possessed by the devil, attribute to him a thousand things which are purely natural, but thephysical reasons for which are unknown to them, or which are theeffects of the art of certain charlatans, who make a trade of imposingon the simple and ignorant. These opinions are supported by theauthority of the principal parliaments of the kingdom, who acknowledgeneither magicians nor sorcerers, and who never punish those accused ofmagic, or sorcery, unless they are convicted also of some othercrimes. As, in short, the more they punish and seek out magicians andsorcerers, the more they abound in a country; and, on the contrary, experience proves that in places where nobody believes in them, noneare to be found, the most efficacious means of uprooting this fancy isto despise and neglect it. 

It is said that magicians and sorcerers themselves, when they fallinto the hands of judges and inquisitors, are often the first tomaintain that magic and sorcery are merely imaginary, and the effectof popular prejudices and errors. Upon that footing, Satan woulddestroy himself, and overthrow his own empire, if he were thus todecry magic, of which he is himself the author and support. If themagicians really, and of their own good will, independently of thedemon, make this declaration, they betray themselves most lightly, anddo not make their cause better; since the judges, notwithstandingtheir disavowal, prosecute them, and always punish them without mercy, being well persuaded that it is only the fear of execution and thehope of remaining unpunished which makes them say so. 

But would it not rather be a stratagem of the evil spirit, [115] whoendeavors to render the reality of magic doubtful, to save frompunishment those who are accused of it, and to impose on the judges, and make them believe that magicians are only madmen andhypochondriacs, worthy rather of compassion than chastisement? We mustthen return to the deep examination of the question, and prove thatmagic is not a chimera, neither has it aught to do with reason. We canneither rest on a sure foundation, nor derive any certain argument foror against the reality of magic, either from the opinion of pretended_esprits forts_, who deny because they think proper to do so, andbecause the proofs of the contrary do not appear to them sufficientlyclear or demonstrative; nor from the declaration of the demon, ofmagicians and sorcerers, who maintain that magic and sorcery are onlythe effects of a disturbed imagination; nor from minds foolishly andvainly prejudiced on the subject, that these declarations are producedsimply by the fear of punishment; nor by the subtilty of the malignantspirit, who wishes to mask his play, and cast dust in the eyes of thejudges and witnesses, by making them believe that what they regardwith so much horror, and what they so vigorously prosecute, isanything but a punishable crime, or at least a crime deserving ofpunishment. 

We must then prove the reality of magic by the Holy Scriptures, by theauthority of the Church, and by the testimony of the most grave andsensible writers; and, lastly, show that it is not true that the mostfamous parliaments acknowledge neither sorcerers nor magicians. 

The teraphim which Rachael, the wife of Jacob, brought away secretlyfrom the house of Laban, her father, [116] were doubtless superstitiousfigures, to which Laban's family paid a worship, very like that whichthe Romans rendered to their household gods, _Penates_ and _Lares_, and whom they consulted on future events. Joshua[117] says verydistinctly that Terah, the father of Abraham, adored strange gods inMesopotamia. And in the prophets Hosea and Zechariah, [118] the Seventytranslate _teraphim_ by the word _oracles_. Zechariah and Ezekiel[119]show that the Chaldeans and the Hebrews consulted these _teraphim_ tolearn future events. 

Others believe that they were talismans or preservatives; everybodyagrees as to their being superstitious figures (or idols) which wereconsulted in order to find out things unknown, or that were to come topass. 

The patriarch Joseph, speaking to his own brethren according to theidea which they had of him in Egypt, says to them:[120] "Know ye notthat in all the land there is not a man who equals me in the art ofdivining and predicting things to come?" And the officer of the sameJoseph, having found in Benjamin's sack Joseph's cup which he hadpurposely hidden in it, says to them:[121] "It is the cup of which mymaster makes use to discover hidden things. "

By the secret of their art, the magicians of Pharaoh imitated the truemiracles of Moses; but not being able like him to produce gnats(English version _lice_), they were constrained to own that the fingerof God was in what Moses had hitherto achieved. [122]

After the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt, God expressly forbidshis people to practice any sort of magic or divination. [123] Hecondemns to death magicians, and those who make use of charms. 

Balaam, the diviner, being invited by Balak, the king, to come anddevote the Israelites to destruction, God put blessings into his mouthinstead of curses;[124] and this bad prophet, amongst the blessingswhich he bestows on Israel, says there is among them neither augury, nor divination, nor magic. 

In the time of the Judges, the Idol of Micah was consulted as a kindof oracle. [125] Gideon made, in his house and his city, an Ephod, accompanied by a superstitious image, which was for his family, and toall the people, the occasion of scandal and ruin. [126]

The Israelites went sometimes to consult Beelzebub, god of Ekron, [127]to know if they should recover from their sickness. The history of theevocation of Samuel by the witch of Endor[128] is well known. I amaware that some difficulties are raised concerning this history. Ishall deduce nothing from it here, except that this woman passed for awitch, that Saul esteemed her such, and that this prince hadexterminated the magicians in his own states, or, at least, that hedid not permit them to exercise their art. 

Manasses, king of Judah, [129] is blamed for having introduced idolatryinto his kingdom, and particularly for having allowed there diviners, aruspices, and those who predicted things to come. King Josiah, on thecontrary, destroyed all these superstitions. [130]

The prophet Isaiah, who lived at the same time, says that they wishedto persuade the Jews then in captivity at Babylon to addressthemselves, as did other nations, to diviners and magicians; but theyought to reject these pernicious counsels, and leave thoseabominations to the Gentiles, who knew not the Lord. Daniel[131]speaks of the magicians, or workers of magic among the Chaldeans, andof those amongst them who interpreted dreams, and predicted things tocome. 

In the New Testament, the Jews accused Jesus Christ of casting outdevils in the name of Beelzebub, the prince of the devils;[132] but herefutes them by saying, that being come to destroy the empire ofBeelzebub, it was not to be believed that Beelzebub would workmiracles to destroy his own power or kingdom. [133] St. Luke speaks ofSimon the sorcerer, who had for a long time bewitched the inhabitantsof Samaria with his sorceries; and also of a certain Bar-Jesus ofPaphos, who professed sorcery, and boasted he could predict futureevents. [134] St. Paul, when at Ephesus, caused a number of books ofmagic to be burned. [135] Lastly, the Psalmist, [136] and the author ofthe Book of Ecclesiasticus, [137] speak of charms with which theyenchanted serpents. 

In the Acts of the Apostles, [138] the young girl of the town ofPhilippi, who was a Pythoness, for several successive days renderedtestimony to Paul and Silas, saying that they were "_the servants ofthe Most High, and that they announced to men the way of salvation_. "Was it the devil who inspired her with these words, to destroy thefruit of the preaching of the Apostles, by making the people believethat they acted in concert with the spirit of evil? Or was it theSpirit of God which put these words into the mouth of this young girl, as he put into the mouth of Balaam prophecies concerning the Messiah?There is reason to believe that she spoke through the inspiration ofthe evil spirit, since St. Paul imposed silence on her, and expelledthe spirit of Python, by which she had been possessed, and which hadinspired the predictions she uttered, and the knowledge of hiddenthings. In what way soever we may explain it, it will always followthat magic is not a chimera, that this maiden was possessed by an evilspirit, and that she predicted and revealed things hidden and to come, and brought her _masters considerable gain by soothsaying_; for thosewho consulted her would, doubtless, not have been so foolish as to payfor these predictions, had they not experienced the truth of them bytheir success and by the event. 

From all this united testimony, it results that magic, enchantments, sorcery, divination, the interpretation of dreams, auguries, oracles, and the magical figures which announced things to come, are very real, since they are so severely condemned by God, and that He wills thatthose who practice them should be punished with death. 

Footnotes:

[115] _Vide_ Bodin Preface. 

[116] Gen. Xxxi. 19. 

[117] Josh. Xxiv. 2-4. 

[118] Hosea ii. 4, &c. Zech. V. 2. 

[119] Zech. X. 2. Ezek. Xxi. 21. 

[120] Gen. Xliv. 15. 

[121] Gen. Xliv. 5. 

[122] Exod. Vii. 10-12. Exod. Viii. 19. 

[123] Exod. Xxii. 18. 

[124] Numb. Xxii. , xxiii. 

[125] Judg. Xvii. 1, 2. 

[126] Judg. Viii. 27. 

[127] 2 Kings i. 2, 2. 

[128] 1 Sam. Xxviii. 7, _et seq. _

[129] 2 Kings xxi. 16. 

[130] 2 Kings xxii. 24. 

[131] Dan. Iv. 6, 7. 

[132] Matt. X. 25; xii. 24, 25. 

[133] Luke xi. 15, 18, 19. 

[134] Acts viii. 11; xiii. 6. 

[135] Acts xix. 19. 

[136] Psalm lvii. 

[137] Ecclus. Xii. 13. 

[138] Acts xvi. 16, 17. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

OBJECTIONS TO THE REALITY OF MAGIC. 

I shall not fail to be told that all these testimonies from Scripturedo not prove the reality of magic, sorcery, divination, and the rest;but only that the Hebrews and Egyptians--I mean the common peopleamong them--believe that there were people who had intercourse withthe Divinity, or with good and bad angels, to predict the future, explain dreams, devote their enemies to the direst misfortunes, causemaladies, raise storms, and call forth the souls of the dead; if therewas any reality in all this, it was not in the things themselves, butin their imaginations and prepossessions. 

Moses and Joseph were regarded by the Egyptians as great magicians. Rachel, it appears, believed that the teraphim of her father Labanwere capable of giving her information concerning things hidden and tocome. The Israelites might consult the idol of Micha, and Beelzebubthe god of Ekron; but the sensible and enlightened people of thosedays, like similar persons in our own, considered all this as thesport and knavery of pretended magicians, who derived much emolumentfrom maintaining these prejudices among the people. 

Moses most wisely ordained the penalty of death against those personswho abused the simplicity of the ignorant to enrich themselves attheir expense, and turned away the people from the worship of the trueGod, in order to keep up among them such practices as weresuperstitious and contrary to true religion. 

Besides, it was necessary to good order, the interests of thecommonwealth and of true piety, to repress those abuses which are inopposition to them, and to punish with extreme severity those who drawaway the people from the true and legitimate worship due to God, leadthem to worship the devil, and place their confidence in the creature, in prejudice to the right of the Creator; inspiring them with vainterrors where there is nothing to fear, and maintaining their minds inthe most dangerous errors. If, amongst an infinite number of falsepredictions, or vain interpretations of dreams, some of them arefulfilled, either this is occasioned by chance or it is the work ofthe devil, who is often permitted by God to deceive those whosefoolishness and impiety lead them to address themselves to him andplace their confidence in him, all which the wise lawgiver, animatedby the Divine Spirit, justly repressed by the most rigorouspunishment. 

All histories and experience on this subject demonstrate that thosewho make use of the art of magic, charms, and spells, only employtheir art, their secret, and their power to corrupt and mislead; forcrime and vice; thus they cannot be too carefully sought out, or tooseverely punished. 

We may add that what is often taken for black or diabolical magic isnothing but natural magic, or art and cleverness on the part of thosewho perform things which appear above the force of nature. How manymarvelous effects are related of the divining rod, sympathetic powder, phosphoric lights, and mathematical secrets! How much knavery is nowwell known in the priests of idols, and in those of Babylon, who madethe people believe that the god Bel drank and ate; that a large livingdragon was a divinity; that the god Anubis desired to have certainwomen, who were thus deceived by the priests; that the ox Apis gaveout oracles, and that the serpent of Alexander of Abonotiche knew thesickness, and gave remedies to the patient without opening the billetwhich contained a description of the illness! We may possibly speakmore fully on this subject hereafter. 

In short, the most judicious and most celebrated Parliaments haverecognized neither magicians nor sorcerers; at least, they have notcondemned them to death unless they were convicted of other crimes, such as theft, bad practices, poisoning, or criminal seduction--forinstance, in the affair of Gofredi, a priest of Marseilles, who wascondemned by the Parliament of Aix to be torn with hot pincers, andburnt alive. The heads of that company, in the account which theyrender to the chancellor of this their sentence, testify that thiscuré was in truth accused of sorcery, but that he had been condemnedto the flames as guilty, and convicted of spiritual incest with hispenitent, Madelaine de la Palu. From all this it is concluded thatthere is no reality in what is called magic. 

CHAPTER IX. 

REPLY TO THE OBJECTIONS. 

In answer to these, I allow that there is indeed very often a greatdeal of illusion, prepossession, and imagination in all that is termedmagic and sorcery; and sometimes the devil by false appearancescombines with them to deceive the simple; but oftener, without theevil spirit being any otherwise a party to it, wicked, corrupt, andinterested men, artful and deceptive, abuse the simplicity both of menand women, so far as to persuade them that they possess supernaturalsecrets for interpreting dreams and foretelling things to come, forcuring maladies, and discovering secrets unknown to any one. I caneasily agree to all that. All kinds of histories are full of factswhich demonstrate what I have just said. The devil has a thousandthings imputed to him in which he has no share; they give him thehonor of predictions, revelations, secrets, and discoveries, which areby no means the effect of his power, or penetration; as in the samemanner he is accused of having caused all sorts of evils, tempests, and maladies, which are purely the effect of natural but unknowncauses. 

It is very true that there are really many persons who are persuadedof the power of the devil, of his influence over an infinite number ofthings, and of the effects which they attribute to him; that they haveconsulted him to learn future events, or to discover hidden things;that they have addressed themselves to him for success in theirprojects, for money, or favor, or to enjoy their criminal pleasures. All this is very real. Magic, then, is not a simple chimera, since somany persons are infatuated with the power of charms and convicted ofholding commerce with the devil, to procure a number of effects whichpass for supernatural. Now it is the folly, the vain credulity, theprepossession of such people that the law of God interdicts, thatMoses condemns to death, and that the Christian Church punishes by itscensures, and which the secular judges repress with the greatestrigor. If in all these things there was nothing but a diseasedimagination, weakness of the brain, or popular prejudices, would theybe treated with so much severity? Do we put to death hypochondriacs, maniacs, or those who imagine themselves ill? No; they are treatedwith compassion, and every effort is made to cure them. But in theother case it is impiety, or superstition, or vice in those whoconsult, or believe they consult, the devil, and place theirconfidence in him, against which the laws are put in force and ordainchastisement. 

Even if we could deny and contest the reality of augurs, diviners, andmagicians, and look on all these kind of persons as seducers, whoabuse the simplicity of those who betake themselves to them, could wedeny the reality of the magicians of Pharaoh, that of Simon, ofBar-Jesus, of the Pythoness of the Acts of the Apostles? Did not thefirst-mentioned perform many wonders before Pharaoh? Did not Simon themagician rise into the air by means of the devil? Did not St. Paulimpose silence on the Pythoness of the city of Philippi inMacedonia?[139] Will it be said that there was any collusion betweenSt. Paul and the Pythoness? Nothing of the kind can be maintained byany reasonable argument. 

A small volume was published at Paris, in 1732, by a new author, whoconceals himself under the two initials M. D. ; it is entitled, _Treatise on Magic, Witchcraft, Possessions, Obsessions and Charms; inwhich their truth and reality are demonstrated_. He shows that hebelieves there are magicians; he shows by Scripture, both in the Oldand New Testament, and by the authority of the ancient fathers, somepassages from whose works are cited in that of Father Debrio, entitled_Disquisitiones Magicĉ_. He proves it by the rituals of all thedioceses, and by the examinations which are found in the printed"Hours, " wherein they suppose the existence of sorcerers andmagicians. 

The civil laws of the emperors, whether pagan or Christian, those ofthe kings of France, both ancient and modern, jurisconsult, physicians, historians both sacred and profane, concur in maintainingthis truth. In all kinds of writers we may remark an infinity ofstories of magic, spells and sorcery. The Parliaments of France, andthe tribunals of justice in other nations, have recognized magicians, the pernicious effects of their art, and condemned them personally tothe most rigorous punishments. 

He relates at full length[140] the remonstrances made to King LouisXIV. , in 1670, by the Parliament at Rouen, to prove to that monarchthat it was not only the Parliament of Rouen, but also all the otherParliaments of the kingdom, which followed the same rules ofjurisprudence in what concerns magic and sorcery; that theyacknowledged the existence of such things and condemn them. Thisauthor cites several facts, and several sentences given on this matterin the Parliaments of Paris, Aix, Toulouse, Rennes, Dijon, &c. &c. ;and it was upon these remonstrances that the same king, in 1682, madehis declaration concerning the punishment of various crimes, and inparticular of sorcery, diviners or soothsayers, magicians, and similarcrimes. 

He also cites the treaty of M. De la Marre, commissary at the_châtelet_ of Paris, who speaks largely of magic, and proves itsreality, origin, progress, and effects. Would it be possible that thesacred authors, laws divine and human, the greatest men of antiquity, jurisconsults, the most enlightened historians, bishops in theircouncils, the Church in her decisions, her practices and prayers, should have conspired to deceive us, and to condemn those who practicemagic, sorcery, spells, and crimes of the same nature, to death, andthe most rigorous punishments, if they were merely illusive, and theeffect only of a diseased and prejudiced imagination? Father le Brun, of the Oratoire, who has written so well upon the subject ofsuperstitions, substantiates the fact that the Parliament of Parisrecognizes that there are sorcerers, and that it punishes themseverely when they are convicted. He proves it by a decree issued in1601 against some inhabitants of Campagne accused of witchcraft. Thedecree wills that they shall be sent to the Conciergerie by thesubaltern judges on pain of being deprived of their charge. Itsupposes that they must be rigorously punished, but it desires thatthe proceedings against them for their discovery and punishment may beexact and regular. 

M. Servin, advocate-general and councillor of state, fully proves fromthe Old and New Testament, from tradition, laws and history, thatthere are diviners, enchanters, and sorcerers, and refutes those whowould maintain the contrary. He shows that magicians and those whomake use of charms, ought to be punished and held in execration; buthe adds that no punishment must be inflicted till after certain andevident proofs have been obtained; and this is what must be strictlyattended to by the Parliament of Paris, for fear of punishing madmenfor guilty persons, and taking illusions for realities. 

The Parliament leaves it to the Church to inflict excommunication, both on men and women who have recourse to charms, and who believethey go in the night to nocturnal assemblies, there to pay homage tothe devil. The Capitularies of the kings[141] recommend the pastors toinstruct the faithful on the subject of what is termed the Sabbath; atany rate they do not command that these persons should receivecorporeal punishment, but only that they should be undeceived andprevented from misleading others in the same manner. 

And there the Parliament stops, so long as the case goes no fartherthan simply misleading; but when it goes so far as to injure others, the kings have often commanded the judges to punish these persons withfines and banishment. The Ordonnances of Charles VIII. In 1490, and ofCharles IX. In the States of Orleans in 1560, express themselvesformally on this point, and they were renewed by King Louis XIV. In1682. The third article of these Ordonnances bears, that if it shouldhappen "_there were persons to be found wicked enough to add impietyand sacrilege to superstition, those who shall be convicted of thesecrimes shall be punished with death_. "

When, therefore, it is evident that some person has inflicted injuryon his neighbor by malpractices, the Parliament punishes themrigorously, even to the pain of death, conformably to the ancientCapitularies of the kingdom, [142] and the royal Ordonnances. Bodin, who wrote in 1680, has collected a great number of decrees, to whichmay be added those which the reverend Father le Brun reports, givensince that time. 

He afterwards relates a remarkable instance of a man named Hocque, whowas condemned to the galleys, the 2d of September, 1687, by sentenceof the High Court of Justice at Passy, for having made use ofmalpractices towards animals, and having thus killed a great number inChampagne. Hocque died suddenly, miserably, and in despair, afterhaving discovered, when drunken with wine, to a person named Beatrice, the secret which he made use of to kill the cattle; he was notignorant that the demon would cause his death to revenge the discoverywhich he had made of this spell. 

Some of the accomplices of this wretched man were condemned to thegalleys by divers decrees; others were condemned to be hanged andburnt, by order of the Baillé of Passy, the 26th of October, 1691, which sentence was confirmed by decree of the Parliament of Paris, the18th of December, 1691. From all which we deduce that the Parliamentof Paris acknowledges that the spells by which people do injury totheir neighbors ought to be rigorously punished; that the devil hasvery extensive power, which he too often exercises over men andanimals, and that he would exercise it oftener, and with greaterextension and fury, if he were not limited and hindered by the powerof God, and that of good angels, who set bounds to his malice. St Paulwarns us[143] to put on the armor of God, to be able to resist thesnares of the devil: for, adds he, "we have not to war against fleshand blood: but against princes and powers, against the bad spirits whogovern this dark world, against the spirits of malice who reign in theair. "

Footnotes:

[139] Acts xvi. 10. 

[140] Page 31, _et seq. _

[141] Capitular. R. Xiii de Sortilegiis et Sorciariis, 2 col. 36. 

[142] Capitular. In 872, x. 2. Col. 230. 

[143] Eph. Vi. 12. 

CHAPTER X. 

EXAMINATION OF THE AFFAIR OF HOCQUE, MAGICIAN. 

Monsieur de St. André, consulting physician in ordinary to the king, in his sixth letter[144] against magic, maintains that in the affairof Hocque which has been mentioned, there was neither magic, norsorcery, nor any operation of the demon; that the venomous drug whichHocque placed in the stables, and by means of which he caused thedeath of the cattle stalled therein, was nothing but a poisonouscompound, which, by its smell and the diffusion of its particles, poisoned the animals and caused their death; it required only forthese drugs to be taken away for the cattle to be safe, or else tokeep the cattle from the stable in which the poison was placed. Thedifficulty laid in discovering where these poisonous drugs werehidden; the shepherds, who were the authors of the mischief, takingall sorts of precautions to conceal them, knowing that their liveswere in danger if they should be discovered. 

He further remarks that these _gogues_ or poisoned drugs lose theireffects after a certain time, unless they are renewed or watered withsomething to revive them and make them ferment again. If the devil hadany share in this mischief, the drug would always possess the samevirtue, and it would not be necessary to renew it and refresh it torestore it to its pristine power. 

In all this, M. De St. André supposes that if the demon had any powerto deprive animals of their lives, or to cause them fatal maladies, hecould do so independently of secondary causes; which will not beeasily granted him by those who hold that God alone can give life anddeath by an absolute power, independently of all secondary causes andof any natural agent. The demon might have revealed to Hocque thecomposition of this fatal and poisonous drug--he might have taught himits dangerous effects, after which the venom acts in a natural way; itrecovers and resumes its pristine strength when it is watered; it actsonly at a certain distance, and according to the reach of thecorpuscles which exhale from it. All these effects have nothingsupernatural in them, nor which ought to be attributed to the demon;but it is credible enough that he inspired Hocque with the perniciousdesign to make use of a dangerous drug, which the wretched man knewhow to make up, or the composition of which was revealed to him by theevil spirit. 

M. De St. André continues, and says that there is nothing in the deathof Hocque which ought to be attributed to the demon; it is, says he, apurely natural effect, which can proceed from no other cause than thevenomous effluvia which came from the poisonous drug when it was takenup, and which were carried towards the malefactor by those whichproceeded from his own body while he was preparing it, and placing itin the ground, which remained there and were preserved in that spot, so that none of them had been dissipated. 

These effluvia proceeding from the person of Hocque, then findingthemselves liberated, returned to whence they originated, and drewwith them the most malignant and corrosive particles of the charge ordrug, which acted on the body of this shepherd as they did on those ofthe animals who smelled them. He confirms what he has just said, bythe example of sympathetic powder which acts upon the body of awounded person, by the immersion of small particles of the blood, orthe pus of the wounded man upon whom it is applied, which particlesdraw with them the spirit of the drugs of which it (the powder) iscomposed, and carry them to the wound. 

But the more I reflect on this pretended evaporation of the venomouseffluvia emanating from the poisoned drug, hidden at Passy en Brie, six leagues from Paris, which are supposed to come straight to Hocque, shut up at la Tournelle, borne by the animal effluvia proceeding fromthis malefactor's body at the time he made up the poisonous drug andput it in the ground, so long before the dangerous composition wasdiscovered; the more I reflect on the possibility of theseevaporations the less I am persuaded of them. I could wish to haveproofs of this system, and not instances of the very doubtful and veryuncertain effects of sympathetic powder, which can have no place inthe case in question. It is proving the obscure by the obscure, andthe uncertain by the uncertain; and even were we to admit generallysome effects of the sympathetic powder, they could not be applicablehere; the distance between the places is too great, and the time toolong; and what sympathy can be found between this shepherd's poisonousdrug and his person for it to be able to return to him who isimprisoned at Paris, when the _gogue_ is discovered at Passy?

The account composed and printed on this event bears, that the fumesof the wine which Hocque had drank having evaporated, and hereflecting on what Beatrice had made him do, began to agitate himself, howled, and complained most strangely, saying that Beatrice had takenhim by surprise, that it would occasion his death, and that he mustdie the instant that _Bras-de-fer_--another shepherd, to whom Beatricehad persuaded Hocque to write word to take off the poisoned drug whichhe had scattered on the ground at Passy--should take away the dose. Heattacked Beatrice, whom he wanted to strangle; and even excited theother felons who were with him in prison and condemned to the galleys, to maltreat her, through the pity they felt for the despair of Hocque, who, at the time the dose was taken off the land, had died in amoment, in strange convulsions, and agitating himself like onepossessed. 

M. De St. André would again explain all this by supposing Hocque'simagination being struck with the idea of his dying, which he waspersuaded would happen at the time they carried away the poison, had agreat deal to do with his sufferings and death. How many people havebeen known to die at the time they had fancied they should, whenstruck with the idea of their approaching death. The despair andagitation of Hocque had disturbed the mass of his blood, altered thehumors, deranged the motion of the effluvia, and rendered them muchsusceptible of the actions of the vapors proceeding from the poisonouscomposition. 

M. De St. André adds that, if the devil had any share in this kind ofmischievous spell, it could only be in consequence of some compact, either expressed or tacit, that as soon as the poison should be takenup, he who had put it there should die immediately. Now, whatlikelihood is there that the person who should make this compact withthe devil should have made use of such a stipulation, which wouldexpose him to a cruel and inevitable death?

1. We may reply that fright can cause death; but that it is notpossible for it to produce it at a given time, nor can he who fallsinto a paroxysm of grief say that he shall die at such a moment; themoment of death is not in the power of man in similar circumstances. 

2. That so corrupt a character as Hocque, a man who, withoutprovocation, and to gratify his ill-will, kills an infinite number ofanimals, and causes great damage to innocent persons, is capable ofthe greatest excess, may give himself up to the evil spirit, byimplicated or explicit compacts, and engage, on pain of losing hislife, never to take off the charge he had thrown upon a village. Hebelieved he should risk nothing by this stipulation, since he was freeto take it away or to leave it, and it was not probable that he shouldever lightly thus expose himself to certain death. That the demon hadsome share in this virtue of the poisonous composition is very likely, when we consider the circumstances of its operations, and those of thedeath and despair of Hocque. This death is the just penalty of hiscrimes, and of his confidence in the exterminating angel to whom hehad yielded himself. 

It is true that impostors, weak minds, heated imaginations, ignorantand superstitious persons have been found who have taken for blackmagic, and operations of the demon, what was quite natural, and theeffect of some subtilty of philosophy or mathematics, or even anillusion of the senses, or a secret which deceives the eye and thesenses. But to conclude from thence that there is no magic at all, andthat all that is said about it is pure prejudice, ignorance, andsuperstition, is to conclude what is general from what is particular, and to deny what is true and certain, because it is not easy todistinguish what is true from what is false, and because men will nottake the trouble to examine into causes. It is far easier to denyeverything than to enter upon a serious examination of facts andcircumstances. 

Footnotes:

[144] M. De St. André, Letter VI. On the subject of Magic, &c. 

CHAPTER XI. 

MAGIC OF THE EGYPTIANS AND CHALDEANS. 

All pagan antiquity speaks of magic and magicians, of magicaloperations, and of superstitious, curious, and diabolical books. Historians, poets, and orators are full of things which relate to thismatter: some believe in it, others deny it; some laugh at it, othersremain in uncertainty and doubt. Are they bad spirits, or deceitfulmen, impostors and charlatans, who, by the subtilties of their art, make the ignorant believe that certain natural effects are produced bysupernatural causes? That is the point on which men differ. But ingeneral the name of magic and magician is now taken in these days inan odious sense, for an art which produces marvelous effects, thatappear above the common course of nature, and that by the operation ofthe bad spirit. 

The author of the celebrated book of Enoch, which had so great avogue, and has been cited by some ancient writers[145] as inspiredScripture, says that the eleventh of the watchers, or of those angelswho were in love with women, was called Pharmacius, or Pharmachus;that he taught men, before the flood, enchantments, spells, magicarts, and remedies against enchantments. St. Clement, of Alexandria, in his recognitions, says that Ham, the son of Noah, received that artfrom heaven, and taught it to Misraim, his son, the father of theEgyptians. 

In the Scripture, the name of _Mage_ or _Magus_ is never used in agood sense as signifying philosophers who studied astronomy, and wereversed in divine and supernatural things, except in speaking of theMagi who came to adore Jesus Christ at Bethlehem. [146] Everywhere elsethe Scriptures condemn and abhor magic and magicians. [147] Theyseverely forbid the Hebrews to consult such persons and things. Theyspeak with abhorrence of _Simon and of Elymas_, well-known magicians, in the Acts of the Apostles;[148] and of the magicians of Pharaoh, whocounterfeited by their illusions the true miracles of Moses. It seemslikely that the Israelites had taken the habit in Egypt, where theythen were, of consulting such persons, since Moses forbids them in somany different places, and so severely, either to listen to them or toplace confidence in their predictions. 

The Chevalier Marsham shows very clearly that the school for magicamong the Egyptians is the most ancient ever known in the world; thatfrom thence it spread amongst the Chaldeans, the Babylonians, theGreeks and Persians. St. Paul informs us that Jannès and Jambrès, famous magicians of the time of Pharaoh, resisted Moses. Plinyremarks, that anciently, there was no science more renowned, or morein honor, than that of magic: _Summam litterarum claritatem gloriamqueex ea scientia antiquitùs et penè semper petitam. _

Porphyry[149] says that King Darius, son of Hystaspes, had so high anidea of the art of magic that he caused to be engraved on themausoleum of his father Hystaspes, "_That he had been the chief andthe master of the Magi of Persia_. "

The embassy that Balak, King of the Moabites, sent to Balaam the sonof Beor, who dwelt in the mountains of the East, towards Persia andChaldea, [150] to entreat him to come and curse and devote to death theIsraelites who threatened to invade his country, shows the antiquityof magic, and of the magical superstitions of that country. For willit be said that these maledictions and inflictions were the effect ofthe inspiration of the good Spirit, or the work of good angels? Iacknowledge that Balaam was inspired by God in the blessings which hegave to the people of the Lord, and in the prediction which he made ofthe coming of the Messiah; but we must acknowledge, also, the extremecorruption of his heart, his avarice, and all that he would have beencapable of doing, if God had permitted him to follow his badinclination and the inspiration of the evil spirit. 

Diodorus of Sicily, [151] on the tradition of the Egyptians, says thatthe Chaldeans who dwelt at Babylon and in Babylonia were a kind ofcolony of the Egyptians, and that it was from these last that thesages, or Magi of Babylon, learned the astronomy which gave suchcelebrity. 

We see, in Ezekiel, [152] the King of Babylon, marching against hisenemies at the head of his army, stop short where two roads meet, andmingle the darts, to know by magic art, and the flight of thesearrows, which road he must take. In the ancients, this manner ofconsulting the demon by divining wands is known--the Greeks call it_Rhabdomanteia_. 

The prophet Daniel speaks more than once of the magicians of Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar, having been frightened in a dream, sent for theMagi, or magicians, diviners, aruspices, and Chaldeans, to interpretthe dream he had had. 

King Belshazzar in the same manner convoked the magicians, Chaldeans, and aruspices of the country, to explain to him the meaning of thesewords which he saw written on the wall: _Mene_, _Tekel_, _Perez_. Allthis indicates the habit of the Babylonians to exercise magic art, andconsult magicians, and that this pernicious art was held in highrepute among them. We read in the same prophet of the trickery madeuse of by the priests to deceive the people, and make them believethat their gods lived, ate, drank, spoke, and revealed to them hiddenthings. 

I have already mentioned the Magi who came to adore Jesus Christ;there is no doubt that they came from Chaldea or the neighboringcountry, but differing from those of whom we have just spoken, bytheir piety, and having studied the true religion. 

We read in books of travels that superstition, magic, and fascinationsare still very common in the East, both among the fire-worshipersdescended from the ancient Chaldeans, and among the Persians, sectaries of Mohammed. St. Chrysostom had sent into Persia a holybishop, named Maruthas, to have the care of the Christians who were inthat country; the King Isdegerde having discovered him, treated himwith much consideration. The Magi, who adore and keep up the perpetualfire, which is regarded by the Persians as their principal divinity, were jealous at this, and concealed underground an apostate, who, knowing that the king was to come and pay his adoration to the(sacred) fire, was to cry out from the depth of his cavern that theking must be deprived of his throne because he esteemed the Christianpriest as a friend of the gods. The king was alarmed at this, andwished to send Maruthas away; but the latter discovered to him theimposture of the priests; he caused the ground to be turned up wherethe man's voice had been heard, and there they found him from whom itproceeded. 

This example, and those of the Babylonish priests spoken of by Daniel, and that of some others, who, to satisfy their irregular passions, pretended that their God required the company of certain women, provedthat what is usually taken for the effect of the black art is onlyproduced by the knavishness of priests, magicians, diviners, and allkinds of persons who impose on the simplicity and credulity of thepeople; I do not deny that the devil sometimes takes part in it, butmore rarely than is imagined. 

Footnotes:

[145] Apud Syncell. 

[146] Matt. Iii. 1, 7, 36. 

[147] Lev. Xix. 31; xx. 

[148] Acts viii. 9; xiii. 8. 

[149] Porph. De Abstinent. Lib. Iv. § 16. Vid. Et Ammian. Marcell. Lib. Xxiii. 

[150] Numb. Xxiii. 1-3. 

[151] Diodor. Sicul. Lib. I. P. 5. 

[152] Ezek. Xxi. 21. 

CHAPTER XII. 

MAGIC AMONG THE GREEKS AND ROMANS. 

The Greeks have always boasted that they received the art of magicfrom the Persians, or the Bactrians. They affirm that Zoroastercommunicated it to them; but when we wish to know the exact time atwhich Zoroaster lived, and when he taught them these pernicioussecrets, they wander widely from the truth, and even from probability;some placing Zoroaster 600 years before the expedition of Xerxes intoGreece, which happened in the year of the world 3523, and before JesusChrist 477; others 500 years before the Trojan war; others 5000 yearsbefore that famous war; others 6000 years before that great event. Some believe that Zoroaster is the same as Ham, the son of Noah. Lastly, others maintain that there were several Zoroasters. Whatappears indubitably true is, that the worship of a plurality of gods, as also magic, superstition, and oracles, came from the Egyptians andChaldeans, or Persians, to the Greeks, and from the Greeks to theLatins. 

From the time of Homer, [153] magic was quite common among the Greeks. That poet speaks of the cure of wounds, and of blood staunched by thesecrets of magic, and by enchantment. St. Paul, when at Ephesus, caused to be burned there books of magic and curious secrets, thevalue of which amounted to the sum of 50, 000 pieces of silver. [154] Wehave before said a few words concerning Simon the magician, and themagician Elymas, known in the Acts of the Apostles. [155] Pindarsays[156] that the centaur Chiron cured several enchantments. Whenthey say that Orpheus rescued from hell his wife Eurydice, who haddied from the bite of a serpent, they simply mean that he cured her bythe power of charms. [157] The poets have employed magic verses to makethemselves beloved, and they have taught them to others for the samepurpose; they may be seen in Theocritus, Catullus, and Virgil. Theophrastus affirms that there are magical verses which curesciatica. Cato mentions (or repeats) some against luxations. [158]Varro admits that there are some powerful against the gout. 

The sacred books testify that enchanters have the secret of puttingserpents to sleep, and of charming them, so that they can never eitherbite again or cause any more harm. [159] The crocodile, that terribleanimal, fears even the smell and voice of the Tentyriens. [160] Job, speaking of the leviathan, which we believe to be the crocodile, says, "Shall the enchanter destroy it?"[161] And in Ecclesiasticus, "Whowill pity the enchanter that has been bitten by the serpent?"[162]

Everybody knows what is related of the Marsi, people of Italy, and ofthe Psyllĉ, who possessed the secret of charming serpents. One wouldsay, says St. Augustine, [163] that these animals understand thelanguages of the Marsi, so obedient are they to their orders; we seethem come out of their caverns as soon as the Marsian has spoken. Allthis can only be done, says the same father, by the power of themalignant spirit, whom God permits to exercise this empire overvenomous reptiles, above all, the serpent, as if to punish him forwhat he did to the first woman. In fact, it may be remarked that noanimal is more exposed to charms, and the effects of magic art, thanthe serpent. 

The laws of the Twelve Tables forbid the charming of a neighbor'scrops, _qui fruges excantâsset_. Valerius Flaccus quotes authors whoaffirm that when the Romans were about to besiege a town, theyemployed their priests to evoke the divinity who presided over it, promising him a temple in Rome, either like the one dedicated to himin the besieged place, or on a rather larger scale, and that theproper worship should be paid to him. Pliny says that the memory ofthese evocations is preserved among the priests. 

If that which we have just related, and what we read in ancient andmodern writers, is at all real, and produces the effects attributed toit, it cannot be doubted that there is something supernatural in it, and that the devil has a great share in the matter. 

The Abbot Trithemius speaks of a sorceress who, by means of certainbeverages, changed a young Burgundian into a beast. 

Everybody knows the fable of Circé, who changed the soldiers orcompanions of Ulysses into swine. We know also the fable of the GoldenAss, by Apuleius, which contains the account of a man metamorphosedinto an ass. I bring forward these things merely as what they are, that is to say, simply poetic fictions. 

But it is very credible that these fictions are not destitute of somefoundation, like many other fables, which contain not only a hiddenand moral sense, but which have also some relation to an event reallyhistorical: for instance, what is said of the Golden Fleece carriedaway by Jason; of the Wooden Horse, made use of to surprise the cityof Troy; the Twelve Labors of Hercules; the metamorphoses related byOvid. All fabulous as those things appear in the poets, they have, nevertheless, their historical truth. And thus the pagan poets andhistorians have travestied and disguised the stories of the OldTestament, and have attributed to Bacchus, Jupiter, Saturn, Apollo, and Hercules, what is related of Noah, Moses, Aaron, Samson, andJonah, &c. 

Origen, writing against Celsus, supposes the reality of magic, andsays that the Magi who came to adore Jesus Christ at Bethlehem, wishing to perform their accustomed operations, not being able tosucceed, a superior power preventing the effect and imposing silenceon the demon, they sought out the cause, and beheld at the same time adivine sign in the heavens, whence they concluded that it was theBeing spoken of by Balaam, and that the new King whose birth he hadpredicted, was born in Judea, and immediately they resolved to go andseek him. Origen believes that magicians, according to the rules oftheir art, often foretell the future, and that their predictions arefollowed by the event, unless the power of God, or that of the angels, prevents the effect of their conjurations, and puts them tosilence. [164]

Footnotes:

[153] Homer, Iliad, IV. 

[154] Acts xix. 19. 

[155] Acts viii. 9; xiii. 8. 

[156] Pind. Od. Iv. 

[157] Plin. I. 28. 

[158] Cato de Rerustic. C. 160. 

[159] Psalm lvii. Jer. Vii. 17. Eccles. X. 11. 

[160] Plin. Lib. Viii. C. 50. 

[161] Job xl. 25. 

[162] Ecclus. Xii. 13. 

 "Frigidus in pratis cantando rumpitur anguis. "--_Virgil_, Ecl. Viii. 

 "Vipereas rumpo verbis et carmine fauces. "--_Ovid. _

[163] Plin. Lib. Xxviii. 

[164] The fables of Jason and many others of the same class are saidby Fortuitus Comes to have a reference to alchemy. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

EXAMPLES WHICH PROVE THE REALITY OF MAGIC. 

St. Augustine[165] remarks that not only the poets, but the historianseven, relate that Diomede, of whom the Greeks have made a divinity, had not the happiness to return to his country with the other princeswho had been at the siege of Troy; that his companions were changedinto birds, and that these birds have their dwelling in the environsof the Temple of Diomede, which is situated near Mount Garganos; thatthese birds caress the Greeks who come to visit this temple, but flyat and peck the strangers who arrive there. 

Varro, the most learned of Romans, to render this more credible, relates what everybody knows about Circé, who changed the companionsof Ulysses into beasts; and what is said of the Arcadians, who, afterhaving drawn lots, swam over a certain lake, after which they weremetamorphosed into wolves, and ran about in the forests like otherwolves. If during the time of their transmutation they did not eathuman flesh, at the end of nine years they repassed the same lake, andresumed their former shape. 

The same Varro relates of a certain Demenotas that, having tasted theflesh of a child which the Arcadians had immolated to their god Lycĉa, he had also been changed into a wolf, and ten years after he hadresumed his natural form, had appeared at the Olympic games, and wonthe prize for pugilism. 

St. Augustine testifies that in his time many believed that thesetransformations still took place, and some persons even affirmed thatthey had experienced them in their own persons. He adds that, when inItaly, he was told that certain women gave cheese to strangers wholodged at their houses, when these strangers were immediately changedinto beasts of burden, without losing their reason, and carried theloads which were placed upon them; after which they returned to theirformer state. He says, moreover, that a certain man, namedPrĉstantius, related that his father, having eaten of this magiccheese, remained lying in bed, without any one being able to awakenhim for several days, when he awoke, and said that he had been changedinto a horse, and had carried victuals to the army; and the thing wasfound to be true, although it appeared to him to be only a dream. 

St. Augustine, reasoning on all this, says that either these thingsare false, or else so extraordinary that we cannot give faith to them. It is not to be doubted that God, by his almighty power, can doanything that he thinks proper, but that the devil, who is of aspiritual nature, can do nothing without the permission of God, whosedecrees are always just; that the demon can neither change the natureof the spirit, or the body of a man, to transform him into a beast;but that he can only act upon the fancy or imagination of a man, andpersuade him that he is what he is not, or that he appears to othersdifferent from what he is; or that he remains in a deep sleep, andbelieves during that slumber that he is bearing loads which the devilcarries for him; or that he (the devil) fascinates the eyes of thosewho believe they see them borne by animals, or by men metamorphosedinto animals. 

If we consider it only a change arising from fancy or imagination, asit happens in the disorder called lycanthropy, in which a man believeshimself changed into a wolf, or into any other animal, asNebuchadnezzar, who believed himself changed into an ox, and acted forseven years as if he had really been metamorphosed into that animal, there would be nothing in that more marvelous than what we see inhypochondriacs, who persuade themselves that they are kings, generals, popes, and cardinals; that they are snow, glass, pottery, &c. Like himwho, being alone at the theatre, believed that he beheld there actorsand admirable representations; or the man who imagined that all thevessels which arrived at the port of Pireus, near Athens, belonged tohim; or, in short, what we see every day in dreams, and which appearto us very real during our sleep. In all this, it is needless to haverecourse to the devil, or to magic, fascination, or illusion; thereis nothing above the natural order of things. But that, by means ofcertain beverages, certain herbs, and certain kinds of food, a personmay disturb the imagination, and persuade another that he is a wolf, ahorse, or an ass, appears more difficult of explanation, although weare aware that plants, herbs, and medicaments possess great power overthe bodies of men, and are capable of deranging the brain, constitution, and imagination. We have but too many examples of suchthings. 

Another circumstance which, if true, deserves much reflection, is thatof Apollonius of Tyana, who, being at Ephesus during a great plaguewhich desolated the city, promised the Ephesians to cause the pest tocease the very day on which he was speaking to them, and which wasthat of his second arrival in their town. He assembled them at thetheatre, and ordered them to stone to death a poor old man, coveredwith rags, who asked alms. "Strike, " cried he, "that enemy of thegods! heap stones upon him. " They could not make up their minds to doso, for he excited their pity, and asked mercy in the most touchingmanner. But Apollonius pressed it so much, that at last they slew him, and amassed over him an immense heap of stones. A little while afterhe told them to take away these stones, and they would see what sortof an animal they had killed. They found only a great dog, and wereconvinced that this old man was only a phantom who had fascinatedtheir eyes, and caused the pestilence in their town. 

We here see five remarkable things:--1st. The demon who causes theplague in Ephesus; 2d. This same demon, who, instead of a dog, causesthe appearance of a man; 3d. The fascination of the senses of theEphesians, who believe that they behold a man instead of a dog; 4th. The proof of the magic of Apollonius, who discovers the cause of thispestilence; 5th. And who makes it cease at the given time. 

Ĉneas Sylvius Picolomini, who was afterwards Pope by the name of PiusII. , writes, in his History of Bohemia, that a woman predicted to asoldier of King Wratislaus, that the army of that prince would be cutin pieces by the Duke of Bohemia, and that, if this soldier wished toavoid death, he must kill the first person he should meet on the road, cut off their ears, and put them in his pocket; that with the sword hehad used to pierce them he must trace on the ground a cross betweenhis horse's legs; that he must kiss it, and then take flight. All thisthe young soldier performed. Wratislaus gave battle, lost it, and waskilled. The young soldier escaped; but on entering his house, he foundthat it was his wife whom he had killed and run his sword through, andwhose ears he had cut off. 

This woman was, then, strangely disguised and metamorphosed, sinceher husband could not recognize her, and she did not make herselfknown to him in such perilous circumstances, when her life was indanger. These two were, then, apparently magicians; both she who madethe prediction, and the other on whom it was exercised. God permits, on this occasion, three great evils. The first magician counsels themurder of an innocent person; the young man commits it on his own wifewithout knowing her; and the latter dies in a state of condemnation, since by the secrets of magic she had rendered it impossible torecognize her. 

A butcher's wife of the town of Jena, in the duchy of Wiemar inThuringia, [166] having refused to let an old woman have a calf's headfor which she offered very little, the old woman went away grumblingand muttering. A little time after this the butcher's wife feltviolent pains in her head. As the cause of this malady was unknown tothe cleverest physicians, they could find no remedy for it; from timeto time a substance like brains came from this woman's left ear, andat first it was supposed to be her own brain. But as she suspectedthat old woman of having cast a spell upon her on account of thecalf's head, they examined the thing more minutely, and they saw thatthese were calf's brains; and what strengthened this opinion was thatsplinters of calf's-head bones came out with the brains. This disordercontinued some time; at last the butcher's wife was perfectly cured. This happened in 1685. M. Hoffman, who relates this story in hisdissertation _on the Power of the Demon over Bodies_, printed in 1736, says that the woman was perhaps still alive. 

One day they brought to St. Macarius the Egyptian, a virtuous womanwho had been transformed into a mare by the pernicious arts of amagician. Her husband, and all those who saw her, thought that shereally was changed into a mare. This woman remained three days andthree nights without tasting any food, proper either for man or horse. They showed her to the priests of the place, who could apply noremedy. 

Then they led her to the cell of St. Macarius, to whom God hadrevealed that she was to come; his disciples wanted to send her back, thinking that it was a mare. They informed the saint of her arrival, and the subject of her journey. "He said to them, You are downrightanimals yourselves, thinking you see what is not; that woman is notchanged, but your eyes are fascinated. At the same time he sprinkledholy water on the woman's head, and all present beheld her in herformer state. He gave her something to eat, and sent her away safe andsound with her husband. As he sent her away the saint said to her, Donot keep from church, for this has happened to you for having beenfive weeks without taking the sacrament of our Lord, or attendingdivine service. "

St. Hilarion, much in the same manner, cured by virtue of holy water ayoung girl, whom a magician had rendered most violently amorous of ayoung man. The demon who possessed her cried aloud to St. Hilarion, "You make me endure the most cruel torments, for I cannot come outtill the young man who caused me to enter shall unloose me, for I amenchained under the threshold of the door by a band of copper coveredwith magical characters, and by the tow which envelops it. " Then St. Hilarion said to him, "Truly your power is very great, to sufferyourself to be bound by a bit of copper and a little thread;" at thesame time, without permitting these things to be taken from under thethreshold of the door, he chased away the demon and cured the girl. 

In the same place, St. Jerome relates that one Italicus, a citizen ofGaza and a Christian, who brought up horses for the games in thecircus, had a pagan antagonist who hindered and held back the horsesof Italicus in their course, and gave most extraordinary celerity tohis own. Italicus came to St. Hilarion, and told him the subject hehad for uneasiness. The saint laughed and said to him, "Would it notbe better to give the value of your horses to the poor rather thanemploy them in such exercises?" "I cannot do as I please, " saidItalicus; "it is a public employment which I fill, because I cannothelp it, and as a Christian I cannot employ malpractices against thoseused against me. " The brothers, who were present, interceded for him;and St. Hilarion gave him the earthen vessel out of which he drank, filled it with water, and told him to sprinkle his horses with it. Italicus not only sprinkled his horses with this water, but likewisehis stable and chariot all over; and the next day the horses andchariot of this rival were left far behind his own; which caused thepeople to shout in the theatre, "Marnas is vanished--Jesus Christ isvictorious!" And this victory of Italicus produced the conversion ofseveral persons at Gaza. 

Will it be said that this is only the effect of imagination, prepossession, or the trickery of a clever charlatan? How can youpersuade fifty people that a woman who is present before their eyescan be changed into a mare, supposing that she has retained her ownnatural shape? How was it that the soldier mentioned by Ĉneas Sylviusdid not recognize his wife, whom he pierced with his sword, and whoseears he cut off? How did Apollonius of Tyana persuade the Ephesians tokill a man, who really was only a dog? How did he know that this dog, or this man, was the cause of the pestilence which afflicted Ephesus?It is then very credible that the evil spirit often acts on bodies, onthe air, the earth, and on animals, and produces effects which appearabove the power of man. 

It is said that in Lapland they have a school for magic, and thatfathers send their children to it, being persuaded that magic isnecessary to them, that they may avoid falling into the snares oftheir enemies, who are themselves great magicians. They make thefamiliar demons, whose services they command, pass as an inheritanceto their children, that they may make use of them to overcome thedemons of other families who are adverse to their own. They often makeuse of a certain kind of drum for their magical operations; forinstance, if they wish to know what is passing in a foreign country, one amongst them beats this drum, placing upon it at the part wherethe image of the sun is represented, a quantity of pewter ringsattached together with a chain of the same metal; then they strike thedrum with a forked hammer made of bone, so that these rings move; atthe same time they sing distinctly a song, called by the Laplanders_Jonk_; and all those of their nation who are present, men and women, add their own songs, expressing from time to time the name of theplace whence they desire to have news. 

The Laplander having beaten the drum for some time, places it on hishead in a certain manner, and falls down directly motionless on theground, and without any sign of life. All the men and all the womencontinue singing, till he revives; if they cease to sing, the mandies, which happens also if any one tries to awaken him by touchinghis hand or his foot. They even keep the flies from him, which bytheir humming might awaken him and bring him back to life. 

When he is recovered he replies to the questions they ask himconcerning the place he has been at. Sometimes he does not awake forfour-and-twenty hours, sometimes more, sometimes less, according tothe distance he has gone; and in confirmation of what he says, and ofthe distance he has been, he brings back from the place he has beensent to the token demanded of him, a knife, a ring, shoes, or someother object. [167]

These same Laplanders make use also of this drum to learn the cause ofany malady, or to deprive their enemies of their life or theirstrength. Moreover, amongst them are certain magicians, who keep in akind of leathern game-bag magic flies, which they let loose from timeto time against their enemies or against their cattle, or simply toraise tempests and hurricanes. They have also a sort of dart whichthey hurl into the air, and which causes the death of any one it fallsupon. They have also a sort of little ball called _tyre_, almostround, which they send in the same way against their enemies todestroy them; and if by ill luck this ball should hit on its way someother person, or some animal, it will inevitably cause its death. 

Who can be persuaded that the Laplanders who sell fair winds, raisestorms, relate what passes in distant places, where they go, as theysay, in the spirit, and bring back things which they have foundthere--who can persuade themselves that all this is done without theaid of magic? It has been said that in the circumstance of Apolloniusof Tyana, they contrived to send away the man all squalid anddeformed, and put in his place a dog which was stoned, or else theysubstituted a dead dog. All which would require a vast deal ofpreparation, and would be very difficult to execute in sight of allthe people: it would, perhaps, be better to deny the fact altogether, which certainly does appear very fabulous, than to have recourse tosuch explanations. 

Footnotes:

[165] Aug. De Civit. Dei, lib. Xviii. C. 16-18. 

[166] Frederici Hoffman, de Diaboli Potentia in Corpora, p. 382. 

[167] See John Schesser, _Laponia_, printed at Frankfort in 4to. An. 1673, chap. Xi. Entitled, _De sacris Magicis et Magia Laponia_, p. 119, and following. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

EFFECTS OF MAGIC ACCORDING TO THE POETS. 

Were we to believe what is said by the poets concerning the effects ofmagic, and what the magicians boast of being able to perform by theirspells, nothing would be more marvelous than their art, and we shouldbe obliged to acknowledge that the power of the demon was greatlyshown thereby. Pliny[168] relates that Appian evoked the spirit ofHomer, to learn from him which was his country, and who were hisparents. Philostratus says[169] that Apollonius of Tyana went to thetomb of Achilles, evoked his manes, and implored them to cause thefigure of that hero to appear to him; the tomb trembled, andafterwards he beheld a young man, who at first appeared about fivecubits, or seven feet and a half high--after which, the phantomdilated to twelve cubits, and appeared of a singular beauty. Apollonius asked him some frivolous questions, and as the young manjested indecently with him, he comprehended that he was possessed by ademon; this demon he expelled, and cured the young man. But all thisis fabulous. 

Lactantius, [170] refuting the philosophers Democritus, Epicurus, andDicearchus, who denied the immortality of the soul, says they wouldnot dare to maintain their opinion before a magician, who, by thepower of his art, and by his spells, possessed the secret of bringingsouls from Hades, of making them appear, speak, and foretell thefuture, and give certain signs of their presence. 

St. Augustine, [171] always circumspect in his decisions, dare notpronounce whether magicians possess the power of evoking the spiritsof saints by the might of their enchantments. But Tertullian[172] isbolder, and maintains that no magical art has power to bring the soulsof the saints from their rest; but that all the necromancers can do isto call forth some phantoms with a borrowed shape, which fascinate theeyes, and make those who are present believe that to be a realitywhich is only appearance. In the same place he quotes Heraclius, whosays that the Nasamones, people of Africa, pass the night by the tombsof their near relations to receive oracles from the latter; and thatthe Celts, or Gauls, do the same thing in the mausoleums of great men, as related by Nicander. 

Lucan says[173] that the magicians, by their spells, cause thunder inthe skies unknown to Jupiter; that they tear the moon from her sphere, and precipitate her to earth; that they disturb the course of nature, prolong the nights, and shorten the days; that the universe isobedient to their voice, and that the world is chilled as it were whenthey speak and command. [174] They were so well persuaded that themagicians possessed power to make the moon come down from the sky, andthey so truly believed that she was evoked by magic art whenever shewas eclipsed, that they made a great noise by striking on coppervessels, to prevent the voice which pronounced enchantments fromreaching her. [175]

These popular opinions and poetical fictions deserve no credit, butthey show the force of prejudice. [176] It is affirmed that, even atthis day, the Persians think they are assisting the moon when eclipsedby striking violently on brazen vessels, and making a great uproar. 

Ovid[177] attributes to the enchantments of magic the evocation of theinfernal powers, and their dismissal back to hell; storms, tempests, and the return of fine weather. They attributed to it the power ofchanging men into beasts by means of certain herbs, the virtues ofwhich are known to them. [178]

Virgil[179] speaks of serpents put to sleep and enchanted by themagicians. And Tibullus says that he has seen the enchantress bringdown the stars from heaven, and turn aside the thunderbolt ready tofall upon the earth--and that she has opened the ground and made thedead come forth from their tombs. 

As this matter allows of poetical ornaments, the poets have vied witheach other in endeavoring to adorn their pages with them, not thatthey were convinced there was any truth in what they said; they werethe first to laugh at it when an opportunity presented itself, as wellas the gravest and wisest men of antiquity. But neither princes norpriests took much pains to undeceive the people, or to destroy theirprejudices on those subjects. The Pagan religion allowed them, nay, authorized them, and part of its practices were founded on similarsuperstitions. 

Footnotes:

[168] Plin. Lib. Iii. C. 2. 

[169] Philost. Vit. Apollon. 

[170] Lactant. Lib. Vi. Divin. Instit. C. 13. 

[171] Aug. Ad Simplic. 

[172] Tertull. De Animâ, c. 57. 

[173] Lucan. Pharsal. Lib. Vi. 450, _et seq. _

[174] "Cessavere vices rerum, dilataque longa, Hĉsit nocte dies; legi non paruit ĉther; Torpuit et prĉceps audito carmine mundus; Et tonat ignaro coelum Jove. "

[175] "Cantat et e curro tentat deducere Lunam Et faceret, si non ĉra repulsa sonent. " _Tibull. _ lib. I. Eleg. Ix. 21. 

[176] Pietro della Valle, Voyage. 

[177] ". . . . Obscurum verborum ambage nervorum Ter novies carmen magico demurmurat ore. Jam ciet infernas magico stridore catervas, Jam jubet aspersum lacte referre pedem. Cùm libet, hĉc tristi depellit nubila coelo; Cùm libet, ĉstivo provocat orbe nives. " _Ovid. Metamorph. _ 14. 

[178] "Naïs nam ut cantu, nimiumque potentibus herbis Verterit in tacitos juvenilia corpora pisces. "

[179] "Vipereo generi et graviter spirantibus hydris Spargere qui somnos cantuque manque solebat, "

CHAPTER XV. 

OF THE PAGAN ORACLES. 

If it were well proved that the oracles of pagan antiquity were thework of the evil spirit, we could give more real and palpable proofsof the apparition of the demon among men than these boasted oracles, which were given in almost every country in the world, among thenations which passed for the wisest and most enlightened, as theEgyptians, Chaldeans, Persians, Syrians, even the Hebrews, Greeks, andRomans. Even the most barbarous people were not without their oracles. 

In the pagan religion there was nothing esteemed more honorable, ormore complacently boasted of. 

In all their great undertakings they had recourse to the oracle; bythat was decided the most important affairs between town and town, orprovince and province. The manner in which the oracles were renderedwas not everywhere the same. It is said[180] the bull Apis, whoseworship was anciently established in Egypt, gave out his oracles onhis receiving food from the hand of him who consulted. If he receivedit, say they, it was considered a good omen; if he refused it, thiswas a bad augury. When this animal appeared in public, he wasaccompanied by a troop of children, who sang hymns in his honor; afterwhich these boys were filled with sacred enthusiasm, and began topredict future events. If the bull went quietly into his lodge, it wasa happy sign;[181] if he came out, it was the contrary. Such was theblindness of the Egyptians. 

There were other oracles also in Egypt:[182] as those of Mercury, Apollo, Hercules, Diana, Minerva, Jupiter Ammon, &c. , which last wasconsulted by Alexander the Great. But Herodotus remarks that in histime there were neither priests nor priestesses who uttered oracles. They were derived from certain presages, which they drew by chance, orfrom the movements of the statues of the gods, or from the first voicewhich they heard after having consulted. Pausanias says[183] that hewho consults whispers in the ear of Mercury what he requires to know, then he stops his ears, goes out of the temple, and the first wordswhich he hears from the first person he meets are held as the answerof the god. 

The Greeks acknowledge that they received from the Egyptians both thenames of their gods and their most ancient oracles; amongst othersthat of Dodona, which was already much resorted to in the time ofHomer, [184] and which came from the oracle of Jupiter of Thebes: forthe Egyptian priests related that two priestesses of that god had beencarried off by Phoenician merchants, who had sold them, one intoLibya and the other into Greece. [185] Those of Dodona related that twoblack doves had flown from Thebes of Egypt--that the one which hadstopped at Dodona had perched upon a beech-tree, and had declared in anarticulate voice that the gods willed that an oracle of Jupiter shouldbe established in this place; and that the other, having flown intoLybia, had there formed or founded the oracle of Jupiter Ammon. Theseorigins are certainly very frivolous and very fabulous. The Oracle ofDelphi is more recent and more celebrated. Phemonoé was the firstpriestess of Delphi, and began in the time of Acrisius, twenty-sevenyears before Orpheus, Musĉus, and Linus. She is said to have been theinventress of hexameters. 

But I think I can remark vestiges of oracles in Egypt, from the timeof the patriarch Joseph, and from the time of Moses. The Hebrews haddwelt for 215 years in Egypt, and having multiplied there exceedingly, had begun to form a separate people and a sort of republic. They hadimbibed a taste for the ceremonies, the superstitions, the customs, and the idolatry of the Egyptians. 

Joseph was considered the cleverest diviner and the greatest expounderof dreams in Egypt. They believed that he derived his oracles from theinspection of the liquor which he poured into his cup. Moses, to curethe Hebrews of their leaning to the idolatry and superstitions ofEgypt, prescribed to them laws and ceremonies which favored hisdesign; the first, diametrically opposite to those of the Egyptians;the second, bearing some resemblance to theirs in appearance, butdiffering both in their aim and circumstances. 

For instance, the Egyptians were accustomed to consult diviners, magicians, interpreters of dreams, and augurs; all which things areforbidden to the Hebrews by Moses, on pain of rigorous punishment; butin order that they might have no room to complain that their religiondid not furnish them with the means of discovering future events andhidden things, God, with condescension worthy of reverentialadmiration, granted them the _Urim and Thummim_, or the Doctrine andthe Truth, with which the high-priest was invested according to theritual in the principal ceremonies of religion, and by means of whichhe rendered oracles, and discovered the will of the Most High. Whenthe ark of the covenant and the tabernacle were constructed, the Lord, consulted by Moses, [186] gave out his replies from between the twocherubim which were placed upon the mercy-seat above the ark. Allwhich seems to insinuate that, from the time of the patriarch Joseph, there had been oracles and diviners in Egypt, and that the Hebrewsconsulted them. 

God promised his people to raise up a prophet[187] among them, whoshould declare to them his will: in fact, we see in almost all agesamong them, prophets inspired by God; and the true prophets reproachedthem vehemently for their impiety, when instead of coming to theprophets of the Lord, they went to consult strange oracles, [188] anddivinities equally powerless and unreal. 

We have spoken before of the teraphim of Laban, of the idols orpretended oracles of Micah and Gideon. King Saul, who, apparently bythe advice of Samuel, had exterminated diviners and magicians from theland of Israel, desired in the last war to consult the Lord, who wouldnot reply to him. He then afterwards addressed himself to a witch, whopromised him she would evoke Samuel for him. She did, or feigned to doso, for the thing offers many difficulties, into which we shall notenter here. 

The same Saul having consulted the Lord on another occasion, to knowwhether he must pursue the Philistines whom he had just defeated, Godrefused also to reply to him, [189] because his son Jonathan had tastedsome honey, not knowing that the king had forbidden his army to tasteanything whatever before his enemies were entirely overthrown. 

The silence of the Lord on certain occasions, and his refusal toanswer sometimes when He was consulted, are an evident proof that Heusually replied, and that they were certain of receiving instructionsfrom Him, unless they raised an obstacle to it by some action whichwas displeasing to Him. 

Footnotes:

[180] Plin. Lib. Viii. C. 48. 

[181] Herodot. Lib. Ix. 

[182] _Vide_ Joan. Marsham, Sĉc. Iv. Pp. 62, 63. 

[183] Pausan. Lib. Vii. P. 141. 

[184] Homer, Iliad, xii. 2, 235. 

[185] Herodot. Lib. Ii. C. 52, 55. 

[186] Exod. Xxv. 22. 

[187] Deut. Xviii. 13. 

[188] 2 Kings i. 2, 3, 16, &c. 

[189] 1 Sam. Xiv. 24. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

THE CERTAINTY OF THE EVENT PREDICTED IS NOT ALWAYS A PROOF THAT THEPREDICTION COMES FROM GOD. 

Moses had foreseen that so untractable and superstitious a people asthe Israelites would not rest satisfied with the reasonable, pious, and supernatural means which he had procured them for discoveringfuture events, by giving them prophets and the oracle of thehigh-priest. He knew that there would arise among them false prophetsand seducers, who would endeavor by their illusions and magicalsecrets to mislead them into error; whence it was that he said tothem:[190] "If there should arise among you a prophet, or any one whoboasts of having had a dream, and he foretells a wonder, or anythingwhich surpasses the ordinary power of man, and what he predicts shallhappen; and after that he shall say unto you, Come, let us go andserve the strange gods, which you have not known; you shall nothearken unto him, because the Lord your God will prove you, to seewhether you love Him with all your heart and with all yoursoul. "

Certainly, nothing is more likely to mislead us than to see what hasbeen foretold by any one come to pass. 

"Show the things that are to come, " says Isaiah, [191] "that we mayknow that ye are gods. Let them come, let them foretell what is tohappen, and what has been done of old, and we will believe in them, "&c. _Idoneum testimonium divinationis_, says Turtullian, [192] _veritasdivinationis_. And St. Jerome, [193] _Confitentur magi, confitenturarioli, et omnis scientia sĉcularis litteraturĉ, prĉescientiamfuturorum non esse hominum, sed Dei_. 

Nevertheless, we have just seen that Moses acknowledges that falseprophets can predict things which will happen. And the Saviour warnsus in the Gospel that at the end of the world several false prophetswill arise, who will seduce many[194]--"They shall shew great signsand wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceiveeven the elect. " It is not, then, precisely either the successfulissue of the event which decides in favor of the false prophet--northe default of the predictions made by true prophets which proves thatthey are not sent by God. 

Jonah was sent to foretell the destruction of Nineveh, [195] which didnot come to pass; and many other threats of the prophets were not putinto execution, because God, moved by the repentance of the sinful, revoked or commuted his former sentence. The repentance of theNinevites guarantied them against the last misfortune. 

Isaiah had distinctly foretold to King Hezekiah[196] that he would notrecover from his illness: "Set thine house in order, for thou shaltdie, and not live. " Nevertheless, God, moved with the prayer of thisprince, revoked the sentence of death; and before the prophet had leftthe court of the king's house, God commanded him to return and tellthe king that God would add yet fifteen years to his life. 

Moses assigns the mark of a true prophet to be, when he leads us toGod and his worship--and the mark of a false prophet is, when hewithdraws us from the Lord, and inclines us to superstition andidolatry. Balaam was a true prophet, inspired by God, who foretoldthings which were followed up by the event; but his morals were verycorrupt, and he was extremely self-interested. He did everything hecould to deserve the recompense promised him by the king of Moab, andto curse and immolate Israel. [197] God did not permit him to do so; heput into his mouth blessings instead of curses; he did not induce theIsraelites to forsake the Lord; but he advised the Moabites to seducethe people of God, and cause them to commit fornication, and to worshipthe idols of the country, and by that means to irritate God againstthem, and draw upon them the effects of his vengeance. Moses caused thechiefs among the people, who had consented to this crime, to be hung;and caused to perish the Midianites who had led the Hebrews into it. And lastly, Balaam, who was the first cause of this evil, was alsopunished with death. [198]

In all the predictions of diviners or oracles, when they are followedby fulfilment, we can hardly disavow that the evil spirit intervenes, and discovers the future to those who consult him. St. Augustine, inhis book _de Divinatione Dĉmonum_, [199] or of predictions made by theevil spirit, when they are fulfilled, supposes that the demons are ofan aërial nature, and much more subtile than bodies in general;insomuch that they surpass beyond comparison the lightness both of menand the swiftest animals, and even the flight of birds, which enablesthem to announce things that are passing in very distant places, andbeyond the common reach of men. Moreover, as they are not subject todeath as we are, they have acquired infinitely more experience thaneven those who possess the most among mankind, and are the mostattentive to what happens in the world. By that means they cansometimes predict things to come, announce several things at adistance, and do some wonderful things; which has often led mortals topay them divine honors, believing them to be of a nature much moreexcellent than their own. 

But when we reflect seriously on what the demons predict, we mayremark that often they announce nothing but what they are to dothemselves. [200] For God permits them, sometimes, to cause maladies, corrupt the air, and produce in it qualities of an infectious nature, and to incline the wicked to persecute the worthy. They perform theseoperations in a hidden manner, by resources unknown to mortals, andproportionate to the subtilty of their own nature. They can announcewhat they have foreseen must happen by certain natural tokens unknownto men, like as a physician foresees by the secret of his art thesymptoms and the consequences of a malady which no one else can. Thus, the demon, who knows our constitution and the secret tendency of ourhumors, can foretell the maladies which are the consequences of them. He can also discover our thoughts and our secret wishes by certainexternal motions, and by certain expressions we let fall by chance, whence he infers that men would do or undertake certain thingsconsequent upon these thoughts or inclinations. 

But his predictions are far from being comparable with those revealedto us by God, through his angels, or the prophets; these are alwayscertain and infallible, because they have for their principle God, whois truth; while the predictions of the demons are often deceitful, because the arrangements on which they are founded can be changed andderanged, when they least expect it, by unforeseen and unexpectedcircumstances, or by the authority of superior powers overthrowing thefirst plans, or by a peculiar disposition of Providence, who setsbounds to the power of the prince of darkness. Sometimes, also, demonspurposely deceive those who have the weakness to place confidence inthem. But, usually, they throw the fault upon those who have taken onthemselves to interpret their discourses and predictions. 

So says St. Augustine;[201] and although we do not quite agree withhim, but hold the opinion that souls, angels and demons are disengagedfrom all matter or substance, still we can apply his reasoning to evilspirits, even upon the supposition that they are immaterial--and ownthat sometimes they can predict the future, and that their predictionsmay be fulfilled; but that is not a proof of their being sent by God, or inspired by his Spirit. Even were they to work miracles, we mustanathematize them as soon as they turn us from the worship of the trueGod, or incline us to irregular lives. 

Footnotes:

[190] Deut. Xiii. 1, 2. 

[191] Isaiah xli. 22, 23. 

[192] Tertull. Apolog. C. 20. 

[193] Hieronym. In Dan. 

[194] Matt. Xxiv. 11, 24. 

[195] Jonah i. 2. 

[196] Kings xx. 1. Isai. Xxxviii. 1. 

[197] Numb. Xxii. Xxiii. Xxiv. 

[198] Numb. Xxxi. 8. 

[199] Aug. De Divinat. Dĉmon. C. 3, pp. 507, 508, _et seq. _

[200] Idem. C. 5. 

[201] S. August. In his Retract. Lib. Ii. C. 30, owns that he advancedthis too lightly. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

REASONS WHICH LEAD US TO BELIEVE THAT THE GREATER PART OF THE ANCIENTORACLES WERE ONLY IMPOSITIONS OF THE PRIESTS AND PRIESTESSES, WHOFEIGNED THAT THEY WERE INSPIRED BY GOD. 

If it is true, as has been thought by many, both among the ancientsand the moderns, that the oracles of pagan antiquity were onlyillusions and deceptions on the part of the priests and priestesses, who said that they were possessed by the spirit of Python, and filledwith the inspiration of Apollo, who discovered to them internallythings hidden and past, or present and future, I must not place themhere in the rank of evil spirits. The devil has no other share in thematter than he has always in the crimes of men, and in that multitudeof sins which cupidity, ambition, interest, and self-love produce inthe world; the demon being always ready to seize an occasion tomislead us, and draw us into irregularity and error, employing allour passions to lead us into these snares. If what he has foretold isfollowed by fulfilment, either by chance, or because he has foreseencertain circumstances unknown to men, he takes to himself all thecredit of it, and makes use of it to gain our confidence andconciliate credit for his predictions; if the thing is doubtful, andhe knows not what the issue of it will be, the demon, the priest, orpriestess will pronounce an equivocal oracle, in order that at allevents they may appear to have spoken true. 

The ancient legislators of Greece, the most skillful politicians, andgenerals of armies, dexterously made use of the prepossession of thepeople in favor of oracles, to persuade them what they had concertedwas approved of by the gods, and announced by the oracle. These thingsand these oracles were often followed by success, not because theoracle had predicted or ordained it, but because the enterprise beingwell concerted and well conducted, and the soldiers also perfectlypersuaded that God was on their side, fought with more than ordinaryvalor. Sometimes they gained over the priestess by the aid ofpresents, and thus disposed her to give favorable replies. Demosthenesharanguing at Athens against Philip, King of Macedon, said that thepriestess of Delphi _Philipized_, and only pronounced oraclesconformable to the inclinations, advantage, and interest of thatprince. 

Porphyry, the greatest enemy of the Christian name, [202] makes nodifficulty of owning that these oracles were dictated by the spirit offalsehood, and that the demons are the true authors of enchantments, philtres, and spells; that they fascinate or deceive the eyes by thespectres and phantoms which they cause to appear; that theyambitiously desire to pass for gods; that their aërial and spiritualbodies are nourished by the smell and smoke of the blood and fat ofthe animals which are immolated to them; and that the office ofuttering oracles replete with falsehood, equivocation, and deceit hasdevolved upon them. At the head of these demons he places _Hecate andSerapis_. Jamblichus, another pagan author, speaks of them in the samemanner, and with as much contempt. 

The ancient fathers who lived so near the times when these oraclesexisted, several of whom had forsaken paganism and embracedChristianity, and who consequently knew more about the oracles than wecan, speak of them as things invented, governed, and maintained by thedemons. The most sensible among the heathens do not speak of themotherwise, but also they confess that often the malice, imposition, servility and interest of the priests had great share in the matter, and that they abused the simplicity, credulity and prepossessions ofthe people. 

Plutarch says, [203] that a governor of Cilicia having sent to consultthe oracle of Mopsus, as he was going to Malle in the same country, the man who carried the billet fell asleep in the temple, where he sawin a dream a handsome looking man, who said to him the single word_black_. He carried this reply to the governor, whose mysteriousquestion he knew nothing about. Those who heard this answer laughed atit, not knowing what was in the billet: but the governor having openedit showed them these words written in it; _shall I immolate to thee ablack ox or a white one?_ and that the oracle had thus answered hisquestion without opening the note. But who can answer for their nothaving deceived the bearer of the billet in this case, as didAlexander of Abonotiche, a town of Paphlagonia, in Asia Minor. Thisman had the art to persuade the people of his country that he had withhim the god Esculapius, in the shape of a tame serpent, who pronouncedoracles, and replied to the consultations addressed to him on diversdiseases without opening the billets they placed on the altar of thetemple of this pretended divinity; after which, without opening them, they found the next morning the reply written below. All the trickconsisted in the seal being raised artfully by a heated needle, andthen replaced after having written the reply at the bottom of thenote, in an obscure and enigmatical style, after the manner of otheroracles. At other times he used mastic, which being yet soft, took theimpression of the seal, then when that was hardened he put on anotherseal with the same impression. He received about ten sols (five pence)per billet, and this game lasted all his life, which was a long one;for he died at the age of seventy, being struck by lightning, near theend of the second century of the Christian era: all which may be foundmore at length in the book of Lucian, entitled _Pseudo Manes_, or _thefalse Diviner_. The priest of the oracle of Mopsus could by the samesecret open the billet of the governor who consulted him, and showinghimself during the night to the messenger, declared to him theabove-mentioned reply. 

Macrobius[204] relates that the Emperor Trajan, to prove the oracle ofHeliopolis in Phoenicia, sent him a well-sealed letter in whichnothing was written; the oracle commanded that a blank letter shouldalso be sent to the emperor. The priests of the oracle were muchsurprised at this, not knowing the reason of it. Another time the sameemperor sent to consult this same oracle to know whether he shouldreturn safe from his expedition against the Parthians. The oraclecommanded that they should send him some branches of a knotted vine, which was sacred in his temple. Neither the emperor nor any one elsecould guess what that meant; but his body, or rather his bones, havingbeen brought to Rome after his death, which happened during his journey, it was supposed that the oracle had intended to predict his death, anddesignate his fleshless bones, which somewhat resemble the branches of avine. 

It is easy to explain this quite otherwise. If he had returnedvictorious, the vine being the source of wine which rejoices the heartof man, and is agreeable to both gods and men, would have typified hisvictory--and if the expedition had proved fruitless, the wood of thevine, which is useless for any kind of work, and only good for burningas firewood, might in that case signify the inutility of thisexpedition. It is allowed that the artifice, malice, and inventions ofthe heathen priests had much to do with the oracles; but are we toinfer from this that the demon had no part in the matter?

We must allow that as by degrees the light of the Gospel was spread inthe world, the reign of the demon, ignorance, corruption of morals, and crime, diminished. The priests who pretended to predict, by theinspiration of the evil spirit, things concealed from mortalknowledge, or who misled the people by their illusions and impostures, were obliged to confess that the Christians imposed silence on them, either by the empire they exercised over the devil, or else bydiscovering the malice and knavishness of the priests, which thepeople had not dared to sound, from a blind respect which they had forthis mystery of iniquity. 

If in our days any one would deny that in former times there wereoracles which were rendered by the inspiration of the demon, we mightconvince him of it by what is still practiced in Lapland, and by whatmissionaries[205] relate, that in India the demon reveals thingshidden and to come, not by the mouth of idols, but by that of thepriests, who are present when they interrogate either the statues orthe demon. And they remark that there the demon becomes mute andpowerless, in proportion as the light of the Gospel is spread amongthese nations. Thus then the silence of the oracles may beattributed--1. To a superhuman cause, which is the power of JesusChrist, and the publication of the Gospel. 2. Mankind are become lesssuperstitious, and bolder in searching out the cause of thesepretended revelations. 3. To their having become less credulous, asCicero says. [206] 4. Because princes have imposed silence on theoracles, fearing that they might inspire the nation with rebelliousprinciples. For which reason, Lucan says, that princes feared todiscover the future. [207]

Strabo[208] conjectures that the Romans neglected them because theyhad the Sibylline books, and their auspices (aruspices, orharuspices), which stood them instead of oracles. M. Vandaledemonstrates that some remains of the oracles might yet be seen underthe Christian emperors. It was then only in process of time thatoracles were entirely abolished; and it may be boldly asserted thatsometimes the evil spirit revealed the future, and inspired theministers of false gods, by permission of the Almighty, who wished topunish the confidence of the infidels in their idols. It would begoing too far, if we affirmed that all that was said of the oracleswas only the effect of the artifices or the malice of the priests, whoalways imposed on the credulity of mankind. Read on this subject thelearned reply of Father Balthus to the treatises of MM. Vandale andFontenelle. 

Footnotes:

[202] Porphr. Apud Euseb. De Prĉpar. Evang. Lib, iv. C. 5, 6. 

[203] Plutarch, de Defectu Oracul. P. 434. 

[204] Macrob. Saturnal. Lib. I. C. 23. 

[205] Lettres édifiantes, tom. X. 

[206] Cicero, de Divinat. Lib. Ii. C. 57. 

[207] "Reges timent futura Et superos vetant loqui. " _Lucan_, Pharsal. Lib. V. P. 112. 

[208] Strabo, lib. Xvii. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

ON SORCERERS AND SORCERESSES, OR WITCHES. 

The empire of the devil nowhere shines forth with more lustre than inwhat is related of the Sabbath (witches' sabbath or assembly), wherehe receives the homage of those of both sexes who have abandonedthemselves to him. It is there, the wizards and witches say, that heexercises the greatest authority, and appears in a visible form, butalways hideous, misshapen, and terrible; always during the night inout-of-the-way places, and arrayed in a manner more gloomy than gay, rather sad and dull, than majestic and brilliant. If they pay theiradoration in that place to the prince of darkness, he shows himselfthere in a despicable posture, and in a base, contemptible and hideousform; if people eat there, the viands of the feast are dirty, insipid, and destitute of solidity and substance--they neither satisfy theappetite, nor please the palate; if they dance there, it is withoutorder, without skill, without propriety. 

To endeavor to give a description of the infernal sabbath, is to aimat describing what has no existence and never has existed, except inthe craving and deluded imagination of sorcerers and sorceresses: thepaintings we have of it are conceived after the reveries of those whofancy they have been transported through the air to the sabbath, bothin body and soul. 

People are carried thither, say they, sitting on a broom-stick, sometimes on the clouds or on a he-goat. Neither the place, the time, nor the day when they assemble is fixed. It is sometimes in a lonelyforest, sometimes in a desert, usually on the Wednesday or theThursday night; the most solemn of all is that of the eve of St. Johnthe Baptist: they there distribute to every sorcerer the ointment withwhich he must anoint himself when he desires to go to the sabbath, andthe spell-powder he must make use of in his magic operations. Theymust all appear together in this general assembly, and he who isabsent is severely ill-used both in word and deed. As to the privatemeetings, the demon is more indulgent to those who are absent for someparticular reason. 

As to the ointment with which they anoint themselves, some authors, amongst others, John Baptista Porta, and John Wierius, [209] boast thatthey know the composition. Amongst other ingredients there are manynarcotic drugs, which cause those who make use of it to fall into aprofound slumber, during which they imagine that they are carried tothe sabbath up the chimney, at the top of which they find a tall blackman, [210] with horns, who transports them where they wish to go, andafterwards brings them back again by the same chimney. The accountsgiven by these people, and the description which they give of theirassemblies, are wanting in unity and uniformity. 

The demon, their chief, appears there, either in the shape of ahe-goat, or as a great black dog, or as an immense raven; he is seatedon an elevated throne, and receives there the homage of those presentin a way which decency does not allow us to describe. In thisnocturnal assembly they sing, they dance, they abandon themselves tothe most shameful disorder; they sit down to table, and indulge ingood cheer; while at the same time they see on the table neither knifenor fork, salt nor oil; they find the viands devoid of savor, and quitthe table without their hunger being satisfied. 

One would imagine that the attraction of a better fortune, and a wishto enrich themselves, drew thither men and women. The devil neverfails to make them magnificent promises, at least the sorcerers sayso, and believe it, deceived, without doubt, by their imagination; butexperience shows us that these people are always ragged, despised, andwretched, and usually end their lives in a violent and dishonorablemanner. 

When they are admitted for the first time to the sabbath, the demoninscribes their name and surname on his register, which he makes themsign; then he makes them forswear cream and baptism, makes themrenounce Jesus Christ and his church; and, to give them a distinctivecharacter and make them known for his own, he imprints on their bodiesa certain mark with the nail of the little finger of one of his hands;this mark, or character, thus impressed, renders the part insensible topain. They even pretend that he impresses this character in threedifferent parts of the body, and at three different times. The demondoes not impress these characters, say they, before the person hasattained the age of twenty-five. 

But none of these things deserve the least attention. There may happento be in the body of a man, or a woman, some benumbed part, eitherfrom illness, or the effect of remedies, or drugs, or even naturally;but that is no proof that the devil has anything to do with it. Thereare even persons accused of magic and sorcery, on whom no part thuscharacterized has been found, nor yet insensible to the touch, howeverexact the search. Others have declared that the devil has never madeany such marks upon them. Consult on this matter the second letter ofM. De St. André, Physician to the King, in which he well develops whathas been said about these characters of sorcerers. 

The word sabbath, taken in the above sense, is not to be found inancient writers; neither the Hebrews nor the Egyptians, the Greeks northe Latins have known it. 

The thing itself, I mean the _sabbath_ taken in the sense of anocturnal assembly of persons devoted to the devil, is not remarked inantiquity, although magicians, sorcerers, and witches are spoken ofoften enough--that is to say, people who boasted that they exercised akind of power over the devil, and by his means, over animals, the air, the stars, and the lives and fortunes of men. 

Horace[211] makes use of the word _coticia_ to indicate the nocturnalmeetings of the magicians--_Tu riseris coticia_; which he derives from_Cotys_, or _Cotto_, Goddess of Vice, who presided in the assemblieswhich were held at night, and where the Bacchantes gave themselves upto all sorts of dissolute pleasures; but this is very different fromthe witches' sabbath. 

Others derive this term from _Sabbatius_, which is an epithet given tothe god Bacchus, whose nocturnal festivals were celebrated indebauchery. Arnobius and Julius Firmicus Maternus inform us that inthese festivals they slipped a golden serpent into the bosoms of theinitiated, and drew it downwards; but this etymology is toofar-fetched: the people who gave the name of _sabbath_ to theassemblies of the sorcerers wished apparently to compare them inderision to those of the Jews, and to what they practiced in theirsynagogues on sabbath days. 

The most ancient monument in which I have been able to remark anyexpress mention of the nocturnal assemblies of the sorcerers is in theCapitularies, [212] wherein it is said that women led away by theillusions of the demons, say that they go in the night with thegoddess Diana and an infinite number of other women, borne through theair on different animals, that they go in a few hours a greatdistance, and obey Diana as their queen. It was, therefore, to thegoddess Diana, or the Moon, and not to Lucifer, that they paid homage. The Germans call witches' dances what we call the sabbath. They saythat these people assemble on Mount Bructere. 

The famous Agobard, [213] Archbishop of Lyons, who lived under theEmperor Louis the Debonair, wrote a treatise against certainsuperstitious persons in his time, who believed that storms, hail, andthunder were caused by certain sorcerers whom they called tempesters(_tempestarios_, or storm-brewers), who raised the rain in the air, caused storms and thunder, and brought sterility upon the earth. Theycalled these extraordinary rains _aura lavatitia_, as if to indicatethat they were raised by magic power. In this place the people stillcall these violent rains _alvace_. There were even personssufficiently prejudiced to boast that they knew of _tempêtiers_, whohad to conduct the tempests where they choose, and to turn them asidewhen they pleased. Agobard interrogated some of them, but they wereobliged to own that they had not been present at the things theyrelated. 

Agobard maintains that this is the work of God alone; that in truth, the saints, with the help of God, have often performed similarprodigies; but that neither the devil nor sorcerers can do anythinglike it. He remarks that there were among his people superstitiouspersons who would pay very punctually what they called _canonicum_, which was a sort of tribute which they offered to thesetempest-brewers (_tempêtiers_), that they might not hurt them, whilethey refused the tithe to the priest and alms to the widow, orphan, and other indigent persons. 

He adds that he had of late found people sufficiently foolish enoughto spread a report that Grimaldus, Duke of Benevento, had sent personsinto France, carrying certain powders which they had scattered overthe fields, mountains, meadows, and springs, and had thus caused thedeath of an immense number of animals. Several of these persons weretaken up, and they owned that they carried such powders about withthem and though they made them suffer various tortures, they could notforce them to retract what they had said. 

Others affirmed that there was a certain country named Mangonia, where there were vessels which were borne through the air and tookaway the productions; that certain wizards had cut down trees to carrythem to their country. He says, moreover, that one day three men and awoman were presented to him, who, they said, had fallen from theseships which floated in the air. They were kept some days inconfinement, and at last having been confronted with their accusers, the latter were obliged, after contesting the matter, and makingseveral depositions, to avow that they knew nothing certain concerningtheir being carried away, or of their pretended fall from the ship inthe sky. 

Charlemagne[214] in his Capitularies, and the authors of his time, speak also of these wizard tempest-brewers, enchanters, &c. , andcommanded that they should be reprimanded and severely chastised. 

Pope Gregory IX. [215] in a letter addressed to the Archbishop ofMayence, the Bishop of Hildesheim, and Doctor Conrad, in 1234, thusrelates the abominations of which they accused the heretic_Stadingians_. "When they receive, " says he, "a novice, and when heenters their assemblies for the first time, he sees an enormous toad, as big as a goose, or bigger. Some kiss it on the mouth, some kiss itbehind. Then the novice meets a pale man with very black eyes, and sothin that he is only skin and bones. He kisses him, and feels that heis cold as ice. After this kiss, the novice easily forgets theCatholic faith; afterwards they hold a feast together, after which ablack cat comes down behind a statue, which usually stands in the roomwhere they assemble. 

"The novice first of all kisses the cat on the back, then he whopresides over the assembly, and the others who are worthy of it. Theimperfect receive only a kiss from the master; they promise obedience;after which they extinguish the lights, and commit all sorts ofdisorders. They receive every year, at Easter, the Lord's Body, andcarry it in their mouth to their own houses, when they cast it away. They believe in Lucifer, and say that the Master of Heaven hasunjustly and fraudulently thrown him into hell. They believe also thatLucifer is the creator of celestial things, that will re-enter intoglory after having thrown down his adversary, and that through himthey will gain eternal bliss. " This letter bears date the 13th ofJune, 1233. 

Footnotes:

[209] Joan. Vier. Lib. Ii. C. 7. 

[210] A remarkably fine print on this subject was published at Parissome years ago; if we remember right, it was suppressed. 

[211] Horat. Epodon. Xviii. 4. 

[212] "Quĉdam sceleratĉ mulieres dĉmonum illusionibus etphantasmatibus seductĉ, credunt se et profitentur nocturnis horis cumDianâ Paganorum deâ et innumerâ multitudine mulierum equitare superquasdam bestias et multa terrarum spalia intempestĉ noctis silentiopertransire ejusque jussionibus veluti dominĉ obedire. "--Baluz. Capitular. Fragment. C. 13. Vide et Capitul. Herardi, Episc. Turon. 

[213] Agobard de Grandine. 

[214] Vide Baluzii in Agobard. Pp. 68, 69. 

[215] Fleury, Hist. Eccles. Tom. Xvii. P. 53, ann. 1234. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

INSTANCES OF SORCERERS AND WITCHES BEING, AS THEY SAID, TRANSPORTED TOTHE SABBATH. 

All that is said about witches going to the sabbath is treated as afable, and we have several examples which prove that they do not stirfrom their bed or their chamber. It is true that some of them anointthemselves with a certain grease or unguent, which makes them sleepy, and renders them insensible; and during this swoon they fancy thatthey go to the sabbath, and there see and hear what every one says isthere seen and heard. 

We read, in the book entitled _Malleus Maleficorum_, or the _Hammer ofthe Sorcerers_, that a woman who was in the hands of the Inquisitorsassured them that she repaired really and bodily whither she would, and that even were she shut up in prison and strictly guarded, and letthe place be ever so far off. 

The Inquisitors ordered her to go to a certain place, to speak tocertain persons, and bring back news of them; she promised to obey, and was directly locked up in a chamber, where she lay down, extendedas if dead; they went into the room, and moved her; but she remainedmotionless, and without the least sensation, so that when they put alighted candle to her foot and burnt it she did not feel it. A littleafter, she came to herself, and gave an account of the commission theyhad given her, saying she had had a great deal of trouble to go thatroad. They asked her what was the matter with her foot; she said ithurt her very much since her return, and knew not whence it came. 

Then the Inquisitors declared to her what had happened; that she hadnot stirred from her place, and that the pain in her foot was causedby the application of a lighted candle during her pretended absence. The thing having been verified, she acknowledged her folly, askedpardon, and promised never to fall into it again. 

Other historians relate[216] that, by means of certain drugs withwhich both wizards and witches anoint themselves, they are really andcorporally transported to the sabbath. Torquemada relates, on theauthority of Paul Grilland, that a husband suspecting his wife of beinga witch, desired to know if she went to the sabbath, and how she managedto transport herself thither. He watched her so narrowly, that he sawher one day anoint herself with a certain unguent, and then take theform of a bird and fly away, and he saw her no more till the nextmorning, when he found her by his side. He questioned her very much, without making her own anything; at last he told her what he had himselfseen, and by dint of beating her with a stick, he constrained her totell him her secret, and to take him with her to the sabbath. 

Arrived at this place, he sat down to table with the others; but asall the viands which were on the table were very insipid, he asked forsome salt; they were some time before they brought any; at last, seeing a salt-cellar, he said--"God be praised, there is some salt atlast!" At the same instant, he heard a very great noise, all thecompany disappeared, and he found himself alone and naked in a fieldamong the mountains. He went forward and found some shepherds; helearned that he was more than three leagues from his dwelling. Hereturned thither as he could, and, having related the circumstance tothe Inquisitors, they caused the woman and several others, heraccomplices, to be taken up and chastised as they deserved. 

The same author relates that a woman, returning from the sabbath andbeing carried through the air by the evil spirit, heard in the morningthe bell for the _Angelus_. The devil let her go immediately, and shefell into a quickset hedge on the bank of a river; her hair felldisheveled over her neck and shoulders. She perceived a young lad whoafter much entreaty came and took her out and conducted her to thenext village, where her house was situated; it required most pressingand repeated questions on the part of the lad, before she would tellhim truly what had happened to her; she made him presents, and beggedhim to say nothing about it, nevertheless the circumstance got spreadabroad. 

If we could depend on the truth of these stories, and an infinitenumber of similar ones, which books are full of, we might believe thatsometimes sorcerers are carried bodily to the sabbath; but oncomparing these stories with others which prove that they go thitheronly in mind and imagination, we may say boldly, that what is relatedof wizards and witches who go or think they go to the sabbath, isusually only illusion on the part of the devil, and seduction on thepart of those of both sexes who fancy they fly and travel, while theyin reality do not stir from their places. The spirit of malice andfalsehood being mixed up in this foolish prepossession, they confirmthemselves in their follies and engage others in the same impiety; forSatan has a thousand ways of deceiving mankind and of retaining themin error. Magic, impiety, enchantments, are often the effects of adiseased imagination. It rarely happens that these kind of people donot fall into every excess of licentiousness, irreligion, and theft, and into the most outrageous consequences of hatred to theirneighbors. 

Some have believed that demons took the form of the sorcerers andsorceresses who were supposed to be at the sabbath, and that theymaintained the simple creatures in their foolish belief, by appearingto them sometimes in the shape of those persons who were reputedwitches, while they themselves were quietly asleep in their beds. Butthis belief contains difficulties as great, or perhaps greater, thanthe opinion we would combat. It is far from easy to understand thatthe demon takes the form of pretended sorcerers and witches, that heappears under this shape, that he eats, drinks, and travels, and doesother actions to make simpletons believe that sorcerers go to thesabbath. What advantage does the devil derive from making idiotsbelieve these things, or maintaining them in such an error?Nevertheless it is related[217] that St. Germain, Bishop of Auxerre, traveling one day, and passing through a village in his diocese, afterhaving taken some refreshment there, remarked that they were preparinga great supper, and laying out the table anew; he asked if theyexpected company, and they told him it was for those good women who goby night. St. Germain well understood what was meant, and resolved towatch to see the end of this adventure. 

Some time after he beheld a multitude of demons who came in the formof men and women, and sat down to table in his presence. St. Germainforbade them to withdraw, and calling the people of the house, heasked them if they knew those persons: they replied, that they weresuch and such among their neighbors: "Go, " said he, "and see if theyare in their houses:" they went, and found them asleep in their beds. The saint conjured the demons, and obliged them to declare that it isthus they mislead mortals, and make them believe that there aresorcerers and witches who go by night to the sabbath; they obeyed, anddisappeared, greatly confused. 

This history may be read in old manuscripts, and is to be found inJacques de Varasse, Pierre de Noëls, in St. Antonine, and in oldBreviaries of Auxerre, as well printed, as manuscript. I by no meansguarantee the truth of this story; I think it is absolutelyapocryphal; but it proves that those who wrote and copied it believedthat these nocturnal journeys of sorcerers and witches to the sabbath, were mere illusions of the demon. In fact, it is hardly possible toexplain all that is said of sorcerers and witches going to thesabbath, without having recourse to the ministry of the demon; to whichwe must add a disturbed imagination, with a mind misled, and foolishlyprepossessed, and, if you will, a few drugs which affect the brain, excite the humors, and produce dreams relative to impressions alreadyin their minds. 

In John Baptist Porta Cardan, and elsewhere, may be found thecomposition of those ointments with which witches are said to anointthemselves, to be able to transport themselves to the sabbath; but theonly real effect they produce is to send them to sleep, disturb theirimagination, and make them believe they are going long journeys, whilethey remain profoundly sleeping in their beds. 

The fathers of the council of Paris, of the year 829, confess thatmagicians, wizards, and people of that kind, are the ministers andinstruments of the demon in the exercise of their diabolical art; thatthey trouble the minds of certain persons by beverages calculated toinspire impure love; that they are persuaded they can disturb the sky, excite tempests, send hail, predict the future, ruin and destroy thefruit, and take away the milk of cattle belonging to one person, inorder to give it to cattle the property of another. 

The bishops conclude that all the rigor of the laws enacted by princesagainst such persons ought to be put in force against them, and somuch the more justly, that it is evident they yield themselves up tothe service of the devil. 

Spranger, in the _Malleus Maleficorum_, relates, that in Suabia, apeasant who was walking in his fields with his little girl, a childabout eight years of age, complained of the drought, saying, "Alas!when will God give us some rain?" Immediately the little girl told himthat she could bring him some down whenever he wished it. Heanswered, --"And who has taught you that secret?" "My mother, " saidshe, "who has strictly forbidden me to tell any body of it. "

"And what did she do to give you this power?"

"She took me to a master, who comes to me as many times as I callhim. "

"And have you seen this master?"

"Yes, " said she, "I have often seen men come to my mother's house; shehas devoted me to one of them. "

After this dialogue, the father asked her how she could do to make itrain upon his field only. She asked but for a little water; he led herto a neighboring brook, and the girl having called the water in thename of him to whom she had been devoted by her mother, they behelddirectly abundance of rain falling on the peasant's field. 

The father, convinced that his wife was a sorceress, accused herbefore the judges, who condemned her to be burnt. The daughter wasbaptized and vowed to God, but she then lost the power of making itrain at her will. 

Footnotes:

[216] Alphons. à Castro ex Petro Grilland. Tract. De Hĉresib. 

[217] Bolland, 5 Jul. P. 287. 

CHAPTER XX. 

STORY OF LOUIS GAUFREDI AND MAGDALEN DE LA PALUD, OWNED BY THEMSELVESTO BE A SORCERER AND SORCERESS. 

This is an unheard-of example; a man and woman who declared themselvesto be a sorcerer and sorceress. Louis Gaufredi, Curé of the parish ofAccouls, at Marseilles, [218] was accused of magic, and arrested at thebeginning of the year 1611. Christopher Gaufredi, his uncle, ofPourrieres, in the neighborhood of Beauversas, sent him, six monthsbefore he (Christopher) died, a little paper book, in 16mo. , with sixleaves written upon; at the bottom of every leaf were two verses inFrench, and in the other parts were characters or ciphers, whichcontained magical mysteries. Louis Gaufredi at first thought verylittle of this book, and kept it for five years. 

At the end of that time, having read the French verses, the devilpresented himself under a human shape, and by no means deformed, andtold him that he was come to fulfil all his wishes, if he would give_him_ credit for all his good works. Gaufredi agreed to the condition. He asked of the demon that he might enjoy a great reputation forwisdom and virtue among persons of probity, and that he might inspirewith love all the women and young girls he pleased, by simplybreathing upon them. 

Lucifer promised him all this in writing, and Gaufredi very soon sawthe perfect accomplishment of his designs. He inspired with love ayoung lady named Magdalen, the daughter of a gentleman whose name wasMandole de la Palud. This girl was only nine years old, when Gaufredi, on pretence of devotion and spirituality, gave her to understand that, as her spiritual father, he had a right to dispose of her, andpersuaded her to give herself to the devil; and some years afterwards, he obliged her to give a schedule, signed with her own blood, to thedevil, to deliver herself up to him still more. It is even said thathe made her give from that time seven or eight other schedules. 

After that, he breathed upon her, inspired her with a violent passionfor himself, and took advantage of her; he gave her a familiar demon, who served her and followed her everywhere. One day he transported herto the witches' sabbath, held on a high mountain near Marseilles; shesaw there people of all nations, and in particular Gaufredi, who heldthere a distinguished rank, and who caused characters to be impressedor stamped on her head and in several other parts of her body. This girlafterwards became a nun of the order of St. Ursula, and passed for beingpossessed by the devil. 

Gaufredi also inspired several other women with an irregular passion, by breathing on them; and this diabolical power lasted for six years. For at last they found out that he was a sorcerer and magician; andMademoiselle de Mandole having been arrested by the Inquisition, andinterrogated by father Michael Jacobin, owned a great part of what wehave just told, and during the exorcisms discovered several otherthings. She was then nineteen years of age. 

All this made Gaufredi known to the Parliament of Provence. Theyarrested him; and proceedings against him commenced February, 1611. They heard in particular the deposition of Magdalen de la Palud, whogave a complete history of the magic of Gaufredi, and the abominationshe had committed with her. That for the last fourteen years he hadbeen a magician, and head of the magicians; and if he had been takenby the justiciary power, the devil would have carried him body andsoul to hell. 

Gaufredi had voluntarily gone to prison; and from the firstexamination which he underwent, he denied everything and representedhimself as an upright man. But from the depositions made against him, it was shown that his heart was very corrupted, and that he hadseduced Mademoiselle de Mandole, and other women whom he confessed. This young lady was heard juridically the 21st of February, and gavethe history of her seduction, of Gaufredi's magic, and of the sabbathwhither he had caused her to be transported several times. 

Some time after this, being confronted with Gaufredi, she owned thathe was a worthy man, and that all which had been reported against himwas imaginary, and retracted all she herself had avowed. Gaufredi onhis part acknowledged his illicit connection with her, denied all therest, and maintained that it was the devil, by whom she was possessed, that had suggested to her all she had said. He owned that, havingresolved to reform his life, Lucifer had appeared to him, andthreatened him with many misfortunes; that in fact he had experiencedseveral; that he had burnt the magic book in which he had placed theschedules of Mademoiselle de la Palud and his own, which he had madewith the devil; but that when he afterwards looked for them, he wasmuch astonished not to find them. He spoke at length concerning thesabbath, and said there was, near the town of Nice, a magician, whohad all sorts of garments ready for the use of the sorcerers; that onthe day of the sabbath, there is a bell weighing a hundred pounds, four ells in width, and with a clapper of wood, which made the sounddull and lugubrious. He related several horrors, impieties, andabominations which were committed at the sabbath. He repeated theschedule which Lucifer had given him, by which he bound himself tocast a spell on those women who should be to his taste. 

After this exposition of the things related above, theattorney-general drew his conclusions: As the said Gaufredi had beenconvicted of having divers marks in several parts of his body, whereif pricked he has felt no pain, neither has any blood come; that hehas been illicitly connected with Magdalen de la Palud, both at churchand in her own house, both by day and by night, by letters in whichwere amorous or love characters, invisible to any other but herself;that he had induced her to renounce her God and her Church--and thatshe had received on her body several diabolical characters; that hehas owned himself to be a sorcerer and a magician; that he had kept byhim a book of magic, and had made use of it to conjure and invoke theevil spirit; that he has been with the said Magdalen to the sabbath, where he had committed an infinite number of scandalous, impious andabominable actions, such as having worshiped Lucifer:--for thesecauses, the said attorney-general requires that the said Gaufredi bedeclared attainted and convicted of the circumstances imputed to him, and as reparation of them, that he be previously degraded from sacredorders by the Lord Bishop of Marseilles, his diocesan, and afterwardscondemned to make honorable amends one audience day, having his headand feet bare, a cord about his neck, and holding a lighted taper inhis hands--to ask pardon of God, the king, and the court ofjustice--then, to be delivered into the hands of the executioner ofthe high court of law, to be taken to all the chief places andcross-roads of this city of Aix, and torn with red-hot pincers in allparts of his body; and after that, in the _Place des Jacobins_, burnedalive, and his ashes scattered to the wind; and before being executed, let the question be applied to him, and let him be tormented asgrievously as can be devised, in order to extract from him the namesof his other accomplices. Deliberated the 18th of April, 1611, and thedecree in conformity given the 29th of April, 1611. 

The same Gaufredi having undergone the question ordinary andextraordinary, declared that he had seen at the sabbath no person ofhis acquaintance except Mademoiselle de Mandole; that he had seenthere also certain monks of certain orders, which he did not name, neither did he know the names of the monks. That the devil anointedthe heads of the sorcerers with certain unguents, which quite effacedevery thing from their memory. 

Notwithstanding this decree of the Parliament of Provence, many peoplebelieved that Gaufredi was a sorcerer only in imagination; and theauthor from whom we derive this history says, that there are someparliaments, amongst others the Parliament of Paris, which do notpunish sorcerers when no other crimes are combined with magic; andthat experience has proved that, in not punishing sorcerers, butsimply treating them as madmen, it has been seen in time that theywere no longer sorcerers, because they no longer fed their imaginationwith these ideas; while in those places where sorcerers were burnt, they saw nothing else, because everybody was strengthened in thisprejudice. That is what this writer says. 

But we cannot conclude from thence that God does not sometimes permitthe demon to exercise his power over men, and lead them to the excessof malice and impiety, and shed darkness over their minds andcorruption in their hearts, which hurry them into an abyss of disorderand misfortune. The demon tempted Job[219] by the permission of God. The messenger of Satan and the thorn in the flesh wearied St. Paul;[220] he asked to be delivered from them; but he was told thatthe grace of God would enable him to resist his enemies, and thatvirtue was strengthened by infirmities and trials. Satan tookpossession of the heart of Judas, and led him to betray Jesus Christhis Master to the Jews his enemies. [221] The Lord wishing to warn hisdisciples against the impostors who would appear after his ascension, says that, by God's permission, these impostors would work suchmiracles as might mislead the very elect themselves, [222] were itpossible. He tells them elsewhere, [223] that Satan has askedpermission of God to sift them as wheat, but that He has prayed forthem that their faith may be steadfast. 

Thus then with permission from God, the devil can lead men to commitsuch excesses as we have just seen in Mademoiselle de la Palud and inthe priest Louis Gaufredi, perhaps even so far as really to take themthrough the air to unknown spots, and to what is called the witches'sabbath; or, without really conducting them thither, so strike theirimagination and mislead their senses, that they think they move, see, and hear, when they do not stir from their places, see no object andhear no sound. 

Observe, also, that the Parliament of Aix did not pass any sentenceagainst even that young girl, it being their custom to inflict noother punishment on those who suffered themselves to be seduced anddishonored than the shame with which they were loaded ever after. Inregard to the curé Gaufredi, in the account which they render to thechancellor of the sentence given by them, they say that this curé wasin truth accused of sorcery; but that he had been condemned to theflames, as being arraigned and convicted of spiritual incest withMagdalen de la Palud, his penitent. [224]

Footnotes:

[218] Causes Célèbres, tom. Vi. P. 192. 

[219] Job i. 12, 13, 22. 

[220] 2 Cor. Xii. 7, 8. 

[221] John xiii. 2. 

[222] Matt. Xxiv. 5. 

[223] Luke xxi. 

[224] The attentive reader of this horrible narrative will hardly failto conclude that Gaufredi's fault was chiefly his seduction ofMademoiselle de la Palud, and that the rest was the effect of a heatedimagination. The absurd proportions of the "_Sabbath_" bell will besufficient to show this. If the bell were metallic, it would haveweighed many tons, and a _wooden_ bell of such dimensions, even wereit capable of sounding, would weigh many hundred weight. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

REASONS WHICH PROVE THE POSSIBILITY OF SORCERERS AND WITCHES BEINGTRANSPORTED TO THE SABBATH. 

All that has just been said is more fitted to prove that the going ofsorcerers and witches to the sabbath is only an illusion and aderanged imagination on the part of these persons, and malice anddeceit on that of the devil, who misleads them, and persuades them toyield themselves to him, and renounce true religion, by the lure ofvain promises that he will enrich them, load them with honors, pleasures, and prosperity, rather than to convince us of the realityof the corporeal transportation of these persons to what they call thesabbath. 

Here are some arguments and examples which seem to prove, at least, that the transportation of sorcerers to the sabbath is not impossible;for the impossibility of this transportation is one of the strongestobjections which is made to the opinion that supposes it. 

There is no difficulty in believing that God may allow the demon tomislead men, and carry them on to every excess of irregularity, error, and impiety; and that he may also permit him to perform some thingswhich to us appear astonishing, and even miraculous; whether the devilachieves them by natural power, or by the supernatural concurrence ofGod, who employs the evil spirit to punish his creature, who haswillingly forsaken Him to yield himself up to his enemy. The prophetEzekiel was transported through the air from Chaldea, where he was acaptive, to Judea, and into the temple of the Lord, where he saw theabominations which the Israelites committed in that holy place; andthence he was brought back again to Chaldea by the ministration ofangels, as we shall relate in another chapter. 

We know by the Gospel that the devil carried our Saviour to thehighest point of the temple at Jerusalem. [225] We know also that theprophet Habakkuk[226] was transported from Judea to Babylon, to carryfood to Daniel in the lion's den. St. Paul informs us that he wascarried up to the third heaven, and that he heard ineffable things;but he owns that he does not know whether it was in the body or onlyin the spirit. He therefore doubted not the possibility of a man'sbeing transported in body and soul through the air. The deacon St. Philip was transported from the road from Gaza to Azotus in a verylittle time by the Spirit of God. [227] We learn by ecclesiasticalhistory, that Simon the magician was carried by the demon up into theair, whence he was precipitated, through the prayers of St. Peter. John the Deacon, [228] author of the life of St. Gregory the Great, relates that one Farold having introduced into the monastery of St. Andrew, at Rome, some women who led disorderly lives, in order todivert himself there with them, and offer insult to the monks, thatsame night Farold having occasion to go out, was suddenly seized andcarried up into the air by demons, who held him there suspended by hishair, without his being able to open his mouth to utter a cry, tillthe hour of matins, when Pope St. Gregory, the founder and protectorof that monastery, appeared to him, reproached him for his profanationof that holy place, and foretold that he would die within theyear--which did happen. 

I have been told by a magistrate, as incapable of being deceived byillusions as of imposing any such on other people, [229] that on the16th of October, 1716, a carpenter, who inhabited a village near Bar, in Alsace, called Heiligenstein, was found at five o'clock in themorning in the garret of a cooper at Bar. This cooper having gone upto fetch the wood for his trade that he might want to use during theday, and having opened the door, which was fastened with a bolt _onthe outside_, perceived a man lying at full length upon his stomach, and fast asleep. He recognized him, and having asked him what he didthere, the carpenter in the greatest surprise told him he knew neitherby what means, nor by whom, he had been taken to that place. 

The cooper not believing this, told him that assuredly he was comethither to rob him, and had him taken before the magistrate of Bar, who having interrogated him concerning the circumstance just spokenof, he related to him with great simplicity, that, having set offabout four o'clock in the morning to come from Heiligenstein toBar--there being but a quarter of an hour's distance between those twoplaces--he saw on a sudden, in a place covered with verdure and grass, a magnificent feast, brightly illuminated, where a number of personswere highly enjoying themselves with a sumptuous repast and by dancing;that two women of his acquaintance, inhabitants of Bar, having asked himto join the company, he sat down to table and partook of the good cheer, for a quarter of an hour at the most; after that, one of the guestshaving cried out "_Citò, Citò_, " he found himself carried away gentlyto the cooper's garret, without knowing how he had been transported there. 

This is what he declared in presence of the magistrate. The mostsingular circumstance of this history is, that hardly had thecarpenter deposed what we read, than those two women of Bar who hadinvited him to join their feast hung themselves, each in her ownhouse. 

The superior magistrates, fearing to carry things so far as tocompromise perhaps half the inhabitants of Bar, judged prudently thatthey had better not inquire further; they treated the carpenter as avisionary, and the two women who hung themselves were considered aslunatics; thus the thing was hushed up, and the matter ended. 

If this is what they call the witches' sabbath, neither the carpenter, nor the two women, nor apparently the other guests at the festival, had need to come mounted on a demon; they were too near their owndwellings to have recourse to superhuman means in order to havethemselves transported to the place of meeting. We are not informedhow these guests repaired to this feast, nor how they returned eachone to their home; the spot was so near the town, that they couldeasily go and return without any extraneous assistance. 

But if secrecy was necessary, and they feared discovery, it is veryprobable that the demon transported them to their homes through theair before it was day, as he had transported the carpenter to thecooper's garret. Whatever turn may be given to this event, it iscertainly difficult not to recognize a manifest work of the evilspirit in the transportation of the carpenter through the air, whofinds himself, without being aware of it, in a well-fastened garret. The women who hung themselves, showed clearly that they fearedsomething still worse from the law, had they been convicted of magicand witchcraft. And had not their accomplices also, whose names musthave been declared, as much to fear?

William de Neubridge relates another story, which bears someresemblance to the preceding. A peasant having heard, one night as hewas passing near a tomb, a melodious concert of different voices, drewnear, and finding the door open, put in his head, and saw in themiddle a grand feast, well lighted, and a well-covered table, roundwhich were men and women making merry. One of the attendants havingperceived him, presented him with a cup filled with liquor; he tookit, and having spilled the liquor, he fled with the cup to the firstvillage, where he stopped. If our carpenter had done the same, insteadof amusing himself at the feast of the witches of Bar, he would havespared himself much uneasiness. 

We have in history several instances of persons full of religion andpiety, who, in the fervor of their orisons, have been taken up intothe air, and remained there for some time. We have known a good monk, who rises sometimes from the ground, and remains suspended withoutwishing it, without seeking to do so, especially on seeing somedevotional image, or on hearing some devout prayer, such as "_Gloriain excelsis Deo_. " I know a nun to whom it has often happened in spiteof herself to see herself thus raised up in the air to a certaindistance from the earth; it was neither from choice, nor from any wishto distinguish herself, since she was truly confused at it. Was it bythe ministration of angels, or by the artifice of the seducing spirit, who wished to inspire her with sentiments of vanity and pride? Or wasit the natural effect of Divine love, or fervor of devotion in thesepersons?

I do not observe that the ancient fathers of the desert, who were sospiritual, so fervent, and so great in prayer, experienced similarecstasies. These risings up in the air are more common among our newsaints, as we may see in the Life[230] of St. Philip of Neri, wherethey relate his ecstasies and his elevations from earth into the air, sometimes to the height of several yards, and almost to the ceiling ofhis room, and this quite involuntarily. He tried in vain to hide itfrom the knowledge of those present, for fear of attracting theiradmiration, and feeling in it some vain complacency. The writers whogive us these particulars do not say what was the cause, whether theseecstatic elevations from the ground were produced by the fervor of theHoly Spirit, or by the ministry of good angels, or by a miraculousfavor of God, who desired thus to do honor to his servants in the eyesof men. God had moreover favored the same St. Philip de Neri, bypermitting him to see the celestial spirits and even the demons, andto discover the state of holy spirits, by supernatural knowledge. 

St. John Columbino, teacher of the Jesuits, made use of St. CatherineColumbine, [231] a maiden of extraordinary virtue, for theestablishment of nuns of his order. It is related of her, thatsometimes she remained in a trance, and raised up two yards from theground, motionless, speechless, and insensible. 

The same thing is said of St. Ignatius de Loyola, [232] who remainedentranced by God, and raised up from the ground to the height of twofeet, while his body shone like light. He has been seen to remain ina trance insensible, and almost without respiration, for eight daystogether. 

St. Robert de Palentin[233] rose also from the ground, sometimes tothe height of a foot and a half, to the great astonishment of hisdisciples and assistants. We see similar trances and elevations in theLife of St. Bernard Ptolomei, teacher of the congregation of NotreDame of Mount Olivet;[234] of St. Philip Benitas, of the order ofServites; of St. Cajetanus, founder of the Théatins;[235] of St. Albert of Sicily, confessor, who, during his prayers, rose threecubits from the ground; and lastly of St. Dominic, the founder of theorder of Preaching Brothers. [236]

It is related of St. Christina, [237] Virgin at S. Tron, that beingconsidered dead, and carried into the church in her coffin, as theywere performing for her the usual service, she arose suddenly, andwent as high as the beams of the church, as lightly as a bird. Beingreturned into the house with her sisters, she related to them that shehad been led first to purgatory, and thence to hell, and lastly toparadise, where God had given her the choice of remaining there, or ofreturning to this world and doing penance for the souls she had seenin purgatory. She chose the latter, and was brought back to her bodyby the holy angels. From that time she could not bear the effluvia ofthe human body, and rose up into trees and on the highest towers withincredible lightness, there to watch and pray. She was so light inrunning that she outran the swiftest dogs. Her parents tried in vainall they could do to stop her, even to loading her with chains, butshe always escaped from them. So many other almost incredible thingsare related of this saint, that I dare not repeat them here. 

M. Nicole, in his letters, speaks of a nun named Seraphina, who, inher ecstasies, rose from the ground with so much impetuosity that fiveor six of the sisters could hardly hold her down. 

This doctor, reasoning on the fact, [238] says, that it proves nothingat all for Sister Seraphina; but the thing well verified proves Godand the devil--that is to say, the whole of religion; that thecircumstance being proved, is of very great consequence to religion;that the world is full of certain persons who believe only what cannotbe doubted; that the great heresy of the world is no longer Calvinismand Lutheranism, but atheism. There are all sorts of atheists--somereal, others pretended; some determined, others vacillating, andothers tempted to be so. We ought not to neglect this kind of people;the grace of God is all-powerful; we must not despair of bringing themback by good arguments, and by solid and convincing proofs. Now, ifthese facts are certain, we must conclude that there is a God, or badangels who imitate the works of God, and perform by themselves ortheir subordinates works capable of deceiving even the elect. 

One of the oldest instances I remark of persons thus raised from theground without any one touching them, is that of St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, who died in 988, and who, a little timebefore his death, as he was going up stairs to his apartment, accompanied by several persons, was observed to rise from the ground;and as all present were astonished at the circumstance, he tookoccasion to speak of his approaching death. [239]

Trithemius, speaking of St. Elizabeth, Abbess of Schonau, in thediocese of Treves, says that sometimes she was in an ecstatic trance, so that she would remain motionless and breathless during a long time. In these intervals, she learned, by revelation and by the intercourseshe had with blessed spirits, admirable things; and when she revived, she would discourse divinely, sometimes in German, her nativelanguage, sometimes in Latin, though she had no knowledge of thatlanguage. Trithemius did not doubt her sincerity and the truth of herdiscourse. She died in 1165. 

St. Richard, Abbot of S. Vanne de Verdun, appeared in 1036 elevatedfrom the ground while he was saying mass in presence of the DukeGalizon, his sons, and a great number of lords and soldiers. 

In the last century, the reverend Father Dominic Carme Déchaux, wasraised from the ground before the King of Spain, the queen, and allthe court, so that they had only to blow upon his body to move itabout like a soap-bubble. [240]

Footnotes:

[225] Matt. Iv. 5. 

[226] Dan. Xiv. 33, 34. Douay Version. 

[227] Acts viii. 40. 

[228] Joan. Diacon. Vit. Gregor. Mag. 

[229] Lettre de M. G. P. R. , 5th October, 1746. 

[230] On the 26th of May, of the Bollandists, c. Xx. N. 356, 357. 

[231] Acta S. J. Bolland. 3 Jul. P. 95. 

[232] Ibid. 31 Jul. Pp. 432, 663. 

[233] Acta S. J. Bolland, 21 Aug. Pp. 469, 481. 

[234] Ibid. 18 Aug. P. 503. 

[235] Ibid. 17 Aug. P. 255. 

[236] Ibid. 4 Aug. P. 405. 

[237] Vita S. Christina. 24 Jul. Bolland. Pp. 652, 653. 

[238] Nicole, tom. I. Letters, pp. 203, 205. Letter xlv. 

[239] Vita Sancti Dunstani, xi. 42. 

[240] It is worthy of remark, that in the cases which Calmet refers toof persons in his own time, and of his own acquaintance, being thusraised from the ground, he in no instance states himself to have beena witness of the wonder. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

CONTINUATION OF THE SAME SUBJECT. 

We cannot reasonably dispute the truth of these ecstatic trances, theelevations of the body of some saints to a certain distance from theground, since these circumstances are supported by so many witnesses. To apply this to the matter we here treat of, might it not be saidthat sorcerers and witches, by the operation of the demon, and withGod's permission, by the help of a lively and subtile temperament, arerendered light and rise into the air, where their heated imaginationand prepossessed mind lead them to believe that they have done, seen, and heard, what has no reality except in their own brain?

I shall be told that the parallel I make between the actions ofsaints, which can only be attributed to angels and the operation ofthe Holy Spirit, or to the fervor of their charity and devotion, withwhat happens to wizards and witches, is injurious and odious. I knowhow to make a proper distinction between them: do not the books of theOld and New Testament place in parallel lines the true miracles ofMoses with those of the magicians of Pharaoh; those of antichrist andhis subordinates with those of the saints and apostles; and does notSt. Paul inform us that the angel of darkness often transforms himselfinto an angel of light?

In the first edition of this work, we spoke very fully of certainpersons, who boast of having what they call "the garter, " and by thatmeans are able to perform with extraordinary quickness, in a very fewhours, what would naturally take them several days journeying. Almostincredible things are related on that subject; nevertheless, thedetails are so circumstantial, that it is hardly possible there shouldnot be some foundation for them; and the demon may transport thesepeople in a forced and violent manner which causes them a fatiguesimilar to what they would have suffered, had they really performedthe journey with more than ordinary rapidity. 

For instance, the two circumstances related by Torquemada: the firstof a poor scholar of his acquaintance, a clever man, who at last roseto be physician to Charles V. ; when studying at Guadaloupe, wasinvited by a traveler who wore the garb of a monk, and to whom he hadrendered some little service, to mount up behind him on his horse, which seemed a sorry animal and much tired; he got up and rode allnight, without perceiving that he went at an extraordinary pace, butin the morning he found himself near the city of Granada; the youngman went into the town, but the conductor passed onwards. 

Another time, the father of a young man, known to the same Torquemada, and the young man himself, were going together to Granada, and passingthrough the village of Almeda, met a man on horseback like themselvesand going the same way; after having traveled two or three leaguestogether, they halted, and the cavalier spread his cloak on the grass, so that there was no crease in the mantle; they all placed whatprovisions they had with them on this extended cloak, and let theirhorses graze. They drank and ate very leisurely, and having toldtheir servants to bring their horses, the cavalier said to them, "Gentlemen, do not hurry, you will reach the town early"--at the sametime he showed them Granada, at not a quarter of an hour's distancefrom thence. 

Something equally marvelous is said of a canon of the cathedral ofBeauvais. The chapter of that church had been charged for a long timeto acquit itself of a certain personal duty to the Church of Rome; thecanons having chosen one of their brethren to repair to Rome for thispurpose, the canon deferred his departure from day to day, and set offafter matins on Christmas day--arrived that same day at Rome, acquitted himself there of his commission, and came back from thencewith the same dispatch, bringing with him the original of the bond, which obliged the canons to send one of their body to make thisoffering in person. However fabulous and incredible this story mayappear, it is asserted that there are authentic proofs of it in thearchives of the cathedral; and that upon the tomb of the canon inquestion may still be seen the figures of demons engraved at the fourcorners in memory of this event. They even affirm that the celebratedFather Mabillon saw the authentic voucher. 

Now, if this circumstance and the others like it are not absolutelyfabulous, we cannot deny that they are the effects of magic, and thework of the evil spirit. 

Peter, the venerable Abbot of Cluny, [241] relates so extraordinary athing which happened in his time, that I should not repeat it here, had it not been seen by the whole town of Mâcon. The count of thattown, a very violent man, exercised a kind of tyranny over theecclesiastics, and against whatever belonged to them, withouttroubling himself either to conceal his violence, or to find apretext for it; he carried it on with a high hand and gloried in it. One day, when he was sitting in his palace in company with severalnobles and others, they beheld an unknown person enter on horseback, who advanced to the count and desired him to follow him. The countrose and followed him, and having reached the door, he found there ahorse ready caparisoned; he mounts it, and is immediately carried upinto the air, crying out, in a terrible tone to those who werepresent, "Here, help me!" All the town ran out at the noise, but theysoon lost sight of him; and no doubt was entertained that the devilhad flown away with him to be the companion of his tortures, and tobear the pain of his excesses and his violence. 

It is, then, not absolutely impossible that a person may be raisedinto the air and transported to some very high and distant place, byorder or by permission of God, by good or evil spirits; but we mustown that the thing is of rare occurrence, and that in all that isrelated of sorcerers and witches, and their assemblings at thewitches' sabbath, there is an infinity of stories, which are false, absurd, ridiculous, and even destitute of probability. M. Remi, attorney-general of Lorraine, author of a celebrated work entitled_Demonology_, who tried a great number of sorcerers and sorceresses, with which Lorraine was then infested, produces hardly any proofwhence we can infer the truth and reality of witchcraft, and ofwizards and witches being transported to the sabbath. 

Footnotes:

[241] Petrus Venerab. Lib. Ii. De Miraculis, c. 1, p. 1299. 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

OBSESSION AND POSSESSION OF THE DEVIL. 

It is with reason that obsessions and possessions of the devil areplaced in the rank of apparitions of the evil spirit among men. Wecall it _obsession_ when the demon acts externally against the personwhom he besets, and _possession_ when he acts internally, agitatesthem, excites their ill humor, makes them utter blasphemy, speaktongues they have never learnt, discovers to them unknown secrets, andinspires them with the knowledge of the obscurest things in philosophyor theology. Saul was agitated and possessed by the evil spirit, [242]who at intervals excited his melancholy humor, and awakened hisanimosity and jealousy against David, or who, on occasion of thenatural movement or impulsion of these dark moods, seized him, agitated him, and disturbed from his usual tenor of mind. Those whomthe Gospel speaks of as being possessed, [243] and who cried aloud thatJesus was the Christ, and that he was come to torment them before thetime, that he was the Son of God, are instances of possession. But thedemon Asmodeus, who beset Sara, the daughter of Raguel, [244] and whokilled her first seven husbands; those spoken of in the Gospel, whowere simply struck with maladies or incommodities which were thoughtto be incurable; those whom the Scripture sometimes calls _lunatics_, who foamed at the mouth, who were convulsed, who fled the presence ofmankind, who were violent and dangerous, so that they were obliged tobe chained to prevent them from striking and maltreating other people;these kinds of persons were simply beset, or obseded by the devil. 

Opinions are much divided on the matter of obsessions and possessionsof the devil. The hardened Jews, and the ancient enemies of theChristian religion, convinced by the evidence of the miracles whichthey saw worked by Jesus Christ, by his apostles, and by Christians, dared neither dispute their truth nor their reality; but theyattributed them to magic, to the prince of the devils, or to thevirtue of certain herbs, or of certain natural secrets. 

St. Justin, [245] Tertullian, Lactantius, St. Cyprian, Minutius, andthe other fathers of the first ages of the church, speak of the powerwhich the Christian exorcists exercised over the possessed, soconfidently and so freely, that we can doubt neither the certainty northe evidence of the thing. They call upon their adversaries to bearwitness, and pique themselves on making the experiment in theirpresence, and of forcing to come out of the bodies of the possessed, to declare their names, and acknowledge that those they adore in thepagan temples are but devils. 

Some opposed to the true miracles of the Saviour those of their falsegods, their magicians, and their heroes of paganism, such as those ofEsculapius, and the famous Apollonius of Tyana. The pretendedfreethinkers dispute them in our days upon philosophical principles;they attribute them to a diseased imagination, the prejudices ofeducation, and hidden springs of the constitution; they reduce theexpressions of Scripture to hyperbole; they maintain that Jesus Christcondescended to the understanding of the people, and theirprepossessions or prejudices; that demons being purely spiritualsubstances could not by themselves act immediately upon bodies; andthat it is not at all probable God should work miracles to allow oftheir doing so. 

If we examine closely those who have passed for being possessed, weshall not perhaps find one amongst them, whose mind had not beenderanged by some accident, or whose body was not attacked by someinfirmity either known or hidden, which had caused some ferment in theblood or the brain, and which, joined to prejudice, or fear, had givenrise to what was termed in their case obsession or possession. 

The possession of King Saul is easily explained by supposing that hewas naturally an atrabilarian, and that in his fits of melancholy heappeared mad, or furious; therefore they sought no other remedy forhis illness than music, and the sound of instruments proper to enlivenor calm him. Several of the obsessions and possessions noted in theNew Testament were simple maladies, or fantastic fancies, which madeit believed that such persons were possessed by the devil. Theignorance of the people maintained this prejudice, and their beingtotally unacquainted with physics and medicine served to strengthensuch ideas. 

In one it was a sombre and melancholy temper, in another the blood wastoo fevered and heated; here the bowels were burnt up with heat, therea concentration of diseased humor, which suffocated the patient, as ithappens with those subject to epilepsy and hypochondria, who fancythemselves gods, kings, cats, dogs, and oxen. There were others, who, disturbed at the remembrance of their crimes, fell into a kind ofdespair, and into fits of remorse, which irritated their mind andconstitution, and made them believe that the devil pursued and besetthem. Such, apparently, were those women who followed Jesus Christ, and who had been delivered by him from the unclean spirits thatpossessed them, and partly so Mary Magdalen, from whom he expelledseven devils. The Scripture often speaks of the spirit of impurity, ofthe spirit of falsehood, of the spirit of jealousy; it is notnecessary to have recourse to a particular demon to excite thesepassions in us; St. James[246] tells us that we are enough tempted byour own concupiscence, which leads us to evil, without seeking afterexternal causes. 

The Jews attributed the greater part of their maladies to the demon:they were persuaded that they were a punishment for some crime eitherknown or unrevealed. Jesus Christ and his apostles wisely supposedthese prejudices, without wishing to attack them openly and reform theold opinions of the Jews; they cured the diseases, and chased away theevil spirits who caused them, or who were said to cause them. The realand essential effect was the cure of the patient; no other thing wasrequired to confirm the mission of Jesus Christ, his divinity, and thetruth of the doctrine which he preached. Whether he expelled thedemon, or not, is not essentially necessary to his first design; it iscertain that he cured the patient either by expelling the devil, if itbe true that this evil spirit caused the malady, or by replacing theinward springs and humors in their regular and natural state, which isalways miraculous, and proves the Divinity of the Saviour. 

Although the Jews were sufficiently credulous concerning theoperations of the evil spirit, they at the same time believed that ingeneral the demons who tormented certain persons were nothing elsethan the souls of some wretches, who, fearing to repair to the placedestined for them, took possession of the body of some mortal whomthey tormented and endeavored to deprive of life. [247]

Josephus the historian[248] relates that Solomon composed some charmsagainst maladies, and some formulĉ of exorcism to expel evil spirits. He says, besides, that a Jew named Eleazar cured in the presence ofVespasian some possessed persons by applying under their nose a ring, in which was enchased a root, pointed out by that prince. Theypronounced the name of Solomon with a certain prayer, and an exorcism;directly, the person possessed fell on the ground, and the devil lefthim. The generality of common people among the Jews had not the leastdoubt that Beelzebub, prince of the devils, had the power to expelother demons, for they said that Jesus Christ only expelled them inthe name of Beelzebub. [249] We read in history that sometimes thepagans expelled demons; and the physicians boast of being able to curesome possessed persons, as they cure hypochondriacs, and imaginarydisorders. 

These are the most plausible things that are said against the realityof the possessions and obsessions of the devil. 

Footnotes:

[242] 1 Sam. Xvi. 23. 

[243] Matt. Viii. 16; x. 11; xviii. 28. 

[244] Tob. Iii. 8. 

[245] Justin. Dialog. Cum supplem. Tertull. De Corona Militis, c. 11;and Apolog. C. 23; Cyp. Ad Demetriam, &c. ; Minutius, in Octavio, &c. 

[246] James i. 14. 

[247] Joseph. Antiq. Lib. Vii. C. 25. 

[248] Ibid. Lib. Viii. C. 2. 

[249] Matt. Xii. 24. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE TRUTH AND REALITY OF POSSESSION AND OBSESSION BY THE DEVIL PROVEDFROM SCRIPTURE. 

But the possibility, the verity and reality of the obsessions andpossessions of the devil are indubitable, and proved by the Scriptureand by the authority of the Church, the Fathers, the Jews, and thepagans. Jesus Christ and the apostles believed this truth, and taughtit publicly. The Saviour gives us a proof of his mission that he curesthe possessed; he refutes the Pharisees, who asserted that he expelledthe demons only in the name of Beelzebub; and maintains that he expelsthem by the virtue of God. [250] He speaks to the demons; he threatensthem, and puts them to silence. Are these equivocal marks of thereality of obsessions? The apostles do the same, as did the earlyChristians their disciples. All this was done before the eyes of theheathen, who could not deny it, but who eluded the force and evidenceof these things, by attributing this power to other demons, or tocertain divinities, more powerful than ordinary demons; as if thekingdom of Satan were divided, and the evil spirit could act againsthimself, or as if there were any collusion between Jesus Christ andthe demons whose empire he had just destroyed. 

The seventy disciples on their return from their mission came to JesusChrist[251] to give him an account of it, and tell him that the demonsthemselves are obedient to them. After his resurrection, [252] theSaviour promises to his apostles that they shall work miracles in hisname, _that they shall cast out devils_, and receive the gift oftongues. All which was literally fulfilled. 

The exorcisms used at all times in the Church against the demons areanother proof of the reality of possessions; they show that at alltimes the Church and her ministers have believed them to be true andreal, since they have always practiced these exorcisms. The ancientfathers defied the heathen to produce a demoniac before theChristians; they pride themselves on curing them, and expelling thedemon. The Jewish exorcists employed even the name of Jesus Christ tocure demoniacs;[253] they found it efficacious in producing thiseffect; it is true that sometimes they employed the name of Solomon, and some charms said to have been invented by that prince, or rootsand herbs to which they attributed the same virtues, like as a cleverphysician by the secret of his art can cure a hypochondriac or amaniac, or a man strongly persuaded that he is possessed by the devil, or as a wise confessor will restore the mind of a person disturbed byremorse, and agitated by the reflection of his sins, or the fear ofhell. But we are speaking now of real possessions and obsessions whichare cured only by the power of God, by the name of Jesus Christ, andby exorcisms. The son of Sceva, the Jewish priest, [254] havingundertaken to expel a devil in the name of Jesus Christ, whom Paulpreached, the demoniac threw himself upon him, and would havestrangled him, saying that he knew Jesus Christ, and Paul, but thatfor him, he feared him not. We must then distinguish well betweenpossessions and possessions, exorcists and exorcists. There may befound demoniacs who counterfeit the possessed, to excite compassionand obtain alms. There may even be exorcists who abuse the name andpower of Jesus Christ to deceive the ignorant; and how do I know thatthere are not even impostors to be found, who would place pretendedpossessed persons in the way, in order to pretend to cure them, andthus gain a reputation?

I do not enter into longer details on this matter; I have treated itformerly in a particular dissertation on the subject, printed apartwith other dissertations on Scripture, and I have therein replied tothe objections which were raised on this subject. 

Footnotes:

[250] Luke viii. 21. 

[251] Luke x. 17. 

[252] Mark xvi. 27. 

[253] Mark ix. 36-38. Acts xi. 14. 

[254] Acts xix. 14. 

CHAPTER XXV. 

EXAMPLES OF REAL POSSESSIONS CAUSED BY THE DEVIL. 

We must now report some of the most famous instances of the possessionand obsession of the demon. Every body is talking at this time of thepossession (by the devil) of the nuns of Loudun, on which suchdifferent opinions were given, both at the time and since. MarthaBroissier, daughter of a weaver of Romorantin, [255] made as much noisein her time; but Charles Miron, Bishop of Orleans, discovered thefraud, by making her drink holy water as common water; by making thempresent to her a key wrapped up in red silk, which was said to be apiece of the true cross; and in reciting some lines from Virgil, whichMartha Broissier's demon took for exorcisms, agitating her very muchat the approach of the hidden key, and at the recital of the versesfrom Virgil. Henri de Gondi, Cardinal Bishop of Paris, had herexamined by five of the faculty; three were of opinion that there wasa great deal of imposture and a little disease. The parliament tooknotice of the affair, and nominated eleven physicians, who reportedunanimously that there was nothing demoniacal in this matter. 

In the reign of Charles IX. [256] or a little before, a young woman ofthe town of Vervins, fifteen or sixteen years of age, named NicolaAubry, had different apparitions of a spectre, who called itself hergrandfather, and asked her for masses and prayers for the repose ofhis soul. [257] Very soon after, she was transported to differentplaces by this spectre, and sometimes even was carried out of sight, and from the midst of those who watched over her. 

Then, they had no longer any doubt that it was the devil, which theyhad a great deal of trouble to make her believe. The Bishop of Laongave his power (of attorney) for conjuring the spirit, and commandedthem to see that the proces-verbaux were exactly drawn up by thenotaries nominated for that purpose. The exorcisms lasted more thanthree months, and only serve to prove more and more the fact of thepossession. The poor sufferer was torn from the hands of nine or tenmen, who could hardly retain their hold of her; and on the last day ofthe exorcisms sixteen could not succeed in so doing. She had beenlying on the ground, when she stood upright and stiff as a statue, without those who held her being able to prevent it. She spoke diverslanguages, revealed the most secret things, announced others at themoment they were being done, although at a great distance; shediscovered to many the secret of their conscience, uttered at oncethree different voices, or tones, and spoke with her tongue hanginghalf a foot out of her mouth. After some exorcisms had been made atVervins, they took her to Laon, where the bishop undertook her. He hada scaffolding erected for this purpose in the cathedral. Such immensenumbers of people went there, that they saw in the church ten ortwelve thousand persons at a time; some even came from foreigncountries. Consequently, France could not be less curious; so theprinces and great people, and those who could not come therethemselves, sent persons who might inform them of what passed. ThePope's nuncios, the parliamentary deputies, and those of theuniversity were present. 

The devil, forced by the exorcisms, rendered such testimony to thetruth of the Catholic religion, and, above all, to the reality of theholy eucharist, and at the same time to the falsity of Calvinism, thatthe irritated Calvinists no longer kept within bounds. From the timethe exorcisms were made at Vervins, they wanted to kill the possessed, with the priest who exorcised her, in a journey they made her take toNôtre Dame de Liesse. At Laon, it was still worse; as they were thestrongest in numbers there, a revolt was more than once apprehended. They so intimidated the bishop and the magistrates, that they tookdown the scaffold, and did not have the general procession usuallymade before exorcisms. The devil became prouder thereupon, insultedthe bishop, and laughed at him. On the other hand, the Calvinistshaving obtained the suppression of the procession, and that she shouldbe put in prison to be more nearly examined, Carlier, a Calvinistdoctor, suddenly drew from his pocket something which was averred tobe a most violent poison, which he threw into her mouth, and she keptit on her stomach whilst the convulsion lasted, but she threw it up ofherself when she came to her senses. 

All these experiments decided them on recommencing the processions, and the scaffold was replaced. Then the outraged Calvinists conceivedthe idea of a writing from M. De Montmorency, forbidding thecontinuation of the exorcisms, and enjoining the king's officers to bevigilant. Thus they abstained a second time from the procession, andagain the devil triumphed at it. Nevertheless, he discovered to thebishop the trick of this suppositious writing, named those who hadtaken part in it, and declared that he had again gained time by thisobedience of the bishop to the will of man rather than that of God. Besides that, the devil had already protested publicly that it wasagainst his own will that he remained in the body of this woman; thathe had entered there by the order of God; that it was to convert theCalvinists or to harden them, and that he was very unfortunate inbeing obliged to act and speak against himself. 

The chapter then represented to the bishop that it would be proper tomake the processions and the conjurations twice a-day, to excite stillmore the devotion of the people. The prelate acquiesced in it, andeverything was done with the greatest _éclât_, and in the mostorthodox manner. The devil declared again more than once that he hadgained time; once because the bishop had not confessed himself;another time because he was not fasting; and lastly, because it wasrequisite that the chapter and all the dignitaries should be present, as well as the court of justice and the king's officers, in order thatthere might be sufficient testimony; that he was forced to warn thebishop thus of his duty, and that accursed was the hour when heentered into the body of this person; at the same time, he uttered athousand imprecations against the church, the bishop, and the clergy. 

Thus, at the last day of possession, everybody being assembled in theafternoon, the bishop began the last conjurations, when manyextraordinary things took place; amongst others, the bishop desiringto put the holy eucharist near the lips of this poor woman, the devilin some way seized hold of his arm, and at the same moment raised thiswoman up, as it were, out of the hands of sixteen men who were holdingher. But at last, after much resistance, he came out, and left herperfectly cured, and thoroughly sensible of the goodness of God. The_Te Deum_ was sung to the sound of all the bells in the town; nothingwas heard among the Catholics but acclamations of joy, and many of theCalvinists were converted, whose descendants still dwell in the town. Florimond de Raimond, counselor of the parliament of Bordeaux, had thehappiness to be of the number, and has written the history of it. Fornine days they made the procession, to return thanks to God; and theyfounded a perpetual mass, which is celebrated every year on the 8th ofFebruary, and they represented this story in _bas-relief_ round thechoir, where it may be seen at this day. 

In short, God, as if to put the finishing stroke to so important awork, permitted that the Prince of Condé, who had just left theCatholic religion, should be misled on this subject by those of hisnew communion. He sent for the poor woman, and also the Canond'Espinois, who had never forsaken her during all the time of theexorcisms. He interrogated them separately, and at several differenttimes, and made every effort, not to discover if they had practicedany artifice, but to find out if there was any in the whole affair. Hewent so far as to offer the canon very high situations if he wouldchange his religion. But what can you obtain in favor of heresy fromsensible and upright people, to whom God has thus manifested the powerof his church? All the efforts of the prince were useless; thefirmness of the canon, and the simplicity of the poor woman, onlyserved to prove to him still more the certainty of the event whichdispleased him, and he sent them both home. 

Yet a return of ill-will caused him to have this woman again arrested, and he kept her in one of his prisons until her father and motherhaving entreated an inquiry into this injustice to King Charles IX. , she was set at liberty by order of his majesty. [258]

An event of such importance, and so carefully attested, both on thepart of the bishop and the chapter, and on that of the magistrates, and even by the violence of the Calvinistic party, ought not to beburied in silence. King Charles IX. , on making his entry into Laonsome time after, desired to be informed about it by the dean of thecathedral, who had been an ocular witness of the affair. His majestycommanded him to give publicity to the story, and it was then printed, first in French, then in Latin, Spanish, Italian, and German, with theapprobation of the Sorbonne, supported by the rescripts of Pope PiusV. And Gregory XIII. His successor. And they made after that a prettyexact abridgment of it, by order of the Bishop of Laon, printed underthe title of _Le Triomphe du S. Sacrament sur le Diable_. 

These are facts which have all the authenticity that can be desired, and such as a man of honor cannot with any good-breeding affect todoubt, since he could not after that consider any facts as certainwithout being in shameful contradiction with himself. [259]

Footnotes:

[255] Jean de Lorres, sur l'an 1599. Thuan. Hist. L. Xii. 

[256] Charles IX. Died in 1574. 

[257] This story is taken from a book entitled "Examen et DiscussionCritique de l'Histoire des Diables de Loudun, &c. , par M. De laMénardaye. " A Paris, chez de Bure l'Ainé, 1749. 

[258] Trésor et entière Histoire de la Victime du Corps de Dieu, presentée au Pape, au Roi, au Chancelier de France, au PremierPrésident. A Paris, 4to. Chez Chesnau. 1578. 

[259] This account is one of the many in which the theory ofpossession was made use of to impugn the Protestant faith. Thesimplicity and credulity of Calmet are very remarkable. --EDITOR. 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

CONTINUATION OF THE SAME SUBJECT. 

There was in Lorraine, about the year 1620, a woman, possessed (by thedevil), who made a great noise in the country, but whose case is muchless known among foreigners. I mean Mademoiselle Elizabeth deRanfaing, the story of whose possession was written and printed atNancy, in 1622, by M. Pichard, a doctor of medicine, and physician inordinary to their highnesses of Lorraine. Mademoiselle de Ranfaing wasa very virtuous person, through whose agency God established a kind oforder of nuns _of the Refuge_, the principal object of which is towithdraw from profligacy the girls or women who have fallen intolibertinism. M. Pichard's work was approved by doctors of theology, and authorized by M. De Porcelets, Bishop of Toul, and in an assemblyof learned men whom he sent for to examine the case, and the realityof the possession. It was ardently attacked and loudly denied by amonk of the Minimite order, named Claude Pithoy, who had the temerityto say that he would pray to God to send the devil into himself, incase the woman whom they were exorcising at Nancy was possessed; andagain, that God was not God if he did not command the devil to seizehis body, if the woman they exorcised at Nancy was really possessed. 

M. Pichard refutes him fully; but he remarks that persons who are weakminded, or of a dull and melancholy character, heavy, taciturn, stupid, and who are naturally disposed to frighten and disturbthemselves, are apt to fancy that they see the devil, that they speakto him, and even that they are possessed by him; above all, if theyare in places where others are possessed, whom they see, and with whomthey converse. He adds that, thirteen or fourteen years ago, heremarked at Nancy a great number of this kind, and with the help ofGod he cured them. He says the same thing of atrabilarians, and womenwho suffer from _furor uterine_, who sometimes do such things andutter such cries, that any one would believe they were possessed. 

Mademoiselle Ranfaing having become a widow in 1617, was sought inmarriage by a physician named Poviot. As she would not listen to hisaddresses, he first of all gave her philtres to make her love him, which occasioned strange derangements in her health. At last he gaveher some magical medicaments (for he was afterwards known to be amagician, and burnt as such by a judicial sentence). The physicianscould not relieve her, and were quite at fault with her extraordinarymaladies. After having tried all sorts of remedies, they were obligedto have recourse to exorcisms. 

Now these are the principal symptoms which made it believed thatMademoiselle Ranfaing was really possessed. They began to exorcise herthe 2d September, 1619, in the town of Remirémont, whence she wastransferred to Nancy; there she was visited and interrogated byseveral clever physicians, who, after having minutely examined thesymptoms of what happened to her, declared that the casualties theyhad remarked in her had no relation at all with the ordinary course ofknown maladies, and could only be the result of diabolical possession. 

After which, by order of M. De Porcelets, Bishop of Toul, theynominated for the exorcists M. Viardin, a doctor of divinity, counselor of state of the Duke of Lorraine, a Jesuit and Capuchin. Almost all the monks in Nancy, the said lord bishop, the Bishop ofTripoli, suffragan of Strasburg, M. De Sancy, formerly ambassador fromthe most Christian king at Constantinople, and then priest of the_Oratoire_, Charles de Lorraine, Bishop of Verdun; two doctors of theSorbonne sent on purpose to be present at the exorcisms, oftenexorcised her in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, and she always repliedpertinently to them, she who could hardly read Latin. 

They report the certificate given by M. Nicolas de Harley, very wellskilled in the Hebrew tongue, who avowed that Mademoiselle Ranfaingwas really possessed, and had answered him from the movement of hislips alone, without his having pronounced any words, and had givenseveral proofs of her possession. The Sieur Garnier, a doctor of theSorbonne, having also given her several commands in Hebrew, shereplied pertinently, but in French, saying that the compact was madethat he should speak only in the usual tongue. The demon added, "Is itnot enough that I show thee that I understand what thou sayest?" Thesame M. Garnier, speaking to him in Greek, inadvertently put one casefor another; the possessed, or rather the devil, said to him, "_Thouhast committed an error. _" The doctor said to him in Greek, "Point outmy fault;" the devil replied, "_Let it suffice thee that I point outan error; I shall tell thee no more concerning it. _" The doctortelling him in Greek to hold his tongue, he answered, "Thou commandestme to hold my tongue, and I will not do so. "

M. Midot Ecolâtre de Toul said to him in the same language, "Sitdown;" he replied, "I will not sit down. " M. Midot said to himmoreover in Greek, "Sit down on the ground and obey;" but as the demonwas going to throw the possessed by force on the ground, he said tohim in the same tongue, "Do it gently;" he did so. He said in Greek, "Put out the right foot;" he extended it; he said also in the samelanguage, "Cause her knees to be cold, " the woman replied that shefelt them very cold. 

The Sieur Mince, a doctor of the Sorbonne, holding a cross in hishand, the devil whispered to him in Greek, "Give me the cross, " whichwas heard by some persons who were near him. M. Mince desired to makethe devil repeat the same sentence; he answered, "I will not repeat itall in Greek;" but he simply said in French, "Give me, " and in Greek, "the cross. "

The Reverend Father Albert, Capuchin, having ordered him in Greek tomake the sign of the cross seven times with his tongue, in honor ofthe seven joys of the Virgin, he made the sign of the cross threetimes with his tongue, and then twice with his nose; but the holy mantold him anew to make the sign of the cross seven times with histongue; he did so; and having been commanded in the same language tokiss the feet of the Lord Bishop of Toul, he prostrated himself andkissed his feet. 

The same father having observed that the demon wished to overturn the_Bénitier_, or basin of holy water which was there, he ordered him totake the holy water and not spill it, and he obeyed. The Fathercommanded him to give marks of the possession; he answered, "Thepossession is sufficiently known;" he added in Greek, "I command theeto carry some holy water to the governor of the town. " The demonreplied, "It is not customary to exorcise in that tongue. " The fatheranswered in Latin, "It is not for thee to impose laws on us; but thechurch has power to command thee in whatever language she may thinkproper. "

Then the demon took the basin of holy water and carried it to thekeeper of the Capuchins, to the Duke Eric of Lorraine, to the Countsof Brionne, Remonville, la Vaux, and other lords. 

The physician, M. Pichard, having told him in a sentence, partlyHebrew, and partly Greek, to cure the head and eyes of the possessedwoman; hardly had he finished speaking the last words, when the demonreplied: "Faith, we are not the cause of it; her brain is naturallymoist: that proceeds from her natural constitution;" then M. Pichardsaid to the assembly, "Take notice, gentlemen, that he replies toGreek and Hebrew at the same time. " "Yes, " replied the demon, "youdiscover the pot of roses, and the secret; I will answer you no more. "There were several questions and replies in foreign languages, whichshowed that he understood them very well. 

M. Viardin having asked him in Latin, "Ubi censebaris quandò maneoriebaris?" He replied, "Between the seraphim. " They said to him, "Prosigno exhibe nobis patibulum fratris Cephĉ;" the devil extended hisarms in the form of a St. Andrew's cross. They said to him, "Applicacarpum carpo;" he did so, placing the wrist of one hand over theother; then, "Admove tarsum tarso et metatarsum metatarso;" he crossedhis feet and raised them one upon the other. Then afterwards he said, "Excita in calcaneo qualitatem congregantem heterogenea;" thepossessed said she felt her heel cold; after which, "Reprĉsenta nobislabarum Venetorum;" he made the figure of the cross. Afterwards theysaid, "Exhibe nobis videntum Deum benè precantem nepotibus exsalvatore Egypti;" he crossed his arms as did Jacob on giving hisblessing to the sons of Joseph; and then, "Exhibe crucemconterebrantem stipiti, " he represented the cross of St. Peter. Theexorcist having by mistake said, "Per eum qui adversus te prĉliavit, "the demon did not give him time to correct himself; he said to him, "Othe ass! instead of _prĉliatus est_. " He was spoken to in Italian andGerman, and he always answered accordingly. 

They said to him one day, "Sume encolpium ejus qui hodiè functus estofficio illius de quo cecinit Psaltes: pro patribus tuis nati sunttibi filii;" he went directly and took the cross hanging round theneck and resting on the breast of the Prince Eric de Lorraine, whothat same day had filled the office of bishop in giving orders, because the Bishop of Toul was indisposed. He discovered secretthoughts, and heard words that were said in the ear of some personswhich he was not possibly near enough to overhear, and declared thathe had known the mental prayer that a good priest had made before theholy sacrament. 

Here is a trait still more extraordinary. They said to the demon, speaking Latin and Italian in the same sentence: "Adi scholastrumseniorem et osculare ejus pedes, la cui scarpa ha più di sugaro;" thatvery moment he went and kissed the foot of the Sieur Juillet, ecolâtreof St. George, the Elder of M. Viardin, ecolâtre of the Primitiale. M. Juillet's right foot was shorter than the left, which obliged him towear a shoe with a cork heel (or raised by a piece of cork, called inItalian _sugaro_). 

They proposed to him very difficult questions concerning the Trinity, the Incarnation, the holy sacrament of the altar, the grace of God, free will, the manner in which angels and demons know the thoughts ofmen, &c. , and he replied with much clearness and precision. Shediscovered things unknown to everybody, and revealed to certainpersons, but secretly and in private, some sins of which they had beenguilty. 

The demon did not obey the voice only of the exorcists; he obeyed evenwhen they simply moved their lips, or held their hand, or ahandkerchief, or a book upon the mouth. A Calvinist having one daymingled secretly in the crowd, the exorcist, who was warned of it, commanded the demon to go and kiss his feet; he went immediately, rushing through the crowd. 

An Englishman having come from curiosity to the exorcist, the deviltold him several particulars relating to his country and religion. Hewas a Puritan; and the Englishman owned that everything he had saidwas true. The same Englishman said to him in his language, "As a proofof thy possession, tell me the name of my master who formerly taughtme embroidery;" he replied, "William. " They commanded him to recitethe _Ave Maria_; he said to a Huguenot gentleman who was present, "Doyou say it, if you know it; for they don't say it amongst yourpeople. " M. Pichard relates several unknown and hidden things whichthe demon revealed, and that he performed several feats which it isnot possible for any person, however agile and supple he may be, toachieve by natural strength or power; such as crawling on the groundwithout making use of hands or feet, appearing to have the hairstanding erect like serpents. 

After all the details concerning the exorcisms, marks of possession, questions and answers of the possessed, M. Pichard reports theauthentic testimony of the theologians, physicians, of the bishopsEric of Lorraine, and Charles of Lorraine, Bishop of Verdun, ofseveral monks of every order, who attest the said possession to bereal and veritable; and lastly, a letter from the Rev. Father Cotton, a Jesuit, who certifies the same thing. The said letter bears date the5th of June, 1621, and is in reply to the one which the Prince Eric ofLorraine had written to him. 

I have omitted a great many particulars related in the recital of theexorcisms, and the proofs of the possession of Mademoiselle deRanfaing. I think I have said enough to convince any persons who aresincere and unprejudiced that her possession is as certain as thesethings can be. The affair occurred at Nancy, the capital of Lorraine, in the presence of a great number of enlightened persons, two of whomwere of the house of Lorraine, both bishops, and well informed; inpresence and by the orders of my Lord de Porcelets, Bishop of Toul, amost enlightened man, and of distinguished merit; of two doctors ofthe Sorbonne, called thither expressly to judge of the reality of thepossession; in presence of people of the so-called Reformed religion, and much on their guard against things of this kind. It has been seenhow far Father Pithoy carried his temerity against the possession inquestion; he has been reprimanded by his diocesan and his superiors, who have imposed silence on him. 

Mademoiselle de Ranfaing is known to be personally a woman ofextraordinary virtue, prudence, and merit. No reason can be imaginedfor her feigning a possession which has pained her in a thousand ways. The consequence of this terrible trial has been the establishment of akind of religious order, from which the church has received muchedification, and from which God has providentially derived glory. 

M. Nicolas de Harlay Sancy and M. Viardin are persons highly to berespected both for their personal merit, their talent, and the highoffices they have filled; the first having been French ambassador atConstantinople, and the other resident of the good Duke Henry at theCourt of Rome; so that I do not think I could have given an instancemore fit to convince you of there being real and veritable possessionsthan this of Mademoiselle de Ranfaing. 

I do not relate that of the nuns of Loudun, on which such variousopinions have been given, the reality of which was doubted at the verytime, and is very problematical to this day. Those who are curious toknow the history of that affair will find it very well detailed in abook I have already cited, entitled, "Examen et Discussion Critique del'Histoire des Diables de Loudun, &c. , par M. De la Ménardaye, " àParis, chez de Bure Ainé, 1749. 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE OBSESSIONS AND POSSESSIONS OF THE DEMON--REPLYTO THE OBJECTIONS. 

Several objections may be raised against the obsessions andpossessions of demons; nothing is subject to greater difficulties thanthis matter, but Providence constantly and uniformly permits theclearest and most certain truths of religion to remain enveloped insome degree of obscurity; that facts the best averred and the mostindubitable should be subject to doubts and contradictions; that themost evident miracles should be disputed by some incredulous personson account of circumstances which appear to them doubtful anddisputable. 

All religion has its lights and shadows; God has permitted it to be soin order that the just may have somewhat to exercise their faith inbelieving, and the impious and incredulous persist in their wilfulimpiety and incredulity. The greatest mysteries of Christianity are tothe one subjects of scandal, and to the others means of salvation;the one regarding the mystery of the cross as folly, and the others asthe work of sublimest wisdom, and of the most admirable power of God. Pharaoh hardened his heart when he saw the wonders wrought by Moses;but the magicians of Egypt were at last obliged to recognize in themthe hand of God. The Hebrews on sight of these wonders take confidencein Moses and Aaron, and yield themselves to their guidance, withoutfearing the dangers to which they may be exposed. 

We have already remarked that the demon often seems to act against hisown interest, and destroy his own empire, by saying that everythingwhich is related of the return of spirits, the obsessions andpossessions of the demon, of spells, magic, and sorcery, are onlytales wherewith to frighten children; that they all have no existenceexcept in weak and prejudiced minds. How can it serve the demon tomaintain this, and destroy the general opinion of nations on all thesethings? If in all there is only falsehood and illusion, what does hegain by undeceiving people? and if there is any truth in them, whydecry his own work, and take away the credit of his subordinates andhis own operations?

Jesus Christ in the Gospel refutes those who said that he expelleddevils in the name of Beelzebub;[260] he maintains that the accusationis unfounded, because it was incredible that Satan should destroy hisown work and his own empire. The reasoning is doubtless solid andconclusive, above all to the Jews, who thought that Jesus Christ didnot differ from other exorcists who expelled demons, unless it wasthat he commanded the prince of devils, while the others commandedonly the subaltern demons. Now, on this supposition, the prince of thedemons could not expel his subalterns without destroying his ownempire, without decrying himself, and without ruining the reputationof those who only acted by his orders. 

It may be objected to this argument, that Jesus Christ supposed, asdid the Jews, that the demons whom he expelled really possessed thosewhom he cured, in whatever manner he might cure them; and consequentlythat the empire of the demons subsisted, both in Beelzebub, the princeof the demons, and in the other demons who were subordinate to him, and who obeyed his orders; thus, his empire was not entirelydestroyed, supposing that Jesus Christ expelled them in the name ofBeelzebub; that subordination, on the contrary, supposed that power orempire of the prince of the demons, and strengthened it. 

But Jesus Christ not only expelled demons by his own authority, without ever making mention of Beelzebub; he expelled them in spite ofthemselves, and sometimes they loudly complained that he was come totorment them before the time. [261] There was neither collusion betweenhim and them, nor subordination similar to that which might besupposed to exist between Beelzebub and the other demons. 

The Lord pursued them, not only in expelling them from bodies, butalso in overthrowing their bad maxims, by establishing doctrines andmaxims quite contrary to their own; he made war upon every vice, error, and falsehood; he attacked the demon face to face, everywhere, unflinchingly; thus, it cannot be said that he spared him, or was incollusion with him. If the devil will sometimes pass off as chimerasand illusions all that is said of apparitions, obsessions andpossessions, magic and sorcery; and if he appears so absolutely tooverthrow his reign, even so far as to deny the most marked andpalpable effects of his own power and presence, and impute them to theweakness of mind of men and their foolish prejudices; in all this hecan only gain advantage for himself: for, if he can persuade people ofthe truth of what he advances, his power will only be more solidlyconfirmed by it, since it will no longer be attacked, and he will beleft to enjoy his conquests in peace, and the ecclesiastical andsecular powers interested in repressing the effects of his malice andcruelty will no longer take the trouble to make war upon him, andcaution or put the nations on their guard against his stratagems andambuscades. It will close the mouth of parliaments, and stay the handof judges and powers; and the simple people will become the sport ofthe demon, who will not cease continuing to tempt, persecute, corrupt, deceive, and cause the perdition of those who shall no longer mistrusthis snares and his malice. The world will relapse into the same stateas when under paganism, given up to error, to the most shamefulpassions, and will even deny or doubt those truths which shall be thebest attested, and the most necessary to our salvation. 

Moses in the Old Testament well foresaw that the evil spirit would setevery spring to work, to lead the Israelites into error and unrulyconduct; he foresaw that in the midst of the chosen people he wouldinstigate seducers, who would predict to them the hidden future, whichpredictions would come true and be followed up. He always forbidstheir listening to any prophet or diviners who wished to mislead themto impiety or idolatry. 

Tertullian, speaking of the delusions performed by demons, and theforesight they have of certain events, says, [262] that being spiritualin their nature, they find themselves in a moment in any place theymay wish, and announce at a distance what they have seen and heard. All this is attributed to the Divinity, because neither the cause northe manner is known; often, also, they boast of causing events, whichthey do but announce; and it is true that often they are themselvesthe authors of the evils they predict, but never of any good. Sometimes they make use of the knowledge they have derived from thepredictions of the prophets respecting the designs of God, and theyutter them as coming from themselves. As they are spread abroad in theair, they see in the clouds what must happen, and thus foretell therain which they were aware of before it had been felt upon earth. Asto maladies, if they cure them, it is because they have occasionedthem; they prescribe remedies which produce effect, and it is believedthat they have cured maladies simply because they have not continuedthem. _Quia desinunt lĉdere, curasse credentur. _

The demon can then foresee the future and what is hidden, and discoverthem by means of his votaries; he can also doubtlessly do wonderfulthings which surpass the usual and known powers of nature; but it isnever done except to deceive us, and lead us into disorder andimpiety. And even should he wear the semblance of leading to virtueand practising those things which are praiseworthy and useful tosalvation, it would only be to win the confidence of such as wouldlisten to his suggestions, to make them afterward fall intomisfortune, and engage them in some sin of presumption or vanity: foras he is a spirit of malice and lies, it little imports to him by whatmeans he surprises us, and establishes his reign among us. 

But he is very far from always foreseeing the future, or succeedingalways in misleading us; God has set bounds to his malice. He oftendeceives himself, and often makes use of disguise and perversion, thathe may not appear to be ignorant of what he is ignorant of, or he willappear unwilling to do what God will not allow him to do; his power isalways bounded, and his knowledge limited. Often, also, he willmislead and deceive through malice, because he is the father offalsehood. He deceives men, and rejoices when he sees them doingwrong; but not to lose his credit amongst those who consult himdirectly or indirectly, he lays the fault on those who undertake tointerpret his words, or the equivocal signs which he has given. Forinstance, if he is consulted whether to begin an enterprise, or givebattle, or set off on a journey, if the thing succeeds, he takes allthe glory and merit to himself; if it does not succeed, he imputes itto the men who have not well understood the sense of his oracle, or tothe aruspices, who have made mistakes in consulting the entrails ofthe immolated animals, or the flight of birds, &c. 

We must not, then, be surprised to find so many contradictions, doubts, and difficulties, in the matter of apparitions, angels, demons, and spirits. Man naturally loves to distinguish himself fromthe common herd, and rise above the opinions of the people; it is asort of fashion not to suffer one's self to be drawn along by thetorrent, and to desire to sound and examine everything. We know thatthere is an infinity of prejudices, errors, vulgar opinions, falsemiracles, illusions, and seductions in the world; we know that manythings are attributed to the devil which are purely natural, or that athousand apocryphal stories are related. It is then right to holdone's self on one's guard, in order not to be deceived. It is veryimportant for religion to distinguish between true and false miracles, certain or uncertain events, and works wrought by the hand of God, from those which are the work of the seducing spirit. 

In all that he does, the demon mixes up a great many illusions amidsome truths, in order that the difficulty of discerning the true fromthe false may make mankind take the side which pleases them most, andthat the incredulous may always have some points to maintain them intheir incredulity. Although the apparitions of spirits, angels, anddemons, and their operations, may not, perhaps, always be miraculous, nevertheless, as the greater part appear above the common course ofnature, many of the persons of whom we have just spoken, withoutgiving themselves the trouble to examine the things, and seek for thecauses of them, the authors, and the circumstances, boldly take uponthemselves to deny them all. It is the shortest way, but neither themost sensible nor the most rational; for in what is said on thissubject, there are effects which can be reasonably attributed to theAlmighty power of God alone, who acts immediately, or makes secondarycauses act to his glory, for the advancement of religion, and themanifestation of the truth; and other effects there are, which bearvisibly the character of illusion, impiety, and seduction, and inwhich it would seem that, instead of the finger of God, we can observeonly the marks of the spirit of deceit and falsehood. 

Footnotes:

[260] Matt. Xii. 24-27. Luke xi. 15-18. 

[261] Matt. Viii. 29. 

[262] Tertullian does not say so much in the passage cited; on thecontrary, he affirms that we are ignorant of their nature: _substantiaignoratur_. 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

CONTINUATION OF OBJECTIONS AGAINST POSSESSIONS, AND SOME REPLIES TOTHOSE OBJECTIONS. 

We read in works, published and printed, composed by Catholic authorsof our days, [263] that it is proved by reason, that possessions of thedemon are naturally impossible, and that it is not true, in regard toourselves and our ideas, that the demon can have any natural powerover the corporeal world; that as soon as we admit in the createdwills a power to act upon bodies, and to move them, it is impossibleto set bounds to it, and that this power is truly infinite. 

They maintain that the demon can act upon our souls simply by means ofsuggestion; that it is impossible the demon should be the physicalcause of the least external effect; that all the Scripture tells us ofthe snares and stratagems of Satan signifies nothing more than thetemptations of the flesh and concupiscence; and that to seduce us, thedemon requires only mental suggestions. His is a moral, not a physicalpower; in a word, _that the demon can do neither good nor harm; thathis might is nought_; that we do not know if God has given to anyother spirit than the soul of man the power to move the body; that, onthe contrary, we ought to presume that the wisdom of God has willedthat pure spirits should have no commerce with the body; they maintainmoreover that the pagans never knew what we call bad angels anddemons. 

All these propositions are certainly contrary to Scripture, to theopinions of the Fathers, and to the tradition of the Catholic Church. But these gentlemen do not trouble themselves about that; they affirmthat the sacred writers have often expressed themselves according tothe opinions of their time, whether because the necessity of makingthemselves understood forced them to conform to it, or that theythemselves had adopted those opinions. There is, say they, morelikelihood that several infirmities which the Scripture has ascribedto the demon had simply a natural cause; that in these places thesacred authors have spoken according to vulgar opinions; the error ofthis language is of no importance. 

The prophets of Saul, and Saul himself, were never what are properlytermed Prophets; they might be attacked with those (fits) which thepagans call _sacred_. You must be asleep when you read, not to seethat the temptation of Eve is only an allegory. It is the same withthe permission given by God to Satan to tempt Job. Why wish to explainthe whole book of Job literally, and as a true history, since itsbeginning is only a fiction? It is anything but certain that JesusChrist was transported by the demon to the highest pinnacle of thetemple. 

The Fathers were prepossessed on one side by the reigning ideas of thephilosophy of Pythagoras and Plato on the influences of meanintelligences, and on the other hand by the language of the holybooks, which to conform to popular opinions often ascribed to thedemon effects which were purely natural. We must then return to thedoctrine of reason to decide on the submission which we ought to payto the authority of the Scriptures and the Fathers concerning thepower of the demons. 

The uniform method of the Holy Fathers in the interpretations of theOld Testament is human opinion, whence one can appeal to the tribunalof reason. They go so far as to say that the sacred authors wereinformed of the Metempsychosis, as the author of the Book of Wisdom, chap. Viii. 19, 20: "I was an innocent child, and I received a goodspirit; and as I was already good, I entered into an uncorruptedbody. "

Persons of this temper will certainly not read this work of ours, or, if they do read it, it will be with contempt or pity. I do not thinkit necessary to refute those paradoxes here; the Bishop of Senez hasdone it with his usual erudition and zeal, in a long letter printed atUtrecht in 1736. I do not deny that the sacred writers may sometimeshave spoken in a popular manner, and in accordance with the prejudiceof the people. But it is carrying things too far to reduce the powerof the demon to being able to act upon us only by means of suggestion;and it is a presumption unworthy of a philosopher to decide on thepower of spirits over bodies, having no knowledge, either byrevelation or by reason, of the extent of the power of angels anddemons over matter and human bodies. We may exceed due measure bygranting them excessive power, as well as in not according themenough. But it is of infinite importance to Religion to discern justlybetween what is natural, or supernatural, in the operations of angelsand demons, that the simple may not be left in error, nor the wickedtriumph over the truth, and make a bad use of their own wit andknowledge, to render doubtful what is certain, and deceiving boththemselves and others by ascribing to chance or illusion of thesenses, or a vain prepossession of the mind, what is said of theapparitions of angels, demons, and deceased persons; since it iscertain that several of these apparitions are quite true, althoughthere may be a great number of others that are very uncertain, andeven manifestly false. 

I shall therefore make no difficulty in owning that even miracles, atleast things that appear such, the prediction of future events, movements of the body which appear beyond the usual powers of nature, to speak and understand foreign languages unknown before, to penetratethe thoughts, discover concealed things, to be raised up, andtransported in a moment from one place to another, to announce truths, lead a good life externally, preach Jesus Christ, decry magic andsorcery, make an outward profession of virtue; I readily own that allthese things may not prove invincibly that all who perform them aresent by God, or that these operations are real miracles; yet we cannotreasonably suppose the demon to be mixed up in them by God'spermission, or that the demons or the angels do not act upon thosepersons who perform prodigies, and foretell things to come, or who canpenetrate the thoughts of the heart, or that God himself does notproduce these effects by the immediate action of his justice or hismight. 

The examples which have been cited, or which may be cited hereafter, will never prove that man can of himself penetrate the sentiments ofanother, or discover his secret thoughts. The wonders worked by themagicians of Pharaoh were only illusion; they appeared, however, to betrue miracles, and passed for such in the eyes of the King of Egyptand all his court. Balaam, the son of Beor, was a true Prophet, although a man whose morals were very corrupt. 

Pomponatius writes that the wife of Francis Maigret, savetier ofMantua, spoke divers languages, and was cured by Calderon, aphysician, famous in his time, who gave her a potion of Hellebore. Erasmus says also[264] that he had seen an Italian, a native ofSpoletta, who spoke German very well, although he had never been inGermany; they gave him a medicine which caused him to eject a quantityof worms, and he was cured so as not to speak German any more. 

Le Loyer, in his _Book of Spectres_, [265] avows that all those thingsappear to him much to be doubted. He rather believes Fernel, one ofthe gravest physicians of his age, who maintains[266] that there isnot such power in medicine, and brings forward as an instance thehistory of a young gentleman, the son of a Knight of the Order, whobeing seized upon by the demon, could be cured neither by potions, bymedicines, nor by diet (_i. E. _ fasting), but who was cured by theconjurations and exorcisms of the church. 

As to the reality of the return of souls, or spirits, and theirapparitions, the Sorbonne, the most celebrated school of theology inFrance, has always believed that the spirits of the defunct returnedsometimes, either by the order and power of God, or by his permission. The Sorbonne confessed this in its decisions of the year 1518, andstill more positively the 23d of January, 1724. _Nos respondemusvestrĉ petitioni animas defunctorum divinitus, seu divinâ virtute, ordinatione aut permissione interdum ad vivas redire exploratum esse. _Several jurisconsults and several sovereign companies have decreedthat the apparition of a deceased person in a house could suffice tobreak up the lease. We may count it for much, to have proved tocertain persons that there is a God whose providence extends over allthings past, present, and to come; that there is another life, thatthere are good and bad spirits, rewards for good works, andpunishments after this life for sins; that Jesus Christ has ruined thepower of Satan; that he exercised in himself, in his apostles, andcontinues to exercise in the ministers of his church, an absoluteempire over the infernal powers; that the devil is now chained; he maybark and threaten, but he can bite only those who approach him, andvoluntarily give themselves up to him. 

We have seen in these parts a woman who followed a band of mountebanksand jugglers, who stretched out her legs in such an extraordinarymanner, and raised up her feet to her head, before and behind, with asmuch suppleness as if she had neither nerves nor joints. There wasnothing supernatural in all that; she had exercised herself fromextreme youth in these movements, and had contracted the habit ofperforming them. 

St. Augustine[267] speaks of a soothsayer whom he had known atCarthage, an illiterate man, who could discover the secrets of theheart, and replied to those who consulted him on secret and unknownaffairs. He had himself made an experiment on him, and took to witnessSt. Alypius, Licentius, and Trygnius, his interlocutors, in hisdialogue against the Academicians. They, like him, had consultedAlbicerius, and had admired the certainty of his replies. He gives usan instance--a spoon which had been lost. They told him that some onehad lost something; and he instantly, without hesitation, replied thatsuch a thing was lost, that such a one had taken it, and had hid it insuch a place, which was found to be quite true. 

They sent him a certain quantity of pieces of silver; he who wascharged to carry them had taken away some of them. He made the personreturn them, and perceived the theft before the money had been shownto him. St. Augustine was present. A learned and distinguished man, named Flaccianus, wishing to buy a field, consulted the soothsayer, who declared to him the name of the land, which was veryextraordinary, and gave him all the details of the affair in question. A young student, wishing to prove Albicerius, begged of him to declareto him what he was thinking of; he told him he was thinking of a verseof Virgil; and, as he then asked him which verse it was, the divinerrepeated it instantly, though he had never studied the Latin language. 

This Albicerius was a scoundrel, as St. Augustine says, who calls him_flagitiosum hominem_. The knowledge which he had of hidden things wasnot, doubtless, a gift of heaven, any more than the Pythonic spiritwhich animated that maid in the Acts of the Apostles whom St. Paulobliged to keep silence. [268] It was then the work of the evil spirit. 

The gift of tongues, the knowledge of the future, and power to divinethe thoughts of others, are always adduced, and with reason, as solidproofs of the presence and inspiration of the Holy Spirit; but if thedemon can sometimes perform the same things, he does it to mislead andinduce sin, or simply to render true prophecies doubtful; but never tolead to truth, the fear and love of God, and the edification of thosearound. God may allow such corrupt men as Balaam, and such rascals asAlbicerius, to have some knowledge of the future, and secret things, and even of the hidden thoughts of men; but he never permits theircriminality to remain unrevealed to the end, and so become astumbling-block for simple or worthy people. The malice of thesehypocritical and corrupt men will be made manifest sooner or later bysome means; their malice and depravity will be found out, by which itwill be judged, either that they are inspired only by the evil spirit, or that the Holy Spirit makes use of their agency to foretell sometruth, as he prophesied by Balaam, and by Caïphas. Their morals andtheir conduct will throw discredit on them, and oblige us to becareful in discerning between their true predictions and their badexample. We have seen hypocrites who died with the reputation of beingworthy people, and who at bottom were scoundrels--as for instance, that curé, the director of the nuns of Louviers, whose possession wasso much talked of. 

Jesus Christ, in the Gospel, tells us to be on our guard againstwolves in sheep's clothing; and, elsewhere, he tells us that therewill be false Christs and false prophets, who will prophesy in hisname, and perform wonders capable of deceiving the very electthemselves, were it possible. But he refers us to their works todistinguish them. 

To apply all these things to the possessed nuns of Loudun, and toMademoiselle de Ranfaing, even to that girl whose hypocrisy wasunmasked by Mademoiselle Acarie, I appeal to their works, and theirconduct both before and after. 

 * * * * *

God will not allow those who sincerely seek the truth to be deceived. 

A juggler will guess which card you have touched, or even simplythought of; but it is known that there is nothing supernatural inthat, and that it is done by the combination of the cards according tomathematical rules. We have seen a deaf man who understood what theywished to say to him by simply observing the motion of the lips ofthose who spoke. There is nothing more miraculous in this than in twopersons conversing together by signs upon which they have agreed. 

Footnotes:

[263] See the letter of the Bishop of Senez, printed at Utrecht, in1736, and the works that he therein cites and refutes. 

[264] Erasm. Orat. De laudibus Medicinĉ. 

[265] Le Loyer, lib. De Spec. Cap. Ii. P. 288. 

[266] Fernel, de abditis Rerum Causis, lib. Ii. C. 26. 

[267] August. Contra Academic. Lib. Ii. Art. 17, 18. 

[268] Acts xvi. 16. 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

OF FAMILIAR SPIRITS. 

If all that is related of spirits which are perceived in houses, inthe cavities of mountains, and in mines, is certain, we cannot disavowthat they also must be placed in the rank of apparitions of the evilspirit; for, although they usually do neither wrong nor violence toany one, unless they are irritated or receive abusive words;nevertheless we do not read that they lead to the love or fear of God, to prayer, piety, or acts of devotion; it is known, on the contrary, that they show a distaste to those things, so that we shall place themin earnest among the spirits of darkness. 

I do not find that the ancient Hebrews knew anything of what we call_esprits follets_, or familiar spirits, which infest houses, or attachthemselves to certain persons, to serve them, watch over and warnthem, and guard them from danger; such as the demon of Socrates, whowarned him to avoid certain misfortunes. Some other examples are alsorelated of persons who said they had similar genii attached to theirpersons. 

The Jews and Christians confess that every one of us has his goodangel, who guides him from his early youth. [269] Several of theancients have thought that we have also our evil angel, who leads usinto error. The Psalmist[270] says distinctly that God has commandedhis angels to guide us in all our ways. But this is not what weunderstand here under the name of _esprits follets_. 

The prophets in some places speak of _fauns_, or _hairy men_, or_satyrs_, who have some resemblance to our elves. 

Isaiah, [271] speaking of the state to which Babylon shall be reducedafter her destruction, says that the ostriches shall make it theirdwelling, and that the hairy men, _pilosi_, the satyrs, and goats, shall dance there. And elsewhere the same prophet says, [272]_Occurrent dĉmonia onocentauris et pilosus clamabit alter ad alterum_, by which clever interpreters understand spectres which appear in theshape of goats. Jeremiah calls them _fauns_--the dragons with thefauns, which feed upon figs. But this is not the place for us to gomore fully into the signification of the terms of the original; itsuffices for us to show that in the Scripture, at least in theVulgate, are found the names of _lamiĉ_, _fauns_, and _satyrs_, whichhave some resemblance to _esprits follets_. 

Cassian, [273] who had studied deeply the lives of the fathers of thedesert, and who had been much with the hermits or anchorites of Egypt, speaking of divers sorts of demons, mentions some which they commonlycalled _fauns_ or _satyrs_, which the pagans regard as kinds ofdivinities of the fields or groves, who delighted, not so much intormenting or doing harm to mankind, as in deceiving and fatiguingthem, diverting themselves at their expense, and sporting with theirsimplicity. [274]

Pliny[275] the younger had a freed-man named Marcus, a man of letters, who slept in the same bed with his brother, who was younger thanhimself. It seemed to him that he saw a person sitting on the samebed, who was cutting off his hair from the crown of his head. When heawoke, he found his head shorn of hair, and his hair thrown on theground in the middle of the chamber. A little time after, the samething happened to a youth who slept with several others at a school. This one saw two men dressed in white come in at the window, who cutoff his hair as he slept, and then went out by the same window: onawaking, he found his hair scattered about on the floor. To what canthese things be attributed, if not to an elf?

Plotinus, [276] a Platonic philosopher, had, it is said, a familiardemon, who obeyed him from the moment he called him, and was superiorin his nature to the common genii; he was of the order of gods, andPlotinus paid continual attention to this divine guardian. This it waswhich led him to undertake a work on the demon which belongs to eachof us in particular. He endeavors to explain the difference betweenthe genii which watch over men. 

Trithemius, in his Chronicon Hirsauginse, [277] under the year 1130, relates that in the diocese of Hildesheim, in Saxony, they saw forsome time a spirit which they called in German _heidekind_, as if theywould say _rural genius_, _heide_ signifying vast country, _kind_, child (or boy). He appeared sometimes in one form, sometimes inanother; and sometimes, without appearing at all, he did severalthings by which he proved both his presence and his power. He chosesometimes to give very important advice to those in power; and oftenhe has been seen in the bishop's kitchen, helping the cooks and doingsundry jobs. 

A young scullion, who had grown familiar with him, having offered himsome insults, he warned the head cook of it, who made light of it, orthought nothing about it; but the spirit avenged himself cruelly. Thisyouth having fallen asleep in the kitchen, the spirit stifled him, tore him to pieces, and roasted him. He carried his fury still furtheragainst the officers of the kitchen, and the other officers of theprince. The thing went on to such a point that they were obliged toproceed against him by (ecclesiastical) censures, and to constrain himby exorcisms to go out of the country. 

I think I may put amongst the number of elves the spirits which areseen, they say, in mines and mountain caves. They appear clad like theminers, run here and there, appear in haste as if to work and seek theveins of mineral ore, lay it in heaps, draw it out, turning the wheelof the crane; they seem to be very busy helping the workmen, and atthe same time they do nothing at all. 

These spirits are not mischievous, unless they are insulted andlaughed at; for then they fall into an ill humor, and throw things atthose who offend them. One of these genii, who had been addressed ininjurious terms by a miner, twisted his neck and placed his head thehind part before. The miner did not die, but remained all his lifewith his neck twisted and awry. 

George Agricola, [278] who has treated very learnedly on mines, metals, and the manner of extracting them from the bowels of the earth, mentions two or three sorts of spirits which appear in mines. Some arevery small, and resemble dwarfs or pygmies; the others are like oldmen dressed like miners, having their shirts tucked up, and a leathernapron round their loins; others perform, or seem to perform, what theysee others do, are very gay, do no harm to any one, but from all theirlabors nothing real results. 

In other mines are seen dangerous spirits, who ill-use the workmen, hunt them away, and sometimes kill them, and thus constrain them toforsake mines which are very rich and abundant. For instance, atAnneberg, in a mine called Crown of Rose, a spirit in the shape of aspirited, snorting horse, killed twelve miners, and obliged those whoworked the mine to abandon the undertaking, though it brought them ina great deal. In another mine, called St. Gregory, in Siveberg, thereappeared a spirit whose head was covered with a black hood, and heseized a miner, raised him up to a considerable height, then let himfall, and hurt him extremely. 

Olaus Magnus[279] says that, in Sweden and other northern countries, they saw formerly familiar spirits, which, under the form of men orwomen, waited on certain persons. He speaks of certain nymphs dwellingin caverns and in the depths of the forest, who announce things tocome; some are good, others bad; they appear and speak to those whoconsult them. Travelers and shepherds also often see during the nightdivers phantoms which burn the spot where they appear, so thathenceforward neither grass nor verdure are seen there. 

He says that the people of Finland, before their conversion toChristianity, sold the winds to sailors, giving them a string withthree knots, and warning them that by untying the first knot theywould have a gentle and favorable wind, at the second knot a strongerwind, and at the third knot a violent and dangerous gale. He says, moreover, that the Bothnians, striking on an anvil hard blows with ahammer, upon a frog or a serpent of brass, fall down in a swoon, andduring this swoon they learn what passes in very distant places. 

But all those things have more relation to magic than to familiarspirits; and if what is said about them be true, it must be ascribedto the evil spirit. 

The same Olaus Magnus[280] says that in mines, above all in silvermines, from which great profit may be expected, six sorts of demonsmay be seen, who under divers forms labor at breaking the rocks, drawing the buckets, and turning the wheels; who sometimes burst intolaughter, and play different tricks; all of which are merely todeceive the miners, whom they crush under the rocks, or expose to themost imminent dangers, to make them utter blasphemy, and swear andcurse. Several very rich mines have been obliged to be disused throughfear of these dangerous spirits. 

Notwithstanding all that we have just related, I doubt very much ifthere are any spirits in mountain caves or in mines. I haveinterrogated on the subject people of the trade and miners byprofession, of whom there is a great number in our mountains, theVosges, who have assured me that all which is related on that point isfabulous; that if sometimes they see these elves or grotesque figures, it must be attributed to a heated and prepossessed imagination; orelse that the circumstance is so rare that it ought not to be repeatedas something usual or common. 

A new "Traveler in the Northern Countries, " printed at Amsterdam, in1708, says that the people of Iceland are almost all conjurers orsorcerers; that they have familiar demons, whom they call _troles_, who wait upon them as servants, and warn them of the accidents orillnesses which are to happen to them; they awake them to go a-fishingwhen the season is favorable, and if they go for that purpose withoutthe advice of these genii, they do not succeed. There are some personsamong these people who evoke the dead, and make them appear to thosewho wish to consult them: they also conjure up the appearance of theabsent far from the spot where they dwell. 

Father Vadingue relates, after an old manuscript legend, that a ladynamed Lupa had had during thirteen years a familiar demon, who servedher as a waiting-woman, and led her into many secret irregularities, and induced her to treat her servants with inhumanity. God gave hergrace to see her fault, and to do penance for it, by the intercessionof St. François d'Assise and St. Anthony of Padua, to whom she hadalways felt particular devotion. 

Cardan speaks of a bearded demon of Niphus, who gave him lessons ofphilosophy. 

Agrippa had a demon who waited upon him in the shape of a dog. Thisdog, says Paulus Jovius, seeing his master about to expire, threwhimself into the Rhone. 

Much is said of certain spirits[281] which are kept confined in rings, that are bought, sold, or exchanged. They speak also of a crystalring, in which the demon represented the objects desired to be seen. 

Some also speak highly of those enchanted mirrors, [282] in whichchildren see the face of a robber who is sought for; others will seeit in their nails; all which can only be diabolical illusions. 

Le Loyer relates[283] that when he was studying the law at Thoulouse, he was lodged near a house where an elf never ceased all the night todraw water from the well, making the pulley creak all the while; atother times, he seemed to drag something heavy up the stairs; but hevery rarely entered the rooms, and then he made but little noise. 

Footnotes:

[269] Matt. Xviii. 10. 

[270] Psalm xc. 11. 

[271] Isai. Xiii. 22. Pilosi saltabunt ibi. 

[272] Isai. Xxxiv. 15. 

[273] Cassian, Collat. Vii. C. 23. 

[274] "Quos seductores et joculatores esse manifestum est, cùmnequaquam tormentis eorum, quos prĉtereuntes potuerint decipere, oblectentur, sed de risu tantum modò et illusione contenti, fatigarepotiùs, studeant, quám nocere. "

[275] Plin. I. 7. Epist. 27, suiv. 

[276] Life of Plotin. Art. X. 

[277] Chron. Hirsaug. Ad ann. 1130. 

[278] Geo. Agricola, de Mineral. Subterran. P. 504. 

[279] Olaus Mag. Lib. Iii. Hist. 5, 9-14. 

[280] Olaus Mag. Lib. Vi. C. 9. 

[281] Le Loyer, p. 474. 

[282] Ibid. Liv. Ii. P. 258. 

[283] Ibid, p. 550. 

CHAPTER XXX. 

SOME OTHER EXAMPLES OF ELVES. 

On the 25th of August, 1746, I received a letter from a very worthyman, the curé of the parish of Walsche, a village situated in themountains of Vosges, in the county of Dabo, or Dasburg, in LowerAlsatia, Diocese of Metz. In this letter, he tells me that the 10th ofJune, 1740, at eight o'clock in the morning, he being in his kitchen, with his niece and the servant, he saw on a sudden an iron pot thatwas placed on the ground turn round three or four times, without itsbeing set in motion by any one. A moment after, a stone, weighingabout a pound, was thrown from the next room into the same kitchen, inpresence of the same persons, without their seeing the hand whichthrew it. The next day, at nine o'clock in the morning, some panes ofglass were broken, and through these panes were thrown some stones, with what appeared to them supernatural dexterity. The spirit neverhurt anybody, and never did anything in the night time, but alwaysduring the day. The curé employed the prayers marked out in the ritualto bless his house, and thenceforth the genius broke no more panes ofglass; but he continued to throw stones at the curé's people, withouthurting them, however. If they fetched water from the fountain, hethrew stones into the bucket; and afterwards he began to serve in thekitchen. One day, as the servant was planting some cabbages in thegarden, he pulled them up as fast as she planted them, and laid themin a heap. It was in vain that she stormed, threatened, and swore inthe German style; the genius continued to play his tricks. 

One day, when a bed in the garden had been dug and prepared, the spadewas found thrust two feet deep into the ground, without any tracebeing seen of him who had thus stuck it in; but they observed that onthe spade was a riband, and by the spade were two pieces of two soles, which the girl had locked up the evening before in a little box. Sometimes he took pleasure in displacing the earthenware and pewter, and putting it either all round the kitchen, or in the porch, or evenin the cemetery, and always in broad daylight. One day he filled aniron pot with wild herbs, bran, and leaves of trees, and, having putsome water in it, carried it to the ally or walk in the garden;another time he suspended it to the pot-hook over the fire. Theservant having broken two eggs into a little dish for the curé'ssupper, the genius broke two more into it in his presence, the maidhaving merely turned to get some salt. The curé having gone to saymass, on his return found all his earthenware, furniture, linen, bread, milk, and other things scattered about over the house. 

Sometimes the spirit would form circles on the paved floor, at onetime with stones, at another with corn or leaves, and in a moment, before the eyes of all present, all was overturned and deranged. Tiredwith these games, the curé sent for the mayor of the place, and toldhim he was resolved to quit the parsonage house. Whilst this waspassing, the curé's niece came in, and told them that the genius hadtorn up the cabbages in the garden, and had put some money in a holein the ground. They went there, and found things exactly as she hadsaid. They picked up the money, which what the curé had put away in aplace not locked up; and in a moment after they found it anew, withsome liards, two by two, scattered about the kitchen. 

The agents of the Count de Linange being arrived at Walsche, went tothe curé's house, and persuaded him that it was all the effect of aspell; they told him to take two pistols, and fire them off at theplace where he might observe there were any movements. The genius atthe same moment threw out of the pocket of one of these officers twopieces of silver; and from that time he was no longer perceived in thehouse. 

The circumstances of two pistols terminating the scenes with which theelf had disturbed the good curé, made him believe that this tormentingimp was no other than a certain bad parishioner, whom the curé hadbeen obliged to send away from his parish, and who to revenge himselfhad done all that we have related. If that be the case, he hadrendered himself invisible, or he had had credit enough to send in hisstead a familiar genius who puzzled the curé for some weeks; for, ifhe were not bodily in this house, what had he to fear from any pistolshot which might have been fired at him? And if he was there bodily, how could he render himself invisible?

I have been told several times that a monk of the Cistercian order hada familiar genius who attended upon him, arranged his chamber, andprepared everything ready for him when he was coming back from thecountry. They were so accustomed to this, that they expected him homeby these signs, and he always arrived. It is affirmed of another monkof the same order that he had a familiar spirit, who warned him, notonly of what passed in the house, but also of what happened out of it;and one day he was awakened three times, and warned that some monkswere quarreling, and were ready to come to blows; he ran to the spot, and put an end to the dispute. 

St. Sulpicius Severus[284] relates that St. Martin often hadconversations with the Holy Virgin, and other saints, and even withthe demons and false gods of paganism; he talked with them, andlearned from them many secret things. One day, when a council wasbeing held at Nîmes, where he had not thought proper to be present, but the decisions of which he desired to know, being in a boat withSt. Sulpicius, but apart from others, as usual with him, an angelappeared, and informed him what had passed in this assembly ofbishops. Inquiry was made as to the day and hour when the council washeld, and it was found to be at the same hour at which the angel hadappeared to Martin. 

We have been told several times that a young ecclesiastic, in aseminary at Paris, had a genius who waited upon him, and arranged hisroom and his clothes. One day, when the superior was passing by thechamber of the seminarist, he heard him talking with some one; heentered, and asked who he was conversing with. The youth affirmed thatthere was no one in his room, and, in fact, the superior could neithersee nor discover any one there. Nevertheless, as he had heard theirconversation, the young man owned that for some years he had beenattended by a familiar genius, who rendered him every service that adomestic could have done, and had promised him great advantages inthe ecclesiastical profession. The superior pressed him to give someproofs of what he said. He ordered the genius to set a chair for thesuperior; the genius obeyed. Information of this was sent to thearchbishop, who did not think proper to give it publicity. The youngclerk was sent away, and this singular adventure was buried insilence. 

Bodin[285] speaks of a person of his acquaintance who was still livingat the time he wrote, which was in 1588. This person had a familiarwho from the age of thirty-seven had given him good advice respectinghis conduct, sometimes to correct his faults, sometimes to make himpractice virtue, or to assist him; resolving the difficulties which hemight find in reading holy books, or giving him good counsel upon hisown affairs. He usually rapped at his door at three or four o'clock inthe morning to awaken him; and as that person mistrusted all thesethings, fearing that it might be an evil angel, the spirit showedhimself in broad day, striking gently on a glass bowl, and then upon abench. When he desired to do anything good and useful, the spirittouched his right ear; but if it was anything wrong and dangerous, hetouched his left ear; so that from that time nothing occurred to himof which he was not warned beforehand. Sometimes he heard his voice;and one day, when he found his life in imminent danger, he saw hisgenius, under the form of a child of extraordinary beauty, who savedhim from it. 

William, Bishop of Paris, [286] says that he knew a rope-dancer who hada familiar spirit which played and joked with him, and prevented himfrom sleeping, throwing something against the wall, dragging off thebed-clothes, or pulling him about when he was in bed. We know by theaccount of a very sensible person that it has happened to him in theopen country, and in the day time, to feel his cloak and boots pulledat, and his hat thrown down; then he heard the bursts of laughter andthe voice of a person deceased and well known to him, who seemed torejoice at it. 

The discovery of things hidden or unknown, which is made in dreams, orotherwise, can hardly be ascribed to anything but to familiar spirits. A man who did not know a word of Greek came to M. De Saumaise, senior, a counselor of the Parliament of Dijon, and showed him these words, which he had heard in the night, as he slept, and which he wrote downin French characters on awaking: "_Apithi ouc osphraine tén sénapsychian_. " He asked him what that meant. M. De Saumaise told him itmeant, "Save yourself; do you not perceive the death with which youare threatened?" Upon this hint, the man removed, and left his house, which fell down the following night. [287]

The same story is related, with a little difference, by anotherauthor, who says that the circumstance happened at Paris;[288] thatthe genius spoke in Syriac, and that M. De Saumaise being consulted, replied, "Go out of your house, for it will fall in ruins to-day, atnine o'clock in the evening. " It is but too much the custom inreciting stories of this kind to add a few circumstances by way ofembellishment. 

Gassendi, in the Life of M. Peiresch, relates that M. Peiresch, goingone day to Nismes, with one of his friends, named M. Rainier, thelatter, having heard Peiresch talking in his sleep in the night, wakedhim, and asked him what he said. Peiresch answered him, "I dreamedthat, being at Nismes, a jeweler had offered me a medal of JuliusCĉsar, for which he asked four crowns, and as I was going to count himdown his money, you waked me, to my great regret. " They arrived atNismes, and going about the town, Peiresch recognized the goldsmithwhom he had seen in his dream; and on his asking him if he had nothingcurious, the goldsmith told him he had a gold medal, or coin, ofJulius Cĉsar. Peiresch asked him how much he esteemed it worth; hereplied, four crowns. Peiresch paid them, and was delighted to see hisdream so happily accomplished. 

Here is a dream much more singular than the preceding, although alittle in the same style. [289] A learned man of Dijon, after havingwearied himself all day with an important passage in a Greek poet, without being able to comprehend it at all, went to bed thinking ofthis difficulty. During his sleep, his genius transported him inspirit to Stockholm, introduced him into the palace of QueenChristina, conducted him into the library, and showed him a smallvolume, which was precisely what he sought. He opened it, read in itten or twelve Greek verses, which absolutely cleared up the difficultywhich had so long beset him; he awoke, and wrote down the verses hehad seen at Stockholm. On the morrow, he wrote to M. Descartes, whowas then in Sweden, and begged of him to look in such a place, and insuch a _division_ of the library, if the book, of which he sent himthe description, were there, and if the Greek verses which he sent himwere to be read in it. 

M. Descartes replied that he had found the book in question; and alsothe verses he had sent were in the place he pointed out; that one ofhis friends had promised him a copy of that work, and he would send ithim by the first opportunity. 

We have already said something of the spirit, or familiar genius ofSocrates, which prevented him from doing certain things, but did notlead him to do others. It is asserted[290] that, after the defeat ofthe Athenian army, commanded by Laches, Socrates, flying like theothers, with this Athenian general, and being arrived at a spot whereseveral roads met, Socrates would not follow the road taken by theother fugitives; and when they asked him the reason, he replied, because his genius drew him away from it. The event justified hisforesight. All those who had taken the other road were either killedor made prisoners by the enemy's cavalry. 

It is doubtful whether the elves, of which so many things are related, are good or bad spirits; for the faith of the church admits nothingbetween these two kinds of genii. Every genius is either good or bad;but as there are in heaven many mansions, as the Gospel says, [291] andas there are among the blessed, various degrees of glory, differingfrom each other, so we may believe that there are in hell variousdegrees of pain and punishment for the damned and the demons. 

But are they not rather magicians, who render themselves invisible, and divert themselves in disquieting the living? Why do they attachthemselves to certain spots, and certain persons, rather than toothers? Why do they make themselves perceptible only during a certaintime, and that sometimes a short space?

I could willingly conclude that what is said of them is mere fancy andprejudice; but their reality has been so often experienced by thediscourse they have held, and the actions they have performed in thepresence of many wise and enlightened persons, that I cannot persuademyself that among the great number of stories related of them thereare not at least some of them true. 

It may be remarked that these elves never lead one to anything good, to prayer, or piety, to the love of God, or to godly and seriousactions. If they do no other harm, they leave hurtful doubts about thepunishments of the damned, on the efficacy of prayer and exorcisms; ifthey hurt not those men or animals which are found on the spot wherethey may be perceived, it is because God sets bounds to their maliceand power. The demon has a thousand ways of deceiving us. All those towhom these genii attach themselves have a horror of them, mistrust andfear them; and it rarely happens that these familiar demons do notlead them to a dangerous end, unless they deliver themselves from themby grave acts of religion and penance. 

There is the story of a spirit, "which, " says he who wrote it to me, "I no more doubt the truth of than if I had been a witness of it. "Count Despilliers, the father, being a young man, and captain ofcuirassiers, was in winter quarters in Flanders. One of his men cameto him one day to beg that he would change his landlord, saying thatevery night there came into his bed-room a spirit, which would notallow him to sleep. The Count Despilliers sent him away, and laughedat his simplicity. Some days after, the same horseman came back andmade the same request to him; the only reply of the captain wouldhave been a volley of blows with a stick, had not the soldier avoidedthem by a prompt flight. At last, he returned a third time to thecharge, and protested to his captain that he could bear it no longer, and should be obliged to desert if his lodgings were not changed. Despilliers, who knew the soldier to be brave and reasonable, said tohim, with an oath, "I will go this night and sleep with you, and seewhat is the matter. "

At ten o'clock in the evening, the captain repaired to his soldier'slodging, and having laid his pistols ready primed upon the table, helay down in his clothes, his sword by his side, with his soldier, in abed without curtains. About midnight he heard something which cameinto the room, and in a moment turned the bed upside down, coveringthe captain and the soldier with the mattress and paillasse. Despilliers had great trouble to disengage himself and find again hissword and pistols, and he returned home much confounded. Thehorse-soldier had a new lodging the very next day, and slept quietlyin the house of his new host. 

M. Despilliers related this adventure to any one who would listen toit. He was an intrepid man, who had never known what it was to fallback before danger. He died field-marshal of the armies of the EmperorCharles VI. And governor of the fortress of Ségedin. His son hasconfirmed this adventure to me within a short time, as having heard itfrom his father. 

The person who writes to me adds: "I doubt not that spirits sometimesreturn; but I have found myself in a great many places which it wassaid they haunted. I have even tried several times to see them, but Ihave never seen any. I found myself once with more than four thousandpersons, who all said they saw the spirit; I was the only one in theassembly who saw nothing. " So writes me a very worthy officer, thisyear, 1745, in the same letter wherein he relates the affair of M. Despilliers. 

Footnotes:

[284] St. Sulpit. Sever. Dialog. Ii. C. 14, 15. 

[285] Bodin Demonomania, lib. Ii. C. 2. 

[286] Guillelm. Paris, 2 Part. Quĉst. 2, c. 8. 

[287] Grot. Epist. Part. Ii. Ep. 405. 

[288] They affirm that it happened at Dijon, in the family of the MM. Surmin, in which a constant tradition has perpetuated the memory ofthe circumstance. 

[289] Continuation of the Count de Gabalis, at the Hague, 1708, p. 55. 

[290] Cicero, de Divinat. Lib. I. 

[291] John xiv. 2. 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

SPIRITS THAT KEEP WATCH OVER TREASURE. 

Everybody acknowledges that there is an infinity of riches buried inthe earth, or lost under the waters by shipwrecks; they fancy that thedemon, whom they look upon as the god of riches, the god _Mammon_, thePluto of the pagans, is the depositary, or at least the guardian, ofthese treasures. He said to Jesus Christ, [292] when he tempted him inthe wilderness, showing to him all the kingdoms of the earth, andtheir glory: "All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt falldown and worship me. " We know also that the ancients very ofteninterred vast treasures in the tombs of the dead; either that the deadmight make use of them in the other world, or that their souls mightkeep guard over them in those gloomy places. Job seems to makeallusion to this ancient custom, when he says, [293] "Would to God Ihad never been born: I should now sleep with the kings and great onesof the earth, who built themselves solitary places; like unto thosewho seek for treasure, and are rejoiced when they find a tomb;"doubtless because they hope to find great riches therein. 

There were very precious things in the tomb of Cyrus. Semiramis causedto be engraved on her own mausoleum that it contained great riches. Josephus[294] relates that Solomon placed great treasures in the tombof David his father; and that the High-Priest Hyrcanus, being besiegedin Jerusalem by King Antiochus, took thence three thousand talents. Hesays, moreover, that years after, Herod the Great having caused thistomb to be searched, took from it large sums. We see several lawsagainst those who violate sepulchres to take out of them the preciousthings they contain. The Emperor Marcianus[295] forbade that richesshould be hidden in tombs. If such things have been placed in themausoleums of worthy and holy persons, and if they have beendiscovered through the revelation of the good spirits of persons whodied in the faith and grace of God, we cannot conclude from thosethings that all hidden treasures are in the power of the demon, andthat he alone knows anything of them; the good angels know of them;and the saints may be much more faithful guardians of them than thedemons, who usually have no power to enrich, or to deliver from thehorrors of poverty, from punishment and death itself, those who yieldthemselves to them in order to receive some reward from them. 

Melancthon relates[296] that the demon informed a priest where atreasure was hid; the priest, accompanied by one of his friends, wentto the spot indicated; they saw there a black dog lying on a chest. The priest, having entered to take out the treasure, was crushed andsmothered under the ruins of the cavern. 

M. Remy[297], in his Demonology, speaks of several persons whosecauses he had heard in his quality of Lieutenant-General of Lorraine, at the time when that country swarmed with wizards and witches; thoseamongst them who believed they had received money from the demon, found nothing in their purses but bits of broken pots, coals, orleaves of trees, or other things equally vile and contemptible. 

The Reverend Father Abram, a Jesuit, in his manuscript History of theUniversity of Pont à Mousson, reports that a youth of good family, butsmall fortune, placed himself at first to serve in the army among thevalets and serving men: from thence his parents sent him to school, but not liking the subjection which study requires, he quitted theschool and returned to his former kind of life. On his way he met aman dressed in a silk coat, but ill-looking, dark, and hideous, whoasked him where he was going to, and why he looked so sad: "I am ableto set you at your ease, " said this man to him, "if you will giveyourself to me. "

The young man, believing that he wished to engage him as a servant, asked for time to reflect upon it; but beginning to mistrust themagnificent promises which he made him, he looked at him morenarrowly, and having remarked that his left foot was divided like thatof an ox, he was seized with affright, made the sign of the cross, andcalled on the name of Jesus, when the spectre directly disappeared. 

Three days after, the same figure appeared to him again, and asked himif he had made up his mind; the young man replied that he did not wanta master. The spectre said to him, "Where are you going?" "I am goingto such a town, " replied he. At that moment the demon threw at hisfeet a purse which chinked, and which he found filled with thirty orforty Flemish crowns, amongst which were about twelve which appearedto be gold, newly coined, and as if from the stamps of the coiner. Inthe same purse was a powder, which the spectre said was of a verysubtile quality. 

At the same time, he gave him abominable counsels to satisfy the mostshameful passions; and exhorted him to renounce the use of holy water, and the adoration of the host--which he called in derision that littlecake. The boy was horrified at these proposals, and made the sign ofthe cross on his heart; and at the same time he felt himself thrownroughly down on the ground, where he remained for half an hour, halfdead. Having got up again, he returned home to his mother, didpenance, and changed his conduct. The pieces of money which lookedlike gold and newly coined, having been put in the fire, were found tobe only of copper. 

I relate this instance to show that the demon seeks only to deceiveand corrupt even those to whom he makes the most specious promises, and to whom he seems to give great riches. 

Some years ago, two monks, both of them well informed and prudent men, consulted me upon a circumstance which occurred at Orbé, a village ofAlsatia, near the Abbey of Pairis. Two men of that place told themthat they had seen come out of the ground a small box or casket, whichthey supposed was full of money, and having a wish to lay hold of it, it had retreated from them and hidden itself again under ground. Thishappened to them more than once. 

Theophanes, a celebrated and grave Greek historiographer, under theyear of our era 408, relates that Cabades, King of Persia, beinginformed that between the Indian country and Persia there was a castlecalled Zubdadeyer, which contained a great quantity of gold, silver, and precious stones, resolved to make himself master of it; but thesetreasures were guarded by demons, who would not permit any one toapproach it. He employed some of the magi and some Jews who were withhim to conjure and exorcise them; but their efforts were useless. Theking bethought himself of the God of the Christians--prayed to him, and sent for the bishop who was at the head of the Christian church inPersia, and begged of him to use his efforts to obtain for him thesetreasures, and to expel the demons by whom they were guarded. Theprelate offered the holy sacrifice, participated in it, and going tothe spot, drove away the demons who were guardians of these riches, and put the king in peaceable possession of the castle. 

Relating this story to a man of some rank, [298] he told me, that inthe Isle of Malta, two knights having hired a slave, who boasted thathe possessed the secret of evoking demons, and forcing them todiscover the most hidden secrets, they led him into an old castle, where it was thought that treasures were concealed. The slaveperformed his evocations, and at last the demon opened a rock whenceissued a coffer. The slave would have taken hold of it, but the cofferwent back into the rock. This occurred more than once; and the slave, after vain efforts, came and told the knights what had happened tohim; but he was so much exhausted that he had need of somerestorative; they gave him refreshment, and when he had returned theyafter a while heard a noise. They went into the cave with a light, tosee what had happened, and they found the slave lying dead, and allhis flesh full of cuts as of a penknife, in form of a cross; he was socovered with them that there was not room to place a finger where hewas not thus marked. The knights carried him to the shore, and threwhim into the sea with a great stone hung round his neck. We could namethese persons and note the dates, were it necessary. 

The same person related to us, at that same time, that about ninetyyears before, an old woman of Malta was warned by a genius that therewas a great deal of treasure in her cellar, belonging to a knight ofhigh consideration, and desired her to give him information of it; shewent to his abode, but could not obtain an audience. The followingnight the same genius returned, and gave her the same command; and asshe refused to obey, he abused her, and again sent her on the sameerrand. The next day she returned to seek this lord, and told thedomestics that she would not go away until she had spoken to themaster. She related what had happened to her; and the knight resolvedto go to her dwelling, accompanied by people with the properinstruments for digging; they dug, and very shortly there sprung upsuch a quantity of water from the spot where they inserted theirpickaxes that they were obliged to give up the undertaking. 

The knight confessed to the Inquisitor what he had done, and receivedabsolution for it; but he was obliged to inscribe the fact we haverecounted in the Registers of the Inquisition. 

About sixty years after, the canons of the Cathedral of Malta, wishingfor a wider space before their church, bought some houses which it wasnecessary to pull down, and amongst others that which had belonged tothat old woman. As they were digging there, they found the treasure, consisting of a good many gold pieces of the value of a ducat, bearingthe effigy of the Emperor Justinian the First. The Grand Master of theOrder of Malta affirmed that the treasure belonged to him as sovereignof the isle; the canons contested the point. The affair was carried toRome; the grand master gained his suit, and the gold was brought tohim, amounting in value to about sixty thousand ducats; but he gavethem up to the cathedral. 

Some time afterwards, the knight of whom we have spoken, who was thenvery aged, remembered what had happened to himself, and asserted thatthe treasure ought to belong to him; he made them lead him to thespot, recognized the cellar where he had formerly been, and pointedout in the Register of the Inquisition what had been written thereinsixty years before. They did not permit him to recover the treasure;but it was a proof that the demon knew of and kept watch over thismoney. The person who told me this story has in his possession threeor four of these gold pieces, having bought them of the canons. 

Footnotes:

[292] Matt. Iv. 8. 

[293] Job iii. 13, 14, 22. 

[294] Joseph. Ant. Lib. Xiii. 

[295] Martian. Lib. Iv. 

[296] Le Loyer, liv. Ii. P. 495. 

[297] Remy, Demonol. C. Iv. Ann. 1605. 

[298] M. Le Chevalier Guiot de Marre. 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

OTHER INSTANCES OF HIDDEN TREASURES WHICH WERE GUARDED BY GOOD OR BADSPIRITS. 

We read in a new work that a man, Honoré Mirable, having found in agarden near Marseilles a treasure consisting of several Portuguesepieces of gold, from the indication given him by a spectre, whichappeared to him at eleven o'clock at night, near the _Bastide_, orcountry house called _du Paret_, he made the discovery of it inpresence of the woman who farmed the land of this _Bastide_, and thefarm-servant named Bernard. When he first perceived the treasureburied in the earth, and wrapt up in a bundle of old linen, he wasafraid to touch it, for fear it should be poisoned and cause hisdeath. He raised it by means of a hook made of a branch of the almondtree, and carried it into his room, where he undid it without anywitness, and found in it a great deal of gold; to satisfy the wishesof the spirit who had appeared to him, he caused some masses to besaid for him. He revealed his good fortune to a countryman of his, named Anquier, who lent him forty livres, and gave him a note by whichhe acknowledged he owed him twenty thousand livres and receipted thepayment of the forty livres lent; this note bore date the 27thSeptember, 1726. 

Some time after, Mirable asked Anquier to pay the note. Anquier deniedeverything. A great lawsuit ensued; informations were taken andperquisitions held in Anquier's house; sentence was given on the 10thof September, 1727, importing that Anquier should be arrested, andhave the question applied to him. An appeal was made to the Parliamentof Aix. Anquier's note was declared a forgery. Bernard, who was saidto have been present at the discovery of the treasure, was not citedat all; the other witnesses only deposed from hearsay; MagdalenCaillot alone, who was present, acknowledged having seen the packetwrapped round with linen, and had heard a ringing as of pieces of goldor silver, and had seen one of them, a piece about as large as a pieceof two liards. 

The Parliament of Aix issued its decree the 17th of February, 1728, bywhich it ordained that Bernard, farming servant at the _Bastide duParet_, should be heard; he was heard on different days, and deposedthat he had seen neither treasure, nor rags, nor gold pieces. Thencame another decree of the 2d of June, 1728, which ordered that theattorney-general should proceed by way of ecclesiastical censures onthe facts resulting from these proceedings. 

The indictment was published, fifty-three witnesses were heard;another sentence of the 18th of February, 1729, discharged Anquierfrom the courts and the lawsuit; condemned Mirable to the galleys toperpetuity after having previously undergone the question; and Caillotwas to pay a fine of ten francs. Such was the end of this grandlawsuit. If we examine narrowly these stories of spectres who watchover treasures, we shall doubtless find, as here, a great deal ofsuperstition, deception, and fancy. 

Delrio relates some instances of people who have been put to death, orwho have perished miserably as they searched for hidden treasures. Inall this we may perceive the spirit of lying and seduction on the partof the demon, bounds set to his power, and his malice arrested by thewill of God; the impiety of man, his avarice, his idle curiosity, theconfidence which he places in the angel of darkness, by the loss ofhis wealth, his life, and his soul. 

John Wierus, in his work entitled "_De Prĉstigiis Dĉmonum_, " printedat Basle in 1577, relates that in his time, 1430, the demon revealedto a certain priest at Nuremberg some treasures hidden in a cavernnear the town, and enclosed in a crystal vase. The priest took one ofhis friends with him as a companion; they began to dig up the groundin the spot designated, and they discovered in a subterranean cavern akind of chest, near which a black dog was lying; the priest eagerlyadvanced to seize the treasure, but hardly had he entered the cavern, than it fell in, crushed the priest, and was filled up with earth asbefore. 

The following is extracted from a letter, written from Kirchheim, January 1st, 1747, to M. Schopfflein, Professor of History andEloquence at Strasburg. "It is now more than a year ago that M. Cavallari, first musician of my serene master, and by birth aVenetian, desired to have the ground dug up at Rothenkirchen, a leaguefrom hence, and which was formerly a renowned abbey, and was destroyedin the time of the Reformation. The opportunity was afforded him by anapparition, which showed itself more than once at noonday to the wifeof the Censier of Rothenkirchen, and above all, on the 7th of May fortwo succeeding years. She swears, and can make oath, that she has seena venerable priest in pontifical garments embroidered with gold, whothrew before her a great heap of stones; and although she is aLutheran, and consequently not very credulous in things of that kind, she thinks nevertheless that if she had had the presence of mind toput down a handkerchief or an apron, all the stones would have becomemoney. 

"M. Cavallari then asked leave to dig there, which was the morereadily granted, because the tithe or tenth part of the treasure isdue to the sovereign. He was treated as a visionary, and the matter oftreasure was regarded as an unheard-of thing. In the mean time, helaughed at the anticipated ridicule, and asked me if I would go halveswith him. I did not hesitate a moment to accept this offer; but I wasmuch surprised to find there were some little earthen pots full ofgold pieces, all these pieces finer than the ducats of the fourteenthand fifteenth century generally are. I have had for my share 666, found at three different times. There are some of the Archbishops ofMayence, Treves, and Cologne, of the towns of Oppenheim, Baccarat, Bingen, and Coblentz; there are some also of the Palatine Rupert, ofFrederic, Burgrave of Nuremberg, some few of Wenceslaus, and one ofthe Emperor Charles IV. , &c. "

This shows that not only the demons, but also the saints, aresometimes guardians of treasure; unless you will say that the devilhad taken the shape of the prelate. But what could it avail the demonto give the treasure to these gentlemen, who did not ask him for it, and scarcely troubled themselves about him? I have seen two of thesepieces in the hands of M. Schopfflein. 

The story we have just related is repeated, with a little difference, in a printed paper, announcing a lottery of pieces found atRothenkirchen, in the province of Nassau, not far from Donnersberg. They say in this, that the value of these pieces is twelve livres tensols, French money. The lottery was to be publicly drawn the first ofFebruary, 1750. Every ticket cost six livres of French money. I repeatthese details only to prove the truth of the circumstance. 

We may add to the preceding what is related by Bartholinus in his bookon the cause of the contempt of death shown by the ancient Danes, (lib. Ii. C. 2. ) He relates that the riches concealed in the tombs ofthe great men of that country were guarded by the shades of those towhom they belonged, and that these shades or these demons spreadterror in the souls of those who wished to take away those treasures, either by pouring forth a deluge of water, or by flames which theycaused to appear around the monuments which enclosed those bodies andthose treasures. 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

SPECTRES WHICH APPEAR, AND PREDICT THINGS UNKNOWN AND TO COME. 

Both in ancient and modern writers, we find an infinite number ofstories of spectres. We have not the least doubt that theirapparitions are the work of the demon, if they are real. Now, itcannot be denied that there is a great deal of illusion and falsehoodin all that is related by them. We shall distinguish two sorts ofspectres: those which appear to mankind to hurt or deceive them, or toannounce things to come, fortunate or unfortunate as circumstances mayoccur; the other spectres infest certain houses, of which they havemade themselves masters, and where they are seen and heard. We shalltreat of the latter in another chapter; and show that the greaternumber of these spectres and apparitions may be suspected offalsehood. 

Pliny the younger, writing to his friend Sura on the subject ofapparitions, testifies that he is much inclined to believe them true;and the reason he gives, is what happened to Quintus Curtius Rufus, who, having gone into Africa in the train of the quĉstor or treasurerfor the Romans, walking one day towards evening under a portico, saw awoman of uncommon height and beauty, who told him that she was Africa, and assured him that he would one day return into that same country asproconsul. This promise inspired him with high hopes; and by hisintrigues, and help of friends, whom he had bribed, he obtained thequĉstorship, and afterwards was prĉtor, through the favor of theEmperor Tiberius. 

This dignity having veiled the obscurity and baseness of his birth, hewas sent proconsul to Africa, where he died, after having obtained thehonors of the triumph. It is said that, on his return to Africa, thesame person who had predicted his future grandeur appeared to himagain at the moment of his landing at Carthage. 

These predictions, so precise, and so exactly followed up, made Plinythe younger believe that predictions of this kind are never made invain. The story of Curtius Rufus was written by Tacitus, long enoughbefore Pliny's time, and he might have taken it from Tacitus. 

After the fatal death of Caligula, who was massacred in his palace, hewas buried half burnt in his own gardens. The princesses, his sisters, on their return from exile, had his remains burnt with ceremony, andhonorably inhumed; but it was averred that before this was done, thosewho had to watch over the gardens and the palace had every night beendisturbed by phantoms and frightful noises. 

The following instance is so extraordinary that I should not repeat itif the account were not attested by more than one writer, and alsopreserved in the public monuments of a considerable town of UpperSaxony: this town is Hamelin, in the principality of Kalenberg, at theconfluence of the rivers Hamel and Weser. 

In the year 1384, this town was infested by such a prodigiousmultitude of rats that they ravaged all the corn which was laid up inthe granaries; everything was employed that art and experience couldinvent to chase them away, and whatever is usually employed againstthis kind of animals. At that time there came to the town an unknownperson, of taller stature than ordinary, dressed in a robe of diverscolors, who engaged to deliver them from that scourge for a certainrecompense, which was agreed upon. 

Then he drew from his sleeve a flute, at the sound of which all therats came out of their holes and followed him; he led them straight tothe river, into which they ran and were drowned. On his return heasked for the promised reward, which was refused him, apparently onaccount of the facility with which he had exterminated the rats. Thenext day, which was a fête day, he chose the moment when the elderinhabitants of the burgh were at church, and by means of another flutewhich he began to play, all the boys in the town above the age offourteen, to the number of a hundred and thirty, assembled around him:he led them to the neighboring mountain, named Kopfelberg, under whichis a sewer for the town, and where criminals are executed; these boysdisappeared and were never seen afterwards. 

A young girl, who had followed at a distance, was witness of thematter, and brought the news of it to the town. 

They still show a hollow in this mountain, where they say that he madethe boys go in. At the corner of this opening is an inscription, whichis so old that it cannot now be deciphered; but the story isrepresented on the panes of the church windows; and it is said, thatin the public deeds of this town it is still the custom to put thedates in this manner--_Done in the year ----, after the disappearanceof our children. _[299]

If this recital is not wholly fabulous, as it seems to be, we can onlyregard this man as a spectre and an evil genius, who, by God'spermission, punished the bad faith of the burghers in the persons oftheir children, although innocent of their parents' fault. It mightbe, that a man could have some natural secret to draw the ratstogether and precipitate them into the river; but only diabolicalmalice would cause so many innocent children to perish, out of revengeon their fathers. 

Julius Cĉsar[300] having entered Italy, and wishing to pass theRubicon, perceived a man of more than ordinary stature, who began towhistle. Several soldiers having run to listen to him, this spectreseized the trumpet of one of them, and began to sound the alarm, andto pass the river. Cĉsar at that moment, without further deliberation, said, "Let us go where the presages of the gods and the injustice ofour enemies call upon us to advance. "

The Emperor Trajan[301] was extricated from the town of Antioch by aphantom, which made him go out at a widow, in the midst of thatterrible earthquake which overthrew almost all the town. Thephilosopher Simonides[302] was warned by a spectre that his house wasabout to fall; he went out of it directly, and soon after it felldown. 

The Emperor Julian, the apostate, told his friends that at the timewhen his troops were pressing him to accept the empire, being atParis, he saw during the night a spectre in the form of a woman, asthe genius of an empire is depicted, who presented herself to remainwith him; but she gave him notice that it would be only for a shorttime. The same emperor related, moreover, that writing in his tent alittle before his death, his familiar genius appeared to him, leavingthe tent with a sad and afflicted air. Shortly before the death of theEmperor Constans, the same Julian had a vision in the night, of aluminous phantom, who pronounced and repeated to him, more than once, four Greek verses, importing that when Jupiter should be in the signof the water-pot, or Aquarius, and Saturn in the 25th degree of theVirgin, Constans would end his life in Asia in a shocking manner. 

The same Emperor Julian takes Jupiter[303] to witness that he hasoften seen Esculapius, who cured him of his sicknesses. 

Footnotes:

[299] See Vagenseil _Opera liborum Juvenil. _ tom. Ii. P. 295, theGeography of Hubner, and the Geographical Dictionary of la Martinière, under the name Hamelen. 

[300] Sueton. In Jul. Cĉsar. 

[301] Dio. Cassius. Lib. Lxviii. 

[302] Diogen. Laert. In Simon. Valer. Maxim. Lib. Xxiii. 

[303] Julian, apud Cyrill. Alex. 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

OTHER APPARITIONS OF SPECTRES. 

Plutarch, whose gravity and wisdom are well known, often speaks ofspectres and apparitions. He says, for instance, that at the famousbattle of Marathon against the Persians, several soldiers saw thephantom of Thesus, who fought for the Greeks against the enemy. 

The same Plutarch, in the life of Sylla, says that that general saw inhis sleep the goddess whom the Romans worshiped according to the ritesof the Cappadocians (who were fire-worshipers), whether it might beBellona or Minerva, or the moon. This divinity presented herselfbefore Sylla, and put into his hand a kind of thunderbolt, telling himto launch it against his enemies, whom she named to him one after theother; at the same time that he struck them, he saw them fall andexpire at his feet. There is reason to believe that this same goddesswas Minerva, to whom, as to Jupiter Paganism attributes the right tohurl the thunderbolt; or rather that it was a demon. 

Pausanias, general of the Lacedemonians, [304] having inadvertentlykilled Cleonice, a daughter of one of the first families of Byzantium, was tormented night and day by the ghost of that maiden, who left himno repose, repeating to him angrily a heroic verse, the sense of whichwas, _Go before the tribunal of justice, which punishes crime andawaits thee. Insolence is in the end fatal to mortals_. 

Pausanias, always disturbed by this image, which followed himeverywhere, retired to Heraclea in Elis, where there was a templeserved by priests who were magicians, called _Psychagogues_, that isto say, who profess to evoke the souls of the dead. There Pausanias, after having offered the customary libations and funeral effusions, called upon the spirit of Cleonice, and conjured her to renounce heranger against him. Cleonice at last appeared, and told him that verysoon, when he should be arrived at Sparta, he would be freed from hiswoes, wishing apparently by these mysterious words to indicate thatdeath which awaited him there. 

We see there the custom of evocations of the dead distinctly pointedout, and solemnly practiced in a temple consecrated to theseceremonies; that demonstrates at least the belief and custom of theGreeks. And if Cleonice really appeared to Pausanias and announced hisapproaching death, can we deny that the evil spirit, or the spirit ofCleonice, is the author of this prediction, unless indeed it were atrick of the priests, which is likely enough, and as the ambiguousreply given to Pausanias seems to insinuate. 

Pausanias the historian[305] writes that, 400 years after the battleof Marathon, every night a noise was heard there of the neighing ofhorses, and cries like those of soldiers exciting themselves tocombat. Plutarch speaks also of spectres which were seen, andfrightful howlings that were heard in some public baths, where theyhad put to death several citizens of Chĉronea, his native place; theyhad even been obliged to shut up these baths, which did not preventthose who lived near from continuing to hear great noises, and seeingfrom time to time spectres. 

Dion the philosopher, the disciple of Plato, and general of theSyracusans, being one day seated, towards the evening, very full ofthought, in the portico of his house, heard a great noise, thenperceived a terrible spectre of a woman of monstrous height, whoresembled one of the furies, as they are depicted in tragedies; therewas still daylight, and she began to sweep the house. Dion, quitealarmed, sent to beg his friends to come and see him, and stay withhim all night; but this woman appeared no more. A short timeafterwards, his son threw himself down from the top of the house, andhe himself was assassinated by conspirators. 

Marcus Brutus, one of the murderers of Julius Cĉsar, being in his tentduring a night which was not very dark, towards the third hour of thenight, beheld a monstrous and terrific figure enter. "Who art thou? aman or a God? and why comest thou here?" The spectre answered, "I amthine evil genius. Thou shalt see me at Philippi!" Brutus repliedundauntedly, "I will meet thee there. " And on going out, he went andrelated the circumstance to Cassius, who being of the sect ofEpicurus, and a disbeliever in that kind of apparition, told him thatit was mere imagination; that there were no genii or other kind ofspirits which could appear unto men, and that even did they appear, they would have neither the human form nor the human voice, and coulddo nothing to harm us. Although Brutus was a little reassured by thisreasoning, still it did not remove all his uneasiness. 

But the same Cassius, in the campaign of Philippi, and in the midst ofthe combat, saw Julius Cĉsar, whom he had assassinated, who came up tohim at full gallop: which frightened him so much that at last he threwhimself upon his own sword. Cassius of Parma, a different person fromhim of whom we have spoken above, saw an evil genius, who came intohis tent, and declared to him his approaching death. 

Drusus, when making war on the Germans (Allemani) during the time ofAugustus, desiring to cross the Elbe, in order to penetrate fartherinto the country, was prevented from so doing by a woman of tallerstature than common, who appeared to him and said, "Drusus, whitherwilt thou go? wilt thou never be satisfied? Thy end is near--go backfrom hence. " He retraced his steps, and died before he reached theRhine, which he desired to recross. 

St. Gregory of Nicea, in the Life of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, saysthat, during a great plague which ravaged the city of Neocesarea, spectres were seen in open day, who entered houses, into which theycarried certain death. 

After the famous sedition which happened at Antioch, in the time ofthe Emperor Theodosius, they beheld a kind of fury running about thetown, with a whip, which she lashed about like a coachman who hastenson his horses. 

St. Martin, Bishop of Tours, being at Trèves, entered a house, wherehe found a spectre which frightened him at first. Martin commanded himto leave the body which he possessed: instead of going out (of theplace), he entered the body of another man who was in the samedwelling; and throwing himself upon those who were there, began toattack and bite them. Martin threw himself across his way, put hisfingers in his mouth, and defied him to bite him. The demoniacretreated, as if a bar of red-hot iron had been placed in his mouth, and at last the demon went out of the body of the possessed, not bythe mouth but behind. 

John, Bishop of Atria, who lived in the sixth century, in speaking ofthe great plague which happened under the Emperor Justinian, and whichis mentioned by almost all the historians of that time, says that theysaw boats of brass, containing black men without heads, which sailedupon the sea, and went towards the places where the plague wasbeginning its ravages; that this infection having depopulated a townof Egypt, so that there remained only seven men and a boy ten years ofage, these persons, wishing to get away from the town with a greatdeal of money, fell down dead suddenly. 

The boy fled without carrying anything with him, but at the gate ofthe town he was stopped by a spectre, who dragged him, in spite of hisresistance, into the house where the seven dead men were. Some timeafter, the steward of a rich man having entered therein, to take awaysome furniture belonging to his master, who had gone to reside in thecountry, was warned by the same boy to go away--but he died suddenly. The servants who had accompanied the steward ran away, and carried thenews of all this to their master. 

The same Bishop John relates that he was at Constantinople during avery great plague, which carried off ten, twelve, fifteen, and sixteenthousand persons a-day, so that they reckon that two hundred thousandpersons died of this malady--he says, that during this time demonswere seen running from house to house, wearing the habits ofecclesiastics or monks, and who caused the death of those whom theymet therein. 

The death of Carlostadt was accompanied by frightful circumstances, according to the ministers of Basle, his colleagues, who bore witnessto it at the time. They[306] relate, that at the last sermon whichCarlostadt preached in the temple of Basle, a tall black man came andseated himself near the consul. The preacher perceived him, andappeared disconcerted at it. When he left the pulpit, he asked whothat stranger was who had taken his seat next to the chief magistrate;no one had seen him but himself. When he went home, he heard more newsof the spectre. The black man had been there, and had caught up by thehair the youngest and most tenderly loved of his children. After hehad thus raised the child from the ground, he appeared disposed tothrow him down so as to break his head; but he contented himself withordering the boy to warn his father that in three days he shouldreturn, and he must hold himself in readiness. The child havingrepeated to his father what had been said to him, Carlostadt wasterrified. He went to bed in alarm, and in three days he expired. These apparitions of the demon's, by Luther's own avowal, were prettyfrequent, in the case of the first reformers. 

These instances of the apparitions of spectres might be multiplied toinfinity; but if we undertook to criticise them, there is hardly oneof them very certain, or proof against a serious and profoundexamination. Here follows one, which I relate on purpose because ithas some singular features, and its falsehood has at last beenacknowledged. [307]

Footnotes:

[304] Plutarch in Cimone. 

[305] Pausanias, lib. I. C. 324. 

[306] Moshovius, p. 22. 

[307] See the following chapter. 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

EXAMINATION OF THE APPARITION OF A PRETENDED SPECTRE. 

Business[308] having led the Count d'Alais[309] to Marseilles, a mostextraordinary adventure happened to him there: he desired Neuré towrite to our philosopher (Gassendi) to know what he thought of it;which he did in these words: the count and countess being come toMarseilles, saw, as they were lying in bed, a luminous spectre; theywere both wide awake. In order to be sure that it was not someillusion, they called their valets de chambre; but no sooner hadthese appeared with their flambeaux, than the spectre disappeared. They had all the openings and cracks which they found in the chamberstopped up, and then went to bed again; but hardly had the valets dechambre retired than it appeared again. 

Its light was less shining than that of the sun; but it was brighterthan that of the moon. Sometimes this spectre was of an angular form, sometimes a circle, and sometimes an oval. It was easy to read aletter by the light it gave; it often changed its place, and sometimesappeared on the count's bed. It had, as it were, a kind of littlebucklers, above which were characters imprinted. Nevertheless, nothingcould be more agreeable to the sight; so that instead of alarming, itgave pleasure. It appeared every night whilst the count stayed atMarseilles. This prince, having once cast his hands upon it, to see ifit was not something attached to the bed curtain, the spectredisappeared that night, and reappeared the next. 

Gassendi being consulted upon this circumstance, replied on the 13thof the same month. He says, in the first place, that he knows not whatto think of this vision. He does not deny that this spectre might besent from God to tell them something. What renders this idea probableis the great piety of them both, and that this spectre had nothingfrightful in it, but quite the contrary. What deserves our attentionstill more is this, that if God had sent it, he would have made knownwhy he sent it. God does not jest; and since it cannot be understoodwhat is to be hoped or feared, followed up or avoided, it is clearthat this spectre cannot come from him; otherwise his conduct would beless praiseworthy than that of a father, or a prince, or a worthy, oreven a prudent man, who, being informed of somewhat which greatlyconcerned those in subjection to them, would not content themselveswith warning them enigmatically. 

If this spectre is anything natural, nothing is more difficult than todiscover it, or even to find any conjecture which may explain it. Although I am well persuaded of my ignorance, I will venture to givemy idea. Might it not be advanced that this light has appeared becausethe eye of the count was internally affected, or because it was soexternally? The eye may be so internally in two ways. First, if theeye was affected in the same manner as that of the Emperor Tiberiusalways was when he awoke in the night and opened his eyes; a lightproceeded from them, by means of which he could discern objects in thedark by looking fixedly at them. I have known the same thing happen toa lady of rank. Secondly, if his eyes were disposed in a certainmanner, as it happens to myself when I awake: if I open my eyes, theyperceive rays of light though there has been none. No one can denythat some flash may dart from our eyes which represents objects tous--which objects are reflected in our eyes, and leave their tracesthere. It is known that animals which prowl by night have a piercingsight, to enable them to discern their prey and carry it off; that theanimal spirit which is in the eye, and which may be shed from it, isof the nature of fire, and consequently lucid. It may happen that theeyes being closed during sleep, this spirit heated by the eyelidsbecomes inflamed, and sets some faculty in motion, as the imagination. For, does it not happen that wood of different kinds, and fish bones, produce some light when their heat is excited by putrefaction? Whythen may not the heat excited in this confined spirit produce somelight? He proves afterwards that imagination alone may do it. 

The Count d'Alais having returned to Marseilles, and being lodged inthe same apartment, the same spectre appeared to him again. Neuréwrote to Gassendi that they had observed that this spectre penetratedinto the chamber by the wainscot; which obliged Gassendi to write tothe count to examine the thing more attentively; and notwithstandingthis discovery, he dare not yet decide upon it. He contents himselfwith encouraging the count, and telling him that if this apparition isfrom God, he will not allow him to remain long in expectation, andwill soon make known his will to him; and also, if this vision doesnot come from him, he will not permit it to continue, and will soondiscover that it proceeds from a natural cause. Nothing more is saidof this spectre any where. 

Three years afterwards, the Countess d'Alais avowed ingenuously to thecount that she herself had caused this farce to be played by one ofher women, because she did not like to reside at Marseilles; that herwoman was under the bed, and that she from time to time caused aphosphoric light to appear. The Count d'Alais related this himself toM. Puger of Lyons, who told it, about thirty-five years ago, to M. Falconet, a medical doctor of the Royal Academy of Belle-Lettres, fromwhom I learnt it. Gassendi, when consulted seriously by the count, answered like a man who had no doubt of the truth of this apparition;so true it is that the greater number of these extraordinary factsrequire to be very carefully examined before any opinion can be passedupon them. 

Footnotes:

[308] Vie de Gassendi, tom. I. P. 258. 

[309] Alais is a town in Lower Languedoc, the lords of which bear thetitle of prince, since this town has passed into the House ofAngoulême and De Conty. 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

OF SPECTRES WHICH HAUNT HOUSES. 

There are several kinds of spectres or ghosts which haunt certainhouses, make noises, appear there, and disturb those who live in them:some are sprites, or elves, which divert themselves by troubling thequiet of those who dwell there; others are spectres or ghosts of thedead, who molest the living until they have received sepulture: someof them, as it is said, make the place their purgatory; others showthemselves or make themselves heard, because they have been put todeath in that place, and ask that their death may be avenged, or thattheir bodies may be buried. So many stories are related concerningthose things that now they are not cared for, and nobody will believeany of them. In fact, when these pretended apparitions are thoroughlyexamined into, it is easy to discover their falsehood and illusion. 

Now, it is a tenant who wishes to decry the house in which he resides, to hinder others from coming who would like to take his place; then aband of coiners have taken possession of a dwelling, whose interest itis to keep their secret from being found out; or a farmer who desiresto retain his farm, and wishes to prevent others from coming to offermore for it; in this place it will be cats or owls, or even rats, which by making a noise frighten the master and domestics, as ithappened some years ago at Mosheim, where large rats amused themselvesin the night by moving and setting in motion the machines with whichthe women bruise hemp and flax. An honest man who related it to me, desiring to behold the thing nearer, mounted up to the garret armedwith two pistols, with his servant armed in the same manner. After amoment of silence, they saw the rats begin their game; they let fireupon them, killed two, and dispersed the rest. The circumstance wasreported in the country and served as an excellent joke. 

I am about to relate some of these spectral apparitions upon which thereader will pronounce judgment for himself. Pliny[310] the youngersays that there was a very handsome mansion at Athens which wasforsaken on account of a spectre which haunted it. The philosopherAthenodorus, having arrived in the city, and seeing a board whichinformed the public that this house was to be sold at a very lowprice, bought it and went to sleep there with his people. As he wasbusy reading and writing during the night, he heard on a sudden agreat noise, as if of chains being dragged along, and perceived at thesame time something like a frightful old man loaded with iron chains, who drew near to him. Athenodorus continuing to write, the spectremade him a sign to follow him; the philosopher in his turn made signsto him to wait, and continued to write; at last he took his light andfollowed the spectre, who conducted him into the court of the house, then sank into the ground and disappeared. 

Athenodorus, without being frightened, tore up some of the grass tomark the spot, and on leaving it, went to rest in his room. The nextday he informed the magistrates of what had happened; they came to thehouse and searched the spot he designated, and there found the bonesof a human body loaded with chains. They caused him to be properlyburied, and the dwelling house remained quiet. 

Lucian[311] relates a very similar story. There was, says he, a houseat Corinth which had belonged to one Eubatides, in the quarter namedCranaüs: a man named Arignotes undertook to pass the night there, without troubling himself about a spectre which was said to haunt it. He furnished himself with certain magic books of the Egyptians toconjure the spectre. Having gone into the house at night with a light, he began to read quietly in the court. The spectre appeared in alittle while, taking sometimes the shape of a dog, then that of abull, and then that of a lion. Arignotes very composedly began topronounce certain magical invocations, which he read in his books, andby their power forced the spectre into a corner of the court, where hesank into the earth and disappeared. 

The next day Arignotes sent for Eubatides, the master of the house, and having had the ground dug up where the phantom had disappeared, they found a skeleton, which they had properly interred, and from thattime nothing more was seen or heard. 

It is Lucian, that is to say, the man in the world the least credulousconcerning things of this kind, who makes Arignotes relate this event. In the same passage he says that Democritus, who believed in neitherangels, nor demons, nor spirits, having shut himself up in a tombwithout the city of Athens, where he was writing and studying, a partyof young men, who wanted to frighten him, covered themselves withblack garments, as the dead are represented, and having taken hideousdisguises, came in the night, shrieking and jumping around the placewhere he was; he let them do what they liked, and without at alldisturbing himself, coolly told them to have done with their jesting. 

I know not if the historian who wrote the life of St. Germainl'Auxerrois[312] had in his eye the stories we have just related, andif he did not wish to ornament the life of the saint by a recital verymuch like them. The saint traveling one day through his diocese, wasobliged to pass the night with his clerks in a house forsaken longbefore on account of the spirits which haunted it. The clerk who readto him during the night saw on a sudden a spectre, which alarmed himat first; but having awakened the holy bishop, the latter commandedthe spectre in the name of Jesus Christ to declare to him who he was, and what he wanted. The phantom told him that he and his companion hadbeen guilty of several crimes; that having died and been interred inthat house, they disturbed those who lodged there until the burialrites should have been accorded them. St. Germain commanded him topoint out where their bodies were buried, and the spectre led himthither. The next day he assembled the people in the neighborhood;they sought amongst the ruins of the building where the brambles hadbeen disturbed, and they found the bones of two men thrown in a heaptogether, and also loaded with chains; they were buried, prayers weresaid for them, and they returned no more. 

If these men were wretches dead in crime and impenitence, all this canbe attributed only to the artifice of the devil, to show the livingthat the reprobate take pains to procure rest for their bodies bygetting them interred, and to their souls by getting them prayed for. But if these two men were Christians who had expiated their crimes byrepentance, and who died in communion with the church, God mightpermit them to appear, to ask for clerical sepulture and those prayerswhich the church is accustomed to say for the repose of defunctpersons who die while yet some slight fault remains to be expiated. 

Here is a fact of the same kind as those which precede, but which isattended by circumstances which may render it more credible. It isrelated by Antonio Torquemada, in his work entitled _Flores Curiosas_, printed at Salamanca in 1570. He says that a little before his owntime, a young man named Vasquez de Ayola, being gone to Bologna withtwo of his companions to study the law there, and not having foundsuch a lodging in the town as they wished to have, lodged themselvesin a large and handsome house, which was abandoned by everybody, because it was haunted by a spectre which frightened away all thosewho wished to live in it; they laughed at such discourse, and took uptheir abode there. 

At the end of a month, as Ayola was sitting up alone in his chamber, and his companions sleeping quietly in their beds, he heard at adistance a noise as of several chains dragged along upon the ground, and the noise advanced towards him by the great staircase; herecommended himself to God, made the sign of the cross, took a shieldand sword, and having his taper in his hand, he saw the door opened bya terrific spectre that was nothing but bones, but loaded with chains. Ayola conjured him, and asked him what he wished for; the phantomsigned to him to follow, and he did so; but as he went down thestairs, his light blew out; he went back to light it, and thenfollowed the spirit, which led him along a court where there was awell. Ayola feared that he might throw him into it, and stopped short. The spectre beckoned to him to continue to follow him; they enteredthe garden, where the phantom disappeared. Ayola tore up some handfulsof grass upon the spot, and returning to the house, related to hiscompanions what had happened. In the morning he gave notice of thiscircumstance to the Principals of Bologna. 

They came to reconnoitre the spot, and had it dug up; they found therea fleshless body, but loaded with chains. They inquired who it couldbe, but nothing certain could be discovered, and the bones wereinterred with suitable obsequies, and from that time the house wasnever disquieted by such visits. Torquemada asserts that in his timethere were still living at Bologna and in Spain some who had beenwitnesses of the fact; and that on his return to his own country, Ayola was invested with a high office, and that his son, before thisnarration was written, was President in a good city of the kingdom (ofSpain). 

Plautus, still more ancient than either Lucian or Pliny, composed acomedy entitled "Mostellaria, " or "Monstellaria, " a name derived from"Monstrum, " or "Monstellum, " from a monster, a spectre, which was saidto appear in a certain house, and which on that account had beendeserted. We agree that the foundation of this comedy is only a fable, but we may deduce from it the antiquity of this idea among the Greeksand Romans. 

The poet[313] makes this pretended spirit say that, having beenassassinated about sixty years before by a perfidious comrade who hadtaken his money, he had been secretly interred in that house; that thegod of Hades would not receive him on the other side of Acheron, as hehad died prematurely; for which reason he was obliged to remain inthat house of which he had taken possession. 

 "Hĉc mihi dedita habitatio; Nam me Acherontem recipere noluit, Quia prĉmaturè vitâ careo. "

The pagans, who had the simplicity to believe that the Lamiĉ and evilspirits disquieted those who dwelt in certain houses and certainrooms, and who slept in certain beds, conjured them by magic verses, and pretended to drive them away by fumigations composed of sulphurand other stinking drugs, and certain herbs mixed with sea water. Ovid, speaking of Medea, that celebrated magician, says[314]--

 "Terque senem flammâ, ter aquâ, ter sulphure lustrat. "

And elsewhere he adds eggs:--

 "Adveniat quĉ lustret anus lectumque locumque, Deferat et tremulâ sulphur et ova manu. "

In addition to this they adduce the instance of the archangelRaphael, [315] who drove away the devil Asmodeus from the chamber ofSarah by the smell of the liver of a fish which he burnt upon thefire. But the instance of Raphael ought not to be placed along withthe superstitious ceremonies of magicians, which were laughed at bythe pagans themselves; if they had any power, it could only be by theoperation of the demon with the permission of God; whilst what is toldof the archangel Raphael is certainly the work of a good spirit, sentby God to cure Sarah the daughter of Raguel, who was as muchdistinguished by her piety as the magicians are degraded by theirmalice and superstition. 

Footnotes:

[310] Plin. Junior, Epist. Ad Suram. Lib. Vii. Cap. 27. 

[311] In Philo pseud. P. 840. 

[312] Bolland, 31 Jul. P. 211. 

[313] Plaut. Mostell. Act. Ii. V. 67. 

[314] Vide Joan. Vier. De Curat. Malific. C. 215. 

[315] Tob. Viii. 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

OTHER INSTANCES OF SPECTRES WHICH HAUNT CERTAIN HOUSES. 

Father Pierre Thyree, [316] a Jesuit, relates an infinite number ofanecdotes of houses haunted by ghosts, spirits, and demons; forinstance, that of a tribune, named Hesperius, whose house was infestedby a demon who tormented the domestics and animals, and who was drivenaway, says St. Augustin, [317] by a good priest of Hippo, who offeredtherein the divine sacrifice of the body of our Lord. 

St. Germain, [318] Bishop of Capua, taking a bath in one particularquarter of the town, found there Paschaus, a deacon of the RomanChurch, who had been dead some time, and who began to wait upon him, telling him that he underwent his purgatory in that place for havingfavored the party of Laurentius the anti-pope, against Pope Symachus. 

St. Gregory of Nicea, in the life of St. Gregory of Neocĉsarea, saysthat a deacon of this holy bishop, having gone into a bath where noone dared go after a certain hour in the evening, because all thosewho had entered there had been put to death, beheld spectres of allkinds, which threatened him in a thousand ways, but he got rid of themby crossing himself and invoking the name of Jesus. 

Alexander ab Alexandro, [319] a learned Neapolitan lawyer of thefifteenth century, says that all the world knows that there are anumber of houses at Rome so much out of repute on account of theghosts which appear in them every night that nobody dares to inhabitthem. Nicholas Tuba, his friend, a man well known for his probity andveracity, who came once with some of his comrades to try if all thatwas said of those houses was true, would pass the night in one of themwith Alexander. As they were together, wide awake, and with plenty oflight, they beheld a horrible spectre, which frightened them so muchby its terrific voice and the great noise which it made, that theyhardly knew what they did, nor what they said; "and by degrees, as weapproached, " says he, "with the light, the phantom retreated; at last, after having thrown all the house into confusion, it disappearedentirely. "

I might also relate here the spectre noticed by Father Sinson theJesuit, which he saw, and to which he spoke at Pont-à-Mousson, in thecloister belonging to those fathers; but I shall content myself withthe instance which is reported in the _Causes Célèbres_, [320] andwhich may serve to undeceive those who too lightly give credit tostories of this kind. 

At the Château d' Arsillier, in Picardy, on certain days of the year, towards November, they saw flames and a horrible smoke proceedingthence. Cries and frightful howlings were heard. The bailiff, orfarmer of the château, had got accustomed to this uproar, because hehimself caused it. All the village talked of it, and everybody toldhis own story thereupon. The gentleman to whom the château belonged, mistrusting some contrivance, came there near All-saints' day with twogentlemen his friends, resolved to pursue the spirit, and fire upon itwith a brace of good pistols. A few days after they arrived, theyheard a great noise above the room where the owner of the châteauslept; his two friends went up thither, holding a pistol in one handand a candle in the other; and a sort of black phantom with horns anda tail presented itself, and began to gambol about before them. 

One of them fired off his pistol; the spectre, instead of falling, turns and skips before him: the gentleman tries to seize it, but thespirit escapes by the back staircase; the gentleman follows it, butloses sight of it, and after several turnings, the spectre throwsitself into a granary, and disappears at the moment its pursuerreckoned on seizing and stopping it. A light was brought, and it wasremarked that where the spectre had disappeared there was a trapdoor, which had been bolted after it entered; they forced open the trap, and found the pretended spirit. He owned all his artifices, and thatwhat had rendered him proof against the pistol shot was buffalo's hidetightly fitted to his body. 

Cardinal de Retz, [321] in his Memoirs, relates very agreeably thealarm which seized himself and those with him on meeting a company ofblack Augustine friars, who came to bathe in the river by night, andwhom they took for a troop of quite another description. 

A physician, in a dissertation which he has given on spirits orghosts, says that a maid servant in the Rue St. Victor, who had gonedown into the cellar, came back very much frightened, saying she hadseen a spectre standing upright between two barrels. Some persons whowere bolder went down, and saw the same thing. It was a dead body, which had fallen from a cart coming from the Hôtel-Dieu. It had sliddown by the cellar window (or grating), and had remained standingbetween two casks. All these collective facts, instead of confirmingone another, and establishing the reality of those ghosts which appearin certain houses, and keep away those who would willingly dwell inthem, are only calculated, on the contrary, to render such stories ingeneral very doubtful; for on what account should those people whohave been buried and turned to dust for a long time find themselvesable to walk about with their chains? How do they drag them? How dothey speak? What do they want? Is it sepulture? Are they not interred?If they are heathens and reprobates, they have nothing to do withprayers. If they are good people, who died in a state of grace, theymay require prayers to take them out of purgatory; but can that besaid of the spectres spoken of by Pliny and Lucian? It is the devil, who sports with the simplicity of men? Is it not ascribing to him mostexcessive power, by making him the author of all these apparitions, which we conceive he cannot cause without the permission of God? Andwe can still less imagine that God will concur in the deceptions andillusions of the demon. There is then reason to believe that all theapparitions of this kind, and all these stories, are false, and mustbe absolutely rejected, as more fit to keep up the superstition andidle credulity of the people than to edify and instruct them. 

Footnotes:

[316] Thyrĉi Demoniaci cum locis infestis. 

[317] S. Aug. De Civ. Lib. Xxii. 8. 

[318] S. Greg. Mag. Dial. Cap. 39. 

[319] Alexander ab Alexandro, lib. V. 23. 

[320] Causes Célèbres, tom. Xi. P. 374. 

[321] Mém. De Cardinal de Retz, tom. I. Pp. 43, 44

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

PRODIGIOUS EFFECTS OF IMAGINATION IN THOSE MEN OR WOMEN WHO BELIEVETHEY HOLD INTERCOURSE WITH THE DEMON. 

As soon as we admit it as a principle that angels and demons arepurely spiritual substances, we must consider, not only as chimericalbut also as impossible, all personal intercourse between a demon and aman, or a woman, and consequently regard as the effect of a depravedor deranged imagination all that is related of demons, whether incubior succubi, and of the _ephialtes_ of which such strange tales aretold. 

The author of the Book of Enoch, which is cited by the fathers, andregarded as canonical Scripture by some ancient writers, has takenoccasion, from these words of Moses, [322] "The children of God, seeingthe daughters of men, who were of extraordinary beauty, took them forwives, and begat the giants of them, " of setting forth that theangels, smitten with love for the daughters of men, wedded them, andhad by them children, which are those giants so famous inantiquity. [323] Some of the ancient fathers have thought that thisirregular love of the angels was the cause of their fall, and thattill then they had remained in the just and due subordination whichthey owed to their Creator. 

It appears from Josephus that the Jews of his day seriouslybelieved[324] that the angels were subject to these weaknesses likemen. St. Justin Martyr[325] thought that the demons were the fruit ofthis commerce of the angels with the daughters of men. 

But these ideas are now almost entirely given up, especially since thebelief in the spirituality of angels and demons has been adopted. Commentators and the fathers have generally explained the passage inGenesis which we have quoted as relating to the children of Seth, towhom the Scripture gives the name of _children of God_, to distinguishthem from the sons of Cain, who were the fathers of those here called_the daughters of men_. The race of Seth having then formed allianceswith the race of Cain, by means of those marriages before alluded to, there proceeded from these unions powerful, violent, and impious men, who drew down upon the earth the terrible effects of God's wrath, which burst forth at the universal deluge. 

Thus, then, these marriages between the _children of God_ and the_daughters of men_ have no relation to the question we are heretreating; what we have to examine is--if the demon can have personalcommerce with man or woman, and if what is said on that subject can beconnected with the apparitions of evil spirits amongst mankind, whichis the principal object of this dissertation. 

I will give some instances of those persons who have believed thatthey held such intercourse with the demon. Torquemada relates, in adetailed manner, what happened in his time, and to his knowledge, inthe town of Cagliari, in Sardinia, to a young lady, who sufferedherself to be corrupted by the demon; and having been arrested by theInquisition, she suffered the penalty of the flames, in the mad hopethat her pretended lover would come and deliver her. 

In the same place he speaks of a young girl who was sought in marriageby a gentleman of good family; when the devil assumed the form of thisyoung man, associated with the young lady for several months, made herpromises of marriage, and took advantage of her. She was onlyundeceived when the young lord who sought her in marriage informed herthat he was absent from town, and more than fifty leagues off, the daythat the promise in question had been given, and that he never had theslightest knowledge of it. The young girl, thus disabused, retiredinto a convent, and did penance for her double crime. 

We read in the life of St. Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, [326] that awoman of Nantes, in Brittany, saw, or thought she saw the demon everynight, even when lying by her husband. She remained six years in thisstate; at the end of that period, having her disorderly life inhorror, she confessed herself to a priest, and by his advice began toperform several acts of piety, as much to obtain pardon for her crimeas to deliver herself from her abominable lover. But when the husbandof this woman was informed of the circumstance, he left her, and wouldnever see her again. 

This unhappy woman was informed by the devil himself that St. Bernardwould soon come to Nantes, but she must mind not to speak to him, forthis abbot could by no means assist her; and if she did speak to him, it would be a great misfortune to her; and that from being her lover, he who warned her of it would become her most ardent persecutor. 

The saint reassured this woman, and desired her to make the sign ofthe cross on herself on going to bed, and to place next her in the bedthe staff which he gave her. "If the demon comes, " said he, "let himdo what he can. " The demon came; but, without daring to approach thebed, he threatened the woman greatly, and told her that after thedeparture of St. Bernard he would come again to torment her. 

On the following Sunday, St. Bernard repaired to the Cathedral church, with the Bishop of Nantes and the Bishop of Chartres, and havingcaused lighted tapers to be given to all the people, who had assembledin a great crowd, the saint, after having publicly related theabominable action of the demon, exorcised and anathematized the evilspirit, and forbade him, by the authority of Jesus Christ, ever againto approach that woman, or any other. Everybody extinguished theirtapers, and the power of the demon was annihilated. 

This example and the two preceding ones, related in so circumstantiala manner, might make us believe that there is some reality in what issaid of demons incubi and succubi; but if we deeply examine the facts, we shall find that an imagination strongly possessed, and violentprejudice, may produce all that we have just repeated. 

St. Bernard begins by curing the woman's mind, by giving her a stick, which she was to place by her side in the bed. This staff sufficed forthe first impression; but to dispose her for a complete cure, heexorcises the demon, and then anathematizes him, with all the _éclat_he possibly could: the bishops are assembled in the cathedral, thepeople repair thither in crowds; the circumstance is recounted inpompous terms; the evil spirit is threatened; the tapers areextinguished--all of them striking ceremonies: the woman is moved bythem, and her imagination is restored to a healthy tone. 

Jerome Cardan[327] relates two singular examples of the power ofimagination in this way; he had them from Francis Pico de Mirandola. "I know, " says the latter, "a priest, seventy-five years of age, wholived with a pretended woman, whom he called Hermeline, with whom heslept, conversed, and conducted in the streets as if she had been hiswife. He alone saw her, or thought he saw her, so that he was lookedupon as a man who had lost his senses. This priest was named BenedictBeïna. He had been arrested by the Inquisition, and punished for hiscrimes; for he owned that in the sacrifice of the mass he did notpronounce the sacramental words, that he had given the consecratedwafer to women to make use of in sorcery, and that he had sucked theblood of children. He avowed all this while undergoing the question. 

Another, named Pineto, held converse with a demon, whom he kept as hiswife, and with whom he had intercourse for more than forty years. Thisman was still living in the time of Pico de Mirandola. 

Devotion and spirituality, when too contracted and carried to excess, have also their derangements of imagination. Persons so affected oftenbelieve they see, hear, and feel, what passes only in their brain, andwhich takes all its reality from their prejudices and self-love. Thisis less mistrusted, because the object of it is holy and pious; buterror and excess, even in matters of devotion, are subject to verygreat inconveniences, and it is very important to undeceive all thosewho give way to this kind of mental derangement. 

For instance, we have seen persons eminent for their devotion, whobelieved they saw the Holy Virgin, St. Joseph, the Saviour, and theirguardian angel, who spoke to them, conversed with them, touched thewounds of the Lord, and tasted the blood which flowed from his sideand his wounds. Others thought they were in company with the HolyVirgin and the Infant Jesus, who spoke to them and conversed withthem; in idea, however, and without reality. 

In order to cure the two ecclesiastics of whom we have spoken, gentlerand perhaps more efficacious means might have been made use of thanthose employed by the tribunal of the Inquisition. Every dayhypochondriacs, or maniacs, with fevered imaginations, diseasedbrains, or with the viscera too much heated, are cured by simple andnatural remedies, either by cooling the blood, and creating adiversion in the humors thereof, or by striking the imaginationthrough some new device, or by giving so much exercise of body andmind to those who are afflicted with such maladies of the brain thatthey may have something else to do or to think of, than to nourishsuch fancies, and strengthen them by reflections daily recurring, andhaving always the same end and object. 

Footnotes:

[322] Gen. Vi. 1, 2. 

[323] Athenagorus and Clem. Alex. Lib. Iii. & v. Strom. & lib. Ii. Pedagog. 

[324] Joseph. Antiq. Lib. I. C. 4. 

[325] Justin. Apolog. Utroque. 

[326] Vita St. Bernard, tom. I. Lib. 20. 

[327] Cardan, de Variet. Lib. Xv. C. Lxxx. P. 290. 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

RETURN AND APPARITIONS OF SOULS AFTER THE DEATH OF THE BODY, PROVEDFROM SCRIPTURE. 

The dogma of the immortality of the soul, and of its existence afterits separation from the body which it once animated, being taken forindubitable, and Jesus Christ having invincibly established it againstthe Sadducees, the return of souls and their apparition to theliving, by the command or permission of God, can no longer appear soincredible, nor even so difficult. 

It was a known and received truth among the Jews in the time of ourSaviour; he assumed it as certain, and never pronounced a word whichcould give any one reason to think that he disapproved of, orcondemned it; he only warned us that in common apparitions spiritshave neither flesh nor bones, as he had himself after hisresurrection. If St. Thomas doubted of the reality of the resurrectionof his Master, and the truth of his appearance, it was because he wasaware that those who suppose they see apparitions of spirits aresubject to illusion; and that one strongly prepossessed will oftenbelieve he beholds what he does not see, and hear that which he hearsnot; and even had Jesus Christ appeared to his apostles, that wouldnot prove that he was resuscitated, since a spirit can appear, whileits body is in the tomb and even corrupted or reduced to dust andashes. 

The apostles doubted not of the possibility of the apparition ofspirits: when they saw the Saviour coming towards them, walking uponthe waves of the Lake of Gennesareth, [328] they at first believed thatit was a phantom. 

After St. Peter had left the prison by the aid of an angel, and cameand knocked at the door of the house where the brethren wereassembled, the servant whom they sent to open it, hearing Peter'svoice, thought it was his spirit, or an angel[329] who had assumed hisform and voice. The wicked rich man, being in the flames of hell, begged of Abraham to send Lazarus to earth, to warn his brothers[330]not to expose themselves to the danger of falling like him in theextreme of misery: he believed, without doubt, that souls could returnto earth, make themselves visible, and speak to the living. 

In the transfiguration of Jesus Christ, Moses, who had been dead forages, appeared on Mount Tabor with Elias, conversing with Jesus Christthen transfigured. [331] After the resurrection of the Saviour, severalpersons, who had long been dead, arose from their graves, went intoJerusalem and appeared unto many. [332]

In the Old Testament, King Saul addresses himself to the witch ofEndor, to beg of her to evoke for him the soul of Samuel;[333] thatprophet appeared and spoke to Saul. I know that considerabledifficulties and objections have been formed as to this evocation andthis apparition of Samuel. But whether he appeared or not--whether thePythoness did really evoke him, or only deluded Saul with a falseappearance--I deduce from it that Saul and those with him werepersuaded that the spirits of the dead could appear to the living, andreveal to them things unknown to men. 

St. Augustine, in reply to Simplicius, who had proposed to him hisdifficulties respecting the truth of this apparition, says atfirst, [334] that it is no more difficult to understand that the demoncould evoke Samuel by the help of a witch than it is to comprehend howthat Satan could speak to God, and tempt the holy man Job, and askpermission to tempt the apostles; or that he could transport JesusChrist himself to the highest pinnacle of the Temple of Jerusalem. 

We may believe also that God, by a particular dispensation of hiswill, may have permitted the demon to evoke Samuel, and make himappear before Saul, to announce to him what was to happen to him, notby virtue of magic, not by the power of the demon alone, but solelybecause God willed it, and ordained it thus to be. 

He adds that it may be advanced that it is not Samuel who appears toSaul, but a phantom, formed by the illusive power of the demon, and bythe force of magic; and that the Scripture, in giving the name ofSamuel to this phantom, has made use of ordinary language, which givesthe name of things themselves to that which is but their image orrepresentation in painting or in sculpture. 

If it should be asked how this phantom could discover the future, andpredict to Saul his approaching death, we may likewise ask how thedemon could know Jesus Christ for God alone, while the Jews knew himnot, and the girl possessed with a spirit of divination, spoken of inthe Acts of the Apostles, [335] could bear witness to the apostles, andundertake to become their advocate in rendering good testimony totheir mission. 

Lastly, St. Augustine concludes by saying that he does not thinkhimself sufficiently enlightened to decide whether the demon can, orcannot, by means of magical enchantments, evoke a soul after the deathof the body, so that it may appear and become visible in a corporealform, which may be recognized, and capable of speaking and revealingthe hidden future. And if this potency be not accorded to magic andthe demon, we must conclude that all which is related of thisapparition of Samuel to Saul is an illusion and a false apparitionmade by the demon to deceive men. 

In the books of the Maccabees, [336] the High-Priest Onias, who hadbeen dead several years before that time, appeared to Judas Maccabĉus, in the attitude of a man whose hands were outspread, and who waspraying for the people of the Lord: at the same time the ProphetJeremiah, long since dead, appeared to the same Maccabĉus; and Oniassaid to him, "Behold that holy man, who is the protector and friend ofhis brethren; it is he who prays continually for the Lord's people, and for the holy city of Jerusalem. " So saying, he put into the handsof Judas a golden sword, saying to him, "Receive this sword as a giftfrom heaven, by means of which you shall destroy the enemies of mypeople Israel. "

In the same second book of the Maccabees, [337] it is related that inthe thickest of the battle fought by Timotheus, general of the armiesof Syria, against Judas Maccabĉus, they saw five men as if descendedfrom heaven, mounted on horses with golden bridles, who were at thehead of the army of the Jews, two of them on each side of JudasMaccabĉus, the chief captain of the army of the Lord; they shieldedhim with their arms, and launched against the enemy such fiery dartsand thunderbolts that they were blinded and mortally afraid andterrified. 

These five armed horsemen, these combatants for Israel, are apparentlyno other than Mattathias, the father of Judas Maccabĉus, [338] andfour of his sons, who were already dead; there yet remained of hisseven sons but Judas Maccabĉus, Jonathan, and Simon. We may alsounderstand it as five angels, who were sent by God to the assistanceof the Maccabees. In whatever way we regard it, these are not doubtfulapparitions, both on account of the certainty of the book in whichthey are related, and the testimony of a whole army by which theywere seen. 

Whence I conclude, that the Hebrews had no doubt that the spirits ofthe dead could return to earth, that they did return in fact, and thatthey discovered to the living things beyond our natural knowledge. Moses expressly forbids the Israelites to consult the dead. [339] Butthese apparitions did not show themselves in solid and materialbodies; the Saviour assures us of it when he says, "Spirits haveneither flesh nor bones. " It was often only an aërial figure whichstruck the senses and the imagination, like the images which we see insleep, or that we firmly believe we hear and see. The inhabitants ofSodom were struck with a species of blindness, [340] which preventedthem from seeing the door of Lot's house, into which the angels hadentered. The soldiers who sought for Elisha were in the same wayblinded in some sort, [341] although they spoke to him they wereseeking for, who led them into Samaria without their perceiving him. The two disciples who went on Easter-day to Emmaus, in company withJesus Christ their Master, did not recognize him till the breaking ofthe bread. [342]

Thus, the apparitions of spirits to mankind are not always in acorporeal form, palpable and real; but God, who ordains or permitsthem, often causes the persons to whom these apparitions appear, tobehold, in a dream or otherwise, those spirits which speak to, warn, or threaten them; who makes them see things as if present, which inreality are not before their eyes, but only in their imagination;which does not prove these visions and warnings not to be sent fromGod, who, by himself, or by the ministration of his angels, or bysouls disengaged from the body, inspired the minds of men with what hejudges proper for them to know, whether in a dream, or by externalsigns, or by words, or else by certain impressions made on theirsenses, or in their imagination, in the absence of every externalobject. 

If the apparitions of the souls of the dead were things in nature andof their own choice, there would be few persons who would not comeback to visit the things or the persons which have been dear to themduring this life. St. Augustine says it of his mother, St. Monica, [343] who had so tender and constant an affection for him, andwho, while she lived, followed him and sought him by sea and land. The bad rich man would not have failed, either, to come in person tohis brethren and relations to inform them of the wretched condition inwhich he found himself in hell. It is a pure favor of the mercy or thepower of God, and which he grants to very few persons, to make theirappearance after death; for which reason we should be very much on ourguard against all that is said, and all that we find written on thesubject in books. 

Footnotes:

[328] Matt. Vi. 16. Mark vi. 43. 

[329] Acts xii. 13, 14. 

[330] Luke xxi. 14, 15. 

[331] Luke ix. 32. 

[332] Matt. Xxvii. 34. 

[333] 1 Sam. Xxviii. 7, ad finem. 

[334] Augustin de Diversis Quĉst. Ad Simplicium, Quĉst. Cxi. 

[335] Acts xxvi. 17. 

[336] Macc. X. 29. 

[337] 2 Macc. X. 29. 

[338] 1 Macc. Xi. 1. 

[339] Deut. Xviii. 11. 

[340] Gen. Xix. 11. 

[341] 2 Kings vi. 19. 

[342] Luke xxvi. 16. 

[343] Aug. De Curâ gerendâ pro Mortuis, c. Xiii. 

CHAPTER XL. 

APPARITIONS OF SPIRITS PROVED FROM HISTORY. 

St. Augustine[344] acknowledges that the dead have often appeared tothe living, have revealed to them the spot where their body remainedunburied, and have shown them that where they wished to be interred. He says, moreover, that a noise was often heard in churches where thedead were inhumed, and that dead persons have been seen often to enterthe houses wherein they dwelt before their decease. 

We read that in the Council of Elvira, [345] which was held about theyear 300, it was forbidden to light tapers in the cemeteries, that thesouls of the saints might not be disturbed. The night after the deathof Julian the Apostate, St. Basil[346] had a vision in which hefancied he saw the martyr, St. Mercurius, who received an order fromGod to go and kill Julian. A little time afterwards the same saintMercurius returned and cried out, "Lord, Julian is pierced and woundedto death, as thou commandedst me. " In the morning St. Basil announcedthis news to the people. 

St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, who suffered martyrdom in 107, [347]appeared to his disciples, embracing them, and standing near them; andas they persevered in praying with still greater fervor, they saw himcrowned with glory, as if in perspiration, coming from a great combat, environed with light. 

After the death of St. Ambrose, which happened on Easter Eve, the samenight in which they baptized neophytes, several newly baptizedchildren saw the holy bishop, [348] and pointed him out to theirparents, who could not see him because their eyes were notpurified--at least says St. Paulinus, a disciple of the saint, and whowrote his life. 

He adds that on the day of his death the saint appeared to severalholy persons dwelling in the East, praying with them and giving themthe imposition of hands; they wrote to Milan, and it was found, oncomparing the dates, that this occurred on the very day he died. Theseletters were still preserved in the time of Paulinus, who wrote allthese things. This holy bishop was also seen several times after hisdeath praying in the Ambrosian church at Milan, which he promisedduring his life that he would often visit. During the siege of Milan, St. Ambrose appeared to a man of that same city, and promised that thenext day succor would arrive, which happened accordingly. A blind manhaving learnt in a vision that the bodies of the holy martyrs Sicineusand Alexander would come by sea to Milan, and that Bishop Ambrose wasgoing to meet them, he prayed the same bishop to restore him to sight, in a dream. Ambrose replied; "Go to Milan; come and meet my brethren;they will arrive on such a day, and they will restore you to sight. "The blind man went to Milan, where he had never been before, touchedthe shrine of the holy martyrs, and recovered his eyesight. He himselfrelated the circumstance to Paulinus. 

The lives of the saints are full of apparitions of deceased persons;and if they were collected, large volumes might be filled. St. Ambrose, of whom we have just spoken, discovered after a miraculousfashion the bodies of St. Gervasius and St. Protasius, [349] and thoseof St. Nazairius and St. Celsus. 

Evodius, Bishop of Upsal in Africa, [350] a great friend of St. Augustine, was well persuaded of the reality of apparitions of thedead, from his own experience, and he relates several instances ofsuch things which happened in his own time; as that of a good widow towhom a deacon appeared who had been dead for four years. He wasaccompanied by several of the servants of God, of both sexes, who werepreparing a palace of extraordinary beauty. This widow asked him forwhom they were making these preparations; he replied that it was forthe youth who died the preceding day. At the same time, a venerableold man, who was in the same palace, commanded two young men, arrayedin white, to take the deceased young man out of his grave and conducthim to this place. As soon as he had left the grave, fresh roses androse-beds sprang up; and the young man appeared to a monk, and toldhim that God had received him into the number of his elect, and hadsent him to fetch his father, who in fact died four days after of slowfever. 

Evodius asks himself diverse questions on this recital: If the soul onquitting its (mortal) body does not retain a certain subtile body, with which it appears, and by means of which it is transported fromone spot to another? If the angels even have not a certain kind ofbody?--for if they are incorporeal, how can they be counted? And ifSamuel appeared to Saul, how could it take place if Samuel had nomembers? He adds, "I remember well that Profuturus, Privatus andServitus, whom I had known in the monastery here, appeared to me, andtalked with me after their decease; and what they told me, happened. Was it their soul which appeared to me, or was it some other spiritwhich assumed their form?" He concludes from this that the soul is notabsolutely bodiless, since God alone is incorporeal. [351]

St. Augustine, who was consulted on this matter by Evodius, does notthink that the soul, after the death of the body, is clothed with anymaterial substantial form; but he confesses that it is very difficultto explain how an infinite number of things are done, which pass inour minds, as well in our sleep as when we are awake, in which we seemto see, feel, and discourse, and do things which it would appear couldbe done only by the body, although it is certain that nothing bodilyoccurs. And how can we explain things so unknown, and so far beyondanything that we experience every day, since we cannot explain evenwhat daily experience shows us. [352] Evodius adds that several personsafter their decease have been going and coming in their houses asbefore, both day and night; and that in churches where the dead wereburied, they often heard a noise in the night as of persons prayingaloud. 

St. Augustine, to whom Evodius writes all this, acknowledges thatthere is a great distinction to be made between true and falsevisions, and that he could wish he had some sure means of discerningthem correctly. The same saint relates on this occasion a remarkablestory, which has much connection with the matter we are treating upon. A physician named Gennadius, a great friend of St. Augustine's, andwell known at Carthage for his great talent and his kindness to thepoor, doubted whether there was another life. One day he saw, in adream, a young man who said to him, "Follow me;" he followed him inspirit, and found himself in a city, where, on his right hand, heheard most admirable melody; he did not remember what he heard on hisleft. 

Another time he saw the same young man, who said to him, "Do you knowme?" "Very well, " answered he. "And whence comes it that you know me?"He related to him what he had showed him in the city whither he hadled him. The young man added, "Was it in a dream, or awake, that yousaw all that?" "In a dream?" he replied. The young man then asked, "Where is your body now?" "In my bed, " said he. "Do you know that nowyou see nothing with the eyes of your body?" "I know it, " answered he. "Well, then, with what eyes do you behold me?" As he hesitated, andknew not what to reply, the young man said to him, "In the same waythat you see and hear me now that your eyes are shut, and your sensesasleep; thus after death you will live, you will see, you will hear, but with eyes of the spirit; so doubt not that there is another lifeafter the present one. "

The great St. Anthony, one day when he was wide awake, saw the soul ofthe hermit St. Ammon being carried into heaven in the midst of choirsof angels. Now, St. Ammon died that same day, at five days' journeyfrom thence, in the desert of Nitria. The same St. Anthony saw alsothe soul of St. Paul Hermitus ascending to heaven surrounded by choirsof angels and prophets. St. Benedict beheld the spirit of St. Germain, Bishop of Capua, at the moment of his decease, who was carried intoheaven by angels. The same saint saw the soul of his sister, St. Scholastica, rising to heaven in the form of a dove. We might multiplysuch instances without end. They are true apparitions of soulsseparated from their bodies. 

St. Sulpicius Severus, being at some distance from the city of Tours, and ignorant of what was passing there, fell one morning into a lightslumber; as he slept he beheld St. Martin, who appeared to him in awhite garment, his countenance shining, his eyes sparkling, his hairof a purple color; it was, nevertheless, very easy to recognise him byhis air and his face. St. Martin showed himself to him with a smilingcountenance, and holding in his hand the book which St. SulpiciusSeverus had composed upon his life. Sulpicius threw himself at hisfeet, embraced his knees, and implored his benediction, which thesaint bestowed upon him. All this passed in a vision; and as St. Martin rose into the air, Sulpicius Severus saw still in the spiritthe priest Clarus, a disciple of the saint, who went the same way androse towards heaven. At that moment Sulpicius awoke, and a lad whoserved him, on entering, told him that two monks who were just arrivedfrom Tours, had brought word that St. Martin was dead. 

The Baron de Coussey, an old and respectable magistrate, has relatedto me more than once that, being at more than sixty leagues from thetown where his mother died the night she breathed her last, he wasawakened by the barking of a dog which laid at the foot of his bed;and at the same moment he perceived the head of his mother environedby a great light, who, entering by the window into his chamber, spoketo him distinctly, and announced to him various things concerning thestate of his affairs. 

St. Chrysostom, in his exile, [353] and the night preceding his death, saw the martyr St. Basilicus, who said to him--"Courage, brother John;to-morrow we shall be together. " The same thing was foretold to apriest who lived in the same place. St. Basilicus said to him, "Prepare a place for my brother John; for, behold, he is coming. "

The discovery of the body of St. Stephen, the first martyr, is verycelebrated in the Church; this occurred in the year 415. St. Gamaliel, who had been the master of St. Paul before his conversion, appeared toa priest named Lucius, who slept in the baptistery of the Church atJerusalem to guard the sacred vases, and told him that his own bodyand that of St. Stephen the proto-martyr were interred atCaphargamala, in the suburb named Dilagabis; that the body of his sonnamed Abibas, and that of Nicodemus, reposed in the same spot. Luciushad the same vision three times following, with an interval of a fewdays between. John, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, who was then at theCouncil of Dioscopolis, repaired to the spot, made the discovery andtranslation of the relics, which were transported to Jerusalem, and agreat number of miracles were performed there. 

Licinius, being in his tent, [354] thinking of the battle he was tofight on the morrow, saw an angel, who dictated to him a form ofprayer which he made his soldiers learn by heart, and by means ofwhich he gained the victory over the Emperor Maximian. 

Mascezel, general of the Roman troops which Stilicho sent into Africaagainst Gildas, prepared himself for this war, in imitation ofTheodosius the Great, by prayer and the intervention of the servantsof God. He took with him in his vessel some monks, whose onlyoccupation during the voyage was to pray, fast, and sing psalms. Gildas had an army of seventy thousand men; Mascezel had but fivethousand, and did not think he could without rashness attempt tocompete with an enemy so powerful and so far superior in the number ofhis forces. As he was pondering uneasily on these things, St. Ambrose, who died the year before, appeared to him by night, holding a staff inhis hand, and struck the ground three times, crying, "Here, here, here!" Mascezel understood that the saint promised him the victory inthat same spot three days after. In fact, the third day he marchedupon the enemy, offering peace to the first whom he met; but an ensignhaving replied to him very arrogantly, he gave him a severe blow withhis sword upon his arm, which made his standard swerve; those who wereafar off thought that he was yielding, and that he lowered hisstandard in sign of submission, and they hastened to do the same. Paulinus, who wrote the life of St. Ambrose, assures us that he hadthese particulars from the lips of Mascezel himself; and Orosius heardthem from those who had been eye-witnesses of the fact. 

The persecutors having inflicted martyrdom on seven Christianvirgins, [355] one of them appeared the following night to St. Theodosius of Ancyra, and revealed to him the spot where herself andher companions had been thrown into the lake, each one with a stonetied around her neck. As Theodosius and his people were occupied insearching for their bodies, a voice from heaven warned Theodosius tobe on his guard against the traitor, meaning to indicate Polycronius, who betrayed Theodosius, and was the occasion of his being arrestedand martyred. 

St. Potamienna, [356] a Christian virgin who suffered martyrdom atAlexandria, appeared after her death to several persons, and was thecause of their conversion to Christianity. She appeared in particularto a soldier named Basilidus, who, as he was conducting her to theplace of execution, had protected her from the insults of thepopulace. This soldier, encouraged by Potamienna, who in a visionplaced a garland upon his head, was baptized, and received the crownof martyrdom. 

St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, Bishop of Neocĉsarea in Pontus, beinggreatly occupied with certain theological difficulties, raised byheretics concerning the mysteries of religion, and having passed greatpart of the night in studying those matters, saw a venerable old manenter his room, having by his side a lady of august and divine form;he comprehended that these were the Holy Virgin and St. John theEvangelist. The Virgin exhorted St. John to instruct the bishop, anddissipate his embarrassment, by explaining clearly to him the mysteryof the Trinity and the Divinity of the Verb or Word. He did so, andSt. Gregory wrote it down instantly. It is the doctrine which he leftto his church, and which they have to this very day. 

Footnotes:

[344] Aug. De Curâ gerend. Pro Mortuis, c. X. 

[345] Concil. Eliber, auno circiter 300. 

[346] Amplilo. Vita S. Basil. And Chronic. Alex. P. 692. 

[347] Acta sincera Mart. Pp. 11, 22. Edit. 1713. 

[348] Paulin. Vit. S. Ambros. N. 47, 48. 

[349] Ambros. Epist. 22, p. 874; vid. Notes, ibid. 

[350] Evod. Upsal. Apud Aug. Epist. Clviii. Idem, Aug. Epist. Clix. 

[351] "Animan igitur omni corpore carere omnino non posse, illud, utputo, ostendit quia Deus solus omni corpore semper caret. "

[352] "Quid se prĉcipitat de rarissimis aut inexpertis quasi definitamferre sententiam, cum quotidiana et continua non solvat?"

[353] Palladius, Dialog, de Vita Chrysost. C. Xi. 

[354] Lactant. De Mort. Persec. C. 46. 

[355] Acta sincera Martyr. Passion. S. Theodos. M. Pp. 343, 344. 

[356] Euseb. Hist. Eccles. Lib. Vi. C. 8. 

CHAPTER XLI. 

MORE INSTANCES OF APPARITIONS. 

Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny, relates that a good priest namedStephen, having received the confession of a lord named Guy, who wasmortally wounded in a combat, this lord appeared to him completelyarmed some time after his death, and begged of him to tell his brotherAnselm to restore an ox which he Guy had taken from a peasant, whom henamed, and repair the damage which he had done to a village which didnot belong to him, and which he had taxed with undue charges; that hehad forgotten to declare these two sins in his last confession, andthat he was cruelly tormented for it. "And as assurance of the truthof what I tell you, " added he, "when you return home, you will findthat you have been robbed of the money you intended for your expensesin going to St. Jacques. " The curé, on his return to his house, foundhis money gone, but could not acquit himself of his commission, because Anselm was absent. A few days after, Guy appeared to himagain, and reproached him for having neglected to perform what he hadasked of him. The curé excused himself on account of the absence ofAnselm; and at length went to him and told him what he was charged todo. Anselm answered him harshly that he was not obliged to do penancefor his brother's sins. 

The dead man appeared a third time, and implored the curé to assisthim in this extremity; he did so, and restored the value of the ox;but as the rest exceeded his power, he gave alms, and recommended Guyto the worthy people of his acquaintance; and he appeared no more. 

Richer, a monk of Senones, [357] speaks of a spirit which returned inhis time, in the town of Epinal, about the year 1212, in the house ofa burgess named Hugh de la Cour, and who, from Christmas to Midsummer, did a variety of things in that same house, in sight of everybody. They could hear him speak, they could see all he did, but nobody couldsee him. He said he belonged to Cléxenteine, a village seven leaguesfrom Epinal; and what is also remarkable is that, during the sixmonths he was heard about the house, he did no harm to any one. Oneday, Hugh having ordered his domestic to saddle his horse, and thevalet being busy about something else, deferred doing it, when thespirit did his work, to the great astonishment of all the household. Another time, when Hugh was absent, the spirit asked Stephen, theson-in-law of Hugh, for a penny, to make an offering of it to St. Goëric, the patron saint of Epinal. Stephen presented him with an olddenier of Provence; but the spirit refused it, saying he would have agood denier of Thoulouse. Stephen placed on the threshold of the doora Thoulousian denier, which disappeared immediately; and the followingnight, a noise, as of a man who was walking therein, was heard in thechurch of St. Goëric. 

Another time, Hugh having bought some fish to make his family arepast, the spirit transported the fish to the garden which was behindthe house, put half of it on a tile (_scandula_), and the rest in amortar, where it was found again. Another time, Hugh desiring to bebled, told his daughter to get ready some bandages. Immediately thespirit went into another room, and fetched a new shirt, which he toreup into several bandages, presented them to the master of the house, and told him to choose the best. Another day, the servant havingspread out some linen in the garden to dry, the spirit carried it allup stairs, and folded them more neatly than the cleverest laundresscould have done. 

A man named Guy de la Torre, [358] who died at Verona in 1306, at theend of eight days spoke to his wife and the neighbors of both sexes, to the prior of the Dominicians, and to the professor of theology, whoasked him several questions in theology, to which he replied verypertinently. He declared that he was in purgatory for certainunexpatiated sins. They asked him how he possibly could speak, nothaving the organs of the voice; he replied that souls separated fromthe body have the faculty of forming for themselves instruments of theair capable of pronouncing words; he added that the fire of hell actedupon spirits, not by its natural virtue, but by the power of God, ofwhich that fire is the instrument. 

Here follows another remarkable instance of an apparition, related byM. D'Aubigné. "I affirm upon the word of the king[359] the secondprodigy, as being one of the three stories which he reiterated to us, his hair standing on end at the time, as we could perceive. This oneis, that the queen having gone to bed at an earlier hour than usual, and there being present at her _coucher_, amongst other persons ofnote, the king of Navarre, [360] the Archbishop of Lyons, the Ladies deRetz, de Lignerolles, and de Sauve, two of whom have since confirmedthis conversation. As she was hastening to bid them good night, shethrew herself with a start upon her bolster, put her hands before herface, and crying out violently, she called to her assistance those whowere present, wishing to show them, at the foot of the bed, theCardinal (de Lorraine), who extended his hand towards her; she criedout several times, 'M. The Cardinal, I have nothing to do with you. 'The King of Navarre at the same time sent out one of his gentlemen, who brought back word that he had expired at that same moment. "

I take from Sully's Memoirs, [361] which have just been reprinted inbetter order than they were before, another singular fact, which maybe related with these. We still endeavor to find out what can be thenature of that illusion, seen so often and by the eyes of so manypersons in the Forest of Fontainebleau; it was a phantom surrounded bya pack of hounds, whose cries were heard, while they might be seen ata distance, but all disappeared if any one approached. 

The note of M. D'Ecluse, editor of these Memoirs, enters into longerdetails. He observes that M. De Peréfixe makes mention of thisphantom; and he makes him say, with a hoarse voice, one of these threesentences: Do you expect me? or, Do you hear me? or, Amend yourself. "And they believe, " says he, "that these were sports of sorcerers, orof the malignant spirit. " The Journal of Henry IV. , and the SeptenaryChronicle, speak of them also, and even assert that this phenomenonalarmed Henry IV. And his courtiers very much. And Peter Matthew sayssomething of it in his History of France, tom. Ii. P. 68. Bongarsspeaks of it as others do, [362] and asserts that it was a hunter whohad been killed in this forest in the time of Francis I. But now wehear no more of this spectre, though there is still a road in thisforest which retains the name of the _Grand Veneur_, in memory, it issaid, of this visionary scene. 

A Chronicle of Metz, [363] under the date of the year 1330, relates theapparition of a spirit at Lagni sur Marne, six leagues from Paris. Itwas a good lady, who after her death spoke to more than twentypeople--her father, sister, daughter, and son-in-law, and to her otherfriends--asking them to have said for her particular masses, as beingmore efficacious than the common mass. As they feared it might be anevil spirit, they read to it the beginning of the Gospel of St. John;and they made it say the _Pater_, _credo_, and _confiteor_. She saidshe had beside her two angels, one bad and one good; and that the goodangel revealed to her what she ought to say. They asked her if theyshould go and fetch the Holy Sacrament from the altar. She replied itwas with them, for her father, who was present, and several othersamong them, had received it on Christmas day, which was the Tuesdaybefore. 

Father Taillepied, a Cordelier, and professor of theology atRouen, [364] who composed a book expressly on the subject ofapparitions, which was printed at Rouen in 1600, says that one of hisfraternity with whom he was acquainted, named Brother Gabriel, appeared to several monks of the convent at Nice, and begged of themto satisfy the demand of a shopkeeper at Marseilles, of whom he hadtaken a coat he had not paid for. On being asked why he made so muchnoise, he replied that it was not himself, but a bad spirit who wishedto appear instead of him, and prevent him from declaring the cause ofhis torment. 

I have been told by two canons of St. Diez, in our neighborhood, thatthree months after the death of M. Henri, canon of St. Diez, of theirbrotherhood, the canon to whom the house devolved, going with one ofhis brethren, at two o'clock in the afternoon, to look at the saidhouse, and see what alterations it might suit him to make in it, theywent into the kitchen, and both of them saw in the next room, whichwas large and very light, a tall ecclesiastic of the same height andfigure as the defunct canon, who, turning towards them, looked them inthe face for two minutes, then crossed the said room, and went up alittle dark staircase which led to the garret. 

These two gentlemen, being much frightened, left the house instantly, and related the adventure to some of the brotherhood, who were ofopinion that they ought to return and see if there was not some onehidden in the house; they went, they sought, they looked everywhere, without finding any one. 

We read in the History of the Bishops of Mans, [365] that in the timeof Bishop Hugh, who lived in 1135, they heard, in the house of ProvostNicholas, a spirit who alarmed the neighbors and those who lived inthe house, by uproar and frightful noises, as if he had thrownenormous stones against the walls, with a force which shook the roof, walls, and ceilings; he transported the dishes and the plates from oneplace to another, without their seeing the hand which moved them. Thisgenius lighted a candle, though very far from the fire. Sometimes, when the meat was placed on the table, he would scatter bran, ashes, or soot, to prevent them from touching any of it. Amica, the wife ofthe Provost Nicholas, having prepared some thread to be made intocloth, the spirit twisted and raveled it in such a way that all whosaw it could not sufficiently admire the manner in which it was done. 

Priests were called in, who sprinkled holy water everywhere, anddesired all those who were there to make the sign of the cross. Towards the first and second night, they heard as it were the voice ofa young girl, who, with sighs that seemed drawn from the bottom of herheart, said, in a lamentable and sobbing voice, that her name wasGarnier; and addressing itself to the provost, said, "Alas! whence doI come? from what distant country, through how many storms, dangers, through snow, cold, fire, and bad weather, have I arrived at thisplace! I have not received power to harm any one--but prepareyourselves with the sign of the cross against a band of evil spirits, who are here only to do you harm; have a mass of the Holy Ghost saidfor me, and a mass for those defunct; and you, my dear sister-in-law, give some clothes to the poor, for me. "

They asked this spirit several questions on things past and to come, to which it replied very pertinently; it explained even the salvationand damnation of several persons; but it would not enter into anyargument, nor yet into conference with learned men, who were sent bythe Bishop of Mans; this last circumstance is very remarkable, andcasts some suspicion on this apparition. 

Footnotes:

[357] Richer Senon. In Chronic. M. (Hoc non exstat in impresso). 

[358] Herman Contraet. Chronic. P. 1006. 

[359] D'Aubigné, Hist. Univ. Lib. Ii. C. 12. Ap. 1574. 

[360] Henry IV. 

[361] Mém. De Sully, in 4to. Tom. I. Liv. X. P. 562, note 26. Or Edit. In 12mo. Tom. Iii. P. 321, note 26. 

[362] Bongars, Epist. Ad Camerarium. 

[363] Chronic. Metens. Anno, 1330. 

[364] Taillepied, Traité de l'Apparition des Esprits, c. Xv. P. 173. 

[365] Anecdote Mabill, p. 320. Edition in fol. 

CHAPTER XLII. 

ON THE APPARITIONS OF SPIRITS WHO IMPRINT THEIR HANDS ON CLOTHES OR ONWOOD. 

Within a short time, a work composed by a Father Prémontré, of theAbbey of Toussaints, in the Black Forest, has been communicated to me. His work is in manuscript, and entitled, "Umbra Humberti, hoc esthistoria memorabilis D. Humberti Birkii, mirâ post mortem apparitione, per A. G. N. "

This Humbert Birck was a burgess of note, in the town of Oppenheim, and master of a country house called Berenbach; he died in the monthof November, 1620, a few days before the feast of St. Martin. On theSaturday which followed his funeral, they began to hear certain noisesin the house where he had lived with his first wife; for at the timeof his death he had married again. 

The master of this house, suspecting that it was his brother-in-lawwho haunted it, said to him, "If you are Humbert, my brother-in-law, strike three times against the wall. " At the same time, they heardthree strokes only, for ordinarily he struck several times. Sometimes, also, he was heard at the fountain where they went for water, and hefrightened all the neighborhood; he did not always utter articulatesounds, but he would knock repeatedly, make a noise, or a groan, or ashrill whistle, or sounds as a person in lamentation; all this lastedfor six months, and then it suddenly ceased. At the end of a year hemade himself heard more loudly than ever. The master of the house, andhis domestics, the boldest amongst them, at last asked him what hewished for, and in what they could help him? He replied, but in ahoarse, low tone, "Let the curé come here next Saturday with mychildren. " The curé being indisposed, could not go thither on theappointed day; but he went on the Monday following, accompanied by agood many people. 

Humbert received notice of this, and he answered in a veryintelligible manner. They asked him if he required any masses to besaid? He asked for three. Then they wished to know if alms should begiven in his name? He said, "I wish them to give eight measures ofcorn to the poor, and that my widow may give something to all mychildren. " He afterwards ordered that what had been badly distributedin his succession, which amounted to about twenty florins, should beset aside. They asked why he infested that house rather than another?He answered that he was forced to it by conjuration and maledictions. Had he received the sacraments of the Church? "I received them fromthe curé, your predecessor. " He was made to say the _Pater_ and the_Ave_; he recited them with difficulty, saying that he was preventedby an evil spirit, who would not let him tell the curé many otherthings. 

The curé, who was named Prémontré, of the abbey of Toussaints, came tothe monastery on Tuesday the 12th of January, 1621, in order to takethe opinion of the Superior on this singular affair; they let him havethree monks to help him with their counsels. They all repaired to thehouse wherein Humbert continued his importunity; for nothing that hehad requested had as yet been executed. A great number of those wholived near were assembled in the house. The master of it told Humbertto rap against the wall; he knocked very gently: then the masterdesired him to go and fetch a stone and knock louder; he deferred alittle, as if he had been to pick up a stone, and gave a stronger blowupon the wall: the master whispered in his neighbor's ear as softly ashe could that he should rap seven times, and directly he rapped seventimes. He always showed great respect to the priests, and did notreply to them so boldly as to the laity; and when he was askedwhy--"It is, " said he, "because they have with them the HolySacrament. " However, they had it no otherwise than because they hadsaid mass that day. The next day the three masses which he hadrequired were said, and all was disposed for a pilgrimage, which hehad specified in the last conversation they had with him; and theypromised to give alms for him the first day possible. From that timeHumbert haunted them no more. 

The same monk, Prémontré, relates that on the 9th of September, 1625, a man named John Steinlin died at a place called Altheim, in thediocese of Constance. Steinlin was a man in easy circumstances, and acommon-councilman of his town. Some days after his death he appearedduring the night to a tailor, named Simon Bauh, in the form of a mansurrounded by a sombre flame, like that of lighted sulphur, going andcoming in his own house, but without speaking. Bauh, who wasdisquieted by this sight, resolved to ask him what he could do toserve him. He found an opportunity to do so the 17th of November inthe same year, 1625; for, as he was reposing at night near his stove, a little after eleven o'clock, he beheld this spectre environed byfire like sulphur, who came into his room, going and coming, shuttingand opening the windows. The tailor asked him what he desired. Hereplied, in a hoarse, interrupted voice, that he could help very much, if he would; "but, " added he, "do not promise me to do so, if you arenot resolved to execute your promises. " "I will execute them, if theyare not beyond my power, " replied he. 

"I wish, then, " replied the spirit, "that you would cause a mass to besaid in the chapel of the Virgin at Rotembourg; I made a vow to thatintent during my life, and I have not acquitted myself of it. Moreover, you must have two masses said at Altheim, the one of theDefunct and the other of the Virgin; and as I did not always pay myservants exactly, I wish that a quarter of corn should be distributedto the poor. " Simon promised to satisfy him on all these points. Thespectre held out his hand, as if to ensure his promise; but Simon, fearing that some harm might happen to himself, tendered him the boardwhich come to hand, and the spectre having touched it, left the printof his hand with the four fingers and thumb, as if fire had beenthere, and had left a pretty deep impression. After that, he vanishedwith so much noise that it was heard three houses off. 

I related in the first edition of this dissertation on the return ofspirits, an adventure which happened at Fontenoy on the Moselle, whereit was affirmed that a spirit had in the same manner made theimpression of its hand on a handkerchief, and had left the impress ofthe hand and of the palm well marked. The handkerchief is in the handsof one Casmar, a constable living at Toul, who received it from hisuncle, the curé of Fontenoy; but, on a careful investigation of thething, it was found that a young blacksmith, who courted a young girlto whom the handkerchief belonged, had forged an iron hand to print iton the handkerchief, and persuade people of the reality of theapparition. 

At St. Avold, a town of German Lorraine, in the house of the curé, named M. Royer de Monelos, there was something very similar whichappears to have been performed by a servant girl, sixteen years ofage, who heard and saw, as she said, a woman who made a great noise inthe house; but she was the only person who saw and heard her, althoughothers heard also the noise which was made in the house. They saw alsothe young servant, as it were, pushed, dragged, and struck by thespirit, but never saw it, nor yet heard his voice. This contrivancebegan on the night of the 31st of January, 1694, and finished aboutthe end of February the same year. The curé conjured the spirit inGerman and French. He made no reply to the exorcisms in French butsighs; and as they terminated the German exorcism, saying, "Let everyspirit praise the Lord, " the girl said that the spirit had said, "Andme also;" but she alone heard it. 

Some monks of the abbey were requested to come also and exorcise thespirit. They came, and with them some burgesses of note of St. Avold;and neither before nor after the exorcisms did they see or hearanything, except that the servant girl seemed to be pushed violently, and the doors were roughly knocked at. By dint of exorcisms theyforced the spirit, or rather the servant who alone heard and saw it, to declare that she was neither maid nor wife; that she was calledClaire Margaret Henri; that a hundred and fifty years ago she had diedat the age of twenty, after having lived servant at the curé of St. Avold's first of all for eight years, and that she had died atGuenviller of grief and regret for having killed her own child. Atlast, the servant maintaining that she was not a good spirit, she saidto her, "Give me hold of your petticoat (or skirt). " She would do nosuch thing; at the same time the spirit said to her, "Look at yourpetticoat; my mark is upon it. " She looked and saw upon her skirt thefive fingers of the hand so distinctly that it did not appear possiblefor any living creature to have marked them better. This affair lastedabout two months; and at this day, at St. Avold, as in all thecountry, they talk of the spirit of St. Avold as of a game played bythat girl, in concert, doubtless, with some persons who wished todivert themselves by puzzling the good curé with his sisters, and allthose who fell into the trap. They printed at Cusson's, at Nancy, in1718, a relation of this event, which at first gained credence with anumber of people, but who were quite undeceived in the end. 

I shall add to this story that which is related by PhilipMelancthon, [366] whose testimony in this matter ought not to bedoubted. He says that his aunt having lost her husband when she wasenceinte and near her time, she saw one day, towards evening, twopersons come into her house; one of them wore the form of her deceasedhusband, the other that of a tall Franciscan. At first she wasfrightened, but her husband reassured her, and told her that he hadimportant things to communicate to her; at the same time he begged theFranciscan to pass into the next room, whilst he imparted his wishesto his wife. Then he begged of her to have some masses said for therelief of his soul, and tried to persuade her to give her hand withoutfear; as she was unwilling to give it, he assured her she would feelno pain. She gave him her hand, and her hand felt no pain when shewithdrew it, but was so blackened that it remained discolored all herlife. After that, the husband called in the Franciscan; they went out, and disappeared. Melancthon believes that these were two spectres; headds that he knows several similar instances related by persons worthyof credit. 

If these two men were only spectres, having neither flesh nor bones, how could one of them imprint a black color on the hand of this widow?How could he who appeared to the tailor Bauh imprint his hand on theboard which he presented to him? If they were evil genii, why did theyask for masses and order restitution? Does Satan destroy his ownempire, and does he inspire the living with the idea of doing goodactions and of fearing the pains which the sins of the wicked arepunished by God?

But on looking at the affair in another light, may not the demon inthis kind of apparitions, by which he asks for masses and prayers, intend to foment superstition, by making the living believe thatmasses and prayers made for them after their death would free themfrom the pains of hell, even if they died in habitual crime andimpenitence? Several instances are cited of rascals who have appearedafter their death, asking for prayers like the bad rich man, and towhom prayers and masses can be of no avail from the unhappy state inwhich they died. Thus, in all this, Satan seeks to establish hiskingdom, and not to destroy it or diminish it. 

We shall speak hereafter, in the Dissertation on Vampires, ofapparitions of dead persons who have been seen, and acted like livingones in their own bodies. 

The same Melancthon relates that a monk came one day and rapped loudlyat the door of Luther's dwelling, asking to speak to him; he enteredand said, "I entertained some popish errors upon which I shall be veryglad to confer with you. " "Speak, " said Luther. He at first proposedto him several syllogisms, to which he easily replied; he thenproposed others, that were more difficult. Luther, being annoyed, answered him hastily, "Go, you embarrass me; I have something else todo just now besides answering you. " However, he rose and replied tohis arguments. At the same time, having remarked that the pretendedmonk had hands like the claws of a bird, he said to him, "Art not thouhe of whom it is said, in Genesis, 'He who shall be born of womanshall break the head of the serpent?'" The demon added, "But _thou_shalt engulf them all. " At these words the confused demon retiredangrily and with much fracas; he left the room infested with a verybad smell, which was perceptible for some days. 

Luther, who assumes so much the _esprit fort_, and inveighs with somuch warmth against private masses wherein they pray for the souls ofthe defunct, [367] maintains boldly that all the apparitions of spiritswhich we read in the lives of the saints, and who ask for masses forthe repose of their souls, are only illusions of Satan, who appears todeceive the simple, and inspire them with useless confidence in thesacrifice of the mass. Whence he concludes that it is better at onceto deny absolutely that there is any purgatory. 

He, then, did not deny either apparitions or the operations of thedevil; and he maintained that Ecolampadius died under the blows of thedevil, [368] whose efforts he could not rebut; and, speaking ofhimself, he affirms that awaking once with a start in the middle ofthe night, the devil appeared, to argue against him, when he wasseized with moral terror. The arguments of the demon were so pressingthat they left him no repose of mind; the sound of his powerful voice, his overwhelming manner of disputing when the question and the replywere perceived at once, left him no breathing time. He says again thatthe devil can kill and strangle, and without doing all that, press aman so home by his arguments that it is enough to kill one; "as I, "says he, "have experienced several times. " After such avowals, whatcan we think of the doctrine of this chief of the innovators?

Footnotes:

[366] Philipp. Melancth. Theolog. C. I. Oper. Fol. 326, 327. 

[367] Martin Luther, de Abroganda Missa Privata, part. Ii. 

[368] Ibid. Tom. Vii. 226. 

CHAPTER XLIII. 

OPINIONS OF THE JEWS, GREEKS, AND LATINS CONCERNING THE DEAD WHO ARELEFT UNBURIED. 

The ancient Hebrews, as well as the greater number of other nations, were very careful in burying their dead. That appears from allhistory; we see in the Scripture how much attention the patriarchspaid in that respect to themselves and those belonging to them; weknow what praises are bestowed on the holy man Tobit, whose principaldevotion consisted in giving sepulture to the dead. 

Josephus the historian[369] says that the Jews refused burial only tothose who committed suicide. Moses commanded them[370] to givesepulture the same day and before sunset to any who were executed andhanged on a tree; "because, " says he, "he who is hung upon the tree isaccursed of God; you will take care not to pollute the land which theLord your God has given you. " That was practiced in regard to ourSaviour, who was taken down from the cross the same day that he hadbeen crucified, and a few hours after his death. 

Homer, [371] speaking of the inhumanity of Achilles, who dragged thebody of Hector after his car, says that he dishonored and outraged theearth by this barbarous conduct. The Rabbis write that the soul is notreceived into heaven until the gross body is interred, and entirelyconsumed. They believe, moreover, that after death the souls of thewicked are clothed with a kind of covering with which they accustomthemselves to suffer the torments which are their due; and that thesouls of the just are invested with a resplendent body and a luminousgarment, with which they accustom themselves to the glory which awaitsthem. 

Origen[372] acknowledges that Plato, in his Dialogue of the Soul, advances that the images and shades of the dead appeared sometimesnear their tombs. Origen concludes from that, that those shades andthose images must be produced by some cause; and that cause, accordingto him, can only be that the soul of the dead is invested with asubtile body like that of light, on which they are borne as in a car, where they appear to the living. Celsus maintained that theapparitions of Jesus Christ after his resurrection were only theeffects of an imagination smitten and prepossessed, which formed toitself the object of its illusions according to its wishes. Origenrefutes this solidly by the recital of the evangelists, of theappearance of our Saviour to Thomas, who would not believe it wastruly our Saviour until he had seen and touched his wounds; it wasnot, then, purely the effect of his imagination. 

The same Origen, [373] and Theophylact after him, assert that the Jewsand pagans believe that the soul remained for some time near the bodyit had formerly animated; and that it is to destroy that futileopinion that Jesus Christ, when he would resuscitate Lazarus, crieswith a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth;" as if he would call from adistance the soul of this man who had been dead three days. 

Tertullian places the angels in the category of extension, [374] inwhich he places God himself, and maintains that the soul is corporeal. Origen believes also that the soul is material, and has a form;[375]an opinion which he may have taken from Plato. Arnobius, Lactantius, St. Hilary, several of the ancient fathers, and some theologians, havebeen of the same opinion; and Grotius is displeased with those whohave absolutely spiritualized the angels, demons and souls separatedfrom the body. 

The Jews of our days[376] believe that after the body of a man isinterred, his spirit goes and comes, and departs from the spot whereit is destined to visit his body, and to know what passes around him;that it is wandering during a whole year after the death of the body, and that it was during that year of delay that the Pythoness of Endorevoked the soul of Samuel, after which time the evocation would havehad no power over his spirit. 

The pagans thought much in the same manner upon it. Lucan introducesPompey, who consults a witch, and commands her to evoke the soul of adead man to reveal to him what success he would meet with in his waragainst Cĉsar; the poet makes this woman say, "Shade, obey my spells, for I evoke not a soul from gloomy Tartarus, but one which hath gonedown thither a little while since, and which is still at the gate ofhell. "[377]

The Egyptians[378] believed that when the spirit of an animal isseparated from its body by violence, it does not go to a distance, butremains near it. It is the same with the soul of a man who has died aviolent death; it remains near the body--nothing can make it go away;it is retained there by sympathy; several have been seen sighing neartheir bodies which were interred. The magicians abuse their power oversuch in their incantations; they force them to obey, when they aremasters of the dead body, or even part of it. Frequent experiencetaught them that there is a secret virtue in the body, which drawstowards it the spirit which has once inhabited it; wherefore those whowish to receive or become the receptacles of the spirits of suchanimals as know the future, eat the principle parts of them, as thehearts of crows, moles, or hawks. The spirit of these creatures entersinto them at the moment they eat this food, and makes them give outoracles like divinities. 

The Egyptians believed[379] that when the spirit of a beast isdelivered from its body, it is rational and predicts the future, givesoracles, and is capable of all that the soul of man can do whendisengaged from the body--for which reason they abstained from eatingthe flesh of animals, and worshiped the gods in the form of beasts. 

At Rome and at Metz there were colleges of priests consecrated to theservice of the manes, [380] lares, images, shades, spectres, Erebus, Avernus or hell, under the protection of the god Sylvanus; whichdemonstrates that the Latins and the Gauls recognized the return ofsouls and their apparition, and considered them as divinities to whomsacrifices should be offered to appease them and prevent them fromdoing harm. Nicander confirms the same thing, when he says that theCelts or the Gauls watched near the tombs of their great men to derivefrom them knowledge concerning the future. 

The ancient northern nations were fully persuaded that the spectreswhich sometimes appear are no other than the souls of persons latelydeceased, and in their country they knew no remedy so proper to put astop to this kind of apparition as to cut off the head of the deadperson, or to impale him, or pierce him through the body with a stake, or to burn it, as is now practiced at this day in Hungary and Moraviawith regard to vampires. 

The Greeks, who had derived their religion and theology from theEgyptians and Orientals, and the Latins, who took it from the Greeks, believed that the souls of the dead sometimes appeared to the living;that the necromancers evoked them, and thus obtained answersconcerning the future, and instructions relating to the time present. Homer, the greatest theologian, and perhaps the most curious of theGrecian writers, relates several apparitions, both of gods and heroes, and of men after their death. 

In the Odyssey, [381] Ulysses goes to consult the diviner Tyresias; andthis sorcerer having prepared a grave full of blood to evoke themanes, Ulysses draws his sword, and prevents them from coming to drinkthis blood, for which they appear to thirst, and of which they wouldnot permit them to taste before they had replied to what was asked ofthem; they (the Greeks and Latins) believed also that souls were notat rest, and that they wandered around the corpses, so long as theyremained uninhumed. [382] When they gave burial to a body, they calledthat _animam condere_, [383] to cover the soul, put it under the earthand shelter it. They called it with a loud voice, and offered itlibations of milk and blood. They also called that ceremony, hidingthe shades, [384] sending them with their body under ground. 

The sybil, speaking to Ĉneas, shows him the manes or shades wanderingon the banks of the Acheron; and tells him that they are souls ofpersons who have not received sepulture, and who wander about for ahundred years. [385]

The philosopher Sallust[386] speaks of the apparitions of the deadaround their tombs in dark bodies; he tries to prove thereby the dogmaof the metempsychosis. 

Here is a singular instance of a dead man, who refuses the rite ofburial, acknowledging himself unworthy of it. Agathias relates[387]that some pagan philosophers, not being able to relish the dogma ofthe unity of a God, resolved to go from Constantinople to the court ofChosroes, King of Persia, who was spoken of as a humane prince, andone who loved learning. Simplicius of Silicia, Eulamius the Phrygian, Protanus the Lydian, Hermenes and Philogenes of Phoenicia, andIsidorus of Gaza, repaired then to the court of Chosroes, and werewell received there; but they soon perceived that that country wasmuch more corrupt than Greece, and they resolved to return toConstantinople, where Justinian then reigned. 

As they were on their way, they found an unburied corpse, took pity onit, and had it put in the ground by their own servants. The followingnight this man appeared to one of them, and told him not to inter him, who was not worthy of receiving sepulture; for the earth abhorred onewho had defiled his own mother. The next day they found the samecorpse cast out of the ground, and they comprehended that it wasdefiled by incest, which rendered it unworthy of the honor ofreceiving burial, although such crimes were known in Persia, and didnot excite the same horror there as in other countries. 

The Greeks and Latins believed that the souls of the dead came andtasted what was presented on their tombs, especially honey and wine;that the demons loved the smoke and odor of sacrifices, melody, theblood of victims, commerce with women; that they were attached for atime to certain spots or to certain edifices, which they haunted, andwhere they appeared; that souls separated from their terrestrial body, retained after death a subtile one, flexible, aërial, which preservedthe form of that they once had animated during their life; that theyhaunted those who had done them wrong and whom they hated. Thus Virgildescribes Dido, in a rage, threatening to haunt the perfidiousĈneas. [388]

When the spirit of Patroclus appeared to Achilles, [389] it had hisvoice, his shape, his eyes, his garments, but not his palpable body. When Ulysses went down to the infernal regions, he saw there thedivine Hercules, [390] that is to say, says Homer, his likeness; for hehimself is with the immortal gods, seated at their feast. Ĉneasrecognized his wife Creüsa, who appeared to him in her usual form, only taller and more majestic. [391]

We might cite a quantity of passages from the ancient poets, even fromthe fathers of the church, who believed that spirits often appeared tothe living. Tertullian[392] believes that the soul is corporeal, andthat it has a certain figure. He appeals to the experience of those towhom the ghosts of dead persons have appeared, and who have seen themsensibly, corporeally, and palpably, although of an aërial color andconsistency. He defines the soul[393] a breath sent from God, immortal, and having body and form. Speaking of the fictions of thepoets, who have asserted that souls were not at rest while theirbodies remain uninterred, he says all this is invented only to inspirethe living with that care which they ought to take for the burial ofthe dead, and to take away from the relations of the dead the sight ofan object which would only uselessly augment their grief, if they keptit too long in their houses; _ut instantiâ funeris et honor corporumservetur et moeror affectuum temperetur_. 

St. Irenĉus[394] teaches, as a doctrine received from the Lord, thatsouls not only subsist after the death of the body--without howeverpassing from one body into another, as those will have it who admitthe metempsychosis--but that they retain the form and remain near thisbody, as faithful guardians of it, and remember naught of what theyhave done or not done in this life. These fathers believed, then, inthe return of souls, their apparition, and their attachment to theirbody; but we do not adopt their opinion on the corporeality of souls;we are persuaded that they can appear with God's permission, independently of all matter and of any corporeal substance which maybelong to them. 

As to the opinion of the soul being in a state of unrest while itsbody is not interred, that it remains for some time near the tomb ofthe body, and appears there in a bodily form; those are opinions whichhave no solid foundation, either in Scripture or in the traditions ofthe Church, which teach us that directly after death the soul ispresented before the judgment-seat of God, and is there destined tothe place that its good or bad actions have deserved. 

Footnotes:

[369] Joseph Bell. Jud. Lib. Iii c. 25. 

[370] Deut. Xxi. 23. 

[371] Homer, Iliad, XXIV. 

[372] Origenes contra Celsum, p. 97. 

[373] Origenes in Joan. Ix. &c. Theophylac. Ibid. 

[374] Tertull. Lib. De Anima. 

[375] Origenes contra Cels. Lib. Ii. 

[376] Bereseith Rabbĉ. C. 22. Vide Menasse de Resurrect. Mort. 

[377] "Parete precanti Non in Tartareo latitantem poscimus antro, Assuetamque diù tenebris; modò luce fugatâ Descendentem animam primo pallentis hiatu Hĉret adhuc orci. " _Lucan, Pharsal. _ 16. 

[378] Porphyr. De Abstin. Lib. Ii. Art. 47. 

[379] Demet. Lib. Iv. Art. 10. 

[380] Gruter, p. Lxiii. Mauric. Hist. De Metz, preface, p. 15. 

[381] Homer, Odyss. Sub finem. Horat. Lib. I. Satyr. 8. Aug. De Civit. Dei, lib. Vii. C. 35. Clem. Alex. Pĉdag. Lib. Ii. C. 1. Prudent. Lib. Iv. Contra Symmach. Tertull. De Anim. Lactantius, lib. Iii. 

[382] Virgil, Ĉn. Iii. 150, _et seq. _

 "Proptereà jacet exanimum tibi corpus amici, Heu nescis! totamque incestat funere classem. Sedibus hunc refer ante suis et conde sepulcre. "

[383] "Animamque sepulchro Condimus, et magnâ supremum voce ciemus. "

[384] "Romulus ut tumulo fraternas condidit umbras, Et malè veloci justa soluta Remo. "

[385] "Hĉc omnis, quam cernis, inops inhumataque turba est. Centum errant annos, volitantque hĉc littora circum. "

[386] Sallust. Philos. C. 19, 20. 

[387] Stolust. Lib. Ii. De Bella Persico, sub fin. 

[388] "Sequar atris ignibus absens; Et cum frigida mors animĉ subduxerit artus, Omnibus umbra lecis adero: dubis, improbe, poenas. "

[389] Homer, Iliad, XXIII. 

[390] Ibid. Odyss. V. 

[391] "Infelix simulacrum etque ipsius umbra Creüsĉ Visa mihi ante oculos, et notâ major imago. " _Virgil, Ĉneid_ I. 

[392] Tertull. De Anim. 

[393] Ibid. 

[394] Iren. Lib. Ii. C. 34. 

CHAPTER XLIV. 

EXAMINATION OF WHAT IS REQUIRED OR REVEALED TO THE LIVING BY THE DEADWHO RETURN TO EARTH. 

The apparitions which are seen are those of good angels, or of demons, or the spirits of the dead, or of living persons to others stillliving. 

Good angels usually bring only good news, and announce nothing butwhat is fortunate; or if they do announce any future misfortunes, itis to persuade men to prevent them, or turn them aside by repentance, or to profit by the evils which God sends them by exercising theirpatience, and showing submission to his orders. 

Bad angels generally foretell only misfortune; wars, the effect of thewrath of God on nations; and often even they execute the evils, anddirect the wars and public calamities which desolate kingdoms, provinces, cities, and families. The spectres whose appearance toBrutus, Cassius, and Julian the Apostate we have related, are onlybearers of the fatal orders of the wrath of God. If they sometimespromise any prosperity to those to whom they appear, it is only forthe present time, never for eternity, nor for the glory of God, norfor the eternal salvation of those to whom they speak. It only extendsto a temporal fortune, always of short duration, and very oftendeceitful. 

The souls of the defunct, if these be Christians, ask very often thatthe sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ should be offered, according to the observation of St. Gregory the Great;[395] and, asexperience shows, there is hardly any apparition of a Christian thatdoes not ask for masses, pilgrimages, restitutions, or that almsshould be distributed, or that they would satisfy those to whom thedeceased died indebted. They also often give salutary advice for thesalvation or correction of the morals, or good regulation of families. They reveal the state in which certain persons find themselves in theother world, in order to relieve their pain, or to put the living ontheir guard, that the like misfortune may not befall them. They talkof hell, paradise, purgatory, angels, demons, of the Supreme Judge, ofthe rigor of his judgments, of the goodness he exercises towards thejust, and the rewards with which he crowns their good works. 

But we must greatly mistrust those apparitions which ask for masses, pilgrimages and restitution. St. Paul warns us that the demon oftentransforms himself into an angel of light;[396] and St. John[397]warns us to distrust the "depths of Satan, " his illusions, anddeceitful appearances; that spirit of malice and falsehood is foundamong the true prophets to put into the mouth of the false prophetsfalsehood and error. He makes a wrong use of the text of theScriptures, of the most sacred ceremonies, even of the sacraments andprayers of the church, to seduce the simple, and win their confidence, to share as much as in him lies the glory which is due to the Almightyalone, and to appropriate it to himself. How many false miracles hashe not wrought? How many times has he foretold future events? Whatcures has he not operated? How many holy actions has he not counseled?How many enterprises, praiseworthy in appearance, has he not inspired, in order to draw the faithful into his snare?

Boden, in his Demonology, [398] cites more than one instance of demonswho have requested prayers, and have even placed themselves in theposture of persons praying over a grave, to point out that the deadpersons wanted prayers. Sometimes it will be the demon in the shape ofa wretch dead in crime, who will come and ask for masses, to show thathis soul is in purgatory, and has need of prayers, although it may becertain that he finally died impenitent, and that prayers are uselessfor his salvation. All this is only a stratagem of a demon, who seeksto inspire the wicked with foolish and dangerous confidence in theirbeing saved, notwithstanding their criminal life and theirimpenitence; and that they can obtain salvation by means of a fewprayers, and a few alms, which shall be made after their death; notregarding that these good works can be useful only to those who diedin a state of grace, although stained by some venial fault, since theScripture informs us[399] that nothing impure will enter the kingdomof heaven. 

It is believed that the reprobate can sometimes return to earth bypermission, as persons dead in idolatry, and consequently in sin, andexcluded from the kingdom of God, have been seen to come to lifeagain, be converted, and receive baptism. St. Martin was as yet onlythe simple abbot of his monastery of Ligugé, [400] when, in hisabsence, a catechumen who had placed himself under his discipline tobe instructed in the truths of the Christian religion died withouthaving been baptized. He had been three days deceased when the saintarrived. He sent everybody away, prayed over the dead man, resuscitated him, and administered to him the baptismal rite. 

This catechumen related that he had been led before the tribunal ofthe Supreme Judge, who had condemned him to descend into the darknesswith an infinity of other persons condemned like himself; but that twoangels having represented to the Judge that it was this man for whomSt. Martin interceded, God commanded the two angels to bring him backto earth, and restore him to Martin. This is an instance which proveswhat I have just said, that the reprobate can return to life, dopenance, and receive baptism. 

But as to what some have affirmed of the salvation of Falconila, procured by St. Thecla, of that of Trajan, saved by the prayers of St. Gregory, pope, and of some others who died heathens, this is allentirely contrary to the faith of the church and to the holyScripture, which teach us that without faith it is impossible toplease God, and that he who believes not and has not received baptismis already judged and condemned. Thus the opinions of those who accordsalvation to Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, &c. , because it may appear tothem that they lived in a praiseworthy manner, according to the rulesof a merely human and philosophical morality, must be considered asrash, erroneous, false, and dangerous. 

Philip, Chancellor of the Church of Paris, maintained that it waspermitted to one man to hold a plurality of benefices. Being on hisdeath-bed, he was visited by William, Bishop of Paris, who died in1248. This prelate urged the chancellor to give up all his beneficessave one only; he refused, saying that he wished to try if the holdinga plurality of livings was so wrong as it was said to be; and in thisdisposition of mind he died in 1237. 

Some days after his decease, Bishop William, or Guillaume, praying bynight, after matins, in his cathedral, beheld before him the hideousand frightful figure of a man. He made the sign of the cross, and saidto him, "If you are sent by God, speak. " He spoke, and said: "I amthat wretched chancellor, and have been condemned to eternalpunishment. " The bishop having asked him the cause, he replied, "I amcondemned, first, for not having distributed the superfluity of mybenefices; secondly, for having maintained that it was allowable tohold several at once; thirdly, for having remained for several days inthe guilt of incontinence. "

The story was often preached by Bishop William to his clerks. It isrelated by the Bishop Albertus Magnus, who was a cotemporary, in hisbook on the sacraments; by William Durand, Bishop of Mande, in hisbook _De Modo celebrandi Concilia_; and in Thomas de Cantimpré, in hiswork _Des Abeilles_. He believed, then, that God sometimes permittedthe reprobate to appear to the living. 

Here is an instance of the apparition of a man and woman who were in astate of reprobation. The Prince of Ratzivil, [401] in his Journey toJerusalem, relates that when in Egypt he bought two mummies, had thempacked up, and secretly as possible conveyed on board his vessel, sothat only himself and his two servants were aware of it; the Turksmaking a great difficulty of allowing mummies to be carried away, because they fancy that the Christians make use of them for magicaloperations. When they were at sea, there arose at sundry times such aviolent tempest that the pilot despaired of saving the vessel. A goodPolish priest, of the suite of the Prince de Ratzivil, recited theprayers suitable to the circumstance; but he was tormented, he said, by two hideous black spectres, a man and a woman, who were on eachside of him, and threatened to take away his life. It was thought atfirst that terror disturbed his mind. 

A calm coming on, he appeared tranquil; but very soon, the stormbeginning again, he was more tormented than before, and was onlydelivered from these haunting spectres when the two mummies, which hehad not seen, were thrown into the sea, and neither himself nor thepilot knew of their being in the ship. I will not deny the fact, whichis related by a prince incapable of desiring to impose on any one. Buthow many reflections may we make on this event! Were they the souls ofthese two pagans, or two demons who assumed their form? What interestcould the demon have in not permitting these bodies to come under thepower of the Christians?

Footnotes:

[395] Greg. Mag. Lib. Iv. Dialog. C. 55. 

[396] Cor. Xi. 14. 

[397] Rev. Xxi. 14. 

[398] Bodin, Dĉmon. Tom. Iii. C. 6. 

[399] Rev. Xxi. 27. 

[400] Sulpit. Sever. Vita St. Martin. C. 5. 

[401] Ratzivil, Peregrin, Jerosol. P. 218. 

CHAPTER XLV. 

APPARITIONS OF MEN STILL ALIVE, TO OTHER LIVING MEN, ABSENT, AND VERYDISTANT FROM EACH OTHER. 

We find in all history, both sacred and profane, ancient and modern, an infinite number of examples of the apparition of persons alive toother living persons. The prophet Ezekiel says of himself, [402] "I wasseated in my house, in the midst of the elders of my people, when on asudden a hand, which came from a figure shining like fire, seized meby the hair; and the spirit transported me between heaven and earth, and took me to Jerusalem, where he placed me near the inner gate, which looks towards the north, where I saw the idol of jealousy"(apparently Adonis), "and I there remarked the majesty of the Lord, asI had seen it in the field; he showed me the idol of jealousy, towhich the Israelites burned incense; and the angel of the Lord said tome: Thou seest the abominations which the children of Israel commit, in turning away from my sanctuary; thou shalt see still greater. 

"And having pierced the wall of the temple, I saw figures of reptilesand animals, the abominations and idols of the house of Israel, andseventy men of the elders of Israel, who were standing before thesefigures, each one bearing a censer in his hand; after that the angelsaid to me, Thou shalt see yet something yet more abominable; and heshowed me women who were mourning for Adonis. Lastly, havingintroduced me into the inner court of the temple, I saw twenty menbetween the vestibule and the altar, who turned their back upon thetemple of the Lord, and stood with their faces to the _east_, and paidadoration to the rising sun. "

Here we may remark two things; first, that Ezekiel is transported fromChaldĉa to Jerusalem, through the air between heaven and earth by thehand of an angel; which proves the possibility of transporting aliving man through the air to a very great distance from the placewhere he was. 

The second is, the vision or apparition of those prevaricators whocommit even within the temple the greatest abominations, the mostcontrary to the majesty of God, the sanctity of the spot, and the lawof the Lord. After all these things, the same angel brings backEzekiel into Chaldĉa; but it was not until after God had showed himthe vengeance he intended to exercise upon the Israelites. 

It will, perhaps, be said that all this passed only in a vision; thatEzekiel thought that he was transported to Jerusalem and afterwardsbrought back again to Babylon; and that what he saw in the temple hesaw only by revelation. I reply, that the text of this prophetindicates a real removal, and that he was transported by the hair ofhis head between heaven and earth. He was brought back from Jerusalemin the same way. 

I do not deny that the thing might have passed in a vision, and thatEzekiel might have seen in spirit what was passing in the temple ofJerusalem. But I shall still deduce from it a consequence which isfavorable to my design, that is, the possibility of a living man beingcarried through the air to a very great distance from the place he wasin, or at least that a living man can imagine strongly that he isbeing carried from one place to another, although this transportationmay be only imaginary and in a dream or vision, as they pretend ithappens in the transportation of sorcerers to the witches' sabbath. 

In short, there are true appearances of the living to others who arealso alive. How is this done? The thing is not difficult to explain infollowing the recital of the prophet, who is transferred from Chaldĉainto Judea in his own body by the ministration of angels; but theapparitions related in St. Augustine and in other authors are not ofthe same kind: the two persons who see and converse with each other gonot from their places; and the one who appears knows nothing of whatis passing in regard to him to whom he appears, and to whom heexplains several things of which he did not even think at that moment. 

In the third book of Kings, Obadiah, steward of king Ahab, having metthe prophet Elijah, who had for some time kept himself concealed, tells him that king Ahab had him sought for everywhere, and that nothaving been able to discover him anywhere, had gone himself to seekhim out. Elijah desired him to go and tell the king that Elijah hadappeared; but Obadiah replied, "See to what you expose me; for if I goand announce to Ahab that I have spoken to you, the spirit of God willtransport you into some unknown place, and the king, not finding you, will put me to death. "

There again is an instance which proves the possibility of thetransportation of a living man to a very distant spot. The sameprophet, being on Mount Carmel, was seized by the Spirit of God, whichtransported him thence to Jezreel in very little time, not through theair, but by making him walk and run with a promptitude that was quiteextraordinary. 

In the Gospel, Elias[403] appeared with Moses on Mount Tabor, at thetransfiguration of the Saviour. Moses had long been dead; but theChurch believes that Elijah (or Elias) is still living. In the Acts ofthe Apostles, [404] Annanias appeared to St. Paul, and put his hands onhim in a vision before he arrived at his house in Damascus. 

Two men of the court of the Emperor Valens, wishing to discover by theaid of magical secrets who would succeed that emperor, [405] caused atable of laurel-wood to be made into a tripod, on which they placed abasin made of divers metals. On the border of this basin wereengraved, at some distance from each other, the twenty-four letters ofthe Greek alphabet. A magician with certain ceremonies approached thebasin, and holding in his hand a ring suspended by a thread, sufferedit at intervals to fall upon the letters of the alphabet whilst theywere rapidly turning the table; the ring falling on the differentletters formed obscure and enigmatical verses like those pronounced bythe oracle of Delphi. 

At last they asked what was the name of him who should succeed to theEmperor Valens? The ring touched the four letters [Greek: THEOD], which they interpreted of Theodosius, the second secretary of theEmperor Valens. Theodosius was arrested, interrogated, convicted, andput to death; and with him all the culprits or accomplices in thisoperation; search was made for all the books of magic, and a greatnumber were burnt. The great Theodosius, of whom they thought not atall, and who was at a great distance from the court, was the persondesignated by these letters. In 379, he was declared Augustus by theEmperor Gratian, and in coming to Constantinople in 380, he had adream, in which it seemed to him that Melitus, Bishop of Antioch, whomhe had never seen, and knew only by reputation, invested him with theimperial mantle and placed the diadem on his head. 

They were then assembling the Eastern bishops to hold the Council ofConstantinople. Theodosius begged that Melitus might not be pointedout to him, saying that he should recognize him by the signs he hadseen in his dream. In fact, he distinguished him amongst all the otherbishops, embraced him, kissed his hands, and looked upon him everafter as his father. This was a distinct apparition of a livingman. [406]

St. Augustine relates[407] that a certain man saw, in the night beforehe slept, a philosopher, who was known to him, enter his house, andwho explained to him some of Plato's opinions which he would notexplain to him before. This apparition of the Platonician was merelyfantastic; for the person to whom he had appeared having asked him whyhe would not explain to him at his house what he had come to explainto him when at home, the philosopher replied, "I did not do so, but Idreamt I did so. " Here, then, are two persons both alive, one of whom, in his sleep and dreaming, speaks to another who is wide awake, andsees him only in imagination. 

The same St. Augustine[408] acknowledges in the presence of his peoplethat he had appeared to two persons who had never seen him, and knewhim only by reputation, and that he advised them to come to Hippo, tobe there cured by the merit of the martyr St. Stephen:--they camethere, and recovered their health. 

Evodius, teaching rhetoric at Carthage, [409] and finding himselfpuzzled concerning the sense of a passage in the books of the Rhetoricof Cicero, which he was to explain the next day to his scholars, wasmuch disquieted when he went to bed, and could hardly get to sleep. During his sleep he fancied he saw St. Augustine, who was then atMilan, a great way from Carthage, who was not thinking of him at all, and was apparently sleeping very quietly in his bed at Milan, who cameto him and explained the passage in question. St. Augustine avows thathe does not know how it happens; but in whatever way it may occur, itis very possible for us to see in a dream a dead person as we see aliving one, without either one or the other knowing how, when, orwhere, these images are formed in our mind. It is also possible that adead man may appear to the living without being aware of it, anddiscover to them secrets and hidden things, the result of whichreveals their truth and reality. When a living man appears in a dreamto another man, we do not say that his body or his spirit haveappeared, but simply that such a one has appeared to him. Why can wenot say that the dead appear without body and without soul, but simplythat their form presents itself to the mind and imagination of theliving person?

St. Augustine, in the book which he has composed on the care which weought to take of the dead, [410] says that a holy monk, named John, appeared to a pious woman, who ardently desired to see him. Thesaintly doctor reasons a great deal on this apparition;--whether thissolitary foresaw what would happen to him; if he went in spirit tothis woman; if it is his angel or his spirit in his bodily form whichappeared to her in her sleep, as we behold in our dreams absentpersons who are known to us. We should be able to speak to the monkhimself, to know from himself how that occurred, if by the power ofGod, or by his permission; for there is little appearance that he didit by any natural power. 

It is said that St. Simeon Stylites[411] appeared to his disciple St. Daniel, who had undertaken the journey to Jerusalem, where he wouldhave to suffer much for Jesus Christ's sake. St. Benedict[412] hadpromised to comply with the request of some architects, who had beggedhim to come and show them how he wished them to build a certainmonastery; the saint did not go to them bodily, but he went thither inspirit, and gave them the plan and design of the house which they wereto construct. These men did not comprehend that it was what he hadpromised them, and came to him again to ask what were his intentionsrelative to this edifice: he said to them, "I have explained it to youin a dream; you can follow the plan which you have seen. "

The Cĉsar Bardas, who had so mightily contributed to the deposition ofSt. Ignatius, patriarch of Constantinople, had a vision, which he thusrelated to Philothes his friend. "I thought I was that night going inprocession to the high church with the Emperor Michael. When we hadentered and were near the ambe, there appeared two eunuchs of thechamber, with a cruel and ferocious mien, one of whom, having boundthe emperor, dragged him out of the choir on the right side; the otherdragged me in the same manner to the left. Then I saw on a sudden anold man seated on the throne of the sanctuary. He resembled the imageof St. Peter, and two terrific men were standing near him, who lookedlike provosts. I beheld, at the knees of St. Peter, St. Ignatiusweeping, and crying aloud, 'You have the keys of the kingdom ofheaven; if you know the injustice which has been done me, console myafflicted old age. '

"St. Peter replied, 'Point out the man who has used you ill. 'Ignatius, turning round, pointed to me, saying, 'That is he who hasdone me most wrong. ' St. Peter made a sign to the one at his right, and placing in his hand a short sword, he said to him aloud, 'TakeBardas, the enemy of God, and cut him in pieces before the vestibule. 'As they were leading me to death, I saw that he said to the emperor, holding up his hand in a threatening manner, 'Wait, unnatural son!'after which I saw them cut me absolutely in pieces. "

This took place in 866. The year following, in the month of April, theemperor having set out to attack the Isle of Crete, was made sosuspicious of Bardas, that he resolved to get rid of him. Heaccompanied the Emperor Michael in this expedition. Bardas, seeing themurderers enter the emperor's tent, sword in hand, threw himself athis feet to ask his pardon; but they dragged him out, cut him inpieces, and in derision carried some of his members about at the endof a pike. This happened the 29th of April, 867. 

Roger, Count of Calabria and Sicily, besieging the town of Capua, onenamed Sergius, a Greek by birth, to whom he had given the command of200 men, having suffered himself to be bribed, formed the design ofbetraying him, and of delivering the army of the count to the Princeof Capua, during the night. It was on the 1st of March that he was toexecute his intention. St. Bruno, who then dwelt in the Desert ofSquilantia, appeared to Count Roger, and told him to fly to armspromptly, if he would not be oppressed by his enemies. The countstarts from his sleep, commands his people to mount their horses andsee what is going on in the camp. They met the men belonging toSergius, with the Prince of Capua, who having perceived them retiredpromptly into the town; those of Count Roger took 162 of them, fromwhom they learned all the secret of the treason. Roger went, on the29th of July following, to Squilantia, and having related to Brunowhat had happened to him, the saint said to him, "It was not I whowarned you; it was the angel of God, who is near princes in time ofwar. " Thus Count Roger relates the affair himself, in a privilegegranted to St. Bruno. 

A monk[413] named Fidus, a disciple of St. Euthymius, a celebratedabbot in Palestine, having been sent by Martyrius, the patriarch ofJerusalem, on an important mission concerning the affairs of thechurch, embarked at Joppa, and was shipwrecked the following night; hesupported himself above water for some time by clinging to a piece ofwood, which he found by chance. Then he invoked the help of St. Euthymius, who appeared to him walking on the sea, and who said tohim, "Know that this voyage is not pleasing to God, and will be of noutility to the mother of the Churches, that is to say, to Jerusalem. Return to him who sent you, and tell him from me not to be uneasy atthe separation of the schismatics--union will take place ere long; foryou, you must go to my laurel grove, and you must build there amonastery. "

Having said this, he enveloped Fidus in his mantle, and Fidus foundhimself immediately at Jerusalem, and in his house, without knowinghow he came there; he related it all to the Patriarch Martyrius, whoremembered the prediction of St. Euthymius concerning the building inthe laurel grove a monastery. 

Queen Margaret, in her memoirs, asserts that God protects the great ina particular manner, and that he lets them know, either in dreams orotherwise, what is to happen to them. "As Queen Catherine de Medicis, my mother, " says she, "who the night before that unhappy day dreamtshe saw the king, Henry II. , my father, wounded in the eye, as itreally happened; when she awoke she several times implored the kingnot to tilt that day. 

"The same queen being dangerously ill at Metz, and having around herbed the king (Charles IX. ), my sister, and brother of Lorraine, andmany ladies and princesses, she cried out as if she had seen thebattle of Jarnac fought: 'See how they fly! my son has the victory! Doyou see the Prince of Condè dead in that hedge?' All those who werepresent fancied she was dreaming; but the night after, M. De Lossebrought her the news. 'I knew it well, ' said she; 'did I not behold itthe day before yesterday?'"

The Duchess Philippa, of Gueldres, wife of the Duke of Lorraine, RenéII. , being a nun at St. Claire du Pont-à-Mousson, saw during herorisons the unfortunate battle of Pavia. She cried out suddenly, "Ah!my sisters, my dear sisters, for the love of God, say your prayers; myson De Lambesc is dead, and the king (Francis I. ) my cousin is madeprisoner. " Some days after, news of this famous event, which happenedthe day on which the duchess had seen it, was received at Nancy. Certainly, neither the young Prince de Lambesc nor the king Francis I. Had any knowledge of this revelation, and they took no part in it. Itwas, then, neither their spirit nor their phantoms which appeared tothe princess; it was apparently their angel, or God himself, who byhis power struck her imagination, and represented to her what waspassing at that moment. 

Mezeray affirms that he had often heard people of quality relate thatthe duke (Charles the Third) of Lorraine, who was at Paris when KingHenry II. Was wounded with the splinter of a lance, of which he died, told the circumstance often of a lady who lodged in his hotel havingseen in a dream, very distinctly, that the king had been struck andbrought to the ground by a blow from a lance. 

To these instances of the apparition of living persons to other livingpersons in their sleep, we may add an infinite number of otherinstances of apparitions of angels and holy personages, or even ofdead persons, to the living when asleep, to give them instructions, warn them of dangers which menace them, inspire them with salutarycounsel relative to their salvation, or to give them aid; thickvolumes might be composed on such matters. I shall content myself withrelating here some examples of those apparitions drawn from profaneauthors. 

Xerxes, king of Persia, when deliberating in council whether he shouldcarry the war into Greece, was strongly dissuaded from it byArtabanes, his paternal uncle. Xerxes took offence at this liberty, and uttered some very disobliging words to him. The following night hereflected seriously on the arguments of Artabanes, and changed hisresolution. When he was asleep, he saw in a dream a man ofextraordinary size and beauty, who said to him, "You have thenrenounced your intention of making war on the Greeks, although youhave already given orders to the Persian chiefs to assemble your army. You have not done well to change your resolve, even should no one beof your opinion. Go forward; believe me. Follow your first design. "Having said this, the vision disappeared. The next day he againassembled his council, and without speaking of his dream, he testifiedhis regret for what he said in his rage the preceding day to his uncleArtabanes, and declared that he had renounced his design of making warupon the Greeks. Those who composed the council, transported with joy, prostrated themselves before him, and congratulated him upon it. 

The following night he had a second time the same vision, and the samephantom said to him, "Son of Darius, thou hast then abandoned thydesign of declaring war against the Greeks, regardless of what I saidto thee. Know that if thou dost not instantly undertake thisexpedition, thou wilt soon be reduced to a situation as low as that inwhich thou now findest thyself elevated. " The king directly rose fromhis bed, and sent in all haste for Artabanes, to whom he related thetwo dreams which he had had two nights consecutively. He added, "Ipray you to put on my royal ornaments, sit down on my throne, and thenlie down in my bed. If the phantom which appeared to me appears to youalso, I shall believe that the thing is ordained by the decrees of thegods, and I shall yield to their commands. "

Artabanes would in vain have excused himself from putting on the royalornaments, sitting on the king's throne, and lying down in his bed, alleging that all those things would be useless if the gods hadresolved to let him know their will; that it would even be more likelyto exasperate the gods, as if he desired to deceive them by externalappearances. As for the rest, dreams in themselves deserve noattention, and usually they are only the consequences andrepresentations of what is most strongly in the mind when awake. 

Xerxes did not yield to his arguments, and Artabanes did what the kingdesired, persuaded that if the same thing should occur more than once, it would be a proof of the will of the gods, of the reality of thevision, and the truth of the dream. He then laid down in the king'sbed, and the same phantom appeared to him, and said, "It is you, then, who prevent Xerxes from executing his resolve and accomplishing whatis decreed by fate. I have already declared to the king what he has tofear if he disobeys my orders. " At the same time it appeared toArtabanes that the spectre would burn his eyes with a red-hot iron. Hedirectly sprang from the couch, and related to Xerxes what hadappeared to him and what had been said to him, adding, "I nowabsolutely change my opinion, since it pleases the gods that we shouldmake war, and that the Greeks be threatened with great misfortunes;give your orders and dispose everything for this war:"--which wasexecuted immediately. 

The terrible consequences of this war, which was so fatal to Persia, and at last caused the overthrow of that famous monarchy, leads us tojudge that this apparition, if a true one, was announced by an evilspirit, hostile to that monarchy, sent by God to dispose things forevents predicted by the prophets, and the succession of great empirespredestined by the decrees of the Almighty. 

Cicero remarks that two Arcadians, who were traveling together, arrived at Megara, a city of Greece, situated between Athens andCorinth. One of them, who could claim hospitality in the town, waslodged at a friend's, and the other at an inn. After supper, he whowas at a friend's house retired to rest. In his sleep, it seemed tohim that the man whom he had left at the inn appeared to him, andimplored his help, because the innkeeper wanted to kill him. He arosedirectly, much alarmed at this dream, but having reassured himself, and fallen asleep again, the other again appeared to him, and told himthat since he had not had the kindness to aid him, at least he mustnot leave his death unpunished; that the innkeeper, after havingkilled him, had hidden his body in a wagon, and covered it over withdung, and that he must not fail to be the next morning at the openingof the city gate, before the wagon went forth. Struck with this newdream, he went early in the morning to the city gate, saw the wagon, and asked the driver what he had got under the manure. The carter tookflight directly, the body was extricated from the wagon, and theinnkeeper arrested and punished. 

Cicero relates also some other instances of similar apparitions whichoccurred in sleep; one is of Sophocles, the other of Simonides. Theformer saw Hercules in a dream, who told him the name of a robber whohad taken a golden patera from his temple. Sophocles neglected thisnotice, as an effect of disturbed sleep; but Hercules appeared to hima second time, and repeated to him the same thing, which inducedSophocles to denounce the robber, who was convicted by the Areopagus, and from that time the temple was dedicated to Hercules the Revealer. 

The dream or apparition of Simonides was more useful to himselfpersonally. He was on the point of embarking, when he found on theshore the corpse of an unknown person, as yet without sepulture. Simonides had him interred, from humanity. The next night the dead manappeared to Simonides, and, through gratitude, counseled him not toembark in the vessel then riding in the harbor, because he would beshipwrecked if he did. Simonides believed him, and a few days after, he heard of the wreck of the vessel in which he was to have embarked. 

John Pico de la Mirandola assures us in his treatise, _De Auro_, thata man, who was not rich, finding himself reduced to the lastextremity, and without any resources either to pay his debts orprocure nourishment for a numerous family in a time of scarcity, overcome with grief and uneasiness, fell asleep. At the same time, oneof the blessed appeared to him in a dream, taught him by someenigmatical words the means of making gold, and pointed out to him atthe same moment the water he must make use of to succeed in it. On hisawaking, he took some of that water, and made gold of it, in smallquantity, indeed, but enough to maintain his family. He made sometwice with iron, and three times with orpiment. "He has convinced meby my own eyes, " says Pico de la Mirandola, "that the means of makinggold artificially is not a falsehood, but a true art. "

Here is another sort of apparition of one living man to another, whichis so much the more singular, because it proves at once the might ofspells, and that a magician can render himself invisible to severalpersons, while he discovers himself to one man alone. The fact istaken from the Treatise on Superstitions, of the reverend father LeBrun, [414] and is characterized by all which can render itincontestible. On Friday, the first day of May, 1705, about fiveo'clock in the evening, Denis Misanger de la Richardière, eighteenyears of age, was attacked with an extraordinary malady, which beganby a sort of lethargy. They gave him every assistance that medicineand surgery could afford. He fell afterwards into a kind of furor orconvulsion, and they were obliged to hold him, and have five or sixpersons to keep watch over him, for fear that he should throw himselfout of the windows, or break his head against the wall. The emeticwhich they gave him made him throw up a quantity of bile, and for fouror five days he remained pretty quiet. 

At the end of the month of May, they sent him into the country to takethe air; and some other circumstances occurred, so unusual, that theyjudged he must be bewitched. And what confirmed this conjecture wasthat he never had any fever, and retained all his strength, notwithstanding all the pains and violent remedies which he had beenmade to take. They asked him if he had not had some dispute with ashepherd, or some other person suspected of sorcery or malpractices. 

He declared that on the 18th of April preceding, when he was goingthrough the village of Noysi on horseback for a ride, his horsestopped short in the midst of the _Rue Feret_, opposite the chapel, and he could not make him go forward, though he touched him severaltimes with the spur. There was a shepherd standing leaning against thechapel, with his crook in his hand, and two black dogs at his side. This man said to him, "Sir, I advise you to return home, for yourhorse will not go forward. " The young La Richardière, continuing tospur his horse, said to the shepherd, "I do not understand what yousay. " The shepherd replied, in a low tone, "I will make youunderstand. " In effect, the young man was obliged to get down from hishorse, and lead it back by the bridle to his father's dwelling in thesame village. Then the shepherd cast a spell upon him, which was totake effect on the 1st of May, as was afterwards known. 

During this malady, they caused several masses to be said in differentplaces, especially at St. Maur des Fossés, at St. Amable, and at St. Esprit. Young La Richardière was present at some of these masseswhich were said at St. Maur; but he declared that he should not becured till Friday, the 26th of June, on his return from St. Maur. Onentering his chamber, the key of which he had in his pocket, he foundthere that shepherd, seated in his arm-chair, with his crook, and histwo black dogs. He was the only person who saw him; none other in thehouse could perceive him. He said even that this man was called Damis, although he did not remember that any one had before this revealed hisname to him. He beheld him all that day, and all the succeeding night. Towards six o'clock in the evening, as he felt his usual sufferings, he fell on the ground, exclaiming that the shepherd was upon him, andcrushing him; at the same time he drew his knife, and aimed five blowsat the shepherd's face, of which he retained the marks. The invalidtold those who were watching over him that he was going to be veryfaint at five different times, and begged of them to help him, andmove him violently. The thing happened as he had predicted. 

On Friday, the 26th of June, M. De la Richardière, having gone to themass at St. Maur, asserted that he should be cured on that day. Aftermass, the priest put the stole upon his head and recited the Gospel ofSt. John, during which prayer the young man saw St. Maur standing, andthe unhappy shepherd at his left, with his face bleeding from the fiveknife-wounds which he had given him. At that moment, the youth criedout, unintentionally, "A miracle! a miracle!" and asserted that he wascured, as in fact he was. 

On the 29th of June, the same M. De la Richardière returned to Noysi, and amused himself with shooting. As he was shooting in the vineyards, the shepherd presented himself before him; he hit him on the head withthe butt-end of his gun. The shepherd cried out, "Sir, you are killingme!" and fled. The next day, this man presented himself again beforehim, and asked his pardon, saying, "I am called Damis; it was I whocast a spell over you which was to have lasted a year. By the aid ofmasses and prayers which have been said for you, you have been curedat the end of eight weeks. But the charm has fallen back upon myself, and I can be cured of it only by a miracle. I implore you then to prayfor me. "

During all these reports, the _maré chausée_ had set off in pursuit ofthe shepherd; but he escaped them, having killed his two dogs andthrown away his crook. On Sunday, the 13th of September, he came to M. De la Richardière, and related to him his adventure; that after havingpassed twenty years without approaching the sacraments, God had givenhim grace to confess himself at Troyes; and that after divers delayshe had been admitted to the holy communion. Eight days after, M. De laRichardière received a letter from a woman who said she was a relationof the shepherd's, informing him of his death, and begging him tocause a requiem mass to be said for him, which was done. 

How many difficulties may we make about this story! How could thiswretched shepherd cast the spell without touching the person? Howcould he introduce himself into young M. De la Richardière's chamberwithout either opening or forcing the door? How could he renderhimself visible to him alone, whilst none other beheld him? Can onedoubt of his corporeal presence, since he received five cuts from aknife in his face, of which he afterwards bore the marks, when, by themerit of the holy mass and the intercession of the saints, the spellwas taken off? How could St. Maur appear to him in his Benedictinehabit, having the wizard on his left hand? If the circumstance iscertain, as it appears, who shall explain the manner in which allpassed or took place?

Footnotes:

[402] Ezek. Viii. 1, 2, &c. 

[403] Matt. Xvii. 3. 

[404] Acts ix. 10. 

[405] Acts ix. 2. 

[406] Ammian. Marcell. Lib. Xix. Sozomen. Lib. Vi. C. 35. 

[407] Aug. Lib. Viii. De Civit. C. 18. 

[408] Aug. Serm. Cxxiii. Pp. 1277, 1278. 

[409] Aug. De curâ gerendâ pro Mortuis, c. 11, 12. 

[410] Aug. De curâ gerend. Pro Mort. C. Xxvii. P. 529. 

[411] Vita Daniel Stylit. Xi. Decemb. 

[412] Gregor. Lib. Ii. Dialog. C. Xxii. 

[413] Vita Sancti Euthym. Pp. 86, 87. 

[414] Le Brun, Traité des Superstit. Tom. I. Pp. 281, 282, et seq. 

CHAPTER XLVI. 

ARGUMENTS CONCERNING APPARITIONS. 

After having spoken at some length upon apparitions, and after havingestablished the truth of them, as far as it has been possible for usto do so, from the authority of the Scripture, from examples, and byarguments, we must now exercise our judgment on the causes, means, andreasons for these apparitions, and reply to the objections which maybe made to destroy the reality of them, or at least to raise doubts onthe subject. 

We have supposed that apparitions were the work of angels, demons, orsouls of the defunct; we do not talk of the appearance of God himself;his will, his operations, his power, are above our reach; weacknowledge that he can do all that he wills to do, that his will isall-powerful, and that he places himself, when he chooses, above thelaws which he has made. As to the apparitions of the living to othersalso living, they are of a different nature from what we propose toexamine in this place; we shall not fail to speak of them hereafter. 

Whatever system we may follow on the nature of angels, or demons, orsouls separated from the body; whether we consider them as purelyspiritual substances, as the Christian church at this day holds;whether we give them an aërial body, subtile, and invisible, as manyhave taught; it appears almost as difficult to render palpable, perceptible, and thick a subtile and aërial body, as it is to condensethe air, and make it seem like a solid and perceptible body; as, whenthe angels appeared to Abraham and Lot, the angel Raphael to Tobias, whom he conducted into Mesopotamia; or when the demon appeared toJesus Christ, and led him to a high mountain, and on the pinnacle ofthe Temple at Jerusalem; or when Moses appeared with Elias on MountTabor: for those apparitions are certain from Scripture. 

If you will say that these apparitions were seen only in theimagination and mind of those who saw, or believed they saw angels, demons, or souls separated from the body, as it happens every day inour sleep, and sometimes when awake, if we are strongly occupied withcertain objects, or struck with certain things which we desireardently or fear exceedingly--as when Ajax, thinking he saw Ulyssesand Agamemnon, or Menelaüs, threw himself upon some animals, which hekilled, thinking he was killing those two men his enemies, and whom hewas dying with the desire to wreak his vengeance upon--on thissupposition, the apparition will not be less difficult to explain. There was neither prepossession nor disturbed imagination, nor anypreceding emotion, which led Abraham to figure to himself that he sawthree persons, to whom he gave hospitality, to whom he spoke, whopromised him the birth of a son, of which he was scarcely thinking atthat time. The three apostles who saw Moses conversing with JesusChrist on Mount Tabor were not prepared for that appearance; there wasno emotion of fear, love, revenge, ambition, or any other passionwhich struck their imagination, to dispose them to see Moses; asneither was there in Abraham, when he perceived the three angels whoappeared to him. 

Often in our sleep we see, or we believe we see, what has struck ourattention very much when awake; sometimes we represent to ourselves insleep things of which we have never thought, which even are repugnantto us, and which present themselves to our mind in spite of ourselves. None bethink themselves of seeking the causes of these kinds ofrepresentations; they are attributed to chance, or to some dispositionof the humors of the blood or of the brain, or even of the way inwhich the body is placed in bed; but nothing like that is applicableto the apparitions of angels, demons, or spirits, when theseapparitions are accompanied and followed by converse, predictions andreal effects preceded and predicted by those which appear. 

If we have recourse to a pretended fascination of the eyes or theother senses, which sometimes make us believe that we see and hearwhat we do not, or that we neither see nor hear what is passing beforeour eyes, or which strikes our ears; as when the soldiers sent toarrest Elisha spoke to him and saw him before they recognized him, orwhen the inhabitants of Sodom could not discover Lot's door, althoughit was before their eyes, or when the disciples of Emmaus knew notthat it was Jesus Christ who accompanied them and expounded theScriptures; they opened their eyes and knew him _only by the breakingof bread_. 

That fascination of the senses which makes us believe that we see whatwe do not see, or that suspension of the exercise and naturalfunctions of our senses which prevents us from seeing and recognizingwhat is passing before our eyes, is all of it hardly less miraculousthan to condense the air, or rarefy it, or give solidity andconsistence to what is purely spiritual and disengaged from matter. 

From all this, it follows that no apparition can take place without asort of miracle, and without a concurrence, both extraordinary andsupernatural, of the power of God who commands, or causes, or permitsan angel, or a demon, or a disembodied soul to appear, act, speak, walk, and perform other functions which belong only to an organizedbody. 

I shall be told that it is useless to recur to the miraculous and thesupernatural, if we have acknowledged in spiritual substances anatural power of showing themselves, whether by condensing the air, orby producing a massive and palpable body, or in raising up some deadbody, to which these spirits give life and motion for a certain time. 

I own it all; but I dare maintain that that is not possible either toangel or demon, nor to any spiritual substance whatsoever. The soulcan produce in herself thoughts, will, and wishes; she can give herimpulsion to the movements of her body, and repress its sallies andagitations; but how does she do that? Philosophy can hardly explainit, but by saying that by virtue of the union between herself and thebody, God, by an effect of his wisdom, has given her power to act uponthe humors, its organs, and impress them with certain movements; butthere is reason to believe that the soul performs all that only as anoccasional cause, and that it is God as the first, necessary, immediate, and essential cause, which produces all the movements ofthe body that are made in a natural way. 

Neither angel nor demon has more privilege in this respect over matterthan the soul of man has over its own body. They can neither modifymatter, change it, nor impress it with action and motion, save by thepower of God, and with his concurrence both necessary and immediate;our knowledge does not permit us to judge otherwise; there is nophysical proportion between the spirit and the body; those twosubstances cannot act mutually and immediately one upon the other;they can act only occasionally, by determining the first cause, invirtue of the laws which wisdom has judged it proper to prescribe toherself for the reciprocal action of the creatures upon each other, togive them being, to preserve it, and perpetuate movement in the massof matter which composes the universe, in himself giving life tospiritual substances, and permitting them with his concurrence, as theFirst Cause, to act, the body on the soul, and the soul on the body, one on the other, as secondary causes. 

Porphyry, when consulted by Anebo, an Egyptian priest, if those whoforetell the future and perform prodigies have more powerful souls, orwhether they receive power from some strange spirit, replies that, according to appearance, all these things are done by means of certainevil spirits that are naturally knavish, and take all sorts of shapes, and do everything that one sees happen, whether good or evil; but thatin the end they never lead men to what is truly good. 

St. Augustine, [415] who cites this passage of Porphyry, lays muchstress on his testimony, and says that every extraordinary thing whichis done by certain tones of the voice, by figures or phantoms, isusually the work of the demon, who sports with the credulity andblindness of men; that everything marvellous which is transacted innature, and has no relation to the worship of the true God, ought topass for an illusion of the devil. The most ancient Fathers of theChurch, Minutius Felix, Arnobius, St. Cyprian, attribute equally allthese kinds of extraordinary effects to the evil spirit. 

Tertullian[416] had no doubt that the apparitions which are producedby magic, and by the evocation of souls, which, forced byenchantments, come out, say they, from the depth of hell (or Hades), are but pure illusions of the demon, who causes to appear to thosepresent a fantastical form, which fascinates the eyes of those whothink they see what they see not; "which is not more difficult for thedemon, " says he, "than to seduce and blind the souls which he leadsinto sin. Pharaoh thought he saw real serpents produced by hismagicians: it was mere illusion. The truth of Moses devoured thefalsehood of these impostors. "

Is it more easy to cause the fascination of the eyes of Pharaoh andhis servants than to produce serpents, and can it be done withoutGod's concurring thereto? And how can we reconcile this concurrencewith the wisdom, independence, and truth of God? Has the devil in thisrespect a greater power than an angel and a disembodied soul? And ifonce we open the door to this fascination, everything which appearssupernatural and miraculous will become uncertain and doubtful. Itwill be said that the wonders related in the Old and New Testament arein this respect, in regard both to those who are witnesses of them, and those to whom they happened, only illusions and fascinations: andwhither may not these premises lead? It leads us to doubt everything, to deny everything; to believe that God in concert with the devilleads us into error, and fascinates our eyes and other senses, to makeus believe that we see, hear, and know what is neither present to oureyes, nor known to our mind, nor supported by our reasoning power, since by that the principles of reasoning are overthrown. 

We must, then, have recourse to the solid and unshaken principles ofreligion, which teach us--

1. That angels, demons, and souls disembodied are pure spirit, freefrom all matter. 

2. That it is only by the order or permission of God that spiritualsubstances can appear to men, and seem to them to be true and tangiblebodies, in which and by which they perform what they are seen to do. 

3. That to make these bodies appear, and make them act, speak, walk, eat, &c, they must produce tangible bodies, either by condensing theair or substituting other terrestrial, solid bodies, capable ofperforming the functions we speak of. 

4. That the way in which this production and apparition of aperceptible body is achieved is absolutely unknown to us; that we haveno proof that spiritual substances have a natural power of producingthis kind of change when it pleases them, and that they cannot producethem independently of God. 

5. That although there may be often a great deal of illusion, prepossession, and imagination in what is related of the operationsand apparitions of angels, demons, and disembodied souls, there isstill some reality in many of these things; and we cannot reasonablydoubt of them all, and still less deny them all. 

6. That there are apparitions which bear about them the character andproof of truth, from the quality of him who relates them; from thecircumstances which accompany them; from the events following thoseapparitions that announce things to come; which perform thingsimpossible to the natural strength of man, and too much in oppositionto the interest of the demon, and his malicious and deceitfulcharacter, for us to be able to suspect him to be the author orcontriver of them. In short, these apparitions are certified by thebelief, the prayers, and the practice of the church, which recognizesthem, and supposes their reality. 

7. That although what appears miraculous is not so always, we must atleast usually perceive in it _some_ illusion and operation of thedemon; consequently, that the demon can, with the permission of God, do many things which surpass our knowledge, and the natural powerwhich we suppose him to have. 

8. That those who wish to explain them by fascination of the eyes andother senses, do not resolve the difficulty, and throw themselves intostill greater embarrassment than those who admit simply thatapparitions appear by the order or the permission of God. 

Footnotes:

[415] Aug. De Civit. Dei, lib. X. C. 11, 12. 

[416] Tertull. De Animâ, c. 57. 

CHAPTER XLVII. 

OBJECTIONS AGAINST APPARITIONS, AND REPLIES TO THOSE OBJECTIONS. 

The greatest objection that can be raised against the apparitions ofangels, demons, and disembodied souls, takes its rise in the nature ofthese substances, which being purely spiritual, cannot appear withevident, solid, and palpable bodies, nor perform those functions whichbelong only to matter, and living or animated bodies. 

For, either spiritual substances are united to the bodies which appearor not. If they are not united to them, how can they move them, andcause them to act, walk, speak, reason, and eat? If they are united tothem, then they form but one individual; and how can they separatethemselves from them, after being united to them? Do they take themand leave them at will, as we lay aside a habit or a mask? That wouldbe to suppose that they are at liberty to appear or disappear, whichis not the case, since all apparitions are solely by the order orpermission of God. Are those bodies which appear only instrumentswhich the angels, demons, or souls make use of to affright, warn, chastise, or instruct the person or persons to whom they appear? Thisis, in fact, the most rational thing that can be said concerning theseapparitions; the exorcisms of the church fall directly on the agentand cause of these apparitions, and not on the phantom which appears, nor on the first author, which is God, who orders and permits it. 

Another objection, both very common and very striking, is that whichis drawn from the multitude of false stories and ridiculous reportswhich are spread amongst the people, of the apparitions of spirits, demons, and elves, of possessions and obsessions. 

It must be owned that, out of a hundred of these pretendedappearances, hardly two will be found to be true. The ancients are notmore to be credited on that point than the moderns, since they were, at least, equally as credulous as people are in our own age, or ratherthey were more credulous than we are at this day. 

I grant that the foolish credulity of the people, and the love ofeverything that seems marvelous and extraordinary, have produced aninfinite number of false histories on the subject we are now treatingof. There are here two dangers to avoid: a too great credulity, and anexcessive difficulty in believing what is above the ordinary course ofnature; as likewise, we must not conclude what is general from what isparticular, or make a general case of a particular one, nor say thatall is false because some stories are so; also, we must not assertthat such a particular history is a mere invention, because there aremany stories of this latter kind. It is allowable to examine, prove, and select; we must never form our judgment but with knowledge of thecase; a story may be false in many of its circumstances (as related), but true in its foundation. 

The history of the deluge, and that of the passage across the Red Sea, are certain in themselves, and in the simple and natural recital givenof them by Moses. The profane historians, and some Hebrew writers, andeven Christians, have added some embellishment which must militateagainst the story in itself. Josephus the historian has muchembellished the history of Moses; Christian authors have added much tothat of Josephus; the Mahometans have altered several points of thesacred history of the Old and New Testament. Must we, on this account, consider these histories as problematical? The life of St. GregoryThaumaturgus is full of miracles, as are also those of St. Martin andSt. Bernard. St. Augustine relates several miraculous cures worked bythe relics of St. Stephen. Many extraordinary things are related inthe life of St. Ambrose. Why not give faith to them after thetestimony of these great men, and that of their disciples, who hadlived with them, and had been witnesses of a good part of what theyrelate?

It is not permitted us to dispute the truth of the apparitions notedin the Old and New Testament; but we may be permitted to explain them. For instance, it is said that the Lord appeared to Abraham in thevalley of Mamre;[417] that he entered Abraham's tent, and that hepromised him the birth of a son; also, it is allowed that he receivedthree angels, who went from thence to Sodom. St. Paul[418] notices itexpressly in his Epistle to the Hebrews; _angelis hospitio receptis_. It is also said that the Lord appeared unto Moses, and gave him thelaw; and St. Stephen, in the Acts, [419] informs us that it was anangel who spoke to him from the burning bush, and on Mount Horeb; andSt. Paul, writing to the Galatians, says, that the law was given byangels. [420]

Sometimes, the name of angel of the Lord is taken for a prophet, a manfilled with his Spirit, and deputed by him. It is certain that theHebrew _malae_ and the Greek _angelos_ bear the same signification asour _envoy_. For instance, at the beginning of the Book ofJudges, [421] it is said that there came an angel of the Lord fromGilgal to the place of tears (or Bochim), and that he there reprovedthe Israelites for their infidelity and ingratitude. The ablestcommentators[422] think that this _angel of the Lord_ is no other thanPhineas, or the then high priest, or rather a prophet, sent expresslyto the people assembled at Gilgal. 

In the Scripture, the prophets are sometimes styled angels of theLord. [423] "Here is what saith the envoy of the Lord, amongst theenvoys of the Lord, " says Haggai, speaking of himself. 

The prophet Malachi, the last of the lesser prophets, says that "theLord will send his angel, who will prepare the way before hisface. "[424] This angel is St. John the Baptist, who prepares the wayfor Jesus Christ, who is himself styled the Angel of the Lord--"Andsoon the Lord whom ye demand, and the so much desired Angel of theLord, will come into his temple. " This same Saviour is designated byMoses under the name of a prophet:[425] "The Lord will raise up in themidst of your nation, a prophet like myself. " The name of angel isgiven to the prophet Nathan, who reproved David for his sin. I do notpretend, by these testimonies, to deny that the angels have oftenappeared to men; but I infer from them that sometimes these angelswere only prophets or other persons, raised up and sent by God to hispeople. 

As to apparitions of the demon, it is well to observe that inScripture the greater part of public calamities and maladies areattributed to evil spirits; for example, it is said that Sataninspired David[426] with the idea of numbering his people; but inanother place it is simply said that the anger of the Lord wasinflamed[427] against Israel, and led David to cause his subjects tobe numbered. There are several other passages in the Holy Books, wherethey relate what the demon said and what he did, in a popular manner, by the figure termed prosopopoeia; for instance, the conversationbetween Satan and the first woman, [428] and the discourse which thedemon holds in company with the good angels before the Lord, when hetalks to him of Job, [429] and obtains permission to tempt and afflicthim. In the New Testament, it appears that the Jews attributed to themalice of the demon and to his possession almost all the maladies withwhich they were afflicted. In St. Luke, [430] the woman who was bentand could not raise herself up, and had suffered this for eighteenyears, "had, " says the evangelist, "a spirit of infirmity;" and JesusChrist, after having healed her, says "that Satan held her bound foreighteen years;" and in another place, it is said that a lunatic orepileptic person was possessed by the demon. It is clear, from what issaid by St. Matthew and St. Luke, [431] that he was attacked byepilepsy. The Saviour cured him of this evil malady, and by that meanstook from the demon the opportunity of tormenting him still more; asDavid, by dissipating with the sound of his harp the sombre melancholyof Saul, delivered him from the evil spirit, who abused the power ofthose inclinations which he found in him, to awaken his jealousyagainst David. All this means, that we often ascribed to the demonthings of which he is not guilty, and that we must not lightly adoptall the prejudices of the people, nor take literally all that isrelated of the works of Satan. 

Footnotes:

[417] Gen. Xviii. 10. 

[418] Heb. Xiii. 2. 

[419] Acts vii. 30, 33. 

[420] Gal. Iii. 

[421] Judges ii. 1. 

[422] Vide commentar. In Judic. Ii. 

[423] Hagg. I. 13. 

[424] Malac. Iii. 1. 

[425] Deut. Xviii. 18. 

[426] Chron. Xxi. 1. 

[427] 2 Sam. Xxiv. 1. 

[428] Gen. Iii. 2, 3. 

[429] Job i. 7-9. 

[430] Luke xiii. 16. 

[431] Matt. Xvii. 14. Luke ix. 37. 

CHAPTER XLVIII. 

SOME OTHER OBJECTIONS AND REPLIES. 

In order to combat the apparitions of angels, demons, and disembodiedsouls, we still bring forward the effects of a prepossessed fancy, struck with an idea, and of a weak and timid mind, which imagine theysee and hear what subsists only in idea; we advert to the inventionsof the malignant spirits, who like to make sport of and to delude us;we call to our assistance the artifices of the charlatans, who do somany things which pass for supernatural in the eyes of the ignorant. Philosophers, by means of certain glasses, and what are called magiclanterns, by optical secrets, sympathetic powders, by theirphosphorus, and lately by means of the electrical machine, show us aninfinite number of things which the simpletons take for magic, becausethey know not how they are produced. 

Eyes that are diseased do not see things as others see them, or elsebehold them differently. A drunken man will see objects double; to onewho has the jaundice, they will appear yellow; in the obscurity, people fancy they see a spectre, when they see only the trunk of atree. 

A mountebank will appear to eat a sword; another will vomit coals orpebbles; one will drink wine and send it out again at his forehead;another will cut off his companion's head, and put it on again. Youwill think you see a chicken dragging a beam. The mountebank willswallow fire and vomit it forth, he will draw blood from fruit, hewill send from his mouth strings of iron nails, he will put a sword onhis stomach and press it strongly, and instead of running into him, itwill bend back to the hilt; another will run a sword through his bodywithout wounding himself; you will sometimes see a child without ahead, then a head without a child, and all of them alive. That appearsvery wonderful; nevertheless, if it were known how all those thingsare done, people would only laugh, and be surprised that they couldwonder at and admire such things. 

What has not been said for and against the divining-rod of JacquesAimar? Scripture proves to us the antiquity of divination by thedivining-rod, in the instance of Nebuchadnezzar, [432] and in what issaid of the prophet Hosea. [433] Fable speaks of the wonders wrought bythe golden rod of Mercury. The Gauls and Germans also used the rod fordivination; and there is reason to believe that often God permittedthat the rods should make known by their movements what was to happen;for that reason they were consulted. Every body knows the secret ofCircé's wand, which changed men into beasts. I do not compare it withthe rod of Moses, by means of which God worked so many miracles inEgypt; but we may compare it with those of the magicians of Pharaoh, which produced so many marvelous effects. 

Albertus Magnus relates that there had been seen in Germany twobrothers, one of whom passing near a door securely locked, andpresenting his left side, would cause it to open of itself; the otherbrother had the same virtue in the right side. St. Augustine says thatthere are men[434] who move their two ears one after another, or bothtogether, without moving their heads; others, without moving it also, make all the skin of their head with the hair thereon come down overtheir forehead, and put it back as it was before; some imitate soperfectly the voices of animals, that it is almost impossible not tomistake them. We have seen men speak from the hollow of the stomach, and make themselves heard as if speaking from a distance, althoughthey were close by. Others swallow an incredible quantity of differentthings, and by tightening their stomachs ever so little, throw upwhole, as from a bag, whatever they please. Last year, in Alsatia, there was seen and heard a German who played on two French horns atonce, and gave airs in two parts, the first and the second, at thesame time. Who can explain to us the secret of intermitting fevers, ofthe flux and reflux of the sea, and the cause of many effects whichare certainly all natural?

Galen relates[435] that a physician named Theophilus, having fallenill, fancied that he saw near his bed a great number of musicians, whose noise split his head and augmented his illness. He cried outincessantly for them to send those people away. Having recovered hishealth and good sense, he perfectly well remembered all that had beensaid to him; but he could not get those players on musical instrumentsout of his head, and he affirmed that they tired him to death. 

In 1629, Desbordes, valet-de-chambre of Charles IV. , Duke of Lorraine, was accused of having hastened the death of the Princess Christina ofSalms, wife of Duke Francis II. , and mother of the Duke Charles IV. , and of having inflicted maladies on different persons, which maladiesthe doctors attribute to evil spells. Charles IV. Had conceivedviolent suspicions against Desbordes, since one day when in ahunting-party this valet-de-chambre had served a grand dinner to theduke and his company, without any other preparation than having toopen a box with three shelves; and to wind up the wonders, he hadordered three robbers, who were dead and hung to a gibbet, to comedown from it, and come and make their bow to the duke, and then to goback and resume their place at the gallows. It was said, moreover, that on another occasion he had commanded the personages in a piece oftapestry to detach themselves from it, and to come and presentthemselves in the middle of the room. 

Charles IV. Was not very credulous; nevertheless, he allowed Desbordesto be tried. He was, it is said, convicted of magic, and condemned tothe flames; but I have since been assured[436] that he made hisescape; and some years after, on presenting himself before the duke, and clearing himself, he demanded the restitution of his property, which had been confiscated; but he recovered only a very small part ofit. Since the adventure of Desbordes, the partisans of Charles IV. Wished to cast a doubt on the validity of the baptism of the DuchessNichola, his wife, because she had been baptized by Lavallée, Chantrede St. George, a friend of Desbordes, and like him convicted ofseveral crimes, which drew upon him similar condemnation. From a doubtof the baptism of the duchess, they wished to infer the invalidity ofher marriage with Charles, which was then the grand business ofCharles IV. 

Father Delrio, a Jesuit, says that the magician called Trois-Echelles, by his enchantments, detached in the presence of King Charles IX. Therings or links of a collar of the Order of the King, worn by someknights who were at a great distance from him; he made them come intohis hand, and after that replaced them, without the collar appearingderanged. 

John Faust Cudlingen, a German, was requested, in a company of gaypeople, to perform in their presence some tricks of his trade; hepromised to show them a vine loaded with grapes, ripe and ready togather. They thought, as it was then the month of December, he couldnot execute his promise. He strongly recommended them not to stirfrom their places, and not to lift up their hands to cut the grapes, unless by his express order. The vine appeared directly, covered withleaves and loaded with grapes, to the great astonishment of allpresent; every one took up his knife, awaiting the order of Cudlingento cut some grapes; but after having kept them for some time in thatexpectation, he suddenly caused the vine and the grapes to disappear:then every one found himself armed with his knife and holding hisneighbor's nose with one hand, so that if they had cut off a bunchwithout the order of Cudlingen, they would have cut off one another'snoses. 

We have seen in these parts a horse which appeared gifted with wit anddiscernment, and to understand what his master said. All the secretconsisted in the horse's having been taught to observe certain motionsof his master; and from these motions he was led to do certain thingsto which he was accustomed, and to go to certain persons, which hewould never have done but for the sign or motion which he saw hismaster make. 

A hundred other similar facts might be cited, which might pass formagical operations, if we did not know that they are simplecontrivances and tricks of art, performed by persons well exercised insuch things. It may be that sometimes people have ascribed to magicand the evil spirit operations like those we have just related, andthat what have been taken for the spirits of deceased persons wereoften arranged on purpose by young people to frighten passers-by. Theywill cover themselves with white or black, and show themselves in acemetery in the posture of persons requesting prayers; after that theywill be the first to exclaim that they have seen a spirit: at othertimes it will be pick-pockets, or young men, who will hide theiramorous intrigues, or their thefts and knavish tricks, under thisdisguise. 

Sometimes a widow, or heirs, from interested motives, will publiclydeclare that the deceased husband appears in his house, and is intorment; that he has asked or commanded such and such things, or suchand such restitutions. I own that this may happen, and does happensometimes; but it does not follow that spirits never return. Thereturn of souls is infinitely more rare than the common peoplebelieve; I say the same of pretended magical operations andapparitions of the demon. 

It is remarked that the greater the ignorance which prevails in acountry, the more superstition reigns there; and that the spirit ofdarkness there exercises greater power, in proportion as the nationswe plunged in irregularity, and into deeper moral darkness. LouisVivez[437] testifies that, in the newly-discovered countries inAmerica, nothing is more common than to see spirits which appear atnoonday, not only in the country, but in towns and villages, speaking, commanding, sometimes even striking men. Olaüs Magnus, Archbishop ofUpsal, who has written on the antiquities of the northern nations, observes that in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Finmark, and Lapland, theyfrequently see spectres or spirits, which do many wonderful things;that there are even some amongst them who serve as domestics to men, and take the horses and other cattle to pasture. 

The Laplanders, even at this day, as well those who have remained inidolatry as those who have embraced Christianity, believe theapparition of the manes or ghosts, and offer them a kind of sacrifice. I believe that prepossession, and the prejudices of childhood, havemuch more to do with this belief than reason and experience. Ineffect, among the Tartars, where barbarism and ignorance reign as muchas in any country in the world, they talk neither of spirits nor ofapparitions, no more than among the Mahometans, although they admitthe apparitions of angels made to Abraham and the patriarchs, and thatof the Archangel Gabriel to Mahomet himself. 

The Abyssinians, a very rude and ignorant people, believe neither insorcerers, nor spells, nor magicians; they say that it is giving toomuch power to the demon, and by that they fall into the error of theManichĉans, who admit two principles, the one of good, which is God, and the other of evil, which is the devil. The Minister Becker, in hiswork entitled "The Enchanted World, " (Le Monde Enchanté, ) laughs atapparitions of spirits and evil angels, and ridicules all that is saidof the effects of magic: he maintains that to believe in magic iscontrary to Scripture and religion. 

But whence comes it, then, that the Scriptures forbid us to consultmagicians, and that they make mention of Simon the magician, ofElymas, another magician, and of the works of Satan? What will becomeof the apparitions of angels, so well noted in the Old and NewTestaments? What will become of the apparitions of Onias to JudasMaccabeus, and of the devil to Jesus Christ himself, after his fast offorty days? What will be said of the apparition of Moses at thetransfiguration of the Saviour; and an infinity of other appearancesmade to all kinds of persons, and related by wise, grave, andenlightened authors? Are the apparitions of devils and spirits moredifficult to explain and conceive than those of angels, which wecannot rationally dispute without overthrowing the entire Scriptures, and practices and belief of the churches?

Does not the apostle tell us that the angel of darkness transformshimself into an angel of light? Is not the absolute renunciation ofall belief in apparitions assaulting Christianity in its most sacredauthority, in the belief of another life, of a church still subsistingin another world, of rewards for good actions, and of punishments forbad ones; the utility of prayers for the dead, and the efficacy ofexorcisms? We must then in these matters keep the medium betweenexcessive credulity and extreme incredulity; we must be prudent, moderate, and enlightened; we must, according to the advice of St. Paul, test everything, examine everything, yield only to evidence andknown truth. 

Footnotes:

[432] Ezek. Xxi. 21. 

[433] Hosea iv. 12. 

[434] Aug. Lib. Xiv. De Civit. Dei, c. 24. 

[435] Galen. De Differ. Sympt. 

[436] By M. Fransquin Chanoine de Taul. 

[437] Ludov. Vives, lib. I. De Veritate Fidei, p. 540. 

CHAPTER XLIX. 

THE SECRETS OF PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY TAKEN FOR SUPERNATURAL THINGS. 

It is possible to allege against my reasoning the secrets of physicsand chemistry, which produce an infinity of wonderful effects, andappear beyond the power of natural agency. We have the composition ofa phosphorus, with which they write; the characters do not appear bydaylight, but in the dark we see them shine; with this phosphorus, figures can be traced which would surprise and even alarm during thenight, as has been done more than once, apparently to causemaliciously useless fright. _La poudre ardente_ is another phosphorus, which, provided it is exposed to the air, sheds a light both by nightand by day. How many people have been frightened by those little wormswhich are found in certain kinds of rotten wood, and which give abrilliant flame by night. 

We have the daily experience of an infinite number of things, all ofthem natural, which appear above the ordinary course of nature, [438]but which have nothing miraculous in them, and ought not to beattributed to angels or demons; for instance, teeth and noses takenfrom other persons, and applied to those who have lost similar parts;of this we find many instances in authors. These teeth and noses falloff directly when the person from whom they were taken dies, howevergreat the distance between these two persons may be. 

The presentiments experienced by certain persons of what happens totheir relations and friends, and even of their own death, are not atall miraculous. There are many instances of persons who are in thehabit of feeling these presentiments, and who in the night, even whenasleep, will say that such a thing has happened, or is about tohappen; that such messengers are coming, and will announce to themsuch and such things. 

There are dogs that have the sense of smelling so keen that they scentfrom a good distance the approach of any person who has done them goodor harm. This has been proved many times, and can only proceed fromthe diversity of organs in those animals, some of which have the scentmuch keener than others, and upon which the spirits which exhale fromother bodies act more quickly and at a greater distance than inothers. Certain persons have such an acute sense of hearing that theycan hear what is whispered even in another chamber, of which the dooris well closed. They cite as an example of this, a certain MarieBucaille, to whom it was thought that her guardian angel discoveredwhat was said at a great distance from her. 

Others have the smell so keen that they distinguish by the odor allthe men and animals they have ever seen, and scent their approach along way off. Blind persons pretty often possess this faculty, as wellas that of discerning the color of different stuffs by the touch, fromhorse-hair to playing-cards. 

Others discern by the taste everything that composes a ragoût, betterthan the most expert cook could do. Others possess so piercing a sightthat at the first glance they can distinguish the most confused anddistant objects, and remark the least change which takes place inthem. 

There are both men and women who, without intending to hurt, do agreat deal of harm to children, and all the tender and delicateanimals which they look at attentively, or which they touch. Thishappens particularly in hot countries; and many examples might becited of it; from which arises what both ancients and moderns callfascination (or the evil eye); hence the precautions which were takenagainst these effects by amulets and preservatives, which weresuspended to children's necks. 

There have been known to be men from whose eyes there proceeded suchvenomous spirits that they did harm to everybody or thing they lookedat, even to the breast of nurses, which they caused to dry up--toplants, flowers, the leaves of trees, which were seen to wither andfall off. They dare not enter any place till they had warned thepeople beforehand to send away the children and nurses, new-bornanimals, and, generally speaking, everything which they could infectby their breath or their looks. 

We should laugh, and with reason, at those who, to explain all thesesingular effects, should have recourse to charms, spells, to theoperations of demons, or of good angels. The evaporation ofcorpuscles, or atoms, or the insensible perspiration of the bodieswhich produce all these effects, suffice to account for it. We haverecourse neither to miracles, nor to superior causes, above all whenthese effects are produced near, and at a short distance; but when thedistance is great, the exhalation of the spirits, or essence, and ofinsensible corpuscles, does not equally satisfy us, no more than whenwe meet with things and effects which go beyond the known force ofnature, such as foretelling future events, speaking unknown languages, _i. E. _, languages unknown to the speaker, to be in such ecstasy thatthe person is beyond earthly feeling, to rise up from the ground, andremain so a long time. 

The chemists demonstrate that the ____________________ or a sort ofrestoration or resurrection of animals, insects, and plants, ispossible and natural. When the ashes of a plant are placed in a phial, these ashes rise, and arrange themselves as much as they can in theform which was first impressed on them by the Author of Nature. 

Father Schol, a Jesuit, affirms that he has often seen a rose whichwas made to arise from its ashes every time they wished to see itdone, by means of a little heat. 

The secret of a mineral water has been found by means of which a deadplant which has its root can be made green again, and brought to thesame state as if it were growing in the ground. Digby asserts that hehas drawn from dead animals, which were beaten and bruised in amortar, the representation of these animals, or other animals of thesame species. 

Duchesne, a famous chemist, relates that a physician of Cracowpreserved in phials the ashes of almost every kind of plant, so thatwhen any one from curiosity desired to see, for instance, a rose inthese phials, he took that in which the ashes of the rose-bush werepreserved, and placing it over a lighted candle, as soon as it felt alittle warmth, they saw the ashes stir and rise like a little darkcloud, and, after some movements, they represented a rose as beautifuland fresh as if newly gathered from the rose-tree. 

Gaffard assures us that M. De Cleves, a celebrated chemist, showedevery day plants drawn from their own ashes. David Vanderbroch affirmsthat the blood of animals contains the idea of their species as wellas their seed; he relates on this subject the experiment of M. Borelli, who asserts that the human blood, when warm, is still full ofits spirits or sulphurs, acid and volatile, and that, being excited incemeteries and in places where great battles are fought by some heatin the ground, the phantoms or ideas of the persons who are thereinterred are seen to rise; that we should see them as well by day asby night, were it not for the excess of light which prevents us evenfrom seeing the stars. He adds that by this means we might behold theidea, and represent by a lawful and natural necromancy the figure orphantom of all the great men of antiquity, our friends and ourancestors, provided we possess their ashes. 

These are the most plausible objections intended to destroy or obviateall that is said of the apparitions of spirits. Whence some concludethat these are either very natural phenomena and exhalations producedby the heat of the earth imbued with blood and the volatile spirit ofthe dead, above all, those dead by violence; or that they are theconsequences of a stricken and prepossessed fancy, or simply illusionsof the mind, or sports of persons who like to divert themselves by thepanics into which they terrify others; or, lastly, movements producednaturally by men, rats, monkeys, and other animals; for it is truethat the oftener we examine into what have been taken for apparitions, nothing is found that is real, extraordinary, or supernatural; but toconclude from thence that all the apparitions and operationsattributed to angels, spirits or souls, and demons are chimerical, iscarrying things to excess; it is to conclude that we mistake always, because we mistake often. 

Footnotes:

[438] M. De S. André, Lett. Iii. Sur les Maléfices. 

CHAPTER L. 

CONCLUSION OF THE TREATISE ON APPARITIONS. 

After having made this exposition of my opinion concerning theapparitions of angels, demons, souls of the dead, and even of oneliving person to another, and having spoken of magic, of oracles, ofobsessions and possessions of the demon; of sprites and familiarspirits; of sorcerers and witches; of spectres which predict thefuture; of those which haunt houses--after having stated theobjections which are made against apparitions, and having replied tothem in as weighty a manner as I possibly could, I think I mayconclude that although this matter labors still under very greatdifficulties, as much respecting the foundation of the thing--I meanas regards the truth and reality of apparitions in general--as for theway in which they are made, still we cannot reasonably disallow thatthere may be true apparitions of all the kinds of which we havespoken, and that there may be also a great number very disputable, andsome others which are manifestly the work of knavery, ofmaliciousness, of the art of charlatans, and flexibility of those whoplay sleight of hand tricks. 

I acknowledge, moreover, that imagination, prepossession, simplicity, superstition, excess of credulity, and weakness of mind have givenrise to several stories which are related; that ignorance of purephilosophy has caused to be taken for miraculous effects, and blackmagic, what is the simple effect of white magic, and the secrets of aphilosophy hidden from the ignorant and common herd of men. Moreover, I confess that I see insurmountable difficulties in explaining themanner or properties of apparitions, whether we admit with severalancients that angels, demons, and disembodied souls have a sort ofsubtile transparent body of the nature of air, whether we believe thempurely spiritual and disengaged from all matter, visible, gross, orsubtile. 

I lay down as a principle that to explain the affair of apparitions, and to give on this subject any certain rules, we should--

1st. Know perfectly the nature of spirits, angels and souls, anddemons. We should know whether souls by nature are so spiritualizedthat they have no longer any relation to matter; or if they have, again, any alliance with an aërial, subtile, invisible body, whichthey still govern after death; or whether they exert any power overthe body they once animated, to impel it to certain movements, as thesoul which animates us gives to our bodies such impulsions as shethinks proper; or whether the soul determines simply by its will, asoccasional or secondary cause, the first cause, which is God, to putin motion the machine which it once animated. 

2d. If after death the soul still retains that power over its ownbody, or over others; for instance, over the air and other elements. 

3d. If angels and demons have respectively the same power oversublunary bodies--for instance, to thicken air, inflame it, produce init clouds and storms; to make phantoms appear in it; to spoil orpreserve fruits and crops; to cause animals to perish, producemaladies, excite tempests and shipwrecks at sea; or even to fascinatethe eyes and deceive the other senses. 

4th. If they can do all these things naturally, and by their ownvirtue, as often as they think proper; or if there must be aparticular order, or at least permission from God, for them to do whatwe have just said. 

5th. Lastly, we should know exactly what power is possessed by thesesubstances which we suppose to be purely spiritual, and how far thepower of the angels, demons, and souls separated from their grossbodies, extends, in regard to the apparitions, operations andmovements attributed to them. For whilst we are ignorant of the powerwhich the Creator has given or left to disembodied souls, or todemons, we can in no way define what is miraculous, or prescribe thejust bound to which may extend, or within which may be limited, thenatural operations of spirits, angels, and demons. 

If we accord the demon the faculty of fascinating our eyes when itpleases him, or of disposing the air so as to form the appearance of aphantom, or phenomenon; or of restoring movement to a body which isdead but not entirely corrupted; or of disturbing the living by illdreams, or terrific representations, we should no longer admire manythings which we admire at present, nor regard as miracles certaincures and certain apparitions, if they are only the natural effects ofthe power of souls, angels and demons. 

If a man invested with his body produced such effects of himself, weshould say with reason that they are supernatural operations, becausethey exceed the known ordinary and natural power of the living man;but if a man held commerce with a spirit, an angel, or a demon, whomby virtue of some compact, explicit or implicit, he commanded toperform certain things which would be above his natural powers, butnot beyond the powers of the spirit whom he commanded, would theeffect resulting from it be miraculous or supernatural? No, withoutdoubt, supposing that the spirit which produced the result did nothingthat was above his natural powers and faculties. 

But would it be a miracle if a man had anything to do with an angel ora demon, and that he should make an explicit and implicit compact withthem, to oblige them on certain conditions, and with certainceremonies, to produce effects which would appear externally, and inour minds, to be beyond the power of man? For instance, in theoperations of certain magicians who boast of having an explicitcompact with the devil, and who by this means raise tempests, or gowith extraordinary haste when they walk, or cause the death ofanimals, and to men incurable maladies; or who enchant arms; or inother operations, as in the use of the divining rod, and in certainremedies against the maladies of men and horses, which having nonatural proportion to these maladies do not fail to cure them, although those who use these remedies protest that they have neverthought of contracting any alliance with the devil. 

To reply to this question, the difficulty always recurs to know ifthere is between living and mortal man a proportion or naturalrelation, which renders him capable of contracting an alliance withthe angel or the demon, by virtue of which these spirits obey him andexert, under his empire over them, by virtue of the preceding compact, a power which is natural to them; for if in all that there is nothingbeyond the ordinary force of nature, either on the side of man, or onthat of angels and demons, there is nothing miraculous in one or theother; neither is there either in God's permitting secondary causes toact according to their natural faculties, of which he is neverthelessalways the principle, and the absolute master, to limit, stop, suspend, extend, or augment them, according to his good pleasure. 

But as we know not, and it seems even impossible that we should knowby the light of reason, the nature and natural extent of the power ofangels, demons, and disembodied souls, it seems that it would be rashto decide in this matter, as deriving consequences of causes by theireffects, or effects by causes. For instance, to say that souls, demons, and angels have sometimes appeared to men--_then_ they havenaturally the faculty of returning and appearing, is a bold and rashproposition. For it is very possible that angels and demons appearonly by the particular will of God, and not in consequence of hisgeneral will, and by virtue of his natural and physical concurrencewith his creatures. 

In the first case, these apparitions are miraculous, as being abovethe natural power of the agents in question; in the second case, thereis nothing supernatural in them except the permission which God rarelygrants to souls to return, to angels and demons to appear, and toproduce the effects of which we have spoken. 

According to these principles we may advance without temerity--

1st. That angels and demons have often appeared unto men, that soulsseparated from the body have often returned, and that both the one andthe other may do the same thing again. 

2d. That the manner of these apparitions, and of these returns toearth, is perfectly unknown, and given up by God to the discussionsand researches of mankind. 

3d. That there is some likelihood that these kinds of apparitions arenot absolutely miraculous on the part of the good and evil angels, butthat God allows them sometimes to take place, for reasons theknowledge of which is reserved to himself alone. 

4th. That no certain rule on this point can be given, nor anydemonstrative argument formed, for want of knowing perfectly thenature and extent of the power of the spiritual beings in question. 

5th. That we should reason upon those apparitions which appear indreams otherwise than upon those which appear when we are awake;differently also upon apparitions wearing solid bodies, speaking, walking, eating and drinking, and those which seem like a shade, or anebulous and aërial body. 

6th. Thus it would be rash to lay down principles, and raise uniformarguments, and all these things in common, every species of apparitiondemanding its own particular explanation. 

CHAPTER LI. 

WAY OF EXPLAINING APPARITIONS. 

Apparitions in dreams, for instance, that of the angel[439] who toldSt. Joseph to carry the infant Jesus into Egypt because King Herodwished to put him to death; there are two things appertaining to thisapparition--the first is, the impression made on the mind of St. Joseph that an angel appeared to him; the second is, the prediction orrevelation of the ill-will of Herod. Both these are above the ordinarypowers of our nature, but we know not if they be above the power ofangels; it is certain that it could not have been done except by thewill and command of God. 

The apparitions of a spirit, or of an angel and a demon, which showthemselves clothed in an apparent body, and only as a shadow or aphantom, as that of the angel who showed himself to Manoah the fatherof Samson, and vanished with the smoke of the sacrifice, and of himwho extricated St. Peter from prison, and disappeared in the same wayafter having conducted him the length of a street; the bodies whichthese angels assumed, and which we suppose to have been only apparentand aërial, present great difficulties; for either those bodies weretheir own, or they were assumed or borrowed. 

If those forms were their own, and we suppose with several ancient andsome new writers that angels, demons, and even human souls have a kindof subtile, transparent, and aërial body, the difficulty lies inknowing how they can condense the transparent body, and render itvisible when it was before invisible; for if it was always andnaturally evident to the senses and visible, there would be anotherkind of continual miracle to render it invisible, and hide it from oursight; and if of its nature it is invisible, what might can render itvisible? On whatever side we regard this object it seems equallymiraculous, whether to make evident to the senses that which is purelyspiritual, or to render invisible that which in its nature is palpableand corporeal. 

The ancient fathers of the church, who gave to angels subtile bodiesof an airy nature, explained, according to their principles, moreeasily the predictions made by the demons, and the wonderfuloperations which they cause in the air, in the elements, in ourbodies, and which are far beyond what the cleverest and the mostlearned men can know, predict, and perform. They likewise conceivedmore easily that evil angels can cause maladies, render the air impureand contagious, that they inspire the wicked with wrong thoughts andunjust desires, that they can penetrate our thoughts and wishes, thatthey foresee tempests and changes in the air, and derangements in theseasons; all that can be explained with much more facility on thehypothesis that demons have bodies composed of very fine and subtileair. 

St. Augustine[440] had written that they could also discover what ispassing in our mind, and at the bottom of our heart, not only by ourwords, but also by certain signs and movements, which escape from themost circumspect; but reflecting on what he had advanced in thispassage, he retracted, and owned that he had spoken too affirmativelyupon a subject but little known, and that the manner in which the evilangels penetrate our thoughts is a very hidden thing, and verydifficult for men to discover and explain; thus he preferredsuspending his judgment upon it, and remaining in doubt. 

Footnotes:

[439] Matt. Ii. 13, 14. 

[440] S. Aug. Lib. Ii. Retract. C. 30. 

CHAPTER LII. 

THE DIFFICULTY OF EXPLAINING THE MANNER IN WHICH APPARITIONS MAKETHEIR APPEARANCE, WHATEVER SYSTEM MAY BE PROPOSED ON THE SUBJECT. 

The difficulty is much greater, if we suppose that these spirits areabsolutely disengaged from any kind of matter; for how can theyassemble about them a certain quantity of matter, clothe themselveswith it, give it a human form, which can be discerned; is capable ofacting, speaking, conversing, eating and drinking, as did the angelswho appeared to Abraham, [441] and the one who appeared to the youngTobias, [442] and conducted him to Ragés! Is all that accomplished bythe natural power of these spirits? Has God bestowed on them thispower in creating them, and has he engaged himself by virtue of hisnatural laws, and by a consequence of his acting intimately andessentially on the creature, in his quality of Creator, to impress onoccasion at the will of these spirits certain motions in the air, andin the bodies which they would move, condense, and cause to act, inthe same manner proportionally that he has willed by virtue of theunion of the soul with a living body, that that soul should impress onthat body motions proportioned to its own will, although, naturally, there is no natural proportion between matter and spirit, and, according to the laws of physics, the one cannot act upon the other, unless the first cause, the Creator, has chosen to subject himself tocreate this movement, and to produce these effects at the will of man, movements which without that would pass for superhuman (supernatural). 

Or shall we say, with some new philosophers, [443] that although we mayhave ideas of matter and thought, perhaps we shall never be capable ofknowing whether a being purely material thinks or not, because it isimpossible for us to discover by the contemplative powers of our ownminds without revelation, if God has not given to some collections ofmatter, disposed as he thinks proper, the power to perceive and tothink, or whether he has joined and united to the matter thusarranged, an immaterial substance which thinks? Now in relation to ournotions, it is not less easy for us to conceive that God can add toour idea of matter the faculty of thinking, since we know not in whatthought consists, and to what species of substance that Almighty beinghas judged proper to grant this faculty, which could exist in nocreated being except by virtue of the goodness and the will of theCreator. 

This system certainly embraces great absurdities, and greater to mymind than those it would fain avoid. We conceive clearly that matteris divisible, and capable of motion; but we do not conceive that it iscapable of thought, nor that thought can consist of a certainconfiguration or a certain motion of matter. And even could thoughtdepend on an arrangement, or on a certain subtility, or on a certainmotion of matter, as soon as that arrangement should be disturbed, orthe motion interrupted, or this heap of subtile matter dispersed, thought would cease to be produced, and consequently that whichconstitutes man, or the reasoning animal, would no longer subsist;thus all the economy of our religion, all our hopes of a future life, all our fears of eternal punishment would vanish; even the principlesof our philosophy would be overthrown. 

God forbid that we should wish to set bounds to the almighty power ofGod; but that all-powerful Being having given us as a rule of ourknowledge the clearness of the ideas which we form of everything, andnot being permitted to affirm that which we know but indistinctly, itfollows that we ought not to assert that thought can be attributed tomatter. If the thing were known to us through revelation, and taughtby the authority of the Scriptures, then we might impose silence onhuman reason, and make captive our judgment in obedience to faith; butit is owned that the thing is not at all revealed; neither is itdemonstrated, either by its cause, or by its effects. It must, then, be considered as a simple system, invented to do away certaindifficulties which result from the opinion opposed to it. 

If the difficulty of explaining how the soul acts upon our bodiesappears so great, how can we comprehend that the soul itself should bematerial and extended? In the latter case will it act upon itself, andgive itself the impulsion to think, or will this movement or impulsionbe thought itself, or will it produce thought? Will this thinkingmatter think on always, or only at times; and when it has ceased tothink, who will make it think anew? Will it be God, will it be itself?Can so simple an agent as the soul act upon itself, and reproduce itin some sort by thinking, after it has ceased to think?

My reader will say that I leave him here embarrassed, and that insteadof giving him any light on the subject of the apparition of spirits, Icast doubt and uncertainty on the subject. I own it; but I better liketo doubt prudently, than to affirm that which I know not. And if Ihold by what my religion teaches me concerning the nature of souls, angels, and demons, I shall say that being purely spiritual, it isimpossible that they should appear clothed with a body except througha miracle; always in the supposition that God has not created themnaturally capable of these operations, with subordination to hissovereignly powerful will, which but rarely allows them to use thisfaculty of showing themselves corporeally to mortals. 

If sometimes angels have eaten, spoken, acted, walked, like men, itwas not from any need they had to drink or eat to sustain themselvesand to be able to live, but to execute the designs of God, whose willit was that they should appear to men acting, drinking, and eating, asthe angel Raphael observes, [444]--"When I was staying with you, I wasthere by the will of God; I seemed to you to eat and drink, but for mypart I make use of an invisible nourishment which is unknown to men. "

It is true that we know not what may be the food of angels who aresubstances which are purely spiritual, nor what became of that foodwhich Raphael and the angels that Abraham entertained in his tent, took, or seemed to take, in the company of men. But there are so manyother things in nature which are unknown and incomprehensible to us, that we may very well console ourselves for not knowing how it is thatthe apparitions of angels, demons, and disembodied souls are made toappear. 

Footnotes:

[441] Gen. Xviii. 

[442] Tob. Xii. 19. 

[443] M. Lock. De Intellectu Human. Lib. Iv. C. 3. 

[444] Tob. Xii. 18, 19. 

DISSERTATION

ON THE GHOSTS WHO RETURN TO EARTH BODILY, THE EXCOMMUNICATED, THE OUPIRES OR VAMPIRES, VROUCOLACAS, ETC. 

PREFACE. 

Every age, every nation, every country has its prejudices, itsmaladies, its customs, its inclinations, which characterize them, andwhich pass away, and succeed to one another; often that which hasappeared admirable at one time, becomes pitiful and ridiculous atanother. We have seen that in some ages all was turned towards acertain kind of devotion, of studies and of exercises. It is knownthat, for more than one century, the prevailing taste of Europe wasthe journey to Jerusalem. Kings, princes, nobles, bishops, ecclesiastics, monks, all pressed thither in crowds. The pilgrimagesto Rome were formerly very frequent and very famous. All that isfallen away. We have seen provinces over-run with flagellants, and nownone of them remain except in the brotherhoods of penitents which arestill found in several parts. 

We have seen in these countries jumpers and dancers, who every momentjumped and danced in the streets, squares or market-places, and evenin the churches. The convulsionaries of our own days seem to haverevived them; posterity will be surprised at them, as we laugh at themnow. Towards the end of the sixteenth and at the beginning of theseventeenth century, nothing was talked of in Lorraine but wizards andwitches. For a long time we have heard nothing of them. When thephilosophy of M. Descartes appeared, what a vogue it had! The ancientphilosophy was despised; nothing was talked of but experiments inphysics, new systems, new discoveries. M. Newton appears; all mindsturn to him. The system of M. Law, bank notes, the rage of the RueQuinquampoix, what movements did they not cause in the kingdom? A sortof convulsion had seized on the French. In this age, a new scenepresents itself to our eyes, and has done for about sixty years inHungary, Moravia, Silesia, and Poland: they see, it is said, men whohave been dead for several months, come back to earth, talk, walk, infest villages, ill use both men and beasts, suck the blood of theirnear relations, make them ill, and finally cause their death; so thatpeople can only save themselves from their dangerous visits and theirhauntings by exhuming them, impaling them, cutting off their heads, tearing out the heart, or burning them. These _revenans_ are called bythe name of oupires or vampires, that is to say, leeches; and suchparticulars are related of them, so singular, so detailed, andinvested with such probable circumstances and such judicialinformation, that one can hardly refuse to credit the belief which isheld in those countries, that these _revenans_ come out of their tombsand produce those effects which are proclaimed of them. 

Antiquity certainly neither saw nor knew anything like it. Let us readthrough the histories of the Hebrews, the Egyptians, the Greeks, andthe Latins; nothing approaching to it will be met with. 

It is true that we remark in history, though rarely, that certainpersons after having been some time in their tombs and considered asdead, have returned to life. We shall see even that the ancientsbelieved that magic could cause death and evoke the souls of the dead. Several passages are cited, which prove that at certain times theyfancied that sorcerers sucked the blood of men and children, andcaused their death. They saw also in the twelfth century in Englandand Denmark, some _revenans_ similar to those of Hungary. But in nohistory do we read anything so usual or so pronounced, as what isrelated to us of the vampires of Poland, Hungary, and Moravia. 

Christian antiquity furnishes some instances of excommunicated personswho have visibly come out of their tombs and left the churches, whenthe deacon commanded the excommunicated, and those who did not partakeof the communion, to retire. For several centuries nothing like thishas been seen, although it is known that the bodies of severalexcommunicated persons who died while under sentence ofexcommunication and censure of the Church are buried in churches. 

The belief of the modern Greeks, who will have it that the bodies ofthe excommunicated do not decay in their tombs or graves, is anopinion which has no foundation, either in antiquity, in goodtheology, or even in history. This idea seems to have been invented bythe modern Greek schismatics, only to authorize and confirm them intheir separation from the church of Rome. Christian antiquitybelieved, on the contrary, that the incorruptibility of a body wasrather a probable mark of the sanctity of the person and a proof ofthe particular protection of God, extended to a body which during itslifetime had been the temple of the Holy Spirit, and of one who hadretained in justice and innocence the mark of Christianity. 

The vroucolacas of Greece and the Archipelago are again _revenans_ ofa new kind. We can hardly persuade ourselves that a nation so witty asthe Greeks could fall into so extraordinary an opinion. Ignorance orprejudice, must be extreme among them since neither an ecclesiasticnor any other writer has undertaken to undeceive them. 

The imagination of those who believe that the dead chew in theirgraves, with a noise similar to that made by hogs when they eat, is soridiculous that it does not deserve to be seriously refuted. Iundertake to treat here on the matter of the _revenans_ or vampires ofHungary, Moravia, Silesia, and Poland, at the risk of being criticisedhowever I may discuss it; those who believe them to be true, willaccuse me of rashness and presumption, for having raised a doubt onthe subject, or even of having denied their existence and reality;others will blame me for having employed my time in discussing thismatter which is considered as frivolous and useless by many sensiblepeople. Whatever may be thought of it, I shall be pleased with myselffor having sounded a question which appeared to me important in areligious point of view. For if the return of vampires is real, it isof import to defend it, and prove it; and if it is illusory, it is ofconsequence to the interests of religion to undeceive those whobelieve in its truth, and destroy an error which may produce dangerouseffects. 

 DISSERTATION

 ON THE GHOSTS WHO RETURN TO EARTH BODILY, THE EXCOMMUNICATED, THE OUPIRES OR VAMPIRES, VROUCOLACAS, ETC. 

CHAPTER I. 

THE RESURRECTION OF A DEAD PERSON IS THE WORK OF GOD ONLY. 

After having treated in a separate dissertation on the matter of theapparitions of angels, demons, and disembodied souls, the connectionof the subject invites me to speak also of the ghosts andexcommunicated persons, whom, it is said, the earth rejects from herbosom; of the vampires of Hungary, Silesia, Bohemia, Moravia, andPoland; and of the vroucolacas of Greece. I shall report first of all, what has been said and written of them; then I shall deduce someconsequences, and bring forward the reasons or arguments that may beadduced for, and against, their existence and reality. 

The _revenans_ of Hungary, or vampires, which form the principalobject of this dissertation, are men who have been dead a considerabletime, sometimes more, sometimes less; who leave their tombs, and comeand disturb the living, sucking their blood, appearing to them, makinga racket at their doors, and in their houses, and lastly, oftencausing their death. They are named vampires, or oupires, whichsignifies, they say, in Sclavonic, a leech. The only way to bedelivered from their haunting, is to disinter them, cut off theirhead, impale them, burn them, or pierce their heart. 

Several systems have been propounded to explain the return, and theseapparitions of the vampires. Some persons have denied and rejectedthem as chimerical, and as an effect of the prepossession andignorance of the people of those countries, where they are said tocome back or return. 

Others have thought that these people were not really dead, but thatthey had been interred alive, and returned naturally to themselves, and came out of their tombs. 

Others believe that these people are very truly dead, but that God, bya particular permission, or command, permits or commands them to comeback to earth, and resume for a time their own body; for when they areexhumed, their bodies are found entire, their blood vermilion andfluid, and their limbs supple and pliable. 

Others maintain that it is the demon who causes these _revenans_ toappear, and by their means does all the harm he occasions both men andanimals. 

In the supposition that vampires veritably resuscitate, we may raisean infinity of difficulties on the subject. How is this resurrectionaccomplished? It is by the strength of the _revenant_, by the returnof his soul into his body? Is it an angel, is it a demon whoreanimates it? Is it by the order, or by the permission of God that heresuscitates? Is this resurrection voluntary on his part, and by hisown choice? Is it for a long time, like that of the persons who wererestored to life by Jesus Christ? or that of persons resuscitated bythe Prophets and Apostles? Or is it only momentary, and for a few daysand a few hours, like the resurrection operated by St. Stanislaus uponthe lord who had sold him a field; or that spoken of in the life ofSt. Macarius of Egypt, and of St. Spiridion, who made the dead tospeak, simply to bear testimony to the truth, and then left them tosleep in peace, awaiting the last, the judgment day. 

First of all, I lay it down as an undoubted principle, that theresurrection of a person really dead is effected by the power of Godalone. No man can either resuscitate himself, or restore another manto life, without a visible miracle. 

Jesus Christ resuscitated himself, as he had promised he would; he didit by his own power; he did it with circumstances which were allmiraculous. If he had returned to life as soon as he was taken downfrom the cross, it might have been thought that he was not quite dead, that there remained yet in him some remains of life, that they mighthave been revived by warming him, or by giving him cordials andsomething capable of bringing him back to his senses. 

But he revives only on the third day. He had, as it were, been killedafter his death, by the opening made in his side with a lance, whichpierced him to the heart, and would have put him to death, if he hadnot then been beyond receiving it. 

When he resuscitated Lazarus, [445] he waited until he had been fourdays in the tomb, and began to show corruption; which is the mostcertain mark that a man is really deceased, without a hope ofreturning to life, except by supernatural means. 

The resurrection which Job so firmly expected, [446] and that of theman who came to life, on touching the body of the prophet Elisha inhis tomb;[447] and the child of the widow of Shunem, whom the sameElisha restored to life;[448] that army of skeletons, whoseresurrection was predicted by Ezekiel, [449] and which in spirit he sawexecuted before his eyes, as a type and pledge as the return of theHebrews from their captivity at Babylon;--in short, all theresurrections related in the sacred books of the Old and NewTestament, are manifestly miraculous effects, and attributed solely tothe Almighty power of God. Neither angels, nor demons, nor men, theholiest and most favored of God, could by their own power restore tolife a person really dead. They can do it by the power of God alone, who when he thinks proper so to do, is free to grant this favor totheir prayers and intercession. 

Footnotes:

[445] John xi. 39. 

[446] Job xxi. 25. 

[447] 1 Kings xiii. 21, 22. 

[448] 2 Kings iv. 

[449] Ezek. Xxxvii. 1, 2, 3. 

CHAPTER II. 

ON THE REVIVAL OF PERSONS WHO WERE NOT REALLY DEAD. 

The resuscitation of some persons who were believed to be dead, andwho were not so, but simply asleep, or in a lethargy; and of those whowere supposed to be dead, having been drowned, and who came to lifeagain through the care taken of them, or by medical skill. Suchpersons must not pass for being really resuscitated; they were notdead, or were so only in appearance. 

We intend to speak in this place of another order of resuscitatedpersons, who had been buried sometimes for several months, or evenseveral years; who ought to have been suffocated in their graves, hadthey been interred alive, and in whom are still found signs of life:the blood in a liquid state, the flesh entire, the complexion fine andflorid, the limbs flexible and pliable. Those persons who returneither by night or by day, disturb the living, suck their blood, killthem, appear in their clothes, in their families, sit down to table, and do a thousand other things; then return to their graves withoutany one seeing how they re-enter them. This is a kind of momentaryresurrection, or revival; for whereas the other dead persons spoken ofin Scripture have lived, drank, eaten and conversed with other menafter their return to life, as Lazarus, the brother of Mary andMartha, [450] and the son of the widow of Shunem, resuscitated byElisha. [451] These appeared during a certain time, in certain places, in certain circumstances; and appear no more as soon as they have beenimpaled, or burned, or have had their heads cut off. 

If this last order of resuscitated persons were not really dead, thereis nothing wonderful in their revisiting the world, except the mannerin which it is done, and the circumstances by which that return isaccompanied. Do these _revenans_ simply awaken from their sleep, or dothey recover themselves like those who fall down in syncope, infainting fits, or in swoons, and who at the end of a certain time comenaturally to themselves when the blood and animal spirits have resumedtheir natural course and motion. 

But how can they come out of their graves without opening the earth, and how re-enter them again without its appearing? Have we ever seenlethargies, or swoons, or syncopes last whole years together? Ifpeople insist on these resurrections being real ones, did we ever seedead persons resuscitate themselves, and by their own power?

If they are not resuscitated by themselves, is it by the power of Godthat they have left their graves? What proof is there that God hasanything to do with it? What is the object of these resurrections? Isit to show forth the works of God in these vampires? What glory doesthe Divinity derive from them? If it is not God who drags them fromtheir graves, is it an angel? is it a demon? is it their own spirit?Can the soul when separated from the body re-enter it when it will, and give it new life, were it but for a quarter of an hour? Can anangel or a demon restore a dead man to life? Undoubtedly not, withoutthe order, or at least the permission of God. This question of thenatural power of angels and demons over human bodies has been examinedin another place, and we have shown that neither revelation nor reasonthrows any certain light on the subject. 

Footnotes:

[450] 1 John xii. 2. 

[451] 2 Kings viii. 5. 

CHAPTER III. 

REVIVAL OF A MAN WHO HAD BEEN INTERRED FOR THREE YEARS, AND WASRESUSCITATED BY ST. STANISLAUS. 

All the lives of the saints are full of resurrections of the dead;thick volumes might be composed on the subject. 

These resurrections have a manifest relation to the matter which weare here treating of, since it relates to persons who are dead, orheld to be so, who appear bodily and animated to the living, and wholive after their return to life. I shall content myself with relatingthe history of St. Stanislaus, Bishop of Cracow, who restored to lifea man that had been dead for three years, attended by such singularcircumstances, and in so public a manner, that the thing is beyond theseverest criticism. If it is really true, it must be regarded as oneof the most unheard of miracles which are read of in history. Theyassert that the life of this saint was written either at the time ofmartyrdom, [452] or a short time afterwards, by different well-informedauthors; for the martyrdom of the saint, and, above all, therestoration to life of the dead man of whom we are about to speak, were seen and known by an infinite number of persons, by all the courtof king Boleslaus. And this event having taken place in Poland, wherevampires are frequently met with even in our days, it concerns, forthat reason, more particularly the subject we are treating. 

The bishop, St. Stanislaus, having bought of a gentleman, namedPierre, an estate situated on the banks of the Vistula, in theterritory of Lublin, for the profit of his church at Cracow, gave theprice of it to the seller, in the presence of witnesses, and with thesolemnities requisite in that country, but without written deeds, forthey then wrote but seldom in Poland on the occasion of sales of thiskind; they contented themselves with having witnesses. Stanislaus tookpossession of this estate by the king's authority, and his churchenjoyed it peaceably for about three years. 

In the interim, Pierre, who had sold it, happened to die. The king ofPoland, Boleslaus, who had conceived an implacable hatred against theholy bishop, because he had freely reproved him for his excesses, seeking occasion to cause him trouble, excited against him the threesons of Pierre, and his heirs, and told them to claim the estate whichtheir father had sold, on pretence of its not having been paid for. Hepromised to support their demand, and to cause it to be restored tothem. Thus these three gentlemen had the bishop cited to appear beforethe king, who was then at Solech, occupied in rendering justice undersome tents in the country, according to the ancient custom of theland, in the general assembly of the nation. The bishop was citedbefore the king, and maintained that he had bought and paid for theestate in question. The day was beginning to close, and the bishop rangreat risk of being condemned by the king and his counselors. Suddenly, as if inspired by the Divine Spirit, he promised the king tobring him in three days Pierre, of whom he had bought it, and thecondition was accepted mockingly, as a thing impossible to beexecuted. 

The holy bishop repairs to Pictravin, remains in prayer, and keepsfast with his household for three days; on the third day he goes inhis pontifical robes, accompanied by his clergy and a multitude ofpeople, causes the grave-stone to be raised, and makes them dig untilthey found the corpse of the defunct all fleshless and corrupted. Thesaint commands him to come forth and bear witness to the truth beforethe king's tribunal. He rises; they cover him with a cloak; the sainttakes him by the hand, and leads him alive to the feet of the king. Noone had the boldness to interrogate him; but he took the word, anddeclared that he had in good faith sold the estate to the prelate, andthat he had received the value of it; after which he severelyreprimanded his sons, who had so maliciously accused the holy bishop. 

Stanislaus asked Pierre if he wished to remain alive to do penance. Hethanked him, and said he would not anew expose himself to the dangerof sinning. Stanislaus reconducted him to his tomb, and being arrivedthere, he again fell asleep in the Lord. It may be supposed that sucha scene had an infinite number of witnesses, and that all Poland wasquickly informed of it. The king was only the more irritated againstthe saint. He some time after killed him with his own hand, as he wascoming from the altar, and had his body cut into seventy-two parts, inorder that they might never more be collected together in order to paythem the worship which was due to them as the body of a martyr for thetruth and for pastoral liberty. 

Now then let us come to that which is the principal subject of theseresearches, the vampires, or _revenans_, of Hungary, Moravia, andsimilar ones, which appear only for a little time in their naturalbodies. 

Footnotes:

[452] The reverend fathers the Bollandists, believed that the life ofSt. Stanislaus, which they had printed, was very old, and nearly ofthe time of the martyrdom of the saint; or at least that it was takenfrom a life by an author almost his cotemporary, and original. Butsince the first edition of this dissertation it has been observed tome that the thing was by no means certain; that M. Baillet, on the 7thof May, in the critical table of authors, asserts that the life of St. Stanislaus was only written 400 years after his death, from uncertainand mutilated memoirs. And in the life of the saint he owns that it isonly the tradition of the writers of the country which can rendercredible the account of the resurrection of Pierre. The Abbé Fleuri, tom. Xiii. Of the Ecclesiastical History, l. 62, year 1079, does notagree either to what is written in that life or to what has followedit. At any rate, the miracle of the resurrection of Pierre is relatedas certain in a discourse of John de Polemac, delivered at the Councilof Constance, 1433; tom. Xii. Councils, p. 1397. 

CHAPTER IV. 

CAN A MAN WHO IS REALLY DEAD APPEAR IN HIS OWN BODY?

If what is related of vampires were certainly true, the question hereproposed would be frivolous and useless; they would reply to usdirectly--In Hungary, Moravia, and Poland, persons who were dead andinterred a long time, have been seen to return, to appear, and tormentmen and animals, suck their blood, and cause their death. 

These persons come back to earth in their own bodies; people see them, know them, exhume them, try them, impale them, cut off their heads, burn them. It is then not only possible, but very true and very real, that they appear in their own bodies. 

It might be added in support of this belief, that the Scripturesthemselves give instances of these apparitions: for example, at theTransfiguration of our Saviour, Elias and Moses appeared on MountTabor, [453] there conversing with Jesus Christ. We know that Elias isstill alive. I do not cite him as an instance; but in regard to Moses, his death is not doubtful; and yet he appeared bodily talking withJesus Christ. The dead who came out of their graves at theresurrection of the Saviour, [454] and who appeared to many persons inJerusalem, had been in their sepulchres for several years; there wasno doubt of their being dead; and nevertheless they appeared and boretestimony to the resurrection of the Saviour. 

When Jeremiah appeared to Judas Maccabĉus, [455] and placed in his handa golden sword, saying to him, "Receive this sword as a gift from God, with which you will vanquish the enemies of my people of Israel;" itwas apparently this prophet in his own person who appeared to him andmade him that present, since by his mien he was recognized as theprophet Jeremiah. 

I do not speak of those persons who were really restored to life by amiracle, as the son of the widow of Shunem resuscitated by Elijah; norof the dead man who, on touching the coffin of the same prophet, roseupon his feet and revived; nor of Lazarus, to whom Jesus Christrestored life in a way so miraculous and striking. Those personslived, drank, ate, and conversed with mankind, after, as before theirdeath and resurrection. 

It is not of such persons that we now speak. I speak, for instance, ofPierre resuscitated by Stanislaus for a few hours; of those persons ofwhom I made mention in the treatise on the Apparitions of Spirits, whoappeared, spoke, and revealed hidden things, and whose resurrectionwas but momentary, and only to manifest the power of God, in order tobear witness to truth and innocence, or to maintain the credit of thechurch against obstinate heretics, as we read in various instances. 

St. Martin, being newly made Archbishop of Tours, conceived somesuspicions against an altar which the bishops his predecessors haderected to a pretended martyr, of whom they knew neither the name northe history, and of whom none of the priests or ministers of thechapel could give any certain account. He abstained for some time fromgoing to this spot, which was not far from the city; but one day herepaired thither accompanied by a few monks, and having prayed, hebesought God to let him know who it was that was interred there. Hethen perceived on his left a hideous and dirty-looking apparition; andhaving commanded it to tell him who he was, the spectre declared hisname, and confessed to him that he was a robber, who had been put todeath for his crimes and acts of violence, and that he had nothing incommon with the martyrs. Those who were present heard distinctly whathe said, but saw no one. St. Martin had the tomb overthrown, and curedthe ignorant people of their superstitions. 

The philosopher Celsus, writing against the Christians, maintainedthat the apparitions of Jesus Christ to his apostles were not real, but that they were simply shadowy forms which appeared. Origen, retorting his reasoning, tells him[456] that the pagans give anaccount of various apparitions of Ĉsculapius and Apollo, to which theyattribute the power of predicting future events. If these appearancesare admitted to be real, because they are attested by some, why notreceive as true those of Jesus Christ, which are related by ocularwitnesses, and believed by millions of persons?

He afterwards relates this history. Aristeus, who belonged to one ofthe first families of Proconnesus, having one day entered a foulonshop, died there suddenly. The __________ having locked the door, randirectly to inform the relations of the deceased; but as the reportwas instantly spread in the town, a man of Cyzica, who came fromAstacia, affirmed that it could not be, because he had met Aristeus onthe road from Cyzica, and had spoken to him, which he loudlymaintained before all the people of Proconnesus. 

Thereupon the relations arrive at the foulon's, with all the necessaryapparatus for carrying away the body; but when they entered the house, they could not find Aristeus there, either dead or alive. Seven yearsafter, he showed himself in the very town of Proconnesus; made therethose verses which are termed Arimaspean, and then disappeared for thesecond time. Such is the story related of him in those places. 

Three hundred and forty years after that event, the same Aristeusshowed himself in Metapontus, in Italy, and commanded the Metapontinesto build an altar to Apollo, and afterwards to erect a statue in honorof Aristeus of Proconnesus, adding that they were the only people ofItaly whom Apollo had honored with his presence; as for himself whospoke to them, he had accompanied that god in the form of a crow; andhaving thus spoken he disappeared. 

The Metapontines sent to consult the oracle of Delphi concerning thisapparition; the Delphic oracle told them to follow the counsel whichAristeus had given them, and it would be well for them; in fact, theydid erect a statue to Apollo, which was still to be seen there in thetime of Herodotus;[457] and at the same time, another statue toAristeus, which stood in a small plantation of laurels, in the midstof the public square of Metapontus. Celsus made no difficulty ofbelieving all that on the word of Herodotus, though Pindar and herefused credence to what the Christians taught of the miracles wroughtby Jesus Christ, related in the Gospel and sealed with the blood ofmartyrs. Origen adds, What could Providence have designed inperforming for this Proconnesian the miracles we have just mentioned?What benefit could mankind derive from them? Whereas, what theChristians relate of Jesus Christ serves to confirm a doctrine whichis beneficial to the human race. We must, then, either reject thisstory of Aristeus as fabulous, or ascribe all that is told of it asthe work of the evil spirit. 

Footnotes:

[453] Matt. Ix. 34. 

[454] Matt. Xxvii. 53. 

[455] Macc. Xiv. 14, 15. 

[456] Origen. Contra Celsum, lib. I. Pp. 123, 124. 

[457] Herodot. Lib. Iv. 

CHAPTER V. 

REVIVAL OR APPARITION OF A GIRL WHO HAD BEEN DEAD SOME MONTHS. 

Phlegonus, freed-man of the Emperor Adrian, [458] in the fragment ofthe book which he wrote on wonderful things, says that at Tralla, inAsia, a certain man named Machates, an innkeeper, was connected with agirl named Philinium, the daughter of Demostrates and Chariton. Thisgirl being dead, and placed in her grave, continued to come everynight for six months to see her gallant, to drink, eat, and sleep withhim. One day this girl was recognized by her nurse, when she wassitting by Machates. The nurse ran to give notice of this to Chariton, the girl's mother, who, after making many difficulties, came at lastto the inn; but as it was very late, and everybody gone to bed, shecould not satisfy her curiosity. However, she recognized herdaughter's clothes, and thought she recognized the girl herself in bedwith Machates. She returned the next morning, but having missed herway, she no longer found her daughter, who had already withdrawn. Machates related everything to her; how, since a certain time, she hadcome to him every night; and in proof of what he said, he opened hiscasket and showed her the gold ring which Philinium had given him, andthe band with which she covered her bosom, and which she had left withhim the preceding night. 

Chariton, who could no longer doubt the truth of the circumstance, nowgave way to cries and tears; but as they promised to inform her thefollowing night, when Philinium should return, she went away home. Inthe evening the girl came back as usual, and Machates sent directly tolet her father and mother know, for he began to fear that some othergirl might have taken Philinium's clothes from the sepulchre, in orderto deceive him by the illusion. 

Demostrates and Chariton, on arriving, recognized their daughter andran to embrace her; but she cried out, "Oh, father and mother, whyhave you grudged me my happiness, by preventing me from remainingthree days longer with this innkeeper without injury to any one? for Idid not come here without permission from the gods, that is to say, from the demon, since we cannot attribute to God, or to a good spirit, a thing like that. Your curiosity will cost you dear. " At the sametime, she fell down stiff and dead, and extended on the bed. 

Phlegon, who had some command in the town, stayed the crowd andprevented a tumult. The next day, the people being assembled at thetheatre, they agreed to go and inspect the vault in which Philinium, who had died six months before, had been laid. They found there thecorpses of her family arranged in their places, but they found not thebody of Philinium. There was only an iron ring, which Machates hadgiven her, with a gilded cup, which she had also received from him. Afterwards they went back to the dwelling of Machates, where the bodyof the girl remained lying on the ground. 

They consulted a diviner, who said that she must be interred beyondthe limits of the town; they must appease the furies and terrestrialMercury, make solemn funeral ceremonies to the god Manes, andsacrifice to Jupiter Hospitaller, to Mercury, and Mars. Phlegon adds, speaking to him to whom he was writing: "If you think proper to informthe emperor of it, write to me, that I may send you some of thosepersons who were eye-witnesses of all these things. "

Here is the fact circumstantially related, and invested with all themarks which can make it pass for true. Nevertheless, how numerous arethe difficulties it presents! Was this young girl really dead, or onlysleeping? Was her resurrection effected by her own strength and will, or was it a demon who restored her to life? It appears that it cannotbe doubted that it was her own body; all the circumstances noted inthe recital of Phlegon persuade us of it. If she was not dead, and allshe did was merely a game and a play which she performed to satisfyher passion for Machates, there is nothing in all this recital veryincredible. We know what illicit love is capable of, and how far itmay lead any one who is devoured by a violent passion. The samePhlegon says that a Syrian soldier of the army of Antiochus, afterhaving been killed at Thermopylĉ, appeared in open day in the Romancamp, where he spoke to several persons. 

Haralde, or Harappe, a Dane, who caused himself to be buried at theentrance of his kitchen, appeared after his death, and was wounded byone Olaüs Pa, who left the iron of his lance in the wound. This Dane, then, appeared bodily. Was it his soul which moved his body, or ademon which made use of this corpse to disturb and frighten theliving? Did he do this by his own strength, or by the permission ofGod? And what glory to God, what advantage to men, could accrue fromthese apparitions? Shall we deny all these facts, related in socircumstantial a manner by enlightened authors, who have no interestin deceiving us, nor any wish to do so?

St. Augustine relates that, during his abode at Milan, [459] a youngman had a suit instituted against him by a person who repeated hisdemand for a debt already paid the young man's father, but the receiptfor which could not be found. The ghost of the father appeared to theson, and informed him where the receipt was which occasioned him somuch trouble. 

St. Macarius, the Egyptian, made a dead man[460] speak who had beeninterred some time, in order to discover a deposit which he hadreceived and hidden unknown to his wife. The dead man declared thatthe money was slipt down at the foot of his bed. 

The same St. Macarius, not being able to refute in any other way aheretic Eunomian, according to some, or Hieracitus, according toothers, said to him, "Let us go to the grave of a dead man, and askhim to inform us of the truth which you will not agree to. " Theheretic dared not present himself at the grave; but St. Macarius wentthither, accompanied by a multitude of persons. He interrogated thedead, who replied from the depth of the tomb, that if the heretic hadappeared in the crowd he should have arisen to convince him, and tobear testimony to the truth. St. Macarius commanded him to fall asleepagain in the Lord, till the time when Jesus Christ should awaken himin his place at the end of the world. 

The ancients, who have related the same fact, vary in some of thecircumstances, as is usual enough when those things are related onlyfrom memory. 

St. Spiridion, Bishop of Trinitontis, in Egypt, [461] had a daughternamed Irene, who lived in virginity till her death. After her decease, a person came to Spiridion and asked him for a deposit which he hadconfided to Irene unknown to her father. They sought in every part ofthe house, but could find nothing. At last Spiridion went to hisdaughter's tomb, and calling her by her name, asked her where thedeposit was. She declared the same, and Spiridion restored it. 

A holy abbot named Erricles resuscitated for a moment a man who hadbeen killed, [462] and of whose death they accused a monk who wasperfectly innocent. The dead man did justice to the accused, and theAbbot Erricles said to him, "Sleep in peace, till the Lord shall comeat the last day to resuscitate you to all eternity. "

All these momentary resurrections may serve to explain how the_revenans_ of Hungary come out of their graves, then return to them, after having caused themselves to be seen and felt for some time. Butthe difficulty will always be to know, 1st, If the thing be true; 2d, If they can resuscitate themselves; and, 3d, If they are really dead, or only asleep. In what way soever we regard this circumstance, italways appears equally impossible and incredible. 

Footnotes:

[458] Phlegon. De Mirabilib. 18. Gronov. Antiq. Grĉc. P. 2694. 

[459] Aug. De Curâ pro Mortuis. 

[460] Rosweid. Vit. P. P. Lib. Ii. P. 480. 

[461] Sozomen, Hist. Eccl. Lib. I. C. 11. 

[462] Vit. P. P. Lib. Ii. P. 650. 

CHAPTER VI. 

A WOMAN TAKEN ALIVE FROM HER GRAVE. 

We read in a new work, a story which has some connection with thissubject. A shopkeeper of the Rue St. Honoré, at Paris, had promisedhis daughter to one of his friends, a shopkeeper like himself, residing also in the same street. A financier having presented himselfas a husband for this young girl, was accepted instead of the youngman to whom she had been promised. The marriage was accomplished, andthe young bride falling ill, was looked upon as dead, enshrouded andinterred. The first lover having an idea that she had fallen into alethargy or a trance, had her taken out of the ground during thenight; they brought her to herself and he espoused her. They crossedthe channel, and lived quietly in England for some years. At the endof ten years, they returned to Paris, where the first husband havingrecognized his wife in a public walk, claimed her in a court ofjustice; and this was the subject of a great law suit. 

The wife and her (second) husband defended themselves on the groundthat death had broken the bonds of the first marriage. The firsthusband was even accused of having caused his wife to be tooprecipitately interred. The lovers foreseeing that they might benon-suited, again withdrew to a foreign land, where they ended theirdays. This circumstance is so singular that our readers will have somedifficulty in giving credence to it. I only give it as it is told. Itis for those who advance the fact to guarantee and prove it. 

Who can say that, in the story of Phlegon, the young Philinium was notthus placed in the vault without being dead, and that every night shecame to see her lover Machates? That was much easier for her thanwould have been the return of the Parisian woman, who had beenenshrouded, buried, and remained covered with earth, and enveloped inlinen, during a pretty long time. 

The other example related in the same work, is of a girl who fell intoa trance and was regarded as dead, and became enceinte during thisinterval, without knowing the author of her pregnancy. It was a monk, who, having made himself known, asserted that his vows should beannulled, he having been forced into the sacred profession. A greatlawsuit ensued upon it, of which the documents are preserved to thisday. The monk obtained a dispensation from his vows, and married theyoung girl. 

This instance may be adduced with that of Philinium, and the youngwoman of the Rue St. Honoré. It is possible that these persons mightnot be dead, and consequently not restored to life. 

CHAPTER VII. 

LET US NOW EXAMINE THE FACT OF THE REVENANS OR VAMPIRES OF MORAVIA. 

I have been told by the late Monsieur de Vassimont, counsellor of theChamber of the Counts of Bar, that having been sent into Moravia byhis late Royal Highness Leopold, first Duke of Lorraine, for theaffairs of my Lord the Prince Charles his brother, Bishop of Olmutzand Osnaburgh, he was informed by public report that it was commonenough in that country to see men who had died some time before, present themselves in a party, and sit down to table with persons oftheir acquaintance without saying anything; but that nodding to one ofthe party, he would infallibly die some days afterwards. This fact wasconfirmed by several persons, and amongst others by an old curé, whosaid he had seen more than one instance of it. 

The bishops and priests of the country consulted Rome on soextraordinary a fact; but they received no answer, because, apparently, all those things were regarded there as simple visions, orpopular fancies. They afterwards bethought themselves of taking up thecorpses of those who came back in that way, of burning them, or ofdestroying them in some other manner. Thus they delivered themselvesfrom the importunity of these spectres, which are now much lessfrequently seen than before. So said that good priest. 

These apparitions have given rise to a little work, entitled _MagiaPosthuma_, printed at Olmutz, in 1706, composed by Charles Ferdinandde Schertz, dedicated to Prince Charles, of Lorraine, Bishop of Olmutzand Osnaburgh. The author relates that, in a certain village, a womanbeing just dead, who had taken all her sacraments, she was buried inthe usual way in the cemetery. Four days after her decease, theinhabitants of this village heard a great noise and extraordinaryuproar, and saw a spectre, which appeared sometimes in the shape of adog, sometimes in the form of a man, not to one person only, but toseveral, and caused them great pain, grasping their throats, andcompressing their stomachs, so as to suffocate them. It bruised almostthe whole body, and reduced them to extreme weakness, so that theybecame pale, lean and attenuated. 

The spectre attacked even the animals, and some cows were founddebilitated and half dead. Sometimes it tied them together by theirtails. These animals gave sufficient evidence by their bellowing ofthe pain they suffered. The horses seemed overcome with fatigue, allin a perspiration, principally on the back; heated, out of breath, covered with foam, as they are after a long and rough journey. Thesecalamities lasted several months. 

The author whom I have mentioned examines the affair in a lawyer-likeway, and reasons much on the fact and the law. He asks if, supposingthat those disturbances, those noises and vexations proceeded fromthat person who is suspected of causing them, they can burn her, as isdone to other ghosts who do harm to the living. He relates severalinstances of similar apparitions, and of the evils which ensued; as ofa shepherd of the village of Blow, near the town of Kadam, in Bohemia, who appeared during some time, and called certain persons, who neverfailed to die within eight days after. The peasants of Blow took upthe body of this shepherd, and fixed it in the ground with a stakewhich they drove through it. 

This man, when in that condition, derided them for what they made himsuffer, and told them they were very good to give him thus a stick todefend himself from the dogs. The same night he got up again, and byhis presence alarmed several persons, and strangled more amongst themthan he had hitherto done. Afterwards, they delivered him into thehands of the executioner, who put him in a cart to carry him beyondthe village and there burn him. This corpse howled like a madman, andmoved his feet and hands as if alive. And when they again pierced himthrough with stakes he uttered very loud cries, and a great quantityof bright vermilion blood flowed from him. At last he was consumed, and this execution put an end to the appearance and hauntings of thisspectre. 

The same has been practiced in other places, where similar ghosts havebeen seen; and when they have been taken out of the ground they haveappeared red, with their limbs supple and pliable, without worms ordecay; but not without a great stink. The author cites divers otherwriters, who attest what he says of these spectres, which stillappear, he says, pretty often in the mountains of Silesia and Moravia. They are seen by night and by day; the things which once belonged tothem are seen to move themselves and change their place without beingtouched by any one. The only remedy for these apparitions is to cutoff the heads and burn the bodies of those who come back to hauntpeople. 

At any rate, they do not proceed to this without a form of justiciallaw. They call for and hear the witnesses; they examine the arguments;they look at the exhumed bodies, to see if they can find any of theusual marks which lead them to conjecture that they are the partieswho molest the living, as the mobility and suppleness of the limbs, the fluidity of the blood, and the flesh remaining uncorrupted. If allthese marks are found, then these bodies are given up to theexecutioner, who burns them. It sometimes happens that the spectresappear again for three or four days after the execution. Sometimes theinterment of the bodies of suspicious persons is deferred for six orseven weeks. When they do not decay, and their limbs remain as suppleand pliable as when they were alive, then they burn them. It isaffirmed as certain that the clothes of these persons move without anyone living touching them; and within a short time, continues ourauthor, a spectre was seen at Olmutz, which threw stones, and gavegreat trouble to the inhabitants. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

DEAD PERSONS IN HUNGARY WHO SUCK THE BLOOD OF THE LIVING. 

About fifteen years ago, a soldier who was billeted at the house of aHaidamagne peasant, on the frontiers of Hungary, as he was one daysitting at table near his host, the master of the house saw a personhe did not know come in and sit down to table also with them. Themaster of the house was strangely frightened at this, as were the restof the company. The soldier knew not what to think of it, beingignorant of the matter in question. But the master of the house beingdead the very next day, the soldier inquired what it meant. They toldhim that it was the body of the father of his host, who had been deadand buried for ten years, which had thus come to sit down next to him, and had announced and caused his death. 

The soldier informed the regiment of it in the first place, and theregiment gave notice of it to the general officers, who commissionedthe Count de Cabreras, captain of the regiment of Alandetti infantry, to make information concerning this circumstance. Having gone to theplace, with some other officers, a surgeon and an auditor, they heardthe depositions of all the people belonging to the house, who attestedunanimously that the ghost was the father of the master of the house, and that all the soldier had said and reported was the exact truth, which was confirmed by all the inhabitants of the village. 

In consequence of this, the corpse of this spectre was exhumed, andfound to be like that of a man who has just expired, and his bloodlike that of a living man. The Count de Cabreras had his head cut off, and caused him to be laid again in his tomb. He also took informationconcerning other similar ghosts, amongst others, of a man dead morethan thirty years, who had come back three times to his house at mealtime. The first time he had sucked the blood from the neck of his ownbrother, the second time from one of his sons, and the third from oneof the servants in the house; and all three died of it instantly andon the spot. Upon this deposition the commissary had this man takenout of his grave, and finding that, like the first, his blood was in afluid state, like that of a living person, he ordered them to run alarge nail into his temple, and then to lay him again in the grave. 

He caused a third to be burnt, who had been buried more than sixteenyears, and had sucked the blood and caused the death of two of hissons. The commissary having made his report to the general officers, was deputed to the court of the emperor, who commanded that someofficers, both of war and justice, some physicians and surgeons, andsome learned men, should be sent to examine the causes of theseextraordinary events. The person who related these particulars to ushad heard them from Monsieur the Count de Cabreras, at Fribourg enBrigau, in 1730. 

CHAPTER IX. 

ACCOUNT OF A VAMPIRE, TAKEN FROM THE JEWISH LETTERS (LETTRES JUIVES);LETTER 137. 

This is what we read in the "Lettres Juives, " new edition, 1738, Letter 137. 

We have just had in this part of Hungary a scene of vampirism, whichis duly attested by two officers of the tribunal of Belgrade, who wentdown to the places specified; and by an officer of the emperor'stroops at Graditz, who was an ocular witness of the proceedings. 

In the beginning of September there died in the village of Kivsiloa, three leagues from Graditz, an old man who was sixty-two years of age. Three days after he had been buried, he appeared in the night to hisson, and asked him for something to eat; the son having given himsomething, he ate and disappeared. The next day the son recounted tohis neighbors what had happened. That night the father did not appear;but the following night he showed himself, and asked for something toeat. They know not whether the son gave him anything or not; but thenext day he was found dead in his bed. On the same day, five or sixpersons fell suddenly ill in the village, and died one after the otherin a few days. 

The officer or bailiff of the place, when informed of what hadhappened, sent an account of it to the tribunal of Belgrade, whichdispatched to the village two of these officers and an executioner toexamine into this affair. The imperial officer from whom we have thisaccount repaired thither from Graditz, to be witness of a circumstancewhich he had so often heard spoken of. 

They opened the graves of those who had been dead six weeks. When theycame to that of the old man, they found him with his eyes open, havinga fine color, with natural respiration, nevertheless motionless as thedead; whence they concluded that he was most evidently a vampire. Theexecutioner drove a stake into his heart; they then raised a pile andreduced the corpse to ashes. No mark of vampirism was found either onthe corpse of the son or on the others. 

Thanks be to God, we are by no means credulous. We avow that all thelight which physics can throw on this fact discovers none of thecauses of it. Nevertheless, we cannot refuse to believe that to betrue which is juridically attested, and by persons of probity. We willhere give a copy of what happened in 1732, and which we inserted inthe Gleaner (_Glaneur_), No. XVIII. 

CHAPTER X. 

OTHER INSTANCES OF GHOSTS--CONTINUATION OF THE GLEANER. 

In a certain canton of Hungary, named in Latin _Oppida Heidanum_, beyond the Tibisk, _vulgo_ Teiss, that is to say, between that riverwhich waters the fortunate territory of Tokay and Transylvania, thepeople known by the name of _Heyducqs_[463] believe that certain deadpersons, whom they call vampires, suck all the blood from the living, so that these become visibly attenuated, whilst the corpses, likeleeches, fill themselves with blood in such abundance that it is seento come from them by the conduits, and even oozing through the pores. This opinion has just been confirmed by several facts which cannot bedoubted, from the rank of the witnesses who have certified them. Wewill here relate some of the most remarkable. 

About five years ago, a certain Heyducq, inhabitant of Madreiga, namedArnald Paul, was crushed to death by the fall of a wagonload of hay. Thirty days after his death four persons died suddenly, and in thesame manner in which according to the tradition of the country, thosedie who are molested by vampires. They then remembered that thisArnald Paul had often related that in the environs of Cassovia, and onthe frontiers of Turkish Servia, he had often been tormented by aTurkish vampire; for they believe also that those who have beenpassive vampires during life become active ones after their death, that is to say, that those who have been sucked suck also in theirturn; but that he had found means to cure himself by eating earth fromthe grave of the vampire, and smearing himself with his blood; aprecaution which, however, did not prevent him from becoming so afterhis death, since, on being exhumed forty days after his interment, they found on his corpse all the indications of an arch-vampire. Hisbody was red, his hair, nails, and beard had all grown again, and hisveins were replete with fluid blood, which flowed from all parts ofhis body upon the winding-sheet which encompassed him. The hadnagi, orbailli of the village, in whose presence the exhumation took place, and who was skilled in vampirism, had, according to custom, a verysharp stake driven into the heart of the defunct Arnald Paul, andwhich pierced his body through and through, which made him, as theysay, utter a frightful shriek, as if he had been alive: that done, they cut off his head, and burnt the whole body. After that theyperformed the same on the corpses of the four other persons who diedof vampirism, fearing that they in their turn might cause the death ofothers. 

All these performances, however, could not prevent the recommencementof these fatal prodigies towards the end of last year, that is to say, five years after, when several inhabitants of the same villageperished miserably. In the space of three months, seventeen persons ofdifferent sexes and different ages died of vampirism; some withoutbeing ill, and others after languishing two or three days. It isreported, amongst other things, that a girl named Stanoska, daughterof the Heyducq Jotiützo, who went to bed in perfect health, awoke inthe middle of the night all in a tremble, uttering terrible shrieks, and saying that the son of the Heyducq Millo who had been dead nineweeks, had nearly strangled her in her sleep. She fell into a languidstate from that moment, and at the end of three days she died. Whatthis girl had said of Millo's son made him known at once for avampire: he was exhumed, and found to be such. The principal people ofthe place, with the doctors and surgeons, examined how vampirism couldhave sprung up again after the precautions they had taken some yearsbefore. 

They discovered at last, after much search, that the defunct ArnaldPaul had killed not only the four persons of whom we have spoken, butalso several oxen, of which the new vampires had eaten, and amongstothers the son of Millo. Upon these indications they resolved todisinter all those who had died within a certain time, &c. Amongstforty, seventeen were found with all the most evident signs ofvampirism; so they transfixed their hearts and cut off their headsalso, and then cast their ashes into the river. 

All the informations and executions we have just mentioned were madejuridically, in proper form, and attested by several officers who weregarrisoned in the country, by the chief surgeons of the regiments, andby the principal inhabitants of the place. The verbal process of itwas sent towards the end of last January to the Imperial Counsel ofWar at Vienna, which had established a military commission to examineinto the truth of all these circumstances. 

Such was the declaration of the Hadnagi Barriarar and the ancientHeyducqs; and it was signed by Battuer, first lieutenant of theregiment of Alexander of Wurtemburg, Clickstenger, surgeon-in-chief ofthe regiment of Frustemburch, three other surgeons of the company, andGuoichitz, captain at Stallach. 

Footnotes:

[463] This story is apparently the same which we related before underthe name of Haidamaque, and which happened in 1729 or 1730. 

CHAPTER XI. 

ARGUMENTS OF THE AUTHOR OF THE "LETTRES JUIVES, " ON THE SUBJECT OFTHESE PRETENDED GHOSTS. 

There are two different ways of effacing the opinion concerning thesepretended ghosts, and showing the impossibility of the effects whichare made to be produced by corpses entirely deprived of sensation. Thefirst is, to explain by physical causes all the prodigies ofvampirism; the second is, to deny totally the truth of these stories;and the latter means, without doubt, is the surest and the wisest. Butas there are persons to whom the authority of a certificate given bypeople in a certain place appears a plain demonstration of thereality of the most absurd story, before I show how little they oughtto rely on the formalities of the law in matters which relate solelyto philosophy, I will for a moment suppose that several persons doreally die of the disease which they term vampirism. 

I lay down at first this principle, that it may be that there arecorpses which, although interred some days, shed fluid blood throughthe conduits of their body. I add, moreover, that it is very easy forcertain people to fancy themselves sucked by vampires, and that thefear caused by that fancy should make a revolution in their framesufficiently violent to deprive them of life. Being occupied all daywith the terror inspired by these pretended ghosts or _revenans_, isit very extraordinary, that during their sleep the idea of thesephantoms should present itself to their imagination and cause themsuch violent terror? that some of them die of it instantaneously, andothers a short time afterwards? How many instances have we not seen ofpeople who expired with fright in a moment? and has not joy itselfsometimes produced an equally fatal effect?

I have seen in the Leipsic journals[464] an account of a little workentitled, _Philosophicĉ et Christianĉ Cogitationes de Vampiriis, àJoanne Christophoro Herenbergio_; "Philosophical and ChristianThoughts upon Vampires, by John Christopher Herenberg, " atGerolferliste, in 1733, in 8vo. The author names a pretty large numberof writers who have already discussed this matter; he speaks, _enpassant_, of a spectre which appeared to him at noonday. He maintainsthat the vampires do not cause the death of the living, and that allthat is said about them ought to be attributed only to the troubledfancy of the invalids; he proves by divers experiments that theimagination is capable of causing very great derangements in the body, and the humors of the body; he shows that in Sclavonia they impaledmurderers, and drove a stake through the heart of the culprit; thatthey used the same chastisement for vampires, supposing them to be theauthors of the death of those whose blood they were said to suck. Hegives some examples of this punishment exercised upon them, the one inthe year 1337, and the other in 1347. He speaks of the opinion ofthose who believe that the dead eat in their tombs; a sentiment ofwhich he endeavors to prove the antiquity by the authority ofTertullian, at the beginning of his book on the Resurrection, and bythat of St. Augustine, b. Viii. C. 27, on the City of God, and inSermon xv. On the Saints. 

Such are nearly the contents of the work of M. Herenberg on vampires. The passage of Tertullian[465] which he cites, proves very well thatthe pagans offered food to their dead, even to those whose bodies hadbeen burned, believing that their spirits regaled themselves with it:_Defunctis parentant, et quidem impensissimo studio, pro moribus eorumpro temporibus esculentorum, ut quos sentire quicquam negant escamdesiderare proesumant. _ This concerns only the pagans. 

But St. Augustine, in several places, speaks of the custom of theChristians, above all those of Africa, of carrying to the tombs meatsand wine, which they placed upon them as a repast of devotion, and towhich the poor were invited, in whose favor these offerings wereprincipally instituted. This practice is founded on the passage of thebook of Tobit;--"Place your bread and wine on the sepulchre of thejust, and be careful not to eat or drink of it with sinners. " St. Monico, the mother of St. Augustine, [466] having desired to do atMilan what she had been accustomed to do in Africa, St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan, testified that he did not approve of this practice, which was unknown in his church. The holy woman restrained herself tocarrying thither a basket full of fruits and wine, of which shepartook very soberly with the women who accompanied her, leaving therest for the poor. St. Augustine remarks, in the same passage, thatsome intemperate Christians abused these offerings by drinking wine toexcess: _Ne ulla occasio se ingurgitandi daretur ebriosis. _

St. Augustine, [467] however, by his preaching and remonstrances, didso much good, that he entirely uprooted this custom, which was commonthroughout the African Church, and the abuse of which was too general. In his books on the City of God, [468] he avows that this usage isneither general nor approved in the Church, and that those whopractice it content themselves with offering this food upon the tombsof the martyrs, in order that through their merits these offeringsshould be sanctified; after which they carry them away, and make useof them for their own nourishment and that of the poor: _Quicumquesuas epulas eò deferant, quad quidem à melioribus Christianis non fit, et in plerisque terrarum nulla talis est consuetudo; tamen quicumqueid faciunt, quas cùm appossuerint, orant, et auferunt, ut vescanturvel ex eis etiam indigentibus largiantur. _ It appears, from twosermons which have been attributed to St. Augustine, [469] that informer times this custom had crept in at Rome, but did not subsistthere any time, and was blamed and condemned. 

Now, if it were true that the dead could eat in their tombs, and thatthey had a wish or occasion to eat, as is believed by those of whomTertullian speaks, and as it appears may be inferred from the customof carrying fruit and wine to be placed on the graves of martyrs andother Christians, I think even that I have good proof that in certainplaces they placed near the bodies of the dead, whether buried in thecemeteries or the churches, meat, wine, and other liquors. I have inour study several vases of clay and glass, and even plates, where maybe seen small bones of pig and fowls, all found deep underground inthe church of the Abbey of St. Mansuy, near the town of Toul. 

It has been remarked to me that these vestiges found in the groundwere plunged in virgin earth which had never been disturbed, and nearcertain vases or urns filled with ashes, and containing some smallbones which the flames could not consume; and as it is known that theChristians did not burn their dead, and that these vases we arespeaking of are placed beneath the disturbed earth, in which thegraves of Christians are found, it has been inferred, with muchsemblance of probability, that these vases with the food and beverageburied near them, were intended not for Christians but for heathens. The latter, then, at least, believed that the dead ate in the otherlife. There is no doubt that the ancient Gauls[470] were persuaded ofthis; they are often represented on their tombs with bottles in theirhands, and baskets and other comestibles, or drinking vessels andgoblets;[471] they carried with them even the contracts and bonds forwhat was due to them, to have it paid to them in Hades. _Negotiorumratio, etiam exactio crediti deferebatur ad inferos. _

Now, if they believed that the dead ate in their tombs, that theycould return to earth, visit, console, instruct, or disturb theliving, and predict to them their approaching death, the return ofvampires is neither impossible nor incredible in the opinion of theseancients. 

But as all that is said of dead men who eat in their graves and out oftheir graves is chimerical and beyond all likelihood, and the thing iseven impossible and incredible, whatever may be the number and qualityof those who have believed it, or appeared to believe it, I shallalways say that the return (to earth) of the vampires isunmaintainable and impracticable. 

Footnotes:

[464] Supplem. Ad visu Erudit. Lips. An. 1738, tom. Ii. 

[465] Tertull. De Resurrect. Initio. 

[466] Aug. Confess. Lib. Vi. C. 2. 

[467] Aug. Epist. 22, ad Aurel. Carthag. Et Epist. 29, ad Alipi. Itemde Moribus Eccl. C. 34. 

[468] Aug. Lib. Viii. De Civit. Dei, c. 27. 

[469] Aug. Serm. 35, de Sanctis, nunc in Appendice, c. 5. Serm. Cxc. Cxci. P. 328. 

[470] Antiquité expliquée, tom. Iv. P. 80. 

[471] Mela. Lib. Ii. C. 4. 

CHAPTER XII. 

CONTINUATION OF THE ARGUMENT OF THE "DUTCH GLEANERS, " OR "GLANEURHOLLANDAIS. "

On examining the narrative of the death of the pretended martyrs ofvampirism, I discover the symptoms of an epidemical fanaticism; and Isee clearly that the impression made upon them by fear is the truecause of their being lost. A girl named Stanoska, say they, daughterof the Heyducq Sovitzo, who went to bed in perfect health, awoke inthe middle of the night all in a tremble, and shrieking dreadfully, saying that the son of the Heyducq Millo, who had been dead for nineweeks, had nearly strangled her in her sleep. From that moment shefell into a languishing state, and at the end of three days died. 

For any one who has eyes, however little philosophical they may be, must not this recital alone clearly show him that this pretendedvampirism is merely the result of a stricken imagination? There is agirl who awakes and says that some one wanted to strangle her, and whonevertheless has not been sucked, since her cries have prevented thevampire from making his repast. She apparently was not so servedafterwards either, since, doubtlessly, they did not leave her byherself during the other nights; and if the vampire had wished tomolest her, her moans would have warned those of it who were present. Nevertheless, she dies three days afterwards. Her fright and lowness, her sadness and languor, evidently show how strongly her imaginationhad been affected. 

Those persons who find themselves in cities afflicted with the plague, know by experience how many people lose their lives through fear. Assoon as a man finds himself attacked with the least illness, hefancies that he is seized with the epidemical disease, which ideaoccasions him so great a sensation, that it is almost impossible forthe system to resist such a revolution. The Chevalier de Maifinassured me, when I was at Paris, that being at Marseilles during thecontagion which prevailed in that city, he had seen a woman die of thefear she felt at a slight illness of her servant, whom she believedattacked with the pestilence. This woman's daughter was sick and neardying. 

Other persons who were in the same house went to bed, sent for adoctor, and assured him they had the plague. The doctor, on arriving, visited the servant, and the other patients, and none of them had theepidemical disorder. He tried to calm their minds, and ordered them torise, and live in their usual way; but his care was useless asregarded the mistress of the family, who died in two days of thefright alone. 

Reflect upon the second narrative of the death of a passive vampire, and you will see most evident proofs of the terrible effects of fearand prejudice. (See the preceding chapter. ) This man, three days afterhe was buried, appears in the night to his son, asks for something toeat, eats, and disappears. On the morrow, the son relates to hisneighbors what had happened to him. That night the father does notappear; but the following night they find the son dead in his bed. Whocannot perceive in these words the surest marks of prepossession andfear? The first time these act upon the imagination of the pretendedvictim of vampirism they do not produce their entire effect, and notonly dispose his mind to be more vividly struck by them; that alsodoes not fail to happen, and to produce the effect which wouldnaturally follow. 

Notice well that the dead man did not return on the night of the daythat his son communicated his dream to his friends, because, accordingto all appearances, these sat up with him, and prevented him fromyielding to his fear. 

I now come to those corpses full of fluid blood, and whose beard, hairand nails had grown again. One may dispute three parts of theseprodigies, and be very complaisant if we admit the truth of a few ofthem. All philosophers know well enough how much the people, and evencertain historians, enlarge upon things which appear but a littleextraordinary. Nevertheless, it is not impossible to explain theircause physically. 

Experience teaches us that there are certain kinds of earth which willpreserve dead bodies perfectly fresh. The reasons of this have beenoften explained, without my giving myself the trouble to make aparticular recital of them. There is at Thoulouse a vault in a churchbelonging to some monks, where the bodies remain so entirely perfectthat there are some which have been there nearly two centuries, andappear still living. 

They have been ranged in an upright posture against the wall, and areclothed in the dress they usually wore. What is very remarkable is, that the bodies which are placed on the other side of this same vaultbecome in two or three days the food of worms. 

As to the growth of the nails, the hair and the beard, it is oftenperceived in many corpses. While there yet remains a great deal ofmoisture in the body, it is not surprising that during some time wesee some augmentation in those parts which do not demand a vitalspirit. 

The fluid blood flowing through the canals of the body seems to form agreater difficulty; but physical reasons may be given for this. Itmight very well happen that the heat of the sun warming the nitrousand sulphureous particles which are found in those earths that areproper for preserving the body, those particles having incorporatedthemselves in the newly interred corpses, ferment, decoagulate, andmelt the curdled blood, render it liquid, and give it the power offlowing by degrees through all the channels. 

This opinion appears so much the more probable from its beingconfirmed by an experiment. If you boil in a glass or earthen vesselone part of chyle, or milk, mixed with two parts of cream of tartar, the liquor will turn from white to red, because the tartaric salt willhave rarified and entirely dissolved the most oily part of the milk, and converted it into a kind of blood. That which is formed in thevessels of the body is a little redder, but it is not thicker; it is, then, not impossible that the heat may cause a fermentation whichproduces nearly the same effects as this experiment. And this will befound easier, if we consider that the juices of the flesh and bonesresemble chyle very much, and that the fat and marrow are the mostoily parts of the chyle. Now all these particles in fermenting must, by the rule of the experiment, be changed into a kind of blood. Thus, besides that which has been discoagulated and melted, the pretendedvampires shed also that blood which must be formed from the melting ofthe fat and marrow. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

NARRATION EXTRACTED FROM THE "MERCURE GALENT" OF 1693 AND 1694, CONCERNING GHOSTS. 

The public memorials of the years 1693 and 1694 speak of _oupires_, vampires or ghosts, which are seen in Poland, and above all in Russia. They make their appearance from noon to midnight, and come and suck theblood of living men or animals in such abundance that sometimes it flowsfrom them at the nose, and principally at the ears, and sometimes thecorpse swims in its own blood oozed out in its coffin. [472] It is saidthat the vampire has a sort of hunger, which makes him eat the linenwhich envelops him. This reviving being, or _oupire_, comes out of hisgrave, or a demon in his likeness, goes by night to embrace and hugviolently his near relations or his friends, and sucks their blood somuch as to weaken and attenuate them, and at last cause their death. This persecution does not stop at one single person; it extends to thelast person of the family, if the course be not interrupted by cuttingoff the head or opening the heart of the ghost, whose corpse is found inhis coffin, yielding, flexible, swollen, and rubicund, although he mayhave been dead some time. There proceeds from his body a great quantityof blood, which some mix up with flour to make bread of; and that breadeaten in ordinary protects them from being tormented by the spirit, which returns no more. 

Footnotes:

[472] V. Moréri on the word _stryges_. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

CONJECTURES OF THE "GLANEUR DE HOLLANDE, " DUTCH GLEANER, IN 1733. --NO. IX. 

The Dutch Gleaner, who is by no means credulous, supposes the truth ofthese facts as certain, having no good reason for disputing them, andreasons upon them in a way which shows he thinks lightly of thematter; he asserts that the people, amongst whom vampires are seen, are very ignorant and very credulous, so that the apparitions we arespeaking of are only the effects of a prejudiced fancy. The whole isoccasioned and augmented by the bad nourishment of these people, who, the greater part of their time, eat only bread made of oats, roots, and the bark of trees--aliments which can only engender gross blood, which is consequently much disposed to corruption, and produces darkand bad ideas in the imagination. 

He compares this disease to the bite of a mad dog, which communicatesits venom to the person who is bitten; thus, those who are infected byvampirism communicate this dangerous poison to those with whom theyassociate. Thence the wakefulness, dreams, and pretended apparitionsof vampires. 

He conjectures that this poison is nothing else than a worm, whichfeeds upon the purest substance of man, constantly gnaws his heart, makes the body die away, and does not forsake it even in the depth ofthe grave. It is certain that the bodies of those who have beenpoisoned, or who die of contagion, do not become stiff after theirdeath, because the blood does not congeal in the veins; on thecontrary, it rarifies and bubbles much the same as in vampires, whosebeard, hair, and nails grow, whose skin is rosy, who appear to havegrown fat, on account of the blood which swells and abounds in themeverywhere. 

As to the cry uttered by the vampires when the stake is driven throughtheir heart, nothing is more natural; the air which is there confined, and thus expelled with violence, necessarily produces that noise inpassing through the throat. Dead bodies often do as much without beingtouched. He concludes that it is only an imagination that is derangedby melancholy or superstition, which can fancy that the malady we havejust spoken of can be produced by vampire corpses, which come and suckaway, even to the last drop, all the blood in the body. 

A little before, he says that in 1732 they discovered again somevampires in Hungary, Moravia, and Turkish Servia; that this phenomenonis too well averred for it to be doubted; that several Germanphysicians have composed pretty thick volumes in Latin and German onthis matter; that the Germanic Academies and Universities stillresound with the names of Arnald Paul, of Stanoska, daughter ofSovitzo, and of the Heyducq Millo, all famous vampires of the quarterof Médreiga, in Hungary. 

Here is a letter which has been written to one of my friends, to becommunicated to me; it is on the subject of the ghosts ofHungary;[473] the writer thinks very differently from the Gleaner onthe subject of vampires. 

"In reply to the questions of the Abbé dom Calmet concerning vampires, the undersigned has the honor to assure him that nothing is more trueor more certain than what he will doubtless have read about it in thedeeds or attestations which have been made public, and printed in allthe Gazettes in Europe. But amongst all these public attestationswhich have appeared, the Abbé must fix his attention as a true andnotorious fact on that of the deputation from Belgrade, ordered by hislate Majesty Charles VI. , of glorious memory, and executed by hisSerene Highness the late Duke Charles Alexander of Wirtemberg, thenViceroy or Governor of the kingdom of Servia; but I cannot at presentcite the year or the day, for want of papers which I have not now byme. 

"That prince sent off a deputation from Belgrade, half consisting ofmilitary officers and half of civil, with the auditor-general of thekingdom, to go to a village where a famous vampire, several yearsdeceased, was making great havoc amongst his kin; for note well, thatit is only in their family and amongst their own relations that theseblood-suckers delight in destroying our species. This deputation wascomposed of men and persons well known for their morality and eventheir information, of irreproachable character; and there were evensome learned men amongst the two orders: they were put to the oath, and accompanied by a lieutenant of the grenadiers of the regiment ofPrince Alexander of Wirtemberg, and by twenty-four grenadiers of thesaid regiment. 

"All that were most respectable, and the duke himself, who was then atBelgrade, joined this deputation in order to be ocular spectators ofthe veracious proof about to be made. 

"When they arrived at the place, they found that in the space of afortnight the vampire, uncle of five persons, nephews and nieces, hadalready dispatched three of them and one of his own brothers. He hadbegun with his fifth victim, the beautiful young daughter of hisniece, and had already sucked her twice, when a stop was put to thissad tragedy by the following operations. 

"They repaired with the deputed commissaries to a village not far fromBelgrade, and that publicly, at night-fall, and went to the vampire'sgrave. The gentleman could not tell me the time when those who haddied had been sucked, nor the particulars of the subject. The personswhose blood had been sucked found themselves in a pitiable state oflanguor, weakness, and lassitude, so violent is the torment. He hadbeen interred three years, and they saw on this grave a lightresembling that of a lamp, but not so bright. 

"They opened the grave, and found there a man as whole and apparentlyas sound as any of us who were present; his hair, and the hairs on hisbody, the nails, teeth, and eyes as firmly fast as they now are inourselves who exist, and his heart palpitating. 

"Next they proceeded to draw him out of his grave, the body in truthnot being flexible, but wanting neither flesh nor bone; then theypierced his heart with a sort of round, pointed, iron lance; therecame out a whitish and fluid matter mixed with blood, but the bloodprevailing more than the matter, and all without any bad smell. Afterthat they cut off his head with a hatchet, like what is used inEngland at executions; there came out also a matter and blood likewhat I have just described, but more abundantly in proportion to whathad flowed from the heart. 

"And after all this they threw him back again into his grave, withquicklime to consume him promptly; and thenceforth his niece, who hadbeen twice sucked, grew better. At the place where these persons aresucked a very blue spot is formed; the part whence the blood is drawnis not determinate, sometimes it is in one place and sometimes inanother. It is a notorious fact, attested by the most authenticdocuments, and passed or executed in sight of more than 1, 300 persons, all worthy of belief. 

"But I reserve, to satisfy more fully the curiosity of the learnedAbbé dom Calmet, the pleasure of detailing to him more at length whatI have seen with my own eyes on this subject, and will give it to theChevalier de St. Urbain to send to him; too glad in that, as ineverything else, to find an occasion of proving to him that no one iswith such perfect veneration and respect as his very humble, and veryobedient servant, L. De Beloz, ci-devant Captain in the regiment ofhis Serene Highness the late Prince Alexander of Wirtemberg, and hisAid-de-Camp, and at this time first Captain of grenadiers in theregiment of Monsieur the Baron Trenck. "

Footnotes:

[473] There is reason to believe that this is only a repetition ofwhat has already been said in Chapter X. 

CHAPTER XV. 

ANOTHER LETTER ON GHOSTS. 

In order to omit nothing which can throw light on this matter, I shallinsert here the letter of a very honest man, who is well informedrespecting ghosts. This letter was written to a relation. 

"You wish, my dear cousin, to be exactly informed of what takes placein Hungary concerning ghosts who cause the death of many people inthat country. I can write to you learnedly upon it, for I have beenseveral years in those quarters, and I am naturally curious. I haveheard in my lifetime an infinite number of stories, true, or pretendedto be such, concerning spirits and sorceries, but out of a thousand Ihave hardly believed a single one. We cannot be too circumspect onthis point without running the risk of being duped. Nevertheless, there are certain facts so well attested that one cannot helpbelieving them. As to the ghosts of Hungary, the thing takes place inthis manner: A person finds himself attacked with languor, loses hisappetite, grows visibly thinner, and, at the end of eight or ten days, sometimes a fortnight, dies, without fever, or any other symptom thanthinness and drying up of the blood. 

"They say in that country that it is a ghost which attaches itself tosuch a person and sucks his blood. Of those who are attacked by thismalady the greater part think they see a white spectre which followsthem everywhere as the shadow follows the body. When we were quarteredamong the Wallachians, in the ban of Temeswar, two horsemen of thecompany in which I was cornet, died of this malady, and severalothers, who also were attacked by it, would have died in the samemanner, if a corporal of our company had not put a stop to thedisorder by employing the remedy used by the people of the country insuch case. It is very remarkable, and although infallible, I neverread it in any ritual. This is it:--

"They choose a boy young enough to be certain that he is innocent ofany impurity; they place him on an unmutilated horse, which has neverstumbled, and is absolutely black. They make him ride about thecemetery and pass over all the graves; that over which the animalrefuses to pass, in spite of repeated blows from a switch that isdelivered to his rider, is reputed to be filled by a vampire. Theyopen this grave, and find therein a corpse as fat and handsome as ifhe were a man happily and quietly sleeping. They cut the throat ofthis corpse with the stroke of a spade, and there flows forth thefinest vermilion blood in a great quantity. One might swear that itwas a healthy living man whose throat they were cutting. That done, they fill up the grave, and we may reckon that the malady will cease, and that all those who had been attacked by it will recover theirstrength by degrees, like people recovering from a long illness, andwho have been greatly extenuated. That happened precisely to ourhorsemen who had been seized with it. I was then commandant of thecompany, my captain and my lieutenant being absent. I was piqued atthat corporal's having made the experiment without me, and I had allthe trouble in the world to resist the inclination I felt to give hima severe caning--a merchandize which is very cheap in the emperor'stroops. I would have given the world to be present at this operation;but I was obliged to make myself contented as it was. "

A relation of this same officer has written me word, the 17th ofOctober, 1746, that his brother, who has served during twenty years inHungary, and has very curiously examined into everything which is saidthere concerning ghosts, acknowledges that the people of that countryare more credulous and superstitious than other nations, and theyattribute the maladies which happen to them to spells. That as soon asthey suspect a dead person of having sent them this illness, theyinform the magistrate of it, who, on the deposition of some witnesses, causes the dead body to be exhumed. They cut off the head with aspade, and if a drop of blood comes from it, they conclude that it isthe blood which he has sucked from the sick person. But the person whowrites appears to me very far from believing what is thought of thesethings in that country. 

At Warsaw, a priest having ordered a saddler to make him a bridle forhis horse, died before the bridle was made, and as he was one of thosewhom they call vampires in Poland, he came out of his grave dressed asthe ecclesiastics usually are when inhumed, took his horse from thestable, mounted it, and went in the sight of all Warsaw to thesaddler's shop, where at first he found only the saddler's wife, whowas frightened, and called her husband; he came, and the priest havingasked for his bridle, he replied, "But you are dead, Mr. Curé. " Towhich he answered, "I am going to show you I am not, " and at the sametime struck him so hard that the poor saddler died a few days after, and the priest returned to his grave. 

The steward of Count Simon Labienski, starost of Posnania, being dead, the Countess Dowager de Labienski wished, from gratitude for hisservices, to have him inhumed in the vault of the lords of thatfamily. This was done; and some time after, the sexton, who had thecare of the vault, perceived that there was some derangement in theplace, and gave notice of it to the ________, who desired, according tothe received custom in Poland, that the steward's head might be cutoff, which was done in the presence of several persons, and amongstothers of the Sieur Jouvinski, a Polish officer, and governor of theyoung Count Simon Labienski, who saw that when the sexton took thiscorpse out of his tomb to cut off his head, he ground his teeth, andthe blood came from him as fluidly as that of a person who died aviolent death, which caused the hair of all those who were present tostand on end; and they dipped a white pocket-handkerchief in the bloodof this corpse, and made all the family drink some of the blood, thatthey might not be tormented. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

PRETENDED VESTIGES OF VAMPIRISM IN ANTIQUITY. 

Some learned men have thought they discovered some vestiges ofvampirism in the remotest antiquity; but all that they say of it doesnot come near what is related of the vampires. The lamiĉ, the strigĉ, the sorcerers whom they accused of sucking the blood of livingpersons, and of thus causing their death, the magicians who were saidto cause the death of new-born children by charms and malignantspells, are nothing less than what we understand by the name ofvampires; even were it to be owned that these lamiĉ and strigĉ havereally existed, which we do not believe can ever be well proved. 

I own that these terms are found in the versions of Holy Scripture. For instance, Isaiah, describing the condition to which Babylon was tobe reduced after her ruin, says that she shall become the abode ofsatyrs, lamiĉ, and strigĉ (in Hebrew, _lilith_). This last term, according to the Hebrews, signifies the same thing, as the Greeksexpress by _strix_ and _lamiĉ_, which are sorceresses or magicians, who seek to put to death new-born children. Whence it comes that theJews are accustomed to write in the four corners of the chamber of awoman just delivered, "Adam, Eve, begone from hence _lilith_. "

The ancient Greeks knew these dangerous sorceresses by the name of_lamiĉ_, and they believed that they devoured children, or sucked awayall their blood till they died. [474]

The Seventy, in Isaiah, translate the Hebrew _lilith_ by _lamia_. Euripides and the Scholiast of Aristophanes also make mention of it asa fatal monster, the enemy of mortals. Ovid, speaking of the strigĉ, describes them as dangerous birds, which fly by night, and seek forinfants to devour them and nourish themselves with their blood. [475]

These prejudices had taken such deep root in the minds of thebarbarous people that they put to death persons suspected of beingstrigĉ, or sorceresses, and of eating people alive. Charlemagne, inhis Capitularies, which he composed for his new subjects, [476] theSaxons, condemns to death those who shall believe that a man or awoman are sorcerers (striges esse) and eat living men. He condemns inthe same manner those who shall have them burnt, or give their fleshto be eaten, or shall eat of it themselves. 

Wherein it may be remarked, first of all, that they believed therewere people who ate men alive; that they killed and burnt them; thatsometimes their flesh was eaten, as we have seen that in Russia theyeat bread kneaded with the blood of vampires; and that formerly theircorpses were exposed to wild beasts, as is still done in countrieswhere these ghosts are found, after having impaled them, or cut offtheir head. 

The laws of the Lombards, in the same way, forbid that the servant ofanother person should be put to death as a witch, _strix_, or _masca_. This last word, _masca_, whence _mask_, has the same signification asthe Latin _larva_, a spirit, a phantom, a spectre. 

We may class in the number of ghosts the one spoken of in theChronicle of Sigibert, in the year 858. 

Theodore de Gaza[477] had a little farm in Campania, which he hadcultivated by a laborer. As he was busy digging up the ground, hediscovered a round vase, in which were the ashes of a dead man;directly, a spectre appeared to him, who commanded him to put thisvase back again in the ground, with what it contained, or if he didnot do so he would kill his eldest son. The laborer gave no heed tothese threats, and in a few days his eldest son was found dead in hisbed. A little time after, the same spectre appeared to him again, reiterating the same order, and threatening to kill his second son. The laborer gave notice of all this to his master, Theodore de Gaza, who came himself to his farm, and had everything put back into itsplace. This spectre was apparently a demon, or the spirit of a paganinterred in that spot. 

Michael Glycas[478] relates that the emperor Basilius, having lost hisbeloved son, obtained by means of a black monk of Santabaren, power tobehold his said son, who had died a little while before; he saw him, and held him embraced a pretty long time, until he vanished away inhis arms. It was, then, only a phantom which appeared in his son'sform. 

In the diocese of Mayence, there was a spirit that year which madeitself manifest first of all by throwing stones, striking against thewalls of a house, as if with strong blows of a mallet; then talking, and revealing unknown things; the authors of certain thefts, and otherthings fit to spread the spirit of discord among the neighbors. Atlast he directed his fury against one person in particular, whom heliked to persecute and render odious to all the neighborhood, proclaiming that he it was who excited the wrath of God against allthe village. He pursued him in every place, without giving him theleast moment of relaxation. He burnt all his harvest collected in hishouse, and set fire to all the places he entered. 

The priests exorcised, said their prayers, dashed holy water about. The spirit threw stones at them, and wounded several persons. Afterthe priests had withdrawn, they heard him bemoaning himself, andsaying that he had hidden himself under the hood of a priest, whom henamed, and accused of having seduced the daughter of a lawyer of theplace. He continued these troublesome hauntings for three years, anddid not leave off till he had burnt all the houses in the village. 

Here follows an instance which bears connection with what is relatedof the ghosts of Hungary, who come to announce the death of their nearrelations. Evodius, Bishop of Upsala, in Africa, writes to St. Augustine, in 415, [479] that a young man whom he had with him, as awriter, or secretary, and who led a life of rare innocence and purity, having just died at the age of twenty-two, a virtuous widow saw in adream a certain deacon who, with other servants of God, of both sexes, ornamented a palace which seemed to shine as if it were of silver. She asked who they were preparing it for, and they told her it was fora young man who died the day before. She afterwards beheld in the samepalace an old man, clad in white, who commanded two persons to takethis young man out of his tomb and lead him to heaven. 

In the same house where this young man died, an aged man, half asleep, saw a man with a branch of laurel in his hand, upon which somethingwas written. 

Three days after the death of the young man, his father, who was apriest named Armenius, having retired to a monastery to consolehimself with the saintly old man, Theasus, Bishop of Manblosa, thedeceased son appeared to a monk of this monastery, and told him thatGod had received him among the blessed, and that he had sent him tofetch his father. In effect, four days after, his father had a slightdegree of fever, but it was so slight that the physician assured himthere was nothing to fear. He nevertheless took to his bed, and at thesame time, as he was yet speaking, he expired. 

It was not of fright that he died, for it does not appear that he knewanything of what the monk had seen in his dream. 

The same bishop, Evodius, relates that several persons had been seenafter their death to go and come in their houses as during theirlifetime, either in the night, or even in open day. "They say also, "adds Evodius, "that in the places where bodies are interred, andespecially in the churches, they often hear a noise at a certain hourof the night like persons praying aloud. I remember, " continuesEvodius, "having heard it said by several, and, amongst others, by aholy priest, who was witness to these apparitions, that they had seencoming out of the baptistry a great number of these spirits, withshining bodies of light, and had afterwards heard them pray in themiddle of the church. " The same Evodius says, moreover, thatProfuturus, Privus, and Servilius, who had lived very piously in themonastery, had talked with himself since their death, and what theyhad told him had come to pass. 

St. Augustine, after having related what Evodius said, acknowledgesthat a great distinction is to be made between true and false visions, and testifies that he could wish to have some sure means of justlydiscerning between them. 

But who shall give us the knowledge necessary for such discerning, sodifficult and yet so requisite, since we have not even any certain anddemonstrative marks by which to discern infallibly between true andfalse miracles, or to distinguish the works of the Almighty from theillusions of the angel of darkness. 

Footnotes:

[474] "Neu pransĉ lamiĉ vivum puerum ex trahat alvo. " _Horat. Art. Poet. _ 340. 

[475] "Carpere dicuntur lactentia viscera rostris, Et plenum poco sanguine guttur habent, Est illis strigibus nomen. "

[476] Capitul. Caroli Magni pro partibus Saxoniĉ, i. 6:--"Si quis àDiabolo deceptus crediderit secundùm morem Paganorum, virum aliquemaut foeminam strigem esse, et homines comedere; et propter hoc ipsumincenderit, vel carnem ejus ad comedendum dederit, vel ipsam comederitcapitis sententià puniatur. "

[477] Le Loyer, des Spectres, lib. Ii. P. 427. 

[478] Mich. Glycas, part iv. Annal. 

[479] Aug. Epist. 658, and Epist. 258, p. 361. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

OF GHOSTS IN THE NORTHERN COUNTRIES. 

Thomas Bartholin, the son, in his treatise entitled "_Of the Causes ofthe contempt of Death felt by the Ancient Danes while yet Gentiles_, "remarks[480] that a certain Hordus, an Icelander, saw spectres withhis bodily eyes, fought against them and resisted them. Thesethoroughly believed that the spirits of the dead came back with theirbodies, which they afterwards forsook and returned to their graves. Bartholinus relates in particular that a man named Asmond, son ofAlfus, having had himself buried alive in the same sepulchre with hisfriend Asvitus, and having had victuals brought there, was taken outfrom thence some time after covered with blood, in consequence of acombat he had been obliged to maintain against Asvitus, who hadhaunted him and cruelly assaulted him. 

He reports after that what the poets teach concerning the vocation ofspirits by the power of magic, and of their return into bodies whichare not decayed although a long time dead. He shows that the Jews havebelieved the same--that the souls came back from time to time torevisit their dead bodies during the first year after their decease. He demonstrates that the ancient northern nations were persuaded thatpersons recently deceased often made their bodily appearance; and herelates some examples of it: he adds that they attacked thesedangerous spectres, which haunted and maltreated all who had anyfields in the neighborhood of their tombs; that they cut off the headof a man named Gretter, who also returned to earth. At other timesthey thrust a stake through the body and thus fixed them to theground. 

 "Nam ferro secui mox caput ejus, Perfodique nocens stipite corpus. "

Formerly, they took the corpse from the tomb and reduced it to ashes;they did thus towards a spectre named Gardus, which they believed theauthor of all the fatal apparitions that had appeared during thewinter. 

Footnotes:

[480] Thomas Bartolin, de Causis Contemptûs Mortis à Danis, lib. Ii. C. 2. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

GHOSTS IN ENGLAND. 

William of Malmsbury says[481] that in England they believed that thewicked came back to earth after their death, and were brought back intheir own bodies by the devil, who governed them and caused them toact; _Nequam hominis cadaver post mortem dĉmone agente discurrere. _

William of Newbridge, who flourished after the middle of the twelfthcentury, relates that in his time was seen in England, in the countyof Buckingham, a man who appeared bodily, as when alive, threesucceeding nights to his wife, and after that to his nearestrelatives. They only defended themselves from his frightful visits bywatching and making a noise when they perceived him coming. He evenshowed himself to a few persons in the day time. Upon that, the Bishopof Lincoln assembled his council, who told him that similar things hadoften happened in England, and that the only known remedy against thisevil was to burn the body of the ghost. The bishop was averse to thisopinion, which appeared cruel to him: he first of all wrote a scheduleof absolution, which was placed on the body of the defunct, which wasfound in the same state as if he had been buried that very day; andfrom that time they heard no more of him. 

The author of this narrative adds, that this sort of apparitions wouldappear incredible, if several instances had not occurred in his time, and if they did not know several persons who believed in them. 

The same Newbridge says, in the following chapter, that a man who hadbeen interred at Berwick, came out of his grave every night and causedgreat confusion in all the neighborhood. It was even said that he hadboasted that he should not cease to disturb the living till they hadreduced him to ashes. Then they selected ten bold and vigorous youngmen, who took him up out of the ground, cut his body to pieces, andplaced it on a pile, whereon it was burned to ashes; but beforehand, some one amongst them having said that he could not be consumed byfire until they had torn out his heart, his side was pierced with astake, and when they had taken out his heart through the opening, theyset fire to the pile; he was consumed by the flames and appeared nomore. 

The pagans also believed that the bodies of the dead rested not, neither were they safe from magical evocations, so long as theyremained unconsumed by fire, or undecayed underground. 

 "Tali tua membra sepulchro, Talibus exuram Stygio cum carmine Sylvis, Ut nullos cantata Magos exaudiat umbra, "

said an enchantress, in Lucan, to a spirit she evoked. 

Footnotes:

[481] William of Malms. Lib. Ii. C. 4. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

GHOSTS IN PERU. 

The instance we are about to relate occurred in Peru, in the countryof the Ititans. A girl named Catharine died at the age of sixteen anunhappy death, and she had been guilty of several sacrilegiousactions. Her body immediately after her decease was so putrid thatthey were obliged to put it out of the dwelling in the open air, toescape from the bad smell which exhaled from it. At the same time theyheard as it were dogs howling; and a horse which before then was verygentle began to rear, to prance, strike the ground with its feet, andbreak its bonds; a young man who was in bed was pulled out of bedviolently by the arm; a servant maid received a kick on the shoulder, of which she bore the marks for several days. All that happened beforethe body of Catharine was inhumed. Some time afterwards, severalinhabitants of the place saw a great quantity of tiles and bricksthrown down with a great noise in the house where she died. Theservant of the house was dragged about by the foot, without any oneappearing to touch her, and that in the presence of her mistress andten or twelve other women. 

The same servant, on entering a room to fetch some clothes, perceivedCatharine, who rose up to seize hold of an earthen pot; the girl ranaway directly, but the spectre took the vase, dashed it against thewall, and broke it into a thousand pieces. The mistress, who ranthither on hearing the noise, saw that a quantity of bricks werethrown against the wall. The next day an image of the crucifix fixedagainst the wall was all on a sudden torn from its place in thepresence of them all, and broken into three pieces. 

CHAPTER XX. 

GHOSTS IN LAPLAND. 

Vestiges of these ghosts are still found in Lapland, where it is saidthey see a great number of spectres, who appear among those people, speak to them, and eat with them, without their being able to get ridof them; and as they are persuaded that these are the manes or shadesof their relations who thus disturb them, they have no means ofguarding against their intrusions more efficacious than to inter thebodies of their nearest relatives under the hearthstone, in order, apparently, that there they may be sooner consumed. In general, theybelieve that the manes, or spirits, which come out of bodies, orcorpses, are usually malevolent till they have re-entered otherbodies. They pay some respect to the spectres, or demons, which theybelieve roam about rocks, mountains, lakes, and rivers, much as informer times the Romans paid honor to the fauns, the gods of thewoods, the nymphs, and the tritons. 

Andrew Alciat[482] says that he was consulted concerning certain womenwhom the Inquisition had caused to be burnt as witches for havingoccasioned the death of some children by their spells, and for havingthreatened the mothers of other children to kill these also; and infact they did die the following night of disorders unknown to thephysicians. Here we again see those strigĉ, or witches, who delight indestroying children. 

But all this relates to our subject very indirectly. The vampires ofwhich we are discoursing are very different from all those justmentioned. 

Footnotes:

[482] Andr. Alciat. Parergon Juris, viii. C. 22. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

REAPPEARANCE OF A MAN WHO HAD BEEN DEAD FOR SOME MONTHS. 

Peter, the venerable[483] abbot of Clugni, relates the conversationwhich he had in the presence of the bishops of Oleron and of Osma, inSpain, together with several monks, with an old monk named Pierred'Engelbert, who, after living a long time in his day in highreputation for valor and honor, had withdrawn from the world after thedeath of his wife, and entered the order of Clugni. Peter theVenerable having come to see him, Pierre d'Engelbert related to himthat one day when in his bed and wide awake, he saw in his chamber, whilst the moon shone very brightly, a man named Sancho, whom he hadseveral years before sent at his own expense to the assistance ofAlphonso, king of Arragon, who was making war on Castile. Sancho hadreturned safe and sound from this expedition, but some time after hefell sick and died in his house. 

Four months after his death, Sancho showed himself to Pierred'Engelbert, as we have said. Sancho was naked, with the exception ofa rag for mere decency round him. He began to uncover the burningwood, as if to warm himself, or that he might be more distinguishable. Peter asked him who he was. "I am, " replied he, in a broken and hoarsevoice, "Sancho, your servant. " "And what do you come here for?" "I amgoing, " said he, "into Castile, with a number of others, in order toexpiate the harm we did during the last war, on the same spot where itwas committed: for my own part, I pillaged the ornaments of a church, and for that I am condemned to take this journey. You can assist mevery much by your good works; and madame, your spouse, who owes me yeteight sols for the remainder of my salary, will oblige me infinitelyif she will bestow them on the poor in my name. " Peter then asked himnews of one Pierre de Fais, his friend, who had been dead a shorttime. Sancho told him that he was saved. 

"And Bernier, our fellow-citizen, what is become of him?" "He isdamned, " said he, "for having badly performed his office of judge, andfor having troubled and plundered the widow and the innocent. "

Peter added, "Could you tell me any news of Alphonso, king of Arragon, who died a few years ago?"

Then another spectre, that Peter had not before seen, and which he nowobserved distinctly by the light of the moon, seated in the recess ofthe window, said to him--"Do not ask him for news of King Alphonso; hehas not been with us long enough to know anything about him. I, whohave been dead five years, can give you news of him. Alphonso was withus for some time, but the monks of Clugni extricated him from thence. I know not where he is now. " Then, addressing himself to hiscompanion, Sancho, "Come, " said he, "let us follow our companions; itis time to set off. " Sancho reiterated his entreaties to Peter, hislord, and went out of the house. 

Peter waked his wife who was lying by him, and who had neither seennor heard anything of all this dialogue, and asked her the question, "Do not you owe something to Sancho, that domestic who was in ourservice, and died a little while ago?" She answered, "I owe him stilleight sols. " From this, Peter had no more doubt of the truth of whatSancho had said to him, gave these eight sols to the poor, adding alarge sum of his own, and caused masses and prayers to be said for thesoul of the defunct. Peter was then in the world and married; but whenhe related this to Peter the Venerable, he was a monk of Clugni. 

St. Augustine relates that Sylla, [484] on arriving at Tarentum, offered there sacrifices to the gods, that is to say, to the demons;and having observed on the upper part of the liver of the victim asort of crown of gold, the aruspice assured him that this crown wasthe presage of a certain victory, and told him to eat alone that liverwhereon he had seen the crown. 

Almost at the same moment, a servitor of Lucius Pontius came to himand said, "Sylla, I am come from the goddess Bellona. The victory isyours; and as a proof of my prediction, I announce to you that, erelong, the capitol will be reduced to ashes. " At the same time, thisman left the camp in great haste, and on the morrow he returned withstill more eagerness, and affirmed that the capitol had been burnt, which was found to be true. 

St. Augustine had no doubt but that the demon who had caused the crownof gold to appear on the liver of the victim had inspired thisdiviner, and that the same bad spirit having foreseen theconflagration of the capitol had announced it after the event by thatsame man. 

The same holy doctor relates, [485] after Julius Obsequens, in his Bookof Prodigies, that in the open country of Campania, where some timeafter the Roman armies fought with such animosity during the civilwar, they heard at first loud noises like soldiers fighting; andafterwards several persons affirmed that they had seen for some daystwo armies, who joined battle; after which they remarked in the samepart as it were vestiges of the combatants, and the marks of horses'feet, as if the combat had really taken place there. St. Augustinedoubts not that all this was the work of the devil, who wished toreassure mankind against the horrors of civil warfare, by making thembelieve that their gods being at war amongst themselves, mankind neednot be more moderate, nor more touched by the evils which war bringswith it. 

The abbot of Ursperg, in his Chronicle, year 1123, says that in theterritory of Worms they saw during many days a multitude of armed men, on foot and on horseback, going and coming with great noise, likepeople who are going to a solemn assembly. Every day they marched, towards the hour of noon, to a mountain, which appeared to be theirplace of rendezvous. Some one in the neighborhood bolder than therest, having guarded himself with the sign of the cross, approachedone of these armed men, conjuring him in the name of God to declarethe meaning of this army, and their design. The soldier or phantomreplied, "We are not what you imagine; we are neither vain phantoms, nor true soldiers; we are the spirits of those who were killed on thisspot a long time ago. The arms and horses which you behold are theinstruments of our punishment, as they were of our sins. We are all onfire, though you can see nothing about us which appears inflamed. " Itis said that they remarked in this company the Count Emico, who hadbeen killed a few years before, and who declared that he might beextricated from that state by alms and prayers. 

Trithemius, in his _Annales Hirsauginses_, year 1013, [486] assertsthat there was seen in broad day, on a certain day in the year, anarmy of cavalry and infantry, which came down from a mountain andranged themselves on a neighboring plain. They were spoken to andconjured to speak, and they declared themselves to be the spirits ofthose who a few years before had been killed, with arms in theirhands, in that same spot. 

The same Trithemius relates elsewhere[487] the apparition of the Countof Spanheim, deceased a little while before, who appeared in thefields with his pack of hounds. This count spoke to his curé, andasked his prayers. 

Vipert, Archdeacon of the Church of Toul, cotemporary author of theLife of the holy Pope Leo IX. , who died 1059, relates[488] that, someyears before the death of this holy pope, an infinite multitude ofpersons, habited in white, was seen to pass by the town of Narni, advancing from the eastern side. This troop defiled from the morninguntil three in the afternoon, but towards evening it notablydiminished. At this sight all the population of the town of Narnimounted upon the walls, fearing they might be hostile troops, and sawthem defile with extreme surprise. 

One burgher, more resolute than the others, went out of the town, andhaving observed in the crowd a man of his acquaintance, called to himby name, and asked him the meaning of this multitude of travelers: hereplied, "We are spirits which not having yet expiated all our sins, and not being as yet sufficiently pure to enter the kingdom of heaven, we are going into holy places in a spirit of repentance; we are nowcoming from visiting the tomb of St. Martin, and we are going straightto Notre-Dame de Farse. " The man was so frightened at this vision thathe was ill for a twelvemonth--it was he who recounted the circumstanceto Pope Leo IX. All the town of Narni was witness to this procession, which took place in broad day. 

The night preceding the battle which was fought in Egypt between MarkAntony and Cĉsar, [489] whilst all the city of Alexandria was inextreme uneasiness in expectation of this action, they saw in the citywhat appeared a multitude of people, who shouted and howled likebacchanals, and they heard a confused sound of instruments in honor ofBacchus, as Mark Antony was accustomed to celebrate this kind offestivals. This troop, after having run through the greater part ofthe town, went out of it by the door leading to the enemy, anddisappeared. 

That is all which has come to my knowledge concerning the vampires andghosts of Hungary, Moravia, Silesia, and Poland, and of the otherghosts of France and Germany. We will explain our opinion after thison the reality, and other circumstances of these sorts of revived andresuscitated beings. Here follows another species, which is not lessmarvelous--I mean the excommunicated, who leave the church and theirgraves with their bodies, and do not re-enter till after the sacrificeis completed. 

Footnotes:

[483] Betrus Venerab. Abb. Cluniac. De miracul. Lib. I. C. 28. P. 1293. 

[484] Lib. Ii. De Civ. Dei, cap. 24. 

[485] Aug. Lib. Ii. De Civ. Dei, c. 25. 

[486] Trith. Chron. Hirs. P. 155, ad an. 1013. 

[487] Idem, tom. Ii. Chron. Hirs. P. 227. 

[488] Vita S. Leonis Papĉ. 

[489] Plutarch, in Anton. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

EXCOMMUNICATED PERSONS WHO GO OUT OF THE CHURCHES. 

St. Gregory the Great relates[490] that St. Benedict having threatenedto excommunicate two nuns, these nuns died in that state. Some timeafter, their nurse saw them go out of the church, as soon as thedeacon had cried out, "Let all those who do not receive the communionwithdraw. " The nurse having informed St. Benedict of the circumstance, that saint sent an oblation, or a loaf, in order that it might beoffered for them in token of reconciliation; and from that time thetwo nuns remained in quiet in their sepulchres. 

St. Augustine says[491] that the names of martyrs were recited in thediptychs not to pray for them, and the names of the virgin nunsdeceased to pray for them. "Perhibet prĉclarissimum testimoniumecclesiastica auctoritas, in quâ fidelibus notum est quo loco martyreset que defunctĉ sanctimoniales ad altaris sacramenta recitantur. " Itwas then, perhaps, when they were named at the altar, that they leftthe church. But St. Gregory says expressly, that it was when thedeacon cried aloud, "Let those who do not receive the communionretire. "

The same St. Gregory relates that a young priest of the same St. Benedict, [492] having gone out of his monastery without leave andwithout receiving the benediction of the abbot, died in hisdisobedience, and was interred in consecrated ground. The next daythey found his body out of the grave: the relations gave notice of itto St. Benedict, who gave them a consecrated wafer, and told them toplace it with proper respect on the breast of the young priest; it wasplaced there, and the earth no more rejected him from her bosom. 

This usage, or rather this abuse, of placing the holy wafer in thegrave with the dead, is very singular; but it was not unknown toantiquity. The author of the Life of St. Basil[493] the Great, givenunder the name of St. Amphilochus, says that that saint reserved thethird part of a consecrated wafer to be interred with him; he receivedit and expired while it was yet in his mouth; but some councils hadalready condemned this practice, and others have since then proscribedit, as contrary to the institutions of Jesus Christ. [494]

Still, they did not omit in a few places putting holy wafers in thetombs or graves of some persons who were remarkable for theirsanctity, as in the tomb of St. Othmar, abbot of St. Gal, [495] whereinwere found under his head several round leaves, which were indubitablybelieved to be the Host. 

In the Life of St. Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarn, [496] we read that aquantity of consecrated wafers were found on his breast. Amalariuscites of the Venerable Bede, that a holy wafer was placed on thebreast of this saint before he was inhumed; "oblata super sanctumpectus positâ. "[497] This particularity is not noted in Bede'sHistory, but in the second Life of St. Cuthbert. Amalarius remarksthat this custom proceeds doubtless from the Church of Rome, which hadcommunicated it to the English; and the Reverend Father Menard[498]maintains that it is not this practice which is condemned by theabove-mentioned Councils, but that of giving the communion to the deadby insinuating the holy wafer into their mouths. However it may beregarding this practice, we know that Cardinal Humbert, [499] in hisreply to the ____________ of the patriarch Michael Cerularius, reproves the Greeks for burying the Host, when there remained any ofit after the communion of the faithful. 

Footnotes:

[490] Greg. Magn. Lib. Ii. Dialog. C. 23. 

[491] Aug. De St. Virgin. C. Xlv. 364. 

[492] Greg. Lib. Ii. Dialog. C. 34. 

[493] Amphil. In Vit. S. Basilii. 

[494] Vide Balsamon. Ad Canon. 83. Concil. In Trullo, et Concil. Carthagin. III. C. 6. Hippon. C. 5. Antissiod. C. 12. 

[495] Vit. S. Othmari, c. 3. 

[496] Vit. S. Cuthberti, lib. Iv. C. 2. Apud Bolland. 26 Martii. 

[497] Amalar. De Offic. Eccles. Lib. Iv. C. 41. 

[498] Menard. Not. In Sacrament. S. Greg. Magn. Pp. 484, 485. 

[499] Humbert. Card. Bibliot. P. P. Lib. Xviii. Et tom. Iv. Concil. 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

SOME OTHER INSTANCES OF EXCOMMUNICATED PERSONS BEING CAST OUT OFCONSECRATED GROUND. 

We see again in history, several other examples of the dead bodies ofexcommunicated persons being cast out of consecrated earth; forinstance, in the life of St. Gothard, Bishop of Hildesheim, [500] it isrelated that this saint having excommunicated certain persons fortheir rebellion and their sins, they did not cease, in spite of hisexcommunications, to enter the church, and remain there thoughforbidden by the saint, whilst even the dead, who had been interredthere years since, and had been placed there without their sentence ofexcommunication being removed, obeyed him, arose from their tombs, andleft the church. After mass, the saint, addressing himself to theserebels, reproached them for their hardness of heart, and told themthose dead people would rise against them in the day of judgment. Atthe same time, going out of the church, he gave absolution to theexcommunicated dead, and allowed them to re-enter it, and repose intheir graves as before. The Life of St. Gothard was written by one ofhis disciples, a canon of his cathedral; and this saint died on the4th of May, 938. 

In the second Council, held at Limoges, [501] in 1031, at which a greatmany bishops, abbots, priests and deacons were present, they reportedthe instances which we had just cited from St. Benedict, to show therespect in which sentences of excommunication, pronounced byecclesiastical superiors, were held. Then the Bishop of Cahors, whowas present, related a circumstance which had happened to him a shorttime before. "A cavalier of my diocese, having been killed inexcommunication, I would not accede to the prayers of his friends, whoimplored to grant him absolution; I desired to make an example of him, in order to inspire others with fear. But he was interred by soldiersor gentlemen (_milites_) without my permission, without the presenceof the priests, in a church dedicated to St. Peter. The next morninghis body was found out of the ground, and thrown naked far from thespot; his grave remaining entire, and without any sign of having beentouched. The soldiers or gentlemen (_milites_) who had interred him, having opened the grave, found in it only the linen in which he hadbeen wrapped; they buried him again, and covered him with an enormousquantity of earth and stones. The next day they found the corpseoutside the tomb, without its appearing that any one had worked at it. The same thing happened five times; at last they buried him as theycould, at a distance from the cemetery, in unconsecrated ground; whichfilled the neighboring seigneurs with so much terror that they allcame to me to make their peace. That is a fact, invested witheverything which can render it incontestable. "

Footnotes:

[500] Vit. S. Gothardi, Sĉcul. Vi. Bened. Parte c. P. 434. 

[501] Tom. Ix. Concil. An 1031, p. 702. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

AN INSTANCE OF AN EXCOMMUNICATED MARTYR BEING CAST OUT OF THE EARTH. 

We read in the _menées_ of the Greeks, on the 15th of October, that amonk of the Desert of Sheti, having been excommunicated by him who hadthe care of his conduct, for some act of disobedience, he left thedesert, and came to Alexandria, where he was arrested by the governorof the city, despoiled of his conventual habit, and ardently solicitedto sacrifice to false gods. The solitary resisted nobly, and wastormented in various ways, until at last they cut off his head, andthrew his body outside of the city, to be devoured by dogs. TheChristians took it away in the night, and having embalmed it andenveloped it in fine linen, they interred it in the church as amartyr, in an honorable place; but during the holy sacrifice, thedeacon having cried aloud, as usual, that the catechumens and thosewho did not take the communion were to withdraw, they suddenly beheldthe martyr's tomb open of itself, and his body retire into thevestibule of the church; after the mass, it returned to its sepulchre. 

A pious person having prayed for three days, learnt by the voice of anangel that this monk had incurred excommunication for having disobeyedhis superior, and that he would remain bound until that same superiorhad given him absolution. Then they went to the desert directly, andbrought the saintly old man, who caused the coffin of the martyr tobe opened, and absolved him, after which he remained in peace in histomb. 

This instance appears to me rather suspicious. 1. In the time that theDesert of Sheti was peopled with solitary monks, there were no longerany persecutors at Alexandria. They troubled no one there, eitherconcerning the profession of Christianity, or on the religiousprofession--they would sooner have persecuted these idolators andpagans. The Christian religion was then dominant and respectedthroughout all Egypt, above all, in Alexandria. 2. The monks of Shetiwere rather hermits than cenobites, and a monk had no authority thereto excommunicate his brother. 3. It does not appear that the monk inquestion had deserved excommunication, at least major excommunication, which deprives the faithful of the entry of the church, and theparticipation of the holy mysteries. The bearing of the Greek text issimply, that he remained obedient for some time to his spiritualfather, but that having afterwards fallen into disobedience, hewithdrew from the hands of the old man without any legitimate cause, and went away to Alexandria. All that deserves doubtlessly even majorexcommunication, if this monk had quitted his profession and retiredfrom the monastery to lead a secular life; but at that time the monkswere not, as now, bound by vows of stability and obedience to theirregular superiors, who had not a right to excommunicate them withgrand excommunication. We will speak of this again by-and-by. 

CHAPTER XXV. 

A MAN REJECTED FROM THE CHURCH FOR HAVING REFUSED TO PAY TITHES. 

John Brompton, Abbot of Sornat in England, [502] says that we may readin very old histories that St. Augustin, the Apostle of England, wishing to persuade a gentleman to pay the tithes, God permitted thatthis saint having said before all the people, before the commencementof the mass, that no excommunicated person should assist at the holysacrifice, they saw a man who had been interred for 150 years leavethe church. 

After mass, St. Augustin, preceded by the cross, went to ask this deadman why he went out? The dead man replied that it was because he haddied in a state of excommunication. The saint asked him, where was thesepulchre of the priest who had pronounced against him the sentenceof excommunication? They went thither; St. Augustin commanded him torise; he came to life, and avowed that he had excommunicated the manfor his crimes, and particularly for his obstinacy in refusing to paytithes; then, by order of St. Augustin, he gave him absolution, andthe dead man returned to his tomb. The priest entreated the saint topermit him also to return to his sepulchre, which was granted him. This story appears to me still more suspicious than the preceding one. In the time of St. Augustin, the Apostle of England, there was noobligation as yet to pay tithes on pain of excommunication, and muchless a hundred and fifty years before that time--above all in England. 

Footnotes:

[502] John Brompton, Chronic. Vide ex Bolland. 26 Maii, p. 396. 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

INSTANCES OF PERSONS WHO HAVE SHOWN SIGNS OF LIFE AFTER THEIR DEATH, AND WHO HAVE DRAWN BACK FROM RESPECT, TO MAKE ROOM OR GIVE PLACE TOSOME WHO WERE MORE WORTHY THAN THEMSELVES. 

Tertullian relates[503] an instance to which he had been witness--_demeo didici_. A woman who belonged to the church, to which she had beengiven as a slave, died in the prime of life, after being once marriedonly, and that for a short time, was brought to the church. Beforeputting her in the ground, the priest offering the sacrifice andraising his hands in prayer, this woman, who had her hands extended ather side, raised them at the same time, and put them together as asupplicant; then, when the peace was given, she replaced herself inher former position. 

Tertullian adds that another body, dead, and buried in a cemetery, withdrew on one side to give place to another corpse which they wereabout to inter near it. He relates these instances as a suite to whatwas said by Plato and Democritus, that souls remained some time nearthe dead bodies they had inhabited, which they preserved sometimesfrom corruption, and often caused their hair, beard, and nails to growin their graves. Tertullian does not approve of the opinion of these;he even refutes them pretty well; but he owns that the instances Ihave just spoken of are favorable enough to that opinion, which isalso that of the Hebrews, as we have before seen. 

It is said that after the death of the celebrated Abelard, [504] whowas interred at the Monastery of the Paraclete, the Abbess Heloisa, his spouse, being also deceased, and having requested to be buried inthe same grave, at her approach Abelard extended his arms and receivedher into his bosom: _elevatis brachiis illam recepit, et ita eamamplexatus brachia sua strinxit_. This circumstance is certainlyneither proved nor probable; the Chronicle whence it is extracted hadprobably taken it from some popular rumor. 

The author of the Life of St. John the Almoner, [505] which was writtenimmediately after his death by Leontius, Bishop of Naples, a town inthe Isle of Cyprus, relates that St. John the Almoner being dead atAmatunta, in the same island, his body was placed between that of twobishops, who drew back on each side respectfully to make room for himin sight of all present; _non unus, neque decem, neque centumviderunt, sed omnis turba, quĉ convenit ad ejus sepulturam_, says theauthor cited. Metaphrastes, who had read the life of the saint inGreek, repeats the same fact. 

Evagrius de Pont[506] says, that a holy hermit named Thomas, andsurnamed Salus, because he counterfeited madness, dying in thehospital of Daphné, near the city of Antioch, was buried in thestrangers' cemetery, but every day he was found out of the ground at adistance from the other dead bodies, which he avoided. The inhabitantsof the place informed Ephraim, Bishop of Antioch, of this, and he hadhim solemnly carried into the city and honorably buried in thecemetery, and from that time the people of Antioch keep the feast ofhis translation. 

John Mosch[507] reports the same story, only he says that it was somewomen who were buried near Thomas Salus, who left their graves throughrespect for the saint. 

The Hebrews ridiculously believe that the Jews who are buried withoutJudea will roll underground at the last day, to repair to the PromisedLand, as they cannot come to life again elsewhere than in Judea. 

The Persians recognize also a transporting angel, whose care it is toassign to dead bodies the place and rank due to their merits: if aworthy man is buried in an infidel country, the transporting angelleads him underground to a spot near one of the faithful, while hecasts into the sewer the body of any infidel interred in holy ground. Other Mahometans have the same notion; they believe that thetransporting angel placed the body of Noah, and afterwards that ofAli, in the grave of Adam. I relate these fantastical ideas only toshow their absurdity. As to the other stories related in this samechapter, they must not be accepted without examination, for theyrequire confirmation. 

Footnotes:

[503] Tertull. De Animo, c. 5. P. 597. Edit. Pamelii. 

[504] Chronic. Turon. Inter opera Abĉlardi, p. 1195. 

[505] Bolland. Tom. Ii. P. 315, 13 Januar. 

[506] Evagrius Pont. Lib. Iv. C. 53. 

[507] Jean Mosch. Pras. Spirit. C. 88. 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

OF PERSONS WHO PERFORM A PILGRIMAGE AFTER THEIR DEATH. 

A scholar of the town of Saint Pons, near Narbonne, [508] having diedin a state of excommunication, appeared to one of his friends, andbegged of him to go to the city of Rhodes, and ask the bishop to granthim absolution. He set off in snowy weather; the spirit, whoaccompanied him without being seen by him showed him the road andcleared away the snow. On arriving at Rhodes, he asked and obtainedfor his friend the required absolution, when the spirit reconductedhim to Saint Pons, gave him thanks for this service, and took leave, promising to testify to him his gratitude. 

Here follows a letter written to me on the 5th of April, 1745, andwhich somewhat relates to what we have just seen. "Something hasoccurred here within the last few days, relatively to yourDissertation upon Ghosts, which I think I ought to inform you of. Aman of Letrage, a village a few miles from Remiremont, lost his wifeat the beginning of February last, and married again the week beforeLent. At eleven o'clock in the evening of his wedding-day, his wifeappeared and spoke to his new spouse; the result of the conversationwas to oblige the bride to perform seven pilgrimages for the defunct. From that day, and always at the same hour, the defunct appeared, andspoke in presence of the curé of the place and several other persons;on the 15th of March, at the moment that the bride was preparing torepair to St. Nicholas, she had a visit from the defunct, who told herto make haste, and not to be alarmed at any pain or trouble which shemight undergo on her journey. 

This woman with her husband and her brother and sister-in-law, set offon their way, not expecting that the dead wife would be of the party;but she never left them until they were at the door of the Church ofSt. Nicholas. These good people, when they were arrived at twoleagues' distance from St. Nicholas, were obliged to put up at alittle inn called the Barracks. There the wife found herself so ill, that the two men were obliged to carry her to the burgh of St. Nicholas. Directly she was under the church porch, she walked easily, and felt no more pain. This fact has been reported to me by thesacristan and the four persons. The last thing that the defunct saidto the bride was, that she should neither speak to nor appear to heragain until half the pilgrimages should be accomplished. The simpleand natural manner in which these good people related this fact to usmakes me believe that it is certain. 

It is not said that this young woman had incurred excommunication, butapparently she was bound by a vow or promise which she had made, toaccomplish these pilgrimages, which she imposed upon the other youngwife who succeeded her. Also, we see that she did not enter the Churchof St. Nicholas; she only accompanied the pilgrims to the church door. 

We may here add the instance of that crowd of pilgrims who, in thetime of Pope Leo IX. , passed at the foot of the wall of Narne, as Ihave before related, and who performed their purgatory by going frompilgrimage to pilgrimage. 

Footnotes:

[508] Melchior. Lib. De Statu Mortuorum. 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

ARGUMENT CONCERNING THE EXCOMMUNICATED WHO QUIT CHURCHES. 

All that we have just reported concerning the bodies of persons whohad been excommunicated leaving their tombs during mass, and returninginto them after the service, deserves particular attention. 

It seems that a thing which passed before the eyes of a wholepopulation in broad day, and in the midst of the most redoubtablemysteries, can be neither denied nor disputed. Nevertheless, it may beasked, How these bodies came out? Were they whole, or in a state ofdecay? naked, or clad in their own dress, or in the linen and bandageswhich had enveloped them in the tomb? Where, also, did they go?

The cause of their forthcoming is well noted; it was the majorexcommunication. This penalty is decreed only to mortal sin. [509]Those persons had, then, died in the career of deadly sin, and wereconsequently condemned and in hell; for if there is naught in questionbut a minor excommunication, why should they go out of the churchafter death with such terrible and extraordinary circumstances, sincethat ecclesiastical excommunication does not deprive one absolutelyof communion with the faithful, or of entrance to church?

If it be said that the crime was remitted, but not the penalty ofexcommunication, and that these persons remained excluded from churchcommunion until after their absolution, given by the ecclesiasticaljudge, we ask if a dead man can be absolved and be restored tocommunion with the church, unless there are unequivocal proofs of hisrepentance and conversion preceding his death. 

Moreover, the persons just cited as instances do not appear to havebeen released from crime or guilt, as might be supposed. The textswhich we have cited sufficiently note that they died in their guiltand sins; and what St. Gregory the Great says in the part of hisDialogues there quoted, replying to his interlocutor, Peter, supposesthat these nuns had died without doing penance. 

Besides, it is a constant rule of the church that we cannotcommunicate or have communion with a dead man, whom we have not hadany communication with during his lifetime. "Quibus viventibus noncommunicavimus, mortuis, communicare non possumus, " says Pope St. Leo. [510] At any rate, it is allowed that an excommunicated person whohas given signs of sincere repentance, although there may not havebeen time for him to confess himself, can be reconciled to thechurch[511] and receive ecclesiastical sepulture after his death. But, in general, before receiving absolution from sin, they must have beenabsolved from the censures and excommunication, if such have beenincurred: "Absolutio ab excommunicatione debet prĉcedere absolutionemà peccatis; quia quandiu aliquis est excommunicatus, non potestrecipere aliquod Ecclesiĉ Sacramentum, " says St. Thomas. [512]

Following this decision, it would have been necessary to absolve thesepersons from their excommunication, before they could receiveabsolution from the guilt of their sins. Here, on the contrary, theyare supposed to be absolved from their sins as to their criminality, in order to be able to receive absolution from the censures of thechurch. 

I do not see how these difficulties can be resolved. 

1. How can you absolve the dead? 2. How can you absolve him fromexcommunication before he has received absolution from sin? 3. How canhe be absolved without asking for absolution, or its appearing that hehath requested it? 4. How can people be absolved who died in mortalsin, and without doing penance? 5. Why do these excommunicated personsreturn to their tombs after mass? 6. If they dared not stay in thechurch during the mass, when were they?

It appears certain that the nuns and the young monk spoken of by St. Gregory died in their sins, and without having received absolutionfrom them. St. Benedict, probably, was not a priest, and had notabsolved them as regards their guilt. 

It may be said that the excommunication spoken of by St. Gregory wasnot major, and in that case the holy abbot could absolve them; butwould this minor and regular excommunication deserve that they shouldquit the church in so miraculous and public a manner? The personsexcommunicated by St. Gothard, and the gentleman mentioned at theCouncil of Limoges, in 1031, had died unrepentant, and under sentenceof excommunication; consequently in mortal sin; and yet they aregranted peace and absolution after their death, at the simple entreatyof their friends. 

The young solitary spoken of in the _acta sanctorum_ of the Greeks, who after having quitted his cell through incontinency anddisobedience, had incurred excommunication, could he receive the crownof martyrdom in that state? And if he had received it, was he not atthe same time reconciled to the church? Did he not wash away his faultwith his blood? And if his excommunication was only regular and minor, would he deserve after his martyrdom to be excluded from the presenceof the holy mysteries?

I see no other way of explaining these facts, if they are as they arerelated, than by saying that the story has not preserved thecircumstances which might have deserved the absolution of thesepersons, and we must presume that the saints--above all, the bishopswho absolved them--knew the rules of the church, and did nothing inthe matter but what was right and conformable to the canons. 

But it results from all that we have just said, that as the bodies ofthe wicked withdraw from the company of the holy through a principleof veneration and a feeling of their own unworthiness, so also thebodies of the holy separate themselves from the wicked, from oppositemotives, that they may not appear to have any connection with them, even after death, or to approve of their bad life. In short, if whatis just related be true, the righteous and the saints feel deferencefor one another, and honor each other ever in the other world; whichis probable enough. 

We are about to see some instances which seem to render equivocal anduncertain, as a proof of sanctity, the uncorrupted state of the bodyof a just man, since it is maintained that the bodies of theexcommunicated do not rot in the earth until the sentence ofexcommunication pronounced against them be taken off. 

Footnotes:

[509] Concil. Meli. In Can. Nemo. 41, n. 43. D. Thom. Iv. Distinct. 18, 9. 2, art. 1. Quĉstiuncula in corpore, &c. 

[510] S. Leo canone Commun. 1. A. 4. 9. 2. See also Clemens III. InCapit. Sacris, 12. De Sepult. Eccl. 

[511] Eveillon, traité des Excommunicat. Et Manitoires. 

[512] D. Thom. In iv. Sentent. Dist. 1. Qu. 1. Art. 3. Quĉstiunc. 2. Ad. 2. 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

DO THE EXCOMMUNICATED ROT IN THE GROUND?

It is a very ancient opinion that the bodies of the excommunicated donot decompose; it appears in the Life of St Libentius, Archbishop ofBremen, who died on the 4th of January, 1013. That holy prelate havingexcommunicated some pirates, one of them died, and was buried inNorway; at the end of seventy years they found his body entire andwithout decay, nor did it fall to dust until after absolution receivedfrom Archbishop Alvaridius. 

The modern Greeks, to authorize their schism, and to prove that thegift of miracles, and the power of binding and unbinding, subsist intheir church even more visibly and more certainly than in the Latinand Roman church, maintain that amongst themselves the bodies of thosewho are excommunicated do not decay, but become swollenextraordinarily, like drums, and can neither be corrupted nor reducedto ashes till after they have received absolution from their bishopsor their priests. They relate divers instances of this kind of deadbodies, found uncorrupted in their graves, and which are afterwardsreduced to ashes as soon as the excommunication is taken off. They donot deny, however, that the uncorrupted state of a body is sometimes amark of sanctity, [513] but they require that a body thus preservedshould exhale a good smell, be white or reddish, and not black, offensive and swollen. 

It is affirmed that persons who have been struck dead by lightning donot decay, and for that reason the ancients neither burnt them norburied them. That is the opinion of the physician Zachias; but Paré, after Comines, thinks that the reason they are not subject tocorruption is because they are, as it were, embalmed by the sulphur ofthe thunderbolt, which serves them instead of salt. 

In 1727, they discovered in the vault of an hospital near Quebec theunimpaired corpses of five nuns, who had been dead for more thantwenty years; and these corpses, though covered with quicklime, stillcontained blood. 

Footnotes:

[513] Goar, not. In Eucholog. P. 688. 

CHAPTER XXX. 

INSTANCES TO DEMONSTRATE THAT THE EXCOMMUNICATED DO NOT DECAY, ANDTHAT THEY APPEAR TO THE LIVING. 

The Greeks relate[514] that under the Patriarch of ConstantinopleManuel, or Maximus, who lived in the fifteenth century, the TurkishEmperor of Constantinople wished to know the truth of what the Greeksasserted concerning the uncorrupted state of those who died undersentence of excommunication. The patriarch caused the tomb of a womanto be opened; she had had a criminal connection with an archbishop ofConstantinople; her body was whole, black, and much swollen. The Turksshut it up in a coffin, sealed with the emperor's seal; the patriarchsaid his prayer, gave absolution to the dead woman, and at the end ofthree days the coffin or box being opened they found the body fallento dust. 

I see no miracle in this: everybody knows that bodies which aresometimes found quite whole in their tombs fall to dust as soon asthey are exposed to the air. I except those which have been wellembalmed, as the mummies of Egypt, and bodies which are buried inextremely dry spots, or in an earth replete with nitre and salt, whichdissipate in a short time all the moisture there may be in the deadbodies, either of men or animals; but I do not understand that theArchbishop of Constantinople could validly absolve after death aperson who died in deadly sin and bound by excommunication. Theybelieve also that the bodies of these excommunicated persons oftenappear to the living, whether by day or by night, speaking to them, calling them, and molesting them. Leon Allatius enters into longdetails on this subject; he says that in the Isle of Chio theinhabitants do not answer to the first voice that calls them, for fearthat it should be a spirit or ghost; but if they are called twice, itis not a vroucolaca, [515] which is the name they give those spectres. If any one answers to them at the first sound, the spectre disappears;but he who has spoken to it infallibly dies. 

There is no other way of guarding against these bad genii than bytaking up the corpse of the person who has appeared, and burning itafter certain prayers have been recited over it; then the body isreduced to ashes, and appears no more. They have then no doubt thatthese are the bodies of criminal and malevolent men, which come out oftheir graves and cause the death of those who see and reply to them;or that it is the demon, who makes use of their bodies to frightenmortals, and cause their death. 

They know of no means more certain to deliver themselves from beinginfested by these dangerous apparitions than to burn and hack topieces these bodies, which served as instruments of malice, or to tearout their hearts, or to let them putrefy before they are buried, or tocut off their heads, or to pierce their temples with a large nail. 

Footnotes:

[514] Vide Malva. Lib. I. Turco-grĉcia, pp. 26, 27. 

[515] Vide Bolland. Mense Augusto, tom. Ii. Pp. 201-203, et Allat. Epist. Ad Zachiam, p. 12. 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

INSTANCE OF THE REAPPEARANCES OF THE EXCOMMUNICATED. 

Ricaut, in the history he has given us of the present state of theGreek church, acknowledges that this opinion, that the bodies ofexcommunicated persons do not decay, is general, not only among theGreeks of the present day, but also among the Turks. He relates a factwhich he heard from a Candiote caloyer, who had affirmed the thing tohim on oath; his name was Sophronius, and he was well known and highlyrespected at Smyrna. A man who died in the Isle of Milo, had beenexcommunicated for some fault which he had committed in the Morea, andhe was interred without any funeral ceremony in a spot apart, and notin consecrated ground. His relations and friends were deeply moved tosee him in this plight; and the inhabitants of the isle were everynight alarmed by baneful apparitions, which they attributed to thisunfortunate man. 

They opened his grave, and found his body quite entire, with the veinsswollen with blood. After having deliberated upon it, the caloyerswere of opinion that they should dismember the body, hack it topieces, and boil it in wine; for it is thus they treat the bodies of_revenans_. 

But the relations of the dead man, by dint of entreaties, succeeded indeferring this execution, and in the mean time sent in all haste toConstantinople, to obtain the absolution of the young man from thepatriarch. Meanwhile, the body was placed in the church, and every dayprayers were offered up for the repose of his soul. One day when thecaloyer Sophronius, above mentioned, was performing divine service, all on a sudden a great noise was heard in the coffin; they opened it, and found his body decayed as if he had been dead seven years. Theyobserved the moment when the noise was heard, and it was found to beprecisely at that hour that his absolution had been signed by thepatriarch. 

M. Le Chevalier Ricaut, from whom we have this narrative, was neithera Greek, nor a Roman Catholic, but a staunch Anglican; he remarks onthis occasion that the Greeks believe that an evil spirit enters thebodies of the excommunicated, and preserves them from putrefaction, byanimating them, and causing them to act, nearly as the soul animatesand inspires the body. 

They imagine, moreover, that these corpses eat during the night, walkabout, digest what they have eaten, and really nourish themselves--thatsome have been found who were of a rosy hue, and had their veins stillfully replete with the quantity of blood; and although they had beendead forty days, have ejected, when opened, a stream of blood asbubbling and fresh as that of a young man of sanguine temperament wouldbe; and this belief so generally prevails that every one relates factscircumstantially concerning it. 

Father Theophilus Reynard, who has written a particular treatise onthis subject, maintains that this return of the dead is an indubitablefact, and that there are very certain proofs and experience of thesame; but that to pretend that those ghosts who come to disturb theliving are always those of excommunicated persons, and that it is aprivilege of the schismatic Greek church to preserve from decay thosewho incurred excommunication, and have died under censure of theirchurch, is an untenable assumption; since it is certain that thebodies of the excommunicated decay like others, and there are somewhich have died in communion with the church, whether the Greek or theLatin, who remain uncorrupted. Such are found even among the Pagans, and amongst animals, of which the dead bodies are sometimes found inan uncorrupted state, both in the ground, and in the ruins of oldbuildings. [516]

Footnotes:

[516] See, concerning the bodies of the excommunicated which areaffirmed to be exempt from decay, Father Goar, Ritual of the Greeks, pp. 687, 688; Matthew Paris, History of England, tom. Ii. P. 687; Adamde Brême, c. Lxxv. ; Albert de Stade, on the year 1050, and Monsieur duCange, Glossar. Latinit. At the word _imblocatus_. 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

VROUCOLACA EXHUMED IN PRESENCE OF MONSIEUR DE TOURNEFORT. 

Monsieur Pitton de Tournefort relates the manner in which they exhumeda pretended vroucolaca, in the Isle of Micon, where he was on the 1stof January, 1701. These are his own words: "We saw a very differentscene, (in the same Isle of Micon, ) on the occasion of one of thosedead people, whom they believe to return to earth after theirinterment. This one, whose history we shall relate, was a peasant ofMicon, naturally sullen and quarrelsome; which is a circumstance to beremarked relatively to such subjects; he was killed in the country, noone knows when, or by whom. Two days after he had been inhumed in achapel in the town, it was rumored that he was seen by night walkingvery fast; that he came into the house, overturning the furniture, extinguishing the lamps, throwing his arms around persons from behind, and playing a thousand sly tricks. 

"At first people only laughed at it; but the affair began to beserious, when the most respectable people in the place began tocomplain: the priests even owned the fact, and doubtless they hadtheir reasons. People did not fail to have masses said; neverthelessthe peasant continued to lead the same life without correctinghimself. After several assemblies of the principal men of the city, with priests and monks, it was concluded that they must, according tosome ancient ceremonial, await the expiration of nine days afterburial. 

"On the tenth day a mass was said in the chapel where the corpse lay, in order to expel the demon which they believed to have inclosedhimself therein. This body was taken up after mass, and they began toset about tearing out his heart; the butcher of the town, who was old, and very awkward, began by opening the belly instead of the breast; hefelt for a long time in the entrails without finding what he sought. At last some one told him that he must pierce the diaphragm; then theheart was torn out, to the admiration of all present. The corpse, however, gave out such a bad smell, that they were obliged to burnincense; but the vapor, mixed with the exhalations of the carrion, only augmented the stink, and began to heat the brain of these poorpeople. 

"Their imagination, struck with the spectacle, was full of visions;some one thought proper to say that a thick smoke came from this body. We dared not say that it was the vapor of the incense. They onlyexclaimed "Vroucolacas, " in the chapel, and in the square before it. (This is the name which they give to these pretended _Revenans_. ) Therumor spread and was bellowed in the street, and the noise seemedlikely to shake the vaulted roof of the chapel. Several presentaffirmed that the blood of this wretched man was quite vermilion; thebutcher swore that the body was still quite warm; whence it wasconcluded that the dead man was very wrong not to be quite dead, or, to express myself better, to suffer himself to be reanimated by thedevil. This is precisely the idea of a vroucolaca; and they made thisname resound in an astonishing manner. At this time there entered acrowd of people, who protested aloud that they clearly perceived thisbody was not stiff when they brought it from the country to the churchto bury it, and that consequently it was a true vroucolaca; this wasthe chorus. 

"I have no doubt that they would have maintained it did not stink, ifwe had not been present; so stupefied were these poor people with thecircumstance, and infatuated with the idea of the return of the dead. For ourselves, who got next to the corpse in order to make ourobservations exactly, we were ready to die from the offensive odorwhich proceeded from it. When they asked us what we thought of thisdead man, we replied that we believed him thoroughly dead; but as wewished to cure, or at least not to irritate their stricken fancy, werepresented to them that it was not surprising if the butcher hadperceived some heat in searching amidst entrails which were decaying;neither was it extraordinary that some vapor had proceeded from them;since such will issue from a dunghill that is stirred up; as for thispretended red blood, it still might be seen on the butcher's handsthat it was only a very foetid mud. 

"After all these arguments, they bethought themselves of going to themarine, and burning the heart of the dead man, who in spite of thisexecution was less docile, and made more noise than before. Theyaccused him of beating people by night, of breaking open the doors andeven terraces, of breaking windows, tearing clothes, and emptying jugsand bottles. He was a very thirsty dead man; I believe he only sparedthe consul's house, where I was lodged. In the mean time I never sawanything so pitiable as the state of this island. 

"Everybody seemed to have lost their senses. The most sensible peopleappeared as phrenzied as the others; it was a veritable brain fever, as dangerous as any mania or madness. Whole families were seen toforsake their houses, and coming from the ends of the town, bringtheir flock beds to the market-place to pass the night there. Everyone complained of some new insult; you heard nothing but lamentationsat night-fall; and the most sensible people went into the country. 

"Amidst such a general prepossession we made up our minds to saynothing; we should not only have been considered as absurd, but asinfidels. How can you convince a whole people of error? Those whobelieved in their own minds that we had our doubts of the truth of thefact, came and reproached us for our incredulity, and pretended toprove that there were such things as vroucolacas, by some authoritywhich they derived from Father Richard, a Jesuit missionary. It isLatin, said they, and consequently you ought to believe it. We shouldhave done no good by denying this consequence. They every morningentertained us with the comedy of a faithful recital of all the newfollies which had been committed by this bird of night; he was evenaccused of having committed the most abominable sins. 

"The citizens who were most zealous for the public good believed thatthey had missed the most essential point of the ceremony. They saidthat the mass ought not to be celebrated until after the heart of thiswretched man had been torn out; they affirmed that with thatprecaution they could not have failed to surprise the devil, anddoubtless he would have taken care not to come back again; instead ofwhich had they begun by saying mass, he would have had, said they, plenty of time to take flight, and to return afterwards at hisleisure. 

"After all these arguments they found themselves in the sameembarrassment as the first day it began; they assembled night andmorning; they reasoned upon it, made processions which lasted threedays and three nights; they obliged the priests to fast; they wereseen running about in the houses with the asperser or sprinkling brushin their hands, sprinkling holy water and washing the doors with it;they even filled the mouth of that poor vroucolaca with holy water. Weso often told the administration of the town that in all Christendompeople would not fail in such a case to watch by night, to observe allthat was going forward in the town, that at last they arrested somevagabonds, who assuredly had a share in all these disturbances. Apparently they were not the principal authors of them, or they weretoo soon set at liberty; for two days after, to make themselves amendsfor the fast they had kept in prison, they began again to empty thestone bottles of wine belonging to those persons who were silly enoughto forsake their houses at night. Thus, then, they were again obligedto have recourse to prayers. 

"One day as certain orisons were being recited, after having stuck Iknow not how many naked swords upon the grave of this corpse, whichwas disinterred three or four times a day, according to the caprice ofthe first comer, an Albanian, who chanced to be at Mico accidentally, bethought himself of saying in a sententious tone, that it was veryridiculous to make use of the swords of Christians in such a case. Doyou not see, blind as ye are, said he, that the hilt of these swords, forming a cross with the handle, prevents the devil from coming out ofthat body? why do you not rather make use of the sabres of the Turks?The advice of this clever man was of no use; the vroucolaca did notappear more tractable, and everybody was in a strange consternation;they no longer knew to which saint to pay their vows; when, with onevoice, as if the signal word had been given, they began to shout inall parts of the town that they had waited too long: that thevroucolaca ought to be burnt altogether; that after that, they woulddefy the devil to return and ensconce himself there; that it would bebetter to have recourse to that extremity than to let the island bedeserted. In fact, there were whole families who were packing up inthe intention of retiring to Sira or Tina. 

"So they carried the vroucolaca, by order of the administration, tothe point of the Island of St. George, where they had prepared a greatpile made up with a mixture of tow, for fear that wood, however dry itmight be, would not burn quickly enough by itself. The remains of thisunfortunate corpse were thrown upon it and consumed in a very littletime; it was on the first day of January, 1701. We saw this fire as wereturned from Delos: it might be called a real _feu de joie_; sincethen, there have been no more complaints against the vroucolaca. Theycontented themselves with saying that the devil had been properlycaught that time, and they made up a song to turn him into ridicule. 

"Throughout the Archipelago, the people are persuaded that it is onlythe Greeks of the Greek church whose corpses are reanimated by thedevil. The inhabitants of the Isle of Santorin have greatapprehensions of these bugbears; those of Maco, after their visionswere dissipated, felt an equal fear of being punished by the Turks andby the Bishop of Tina. None of the papas would be present at St. George when this body was burned, lest the bishop should exact a sumof money for having disinterred and burned the dead body without hispermission. As for the Turks, it is certain that at their first visitthey did not fail to make the community of Maco pay the price of theblood of this poor devil, who in every way became the abomination andhorror of his country. After this, must we not own that the Greeks ofto-day are not great Greeks, and that there is only ignorance andsuperstition among them?"[517]

So says Monsieur de Tournefort. 

Footnotes:

[517] This took place nearly a hundred and fifty years ago. 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

HAS THE DEMON POWER TO CAUSE ANY ONE TO DIE AND THEN TO RESTORE THEDEAD TO LIFE?

Supposing the principle which we established as indubitable at thecommencement of this dissertation--that God alone is the sovereignarbitrator of life and death; that he alone can give life to men, andrestore it to them after he has taken it from them--the question thatwe here propose appears unseasonable and absolutely frivolous, sinceit concerns a supposition notoriously impossible. 

Nevertheless, as some learned men have believed that the demon haspower to restore life, and to preserve from corruption, for a time, certain bodies which he makes use of to delude mankind and frightenthem, as it happens with the ghosts of Hungary, we shall treat of itin this place, and relate a remarkable instance furnished by MonsieurNicholas Remy, procureur-general of Lorraine, and which occurred inhis own time;[518] that is to say, in 1581, at Dalhem, a villagesituated between the Moselle and the Sare. A goatherd of this village, named Pierron, a married man and father of a boy, conceived a violentpassion for a girl of the village. One day, when his thoughts wereoccupied with this young girl, she appeared to him in the fields, orthe demon in her likeness. Pierron declared his love to her; shepromised to reply to it on condition that he would give himself up toher, and obey her in all things. Pierron consented to this, andconsummated his abominable passion with this spectre. Some timeafterwards, Abrahel, which was the name assumed by the demon, asked ofhim as a pledge of his love, that he would sacrifice to her his onlyson, and gave him an apple for this boy to eat, who, on tasting it, fell down dead. The father and mother, in despair at this fatal and toboth unexpected accident, uttered lamentations, and were inconsolable. 

Abrahel appeared again to the goatherd, and promised to restore thechild to life if the father would ask this favor of him by paying himthe kind of adoration due only to God. The peasant knelt down, worshiped Abrahel, and immediately the boy began to revive. He openedhis eyes; they warmed him, chafed his limbs, and at last he began towalk and to speak. He was the same as before, only thinner, paler, andmore languid; his eyes heavy and sunken, his movements slower and lessfree, his mind duller and more stupid. At the end of a year, the demonthat had animated him quitted him with a great noise; the youth fellbackwards, and his body, which was foetid and stunk insupportably, wasdragged with a hook out of his father's house, and buried in a fieldwithout any ceremony. 

This event was reported at Nancy, and examined into by themagistrates, who informed themselves exactly of the circumstance, heard the witnesses, and found that the thing was such as has beenrelated. For the rest, the story does not say how the peasant waspunished, nor whether he was so at all. Perhaps his crime with thedemon could not be proved; to that there was probably no witness. Inregard to the death of his son, it was difficult to prove that he wasthe cause of it. 

Procopius, in his secret history of the Emperor Justinian, seriouslyasserts that he is persuaded, as well as several other persons, thatthat emperor was a demon incarnate. He says the same thing of theEmpress Theodora his wife. Josephus, the Jewish historian, says thatthe souls of the wicked enter the bodies of the possessed, whom theytorment, and cause to act and speak. 

We see by St. Chrysostom that in his time many Christians believedthat the spirits of persons who died a violent death were changed intodemons, and that the magicians made use of the spirit of a child theyhad killed for their magical operations, and to discover the future. St. Philastrius places among heretics those persons who believed thatthe souls of worthless men were changed into demons. 

According to the system of these authors, the demon might have enteredinto the body of the child of the shepherd Pierron, moved it andmaintained it in a kind of life whilst his body was uncorrupted andthe organs underanged; it was not the soul of the boy which animatedit, but the demon which replaced his spirit. 

Philo believed that as there are good and bad angels, there are alsogood and bad souls or spirits, and that the souls which descend intothe bodies bring to them their own good or bad qualities. 

We see by the Gospel that the Jews of the time of our Saviour believedthat one man could be animated by several souls. Herod imagined thatthe spirit of John the Baptist, whom he had beheaded, had entered intoJesus Christ, [519] and worked miracles in him. Others fancied thatJesus Christ was animated by the spirit of Elias, [520] or of Jeremiah, or some other of the ancient prophets. 

Footnotes:

[518] Art. Ii. P. 14. 

[519] Mark vi. 16, 17. 

[520] Matt. Xvi. 14. 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

EXAMINATION OF THE OPINION WHICH CONCLUDES THAT THE DEMON CAN RESTOREMOTION TO A DEAD BODY. 

We cannot approve these opinions of Jews which we have just shown. They are contrary to our holy religion, and to the dogmas of ourschools. But we believe that the spirit which once inspired Elijah, for instance, rested on Elisha, his disciple; and that the Holy Spiritwhich inspired the first animated the second also, and even St. Johnthe Baptist, who, according to the words of Jesus Christ, came in thepower of Elijah to prepare a highway for the Messiah. Thus, in theprayers of the Church, we pray to God to fill his faithful servantswith the spirit of the saints, and to inspire them with a love forthat which they loved, and a detestation of that which they hated. 

That the demon, and even a good angel by the permission or commissionof God, can take away the life of a man appears indubitable. The angelwhich appeared to Zipporah, [521] as Moses was returning from Midian toEgypt, and threatened to slay his two sons because they were notcircumcised; as well as the one who slew the first-born of theEgyptians, [522] and the one who is termed in Scripture _the DestroyingAngel_, and who slew the Hebrew murmurers in the wilderness;[523] andthe angel who was near slaying Balaam and his ass;[524] the angel whokilled the soldiers of Sennacherib, he who smote the first sevenhusbands of Sara, the daughter of Raguel;[525] and, finally, the onewith whom the Psalmist menaces his enemies, all are instances in proofof this. [526]

Does not St. Paul, speaking to the Corinthians of those who took theCommunion unworthily, [527] say that the demon occasioned themdangerous maladies, of which many died? Will it be believed that thosewhom the same Apostle delivered over to Satan[528] suffered nothingbodily; and that Judas, having received from the Son of God a bit ofbread dipped in the dish, [529] and Satan having entered into him, thatbad spirit did not disturb his reason, his imagination, and his heart, until at last he led him to destroy himself, and to hang himself indespair?

We may believe that all these angels were evil angels, although itcannot be denied that God employs sometimes the good angels also toexercise his vengeance against the wicked, as well as to chastise, correct, and punish those to whom God desires to be merciful; as hesends his Prophets to announce good and bad tidings, to threatenpunishment, and excite to repentance. 

But nowhere do we read that either the good or the evil angels have oftheir own authority alone either given life to any person or restoredit. This power is reserved to God alone. [530] The demon, according tothe Gospel, [531] in the last days, and before the last Judgment, willperform, either by his own power or that of Antichrist and hissubordinates, such wonders as would, were it possible, lead the electthemselves into error. From the time of Jesus Christ and his Apostles, Satan raised up false Christs and false Apostles, who performed manyseeming miracles, and even resuscitated the dead. At least, it wasmaintained that they had resuscitated some: St. Clement of Alexandriaand Hegesippus make mention of a few resurrections operated by Simonthe magician;[532] it is also said that Apollonius of Thyana broughtto life a girl they were carrying to be buried. If we may believeApuleius, [533] Asclepiades, meeting a funeral convoy, resuscitated thebody they were carrying to the pile. It is asserted that Ĉsculapiusrestored to life Hippolytus, the son of Theseus; also Glaucus, the sonof Minos, and Campanes, killed at the assault of Thebes, and Admetus, King of Phera in Thessaly. Elian[534] attests that the same Ĉsculapiusjoined on again the head of a woman to her corpse, and restored her tolife. 

But if we possessed the certainty of all these events which we havejust cited--I mean to say, were they attested by ocular witnesses, well-informed and disinterested, which is not the case--we ought toknow the circumstances attending these events, and then we should bebetter able to dispute or assent to them. For there is everyappearance that the dead people resuscitated by Ĉsculapius were onlypersons who were dangerously ill, and restored to health by thatskillful physician. The girl revived by Apollonius of Thyana was notreally dead; even those who were carrying her to the funeral pile hadtheir doubts if she were deceased. What is said of Simon the magicianis anything but certain; and even if that impostor by his magicalsecrets could have performed some wonders on dead persons, it shouldbe imputed to his delusions and to some artifice, which may havesubstituted living bodies or phantoms for the dead bodies which heboasted of having recalled to life. In a word, we hold it asindubitable that it is God only who can impart life to a person reallydead, either by power proceeding immediately from himself, or by meansof angels or of demons, who perform his behests. 

I own that the instance of that boy of Dalhem is perplexing. Whetherit was the spirit of the child that returned into his body to animateit anew, or the demon who replaced his soul, the puzzle appears to methe same; in all this circumstance we behold only the work of the evilspirit. God does not seem to have had any share in it. Now, if thedemon can take the place of a spirit in a body newly dead, or if hecan make the soul by which it was animated before death return intoit, we can no longer dispute his power to restore a kind of life to adead person; which would be a terrible temptation for us, who might beled to believe that the demon has a power which religion does notpermit us to think that God shares with any created being. 

I would then say, supposing the truth of the fact, of which I see noroom to doubt, that God, to punish the abominable crime of the father, and to give an example of his just vengeance to mankind, permitted thedemon to do on this occasion what he perhaps had never done, nor everwill again--to possess a body, and serve it in some sort as a soul, and give it action and motion whilst he could retain the body withoutits being too much corrupted. 

And this example applies admirably to the ghosts of Hungary andMoravia, whom the demon will move and animate--will cause to appearand disturb the living, so far as to occasion their death. I say allthis under the supposition that what is said of the vampires is true;for if it all be false and fabulous, it is losing time to seek themeans of explaining it. 

For the rest, several of the ancients, as Tertullian[535] andLactantius, believed that the demons were the only authors of all themagicians do when they evoke the souls of the dead. They causeborrowed bodies or phantoms to appear, say they, and fascinate theeyes of those present, to make them believe that to be real which isonly seeming. 

Footnotes:

[521] Exod. Iv. 24, 25. 

[522] Exod. Xii. 12. 

[523] 1 Cor. X. 10; Judith viii. 25. 

[524] Numb. Xxii. 

[525] Tob. Iii. 7. 

[526] Psa. Xxxiv. 7. 

[527] 1 Cor. Xi. 30. 

[528] 1 Tim. I. 20. 

[529] John xiii. 

[530] 1 Sam. Ii. 6. 

[531] Matt. Xxiv. 24. 

[532] Clem. Alex. Itinerario; Hegesippus de Excidio Jerusalem, c. 2. 

[533] Apulei Flondo. Lib. Ii. 

[534] Ĉlian, de Animalib. Lib. Ix. C. 77. 

[535] Tertull. De Anim. C. 22. 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

INSTANCES OF PHANTOMS WHICH HAVE APPEARED TO BE ALIVE, AND HAVE GIVEMANY SIGNS OF LIFE. 

Le Loyer, in his book upon spectres, maintains[536] that the demon cancause the possessed to make extraordinary and involuntary movements. He can then, if allowed by God, give motion to a dead and insensibleman. 

He relates the instance of Polycrites, a magistrate of Ĉtolia, whoappeared to the people of Locria nine or ten months after his death, and told them to show him his child, which being born monstrous, theywished to burn with its mother. The Locrians, in spite of theremonstrance of the spectre of Polycrites, persisting in theirdetermination, Polycrites took his child, tore it to pieces anddevoured it, leaving only the head, while the people could neithersend him away nor prevent him; after that, he disappeared. TheĈtolians were desirous of sending to consult the Delphian oracle, butthe head of the child began to speak, and foretold the misfortuneswhich were to happen to their country and to his own mother. 

After the battle between King Antiochus and the Romans, an officernamed Buptages, left dead on the field of battle, with twelve mortalwounds, rose up suddenly, and began to threaten the Romans with theevils which were to happen to them through the foreign nations whowere to destroy the Roman empire. He pointed out in particular, thatarmies would come from Asia, and desolate Europe, which may designatethe irruption of the Turks upon the domains of the Roman empire. 

After that, Buptages climbed up an oak tree, and foretold that he wasabout to be devoured by a wolf, which happened. After the wolf haddevoured the body, the head again spoke to the Romans, and forbadethem to bury him. All that appears very incredible, and was notaccomplished in fact. It was not the people of Asia, but those of thenorth, who overthrew the Roman empire. 

In the war of Augustus against Sextus Pompey, son of the greatPompey, [537] a soldier of Augustus, named Gabinius, had his head cutoff by order of young Pompey, so that it only held on to the neck by anarrow strip of flesh. Towards evening they heard Gabinius lamenting;they ran to him, and he said that he had returned from hell to revealvery important things to Pompey. Pompey did not think proper to go tohim, but he sent one of his men, to whom Gabinius declared that thegods on high had decreed the happy destiny of Pompey, and that hewould succeed in all his designs. Directly Gabinius had thus spoken, he fell down dead and stiff. This pretended prediction was falsifiedby the facts. Pompey was vanquished, and Cĉsar gained all theadvantage in this war. 

A certain female juggler had died, but a magician of the band put acharm under her armpits, which gave her power to move; but anotherwizard having looked at her, cried out that it was only vile carrion, and immediately she fell down dead, and appeared what she was in fact. 

Nicole Aubri, a native of Vervius, being possessed by several devils, one of these devils, named Baltazo, took from the gibbet the body of aman who had been hanged near the plain of Arlon, and in this body wentto the husband of Nicole Aubri, promising to deliver his wife from herpossession if he would let him pass the night with her. The husbandconsulted the schoolmaster, who practiced exorcising, and who told himon no account to grant what was asked of him. The husband and Baltazohaving entered the church, the woman who was possessed called him byhis name, and immediately this Baltazo disappeared. The schoolmasterconjuring the possessed, Beelzebub, one of the demons, revealed whatBaltazo had done, and that if the husband had granted what he asked, he would have flown away with Nicole Aubri, both body and soul. 

Le Loyer again relates[538] four other instances of persons whom thedemon had seemed to restore to life, to satisfy the brutal passion oftwo lovers. 

Footnotes:

[536] Le Loyer, des Spectres, lib. Ii. Pp. 376, 392, 393. 

[537] Pliny, lib. Vii. C. 52. 

[538] Le Loyer, pp. 412-414. 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

DEVOTING TO DEATH, A PRACTICE AMONG THE PAGANS. 

The ancient heathens, both Greeks and Romans, attributed to magic andto the demon the power of occasioning the destruction of any person bya manner of devoting them to death, which consisted in forming a waxenimage as much as possible like the person whose life they wished totake. They devoted him or her to death by their magical secrets: thenthey burned the waxen statue, and as that by degrees was consumed, sothe doomed person became languid and at last died. Theocritus[539]makes a woman transported with love speak thus: she invokes the imageof the shepherd, and prays that the heart of Daphnis, her beloved, maymelt like the image of wax which represents him. 

Horace[540] brings forward two enchantresses, who evoke the shades tomake them announce the future. First of all, the witches tear a sheepwith their teeth, shedding the blood into a grave, in order to bringthose spirits from whom they expect an answer; then they place next tothemselves two statues, one of wax, the other of wool; the latter isthe largest, and mistress of the other. The waxen image is at itsfeet, as a suppliant, and awaiting only death. After divers magicalceremonies, the waxen image was inflamed and consumed. 

He speaks of this again elsewhere; and after having with a mockinglaugh made his complaints to the enchantress Canidia, saying that heis ready to make her honorable reparation, he owns that he feels allthe effects of her too-powerful art, as he himself has experienced itto give motion to waxen figures, and bring down the moon from thesky. [541]

Virgil also speaks[542] of these diabolical operations, and thesewaxen images, devoted by magic art. 

There is reason to believe that these poets only repeat these thingsto show the absurdity of the pretended secrets of magic, and the vainand impotent ceremonies of sorcerers. 

But it cannot be denied that, idle as all these practices may be, theyhave been used in ancient times; that many have put faith in them, andfoolishly dreaded those attempts. 

Lucian relates the effects[543] of the magic of a certain Hyperborean, who, having formed a Cupid with clay, infused life into it, and sentit to fetch a girl named Chryseïs, with whom a young man had fallenin love. The little Cupid brought her, and on the morrow, at dawn ofday, the moon, which the magician had brought down from the sky, returned thither. Hecate, whom he had evoked from the bottom of hell, fled away, and all the rest of the scene disappeared. Lucian, withgreat reason, ridicules all this, and observes that these magicians, who boast of having so much power, ordinarily exercise it only uponcontemptible people, and are such themselves. 

The oldest instances of this dooming are those which are set down inScripture, in the Old Testament. God commands Moses to devote toanathema the Canaanites of the kingdom of Arad. [544] He devotes alsoto anathema all the nations of the land of Canaan. [545] Balac, King ofMoab, [546] sends to the diviner Balaam to engage him to curse anddevote the people of Israel. "Come, " says he to him, by his messenger, "and curse me Israel; for I know that those whom you have cursed anddoomed to destruction shall be cursed, and he whom you have blessedshall be crowned with blessings. "

We have in history instances of these devotings and maledictions, andevocations of the tutelary gods of cities by magic art. The ancientskept very secret the proper names of towns, [547] for fear that if theycame to the knowledge of the enemy, they might make use of them intheir invocations, which to their mind had no might unless the propername of the town was expressed. The usual names of Rome, Tyre, andCarthage, were not their true and secret names. Rome, for instance, was called Valentia, a name known to very few persons, and ValeriusSoranus was severely punished for having revealed it. 

Macrobius[548] has preserved for us the formula of a solemn devotingor dooming of a city, and of imprecations against her, by devoting herto some hurtful and dangerous demon. We find in the heathen poets agreat number of these invocations and magical doomings, to inspire adangerous passion, or to occasion maladies. It is surprising thatthese superstitious and abominable practices should have gainedentrance among Christians, and have been dreaded by persons who oughtto have known their vanity and impotency. 

Tacitus relates[549] that at the death of Germanicus, who was said tohave been poisoned by Piso and Plautina, there were found in theground and in the walls bones of human bodies, doomings, and charms, or magic verses, with the name of Germanicus engraved upon thin platesof lead steeped in corrupted blood, half-burnt ashes, and othercharms, by virtue of which it was believed that spirits could beevoked. 

Footnotes:

[539] Theocrit Idyl. Ii. 

[540] "Lanea et effigies erat, altera cerea major Lanea, que poenis compesceret inferiorem. Cerea suppliciter stabat, servilibus ut quĉ Jam peritura modis. . . . Et imagine cereâ Largior arserit ignis. "

[541] "An quĉ movere cereas imagines, Ut ipse curiosus, et polo Deripere lunam. "

[542] "Limus ut hic durescit, et hĉc ut cera liquescit. Uno eodemque igni; sic nostro Daphnis amore. "--_Virgil, Eclog. _

[543] Lucian in Philops. 

[544] Numb. Xxi. 3. 

[545] Deut. Vii. 2, 3; xii. 1-3, &c. 

[546] Numb. Xxii. 5, &c. 

[547] Peir. Lib. Iii. C. 5; xxviii. C. 2. 

[548] Macrobius, lib. Iii. C. 9. 

[549] Tacit. Ann. Lib. Ii. Art. 69. 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

INSTANCES OF DEVOTING OR DOOMING AMONGST CHRISTIANS. 

Hector Boëthius, [550] in his History of Scotland, relates that Duffus, king of that country, falling ill of a disorder unknown to thephysicians, was consumed by a slow fever, passed his nights withoutsleep, and insensibly wasted away; his body melted in perspirationevery night; he became weak, languid, and in a dying state, without, however, his pulse undergoing any alteration. Everything was done torelieve him, but uselessly. His life was despaired of, and those abouthim began to suspect some evil spell. In the mean time, the people ofMoray, a county of Scotland, mutinied, supposing that the king mustsoon sink under his malady. 

It was whispered abroad that the king had been bewitched by somewitches who lived at Forres, a little town in the north of Scotland. People were sent there to arrest them, and they were surprised intheir dwellings, where one of them was basting an image of KingDuffus, made of wax, turning on a wooden spit before a large fire, before which she was reciting certain magical prayers; and sheaffirmed that as the figure melted the king would lose his strength, and at last he would die when the figure should be entirely melted. These women declared that they had been hired to perform these evilspells by the principal men of the county of Moray, who only awaitedthe king's decease to burst into open revolt. 

These witches were immediately arrested and burnt at the stake. Theking was much better, and in a few days he perfectly recovered hishealth. This account is found also in the History of Scotland byBuchanan, who says he heard it from his elders. 

He makes the King Duffus live in 960, and he who has added notes tothe text of these historians, says that this custom of melting waxenimages by magic art, to occasion the death of certain persons, was notunknown to the Romans, as appears from Virgil and Ovid; and of this wehave related a sufficient number of instances. But it must be ownedthat all which is related concerning it is very doubtful; not thatwizards and witches have not been found who have attempted to causethe death of persons of high rank by these means, and who attributedthe effect to the demon, but there is little appearance that they eversucceeded in it. If magicians possessed the secret of thus occasioningthe death of any one they pleased, where is the prince, prelate, orlord who would be safe? If they could thus roast them slowly to death, why not kill them at once, by throwing the waxen image in the fire?Who can have given such power to the devil? Is it the Almighty, tosatisfy the revenge of an insignificant woman, or the jealousy oflovers of either sex?

M. De St. André, physician to the king, in his Letters on Witchcraft, would explain the effects of these devotings, supposing them to betrue, by the evaporation of animal spirits, which, proceeding from thebodies of the wizards or witches, and uniting with the atoms whichfall from the wax, and the atoms of the fire, which render them stillmore pungent, should fly towards the person they desire to bewitch, and cause in him or her sensations of heat or pain, more or lessviolent according to the action of the fire. But I do not think thatthis clever man finds many to approve of his idea. The shortest way, in my opinion, would be, to deny the effects of these charms; for ifthese effects are real, they are inexplicable by physics, and can onlybe attributed to the devil. 

We read in the History of the Archbishops of Treves that Eberard, archbishop of that church, who died in 1067, having threatened to sendaway the Jews from his city, if they did not embrace Christianity, these unhappy people, being reduced to despair, suborned anecclesiastic, who for money baptized for them, by the name of thebishop, a waxen image, to which they tied wicks or wax tapers, andlighted them on Holy Saturday (Easter Eve), as the prelate was goingsolemnly to administer the baptismal rite. 

Whilst he was occupied in this holy function, the statue being halfconsumed, Eberard felt himself extremely ill; he was led into thevestry, where he soon after expired. 

The Pope John XXII. , in 1317, complained, in public letters, that somescoundrels had attempted his life by similar operations; and heappeared persuaded of their power, and that he had been preserved fromdeath only by the particular protection of God. "We inform you, " sayshe, "that some traitors have conspired against us, and against some ofour brothers the cardinals, and have prepared beverages and images totake away our life, which they have sought to do on every occasion;but God has always preserved us. " The letter is dated the 27th ofJuly. 

From the 27th of February, the pope had issued a commission to informagainst these poisoners; his letter is addressed to Bartholomew, Bishop of Fréjus, who had succeeded the pope in that see, and toPeter Tessier, doctor _en decret_, afterwards cardinal. The pope saystherein, in substance--We have heard that John de Limoges, Jacques deCrabançon, Jean d'Arrant, physician, and some others, have appliedthemselves, through a damnable curiosity, to necromancy and othermagical arts, on which they have books; that they have often made useof mirrors, and images consecrated in their manner; that, placingthemselves within circles, they have often invoked the evil spirits tooccasion the death of men by the might of their enchantments, or bysending maladies which abridge their days. Sometimes they haveenclosed demons in mirrors, or circles, or rings, to interrogate them, not only on the past, but on the future, and made predictions. Theypretend to have made many experiments in these matters, and fearlesslyassert, that they can not only by means of certain beverages, orcertain meats, but by simple words, abridge or prolong life, and cureall sorts of diseases. 

The pope gave a similar commission, April 22d, 1317, to the Bishop ofRiés, to the same Pierre Tessier, to Pierre Després, and two others, to inquire into the conspiracy formed against him and against thecardinals; and in this commission he says:--"They have preparedbeverages to poison us, and not having been able conveniently to makeus take them, they have had waxen images, made with our names, toattack our lives, by pricking these images with magical enchantments, and innovations of demons; but God has preserved us, and caused threeof these images to fall into our hands. "

We see a description of similar charms in a letter, written threeyears after, to the Inquisitor of Carcassone, by William de Godin, Cardinal-Bishop of Sabina, in which he says:--"The pope commands youto inquire and proceed against those who sacrifice to demons, worshipthem, or pay them homage, by giving them for a token a written paper, or something else, to bind the demon, or to work some charm byinvoking him; who, abusing the sacrament of baptism, baptize images ofwax, or of other matters with invocation of demons; who abuse theeucharist, or consecrated wafer, or other sacraments, by exercisingtheir evil spells. You will proceed against them with the prelates, asyou do in matters of heresy; for the pope gives you the power to doso. " The letter is dated from Avignon, the 22d of August, 1320. 

At the trial of Enguerrand de Marigni, they brought forward a wizardwhom they had surprised making waxen images, representing King Louisle Hutin and Charles de Valois, and meaning to kill them by prickingor melting these images. 

It is related also that Cosmo Rugieri, a Florentine, a great atheistand pretended magician, had a secret chamber, where he shut himself upalone, and pricked with a needle a wax image representing the king, after having loaded it with maledictions and devoted it to destructionby horrible enchantments, hoping thus to cause the prince to languishaway and die. 

Whether these conjurations, these waxen images, these magical words, may have produced their effects or not, it proves at any rate theopinion that was entertained on the subject--the ill will of thewizards, and the fear in which they were held. Although theirenchantments and imprecations might not be followed by any effect, itis apparently thought that experience on that point made them dreaded, whether with reason or not. 

The general ignorance of physics made people at that time take manythings to be supernatural which were simply the effects of naturalcauses; and as it is certain, as our faith teaches us, that God hasoften permitted demons to deceive mankind by prodigies, and do theminjury by extraordinary means, it was supposed without examining intothe matter that there was an art of magic and sure rules fordiscovering certain secrets, or causing certain evils by means ofdemons; as if God had not always been the Supreme Master, to permit orto hinder them; or as if He would have ratified the compacts made withevil spirits. 

But on examining closely this pretended magic, we have found nothingbut poisonings, attended by superstition and imposture. All that wehave just related of the effects of magic, enchantments, andwitchcraft, which were pretended to cause such terrible effects on thebodies and the possessions of mankind, and all that is recounted ofdoomings, evocations, and magic figures, which, being consumed byfire, occasioned the death of those who were destined or enchanted, relate but very imperfectly to the affair of vampires, which we aretreating of in this volume; unless it may be said that those ghostsare raised and evoked by magic art, and that the persons who fancythemselves strangled and finally stricken with death by vampires, onlysuffer these miseries through the malice of the demon, who makes theirdeceased parents or relations appear to them, and produces all theseeffects upon them; or simply strikes the imagination of the persons towhom it happens, and makes them believe that it is their deceasedrelations, who come to torment and kill them; although in all this itis only an imagination strongly affected which acts upon them. 

We may also connect with the history of ghosts what is related ofcertain persons who have promised each other to return after theirdeath, and to reveal what passes in the other world, and the state inwhich they find themselves. 

Footnotes:

[550] Hector Boëthius, Hist. Scot. Lib. Xi. C. 216, 219. 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

INSTANCES OF PERSONS WHO HAVE PROMISED TO GIVE EACH OTHER NEWS OF THEOTHER WORLD AFTER THEIR DEATH. 

The story of the Marquis de Rambouillet, who appeared after his deathto the Marquis de Précy, is very celebrated. These two lords, conversing on the subject of the other world, like people who were notvery strongly persuaded of the truth of all that is said upon it, promised each other that the first of the two who died should bringthe news of it to the other. The Marquis de Rambouillet set off forFlanders, where the war was then carried on; and the Marquis de Précyremained at Paris, detained by a low fever. Six weeks after, in broadday, he heard some one undraw his bed-curtains, and turning to see whoit was, he perceived the Marquis de Rambouillet, in buff-leatherjacket and boots. He sprang from his bed to embrace his friend; butRambouillet, stepping back a few paces, told him that he was come tokeep his word as he had promised--that all that was said of the nextlife was very certain--that he must change his conduct, and in thefirst action wherein he was engaged he would lose his life. 

Précy again attempted to embrace his friend, but he embraced onlyempty air. Then Rambouillet, seeing that his friend was incredulous asto what he said, showed him where he had received the wound in hisside, whence the blood still seemed to flow. Précy soon afterreceived, by the post, confirmation of the death of the Marquis deRambouillet; and being himself some time after, during the civil wars, at the battle of the Faubourg of St. Antoine, he was there killed. 

Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Clugni, [551] relates a very similarstory. A gentleman named Humbert, son of a lord named Guichard deBelioc, in the diocese of Macon, having declared war against the otherprincipal men in his neighborhood, a gentleman named Geoffrey d'Idenreceived in the mélée a wound of which he died immediately. 

About two months afterwards, this same Geoffrey appeared to agentleman named Milo d'Ansa, and begged him to tell Humbert de Belioc, in whose service he had lost his life, that he was tormented forhaving assisted him in an unjust war, and for not having expiated hissins by penance before he died; that he begged him to have compassionon him, and on his own father, Guichard, who had left him greatwealth, of which he made a bad use, and of which a part had been badlyacquired. That in truth Guichard, the father of Humbert, had embraceda religious life at Clugni; but that he had not time to satisfy thejustice of God for the sins of his past life; that he conjured him tohave mass performed for him and for his father, to give alms, and toemploy the prayers of good people, to procure them both a promptdeliverance from the pains they endured. He added, "Tell him, that ifhe will not mind what you say, I shall be obliged to go to him myself, and announce to him what I have just told you. "

Milo d'Ansa acquitted himself faithfully of his commission; Humbertwas frightened at it, but it did not make him better. Still, fearingthat Guichard, his father, or Geoffrey d'Iden might come and disturbhim, above all during the night, he dare not remain alone, and wouldalways have one of his people by him. 

One morning, then, as he was lying awake in his bed, he beheld in hispresence Geoffrey, armed as in a day of battle, who showed him themortal wound he had received, and which appeared yet quite fresh. Hereproached him keenly for his want of pity towards his own father, whowas groaning in torment. "Take care, " added he, "that God does nottreat you rigorously, and refuse to you that mercy which you refuse tous; and, above all, take care not to execute your intention of goingto the wars with Count Amedeus. If you go, you will there lose bothlife and property. "

He said, and Humbert was about to reply, when the Squire Vichard deMaracy, Humbert's counselor, arrived from mass, and immediately thedead man disappeared. From that moment, Humbert endeavored seriouslyto relieve his father Geoffrey, and resolved to take a journey toJerusalem to expiate his sins. Peter the Venerable had been wellinformed of all the details of this story, which occurred in the yearhe went into Spain, and made a great noise in the country. TheCardinal Baronius, [552] a very grave and respectable man, says that hehad heard from several very sensible people, and who have often heardit preached to the people, and in particular from Michael Mercati, Prothonotary of the Holy See, a man of acknowledged probity and wellinformed, above all in the platonic philosophy, to which he appliedhimself unweariedly with Marsilius Ficin, his friend, as zealous ashimself for the doctrine of Plato. 

One day, these two great philosophers were conversing on theimmortality of the soul, and if it remained and existed after thedeath of the body. After having had much discourse on this matter, they promised each other, and shook hands upon it, that the first ofthem who quitted this world should come and tell the other somewhat ofthe state of the other life. 

Having thus separated, it happened some time afterwards that the sameMichael Mercati, being wide awake and studying, one morning veryearly, the same philosophical matters, heard on a sudden a noise likea horseman who was coming hastily to his door, and at the same heheard the voice of his friend Marsilius Ficin, who cried out to him, "Michael, Michael, nothing is more true than what is said of the otherlife. " At the same, Michael opened his window, and saw Marsiliusmounted on a white horse, who was galloping away. Michael cried out tohim to stop, but he continued his course till Michael could no longersee him. 

Marsilius Ficin was at that time dwelling at Florence, and died thereat the same hour that he had appeared and spoken to his friend. Thelatter wrote directly to Florence, to inquire into the truth of thecircumstance; and they replied to him that Marsilius had died at thesame moment that Michael had heard his voice and the noise of hishorse at his door. Ever after that adventure, Michael Mercati, although very regular in his conduct before then, became quite analtered man, and lived in so exemplary a manner that he became aperfect model of Christian life. We find a great many such instancesin Henri Morus, and in Joshua Grandville, in his work entitled"Sadduceeism Combated. "

Here is one taken from the life of B. Joseph de Lionisse, a missionarycapuchin. [553] One day, when he was conversing with his companion onthe duties of religion, and the fidelity which God requires of thosewho have consecrated themselves to them, of the reward reserved forthose who are perfectly religious, and the severe justice which heexercises against unfaithful servants, Brother Joseph said to him, "Let us promise each other mutually that the one who dies the firstwill appear to the other, if God allows him so to do, to inform him ofwhat passes in the other world, and the condition in which he findshimself. " "I am willing, " replied the holy companion; "I give you myword upon it. " "And I pledge you mine, " replied Brother Joseph. 

Some days after this, the pious companion was attacked by a maladywhich brought him to the tomb. Brother Joseph felt this the moresensibly, because he knew better than the others all the virtues ofthis holy monk. He had no doubt of the fulfilment of their agreement, or that the deceased would appear to him, when he least thought of it, to acquit himself of his promise. 

In effect, one day when Brother Joseph had retired to his room, in theafternoon, he saw a young capuchin enter horribly haggard, with a palethin face, who saluted him with a feeble, trembling voice. As, at thesight of this spectre, Joseph appeared a little disturbed, "Don't bealarmed, " it said to him; "I am come here as permitted by God, tofulfill my promise, and to tell you that I have the happiness to beamongst the elect through the mercy of the Lord. But learn that it iseven more difficult to be saved than is thought in this world; thatGod, whose wisdom can penetrate the most secret folds of the heart, weighs exactly the actions which we have done during life, thethoughts, wishes, and motives, which we propose to ourselves inacting; and as much as he is inexorable in regard to sinners, so muchis he good, indulgent, and rich in mercy, towards those just souls whohave served him in this life. " At these words, the phantomdissappeared. 

Here follows an instance of a spirit which comes after death to visithis friend without having made an agreement with him to do so. [554]Peter Garmate, Bishop of Cracow, was translated to the archbishopricof Gnesnes, in 1548, and obtained a dispensation from Paul III. Toretain still his bishopric of Cracow. This prelate, after having led avery irregular life during his youth, began towards the end of hislife, to perform many charitable actions, feeding every day a hundredpoor, to whom he sent food from his own table. And when he traveled, he was followed by two wagons, loaded with coats and shirts, which hedistributed amongst the poor according as they needed them. 

One day, when he was preparing to go to church, towards evening, (itbeing the eve of a festival, ) and he was alone in his closet, hesuddenly beheld before him a gentleman named Curosius, who had beendead some time, with whom he had formerly been too intimatelyassociated in evil doing. 

The Archbishop Gamrate was at first affrighted, but the defunctreassured him and told him that he was of the number of the blessed. "What!" said the prelate to him; "after such a life as you led! Foryou know the excesses which both you and myself committed in ouryouth. " "I know it, " replied the defunct; "but this is what saved me. One day, when in Germany, I found myself with a man who utteredblasphemous discourse, most injurious to the Holy Virgin. I wasirritated at it, and gave him a blow; we drew our swords; I killedhim; and for fear of being arrested and punished as a homicide, Itook flight without reflecting much on the action I had committed. Butat the hour of death, I found myself most terribly disturbed byremorse on my past life, and I only expected certain destruction; whenthe Holy Virgin came to my aid, and made such powerful intercessionfor me with her Son, that she obtained for me the pardon of my sins;and I have the happiness to enjoy beatitude. For yourself, who haveonly six months to live, I am sent to warn you, that in considerationof your alms, and your charity to the poor, God will show you mercy, and expects you to do penance. Profit while it is time, and expiateyour past sins. " After having said this, he disappeared; and thearchbishop, bursting into tears, began to live in so Christianly amanner that he was the edification of all who knew him. He related thecircumstance to his most intimate friends, and died in 1545, afterhaving directed the Church of Gnesnes for about five years. 

The daughter of Dumoulin, a celebrated lawyer, having been inhumanlymassacred in her dwelling, [555] appeared by night to her husband, whowas wide awake, and declared to him the names of those who had killedherself and her children, conjuring him to revenge her death. 

Footnotes:

[551] Biblioth. Cluniĉ. De Miraculis, lib. I. C. 7, p. 1290. 

[552] Baronius ad an. Christi 401. Annal. Tom. V. 

[553] Tom. I. P. 64, _et seq. _

[554] Stephâni Damalevini Historia, p. 291. Apud Ranald continuatBaronii, ad. An. 1545. Tom. Xxi art. 62. 

[555] Le Loyer, lib. Iii. Pp. 46, 47. 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

EXTRACT FROM THE POLITICAL WORKS OF M. L'ABBE DE ST. PIERRE. [556]

I was told lately at Valogne, that a good priest of the town whoteaches the children to read, had had an apparition in broad day tenor twelve years ago. As that had made a great deal of noise at firston account of his reputation for probity and sincerity, I had thecuriosity to hear him relate his adventure himself. A lady, one of myrelations, who was acquainted with him, sent to invite him to dinewith her yesterday, the 7th of January, 1708, and as on the one hand Ishowed a desire to learn the thing from himself, and on the other itwas a kind of honorable distinction to have had by daylight anapparition of one of his comrades, he related it before dinner withoutrequiring to be pressed, and in a very naïve manner. 

CIRCUMSTANCE. 

"In 1695, " said M. Bezuel to us, "being a schoolboy of about fifteenyears of age, I became acquainted with the two children of M. Abaquene, attorney, schoolboys like myself. The eldest was of my ownage, the second was eighteen months younger; he was namedDesfontaines; we took all our walks and all our parties of pleasuretogether, and whether it was that Desfontaines had more affection forme, or that he was more gay, obliging, and clever than his brother, Iloved him the best. 

"In 1696, we were walking both of us in the cloister of the Capuchins. He told me that he had lately read a story of two friends who hadpromised each other that the first of them who died should come andbring news of his condition to the one still living; that the one whodied came back to earth, and told his friend surprising things. Uponthat, Desfontaines told me that he had a favor to ask of me; that hebegged me to grant it instantly: it was to make him a similar promise, and on his part he would do the same. I told him that I would not. Forseveral months he talked to me of it, often and seriously; I alwaysresisted his wish. At last, towards the month of August, 1696, as hewas to leave to go and study at Caen, he pressed me so much with tearsin his eyes, that I consented to it. He drew out at that moment twolittle papers which he had ready written: one was signed with hisblood, in which he promised me that in case of his death he would comeand bring me news of his condition; in the other I promised him thesame thing. I pricked my finger; a drop of blood came, with which Isigned my name. He was delighted to have my billet, and embracing me, he thanked me a thousand times. 

"Some time after, he set off with his brother. Our separation causedus much grief, but we wrote to each other now and then, and it was butsix weeks since I had had a letter from him, when what I am going torelate to you happened to me. 

"The 31st of July, 1697, one Thursday--I shall remember it all mylife--the late M. Sortoville, with whom I lodged, and who had beenvery kind to me, begged of me to go to a meadow near the Cordeliers, and help his people, who were making hay, to make haste. I had notbeen there a quarter of an hour, when about half-past-two, I all of asudden felt giddy and weak. In vain I leant upon my hay-fork; I wasobliged to place myself on a little hay, where I was nearly half anhour recovering my senses. That passed off; but as nothing of the kindhad ever occurred to me before, I was surprised at it and feared itmight be the commencement of an illness. Nevertheless it did not makemuch impression upon me during the remainder of the day. It is true Idid not sleep that night so well as usual. 

"The next day, at the same hour, as I was conducting to the meadow M. De St. Simon, the grandson of M. De Sortoville, who was then ten yearsold, I felt myself seized on the way with a similar faintness, and Isat down on a stone in the shade. That passed off, and we continuedour way; nothing more happened to me that day, and at night I hadhardly any sleep. 

"At last, on the morrow, the second day of August, being in the loftwhere they laid up the hay they brought from the meadow, I was takenwith a similar giddiness and a similar faintness, but still moreviolent than the other. I fainted away completely; one of the menperceived it. I have been told that I was asked what was the matterwith me, and that I replied, 'I have seen what I should never havebelieved;' but I have no recollection of either the question or theanswer. That, however, accords with what I do remember to have seenjust then; as it were some one naked to the middle, but whom, however, I did not recognize. They helped me down from the ladder. Thefaintness seized me again, my head swam as I was between two rounds ofthe ladder, and again I fainted. They took me down and placed me on alarge beam which served for a seat in the large square of thecapuchins. I sat down on it and then I no longer saw M. De Sortovillenor his domestics, although present; but perceiving Desfontaines nearthe foot of the ladder, who made me a sign to come to him, I moved onmy seat as if to make room for him; and those who saw me and whom Idid not see, although my eyes were open, remarked this movement. 

"As he did not come, I rose to go to him. He advanced towards me, tookmy left arm with his right arm, and led me about thirty paces fromthence into a retired street, holding me still under the arm. Thedomestics, supposing that my giddiness had passed off, and that I hadpurposely retired, went every one to their work, except a littleservant, who went and told M. De Sortoville that I was talking allalone. M. De Sortoville thought I was tipsy; he drew near, and heardme ask some questions, and make some answers, which he has told mesince. 

"I was there nearly three-quarters of an hour, conversing withDesfontaines. 'I promised you, ' said he to me, 'that if I died beforeyou I would come and tell you of it. I was drowned the day beforeyesterday in the river of Caen, at nearly this same hour. I was outwalking with such and such a one. It was very warm, and we had a wishto bathe; a faintness seized me in the water, and I fell to thebottom. The Abbé de Menil-Jean, my comrade, dived to bring me up. Iseized hold of his foot; but whether he was afraid it might be asalmon, because I held him so fast, or that he wished to remountpromptly to the surface of the water, he shook his leg so roughly, that he gave me a violent kick on the breast, which sent me to thebottom of the river, which is there very deep. 

"Desmoulins related to me afterwards all that had occurred to them intheir walk, and the subjects they had conversed upon. It was in vainfor me to ask him questions--whether he was saved, whether he wasdamned, if he was in purgatory, if I was in a state of grace, and if Ishould soon follow him; he continued to discourse as if he had notheard me, and as if he would not hear me. 

"I approached him several times to embrace him, but it seemed to methat I embraced nothing, and yet I felt very sensibly that he held metightly by the arm, and that when I tried to turn away my head that Imight not see him, because I could not look at him without feelingafflicted, he shook my arm as if to oblige me to look at and listen tohim. 

"He always appeared to me taller than I had seen him, and taller eventhan he was at the time of his death, although he had grown during theeighteen months in which we had not met. I beheld him always naked tothe middle of his body, his head uncovered, with his fine fair hair, and a white scroll twisted in his hair over his forehead, on whichthere was some writing, but I could only make out the word _in_, &c. 

"It was his same tone of voice. He appeared to me neither gay nor sad, but in a calm and tranquil state. He begged of me when his brotherreturned, to tell him certain things to say to his father and mother. He begged me to say the Seven Psalms which had been given him as apenance the preceding Sunday, which he had not yet recited; again herecommended me to speak to his brother, and then he bade me adieu, saying, as he left me, _Jusques_, _jusques_, (_till_, _till_, ) whichwas the usual term he made use of when at the end of our walk we badeeach other good-bye, to go home. 

"He told me that at the time he was drowned, his brother, who waswriting a translation, regretted having let him go withoutaccompanying him, fearing some accident. He described to me so wellwhere he was drowned, and the tree in the avenue of Louvigni on whichhe had written a few words, that two years afterwards, being therewith the late Chevalier de Gotol, one of those who were with him atthe time he was drowned, I pointed out to him the very spot; and bycounting the trees in a particular direction which Desfontaines hadspecified to me, I went straight up to the tree, and I found hiswriting. He (the Chevalier) told me also that the article of the SevenPsalms was true, and that on coming from confession they had told eachother their penance; and since then his brother has told me that itwas quite true that at that hour he was writing his exercise, and hereproached himself for not having accompanied his brother. As nearly amonth passed by without my being able to do what Desfontaines had toldme in regard to his brother, he appeared to me again twice beforedinner at a country house whither I had gone to dine a league fromhence. I was very faint. I told them not to mind me, that it wasnothing, and that I should soon recover myself; and I went to acorner of the garden. Desfontaines having appeared to me, reproachedme for not having yet spoken to his brother, and again conversed withme for a quarter of an hour without answering any of my questions. 

"As I was going in the morning to Notre-Dame de la Victoire, heappeared to me again, but for a shorter time, and pressed me always tospeak to his brother, and left me, saying still, _Jusques_, _Jusques_, and without choosing to reply to my questions. 

"It is a remarkable thing that I always felt a pain in that part of myarm which he had held me by the first time, until I had spoken to hisbrother. I was three days without being able to sleep, from theastonishment and agitation I felt. At the end of the firstconversation, I told M. De Varonville, my neighbor and schoolfellow, that Desfontaines had been drowned; that he himself had just appearedto me and told me so. He went away and ran to the parents' house toknow if it was true; they had just received the news, but by a mistakehe understood that it was the eldest. He assured me that he had readthe letter of Desfontaines, and he believed it; but I maintainedalways that it could not be, and that Desfontaines himself hadappeared to me. He returned, came back, and told me in tears that itwas but too true. 

"Nothing has occurred to me since, and there is my adventure just asit happened. It has been related in various ways; but I have recountedit only as I have just told it to you. The Chevalier de Gotol told methat Desfontaines had appeared also to M. De Menil-Jean; but I am notacquainted with him; he lives twenty leagues from hence near Argentan, and I can say no more about it. "

This is a very singular and circumstantial narrative, related by M. L'Abbé de St. Pierre, who is by no means credulous, and sets his wholemind and all his philosophy to explain the most extraordinary eventsby physical reasonings, by the concurrence of atoms, corpuscles, insensible evaporation of spirit, and perspiration. But all that is sofar-fetched, and does such palpable violence to the subjects and theattending circumstances, that the most credulous would not yield tosuch arguments. It is surprising that these gentlemen, who piquethemselves on strength of mind, and so haughtily reject everythingthat appears supernatural, can so easily admit philosophical systemsmuch more incredible than even the facts they oppose. They raisedoubts which are often very ill-founded, and attack them uponprinciples still more uncertain. That may be called refuting onedifficulty by another, and resolving a doubt by principles still moredoubtful. 

But, it will be said, whence comes it that so many other persons whohad engaged themselves to come and bring news of the immortality ofthe soul, after their death, have not come back. Seneca speaks of aStoic philosopher named Julius Canus, who, having been condemned todeath by Julius Cĉsar, said aloud that he was about to learn the truthof that question on which they were divided; to wit, whether the soulwas immortal or not. And we do not read that he revisited this world. La Motte de Vayer had agreed with his friend Baranzan Barnabite thatthe first of the two who died should warn the other of the state inwhich he found himself. Baranzan died, and returned not. 

Because the dead sometimes return to earth, it would be imprudent toconclude that they always do so. And it would be equally wrongreasoning to say that they never do return, because having promised torevisit this world they have not done so. For that, we should imaginethat it is in the power of spirits to return and make their appearancewhen they will, and if they will; but it seems indubitable, that onthe contrary, it is not in their power, and that it is only by theexpress permission of God that disembodied spirits sometimes appear tothe living. 

We see, in the history of the bad rich man, that God would not granthim the favor which he asked, to send to earth some of those who werewith him in hell. Similar reasons, derived from the hardness of heartor the incredulity of mortals, may have prevented, in the same manner, the return of Julius Canus or of Baranzan. The return of spirits andtheir apparition is neither a natural thing nor dependent on thechoice of those who are dead. It is a supernatural effect, and alliedto the miraculous. 

St. Augustine says on this subject[557] that if the dead interestthemselves in what concerns the living, St. Monica, his mother, wholoved him so tenderly, and went with him by sea and land everywhereduring her life, would not have failed to visit him every night, andcome to console him in his troubles; for we must not suppose that shewas become less compassionate since she became one of the blest:_absit ut facta sit vitâ feliciore crudelis_. 

The return of spirits, their apparition, the execution of the promiseswhich certain persons have made each other, to come and tell theirfriends what passes in the other world, is not in their own power. Allthat is in the hands of God. 

Footnotes:

[556] Vol. Iv. P. 57. 

[557] Aug. De Cura gerend. Pro Mortuis, c. Xiii. P. 526. 

CHAPTER XL. 

DIVERS SYSTEMS FOR EXPLAINING THE RETURN OF SPIRITS. 

The affair of ghosts having made so much noise in the world as it hasdone, it is not surprising that a diversity of systems should havebeen formed upon it, and that so many manners should have beenproposed to explain their return to earth and their operations. 

Some have thought that it was a momentary resurrection caused by thesoul of the defunct, which re-entered his body, or by the demon, whoreanimated him, and caused him to act for a while, whilst his bloodretained its consistency and fluidity, and his organic functions werenot entirely corrupted and deranged. 

Others, struck with the consequence of such principles, and thearguments which might be deduced from them, have liked better tosuppose that these vampires were not really dead; that they stillretained certain seeds of life, and that their spirits could from timeto time reanimate and bring them out of their tombs, to make theirappearance amongst men, take refreshment, and renew the nourishingjuices and animal spirits by sucking the blood of their near kindred. 

There has lately been printed a dissertation on the uncertainty of thesigns of death, and the abuse of hasty interments, by M. JacquesBenigne Vinslow, Doctor, Regent of the Faculty at Paris, translated, with a commentary, by Jacques Jean Bruhier, physician, at Paris, 1742, in 8vo. This work may serve to explain how persons who have beenbelieved to be dead, and have been buried as such, have neverthelessbeen found alive a pretty long time after their funeral obsequies hadbeen performed. That will perhaps render vampirism less incredible. 

M. Vinslow, Doctor, and Regent of the Medical Faculty at Paris, maintained, in the month of April, 1740, a thesis, in which he asks ifthe experiments of surgery are fitter than all others to discover someless uncertain signs of doubtful death. He therein maintained thatthere are several occurrences in which the signs of death are verydoubtful; and he adduces several instances of persons believed to bedead, and interred as such, who nevertheless were afterwards found tobe alive. 

M. Bruhier, M. D. , has translated this thesis into French, and hasmade some learned additions to it, which serve to strengthen theopinion of M. Vinslow. The work is very interesting, from the matterit treats upon, and very agreeable to read, from the manner in whichit is written. I am about to make some extracts from it, which may beuseful to my subject. I shall adhere principally to the most certainand singular facts; for to relate them all, we must transcribe thewhole work. 

It is known that John Duns, surnamed Scot, [558] or the Subtile Doctor, had the misfortune to be interred alive at Cologne, and that when histomb was opened some time afterwards, it was found that he had gnawnhis arm. [559] The same thing is related of the Emperor Zeno, who madehimself heard from the depth of his tomb by repeated cries to thosewho were watching over him. Lancisi, a celebrated physician of thePope Clement XI. , relates that at Rome he was witness to a person ofdistinction being still alive when he wrote, who resumed sense andmotion whilst they were chanting his funeral service at church. 

Pierre Zacchias, another celebrated physician of Rome, says, that inthe hospital of the Saint Esprit, a young man, who was attacked withthe plague, fell into so complete a state of syncope, that he wasbelieved to be really dead. Whilst they were carrying his corpse, along with a great many others, on the other side of the Tiber, theyoung man gave signs of life. He was brought back to the hospital andcured. Two days after, he fell into a similar syncope, and that timehe was reputed to be dead beyond recovery. He was placed amongstothers intended for burial, came to himself a second time, and was yetliving when Zacchias wrote. 

It is related, that a man named William Foxley, when forty years ofage, [560] falling asleep on the 27th of April, 1546, remained plungedin sleep for fourteen days and fourteen nights, without any precedingmalady. He could not persuade himself that he had slept more than onenight, and was convinced of his long sleep only by being shown abuilding begun some days before this drowsy attack, and which hebeheld completed on his awaking. It is said that in the time of PopeGregory II. A scholar of Lubec slept for seven years consecutively. Lilius Giraldus[561] relates that a peasant slept through the wholeautumn and winter. 

Footnotes:

[558] Duns Scotus. 

[559] This fact is more than doubtful. Bzovius, for having advanced itupon the authority of some others, was called _Bovius_, that is, "Great Ox. " It is, therefore, better to stand by what Moreri thoughtof it. "The enemies of Scotus have proclaimed, " says he, "that, havingdied of apoplexy, he was at first interred, and, some time after thisaccident having elapsed, he died in despair, gnawing his hands. Butthis calumny, which was authorized by Paulus Jovius, Latomias, andBzovius, has been so well refuted that no one now will give credit toit. "

[560] Larrey, in Henri VIII. Roi d'Angleterre. 

[561] Lilius Giraldus, Hist. Poët. Dialog. 

CHAPTER XLI. 

VARIOUS INSTANCES OF PERSONS BEING BURIED ALIVE. 

Plutarch relates that a man who fell from a great height, havingpitched upon his neck, was believed to be dead, without there beingthe appearance of any hurt. As they were carrying him to be buried, the day after, he all at once recovered his strength and his senses. Asclepiades[562] meeting a great funeral train of a person they weretaking to be interred, obtained permission to look at and to touch thedead man; he found some signs of life in him, and by means of properremedies, he immediately recalled him to life, and restored him insound health to his parents and relations. 

There are several instances of persons who after being interred cameto themselves, and lived a long time in perfect health. They relate inparticular, [563] that a woman of Orleans was buried in a cemetery, with a ring on her finger, which they had not been able to draw offher finger when she was placed in her coffin. The following night, adomestic, attracted by the hope of gain, broke open the coffin, and ashe could not tear the ring off her finger, was about to cut her fingeroff, when she uttered a loud shriek. The servant fled. The womandisengaged herself as she could from her winding sheet, returned home, and survived her husband. 

M. Bernard, a principal surgeon at Paris, attests that, being with hisfather at the parish of Réal, they took from the tombs, living andbreathing, a monk of the order of St. Francis, who had been shut up init three or four days, and who had gnawed his hands around the bandswhich confined them. But he died almost the moment that he was in theair. 

Several persons have made mention of that wife of a counselor ofCologne, [564] who having been interred with a valuable ring on herfinger, in 1571, the grave-digger opened the grave the succeedingnight to steal the ring. But the good lady caught hold of him, andforced him to take her out of the coffin. He, however, disengagedhimself from her hands, and fled. The resuscitated lady went andrapped at the door of her house. At first they thought it was aphantom, and left her a long time at the door, waiting anxiously to belet in; but at last they opened it for her. They warmed her, and sherecovered her health perfectly, and had after that three sons, who allbelonged to the church. This event is represented on her sepulchre ina picture, or painting, in which the story is represented, andmoreover, written, in German verses. 

It is added that the lady, in order to convince those of the housethat it was herself, told the footman who came to the door that thehorses had gone up to the hay-loft, which was true; and there arestill to be seen at the windows of the _grenier_ of that house, horses' heads, carved in wood, as a sign of the truth of the matter. 

François de Civile, a Norman gentleman, [565] was the captain of ahundred men in the city of Rouen, when it was besieged by Charles IX. , and he was then six-and-twenty. He was wounded to death at the end ofan assault; and having fallen into the moat, some pioneers placed himin a grave with some other bodies, and covered them over with a littleearth. He remained there from eleven in the morning till half-past sixin the evening, when his servant went to disinter him. This domestic, having remarked some signs of life, put him in a bed, where heremained for five days and nights, without speaking, or giving anyother sign of feeling, but as burning hot with fever as he had beencold in the grave. The city having been taken by storm, the servantsof an officer of the victorious army, who was to lodge in the housewherein was Civile, threw the latter upon a paillasse in a back room, whence his brother's enemies tossed him out of the window upon adunghill, where he remained for more than seventy-two hours in hisshirt. At the end of that time, one of his relations, surprised tofind him still alive, sent him to a league's distance from Rouen, [566]where he was attended to, and at last was perfectly cured. 

During a great plague, which attacked the city of Dijon in 1558, alady, named Nicole Lentillet, being reputed dead of the epidemic, wasthrown into a great pit, wherein they buried the dead. The day afterher interment, in the morning, she came to herself again, and madevain efforts to get out, but her weakness, and the weight of the otherbodies with which she was covered, prevented her doing so. Sheremained in this horrible situation for four days, when the burial mendrew her out, and carried her back to her house, where she perfectlyrecovered her health. 

A young lady of Augsburg, [567] having fallen into a swoon, or trance, her body was placed under a deep vault, without being covered withearth; but the entrance to this subterranean vault was closely walledup. Some years after that time, some one of the same family died. Thevault was opened, and the body of the young lady was found at the veryentrance, without any fingers to her right hand, which she haddevoured in despair. 

On the 25th of July, 1688, there died at Metz a hair-dresser's boy, ofan apoplectic fit, in the evening, after supper. 

On the 28th of the same month, he was heard to moan again severaltimes. They took him out of his grave, and he was attended by doctorsand surgeons. The physician maintained, after he had been opened, thatthe young man had not been dead two hours. This is extracted from themanuscript of a bourgeois of Metz, who was cotemporary with him. 

Footnotes:

[562] Cels. Lib. Ii. C. 6. 

[563] Le P. Le Clerc, _ci devant_ attorney of the boarders of thecollege of Louis le Grand. 

[564] Mísson, Voyage d'Italie, tom. I. Lettre 5. Goulart, desHistoires admirables; et mémorables printed at Geneva, in 1678. 

[565] Mísson, Voyage, tom. Iii. 

[566] Goulart, loca cetata. 

[567] M. Graffe, Epit. à Guil. Frabi, Centurie 2, observ chirurg. 516. 

CHAPTER XLII. 

INSTANCES OF DROWNED PERSONS RECOVERING THEIR HEALTH. 

Here follow some instances of drowned persons[568] who came tothemselves several days after they were believed to be dead. Peclinrelates the story of a gardener of Troninghalm, in Sweden, who wasstill alive, and sixty-five years of age, when the author wrote. Thisman being on the ice to assist another man who had fallen into thewater, the ice broke under him, and he sunk under water to the depthof eight ells, his feet sticking in the mud: he remained sixteen hoursbefore they drew him out of the water. In this condition, he lost allsense, except that he thought he heard the bells ringing at Stockholm. He felt the water, which entered his body, not by his mouth, but hisears. After having sought for him during sixteen hours, they caughthold of his head with a hook, and drew him out of the water; theyplaced him between sheets, put him near the fire, rubbed him, shookhim, and at last brought him to himself. The king and court would seehim and hear his story, and gave him a pension. 

A woman of the same country, after having been three days in thewater, was also revived by the same means as the gardener. Anotherperson named Janas, having drowned himself at seventeen years of age, was taken out of the water seven weeks after; they warmed him, andbrought him back to life. 

M. D'Egly, of the Royal Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres, atParis, relates, that a Swiss, an expert diver, having plunged downinto one of the hollows in the bed of the river, where he hoped tofind fine fish, remained there about nine hours; they drew him out ofthe water after having hurt him in several places with their hooks. M. D'Egly, seeing that the water bubbled strongly from his mouth, maintained that he was not dead. They made him throw up as much wateras he could for three quarters of an hour, wrapped him up in hotlinen, put him to bed, bled him, and saved him. 

Some have been recovered after being seven weeks in the water, othersafter a less time; for instance, Gocellin, a nephew of the Archbishopof Cologne, having fallen into the Rhine, remained under water forfifteen hours before they could find him again; at the end of thattime, they carried him to the tomb of St. Suitbert, and he recoveredhis health. [569]

The same St. Suitbert resuscitated also another young man who had beendrowned several hours. But the author who relates these miracles is ofno great authority. 

Several instances are related of drowned persons who have remainedunder water for several days, and at last recovered and enjoyed goodhealth. In the second part of the dissertation on the uncertainty ofthe signs of death, by M. Bruhier, physician, printed at Paris in1744, pp. 102, 103, &c. , it is shown that they have seen some who havebeen under water forty-eight hours, others during three days, andduring eight days. He adds to this the example of the insectchrysalis, which passes all the winter without giving any signs oflife, and the aquatic insects which remain all the winter motionlessin the mud; which also happens to the frogs and toads; ants even, against the common opinion, are during the winter in a death-likestate, which ceases only on the return of spring. Swallows, in thenorthern countries, bury themselves in heaps, in the lakes and ponds, in rivers even, in the sea, in the sand, in the holes of walls, andthe hollows of trees, or at the bottom of caverns; whilst other kindsof swallows cross the sea to find warmer and more temperate climes. 

What has just been said of swallows being found at the bottom oflakes, ponds, and rivers, is commonly remarked in Silesia, Poland, Bohemia, and Moravia. Sometimes even storks are fished up as if dead, having their beaks fixed in the anus of one another; many of thesehave been seen in the environs of Geneva, and even in the environs ofMetz, in the year 1467. 

To these may be added quails and herons. Sparrows and cuckoos havebeen found during the winter in hollow trees, torpid and without theleast appearance of life, which being warmed recovered themselves andtook flight. We know that hedgehogs, marmots, sloths, and serpents, live underground without breathing, and the circulation of the bloodis very feeble in them during all the winter. It is even said thatbears sleep during almost all that period. 

Footnotes:

[568] Guill. Derham, Extrait. Peclin, c. X. De aëre et alim. Def. 

[569] Vita S. Suitberti, apud Surium, I. Martii. 

CHAPTER XLIII. 

INSTANCES OF WOMEN WHO HAVE BEEN BELIEVED TO BE DEAD, AND WHO HAVECOME TO LIFE AGAIN. 

Very clever physicians assert[570] that in cases of the suffocation ofthe womb, a woman may live thirty days without breathing. I know thata very excellent woman was six-and-thirty hours without giving anysign of life. Everybody thought she was dead, and they wanted toenshroud her, but her husband always opposed it. At the end ofthirty-six hours she came to herself, and has lived a long time sincethen. She told them that she heard very well all that was said abouther, and knew that they wanted to lay her out; but her torpor was suchthat she could not surmount it, and she should have let them dowhatever they pleased without the least resistance. 

This applies to what St. Augustine says of the priest Pretextas, whoin his trances and swoons heard, as if from afar off, what was said, and nevertheless would have let himself be burned, and his flesh cut, without opposing it or feeling it. 

Corneille le Bruyn, [571] in his Voyages, relates that he saw atDamietta, in Egypt, a Turk whom they called the Dead Child, becausewhen his mother was with child with him, she fell ill, and as theybelieved she was dead, they buried her pretty quickly, according tothe custom of the country, where they let the dead remain but a veryshort time unburied, above all during the plague. She was put into avault which this Turk had for the sepulture of his family. 

Towards evening, some hours after the interment of this woman, itentered the mind of the Turk her husband, that the child she boremight still be alive; he then had the vault opened, and found that hiswife had delivered herself, and that his child was alive, but themother was dead. Some people said that the child had been heard tocry, and that it was on receiving intimation of this that the fatherhad the tomb opened. This man, surnamed the Dead Child, was stillliving in 1677. Le Bruyn thinks that the woman was dead when her childwas born; but being dead, it would not have been possible for her tobring him into the world. It must be remembered, that in Egypt, wherethis happened, the women have an extraordinary facility of delivery, as both ancients and moderns bear witness, and that this woman wassimply shut up in a vault, without being covered with earth. 

A woman at Strasburg, who was with child, being reputed to be dead, was buried in a subterranean vault;[572] at the end of some time, thisvault having been opened for another body to be placed in it, thewoman was found out of the coffin lying on the ground, and havingbetween her hands a child, of which she had delivered herself, andwhose arm she held in her mouth, as if she would fain eat it. 

Another woman, a Spaniard, [573] the wife of Francisco Aravallos, ofSuasso, being dead, or believed to be so, in the last months of herpregnancy, was put in the ground; her husband, whom they had sent forfrom the country, whither he had gone on business, would see his wifeat the church, and had her exhumed: hardly had they opened the coffin, when they heard the cry of a child, who was making efforts to leavethe bosom of its mother. 

He was taken away alive and lived a long time, being known by the nameof the Child of the Earth; and since then he was lieutenant-general ofthe town of Héréz, on the frontier of Spain. These instances might bemultiplied to infinity, of persons buried alive, and of others whohave recovered as they were being carried to the grave, and others whohave been taken out of it by fortuitous circumstances. Upon thissubject you may consult the new work of Messrs. Vinslow and Bruyer, and those authors who have expressly treated on this subject. [574]These gentlemen, the doctors, derive from thence a very wise and veryjudicious conclusion, which is, that people should never be buriedwithout the absolute certainty of their being dead, above all in timesof pestilence, and in certain maladies in which those who aresuffering under them lose on a sudden both sense and motion. 

Footnotes:

[570] Le Clerc, Hist. De la Médecine. 

[571] Corneille le Bruyn, tom. I. P. 579. 

[572] Cronstand, Philos. Veter. Restit. 

[573] Gaspard Reïes, Campus Elysias jucund. 

[574] Page 167, des additions de M. Bruhier. 

CHAPTER XLIV. 

CAN THESE INSTANCES BE APPLIED TO THE HUNGARIAN GHOSTS?

Some advantage of these instances and these arguments may be derivedin favor of vampirism, by saying that the ghosts of Hungary, Moravia, and Poland are not really dead, that they continue to live in theirgraves, although without motion and without respiration; the bloodwhich is found in them being fine and red, the flexibility of theirlimbs, the cries which they utter when their heart is pierced or theirhead being cut off, all prove that they still exist. 

That is not the principal difficulty which arrests my judgment; it isto know how they come out of their graves without any appearance ofthe earth having been removed, and how they have replaced it as itwas; how they appear dressed in their clothes, go and come, and eat. If it is so, why do they return to their graves? why do they notremain amongst the living? why do they suck the blood of theirrelations? Why do they haunt and fatigue persons who ought to be dearto them, and who have done nothing to offend them? If all that is onlyimagination on the part of those who are molested, whence comes itthat these vampires are found in their graves in an uncorrupted state, full of blood, supple, and pliable; that their feet are found to be ina muddy condition the day after they have run about and frightened theneighbors, and that nothing similar is remarked in the other corpsesinterred at the same time and in the same cemetery. Whence does ithappen that they neither come back nor infest the place any more whenthey are burned or impaled? Would it be again the imagination of theliving and their prejudices which reassure them after theseexecutions? Whence comes it that these scenes recur so frequently inthose countries, that the people are not cured of their prejudices, and daily experience, instead of destroying, only augments andstrengthens them?

CHAPTER XLV. 

DEAD PERSONS WHO CHEW IN THEIR GRAVES LIKE HOGS, AND DEVOUR THEIR OWNFLESH. 

It is an opinion widely spread in Germany, that certain dead personschew in their graves, and devour whatever may be close to them; thatthey are even heard to eat like pigs, with a certain low cry, and asif growling and grunting. 

A German author, [575] named Michael Rauff, has composed a work, entitled _De Masticatione Mortuorum in Tumulis_--"Of the Dead whoMasticate in their Graves. " He sets it down as a proved and surething, that there are certain dead persons who have devoured the linenand everything that was within reach of their mouth, and even theirown flesh, in their graves. He remarks, [576] that in some parts ofGermany, to prevent the dead from masticating, they place a motte ofearth under their chin in the coffin; elsewhere they place a littlepiece of money and a stone in their mouth; elsewhere they tie ahandkerchief tightly round their throat. The author cites some Germanwriters who make mention of this ridiculous custom; he quotes severalothers who speak of dead people that have devoured their own flesh intheir sepulchre. This work was printed at Leipsic in 1728. It speaksof an author named Philip Rehrius, who printed in 1679 a treatise withthe same title--_De Masticatione Mortuorum_. 

He might have added to it the circumstance of Henry Count ofSalm, [577] who, being supposed to be dead, was interred alive; theyheard during the night, in the church of the Abbey of Haute-Seille, where he was buried, loud cries; and the next day, on his tomb beingopened, they found him turned upon his face, whilst in fact he hadbeen buried lying upon his back. 

Some years ago, at Bar-le-Duc, a man was buried in the cemetery, and anoise was heard in his grave; the next day they disinterred him, andfound that he had gnawed the flesh of his arms; and this we learnedfrom ocular witnesses. This man had drunk brandy, and had been buriedas dead. Rauff speaks of a woman of Bohemia, [578] who, in 1355, hadeaten in her grave half her shroud. In the time of Luther, a man whowas dead and buried, and a woman the same, gnawed their own entrails. Another dead man in Moravia ate the linen clothes of a woman who wasburied next to him. 

All that is very possible, but that those who are really dead movetheir jaws, and amuse themselves with masticating whatever may be nearthem, is a childish fancy--like what the ancient Romans said of their_Manducus_, which was a grotesque figure of a man with an enormousmouth, and teeth proportioned thereto, which they caused to move bysprings, and grind his teeth together, as if this figure had wanted toeat. They frightened children with them, and threatened them with theManducus. [579]

Some remains of this old custom may be seen in certain processions, where they carry a sort of serpent, which at intervals opens and shutsa vast jaw, armed with teeth, into which they throw cakes, as if togorge it, or satisfy its appetite. 

Footnotes:

[575] Mich. Rauff, alterâ Dissert. Art. Lvii. Pp. 98, 99, et Art. Lix. P. 100. 

[576] De Nummis in Ore Defunctorum repertis, Art. Ix. à Beyermuller, &c. 

[577] Richer, Senon, tom. Iii. Spicileg. Ducherii, p. 392. 

[578] Rauff, Art. Xlii. P. 43. 

[579] "Tandemque venit ad pulpita nostrum Exodium, cum personĉ pallentis hiatum In gremio matris fastidit rusticus infans. " _Juvenal_, Sat. Iii. 174. 

CHAPTER XLVI. 

SINGULAR INSTANCE OF A HUNGARIAN GHOST. 

The most remarkable instance cited by Rauff[580] is that of one PeterPlogojovitz, who had been buried ten weeks in a village of Hungary, called Kisolova. This man appeared by night to some of the inhabitantsof the village while they were asleep, and grasped their throat sotightly that in four-and-twenty hours it caused their death. Ninepersons, young and old, perished thus in the course of eight days. 

The widow of the same Plogojovitz declared that her husband since hisdeath had come and asked her for his shoes, which frightened her somuch that she left Kisolova to retire to some other spot. 

From these circumstances the inhabitants of the village determinedupon disinterring the body of Plogojovitz and burning it, to deliverthemselves from these visitations. They applied to the emperor'sofficer, who commanded in the territory of Gradiska, in Hungary, andeven to the curé of the same place, for permission to exhume the bodyof Peter Plogojovitz. The officer and the curé made much demur ingranting this permission, but the peasants declared that if they wererefused permission to disinter the body of this man, whom they had nodoubt was a true vampire (for so they called these revived corpses), they should be obliged to forsake the village, and go where theycould. 

The emperor's officer, who wrote this account, seeing he could hinderthem neither by threats nor promises, went with the curé of Gradiskato the village of Kisolova, and having caused Peter Plogojovitz to beexhumed, they found that his body exhaled no bad smell; that he lookedas when alive, except the tip of the nose; that his hair and beard hadgrown, and instead of his nails, which had fallen off, new ones hadcome; that under his upper skin, which appeared whitish, thereappeared a new one, which looked healthy, and of a natural color; hisfeet and hands were as whole as could be desired in a living man. Theyremarked also in his mouth some fresh blood, which these peoplebelieved that this vampire had sucked from the men whose death he hadoccasioned. 

The emperor's officer and the curé having diligently examined allthese things, and the people who were present feeling theirindignation awakened anew, and being more fully persuaded that he wasthe true cause of the death of their compatriots, ran directly for asharp-pointed stake, which they thrust into his breast, whence thereissued a quantity of fresh and crimson blood, and also from the noseand mouth; something also proceeded from that part of his body whichdecency does not allow us to mention. After this the peasants placedthe body on a pile of wood and saw it reduced to ashes. 

M. Rauff, [581] from whom we have these particulars, cites severalauthors who have written on the same subject, and have relatedinstances of dead people who have eaten in their tombs. He citesparticularly Gabril Rzaczincki in his history of the NaturalCuriosities of the Kingdom of Poland, printed at Sandomic in 1721. 

Footnotes:

[580] Rauff, Art. Xii. P. 15. 

[581] Rauff, Art. Xxi. P. 14. 

CHAPTER XLVII. 

REASONINGS ON THIS MATTER. 

Those authors have reasoned a great deal on these events. 1. Some havebelieved them to be miraculous. 2. Others have looked upon them simplyas the effect of a heated imagination, or a sort of prepossession. 3. Others again have believed that there was nothing in all that but whatwas very simple and very natural, these persons not being dead, andacting naturally upon other bodies. 4. Others have asserted[582] thatit was the work of the devil himself; amongst these, some haveadvanced the opinion that there were certain benign demons, differingfrom those who are malevolent and hostile to mankind, to which (benigndemons) they have attributed playful and harmless operations, incontradistinction to those bad demons who inspire the minds of menwith crime and sin, ill use them, kill them, and occasion them aninfinity of evils. But what greater evils can one have to fear fromveritable demons and the most malignant spirits, than those which theghouls of Hungary cause the persons whose blood they suck, and thuscause to die? 5. Others will have it that it is not the dead who eattheir own flesh or clothes, but serpents, rats, moles, ferrets, orother voracious animals, or even what the peasants call_striges_, [583] which are birds that devour animals and men, and sucktheir blood. Some have said that these instances are principallyremarked in women, and, above all, in a time of pestilence; but thereare instances of ghouls of both sexes, and principally of men;although those who die of plague, poison, hydrophobia, drunkenness, and any epidemical malady, are more apt to return, apparently becausetheir blood coagulates with more difficulty; and sometimes some areburied who are not quite dead, on account of the danger there is inleaving them long without sepulture, from fear of the infection theywould cause. 

It is added that these vampires are known only to certain countries, as Hungary, Moravia, and Silesia, where those maladies are morecommon, and where the people, being badly fed, are subject to certaindisorders caused or occasioned by the climate and the food, andaugmented by prejudice, fancy, and fright, capable of producing or ofincreasing the most dangerous maladies, as daily experience proves toowell. As to what some have asserted that the dead have been heard toeat and chew like pigs in their graves, it is manifestly fabulous, andsuch an idea can have its foundation only in ridiculous prepossessionsof the mind. 

Footnotes:

[582] Rudiga, Physio. Dur. Lib. I. C. 4. Theophrast. Paracels. Georg. Agricola, de Anim. Subterran. P. 76. 

[583] Ovid, lib. Vi. Vide Debrio, Disquisit. Magic. Lib. I. P. 6, andlib. Iii. P. 355. 

CHAPTER XLVIII. 

ARE THE VAMPIRES OR REVENANS REALLY DEAD?

The opinion of those who hold that all that is related of vampires isthe effect of imagination, fascination, or of that disorder which theGreeks term _phrenesis_ or _coribantism_, and who pretend by thatmeans to explain all the phenomena of vampirism, will never persuadeus that these maladies of the brain can produce such real effects asthose we have just recounted. It is impossible that on a sudden, several persons should believe they see a thing which is not there, and that they should die in so short a time of a disorder purelyimaginary. And who has revealed to them that such a vampire isundecayed in his grave, that he is full of blood, that he in somemeasure lives there after his death? Is there not to be found in thenation one sensible man who is exempt from this fancy, or who hassoared above the effects of this fascination, these sympathies andantipathies--this natural magic? And besides, who can explain to usclearly and distinctly what these grand terms signify, and the mannerof these operations so occult and so mysterious? It is trying toexplain a thing which is obscure and doubtful, by another still moreuncertain and incomprehensible. 

If these persons believe nothing of all that is related of theapparition, the return, and the actions of vampires, they lose theirtime very uselessly in proposing systems and forming arguments toexplain what exists only in the imagination of certain prejudicedpersons struck with an idea; but, if all that is related, or at leasta part, is true, these systems and these arguments will not easilysatisfy those minds which desire proofs far more weighty than those. 

Let us see, then, if the system which asserts that these vampires arenot really dead is well founded. It is certain that death consists inthe separation of the soul from the body, and that neither the onenor the other perishes, nor is annihilated by death; that the soul isimmortal, and that the body destitute of its soul, still remainsentire, and becomes only in part corrupt, sometimes in a few days, andsometimes in a longer space of time; sometimes even it remainsuncorrupted during many years or even ages, either by reason of a goodconstitution, as in Hector[584] and Alexander the Great, whose bodiesremained several days undecayed;[585] or by means of the art ofembalming; or lastly, owing to the nature of the earth in which theyare interred, which has the power of drying up the radical humidityand the principles of corruption. I do not stop to prove all thesethings, which besides are very well known. 

Sometimes the body, without being dead and forsaken by its reasonablesoul, remains as if dead and motionless, or at least with so slow amotion and such feeble respiration, that it is almost imperceptible, as it happens in faintings, swoons, in certain disorders very commonamongst women, in trances--as we remarked in the case of Pretextat, priest of Calame; we have also reported more than one instance, considered dead and buried as such; I may add that of the Abbé Salin, prior of St. Christopher, [586] who being in his coffin, and about tobe interred, was resuscitated by some of his friends, who made himswallow a glass of champagne. 

Several instances of the same kind are related. [587] In the "CausesCélèbres, " they make mention of a girl who became _enceinte_ during along swoon; we have already noticed this. Pliny cites[588] a greatnumber of instances of persons who have been thought dead, and whohave come to life again, and lived for a long time. He mentions ayoung man, who having fallen asleep in a cavern, remained there fortyyears without waking. Our historians[589] speak of the seven sleepers, who slept for 150 years, from the year of Christ 253 to 403. It issaid that the philosopher Epimenides slept in a cavern duringfifty-seven years, or according to others, forty-seven, or only fortyyears; for the ancients do not agree concerning the number of years;they even affirm, that this philosopher had the power to detach hissoul from his body, and recall it when he pleased. The same thing isrelated of Aristĉus of Proconnesus. I am willing to allow that that isfabulous; but we cannot gainsay the truth of several other stories ofpersons who have come to life again, after having appeared dead forthree, four, five, six, and seven days. Pliny acknowledges that thereare several instances of dead people who have appeared after they wereinterred; but he will not mention them more particularly, because, hesays, he relates only natural things and not prodigies--"Postsepulturam quoque visorum exempla sunt, nisi quod naturĉ opera nonprodigia sectamur. " We believe that Enoch and Elijah are still living. Several have thought that St. John the Evangelist was not dead, [590]but that he is still alive in his tomb. 

Plato and St. Clement of Alexandria[591] relate, that the son ofZoroaster was resuscitated twelve days after his (supposed) death, andwhen his body had been laid upon the funeral pyre. Phlegon says, [592]that a Syrian soldier in the army of Antiochus, after having beenkilled at Thermopylĉ, appeared in open day in the Roman camp, andspoke to several. And Plutarch relates, [593] that a man namedThespesius, who had fallen from the roof of a house, came to himselfthe third day after he died (or seemed to die) of his fall. 

St. Paul, writing to the Corinthians, [594] seems to suppose thatsometimes the soul transported itself without the body, to repair tothe spot where it is in mind or thought; for instance, he says, thathe has been transported to the third heaven; but he adds that he knowsnot whether in the body, or only in spirit--"Sive in corpora, siveextra corpus, nescio, Deus scit. " We have already cited St. Augustine, [595] who mentions a priest of Calamus, named Pretextat, who, at the sound of the voices of some persons who lamented theirsins, fell into such an ecstasy of delight, that he no longer breathedor felt anything; and they might have cut and burnt his flesh withouthis perceiving it; his soul was absent, or really so occupied withthese lamentations, that he was insensible to pain. In swoons andsyncope, the soul no longer performs her ordinary functions. She isnevertheless in the body, and continues to animate it, but sheperceives not her own action. 

A curé of the Diocese of Constance, named Bayer, writes me word thatin 1728, having been appointed to the curé of Rutheim, he wasdisturbed a month afterwards by a spectre, or an evil genius, in theform of a peasant, badly made, and ill-dressed, very ill-looking, andstinking insupportably, who came and knocked at the door in aninsolent manner, and having entered his study told him that he hadbeen sent by an official of the Prince of Constance, his bishop, upona certain commission which was found to be absolutely false. He thenasked for something to eat, and they placed before him meat, bread, and wine. He took up the meat with both hands, and devoured it bonesand all, saying, "See how I eat both flesh and bone--do the same. "Then he took up the wine-cup, and swallowed it at a draught, askingfor another, which he drank off in the same fashion. After that hewithdrew, without bidding the curé good-bye; and the servant whoshowed him to the door having asked his name, he replied, "I was bornat Rutsingen, and my name is George Raulin, " which was false. As hewas going down stairs he said to the curé in German, in a menacingtone, "I will show you who I am. "

He passed all the rest of the day in the village, showing himself toeverybody. Towards midnight he returned to the curé's door, crying outthree times in a terrible voice, "Monsieur Bayer!" and adding, "I willlet you know who I am. " In fact, during three years he returned everyday towards four o'clock in the afternoon, and every night till dawnof day. He appeared in different forms, sometimes like a water-dog, sometimes as a lion, or some other terrible animal; sometimes in theshape of a man, or a girl, when the curé was at table, or in bed, enticing him to lasciviousness. Sometimes he made an uproar in thehouse, like a cooper putting hoops on his casks; then again you mighthave thought he wanted to throw the house down by the noise he made init. To have witnesses to all this, the curé often sent for the beadleand other personages of the village to bear testimony to it. Thespectre emitted, wherever he showed himself, an insupportable stench. 

At last the curé had recourse to exorcisms, but they produced noeffect. And as they despaired almost of being delivered from thesevexations, he was advised, at the end of the third year, to providehimself with a holy branch on Palm Sunday, and also with a swordsprinkled with holy water, and to make use of it against the spectre. He did so once or twice, and from that time he was no more molested. This is attested by a Capuchin monk, witness of the greater part ofthese things, the 29th of August, 1749. 

I will not guarantee the truth of all these circumstances; thejudicious reader will make what induction he pleases from them. Ifthey are true, here is a real ghost, who eats, drinks, and speaks, andgives tokens of his presence for three whole years, without anyappearance of religion. Here follows another instance of a ghost whomanifested himself by actions alone. 

They write me word from Constance, the 8th of August, 1748, thattowards the end of the year 1746 sighs were heard, which seemed toproceed from the corner of the printing-office of the Sieur Lahart, one of the common council men of the city of Constance. The printersonly laughed at it at first, but in the following year, 1747, in thebeginning of January, they heard more noise than before. There was ahard knocking near the same corner whence they had at first heard somesighs; things went so far that the printers received slaps, and theirhats were thrown on the ground. They had recourse to the Capuchins, who came with the books proper for exorcising the spirit. The exorcismcompleted they returned home, and the noise ceased for three days. 

At the end of that time the noise recommenced more violently thanbefore; the spirit threw the characters for printing, whether lettersor figures, against the windows. They sent out of the city for afamous exorcist, who exorcised the spirit for a week. One day thespirit boxed the ears of a lad; and again the letters, &c. , werethrown against the window-panes. The foreign exorcist, not having beenable to effect anything by his exorcisms, returned to his own home. 

The spirit went on as usual, giving slaps in the face to one, andthrowing stones and other things at another, so that the compositorswere obliged to leave that corner of the printing-office and placethemselves in the middle of the room, but they were not the quieterfor that. 

They then sent for other exorcists, one of whom had a particle of thetrue cross, which he placed upon the table. The spirit did not, however, cease disturbing as usual the workmen belonging to theprinting-office; and the Capuchin brother who accompanied the exorcistreceived such buffets that they were both obliged to withdraw to theirconvent. Then came others, who, having mixed a quantity of sand andashes in a bucket of water, blessed the water, and sprinkled with itevery part of the printing-office. They also scattered the sand andashes all over the room upon the paved floor; and being provided withswords, the whole party began to strike at random right and left inevery part of the room, to see if they could hit the ghost, and toobserve if he left any foot-marks upon the sand or ashes which coveredthe floor. They perceived at last that he had perched himself on thetop of the stove or furnace, and they remarked on the angles of itmarks of his feet and hands impressed on the sand and ashes they hadblessed. 

They succeeded in ousting him from there, and they very soon perceivedthat he had slid under the table, and left marks of his hands and feeton the pavement. The dust raised by all this movement in the officecaused them to disperse, and they discontinued the pursuit. But theprincipal exorcist having taken out a screw from the angle where theyhad first heard the noise, found in a hole in the wall some feathers, three bones wrapped up in a dirty piece of linen, some bits of glass, and a hair-pin, or bodkin. He blessed a fire which they lighted, andhad all that thrown into it. But this monk had hardly reached hisconvent when one of the printers came to tell him that the bodkin hadcome out of the flames three times of itself, and that a boy who washolding a pair of tongs, and who put this bodkin in the fire again, had been violently struck in the face. The rest of the things whichhad been found having been brought to the Capuchin convent, they wereburnt without further resistance; but the lad who had carried themthere saw a naked woman in the public market-place, and that and thefollowing days groans were heard in the market-place of Constance. 

Some days after this the printer's house was again infested in thismanner, the ghost giving slaps, throwing stones, and molesting thedomestics in divers ways. The Sieur Lahart, the master of the house, received a great wound in his head, two boys who slept in the same bedwere thrown on the ground, so that the house was entirely forsakenduring the night. One Sunday a servant girl carrying away some linenfrom the house had stones thrown at her, and another time two boyswere thrown down from a ladder. 

There was in the city of Constance an executioner who passed for asorcerer. The monk who writes to me suspected him of having some partin this game; he began to exhort those who sat up with him in thehouse, to put their confidence in God, and to be strong in faith. Hegave them to understand that the executioner was likely to be of theparty. They passed the night thus in the house, and about ten o'clockin the evening, one of the companions of the exorcist threw himself athis feet in tears, and revealed to him, that that same night he andone of his companions had been sent to consult the executioner inTurgau, and that by order of the Sieur Lahart, printer, in whose houseall this took place. This avowal strangely surprised the good father, and he declared that he would not continue to exorcise, if they didnot assure him that they had not spoken to the executioners to put anend to the haunting. They protested that they had not spoken to themat all. The Capuchin father had everything picked up that was foundabout the house, wrapped up in packets, and had them carried to hisconvent. 

The following night, two domestics tried to pass the night in thehouse, but they were thrown out of their beds, and constrained to goand sleep elsewhere. After this, they sent for a peasant of thevillage of Annanstorf, who was considered a good exorcist. He passedthe night in the haunted house, drinking, singing, and shouting. Hereceived slaps and blows from a stick, and was obliged to own that hecould not prevail against the spirit. 

The widow of an executioner presented herself then to perform theexorcisms; she began by using fumigations in all parts of thedwelling, to drive away the evil spirits. But before she had finishedthese fumigations, seeing that the master was struck in the face andon his body by the spirit, she ran away from the house, without askingfor her pay. 

They next called in the Curé of Valburg, who passed for a cleverexorcist. He came with four other secular curés, and continued theexorcisms for three days, without any success. He withdrew to hisparish, imputing the inutility of his prayers to the want of faith ofthose who were present. 

During this time, one of the four priests was struck with a knife, then with a fork, but he was not hurt. The son of Sieur Lahart, masterof the dwelling, received upon his jaw a blow from a pascal taper, which did him no harm. All that being of no service, they sent for theexecutioners of the neighborhood. Two of the persons who went to fetchthem were well thrashed and pelted with stones. Another had his thighso tightly pressed that he felt the pain for a long time. Theexecutioners carefully collected all the packets they found wrapped upabout the house, and put others in their room; but the spirit tookthem up and threw them into the market-place. After this, theexecutioners persuaded the Sieur Lahart that he might boldly returnwith his people to the house; he did so, but the first night, whenthey were at supper, one of his workmen named Solomon was wounded onthe foot, and then followed a great effusion of blood. They then sentagain for the executioner, who appeared much surprised that the housewas not yet entirely freed, but at that moment he was himself attackedby a shower of stones, boxes on the ears, and other blows, whichconstrained him to run away quickly. 

Some heretics in the neighborhood, being informed of all these things, came one day to the bookseller's shop, and upon attempting to read ina Catholic Bible which was there, were well boxed and beaten; buthaving taken up a Calvinist Bible, they received no harm. Two men ofConstance having entered the bookseller's shop from sheer curiosity, one of them was immediately thrown down upon the ground, and the otherran away as fast as he could. Another person, who had come in the sameway from curiosity, was punished for his presumption, by having aquantity of water thrown upon him. A young girl of Ausburg, a relationof the Sieur Lahart, printer, was chased away with violent blows, andpursued even to the neighboring house, where she entered. 

At last the hauntings ceased, on the 8th of February. On that day thespectre opened the shop door, went in, deranged a few articles, wentout, shut the door, and from that time nothing more was seen or heardof it. 

Footnotes:

[584] Homer de Hectore, Iliad XXIV. 411. 

[585] Plutarch de Alexandro in ejus Vita. 

[586] About the year 1680; he died after the year 1694. 

[587] Causes Célèbres, tom. Viii. P. 585. 

[588] Plin. Hist. Natur. Lib. Vii. C. 52. 

[589] St. Gregor. Turon. De Gloria Martyr. C. 95. 

[590] I have touched upon this matter in a particular Dissertation atthe Head of the Gospel of St. John. 

[591] Plato, de Republ. Lib. X. ; Clemens Alexandr. Lib. V. Stromat. 

[592] Phleg. De Mirabilis, c. 3. 

[593] Plutarch, de Serâ Numinis Vindicta. 

[594] 1 Cor. Xiii. 2. 

[595] Aug. Lib. Xiv. De Civit. Dei, c. 24. 

CHAPTER XLIX. 

INSTANCE OF A MAN NAMED CURMA WHO WAS SENT BACK INTO THE WORLD. 

St. Augustine relates on this subject, [596] that a countryman namedCurma, who held a small place in the village of Tullia, near Hippoma, having fallen sick, remained for some days senseless and speechless, having just respiration enough left to prevent their burying him. Atthe end of several days he began to open his eyes, and sent to askwhat they were about in the house of another peasant of the sameplace, and like himself named Curma. They brought him back word, thathe had just expired at the very moment that he himself had recoveredand was resuscitated from his deep slumber. 

Then he began to talk, and related what he had seen and heard; that itwas not Curma the _curial_, [597] but Curma the blacksmith, who oughtto have been brought; he added, that among those whom he had seentreated in different ways, he had recognized some of his deceasedacquaintance, and other ecclesiastics, who were still alive, who hadadvised him to come to Hippoma, and be baptized by the BishopAugustine; that according to their advice he had received baptism inhis vision; that afterwards he had been introduced into Paradise, butthat he had not remained there long, and that they had told him thatif he wished to dwell there, he must be baptized. He replied, "I amso;" but they told him, that he had been so only in a vision, and thathe must go to Hippoma to receive that sacrament in reality. He camethere as soon as he was cured, and received the rite of baptism withthe other catechumens. 

St. Augustine was not informed of this adventure till about two yearsafterwards. He sent for Curma, and learnt from his own lips what Ihave just related. Now it is certain that Curma saw nothing with hisbodily eyes of all that had been represented to him in his vision;neither the town of Hippoma, nor Bishop Augustine, nor theecclesiastics who counseled him to be baptized, nor the persons livingand deceased whom he saw and recognized. We may believe, then, thatthese things are effects of the power of God, who makes use of theministry of angels to warn, console, or alarm mortals, according ashis judgment sees best. 

St. Augustine inquires afterwards if the dead have any knowledge ofwhat is passing in this world? He doubts the fact, and shows that atleast they have no knowledge of it by ordinary and natural means. Heremarks, that it is said God took Josiah, for instance, from thisworld, [598] that he might now witness the evil which was to befall hisnation; and we say every day, Such-a-one is happy to have left theworld, and so escaped feeling the miseries which have happened to hisfamily or his country. But if the dead know not what is passing inthis world, how can they be troubled about their bodies being interredor not? How do the saints hear our prayers? and why do we ask them fortheir intercession?

It is then true that the dead can learn what is passing on the earth, either by the agency of angels, or by that of the dead who arrive inthe other world, or by the revelation of the Spirit of God, whodiscovers to them what he judges proper, and what it is expedient thatthey should learn. God may also sometimes send men who have long beendead to living men, as he permitted Moses and Elias to appear at theTransfiguration of the Lord, and as an infinite number of the saintshave appeared to the living. The invocation of saints has always beentaught and practised in the Church; whence we may infer that they hearour prayers, are moved by our wants, and can help us by theirintercession. But the way in which all that is done is not distinctlyknown; neither reason nor revelation furnishes us with anythingcertain, as to the means it pleases God to make use of to reveal ourwants to them. 

Lucian, in his dialogue entitled _Philopseudes_, or the "Lover ofFalsehood, " relates[599] something similar. A man named Eucratés, having been taken down to hell, was presented to Pluto, who was angrywith him who presented him, saying--"That man has not yet completedhis course; his turn has not yet come. Bring hither Demilius, for thethread of his life is finished. " Then they sent Eucratés back to thisworld, where he announced that Demilius would die soon. Demilius livednear him, and was already a little ill. 

But a moment after they heard the noise of those who were bewailinghis death. Lucian makes a jest of all that was said on this subject, but he owns that it was the common opinion in his time. He says in thesame part of his work, that a man has been seen to come to life againafter having been looked upon as dead during twenty days. 

The story of Curma which we have just told, reminds me of anothervery like it, related by Plutarch in his Book on the Soul, of acertain man named Enarchus, [600] who, being dead, came to life againsoon after, and related that the demons who had taken away his soulwere severely reprimanded by their chief, who told them that they hadmade a mistake, and that it was Nicander, and not Enarchus whom theyought to bring. He sent them for Nicander, who was directly seizedwith a fever, and died during the day. Plutarch heard this fromEnarchus himself, who to confirm what he had asserted said tohim--"You will get well certainly, and that very soon, of the illnesswhich has attacked you. "

St. Gregory the Great relates[601] something very similar to what wehave just mentioned. An illustrious man of rank named Stephen wellknown to St. Gregory and Peter his interlocutor, was accustomed torelate to him, that going to Constantinople on business he died there;and as the doctor who was to embalm him was not in town that day, theywere obliged to leave the body unburied that night. During thisinterval Stephen was led before the judge who presided in hell, wherehe saw many things which he had heard of, but did not believe. Whenthey brought him to the judge, the latter refused to receive him, saying, "It is not that man whom I commanded you to bring here, butStephen the blacksmith. " In consequence of this order the soul of thedead man was directly brought back to his body, and at the sameinstant Stephen the blacksmith expired; which confirmed all that theformer had said of the other life. 

The plague ravaging the city of Rome in the time that Narses wasgovernor of Italy, a young Livonian, a shepherd by profession, and ofa good and quiet disposition, was taken ill with the plague in thehouse of the advocate Valerian, his master. Just when they thought himall but dead, he suddenly came to himself, and related to them that hehad been transported to heaven, where he had learnt the names of thosewho were to die of the plague in his master's house; having named themto him, he predicted to Valerian that he should survive him; and toconvince him that he was saying the truth, he let him see that he hadacquired by infusion the knowledge of several different languages; ineffect he who had never known how to speak any but the Italian tongue, spoke Greek to his master, and other languages to those who knew them. 

After having lived in this state for two days, he had fits of madness, and having laid hold of his hands with his teeth, he died a secondtime, and was followed by those whom he had named. His master, whosurvived, fully justified his prediction. Men and women who fall intotrances remain sometimes for several days without food, respiration, or pulsation of the heart, as if they were dead. Thauler, a famouscontemplative (philosopher) maintains that a man may remain entrancedduring a week, a month, or even a year. We have seen an abbess, whowhen in a trance, into which she often fell, lost the use of hernatural functions, and passed thirty days in that state without takingany nourishment, and without sensation. Instances of these trances arenot rare in the lives of the saints, though they are not all of thesame kind, or duration. 

Women in hysterical fits remain likewise many days as if dead, speechless, inert, pulseless. Galen mentions a woman who was six daysin this state. [602] Some of them pass ten whole days motionless, senseless, without respiration and without food. 

Some persons who have seemed dead and motionless, had however thesense of hearing very strong, heard all that was said aboutthemselves, made efforts to speak and show that they were not dead, but who could neither speak, nor give any signs of life. [603]

I might here add an infinity of trances of saintly personages of bothsexes, who in their delight in God, in prayer remained motionless, without sensation, almost breathless, and who felt nothing of what wasdone to them, or around them. 

Footnotes:

[596] August. Lib. De Curâ pro Mortuis, c. Xii. P. 524. 

[597] _Curialis_--this word signifies a small employment in a village. 

[598] IV. Reg. 18, et. Seq. 

[599] Lucian, in Phliopseud. P. 830. 

[600] Plutarch, de Animâ, apud Eusebius de Prĉp. Evang. Lib. Ii. C. 18. 

[601] Gregor. Dial. Lib. Iv. C. 36. 

[602] See the treatise on the Uncertainty of the Signs of Death, tom. Ii. Pp. 404, 407, _et seq. _

[603] Ibid. Lib. Ii. Pp. 504, 505, 506, 514. 

CHAPTER L. 

INSTANCES OF PERSONS WHO COULD FALL INTO A TRANCE WHEN THEY PLEASED, AND REMAINED PERFECTLY SENSELESS. 

Jerome Cardan says[604] that he fell into a trance when he liked; heowns that he does not know if, like the priest Pretextat, he shouldnot feel great wounds or hurts, but he did not feel the pain of thegout, or the pulling him about. He adds, the priest of Calama heardthe voices of those who spoke aloud near him, but as if from adistance. "For my part, " says Cardan, "I hear the voice, thoughslightly, and without understanding what is said. And when I wish toentrance myself, I feel about my heart as it were a separation of thesoul from the rest of my body, and that communicates as if by a littledoor with all the machine, principally by the head and brain. Then Ihave no sensation except that of being beside myself. "

We may report here what is related of the Laplanders, [605] who whenthey wish to learn something that is passing at a distance from thespot where they are, send their demon, or their souls, by means ofcertain magic ceremonies, and by the sound of a drum which they beat, or upon a shield painted in a certain manner; then on a sudden theLaplander falls into a trance, and remains as if lifeless andmotionless sometimes during four-and-twenty hours. But all this timesome one must remain near him to prevent him from being touched, orcalled; even the movement of a fly would wake him, and they say hewould die directly or be carried away by the demon. We have alreadymentioned this subject in the Dissertation on Apparitions. 

We have also remarked that serpents, worms, flies, snails, marmots, sloths, &c. , remain asleep during the winter, and in blocks of stonehave been found toads, snakes, and oysters alive, which had beenenclosed there for many years, and perhaps for more than a century. Cardinal de Retz relates in his Memoirs, [606] that being at Minorca, the governor of the island caused to be drawn up from the bottom ofthe sea by main force with cables, whole rocks, which on being brokenwith maces, enclosed living oysters, that were served up to him attable, and were found very good. 

On the coasts of Malta, Sardinia, Italy, &c. , they find a fish calledthe Dactylus, or Date, or Dale, because it resembles the palm-date inform; this first insinuates itself into the stone by a hole not biggerthan the hole made by a needle. When he has got in he feeds upon thestone, and grows so big that he cannot get out again, unless the stoneis broken and he is extricated. Then they wash it, clean it, and dressit for the table. It has the shape of a date, or of a finger; whenceits name of _Dactylus_, which in Greek signifies a finger. 

Again, I imagine that in many persons death is caused by thecoagulation of the blood, which freezes and hardens in their veins, asit happens with those who have eaten hemlock, or who have been bittenby certain serpents; but there are others whose death is caused by toogreat an ebullition of blood, as in painful maladies, and in certainpoisons, and even, they say, in certain kinds of plague, and whenpeople die a violent death, or have been drowned. 

The first mentioned cannot return to life without an evident miracle;for that purpose the fluidity of the blood must be re-established, andthe peristaltic motion must be restored to the heart. But in thesecond kind of death, people can sometimes be restored without amiracle, by taking away the obstacle which retards or suspends thepalpitation of the heart, as we see in time-pieces, the action ofwhich is restored by taking away anything foreign to the mechanism, asa hair, a bit of thread, an atom, some almost imperceptible body whichstops them. 

Footnotes:

[604] Hieron. Cardanus, lib. Viii. De Varietate Verum, c. 34. 

[605] Olaus Magnus, lib. Iii. Epitom. Hist. Septent. Perecer de VariisDivinat. Generib. P. 282. 

[606] Memoirs of Cardinal de Retz, tom. Iii. Lib. Iv. P. 297. 

CHAPTER LI. 

APPLICATION OF THE PRECEDING INSTANCES TO VAMPIRES. 

Supposing these facts, which I believe to be incontestably true, maywe not imagine that the vampires of Hungary, Silesia, and Moldavia, are some of those men who have died of maladies which heat the blood, and who have retained some remains of life in their graves, much likethose animals which we have mentioned, and those birds which plungethemselves during the winter in the lakes and marshes of Poland, andin the northern countries? They are without respiration or motion, butstill not destitute of vitality. They resume their motion and activitywhen, on the return of spring, the sun warms the waters, or when theyare brought near a moderate fire, or laid in a room of temperate heat;then they are seen to revive, and perform their ordinary functions, which had been suspended by the cold. 

Thus, vampires in their graves returned to life after a certain time, and their soul does not forsake them absolutely until after the entiredissolution of their body, and when the organs of life, beingabsolutely broken, corrupted, and deranged, they can no longer bytheir agency perform any vital functions. Whence it happens, that thepeople of those countries impale them, cut off their heads, burn them, to deprive their spirit of all hope of animating them again, and ofmaking use of them to molest the living. 

Pliny, [607] mentioning the soul of Hermotimes, of Lazomene, whichabsented itself from his body, and recounted various things that hadbeen done afar off, which the spirit said it had seen, and which, infact, could only be known to a person who had been present at them, says that the enemies of Hermotimes, named Cantandes, burned thatbody, which gave hardly any sign of life, and thus deprived the soulof the means of returning to lodge in its envelop; "donec crematocorpore interim semianimi, remeanti animĉ vetut vaginam ademerint. "

Origen had doubtless derived from the ancients what he teaches, [608]that the souls which are of a spiritual nature take, on leaving theirearthly body, another, more subtile, of a similar form to the grosserone they have just quitted, which serves them as a kind of sheath, orcase, and that it is invested with this subtile body that theysometimes appear about their graves. He founds this opinion on what issaid of Lazarus and the rich man in the Gospel, [609] who both of themhave bodies, since they speak and see, and the wicked rich man asksfor a drop of water to cool his tongue. 

I do not defend this reasoning of Origen; but what he says of asubtile body, which has the form of the earthly one which clothed thesoul before death, quite resembles the opinion of which we spoke inChapter IV. 

That bodies which have died of violent maladies, or which have beenexecuted when full of health, or have simply swooned, should vegetateunderground in their graves; that their beards, hair, and nails shouldgrow; that they should emit blood, be supple and pliant; that theyshould have no bad smell, &c. --all these things do not embarrass us:the vegetation of the human body may produce all these effects. Thatthey should even eat and devour what is about them, the madness withwhich a man interred alive must be transported when he awakes from historpor, or his swoon, must naturally lead him to these violentexcesses. But the grand difficulty is to explain how the vampires comeout of their graves to haunt the living, and how they return to themagain. For all the accounts that we see suppose the thing as certain, without informing us either of the way or the circumstances, whichwould, however, be the most interesting part of the narrative. 

How a body covered with four or five feet of earth, having no room tomove about and disengage itself, wrapped up in linen, covered withpitch, can make its way out, and come back upon the earth, and thereoccasion such effects as are related of it; and how after that itreturns to its former state, and re-enters underground, where it isfound sound, whole, and full of blood, and in the same condition as aliving body? Will it be said that these bodies evaporate through theground without opening it, like the water and vapors which enter intothe earth, or proceed from it, without sensibly deranging itsparticles? It were to be wished that the accounts which have beengiven us concerning the return of the vampires had been more minute intheir explanations of this subject. 

Supposing that their bodies do not stir from their graves, that it isonly their phantoms which appear to the living, what cause producesand animates these phantoms? Can it be the spirit of the defunct, which has not yet forsaken them, or some demon, which makes theirapparition in a fantastic and borrowed body? And if these bodies aremerely phantomic, how can they suck the blood of living people? Wealways find ourselves in a difficulty to know if these appearances arenatural or miraculous. 

A sensible priest related to me, a little while ago, that, travelingin Moravia, he was invited by M. Jeanin, a canon of the cathedral atOlmutz, to accompany him to their village, called Liebava, where hehad been appointed commissioner by the consistory of the bishopric, totake information concerning the fact of a certain famous vampire, which had caused much confusion in this village of Liebava some yearsbefore. 

The case proceeded. They heard the witnesses, they observed the usualforms of the law. The witnesses deposed that a certain notableinhabitant of Liebava had often disturbed the living in their beds atnight, that he had come out of the cemetery, and had appeared inseveral houses three or four years ago; that his troublesome visitshad ceased because a Hungarian stranger, passing through the villageat the time of these reports, had boasted that he could put an end tothem, and make the vampire disappear. To perform his promise, hemounted on the church steeple, and observed the moment when thevampire came out of his grave, leaving near it the linen clothes inwhich he had been enveloped, and then went to disturb the inhabitantsof the village. 

The Hungarian, having seen him come out of his grave, went downquickly from the steeple, took up the linen envelops of the vampire, and carried them with him up the tower. The vampire having returnedfrom his prowlings, cried loudly against the Hungarian, who made him asign from the top of the tower that if he wished to have his clothesagain he must fetch them; the vampire began to ascend the steeple, butthe Hungarian threw him down backwards from the ladder, and cut hishead off with a spade. Such was the end of this tragedy. 

The person who related this story to me saw nothing, neither did thenoble who had been sent as commissioner; they only heard the report ofthe peasants of the place, people extremely ignorant, superstitiousand credulous, and most exceedingly prejudiced on the subject ofvampirism. 

But supposing that there be any reality in the fact of theseapparitions of vampires, shall they be attributed to God, to angels, to the spirits of these ghosts, or to the devil? In this last case, will it be said that the devil will subtilize these bodies, and givethem power to penetrate through the ground without disturbing, toglide through the cracks and joints of a door, to pass through akeyhole, to lengthen or shorten themselves, to reduce themselves tothe nature of air, or water, to evaporate through the ground--inshort, to put them in the same state in which we believe the bodies ofthe blessed will be after the resurrection, and in which was that ofour Saviour after his resurrection, who showed himself only to thosewhom he thought proper, and who without opening the doors, [610]appeared suddenly in the midst of his disciples. 

But should it be allowed that the demon could reanimate these bodies, and give them the power of motion for a time, could he also lengthen, diminish, rarefy, subtilize the bodies of these ghosts, and give themthe faculty of penetrating through the ground, the doors and windows?There is no appearance of his having received this power from God, andwe cannot even conceive that an earthly body, material and gross, canbe reduced to that state of subtility and spiritualization withoutdestroying the configuration of its parts and spoiling the economy ofits structure; which would be contrary to the intention of the demon, and render this body incapable of appearing, showing itself, actingand speaking, and, in short, of being cut to pieces and burned, as iscommonly seen and practiced in Moravia, Poland, and Silesia. Thesedifficulties exist in regard to those persons of whom we have mademention, who, being excommunicated, rose from their tombs, and leftthe church in sight of everybody. 

We must then keep silence on this article, since it has not pleasedGod to reveal to us either the extent of the demon's power, or the wayin which these things can be done. There is even much appearance ofillusion; and even if some reality were mixed up with it, we mayeasily console ourselves for our ignorance in that respect, sincethere are so many natural things which take place within us and aroundus, of which the cause and manner are unknown to us. 

Footnotes:

[607] Plin. Hist. Natur. Lib. Vii. C. 52. 

[608] Orig. De Resurrect. Fragment. Lib. I. P. 35. Nov. Edit. Etcontra Celsum, lib. Vii. P. 679. 

[609] Luke xvi. 22, 23. 

[610] John xx. 26. 

CHAPTER LII. 

EXAMINATION OF THE OPINION THAT THE DEMON FASCINATES THE EYES OF THOSETO WHOM VAMPIRES APPEAR. 

Those who have recourse to the fascination of the senses to explainwhat is related concerning the apparition of vampires, throwthemselves into as great a perplexity as those who acknowledgesincerely the reality of these events; for fascination consists eitherin the suspension of the senses, which cannot see what is passingbefore their sight, like that with which the men of Sodom werestruck[611] when they could not discover the door of Lot's house, though it was before their eyes; or that of the disciples at Emmaus, of whom it is said that "their eyes were holden, so that they mightnot recognize Jesus Christ, who was talking with them on the way, andwhom they knew not again until the breaking of the bread revealed himto them;"[612]--or else it consists in an object being represented tothe senses in a different form from that it wears in reality, as thatof the Moabites, [613] who believed they saw the waters tinged with theblood of the Israelites, although nothing was there but the simplewaters, on which the rays of the sun being reflected, gave them areddish hue; or that of the Syrian soldiers sent to take Elisha, [614]who were led by this prophet into Samaria, without their recognisingeither the prophet or the city. 

This fascination, in what way soever it may be conceived, is certainlyabove the usual power known unto man, consequently man cannotnaturally produce it; but is it above the natural powers of an angelor a demon? That is what is unknown to us, and obliges us to suspendour judgment on this question. 

There is another kind of fascination, which consists in this, that thesight of a person or a thing, the praise bestowed upon them, the envyfelt towards them, produce in the object certain bad effects, againstwhich the ancients took great care to guard themselves and theirchildren, by making them wear round their necks preservatives, oramulets, or charms. 

A great number of passages on this subject might be cited from theGreek and Latin authors; and I find that at this day, in various partsof Christendom, people are persuaded of the efficacy of thesefascinations. But we must own three things; first, that the effect ofthese pretended fascinations (or spells) is very doubtful; the second, that if it were certain, it is very difficult, not to say impossible, to explain it; and lastly, that it cannot be rationally applied to thematter of apparitions or of vampires. 

If the vampires or ghosts are not really resuscitated nor their bodiesspiritualized and subtilized, as we believe we have proved, and if oursenses are not deceived by fascination, as we have just seen it, Idoubt if there be any other way to act on this question than toabsolutely deny the return of these vampires, or to believe that theyare only asleep or torpid; for if they truly are resuscitated, and ifwhat is told of their return be true--if they speak, act, reason, ifthey suck the blood of the living, they must know what passes in theother world, and they ought to inform their relations and friends ofit, and that is what they do not. On the contrary, they treat them asenemies; torment them, take away their life, suck their blood, causethem to die with lassitude. 

If they are predestinated and blessed, whence happens it that theydisturb and torment the living, their nearest relations, theirchildren, and all that for nothing, and simply for the sake of doingharm? If these are persons who have still something to expiate inpurgatory, and who require the prayers of the living, why do they notexplain their condition? If they are reprobate and condemned, whathave they to do on this earth? Can we conceive that God allows themthus to come without reason or necessity and molest their families, and even cause their death?

If these _revenans_ are really dead, whatever state they may be in inthe other world, they play a very bad part here, and keep it up stillworse. 

Footnotes:

[611] Gen. Xix. 2. 

[612] Luke xxiv. 16. 

[613] 2 Kings iii. 23. 

[614] 2 Kings iv. 19, 20. 

CHAPTER LIII. 

INSTANCES OF PERSONS RESUSCITATED, WHO RELATE WHAT THEY HAVE SEEN INTHE OTHER WORLD. 

We have just seen that the vampires never speak of the other world, nor ask for either masses or prayers, nor give any warning to theliving to lead them to correct their morals, or bring them to a betterlife. It is surely very prejudicial to the reality of their returnfrom the other world; but their silence on that head may favor theopinion which supposes that they are not really dead. 

It is true that we do not read either that Lazarus, resuscitated byJesus Christ, [615] nor the son of the widow of Nain, [616] nor that ofthe woman of Shunam, brought to life by Elisha, [617] nor thatIsraelite who came to life by simply touching the body of the sameprophet Elisha, [618] after their resurrection revealed anything tomankind of the state of souls in the other world. 

But we see in the Gospel[619] that the bad rich man, having begged ofAbraham to permit him to send some one to this world to warn hisbrethren to lead a better life, and take care not to fall into theunhappy condition in which he found himself, was answered, "They havethe law and the prophets, they can listen to them and follow theirinstructions. " And as the rich man persisted, saying--"If some onewent to them from the other world, they would be more impressed, "Abraham replied, "If they will not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they attend the more though one should go to them fromthe dead. " The dead man resuscitated by St. Stanislaus replied in thesame manner to those who asked him to give them news of the otherworld--"You have the law, the prophets, and the Gospel--hear them!"

The deceased Pagans who have returned to life, and some Christians whohave likewise returned to the world by a kind of resurrection, and whohave seen what passed beyond the bounds of this world, have not keptsilence on the subject. They have related at length what they saw andheard on leaving their bodies. 

We have already touched upon the story of a man named Eros, of thecountry of Pamphilia, [620] who, having been wounded in battle, wasfound ten days after amongst the dead. They carried him senseless andmotionless into the house. Two days afterwards, when they were aboutto place him on the funeral pile to burn his body, he revived, beganto speak, and to relate in what manner people were lodged after theirdeath, and how the good were rewarded and the wicked punished andtormented. 

He said that his soul, being separated from his body, went with alarge company to a very agreeable place, where they saw as it were twogreat openings, which gave entrance to those who came from earth, andtwo others to go to heaven. He saw at this same place judges whoexamined those arrived from this world, and sent up to the right thosewho had lived well, and sent down to the left those who had beenguilty of crimes. Each of them bore upon his back a label on which waswritten what he had done well or ill, the reason of his condemnationor his absolution. 

When it came to the turn of Eros, the judges told him that he mustreturn to earth, to announce to men what passed in the other world, and that he must well observe everything, in order to be able torender a faithful account to the living. Thus he witnessed themiserable state of the wicked, which was to last a thousand years, andthe delights enjoyed by the just; that both the good and the badreceived the reward or the punishment of their good or bad deeds, tentimes greater than the measure of their crimes or of all theirvirtues. 

He remarked amongst other things, that the judges inquired where was acertain man named Andĉus, celebrated in all Pamphylia for his crimesand tyranny. They were answered that he was not yet come, and that hewould not be there; in fact, having presented himself with muchtrouble, and by making great efforts, at the grand opening beforementioned, he was repulsed and sent back to go below with otherscoundrels like himself, whom they tortured in a thousand differentways, and who were always violently repulsed, whenever they tried toreascend. 

He saw, moreover, the three Fates, daughters of Necessity or Destiny. These are, Lachesis, Clotho, and Atropos. Lachesis announced the past, Clotho the present, and Atropos the future. The souls were obliged toappear before these three goddesses. Lachesis cast the lots upwards, and every soul laid hold of the one which it could reach; which, however, did not prevent them still from sometimes missing the kind oflife which was most conformable to justice and reason. 

Eros added that he had remarked some of the souls who sought to enterinto animals; for instance, Orpheus, from hatred to the female sex, who had killed him (by tearing him to pieces), entered into a swan, and Thamaris into a nightingale. Ajax, the son of Telamon, chose thebody of a lion, from detestation of the injustice of the Greeks, whohad refused to let him have the arms of Hector, which he asserted werehis due. Agamemnon, grieved at the crosses he had endured in thislife, chose the form of the eagle. Atalanta chose the life of theathletics, delighted with the honors heaped upon them. Thersites, theugliest of mortals, chose the form of an ape. Ulysses, weary of themiseries he had suffered upon earth, asked to live quietly as aprivate man. He had some trouble to find a lot for that kind of life;but he found it at last thrown down on the ground and neglected, andhe joyfully snatched it up. 

Eros affirmed also that the souls of some animals entered into thebodies of men; and by the contrary rule, the souls of the wicked tookpossession of savage and cruel beasts, and the souls of just men ofthose animals which are gentle, tame, and domestic. 

After these various metempsychoses, Lachesis gave to each hisguardian or defender, who guided and guarded him during the course ofhis life. Eros was then led to the river of oblivion (Lethe), whichtakes away all memory of the past, but he was prevented from drinkingof its water. Lastly, he said he could not tell how he came back tolife. 

Plato, after having related this fable, as he terms it, or thisapologue, concludes from it that the soul is immortal, and that togain a blessed life we must live uprightly, which will lead us toheaven, where we shall enjoy that beatitude of a thousand years whichis promised us. 

We see by this, 1. That a man may live a good while without eating orbreathing, or giving any sign or life. 2. That the Greeks believed inthe metempsychosis, in a state of beatitude for the just, and pains ofa thousand years duration for the wicked. 3. That destiny does nothinder a man from doing either good or evil. 4. That he had a genius, or an angel, who guided and protected him. They believed in judgmentafter death, and that the souls of the just were received into whatthey called the Elysian Fields. 

Footnotes:

[615] John xi. 14. 

[616] Luke vii. 11, 12. 

[617] 2 Kings iv. 25. 

[618] 2 Kings xiii. 21. 

[619] Luke xvi. 24. 

[620] Plato, lib. X. De Rep. P. 614. 

CHAPTER LIV. 

THE TRADITIONS OF THE PAGANS CONCERNING THE FUTURE LIFE ARE DERIVEDFROM THE HEBREWS AND EGYPTIANS. 

All these traditions are clearly to be found in Homer, Virgil, andother Greek and Latin authors; they were doubtless originally derivedfrom the Hebrews, or rather the Egyptians, from whom the Greeks tooktheir religion, which they arranged to their own taste. The Hebrewsspeak of the _Rephaims_, [621] of the impious giants "who groan underthe waters. " Solomon says[622] that the wicked shall go down to theabyss, or hell, with the Rephaims. Isaiah, describing the arrival ofthe King of Babylon in hell, says[623] that "the giants have raisedthemselves up to meet him with honor, and have said unto him, thou hasbeen pierced with wounds even as we are; thy pride has beenprecipitated into hell. Thy bed shall be of rottenness, and thycovering of worms. " Ezekiel describes[624] in the same manner thedescent of the King of Assyria into hell--"In the day that Ahasueruswent down into hell, I commanded a general mourning; for him I closedup the abyss, and arrested the course of the waters. You are at lastbrought down to the bottom of the earth with the trees of Eden; youwill rest there with all those who have been killed by the sword;there is Pharaoh with all his host, " &c. In the Gospel, [625] there isa great gulf between the bosom of Abraham and the abode of the badrich man, and of those who resemble him. 

The Egyptians called _Amenthés_, that is to say, "he who receives andgives, " what the Greeks named Hades, or hell, or the kingdom of Hades, or Pluto. They believed that Amenthés received the souls of men whenthey died, and restored them to them when they returned to the world;that when a man died, his soul passed into the body of some otheranimal by metempsychosis; first of all into a terrestrial animal, theninto one that was aquatic, afterwards into the body of a bird, andlastly, after having animated all sorts of animals, he returned at theend of three thousand years to the body of a man. 

It is from the Egyptians that Orpheus, Homer, and the other Greeksderived the idea of the immortality of the soul, as well as the caveof the Nymphs described by Homer, who says there are two gates, theone to the north, through which the soul enters the cavern, and theother to the south, by which they leave the nymphic abode. 

A certain Thespisius, a native of Soloe in Cilicia, well known toPlutarch, [626] having passed a great part of his life in debauchery, and ruined himself entirely, in order to gain a livelihood lenthimself to everything that was bad, and contrived to amass money. Having sent to consult the oracle of Amphilochus, he received foranswer, that his affairs would go on better after his death. A shorttime after, he fell from the top of his house, broke his neck, anddied. Three days after, when they were about to perform the funeralobsequies, he came to life again, and changed his way of life sogreatly that there was not in Cilicia a worthier or more pious manthan himself. 

As they asked him the reason of such a change, he said that at themoment of his fall he felt the same as a pilot who is thrown back fromthe top of the helm into the sea; after which, his soul was sensibleof being raised as high as the stars, of which he admired the immensesize and admirable lustre; that the souls once out of the body riseinto the air, and are enclosed in a kind of globe, or inflamed vortex, whence having escaped, some rise on high with incredible rapidity, while others whirl about the air, and are thrown in divers directions, sometimes up and sometimes down. 

The greater part appeared to him very much perplexed, and utteredgroans and frightful wailings; others, but in a less number, rose andrejoiced with their fellows. At last he learnt that Adrastia, thedaughter of Jupiter and Necessity, left nothing unpunished, and thatshe treated every one according to their merit. He then details all hesaw at full length, and relates the various punishments with which thebad are tormented in the next world. 

He adds that a man of his acquaintance said to him, "You are not dead, but by God's permission your soul is come into this place, and hasleft your body with all its faculties. " At last he was sent back intohis body as through a channel, and urged on by an impetuous breeze. 

We may make two reflections on this recital; the first on this soul, which quits its body for three days and then comes back to reanimateit; the second, on the certainty of the oracle, which promisedThespisius a happier life when he should be dead. 

In the Sicilian war[627] between Cĉsar and Pompey, Gabienus, commanderof Cĉsar's fleet, having been taken, was beheaded by order of Pompey. He remained all day on the sea-shore, his head only held on to hisbody by a fillet. Towards evening he begged that Pompey or some of hispeople might come to him, because he came from the shades, and he hadthings of consequence to impart to him. Pompey sent to him several ofhis friends, to whom Gabienus declared that the gods of the infernalregions favored the cause and the party of Pompey, and that he wouldsucceed according to his wishes; that he was ordered to announce this, "and as a proof of the truth of what I say, I must die directly, "which happened. But we do not see that Pompey's party succeeded; weknow, on the contrary, that it fell, and Cĉsar was victorious. But theGod of the infernal regions, that is to say, the devil, found it verygood for him, since it sent him so many unhappy victims of revenge andambition. [628]

Footnotes:

[621] Job xxvi. 5. 

[622] Prov. Ix. 18. 

[623] Isa. Xix. 9, _et seq. _

[624] Ezek. Xxxi. 15. 

[625] Luke xvi. 26. 

[626] Plutarch, de his qui misero à Numine puniuntur. 

[627] Plin. Hist. Natur. Lib. Vii. C. 52. 

[628] This story is related before, and is here related on account ofthe bearing it has on the subject of this chapter. 

CHAPTER LV. 

INSTANCES OF CHRISTIANS WHO HAVE BEEN RESUSCITATED AND SENT BACK TOTHE WORLD--VISION OF VETINUS, A MONK OF AUGIA. 

We read in an old work, written in the time of St. Augustine, [629]that a man having been crushed by a wall which fell upon him, his wiferan to the church to invoke St. Stephen whilst they were preparing tobury the man who was supposed to be dead. Suddenly they saw him openhis eyes, and move his body; and after a time he sat up, and relatedthat his soul, having quitted his body, had met a crowd of other soulsof dead persons, some of whom he knew, and others he did not; that ayoung man, in a deacon's habit, having entered the room where he was, put aside all those souls, and said to them three times, "Return whatyou have received. " He understood at last that he meant the creed, which he recited instantly; and also the Lord's Prayer; then thedeacon (St. Stephen) made the sign of the cross upon his heart, andtold him to rise in perfect health. A young man, [630] a catechumen, who had been dead for three days, and was brought back to life by theprayers of St. Martin, related that after his death he had beenpresented before the tribunal of the Sovereign Judge, who hadcondemned him, and sent him with a crowd of others into a dark place;and then two angels, having represented to the Judge that he was a manfor whom St. Martin had interceded, the Judge commanded the angels tosend him back to earth, and restore him to St. Martin, which was done. He was baptized, and lived a long time afterwards. 

St. Salvius, Bishop of Albi, [631] having been seized with a violentfever, was thought to be dead. They washed him, clothed him, laid himon a bier, and passed the night in prayer by him: the next morning hewas seen to move; he appeared to awake from a deep sleep, opened hiseyes, and raising his hand towards heaven said, "Ah! Lord, why hastthou sent me back to this gloomy abode?" He rose completely cured, butwould then reveal nothing. 

Some days after, he related how two angels had carried him to heaven, where he had seen the glory of Paradise, and had been sent backagainst his will to live some time longer on earth. St. Gregory ofTours takes God to witness that he heard this history from the mouthof St. Salvius himself. 

A monk of Augia, named Vetinus, or Guetinus, who was living in 824, was ill, and lying upon his couch with his eyes shut; but not beingquite asleep, he saw a demon in the shape of a priest, most horriblydeformed, who, showing him some instruments of torture which he heldin his hand, threatened to make him soon feel the rigorous effects ofthem. At the same time he saw a multitude of evil spirits enter hischamber, carrying tools, as if to build him a tomb or a coffin, andenclose him in it. 

Immediately he saw appear some serious and grave-looking personages, wearing religious habits, who chased these demons away; and thenVetinus saw an angel, surrounded with a blaze of light, who came tothe foot of the bed, and conducted him by a path between mountains ofan extraordinary height, at the foot of which flowed a large river, inwhich he beheld a multitude of the damned, who were suffering diversetorments, according to the kind and enormity of their crimes. He sawamongst them many of his acquaintance; amongst others, some prelatesand priests, guilty of incontinence, who were tied with their backs tostakes, and burned by a fire lighted under them; the women, theircompanions in crime, suffering the same torment opposite to them. 

He beheld there also, a monk who had given himself up to avarice, andpossessed money of his own, who was to expiate his crime in a leadencoffin till the day of judgment. He remarked there abbots and bishops, and even the Emperor Charlemagne, who were expiating their faults byfire, but were to be released from it after a certain time. Heremarked there also the abode of the blessed in heaven, each one inhis place, and according to his merits. The Angel of the Lord afterthis revealed to him the crimes which were the most common, and themost odious in the eyes of God. He mentioned sodomy in particular, asthe most abominable crime. 

After the service for the night, the abbot came to visit the sick man, who related this vision to him in full, and the abbot had it writtendown directly. Vetinus lived two days longer, and having predictedthat he had only the third day to live, he recommended himself to theprayers of the monks, received the holy viaticum, and died in peace, the 31st of October, 824. 

Footnotes:

[629] Lib. I. De Miracul. Sancti Stephani, cap. 4. P. 28. Lib. Vii. Oper. St. Aug. In Appendice. 

[630] Sulpit. Sever. In Vitâ S. Martini, cap. 3. 

[631] Gregor. Turon. Lib. Vii. C. 1. 

CHAPTER LVI. 

THE VISION OF BERTHOLDUS, AS RELATED BY HINCMAR, ARCHBISHOP OF RHEIMS. 

The famous Hincmar, [632] Archbishop of Rheims, in a circular letterwhich he wrote to the bishops, his suffragans, and the faithful of hisdiocese, relates, that a man named Bertholdus, with whom he wasacquainted, having fallen ill, and received all the sacraments, remained during four days without taking any food. On the fourth dayhe was so weak that there was hardly a feeble palpitation andrespiration found in him. About midnight he called to his wife, andtold her to send quickly for his confessor. 

The priest was as yet only in the court before the house, whenBertholdus said, "Place a seat here, for the priest is coming. " Heentered the room and said some prayers, to which Bertholdus utteredthe responses, and then related to him the vision he had had. "Onleaving this world, " said he, "I saw forty-one bishops, amongst whomwere Ebonius, Leopardellus, Eneas, who were clothed in coarse blackgarments, dirty, and singed by the flames. As for themselves, theywere sometimes burned by the flames, and at others frozen withinsupportable cold. " Ebonius said to him, "Go to my clergy and myfriends, and tell them to offer for us the holy sacrifice. " Bertholdusobeyed, and returning to the place where he had seen the bishops, hefound them well clothed, shaved, bathed, and rejoicing. 

A little farther on, he met King Charles, [633] who was as if eaten byworms. This prince begged him to go and tell Hincmar to relieve hismisery. Hincmar said mass for him, and King Charles found relief. After that he saw Bishop Jessé, of Orleans, who was over a well, andfour demons plunged him into boiling pitch, and then threw him intoicy water. They prayed for him, and he was relieved. He then saw theCount Othaire, who was likewise in torment. Bertholdus begged the wifeof Othaire, with his vassals and friends, to pray for him, and givealms, and he was delivered from his torments. Bertholdus after thatreceived the holy communion, and began to find himself better, withthe hope of living fourteen years longer, as he had been promised byhis guide, who had shown him all that we have just related. 

Footnotes:

[632] Hincmar, lib. Ii. P. 805. 

[633] Apparently Charles the Bald, who died in 875. 

CHAPTER LVII. 

THE VISION OF SAINT FURSIUS. 

The Life of St. Fursius, [634] written a short time after his death, which happened about the year 653, reports several visions seen bythis holy man. Being grievously ill, and unable to stir, he sawhimself in the midst of the darkness raised up, as it were, by thehands of three angels, who carried him out of the world, then broughthim back to it, and made his soul re-enter his body, to complete thedestination assigned him by God. Then he found himself in the midst ofseveral people, who wept for him as if he were dead, and told him how, the day before, he had fallen down in a swoon, so that they believedhim to be dead. He could have wished to have some intelligent personsabout him to relate to them what he had seen; but having no one nearhim but rustics, he asked for and received the communion of the bodyand blood of the Saviour, and continued three days longer awake. 

The following Tuesday, he fell into a similar swoon, in the middle ofthe night; his feet became cold, and raising his hands to pray, hereceived death with joy. Then he saw the same three angels descend whohad already guided him. They raised him as the first time, but insteadof the agreeable and melodious songs which he had then heard, he couldnow hear only the frightful howlings of the demons, who began to fightagainst him, and shoot inflamed darts at him. The Angel of the Lordreceived them on his buckler, and extinguished them. The devilreproached Fursius with some bad thoughts, and some human weaknesses, but the angels defended him, saying, "If he has not committed anycapital sins, he shall not perish. "

As the devil could not reproach him with anything that was worthy ofeternal death, he saw two saints from his own country--St. Béan andSt. Medan, who comforted him and announced to him the evils with whichGod would punish mankind, principally because of the sins of thedoctors or learned men of the church, and the princes who governed thepeople;--the doctors for neglecting to declare the word of God, andthe princes for the bad examples they gave their people. After which, they sent him back into his body again. He returned into it withrepugnance, and began to relate all that he had seen; they pouredspring water upon his body, and he felt a great warmth between hisshoulders. After this, he began to preach throughout Hibernia; and theVenerable Bede[635] says that there was in his monastery an aged monkwho said that he had learned from a grave personage well worthy ofbelief, that he had heard these visions described by St. Fursiushimself. This saint had not the least doubt that his soul was reallyseparated from his body, when he was carried away in his trance. 

Footnotes:

[634] Vita Sti. Fursci, apud Bolland. 16 Januarii, pp. 37, 38. Item, pp. 47, 48. Sĉcul. Xi. Bened. P. 299. 

[635] Bede, lib. Iii. Hist. C. 19. 

CHAPTER LVIII. 

VISION OF A PROTESTANT OF YORK, AND OTHERS. 

Here is another instance, which happened in 1698 to one of theso-called reformed religion. [636] A minister of the county of York, ata place called Hipley, and whose name was Henry Vatz (Watts), beingstruck with apoplexy the 15th of August, was on the 17th placed in acoffin to be buried. But as they were about to put him in the grave, he uttered a loud cry, which frightened all the persons who hadattended him to the grave; they took him quickly out of the coffin, and as soon as he had come to himself, he related several surprisingthings which he said had been revealed to him during his trance, whichhad lasted eight-and-forty hours. The 24th of the same month, hepreached a very moving discourse to those who had accompanied him theday they were carrying him to the tomb. 

People may, if they please, treat all that we have related as dreamsand tales, but it cannot be denied that we recognize in theseresurrections, and in these narrations of men who have come to lifeagain after their real or seeming death, the belief of the churchconcerning hell, paradise, purgatory, the efficacy of prayers for thedead, and the apparitions of angels and demons who torment the damned, and of the souls who have yet something to expiate in the other world. 

We see also, that which has a visible connection with the matter weare treating upon--persons really dead, and others regarded as such, who return to life in health and live a long time afterwards. Lastly, we may observe therein opinions on the state of souls after this life, which are nearly the same as among the Hebrews, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, barbarous nations, and Christians. If the Hungarian ghosts donot speak of what they have seen in the other world, it is either thatthey are not really dead, or more likely that all which is related ofthese _revenans_ is fabulous and chimerical. I will add some moreinstances which will serve to confirm the belief of the primitivechurch on the subject of apparitions. 

St. Perpetua, who suffered martyrdom in Africa in 202 or 203, being inprison for the faith, saw a brother named Dinocrates, who had died atthe age of seven years of a cancer in the cheek; she saw him as if ina very large dungeon, so that they could not approach each other. Heseemed to be placed in a reservoir of water, the sides of which werehigher than himself, so that he could not reach the water, for whichhe appeared to thirst very much. Perpetua was much moved at this, andprayed to God with tears and groans for his relief. Some days after, she saw in spirit the same Dinocrates, well clothed, washed, andrefreshed, and the water of the reservoir in which he was, only cameup to his middle, and on the edge a cup, from which he drank, withoutthe water diminishing, and the skin of the cancer in his cheek wellhealed, so that nothing now remained of the cancer but the scar. Bythese things she understood that Dinocrates was no longer in pain. 

Dinocrates was there apparently[637] to expiate some faults which hehad committed since his baptism, for Perpetua says a little beforethis that only her father had remained in infidelity. 

The same St. Perpetua, being in prison some days before she sufferedmartyrdom[638] had a vision of the deacon Pomponius, who had sufferedmartyrdom some days before, and who said to her, "Come, we are waitingfor you. " He led her through a rugged and winding path into the arenaof the amphitheatre, where she had to combat with a very uglyEgyptian, accompanied by some other men like him. Perpetua foundherself changed into a man, and began to fight naked, assisted by somewell-made youths who came to her service and assistance. 

Then she beheld a man of extraordinary size, who cried aloud, "If theEgyptian gains the victory over her, he will kill her with his sword;but if she conquers, she shall have this branch ornamented with goldenapples for her reward. " Perpetua began the combat, and havingoverthrown the Egyptian, trampled his head under her feet. The peopleshouted victory, and Perpetua approaching him who held the branchabove mentioned, he put it in her hands, and said to her, "Peace bewith you. " Then she awoke, and understood that she would have tocombat, not against wild beasts, but against the devil. 

Saturus, one of the companions of the martyrdom of St. Perpetua, hadalso a vision, which he relates thus: "We had suffered martyrdom, andwere disengaged from this mortal body. Four angels carried us towardsthe East without touching us. We arrived at a place shining withintense lustre; Perpetua was at my side, and I said unto her, 'Beholdwhat the Lord promised us. '

"We entered a large garden full of trees and flowers; the four angelswho had borne us thither placed us in the hands of other angels, whoconducted us by a wide road to a place where we found Jocondus, Saturninus, and Artazes, who had suffered with us, and invited us tocome and salute the Lord. We followed them, and beheld in the midst ofthis place the Almighty, crowned with dazzling light, and we heardrepeated incessantly by those around him, Holy! holy! holy! Theyraised us towards him, and we stopped before his throne. We gave himthe kiss of peace, and he stroked our faces with his hand. 

"We came out, and we saw before the door the bishop Optatus and thepriest Aspasius, who threw themselves at our feet. We raised andembraced them. We recognized in this place several of our brethren andsome martyrs. " Such was the vision of Saturus. 

There are visions of all sorts; of holy martyrs, and of holy angels. It is related of St. Exuperus, bishop of Thoulouse, [639] that havingconceived the design of transporting the relics of St. Saturnus, aformer bishop of that church, to place them in a new church built inhis honor, he could with difficulty resolve to take this holy bodyfrom the tomb, fearing to displease the saint, or to diminish thehonor which was due to him. But while in this doubt, he had a visionwhich gave him to understand that this translation would neitherlessen the respect which was due to the ashes of the martyr, nor beprejudicial to his honor; but that on the contrary it would contributeto the salvation of the faithful, and to the greater glorification ofGod. 

Some days before[640] St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, sufferedmartyrdom, in 258, he had a vision, not being as yet quite asleep, inwhich a young man whose height was extraordinary, seemed to lead himto the Prĉtorium before the Proconsul, who was seated on his tribunal. This magistrate, having caught sight of Cyprian, began to write hissentence before he had interrogated him as was usual. Cyprian knew notwhat the sentence condemned him to; but the young man above mentioned, and who was behind the judge, made a sign by opening his hand andspreading in form of a sword, that he was condemned to have his headcut off. 

Cyprian easily understood what was meant by this sign, and havingearnestly requested to be allowed a day's delay to put his affairs inorder, the judge, having granted his request, again wrote upon histablets, and the young man by a sign of his hand let him know that thedelay was granted. These predictions were exactly fulfilled, and wesee many similar ones in the works of St. Cyprian. 

St. Fructueux, Bishop of Tarragona, [641] who suffered martyrdom in259, was seen after his death ascending to heaven with the deacons whohad suffered with him; they appeared as if they were still attached tothe stakes near which they had been burnt. They were seen by twoChristians, who showed them to the wife and daughter of Emilian, whohad condemned them. The saint appeared to Emilian himself and to theChristians, who had taken away their ashes, and desired that theymight be all collected in one spot. We see similar apparitions[642] inthe acts of St. James, of St. Marienus, martyrs, and some others whosuffered in Numidia in 259. We may observe the like[643] in the actsof St. Montanus, St. Lucius, and other African martyrs in 259 or 260, and in those of St. Vincent, a martyr in Spain, in 304, and in thelife of St. Theodore, martyr, in 306, of whose sufferings St. Gregoryof Nicea has written an account. Everybody knows what happened atSebastus, in Armenia, in the martyrdom of the famous forty martyrs, ofwhom St. Basil the Great has written the eulogium. One of the forty, overcome by the excess of cold, which was extreme, threw himself intoa hot bath that was prepared just by. Then he who guarded them havingperceived some angels who brought crowns to the thirty-nine who hadpersevered in their sufferings, despoiled himself of his garments, joined himself to the martyrs, and declared himself a Christian. 

All these instances invincibly prove that, at least in the first agesof the church, the greatest and most learned bishops, the holymartyrs, and the generality of the faithful, were well persuaded ofthe possibility and reality of apparitions. 

Footnotes:

[636] Larrey, Hist. De Louis XIV. Year 1698, p. 68. 

[637] Aug. Lib. I. De Origine Animĉ. 

[638] Ibid. P. 97. 

[639] Aug. Lib. I. De Origine Animĉ, p. 132. 

[640] Acta Martyr. Sincera, p. 212. Vita et Passio S. Cypriani, p. 268. 

[641] Acta Martyr. Sincera, pp. 219, 221. 

[642] Acta Martyr. Sincera, p. 226. 

[643] Ibid. Pp. 231-233, 237. 

CHAPTER LIX. 

CONCLUSIONS OF THIS DISSERTATION. 

To resume, in a few words, all that we have related in thisdissertation: we have therein shown that a resurrection, properly socalled, of a person who has been dead for a considerable time, andwhose body was either corrupted, or stinking, or ready to putrefy, like that of Pierre, who had been three years buried, and wasresuscitated by St. Stanislaus, or that of Lazarus, who had been fourdays in the tomb, and already possessing a corpse-like smell--such aresurrection can be the work of the almighty power of God alone. 

That persons who have been drowned, fallen into syncope, into alethargy or trance, or looked upon as dead, in any manner whatever, can be cured and brought back to life, even to their former state oflife, without any miracle, but by the power of medicine alone, or bynatural efforts, or by dint of patience; so that nature re-establishesherself in her former state, that the heart resumes its pulsation, andthe blood circulates freely again in the arteries, and the vital andanimal spirits in the nerves. 

That the oupires, or vampires, or _revenans_ of Moravia, Hungary, Poland, &c. , of which such extraordinary things are related, sodetailed, so circumstantial, invested with all the necessaryformalities to make them believed, and to prove them even judiciallybefore judges, and at the most exact and severe tribunals; that allwhich is said of their return to life; of their apparition, and theconfusion which they cause in the towns and country places; of theirkilling people by sucking their blood, or in making a sign to them tofollow them; that all those things are mere illusions, and theconsequence of a heated and prejudiced imagination. They cannot citeany witness who is sensible, grave and unprejudiced, who can testifythat he has seen, touched, interrogated these ghosts, who can affirmthe reality of their return, and of the effects which are attributedto them. 

I shall not deny that some persons may have died of fright, imaginingthat their near relatives called them to the tomb; that others havethought they heard some one rap at their doors, worry them, disturbthem, in a word, occasion them mortal maladies; and that these personsjudicially interrogated, have replied that they had seen and heardwhat their panic-struck imagination had represented to them. But Irequire unprejudiced witnesses, free from terror and disinterested, quite calm, who can affirm upon serious reflection, that they haveseen, heard, and interrogated these vampires, and who have been thewitnesses of their operations; and I am persuaded that no such witnesswill be found. 

I have by me a letter, which has been sent me from Warsaw, the 3d ofFebruary, 1745, by M. Slivisk, visitor of the province of priests ofthe mission of Poland. He sends me word, that having studied withgreat care this matter, and having proposed to compose on this subjecta theological and physical dissertation, he had collected some memoirswith that view; but that the occupations of visitor and superior inthe house of his congregation of Warsaw, had not allowed of hisputting his project in execution; that he has since sought in vain forthese memoirs or notes, which have probably remained in the hands ofsome of those to whom he had communicated them; that amongst thesenotes were two resolutions of the Sorbonne, which both forbade cuttingoff the head and maiming the body of any of these pretended oupires orvampires. He adds, that these decisions may be found in the registersof the Sorbonne, from the year 1700 to 1710. I shall report by andby, a decision of the Sorbonne on this subject, dated in the year1691. 

He says, moreover, that in Poland they are so persuaded of theexistence of these oupires, that any one who thought otherwise wouldbe regarded almost as a heretic. There are several facts concerningthis matter, which are looked upon as incontestable, and many personsare named as witnesses of them. "I gave myself the trouble, " says he, "to go to the fountain-head, and examine those who are cited as ocularwitnesses. " He found that no one dared to affirm that they had reallyseen the circumstances in question, and that it was all merelyreveries and fancies, caused by fear and unfounded discourse. Sowrites to me this wise and judicious priest. 

I have also received since, another letter from Vienna in Austria, written the 3d of August, 1746, by a Lorraine baron, [644] who hasalways followed his prince. He tells me, that in 1742, his imperialmajesty, then his royal highness of Lorraine, had several verbal actsdrawn up concerning these cases, which happened in Moravia. I havethem by me still; I have read them over and over again; and to befrank, I have not found in them the shadow of truth, nor even ofprobability, in what is advanced. They are, nevertheless, documentswhich in that country are looked upon as true as the Gospel. 

Footnotes:

[644] M. Le Baron Toussaint. 

CHAPTER LX. 

THE MORAL IMPOSSIBILITY OF THE REVENANS COMING OUT OF THEIR GRAVES. 

I have already proposed the objection formed upon the impossibility ofthese vampires coming out of their graves, and returning to themagain, without its appearing that they have disturbed the earth, either in coming out or going in again. No one has ever replied tothis difficulty, and never will. To say that the demon subtilizes andspiritualizes the bodies of vampires, is a thing asserted withoutproof or likelihood. 

The fluidity of the blood, the ruddiness, the suppleness of thesevampires, ought not to surprise any one, any more than the growth ofthe nails and hair, and their bodies remaining undecayed. We see everyday, bodies which remain uncorrupted, and retain a ruddy color afterdeath. This ought not to appear strange in those who die withoutmalady and a sudden death; or of certain maladies, known to ourphysicians, which do not deprive the blood of its fluidity, or thelimbs of their suppleness. 

With regard to the growth of the hair and nails in bodies which arenot yet decayed, the thing is quite natural. There remains in thosebodies a certain slow and imperceptible circulation of the humors, which causes this growth of the nails and hair, in the same way thatwe every day see common bulbs grow and shoot, although without anynourishment derived from the earth. 

The same may be said of flowers, and in general of all that depends onvegetation in animals and plants. 

The belief of the common people of Greece in the return to earth ofthe vroucolacas, is not much better founded than that of vampires andghosts. It is only the ignorance, the prejudice, the terror of theGreeks, which have given rise to this vain and ridiculous belief, andwhich they keep up even to this very day. The narrative which we havereported after M. Tournefort, an ocular witness and a goodphilosopher, may suffice to undeceive those who would maintain thecontrary. 

The incorruption of the bodies of those who died in a state ofexcommunication, has still less foundation than the return of thevampires, and the vexations of the living caused by the vroucolacas;antiquity has had no similar belief. The schismatic Greeks, and theheretics separated from the Church of Rome, who certainly diedexcommunicated, ought, upon this principle, to remain uncorrupted;which is contrary to experience, and repugnant to good sense. And ifthe Greeks pretend to be the true Church, all the Roman Catholics, whohave a separate communion from them, ought then also to remainundecayed. The instances cited by the Greeks either prove nothing, orprove too much. Those bodies which have not decayed, were reallyexcommunicated, or not. If they were canonically and reallyexcommunicated, then the question falls to the ground. If they werenot really and canonically excommunicated, then it must be proved thatthere was no other cause of incorruption--which can never be proved. 

Moreover, anything so equivocal as incorruption, cannot be adduced asa proof in so serious a matter as this. It is owned, that often thebodies of saints are preserved from decay; that is looked upon ascertain, among the Greeks as among the Latins--therefore, we cannotthence conclude that this same incorruption is a proof that a personis excommunicated. 

In short, this proof is universal and general, or only particular. Imean to say, either all excommunicated persons remain undecayed, oronly a few of them. We cannot maintain that all those who die in astate of excommunication, are incorruptible. For then all the Greekstowards the Latins, and the Latins towards the Greeks, would beundecayed, which is not the case. That proof then is very frivolous, and nothing can be concluded from it. I mistrust, a great deal, allthose stories which are related to prove this pretendedincorruptibility of excommunicated persons. If well examined, many ofthem would doubtless be found to be false. 

CHAPTER LXI. 

WHAT IS RELATED CONCERNING THE BODIES OF THE EXCOMMUNICATED LEAVINGTHE CHURCH, IS SUBJECT TO VERY GREAT DIFFICULTIES. 

Whatever respect I may feel for St. Gregory the Great, who relatessome instances of deceased persons who died in a state ofexcommunication going out of the church before the eyes of every onepresent; and whatever consideration may be due to other authors whom Ihave cited, and who relate other circumstances of a similar nature, and even still more incredible, I cannot believe that we have theselegends with all the circumstances belonging to them; and after thereasons for doubt which I have recorded at the end of these stories, Ibelieve I may again say, that God, to inspire the people with stillgreater fear of excommunication, and a greater regard for thesentences and censures of the church, has willed on these occasions, for reasons unknown to us, to show forth his power, and work a miraclein the sight of the faithful; for how can we explain all these thingswithout having recourse to the miraculous? All that is said of personswho being dead chew under ground in their graves, is so pitiful, sopuerile, that it is not worthy of being seriously refuted. Everybodyowns that too often people are buried who are not quite dead. Thereare but too many instances of this in ancient and modern histories. The thesis of M. Vinslow, and the notes added thereto by M. Bruhier, serve to prove that there are few certain signs of real death exceptthe putridity of a body being at least begun. We have an infinitenumber of instances of persons supposed to be dead, who have come tolife again, even after they have been put in the ground. There are Iknow not how many maladies in which the patient remains for a longtime speechless, motionless, and without sensible respiration. Somedrowned persons who have been thought dead, have been revived by careand attention. 

All this is well known and may serve to explain how some vampires havebeen taken out of their graves, and have spoken, cried, howled, vomited blood, and all that because they were not yet dead. They havebeen killed by beheading them, piercing their heart, and burning them;in all which people were very wrong, for the pretext on which theyacted, of their pretended reappearance to disturb the living, causingtheir death, and maltreating them, is not a sufficient reason fortreating them thus. Besides, their pretended return has never beenproved or attested in such a way as to authorize any one to show suchinhumanity, nor to dishonor and put rigorously to death on vague, frivolous, unproved accusations, persons who were certainly innocentof the thing laid to their charge. 

For nothing is more ill-founded than what is said of the apparitions, vexations, and confusion caused by the pretended vampires and thevroucolacas. I am not surprised that the Sorbonne should havecondemned the bloody and violent executions which are exercised onthese kinds of dead bodies. But it is astonishing that the secularpowers and the magistrates do not employ their authority and theseverity of the laws to repress them. 

The magic devotions, the fascinations, the evocations of which we havespoken, are works of darkness, operations of Satan, if they have anyreality, which I can with difficulty believe, especially in regard tomagical devotions, and the evocations of the manes or souls of deadpersons; for, as to fascinations of the sight, or illusions of thesenses, it is foolish not to admit some of these, as when we think wesee what is not, or do not behold what is present before our eyes; orwhen we think we hear a sound which in reality does not strike ourears, or the contrary. But to say that the demon can cause a person'sdeath, because they have made a wax image of him, or given his namewith some superstitious ceremonies, and have devoted him or her, sothat the persons feel themselves dying as their image melts away, isascribing to the demon too much power, and to magic too much might. God can, when he wills it, loosen the reign of the enemy of mankind, and permit him to do us the harm which he and his agents may seek todo us; but it would be ridiculous to believe that the Sovereign Masterof nature can be determined by magical incantations to allow the demonto hurt us; or to imagine that the magician has the power to excitethe demon against us, independently of God. 

The instance of that peasant who gave his child to the devil, andwhose life the devil first took away and then restored, is one ofthose extraordinary and almost incredible circumstances which aresometimes to be met with in history, and which neither theology norphilosophy knows how to explain. Was it a demon who animated the bodyof the boy, or did his soul re-enter his body by the permission ofGod? By what authority did the demon take away this boy's life, andthen restore it to him? God may have permitted it to punish theimpiety of the wretched father, who had given himself to the devil tosatisfy a shameful and criminal passion. And again, how could hesatisfy it with a demon, who appeared to him in the form of a girl heloved? In all that I see only darkness and difficulties, which I leaveto be resolved by those who are more learned or bolder than myself. 

CHAPTER LXII. 

REMARKS ON THE DISSERTATION CONCERNING THE SPIRIT WHICH REAPPEARED ATST. MAUR DES FOSSES. 

The following Dissertation on the apparition which happened at St. Maur, near Paris, in 1706, was entirely unknown to me. A friend whotook some part in my work on apparitions, had asked me by letter if Ishould have any objection to its being printed at the end of my work. I readily consented, on his testifying that it was from a worthy hand, and deserved to be saved from the oblivion into which it was fallen. Ihave since found that it was printed in the fourth volume of theTreatise on Superstitions, by the Reverend Father le Brun, of theOratoire. 

After the impression, a learned monk[645] wrote to me from Amiens, inPicardy, that he had remarked in this dissertation five or sixpropositions which appeared to him to be false. 

1st. That the author says, all the holy doctors agree that no means ofdeceiving us is left to the demons except suggestion, which has beenleft them by God to try our virtue. 

2d. In respect to all those prodigies and spells which the commonpeople attribute to sorcery and intercourse with the demon, it isproved that they can only be done by means of natural magic; this isthe opinion of the greater number of the fathers of the church. 

3d. All that demons have to do with the criminal practices of thosewho are commonly called sorcerers is suggestion, by which he invitesthem to the abominable research of all those natural causes which canhurt our neighbor. 

4th. Although those who have desired to maintain the popular error ofthe return to earth of souls from purgatory, may have endeavored tosupport their opinion by different passages, taken from St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Thomas, &c. , it is attested that all these fathersspeak only of the return of the blessed to manifest the glory of God. 

5th. Of what may we not believe the imagination capable after sostrong a proof of its power? Can it be doubted that among all thepretended apparitions of which stories are related, the fancy aloneworks for all those which do not proceed from angels and the spiritsof the blessed, and that the rest are the invention of men?

6th. After having sufficiently established the fact, that allapparitions which cannot be attributed to angels, or the spirits ofthe blessed, are produced only by one of these causes: the writernames them--first, the power of imagination; secondly, the extremesubtility of the senses; and thirdly, the derangement of the organs, as in madness and high fevers. 

The monk who writes to me maintains that the first proposition isfalse; that the ancient fathers of the church ascribe to the demon thegreater number of those extraordinary effects produced by certainsounds of the voice, by figures, and by phantoms; that the exorcistsin the primitive church expelled devils, even by the avowal of theheathen; that angels and demons have often appeared to men; that noone has spoken more strongly of apparitions, of hauntings, and thepower of the demon, than the ancient fathers; that the church hasalways employed exorcism on children presented for baptism, andagainst those who were haunted and possessed by the demon. Add towhich, the author of the dissertation cites not one of the fathers tosupport his general proposition. [646]

The second proposition, again, is false; for if we must attribute tonatural magic all that is ascribed to sorcerers, there are then nosorcerers, properly so called, and the church is mistaken in offeringup prayers against their power. 

The third proposition is false for the same reason. 

The fourth is falser still, and absolutely contrary to St. Thomas, who, speaking of the dead in general who appear, says that this occurseither by a miracle, or by the particular permission of God, or by theoperation of good or evil angels. [647]

The fifth proposition, again, is false, and contrary to the fathers, to the opinion commonly received among the faithful, and to thecustoms of the church. If all the apparitions which do not proceedfrom the angels or the blessed, or the inventive malice of mankind, proceed only from fancy, what becomes of all the apparitions of demonsrelated by the saints, and which occurred to the saints? What becomes, in particular, of all the stories of the holy solitaries, of St. Anthony, St. Hilarion, &c. ?[648] What becomes of the prayers andceremonies of the church against demons, who infest, possess, andhaunt, and appear often in these disturbances, possessions, andhauntings?

The sixth proposition is false for the same reasons, and many otherswhich might be added. 

"These, " adds the reverend father who writes to me, "are the causes ofmy doubting if the third dissertation was added to the two others withyour knowledge. I suspected that the printer, of his own accord, orpersuaded by evil intentioned persons, might have added it himself, and without your participation, although under your name. For I saidto myself, either the reverend father approves this dissertation, orhe does not approve of it. It appears that he approves of it, since hesays that it is from a clever writer, and he would wish to preserve itfrom oblivion. 

"Now, how can he approve a dissertation false in itself and contraryto himself? If he approves it not, is it not too much to unite to hiswork a foolish composition full of falsehoods, disguises, false andweak arguments, opposed to the common belief, the customs, and prayersof the church; consequently dangerous, and quite favorable to the freeand incredulous thinkers which this age is so full of? Ought he notrather to combat this writing, and show its weakness, falsehood, anddangerous tendency? There, my reverend father, lies all mydifficulty. "

Others have sent me word that they could have wished that I hadtreated the subject of apparitions in the same way as the author ofthis dissertation, that is to say, simply as a philosopher, with theaim of destroying the credence and reality, rather than with anydesign of supporting the belief in apparitions which is so observablein the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, in the fathers, and inthe customs and prayers of the church. The author of whom we speak hascited the fathers, but in a general manner, and without marking thetestimonies, and the express and formal passages. I do not know if hethinks much of them, and if he is well versed in them, but it wouldhardly appear so from his work. 

The grand principle on which this third dissertation turns is, thatsince the advent and the death of Jesus Christ, all the power of thedevil is limited to enticing, inspiring, and persuading to evil; butfor the rest, he is tied up like a lion or a dog in his prison. He maybark, he may menace, but he cannot bite unless he is too nearlyapproached and yielded to, as St. Augustine truly says:[649] "Mordereomnino non potest nisi volentem. "

But to pretend that Satan can do no harm, either to the health ofmankind, or to the fruits of the earth; can neither attack us by hisstratagems, his malice, and his fury against us, nor torment thosewhom he pursues or possesses; that magicians and wizards can make useof no spells and charms to cause both men and animals dreadfulmaladies, and even death, is a direct attack on the faith of thechurch, the Holy Scriptures, the most sacred practices, and theopinions of not only the holy fathers and the best theologians, butalso on the laws and ordinances of princes, and the decrees of themost respectable parliaments. 

I will not here cite the instances taken from the Old Testament, theauthor having limited himself to what has passed since the death andresurrection of our Saviour; because, he says, Jesus Christ hasdestroyed the kingdom of Satan, and the prince of this world isalready judged. [650]

St. Peter, St. Paul, St. John, and the Evangelists, who were wellinformed of the words of the Son of God, and the sense given to them, teach us that Satan asked to have power over the apostles of JesusChrist, to sift them like wheat;[651] that is to say, to try them bypersecutions and make them renounce the faith. Does not St. Paulcomplain of the _angel of Satan_ who buffeted him?[652] Did those whomhe gave up to Satan for their crimes, [653] suffer nothing bodily?Those who took the communion unworthily, and were struck withsickness, or even with death, did they not undergo these chastisementsby the operation of the demon?[654] The apostle warns the Corinthiansnot to suffer themselves to be surprised by Satan, who sometimestransforms himself into an angel of light. [655] The same apostle, speaking to the Thessalonians, says to them, that before the last dayantichrist will appear, [656] according to the working of Satan, withextraordinary power, with wonders and deceitful signs. In theApocalypse the demon is the instrument made use of by God, to punishmortals and make them drink of the cup of his wrath. Does not St. Peter[657] tell us that "the devil prowls about us like a roaringlion, always ready to devour us?" And St. Paul to the Ephesians, [658]"that we have to fight not against men of flesh and blood, but againstprincipalities and powers, against the princes of this world, " that isto say, of this age of darkness, "against the spirits of malice spreadabout in the air?"

The fathers of the first ages speak often of the power that theChristians exercised against the demons, against those who calledthemselves diviners, against magicians and other subalterns of thedevil; principally against those who were possessed, who were thenfrequently seen, and are so still from time to time, both in thechurch and out of the church. Exorcisms and other prayers of thechurch have always been employed against these, and with success. Emperors and kings have employed their authority and the rigor of thelaws against those who have devoted themselves to the service of thedemon, and used spells, charms, and other methods which the demonemploys, to entice and destroy both men and animals, or the fruits ofthe country. 

We might add to the remarks of the reverend Dominican father diversother propositions drawn from the same work; for instance, when theauthor says that "the angels know everything here below; for if it isby means of specialties, which God communicates to them every day, asSt. Augustine thinks, there is no reason to believe that they do notknow all the wants of mankind, and that they cannot console andstrengthen them, render themselves visible to them by the permissionof God, without always receiving from him an express order so to do. "

This proposition is rather rash: it is not certain that the angelsknow everything that passes here below. Jesus Christ, in St. Matthewxxiv. 36, says that the angels do not know the day of his coming. Itis still more doubtful that the angels can appear without an expresscommand from God, and that St. Augustine has so taught. 

He says, a little while after--"That demons often appeared beforeJesus Christ in fantastic forms, which they assumed as the angels do, "that is to say, in aërial bodies which they organized; "whilst atpresent, and since the coming of Jesus Christ, those wonders andspells have been so common that the people attributed them to sorceryand commerce with the devil, whereas it is attested that they can beoperated only by natural magic, which is the knowledge of secreteffects from natural causes, and many of them by the subtilty of theair alone. This is the opinion of the greater number of the fatherswho have spoken of them. "

This proposition is false, and contrary to the doctrine and practiceof the church; and it is not true that it is the opinion of thegreater number of the fathers; he should have cited some of them. [659]

He says that "the Book of Job and the song of Hezekiah are full oftestimonies that the Holy Spirit seems to have taught us, that oursouls cannot return to earth after our death, until God has madeangels of them. "

It is true that the Holy Scriptures speak of the resurrection andreturn of souls into their bodies as of a thing that is impossible inthe natural course. Man cannot raise up himself from the dead, neithercan he raise up his fellow-man without an effort of the supreme mightof God. Neither can the spirits of the deceased appear to the livingwithout the command or permission of God. But it is false to say, "that God makes angels of our souls, and that then they can appear tothe living. "

Our souls will never become angels; but Jesus Christ tells us thatafter our death our souls will be _as_ the angels of God, (Matt. Xxii. 30); that is to say, spiritual, incorporeal, immortal, and exempt fromall the wants and weaknesses of this present life; but he does not saythat our souls must _become_ angels. 

He affirms "that what Jesus Christ said, 'that spirits have neitherflesh nor bones, ' far from leading us to believe that spirits canreturn to earth, proves, on the contrary, evidently that they cannotwithout a miracle render themselves visible to mankind; since itrequires absolutely a corporeal substance and organs of speech to makeourselves heard, which does not agree with the spirits, who naturallycannot be subject to our senses. "

This is no more impossible than what he said beforehand of theapparitions of angels, since our souls, after the death of the body, are "like unto the angels, " according to the Gospel. He acknowledgeshimself, with St. Jerome against Vigilantius, that the saints who arein heaven appear sometimes visibly to men. "Whence comes it thatanimals have, as well as ourselves, the faculty of memory, but not thereflection which accompanies it, which proceeds only from the soul, which they have not?"

Is not memory itself the reflection of what we have seen, done, orheard; and in animals is not memory followed by reflection, [660] sincethey avenge themselves on those who hurt them, avoid that which hasincommoded them, foreseeing what might happen to themselves from it ifthey fell again into the same mistake?

After having spoken of natural palingenesis, he concludes--"And thuswe see how little cause there is to attribute these appearances to thereturn of souls to earth, or to demons, as do some ignorant persons. "

If those who work the wonders of natural palingenesis, and admit thenatural return of phantoms in the cemeteries, and fields of battle, which I do not think happens naturally, could show that these phantomsspeak, act, move, foretell the future, and do what is related ofreturned souls or other apparitions, whether good angels or bad ones, we might conclude that there is no reason to attribute them to souls, angels, and demons; but, 1, they have never been able to cause theappearance of the phantom of a dead man, by any secret of art. 2. Ifit had been possible to raise his shade, they could never haveinspired it with thought or reasoning powers, as we see in the angelsand demons, who appear, reason, and act, as intelligent beings, andgifted with the knowledge of the past, the present, and sometimes ofthe future. 

He denies that the souls in purgatory return to earth; for if theycould come back, "everybody would receive similar visits from theirrelations and friends, since all the souls would feel disposed to dothe same. Apparently, " says he, "God would grant them this permission, and if they had this permission, every person of good sense would beat a loss to comprehend why they should accompany all theirappearances with all the follies so circumstantially related. "

We may reply, that the return of souls to earth may depend neither ontheir inclination nor their will, but on the will of God, who grantsthis permission to whom he pleases, when he will, and as he will. 

The wicked rich man asked that Lazarus[661] might be sent to thisworld to warn his brothers not to fall into the same misfortune ashimself, but he could not obtain it. There are an infinity of souls inthe same case and disposition, who cannot obtain leave to returnthemselves or to send others in their place. 

If certain narratives of the return of spirits to earth have beenaccompanied by circumstances somewhat comic, it does not militateagainst the truth of the thing; since for one recital imprudentlyembellished by uncertain circumstances, there are a thousand writtensensibly and seriously, and in a manner very conformable to truth. 

He maintains that all the apparitions which cannot be attributed toangels or to blessed spirits, are produced only by one of these threecauses:--the power of imagination; the extreme subtility of thesenses; and the derangement of the organs, as in cases of madness andin high fevers. 

This proposition is rash, and has before been refuted by the ReverendFather Richard. 

The author recounts all that he has said of the spirit of St. Maur, incausing the motion of the bed in the presence of three persons whowere wide awake, the repeated shrieks of a person whom they did notsee, of a door well-bolted, of repeated blows upon the walls, ofpanes of glass struck with violence in the presence of three persons, without their being able to see the author of all this movement;--hereduces all this to a derangement of the imagination, the subtilty ofthe air, or the vapors casually arising in the brain of an invalid. Why did he not deny all these facts? Why did he give himself thetrouble to compose so carefully a dissertation to explain aphenomenon, which, according to him, can boast neither truth norreality? For my part, I am very glad to give the public notice that Ineither adopt nor approve this anonymous dissertation, which I neversaw before it was printed; that I know nothing of the author, take nopart in it, and have no interest in defending him. If the subject ofapparitions be purely philosophical, and it can without injury toreligion be reduced to a problem, I should have taken a differentmethod to destroy it, and I should have suffered my reasoning and myimagination to act more freely. 

Footnotes:

[645] Letter of the Reverend Father Richard, a Dominican of Amiens, ofthe 29th of July, 1746. 

[646] See on this subject the letter of the Marquis Maffei, whichfollows. 

[647] St. Thomas, i. Part 9, 89, art. 8, ad. 2. 

[648] The author had foreseen this objection from the beginning of hisdissertation. 

[649] Aug. Serm. De Semp. 197. 

[650] John xvi. 11. 

[651] Luke xxii. 31. 

[652] 2 Cor. Xi. 7. 

[653] 1 Tim. I. 2. 

[654] 1 Cor. Xi. 30. 

[655] 2 Cor. Ii. 11, and xi. 14. 

[656] 2 Thess. Ii. 

[657] 1 Pet. V. 8. 

[658] Ephes. Vi. 12. 

[659] They are cited in the letter of the Marquis Maffei. 

[660] The author, as we may see, is not a Cartesian, since he assignsreflection even to animals. But if they reflect, they choose; whenceit consequently follows that they are free. 

[661] Luke xiii. 14. 

CHAPTER LXIII. 

DISSERTATION BY AN ANONYMOUS WRITER. 

_Answer to a Letter on the subject of the Apparition of St. Maur. _

"You have been before me, sir, respecting the spirit of St. Maur, which causes so much conversation at Paris; for I had resolved to sendyou a short detail of that event, in order that you might impart to meyour reflections on a matter so delicate and so interesting to allParis. But since you have read an account of it, I cannot understandwhy you have hesitated a moment to decide what you ought to think ofit. What you do me the honor to tell me, that you have suspended yourjudgment of the case until I have informed you of mine, does me toomuch honor for me to be persuaded of it; and I think there is moreprobability in believing that it is a trick you are playing me, to seehow I shall extricate myself from such slippery ground. Nevertheless, I cannot resist the entreaties, or rather the orders, with which yourletter is filled; and I prefer to expose myself to the pleasantry ofthe free thinkers, or the reproaches of the credulous, than the angerof those with which I am threatened by yourself. 

"You ask if I believe that spirits come back, and if the circumstancewhich occurred at St. Maur can be attributed to one of thoseincorporeal substances?

"To answer your two questions in the same order that you propose themto me, I must first tell you, that the ancient heathens acknowledgevarious kinds of spirits, which they called _lares_, _larvĉ_, _lemures_, _genii_, _manes_. 

"For ourselves, without pausing at the folly of our cabalisticphilosophers, who fancy spirits in every element, calling those sylphswhich they pretend to inhabit the air; _gnomes_, those which theyfeign to be under the earth; _ondines_, those which dwell in thewater; and _salamanders_, those of fire; we acknowledge but threesorts of created spirits, namely, angels, demons, and the souls whichGod has united to our bodies, and which are separated from them bydeath. 

"The Holy Scriptures speak in too many places of the apparitions ofthe angels to Abraham, Jacob, Tobit, and several other holy patriarchsand prophets, for us to doubt of it. Besides, as their name signifiestheir ministry, being created by God to be his messengers, and toexecute his commands, it is easy to believe that they have oftenappeared visibly to men, to announce to them the will of the Almighty. Almost all the theologians agree that the angels appear in the aërialbodies with which they clothe themselves. 

"To make you understand in what manner they take and invest themselveswith these bodies, in order to render themselves visible to men, andto make themselves heard by them, we must first of all explain what isvision, which is only the bringing of the _species_ within the compassof the organ of sight. This "_species_" is the ray of light broken andmodified upon a body, on which, forming different angles, this lightis converted into colors. For an angle of a certain kind makes red, another green, blue or yellow, and so on of all the colors, as weperceive in the prism, on which the reflected rays of the sun formsthe different colors of the rainbow; the _species_ visible is thennothing else than the ray of light which returns from the object onwhich it breaks to the eyes. 

"Now, light falls only on three kinds of objects or bodies, of whichsome are diaphanous, others opake, and the others participate in thesetwo qualities, being partly diaphanous and partly opake. When thelight falls on a diaphanous body which is full of an infinity oflittle pores, as the air, it passes through without causing anyreflection. When the light falls on a body entirely opake, as aflower, for instance, not being able to penetrate it, its ray isreflected from it, and returns from the flower to the eye, to which itcarries the _species_, and renders the colors distinguishable, according to the angles formed by reflection. If the body on which thelight falls is in part opake and in part diaphanous, like glass, itpasses through the diaphanous part, that is to say, through the poresof the glass which it penetrates, and reflects itself on the opakeparticles, that is to say, which are not porous. Thus the air isinvisible, because it is absolutely penetrated with light: the flowersends back a color to the eye, because, being impenetrable to thelight, it obliges it to reflect itself; and the glass is visible onlybecause it contains some opake particles, which, according to thediversity of angles formed upon it by the ray of light, reflectdifferent colors. 

"That is the manner in which vision is formed, so that air beinginvisible, on account of its extreme transparency, an angel could notclothe himself with it and render himself visible, but by thickeningthe air so much, that from diaphanous it became opake, and capable ofreflecting the ray of light to the eye of him who perceived him. Now, as the angels possess knowledge and power far beyond anything we canimagine, we need not be astonished if they can form aërial bodies, which are rendered visible by the opacity they impart to them. Inrespect to the organs necessary to these aërial bodies, to form soundsand make themselves heard, without having any recourse to thedisposition of matter, we must attribute them entirely to a miracle. 

"It is thus that angels have appeared to the holy patriarchs. It isthus that the glorious souls that participate the angelic nature canassume an aërial body to render themselves visible, and that evendemons, by thickening and condensing the air, can make to themselves abody of it, so as to become visible to men, by the particularpermission of God, to accomplish the secrets of his providence, asthey are said to have appeared to St. Anthony the Hermit, and to othersaints, in order to tempt them. 

"Excuse, sir, this little physical digression, with which I could notdispense, in order to make you understand the manner in which angels, who are purely spiritual substances, can be perceived by our fleshlysenses. 

"The only point on which the holy doctors do not agree on this subjectis, to know if angels appear to men of their own accord, or whetherthey can do it only by an express command from God. It seems to methat nothing can better contribute to the decision of this difficulty, than to determine the way in which the angels know all things herebelow; for if it is by means of "_species_" which God communicates tothem every day, as St. Augustine believes, there is no reason to doubtof their knowing all the wants of mankind, or that they can, in orderto console and strengthen them, render their presence sensible tothem, by God's permission, without receiving an express command fromhim on the subject; which may be concluded from what St. Ambrose sayson the subject of the apparition of angels, who are by natureinvisible to us, and whom their will renders visible. _Hujus naturĉest non videri, voluntatis, videri. _[662]

"On the subject of demons, it is certain that their power was verygreat before the coming of Jesus Christ, since he calls them himself, the powers of darkness, and the princes of this world. It cannot bedoubted that they had for a long time deceived mankind, by the wonderswhich they caused to be performed by those who devoted themselves moreparticularly to their service; that several oracles have been theeffect of their power and knowledge, although part of them must beascribed to the subtlety of men; and that they may have appeared underfantastic forms, which they assumed in the same way as the angels, that is to say, in aërial bodies, which they organized. The HolyScriptures assure us even, that they took possession of the bodies ofliving persons. But Jesus Christ says too precisely, that he hasdestroyed the kingdom of the demons, and delivered us from theirtyranny, for us possibly to think rationally that they still possessthat power over us which they had formerly, so far as to workwonderful things which appeared miraculous; such as they relate of thevestal virgin, who, to prove her virginity, carried water in a sieve;and of her who by means of her sash alone, towed up the Tiber a boat, which had been so completely stranded that no human power could moveit. Almost all the holy doctors agree, that the only means they nowhave of deceiving us is by suggestion, which God has left in theirpower to try our virtue. 

"I shall not amuse myself by combating all the impositions which havebeen published concerning demons, incubi, and succubi, with which someauthors have disfigured their works, any more than I shall reply tothe pretended possession of the nuns of Loudun, and of MarthaBrossier, [663] which made so much noise at Paris at the commencementof the last century; because several learned men who have favored uswith their reflections on these adventures, have sufficiently shownthat the demons had nothing to do with them; and the last, above all, is perfectly quashed by the report of Marescot, a celebratedphysician, who was deputed by the Faculty of Theology to examine thisgirl who performed so many wonders. Here are his own words, which mayserve as a general reply to all these kind of adventures:--_A naturâmulta plura ficta, à Dĉmone nulla. _ That is to say, that theconstitution of Martha Brossier, who was apparently very melancholyand hypochondriacal, contributed greatly to her fits of enthusiasm;that she feigned still more, and that the devil had nothing to do withit. 

"If some of the fathers, as St. Thomas, believe that the demonssometimes produce sensible effects, they always add, that it can beonly by the particular permission of God, for his glory and thesalvation of mankind. 

"In regard to all those prodigies and those common spells, which thepeople ascribe to sorcery or commerce with the demon, it is provedthat they can be performed only by natural magic, which is theknowledge of secret effects of natural causes, and several by thesubtlety of art. It is the opinion of the greater number of thefathers of the church who have spoken of it; and without seekingtestimony of it in Pagan authors, such as Xenophon, Athenĉus, andPliny, whose works are full of an infinity of wonders which are allnatural, we see in our own time the surprising effects of nature, asthose of the magnet, of steel, and mercury, which we should attributeto sorcery as did the ancients, had we not seen sensibledemonstrations of their powers. We also see jugglers do suchextraordinary things, which seem so contrary to nature, that we shouldlook upon these charlatans as magicians, if we did not know byexperience, that their address alone, joined to constant practice, makes them able to perform so many things which seem marvelous to us. 

"All the share that the demons have in the criminal practices of thosewho are commonly called sorcerers, is suggestion; by which means theyinvite them to the abominable research of every natural cause whichcan do injury to others. 

"I am now, sir, at the most delicate point of your question, which is, to know if our souls can return to earth after they are separated fromour bodies. 

"As the ancient philosophers erred so strongly on the nature of thesoul--some believing that it was but a fire which animated us, andothers a subtile air, and others affirming that it was nothing elsebut the proper arrangement of all the machine of the body, a doctrinewhich could not be admitted any more as the cause of in men than inbeasts; we cannot therefore be surprised that they had such grossideas concerning their state after death. 

"The error of the Greeks, which they communicated to the Romans, andthe latter to our ancestors was, that the souls whose bodies were notsolemnly interred by the ministry of the priests of religion, wanderedout of Hades without finding any repose, until their bodies had beenburned and their ashes collected. Homer makes Patroclus, who waskilled by Hector, appear to his friend Achilles in the night to askhim for burial, without which, he is deprived, he says, of theprivilege of passing the river Acheron. There were only the souls ofthose who had been drowned, whom they believed unable to return toearth after death; for which we find a curious reason in Servius, theinterpreter of Virgil, who says, the greater number of the learned inVirgil's time, and Virgil himself, believing that the soul was nothingbut a fire, which animated and moved the body, were persuaded that thefire was entirely extinguished by the water--as if the material couldact upon the spiritual. Virgil explains his opinions on the subjectof souls very clearly in these verses:--

 'Igneus est ollis vigor, et celestis origo. '

And a little after, 'totos infusa per artus Mens agitat molem, et toto se corpore miscet;'

to mark the universal soul of the world, which he believed with thegreater part of the philosophers of his time. 

"Again, it was a common error amongst the pagans, to believe that thesouls of those who died before they were of their proper age, whichthey placed at the end of their growth, wandered about until the timecame when they ought naturally to be separated from their bodies. Plato, more penetrating and better informed than the others, althoughlike them mistaken, said, that the souls of the just who had obeyedvirtue ascended to the sky; and that those who had been guilty ofimpiety, retaining still the contagion of the earthly matter of thebody, wandered incessantly around the tombs, appearing like shadowsand phantoms. 

"For us, whom religion teaches that our souls are spiritual substancescreated by God, and united for a time to bodies, we know that thereare three different states after death. 

"Those who enjoy eternal beatitude, absorbed, as the holy doctors say, in the contemplation of the glory of God, cease not to interestthemselves in all that concerns mankind, whose miseries they haveundergone; and as they have attained the happiness of angels, all thesacred writers ascribe to them the same privilege of possessing thepower, as aërial bodies, of rendering themselves visible to theirbrethren who are still upon earth, to console them, and inform them ofthe Divine will; and they relate several apparitions, which alwayshappened by the particular permission of God. 

"The souls whose abominable crimes have plunged them into that gulf oftorment, which the Scripture terms hell, being condemned to bedetained there forever, without being able to hope for any relief, care not to have permission to come and speak to mankind in fantasticforms. The Scripture clearly set forth the impossibility of thisreturn, by the discourse which is put into the mouth of the wickedrich man in hell, introduced speaking to Abraham; he does not askleave to go himself, to warn his brethren on earth to avoid thetorments which he suffers, because he knows that it is not possible;but he implores Abraham to send thither Lazarus, who was in glory. Andto observe _en passant_ how very rare are the apparitions of theblessed and of angels, Abraham replies to him, that it would beuseless, since those who are upon earth have the Law and the Prophets, which they have but to follow. 

"The story of the canon of Rheims, in the eleventh century, who, inthe midst of the solemn service which was being performed for therepose of his soul, spoke aloud and said, That he was sentenced andcondemned, [664] has been refuted by so many of the learned, who haveshown that this circumstance is clearly supposititious, since it isnot found in any contemporaneous author; that I think no enlightenedperson can object it against me. But even were this story asincontestable as it is apocryphal, it would be easy for me to say inreply, that the conversion of St. Bruno, who has won so many souls toGod, was motive enough for the Divine Providence to perform sostriking a miracle. 

"It now remains for me to examine if the souls which are in purgatory, where they expiate the rest of their crimes before they pass to theabode of the blessed, can come and converse with men, and ask them topray for their relief. 

"Although those who have desired to maintain this popular error, havedone their endeavors to support it by different passages from St. Augustine, St. Jerome, and St. Thomas, it is certain that all thesefathers speak only of the return of the blessed to manifest the gloryof God; and of St. Augustine says precisely, that if it were possiblefor the souls of the dead to appear to men, not a day would passwithout his receiving a visit from Monica his mother. 

"Tertullian, in his Treatise on the Soul, laughs at those who in histime believed in apparitions. St. John Chrysostom, speaking on thesubject of Lazarus, formally denies them; as well as the lawglossographer, Canon John Andreas, who calls them phantoms of a sicklyimagination, and all that is reported about spirits which people thinkthey hear or see, vain apparitions. The 7th chapter of Job, and thesong of King Hezekiah, reported in the 38th chapter of Isaiah, are allfull of the witnesses which the Holy Spirit seems to have desired togive us of this truth, that our souls cannot return to earth after ourdeath until God has made them angels. 

"But in order to establish this still better, we must reply to thestrongest objections of those who combat it. They adduce the opinionof the Jews, which they pretend to prove by the testimony of Josephusand the rabbis; the words of Jesus Christ to his apostles, when heappeared to them after his resurrection; the authority of the councilof Elvira;[665] some passages from St. Jerome, in his Treatise againstVigilantius; of decrees issued by different Parliaments, by which theleases of several houses had been broken on account of the spiritswhich haunted them daily, and tormented the lodgers or tenants; inshort an infinite number of instances, which are scattered in everystory. 

"To destroy all these authorities in a few words, I say first of all, that it cannot be concluded that the Jews believed in the return ofspirits after death, because Josephus assures us that the spirit whichthe Pythoness caused to appear to Saul was the true spirit of Samuel;for, besides that the holiness of this prophet had placed him in thenumber of the blessed, there are circumstances attending thisapparition which have caused most of the holy fathers[666] to doubtwhether it really was the ghost of Samuel, believing that it might bean illusion with which the Pythoness deceived Saul, and made himbelieve that he saw that which he desired to see. 

"What several rabbis relate of patriarchs, prophets, and kings whomthey saw on the mountain of Gerizim, does not prove either that theJews believed that the spirits of the dead could come back, since itwas only a vision proceeding from the spirit in ecstasy, whichbelieved it saw what it saw not truly; all those who compose thisappearance were persons of whose holiness the Jews were persuaded. What Jesus Christ says to his apostles, that the spirits have 'neitherflesh nor bones, ' far from making us believe that spirits can comeback again, proves on the contrary evidently, that they cannot withouta miracle make us sensible of their presence, since it requiresabsolutely a corporeal substance and bodily organs to utter sounds;the description does agree with souls, they being pure substances, exempt from matter, invisibles, and therefore cannot _naturally_ besubject to our senses. 

"The Provincial Council held in Spain during the pontificate ofSylvester I. , which forbids us to light a taper by day in thecemeteries of martyrs, adding, as a reason, that we must not disturbthe spirits of the saints, is of no consideration; because besidesthat these words are liable to different interpretations, and may evenhave been inserted by some copyist, as some learned men believe, theyonly relate to the martyrs, of whom we cannot doubt that their spiritsare blessed. 

"I make the same reply to a passage of St. Jerome, because arguingagainst the heresiarch Vigilantius, who treated as illusions all themiracles which were worked at the tombs of the martyrs; he endeavorsto prove to him that the saints who are in heaven always take part inthe miseries of mankind, and sometimes even appear to them visibly tostrengthen and console them. 

"As for the decrees which have annulled the leases of several houseson account of the inconvenience caused by ghosts to those who lodgedtherein, it suffices to examine the means and the reasons upon whichthey were obtained, to comprehend that either the judges were led intoerror by the prejudices of their childhood, or that they were obligedto yield to the proofs produced, often even against their own superiorknowledge, or they have been deceived by imposture, or by thesimplicity of the witnesses. 

"With respect to the apparitions, with which all such stories arefilled, one of the strongest which can be objected against myargument, and to which I think myself the more obliged to reply, isthat which is affirmed to have occurred at Paris in the last century, and of which five hundred witnesses are cited, who have examined intothe truth of the matter with particular attention. Here is theadventure, as related by those who wrote at the time it tookplace. [667]

"The Marquis de Rambouillet, eldest brother of the Duchess ofMontauzier, and the Marquis de Précy, eldest son of the family ofNantouillet, both of them between twenty and thirty, were intimatefriends, and went to the wars, as in France do all men of quality. Asthey were conversing one day together on the subject of the otherworld, after several speeches which sufficiently showed that they werenot too well persuaded of the truth of all that is said concerning it, they promised each other that the first who died should come and bringthe news to his companion. At the end of three months the Marquis deRambouillet set off for Flanders, where the war was then being carriedon; and de Précy, detained by a high fever, remained at Paris. Sixweeks afterwards de Précy, at six in the morning, heard the curtainsof his bed drawn, and turning to see who it was, he perceived theMarquis de Rambouillet in his buff vest and boots; he sprung out ofbed to embrace him to show his joy at his return, but Rambouillet, retreating a few steps, told him that these caresses were no longerseasonable, for he only came to keep his word with him; that he hadbeen killed the day before on such an occasion; that all that was saidof the other world was certainly true; that he must think of leading adifferent life; and that he had no time to lose, as he would be killedthe first action he was engaged in. 

"It is impossible to express the surprise of the Marquis de Précy atthis discourse; as he could not believe what he heard, he made severalefforts to embrace his friend, whom he thought desirous of deceivinghim, but he embraced only air; and Rambouillet, seeing that he wasincredulous, showed the wound he had received, which was in the side, whence the blood still appeared to flow. After that the phantomdisappeared, and left de Précy in a state of alarm more easy tocomprehend than describe; he called at the same time hisvalet-de-chambre, and awakened all the family with his cries. Severalpersons ran to his room, and he related to them what he had just seen. Every one attributed this vision to the violence of the fever, whichmight have deranged his imagination; they begged him to go to bedagain, assuring him that he must have dreamed what he told them. 

"The Marquis in despair, on seeing that they took him for a visionary, related all the circumstances I have just recounted; but it was invain for him to protest that he had seen and heard his friend, beingwide awake; they persisted in the same idea until the arrival of thepost from Flanders, which brought the news of the death of the Marquisde Rambouillet. 

"This first circumstance being found true, and in the same manner as dePrécy had said, those to whom he had related the adventure began tothink that there might be something in it, because Rambouillet havingbeen killed precisely the eve of the day he had said it, it wasimpossible de Précy should have known of it in a natural way. Thisevent having spread in Paris, they thought it was the effect of adisturbed imagination, or a made up story; and whatever might be saidby the persons who examined the thing seriously, there remained inpeople's minds a suspicion, which time alone could disperse: thisdepended on what might happen to the Marquis de Précy, who wasthreatened that he should be slain in the first engagement; thus everyone regarded his fate as the dénouement of the piece; but he soonconfirmed everything they had doubted the truth of, for as soon as herecovered from his illness he would go to the combat of St. Antoine, although his father and mother, who were afraid of the prophecy, saidall they could to prevent him; he was killed there, to the greatregret of all his family. 

"Supposing all these circumstances to be true, this is what I shouldsay to counteract the deductions that some wish to derive from them. 

"It is not difficult to understand that the imagination of the Marquisde Précy, heated by fever, and troubled by the recollection of thepromise that the Marquis de Rambouillet and himself had exchanged, mayhave represented to itself the phantom of his friend, whom he knew tobe fighting, and in danger every moment of being killed. Thecircumstances of the wound of the Marquis de Rambouillet, and theprediction of the death of de Précy, which was fulfilled, appears moreserious: nevertheless, those who have experienced the power ofpresentiments, the effects of which are so common every day, willeasily conceive that the Marquis de Précy, whose mind, agitated by aburning fever, followed his friend in all the chances of war, andexpected continually to see announced to himself by the phantom of hisfriend what was to happen, may have imagined that the Marquis deRambouillet had been killed by a musket-shot in the side, and that theardor which he himself felt for war might prove fatal to him in thefirst action. We shall see by the words of St. Augustine, which Ishall cite by-and-by, how fully that Doctor of the Church waspersuaded of the power of imagination, to which he attributes theknowledge of things to come. I shall again establish the authority ofpresentiments by a most singular instance. 

"A lady of talent, whom I knew particularly well, being at Chartres, where she was residing, dreamt in the night that in her sleep she sawParadise, which she fancied to herself was a magnificent hall, aroundwhich were in different ranks the angels and spirits of the blessed, and God, who presided in the midst, on a shining throne. She heardsome one knock at the door of this delightful place; and St. Peterhaving opened it, she saw two pretty children, one of them clothed ina white robe, and the other quite naked. St. Peter took the first bythe hand and led him to the foot of the throne, and left the othercrying bitterly at the door. She awoke at that moment, and related herdream to several persons, who thought it very remarkable. A letterwhich she received from Paris in the afternoon informed her that oneof her daughters was brought to bed with two children, who were dead, and only one of them had been baptized. 

"Of what may we not believe the imagination capable, after so strong aproof of its power? Can we doubt that amongst all the pretendedapparitions that are related, imagination alone produces all thosewhich do not proceed from angels and blessed spirits, or which are notthe effect of fraudulent contrivance?

"To explain more fully what has given rise to those phantoms, theapparition of which has been published in all ages, without availingmyself of the ridiculous opinion of the skeptics, who doubt ofeverything, and assert that our senses, however sound they may be, canonly imagine everything falsely, I shall remark that the wisestamongst the philosophers maintain that deep melancholy, anger, frenzy, fever, depraved or debilitated senses, whether naturally, or byaccident, can make us see and hear many things which have nofoundation. 

"Aristotle says[668] that in sleep the interior senses act by thelocal movement of the humors and the blood, and that this actiondescends sometimes to the sensitive organs, so that on awaking, thewisest persons think they see the images they have dreamt of. 

"Plutarch, in the Life of Brutus, relates that Cassius persuadedBrutus that a spectre which the latter declared he had seen on waking, was an effect of his imagination; and this is the argument which heputs in his mouth:--

"'The spirit of man being extremely active in its nature, and incontinual motion, which produces always some fantasy; above all, melancholy persons, like you, Brutus, are more apt to form tothemselves in the imagination ideal images, which sometimes pass totheir external senses. '

"Galen, so skilled in the knowledge of all the springs of the humanbody, attributes spectres to the extreme subtility of sight andhearing. 

"What I have read in Cardan seems to establish the opinion of Galen. He says that, being in the city of Milan, it was reported that therewas an angel in the air, who appeared visibly, and having ran to themarket-place, he, with two thousand others, saw the same. As even themost learned were in admiration at this wonder, a clever lawyer, whocame to the spot, having observed the thing attentively, sensibly madethem remark that what they saw was not an angel, but the figure of anangel, in stone, placed on the top of the belfry of St. Gothard, whichbeing imprinted in a thick cloud by means of a sunbeam which fell uponit, was reflected to the eyes of those who possessed the most piercingvision. If this fact had not been cleared up on the spot by a manexempt from all prejudice, it would have passed for certain that itwas a real angel, since it had been seen by the most enlightenedpersons in the town to the number of two thousand. 

"The celebrated du Laurent, in his treatise on Melancholy, attributesto it the most surprising effects; of which he gives an infinitenumber of instances, which seem to surpass the power of nature. 

"St. Augustine, when consulted by Evodius, Bishop of Upsal, on thesubject I am treating of, answers him in these terms: 'In regard tovisions, even of those by which we learn something of the future, itis not possible to explain how they are formed, unless we could firstof all know how everything arises which passes through our minds whenwe think; for we see clearly that a number of images are excited inour minds, which images represent to us what has struck either oureyes or our other senses. We experience it every day and every hour. 'And a little after, he adds: 'At the moment I dictate this letter, Isee you with the eyes of my mind, without your being present, or yourknowing anything about it; and I represent to myself, through myknowledge of your character, the impression that my words will makeon your mind, without nevertheless knowing or being able to understandhow all this passes within me. '

"I think, sir, you will require nothing more precise than these wordsof St. Augustine to persuade you that we must attribute to the powerof imagination the greater number of apparitions, even of thosethrough which we learn things which it would seem could not be knownnaturally; and you will easily excuse my undertaking to explain to youhow the imagination works all these wonders, since this holy doctorowns that he cannot himself comprehend it, though quite convinced ofthe fact. 

"I can tell you only that the blood which circulates incessantly inour arteries and veins, being purified and warmed in the heart, throwsout thin vapors, which are its most subtile parts, and are calledanimal spirits; which, being carried into the cavities of the brain, set in motion the small gland which is, they say, the seat of thesoul, and by this means awaken and resuscitate the species of thethings that they have heard or seen formerly, which are, as it were, enveloped within it, and form the internal reasoning which we callthought. Whence comes it that beasts have memory as well as ourselves, but not the reflections which accompany it, which proceed from thesoul, and that they have not. 

"If what Mr. Digby, a learned Englishman, and chancellor of Henrietta, Queen of England, Father Kircher, a celebrated Jesuit, Father Schort, of the same society, Gaffarelli and Vallemont, publish of theadmirable secret of the palingenesis, or resurrection of plants, hasany foundation, we might account for the shades and phantoms whichmany persons declare to have seen in cemeteries. 

"This is the way in which these curious researchers arrive at themarvelous operation of the palingenesis:--

"They take a flower, burn it, and collect all the ashes of it, fromwhich they extract the salts by calcination. They put these salts intoa glass phial, wherein having mixed certain compositions capable ofsetting them in motion when heated, all this matter forms a dust of abluish hue; of this dust, excited by a gentle warmth, arises a stem, leaves, and a flower; in a word, they perceive the apparition of aplant springing from its ashes. As soon as the warmth ceases, all thespectacle vanishes, the matter deranges itself and falls to the bottomof the vessel, to form there a new chaos. The return of heatresuscitates this vegetable phoenix, hidden in its ashes. And as thepresence of warmth gives it life, its absence causes its death. 

"Father Kircher, who tries to give a reason for this admirablephenomenon, says that the seminal virtue of every mixture isconcentrated in the salts, and that as soon as warmth sets them inmotion they rise directly and circulate like a whirlwind in this glassvessel. These salts, in this suspension, which gives them liberty toarrange themselves, take the same situation and form the same figureas nature had primitively bestowed on them; retaining the inclinationto become what they had been, they return to their first destination, and form themselves into the same lines as they occupied in the livingplant; each corpuscle of salt re-entering its original arrangementwhich it received from nature; those which were at the foot of theplant place themselves there; in the same manner, those which composethe top of the stem, the branches, the leaves, and the flowers, resumetheir former place, and thus form a perfect apparition of the wholeplant. 

"It is affirmed that this operation has been performed upon asparrow;[669] and the gentlemen of the Royal Society of England, whoare making their experiments on this matter, hope to succeed in makingthem on human beings also. [670]

"Now, according to the principle of Father Kircher and the mostlearned chemists, who assert that the substantial form of bodiesresides in the salts, and that these salts, set in motion by warmth, form the same figure as that which had been given to them by nature, it is not difficult to comprehend that dead bodies being consumed awayin the earth, the salts which exhale from them with the vapors, bymeans of the fermentations which so often occur in this element, mayvery well, in arranging themselves above ground, form those shadowsand phantoms which have frightened so many people. Thus we mayperceive how little reason there is to ascribe them to the return ofspirits, or to demons, as some ignorant people have done. 

"To all the authorities by means of which I have combated theapparitions of spirits which are in purgatory, I shall still add somevery natural reflections. If the souls which are in purgatory couldreturn hither to ask for prayers to pass into the abode of glory, there would be no one who would not receive similar entreaties fromhis relations and friends, since all the spirits being disposed to dothe same thing, apparently, God would grant them all the samepermission. Besides, if they possessed this liberty, no sensibleperson could understand why they should accompany their appearancewith all the follies so circumstantially related in those stories, asrolling up a bed, opening the curtains, pulling off a blanket, overturning the furniture, and making a frightful noise. In short, ifthere were any reality in these apparitions, it is morally impossiblethat in so many ages _one_ would not have been found so wellauthenticated that it could not be doubted. 

"After having sufficiently proved that all the apparitions whichcannot be ascribed to angels or to the souls of the blessed areproduced only by one of the three following causes--the extremesubtility of the senses; the derangement of the organs, as in madnessand high fever; and the power of imagination--let us see what we mustthink of the circumstance which occurred at St. Maur. 

"Although you have already seen the account that has been given of it, I believe, sir, that you will not be displeased if I here give you thedetail of the more particular circumstances. I shall endeavor to omitnothing that has been done to confirm the truth of the circumstance, and I shall even make use of the exact words of the author, as much asI can, that I may not be accused of detracting from the adventure. 

"Monsieur de S----, to whom it happened, is a young man, short instature, well made for his height, between four and five-and-twentyyears of age. Being in bed, he heard several loud knocks at his doorwithout the maid servant, who ran thither directly, finding any one;and then the curtains of his bed were drawn, although there was onlyhimself in the room. The 22d of last March, being, about eleveno'clock at night, busy looking over some lists of works in his study, with three lads who are his domestics, they all heard distinctly arustling of the papers on the table; the cat was suspected of thisperformance, but M. De S. Having taken a light and looked diligentlyabout, found nothing. 

"A little after this he went to bed, and sent to bed also those whohad been with him in his kitchen, which is next to his sleeping-room;he again heard the same noise in his study or closet; he rose to seewhat it was, and not having found anything more than he did the firsttime, he was going to shut the door, but he felt some resistance tohis doing so; he then went in to see what this obstacle might be, andat the same time heard a noise above his head towards the corner ofthe room, like a great blow on the wall; at this he cried out, and hispeople ran to him; he tried to reassure them, though alarmed himself;and having found naught he went to bed again and fell asleep. Hardlyhad these lads extinguished the light, than M. De S. Was suddenlyawakened by a shake, like that of a boat striking against the arch ofa bridge; he was so much alarmed at it that he called his domestics;and when they had brought the light, he was strangely surprised tofind his bed at least four feet out of its place, and he was thenaware that the shock he had felt was when his bedstead ran against thewall. His people having replaced the bed, saw, with as muchastonishment as alarm, all the bed-curtains open at the same moment, and the bedstead set off running towards the fire-place. M. De S. Immediately got up, and sat up the rest of the night by the fire-side. About six in the morning, having made another attempt to sleep, hewas no sooner in bed than the bedstead made the same movement again, twice, in the presence of his servants, who held the bed-posts toprevent it from displacing itself. At last, being obliged to give upthe game, he went out to walk till dinner time; after which, havingtried to take some rest, and his bed having twice changed its place, he sent for a man who lodged in the same house, as much to reassurehimself in his company, as to render him a witness of so surprising acircumstance. But the shock which took place before this man was soviolent, that the left foot at the upper part of the bedstead wasbroken; which had such an effect upon him, that in reply to the offersthat were made to him to stay and see a second, he replied that whathe had seen, with the frightful noise he had heard all night, werequite sufficient to convince him of the fact. 

"It was thus that the affair, which till then had remained between M. De S. And his domestics, became public; and the report of it beingimmediately spread, and reaching the ears of a great prince who hadjust arrived at St. Maur, his highness was desirous of enlighteninghimself upon the matter, and took the trouble to examine carefullyinto the circumstances which were related to him. As this adventurebecame the subject of every conversation, very soon nothing was heardbut stories of ghosts, related by the credulous, and laughed at andjoked upon by the freethinkers. However, M. De S. Tried to reassurehimself, and go the following night into his bed, and become worthy ofconversing with the spirit, which he doubted not had something todisclose to him. He slept till nine o'clock the next morning, withouthaving felt anything but slight shakes, as the mattresses were raisedup, which had only served to rock him and promote sleep. The next daypassed off pretty quietly; but on the 26th, the spirit, who seemed tohave become well-behaved, resumed its fantastic humor, and began themorning by making a great noise in the kitchen; they would haveforgiven it for this sport if it had stopped there, but it was muchworse in the afternoon. M. De S. , who owns that he felt himselfparticularly attracted towards his study, though he felt a repugnanceto enter it, having gone into it about six o'clock, went to the end ofthe room, and returning towards the door to go into his bed-roomagain, was much surprised to see it shut of itself and barricadeitself with the two bolts. At the same time, the two doors of a largepress opened behind him, and rather darkened his study, because thewindow, which was open, was behind these doors. 

"At this sight, the fright of M. De S. Is more easy to imagine than todescribe; however, he had sufficient calmness left, to hear at hisleft ear a distinct voice, which came from a corner of the closet, andseemed to him to be about a foot above his head. This voice spoke tohim in very good terms during the space of half a _miserere_; andordered him, _theeing_ and _thouing_ him to do some one particularthing, which he was recommended to keep secret. What he has madepublic is that the voice allowed him a fortnight to accomplish it in;and ordered him to go to a place, where he would find some persons whowould inform him what he had to do; and that it would come back andtorment him if he failed to obey. The conversation ended by an adieu. 

"After that, M. De S. Remembers that he fainted and fell down on theedge of a box, which caused him a pain in his side. The loud noise andthe cries which he afterwards uttered brought several people in hasteto the door, and after useless efforts to open it, they were going toforce it open with a hatchet, when they heard M. De S. Dragginghimself towards the door, which he with much difficulty opened. Disordered as he was, and unable to speak, they first of all carriedhim to the fire, and then they laid him on his bed, where he receivedall the compassion of the great prince, of whom I have already spoken, who hastened to the house the moment this event was noised abroad. Hishighness having caused all the recesses and corners of the house to beinspected, and no one being found therein, wished that M. De S. Shouldbe bled; but his surgeon finding he had a very feeble pulsation, thought he could not do so without danger. 

"When he recovered from his swoon, his highness, who wished todiscover the truth, questioned him concerning his adventure; but heonly heard the circumstances I have mentioned--M. De S. Havingprotested to him that he could not, without risk to his life, tell himmore. 

"The spirit was heard of no more for a fortnight; but when that termwas expired--whether his orders had not been faithfully executed, orthat he was glad to come and thank M. De S. For being so exact--as hewas, during the night, lying in a little bed near the window of hisbed-room, his mother in the great bed, and one of his friends in anarm-chair near the fire, they all three heard some one rap severaltimes against the wall, and such a blow against the window, that theythought all the panes were broken. M. De S. Got up that moment, andwent into his closet to see if this troublesome spirit had somethingelse to say to him; but when there, he could neither find nor hearanything. And thus ended this adventure, which has made so much noiseand drawn so many inquisitive persons to St. Maur. 

"Now let us make some reflections on those circumstances which are themost striking, and most likely to make any impression. 

"The noise which was heard several times during the night by themaster, the female servant, and the neighbors, is quite equivocal;and the most prejudiced persons cannot deny that it may have beenproduced by different causes which are all quite natural. 

"The same reply may be given as to the papers which were heard torustle, since a breath of air or a mouse might have moved them. 

"The moving of the bed is something more serious, because it isreported to have been witnessed by several persons; but I hope that alittle reflection will dispense us from having recourse to fantastichands in order to explain it. 

"Let us imagine a bedstead upon castors; a person whose imagination isimpressed, or who wishes to enliven himself by frightening hisdomestics, is lying upon it, and rolls about very much, complainingthat he is tormented. Is it surprising that the bedstead should beseen to move, especially when the floor of the room is waxed andrubbed? But, you will say, some of the witnesses even made uselessefforts to prevent this movement. Who are these witnesses? Two areyouths in the service of the patient, who trembled all over withfright, and were not capable of examining the secret causes of thismovement; and the other has since told several people that he wouldgive ten pistoles not to have affirmed that he saw this bedsteadremove itself without help. 

"In regard to the voice, whose secret has been so carefully kept, asthere is no witness of it, we can only judge of it by the state inwhich he who had been favored with this pretended revelation wasfound. Repeated cries from the man who, hearing his closet door beatenin, draws back the bolts which he had apparently drawn himself, hiseyes quite wild, and his whole person in extraordinary disorder, wouldhave caused the ancient heathens to take him for a sibyl full ofenthusiasm, and must appear to us rather the consequence of someconvulsion than of a conversation with a spiritual being. 

"Lastly, the violent blows given upon the walls and panes of glass, inthe night, in the presence of two witnesses, might make someimpression, if we were sure that the patient, who was lying directlyunder the window in a small bed, had no part in the matter; for of thetwo witnesses who heard this noise, one was his mother, and the otheran intimate friend, who, even reflecting on what he saw and heard, declares that it can only be the effect of a spell. 

"How much good soever you may wish for this place, I do not believe, sir, that what I have just remarked on the circumstances of theadventure, will lead you to believe that it has been honored with anangelic apparition; I should rather fear that, attributing it to adisordered imagination, you may accuse the subtility of the air whichthere predominates as having caused it. As I am somewhat interestedin not doing the climate of St. Maur such an injury, I am compelled toadd something else to what I have said of the person in question, inorder that you may know his character. 

"You need not be very clever in the art of physiognomy to remark inhis countenance the melancholy which prevails in his temperament. Thissad disposition, joined to the fever which has tormented him for sometime, carried some vapors to his brain, which might easily lead him tobelieve that he heard all he has publicly declared; besides which, thedesire to divert himself by alarming his domestics may have inducedhim to feign several things, when he saw that the adventure had cometo the ears of a prince who might not approve of such a joke, and besevere upon it. Thus then, sir, you will think as I do, that thereport of the celebrated Marescot on the subject of the famousMargaret Brossier agrees perfectly with our melancholy man, and wellexplains his adventure: _à naturâ multa, plura ficta, à dĉmone nulla_. His temperament has made him fancy he saw and heard many things; hefeigned still more in support of what his wanderings or his sport hadinduced him to assert; and no kind of spirit has had any share in hisadventure. Without stopping to relate several effects of hismelancholy, I shall simply remark that an embarkation which he made onone of the last _jours gras_, setting off at ten o'clock at night tomake the tour of the peninsula of St. Maur, in a boat where he coveredhimself up with straw on account of the cold, appeared so singular tothe great prince before mentioned, that he took the trouble toquestion him as to his motives for making such a voyage at so late anhour. 

"I shall add that the discernment of his highness made him easilyjudge whence this adventure proceeded, and his behavior on thisoccasion has shown that he is not easily deceived. I do not think itis allowable for me to omit the opinion of his father, a man ofdistinguished merit, on this adventure of his son, when he learned allthe circumstances by a letter from his wife, who was at St. Maur. Hetold several persons that he was certain that the spirit which actedon this occasion was that of his wife and son. The author of therelation was right in endeavoring to weaken such testimony; but I donot know if he flatters himself that he has succeeded, in saying thathe who gave this opinion is an _esprit fort_, or freethinker who makesit a point of honor to be of the fashionable opinion concerningspirits. 

"Lastly, to fix your judgment and terminate agreeably this littledissertation in which you have engaged me, I know of nothing betterthan to repeat the words of a princess, [671] who is not lessdistinguished at court by the delicacy of her wit than by her highrank and personal charms. As they were conversing in her presence ofthe singularity of the adventure which here happened at St. Maur, 'Whyare you so much astonished?' said she, with that gracious air which isso natural to her; 'Is it surprising that the son should have to dowith spirits, since the mother sees the eternal Father three timesevery week? This woman is very happy, ' added the witty princess; 'formy part, I should ask no other favor than to see him once in my life. '

"Laugh with your friends at this agreeable reflection; but, above all, take care, sir, not to make my letter public: it is the only rewardthat I ask for the exactitude with which I have obeyed you on sodelicate an occasion. 

 "I am, sir, "Your very humble, &c. 

_St. Maur, May 8, 1706. _"

APPROBATION. 

"By order of the Lord Chancellor, this dissertation on what we mustthink of spirits in general, and of that of St. Maur in particular, has been read by me, and I have found nothing therein which ought tohinder its being printed. 

"Done at Paris, the 17th of October, 1706. (_Signed_) "LA MARQUE TILLADET. 

"The king's permission bears date the 21st November, 1706. "

Footnotes:

[662] St. Ambrose, Com. On St. Luke, i. C. 1. 

[663] Martha Brossier, daughter of a weaver at Romorantin, was shownas a demoniac, in 1578. See De Thou on this subject, book cxxiii. Andtom. V. Of the Journal of Henry III. , edition of 1744, p. 206, &c. Theaffair of Loudun took place in the reign of Louis XIII. ; and CardinalRichelieu is accused of having caused this tragedy to be enacted, inorder to ruin Urban Grandier, the curé of Loudun, for having written acutting satire against him. 

[664] M. De Lannoy has made a particular dissertation De CausàSecessionis S. Brunonis: he solidly refutes this fable. Nevertheless, this event is to be found painted in the fine pictures of the littlemonastery of the Chartreux at Paris. 

[665] Eliberitan Council, an. 305 or 313, in the kingdom of Grenada. Others have thought, but mistakenly, that it was Collioure inRoussillon. 

[666] Jesus, the son of Sirach, author of Ecclesiasticus, believesthis apparition to be true. Ecclus. Xlvi. 23. 

[667] This story has been related in the former part of the work, butmore succinctly. 

[668] Arist. Treatise on Dreams and Vigils. 

[669] The Abbé de Vallemont, in his work on the Singularities ofVegetation. Paris, 1 vol. 12mo. 

[670] This was a century and a half ago; but the PhilosophicalTransactions record no account of any successful result to suchexperiments. 

[671] Madame the Duchess-mother, daughter of the late king, LouisXIV. , and mother of the duke lately dead, of M. The Count deCharolois, and of M. The Count de Clermont. 

 LETTER OF M. THE MARQUIS MAFFEI ON MAGIC; ADDRESSED TO THE REVEREND FATHER INNOCENT ANSALDI, OF THE ORDER OF ST. DOMINIC; TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN OF THE AUTHOR. 

LETTER OF M. THE MARQUIS MAFFEI ON MAGIC. 

MY REVEREND FATHER, It is to the goodness of your reverence, in regard to myself, that Imust attribute the curiosity you appear to feel to know what I thinkconcerning the book which the Sieur Jerome Tartarotti has justpublished on the _Nocturnal Assemblies of the Sorcerers_. I reply toyou with the greatest pleasure; and I am going to tell my opinionfully and unreservedly, on condition that you will examine what Iwrite to you with your usual acuteness, and that you will tell mefrankly whatever you remark in it, whether good or bad, and that mayappear to deserve either your approbation or your censure. I hadalready read this book, and passed an eulogium on it, both for thegreat erudition displayed therein by the author, as because herefutes, in a very sensible manner, some ridiculous opinions withwhich people are infatuated concerning sorcerers, and some otherequally dangerous abuses. But, to tell the truth, with that exception, I am little disposed to approve it; if M. Muratori has done so in hisletter, which has been seen by several persons, either he has not readthe work through, or he and I on that point entertain very differentsentiments. In regard to my opinion, your reverence will see, by whatI shall say, that it is the same as your own on this subject, as youhave done me the favor to show by your letter. 

I. In this work there is laid down, in the first place, as a certainand indubitable principle, the existence and reality of magic, and thetruth of the effects produced by it--superior, they say, to allnatural powers; he gives it the name of "diabolical magic, " anddefines it, "The knowledge of certain superstitious practices, such aswords, verses, characters, images, signs (_qy. _ moles), &c. , by meansof which magicians succeed in their designs. " For my part, I am muchinclined to believe that all the science of the pretended magicianshad no other design than to deceive others, and ended sometimes indeceiving themselves; and that this magic, now so much vaunted, isonly a chimera. Perhaps even it would be giving one's self superfluoustrouble to undertake to show that everything related of thosenocturnal hypogryphes, [672] of those pretended journeys through theair, of those assemblies and feasts of sorcerers, is only idle andimaginary; because those fables being done away with would not preventthat an infinite number of others would still remain, which have beenrepeated and spread on the same subject, and which, although morefoolish and ridiculous than all the extravagances we read in romances, are so much the more dangerous, because they are more easily believed. It would, in the opinion of many, be doing these tales too much honorto attempt to refute them seriously, as there is no one at this day, in Italy, at least, even amongst the people, who has common sense, that does not laugh at all that is said of the witches' sabbath, andof those troops or bands of sorcerers who go through the air duringthe night to assemble in retired spots and dance. It is true, thatnotwithstanding, that if a man of any credit, whether amongst thelearned or persons of high dignity, maintains an opinion, he willimmediately find partisans; it will be useless to write or speak tothe contrary, it will not be the less followed; and it is hardlypossible that it can be otherwise, so many minds as there are, and somany different ways of thinking. But here the only question is, whatis the common opinion, and what is most universally believed. It isnot my intention to compose a work expressly on magic, nor to entervery lengthily on this matter; I shall only exhibit, in a few words, the reasons which oblige me to laugh at it, and which induce me toincline to the opinion of those who look upon it as a _pure_ illusion, and a _real_ chimera. I must, first of all, give notice that you mustnot be dazzled by the truth of the magical operations in the OldTestament, as if from thence we could derive a conclusive argument toprove the reality of the pretended magic of our own times. I shalldemonstrate this clearly at the end of this discourse, in which I hopeto show that my opinion on this subject is conformable to theScripture, and founded on the tradition of the fathers. Now, then, letus speak of modern magicians. 

II. If there is any reality in this art, to which so many wonders areascribed, it must be the effect of a knowledge acquired by study, orof the impiety of some one who renounces what he owes to God to givehimself up to the demon, and invokes him. It seems, in fact, that theywould sometimes attribute it to acquired knowledge, since in the bookI am combating the author often speaks "of the true mysteries of themagic art;" and he asserts that few "are perfectly instructed in thesecret and difficult principles of this science;" which is notsurprising, he says, since "the life of man would hardly suffice" toread all the works which have treated of it. He calls it sometimes the"magical science, " or "magical philosophy;" he carries back the originof it to the philosopher Pythagoras; he regards "ignorance of themagic art as one of the reasons why we see so few magicians in ourdays. " He speaks only of the mysterious scale enclosed by Orpheus inunity, in the numbers of two and twelve; of the harmony of nature, composed of proportionable parts, which are the octave, or thedouble, and the fifth, or one and a half; of strange and barbarousnames which mean nothing, and to which he attributes supernaturalvirtues; of the concert or the agreement of the inferior and superiorparts of this universe, when understood; makes us, by means of certainwords or certain stones, hold intercourse with invisible substances;of numbers and signs, which answer to the spirits which preside overdifferent days, or different parts of the body; of circles, triangles, and pentagons, which have power to bind spirits; and of several othersecrets of the same kind, very ridiculous, to tell the truth, but veryfit to impose on those who admire everything which they do notunderstand. 

III. But however thick may be the darkness with which nature is hiddenfrom us, and although we may know but very imperfectly the essentialprinciples and properties of things, who does not see, nevertheless, that there can be no proportion, no connection, between circles andtriangles which we trace, or the long words which signify nothing, andimmaterial spirits? Can people not conceive that it is a folly tobelieve that by means of a few herbs, certain stones, and certainsigns or characters, we can make ourselves obeyed by invisiblesubstances which are unknown to us? Let a man study as much as he willthe pretended soul of the world, the harmony of nature, the agreementof the influence of all the parts it is composed of--is it not evidentthat all he will gain by his labor will be terms and words, and neverany effects which are above the natural power of man? To be convincedof this truth, it suffices to observe that the pretended magiciansare, and ever have been, anything but learned; on the contrary, theyare very ignorant and illiterate men. Is it credible that so manycelebrated persons, so many famous men, versed in all kinds ofliterature, should never have been able or willing to sound andpenetrate the mysterious secrets of this art; and that of so manyphilosophers spoken of by Diogenes Laërtius, neither Plato, norAristotle, nor any other, should have left us some treatise? It wouldbe useless to attack the opinions of the world at that time on thissubject. Do we not know with how many errors it has been infatuated inall ages, and which, though shared in common, were not the lessmistakes? Was it not generally believed in former times, that therewere no antipodes? that according to whether the sacred fowls hadeaten or not, it was permitted or forbidden to fight? that the statuesof the gods had spoken or changed their place? Add to those things allthe knavery and artifice which the charlatans put in practice todeceive and delude the people, and then can we be surprised that theysucceeded in imposing on them and gaining their belief? But let it notbe imagined, nevertheless, that everyone was their dupe, and thatamongst so many blind and credulous people there were not always to befound some men sensible and clear-sighted enough to perceive thetruth. 

IV. To be convinced of this, let us only consider what was thought ofit by one of the most learned amongst the ancients, and we may say, one of the most curious and attentive observers of the wonders ofnature--I speak of Pliny, who thus expresses himself at the beginningof his Thirtieth Book;[673] "Hitherto I have shown in this work, everytime that it was necessary and the occasion presented itself, how verylittle reality there is in all that is said of magic; and I shallcontinue to do so as it goes on. But because during several centuriesthis art, the most deceptive of all, has enjoyed great credit amongseveral nations, I think it is proper to speak of it more fully. " "Nomen are more clever in hiding their knaveries than magicians;" and inseven or eight other places he endeavors to expose "their falsehoods, their deceptions, the uselessness of their art, " and laughs at it. Butone thing to which we should pay attention above all, is an invincibleargument which he brings forward against this pretended art. For afterhaving enumerated the diverse sorts of magic, which were employed withdifferent kinds of instruments, and in several different ways, andfrom which they promised themselves effects that were "quite divine;"that is to say, superior to all the force of nature, even of "thepower to converse with the shades and souls of the dead;" he adds, "But in our days the Emperor Nero has discovered that in all thesethings there is nothing but deceit and vanity. " "Never prince, " sayshe, a little lower down, "sought with more eagerness to render himselfclever in any other art; and as he was the master of the world, it iscertain that he wanted neither riches, nor power, nor wit, nor anyother aid necessary to succeed therein. What stronger proof of thefalsity of this art can we have than to see that Nero renounced it?"Suetonius informs us also, "That this prince uselessly employed magicsacrifices to evoke the shade of his mother, and speak to her. " Again, Pliny says "that Tirdates the Mage (for it is thus it should be read, and not Tiridates the Great, as it is in the edition of P. Hardouin), having repaired to the court of Nero, and having brought several magiwith him, initiated this prince in all the mysteries of magic. Nevertheless, " he adds, "it was in vain for Nero to make him a presentof a kingdom--he could not obtain from him the knowledge of this art;which ought to convince us that this detestable science is onlyvanity, or, if some shadow of truth is to be met within it, its realeffects have less to do with the art of magic than the art ofpoisoning. " Seneca, who also was very clever, after having repeated alaw of the Twelve Tables, "which forbade the use of enchantments todestroy the fruits of the earth, " makes this commentary upon it: "Whenour fathers were yet rude and ignorant, they imagined that by means ofenchantments rain could be brought down upon the ground, or could beprevented from falling; but at this day it is so clear that both oneand the other is impossible, that to be convinced of it it does notrequire to be a philosopher. " It would be useless to collect in thisplace an infinity of passages from the ancients, which all prove thesame thing; we can only __________ the book written by Hippocrates onCaducity, which usually passed for the effect of the vengeance of thegods, and which for that reason was called the "sacred malady. " Weshall there see how he laughs "at magicians and charlatans, " whoboasted of being able to cure it by their enchantments and expiations. He shows there that by the profession which they made of being able todarken the sun, bring down the moon to the earth, give fine or badweather, procure abundance or sterility, they seemed to wish toattribute to man more power than to the Divinity itself, showingtherein much less religion than "impiety, and proving that they didnot believe in the gods. " I do not speak of the fables and talesinvented by Philostrates on the subject of Apollonius of Thyana, theyhave been sufficiently refuted by the best pens: but I must not omitto warn you that the name of magic has been used in a good sense forany uncommon science, and a sublimer sort of philosophy. It is in thissense that it must be understood where Pliny says, [674] althoughrather obscurely, "that Pythagoras, Empedocles, Democritus, and Plato, traveled a great deal to acquire instruction in it. " For the rest, people are naturally led to attribute to sorcery everything thatappears new and marvelous. Have not we ourselves, with M. Leguier, passed for magicians in the minds of some persons, because in ourexperiments on electricity they have seen us easily extinguish lightsby putting them near cold water, which then appeared an unheard-ofthing, and which many still firmly maintain even now cannot be donewithout a tacit compact? It is true that in the effects of electricitythere is something so extraordinary and so wonderful, that we shouldbe more disposed to excuse those persons who could not easily believethem to be natural than those who have fancied tacit compacts forthings which it would be much more easy to explain naturally. 

V. From what has just been said, it evidently results that it is follyto believe that by means of study and knowledge one can ever attainany of those marvelous effects attributed to magic; and it isprofaning the name of science to give it an imposture so grosslyimagined; it remains then that these effects might be produced by adiabolical power. In fact, we read in the work in question that allthe effects of magic "must be attributed to the operation of thedemon; that it is in virtue of the compact, express or tacit, that hehas made with him that the magician works all these pretendedprodigies; and that it is in regard to the different effects of thisart, and the different ways in which they are produced, that authorshave since divided it into several classes. " But I beg, at first, thatthe reader will reflect seriously, if it is credible, that as soon assome miserable woman or unlucky knave have a fancy for it, God, whosewisdom and goodness are infinite, will ever permit the demon to appearto them, instruct them, obey them, and that they should make a compactwith him. Is it credible that to please a scoundrel he would grant thedemon power to raise storms, ravage all the country by hail, inflictthe greatest pain on little innocent children, and even sometimes "tocause the death of a man by magic?" Does any one imagine that suchthings can be believed without offending God, and without showing avery injurious mistrust of his almighty power? It has several timeshappened to me, especially when I was in the army, to hear that somewretched creatures had given themselves to the devil, and had calledupon him to appear to them with the most horrible blasphemies, withouthis appearing to them for all that, or their attempts being followedby any success. And, certainly, if to obtain what is promised by theart of magic it sufficed to renounce God and invoke the devil, howmany people would soon perform the dreadful act? How many impious mendo we see every day who for money, or to revenge themselves on someone, or to satisfy a criminal desire, rush without remorse into thegreatest excesses! How many wretches who are suffering in prison, atthe galleys, or otherwise, would have recourse to the demon toextricate them from their troubles! It would be very easy for me torelate here a great number of curious stories of persons generallybelieved to be bewitched, of haunted houses, or horses rubbed down bywill-o'-the-wisp, which I have myself seen at different times andplaces, at last reduced to nothing. This I can affirm, that two monks, very sensible men, who had exercised the office of inquisitors, onefor twenty-four years, and the other during twenty-eight, haveassured me that of different accusations of sorcery which had beenlaid before them, and which appeared to be well proved, after havingexamined them carefully and maturely, they had not found one which wasnot mere knavery. How can any one imagine that the devil, who is thefather of lies, should teach the magician the true secret of this art;and that this spirit, full of pride, of which he is the source, shouldteach an enchanter the means of forcing him to obey him? As soon as werise above some old prejudices, which make us excuse those who in pastages gave credence to such follies, can we put faith in certainextravagant opinions, as what is related of demons, incubes, andseccubes, from a commerce with whom it is pretended children are born. Who will believe in our days that Ezzelin was the son of awill-o'-the-wisp? But can anything more strange be thought of thanwhat is said of tacit compacts? They will have it, that when any one, of whatever country he may be, and however far he may be from wishingto make any compact with the devil, every time he shall say certainwords, or make certain signs, a certain effect will follow; if I, whoam perfectly ignorant of this convention, should happen to pronouncethese same words, or make the same signs, the same effect ought tofollow. They say that whoever makes a compact with the devil has aright to oblige him to produce a certain effect, not only when heshall make himself, for instance, certain figures, but also every timethat they shall be made by any other person you please, at any time, or in any place whatever, and although the intention may be quitedifferent. Certainly nothing is more proper to humble us than suchideas, and to show how very little man can count on the feeble lightof his mind. Of all the extraordinary things said to have beenperformed by tacit compacts, many are absolutely false, and othershave occurred quite differently than as they are related; some aretrue, and such as require no need of the demon's intervention toexplain them. 

VI. The evidence of these reasons seems to suffice to prove that allwhich is said of magic in our days is merely chimerical; but because, in reply to the substantial difficulties which were proposed to him bythe Count Rinaldi Carli, the author of the book pretends that to denyis a heretical opinion condemned by the laws, it is proper to examinethis article again. For the first proof of its reality, is advancedthe general consent of all mankind; the tradition of all nations;stories and witnesses _ad infinitum_ of theologians, philosophers, andjurisconsults; whence he concludes "that its existence cannot bedenied, or even a doubt cast upon it, without sapping the foundationsof what is called human belief. " But the little I have said in No. IV. Alone suffices to prove how false is this assertion concerning thispretended general consent. Horace, who passes for one of the wisestand most enlightened men amongst the ancients, reckons, on thecontrary, among the virtues necessary to an honest man, the notputting faith in what is said concerning magic, and to laugh at it. His friend, believing himself very virtuous because he was notavaricious--"That is not sufficient, " said he: "are you exempt fromevery other vice and every other fault; not ambitious, not passionate, fearless of death? Do you laugh at all that is told of dreams, magicaloperations, miracles, sorcerers, ghosts, and Thessalianwonders?"[675]--that is to say, in one word, of all kinds of magic. What is the aim of Lucian, in his Dialogue entitled "Philopseudis, "but to turn into ridicule the magic art? and also is it not what heproposed to himself in the other, entitled "The Ass, " whence Apuleiusderived his "Golden Ass?" It is easy to perceive that in all thiswork, wherein he speaks so often, the power ascribed to magic ofmaking rivers return to their source, staying the course of the sun, darkening the stars, and constraining the gods themselves to obey it, he had no other intention than to laugh at it, which he certainlywould not have done if he had believed it able to produce, as theypretend, effects beyond those of nature. It is, then, jokingly andironically that he says they see wonders worked "by the invinciblepower of magic, "[676] and by the blind necessity which imposes uponthe gods themselves to be obedient to it. The poor man thinking he wasto be changed into a bird, had had the grief to see himselfmetamorphosed into an ass, through the mistake of a woman who in ahurry had mistaken the box, and giving him one ointment for another. The most usual terms made use of by the ancients, in speaking ofmagic, were "play" and "badinage, " which plainly shows that they sawnothing real in it. St. Cyprian, speaking of the mysteries of themagicians, calls them "hurtful and juggling operations. " "If by theirdelusions and their jugglery, " says Tertullian, "the charlatans seemto perform many wonders. " And in his treatise on the soul, heexclaims, "What shall we say of magic? what almost all the world saysof it--that it is mere knavery. " Arnobius calls it, "the sports of themagic art;" and on these words of Minutius Felix, "all the marvelswhich they seem to work by their _jugglery_, " his commentator remarksthat the word _badinage_ is in this place the proper term. This mannerof expressing himself shows what was then the common opinion of allwise persons. "Let the farmer, " says Columella, "frequent with neithersoothsayers nor witches, because by their foolish superstitions theyall cause the ignorant to spend much money, and thence they lead themto be criminal. " We learn from Suidas, "that those were calledmagicians who filled their heads with vain imaginations. " Thus, whenspeaking of one of these imposters, Dante was right when he said[677]"he knew all the trickery and knavery of the magic art. " Thus, then, it is not true that a general belief in the art of magic has everprevailed; and if, in our days, any one would gather the voice andopinion of men of letters, and the most celebrated academies, I ampersuaded that hardly would one or two in ten be found who wereconvinced of its existence. It would not be, at least, one of thelearned friends of the author of the book in question, who having beenconsulted by the latter on this matter, answers him in theseterms--"Magic is a ridiculous art, which has no reality but in thehead of a madman, who fancies that he is able to lead the devil tosatisfy all his wishes. " I have read in some catalogues which comefrom Germany, that they are preparing to give the public a "MagicLibrary:" _oder grundliche nagrichen_, &c. It is a vast collection ofdifferent writings, all tending to prove the uselessness andinsufficiency of magic. I must remark that the poets have greatlycontributed to set all these imaginations in vogue. Without thisfruitful source, what becomes of the most ingenious fictions of Homer?We may say as much of Ariosto and of our modern poets. For the rest, what I have before remarked concerning Pliny must not beforgotten--that in the ancient authors, the word magic is oftenequivocal. For in certain countries, they gave the name of magi, ormagicians, to those who applied as a particular profession to thestudy of astronomy, philosophy, or medicine; in others, philosophersof a certain sect were thus called: for this, the preface of DiogenesLaërtius can be consulted. Plato writes that in Persia, by the name ofmagic was understood "the worship of the gods. " "According to a greatnumber of authors, " says Apuleius, in his Apology, "the Persianscalled those magi to whom we give the name of priests. " St. Jerome, writing against Jovinian, thus expresses himself--"Eubulus, who wrotethe history of Mithras, in several volumes, relates that among thePersians they distinguish three kinds of magi, of whom the first aremost learned and the most eloquent, " &c. Notwithstanding that, thereare still people to be found, who confound the chimera of pretendeddiabolical magic with philosophical magic, as Corneillus Agrippa hasdone in his books on "Secret Philosophy. "

VII. Another reason which is brought forward to prove the reality andthe power of the magic art, is that the laws decree the penalty ofdeath against enchanters. "What idea, " says he, "could we have of theancient legislators, if we believe them capable of having recourse tosuch rigorous penalties to repress a chimera, an art which produced noeffect?" Upon which it is proper to observe that, supposing this errorto be universally spread, it would not be impossible that even thosewho made the laws might suffer themselves to be prejudiced by them; inwhich case, we might make the same commentary on Seneca, applied, aswe have seen, to the Twelve Tables. But I go further still. This isnot the place to speak of the punishments decreed in the Scriptureagainst the impiety of the Canaanites, who joined to idolatry the mostextravagant magic. In regard to the Greek laws, of which authors havepreserved for us so great a number, I do not remember that theyanywhere make mention of this crime, or that they subject it to anypenalty. I can say the same of the Roman laws, contained in theDigest. It is true that in the Code of Theodosius, and in that ofJustinian, there is an entire title concerning _malefactors_, in whichwe find many laws which condemn to the most cruel death magicians ofall kinds; but are we not forced to confess that this condemnation wasvery just? Those wretches boasted that they were able to occasion whenthey pleased public calamities and mortalities; with this aim, theykept their charms and dark plots as secret as it was possible, whichled the Emperor Constans to say, "Let all the magicians, in whateverpart of the empire they may be found, be looked upon as the publicenemies of mankind. " What does it matter, in fact, that they madefalse boastings, and that their attempts were useless? "In evildoings, " says the law, "it is the will, and not the event, which makesthe crime. " Also, Constantine wills that those amongst them should bepardoned who professed to cure people by such means, and to preservethe products of the earth. But in general these kind of persons aimedonly at doing harm; for which reason the laws ordain that they shouldbe regarded as "public enemies. " The least harm they could be accusedof was deluding the people, misleading the simple, and causing by thatmeans an infinity of trouble and disorder. Besides that, of how manycrimes were they not guilty in the use of their spells? It was thatwhich led the Emperor Valentinian to decree the pain of death "againstwhomsoever should work at night, by impious prayers and detestablesacrifices, at magic operations. " Sometimes even they adroitly madeuse of some other way to procure the evil which they desired to cause;after which, they gave out that it must be attributed to the power oftheir art. But what is the use of so many arguments? Is it not certainthat the first step taken by those who had recourse to magic was torenounce God and Jesus Christ, and to invoke the demon? Was not magiclooked upon as a species of idolatry; and was not that sufficient torender this crime capital, should the punishment have depended on theresult? Honorius commanded that these kind of people should be treatedwith all the rigor of the laws, "unless they would promise to conformfor the future to what was required by the Catholic religion, afterhaving themselves, in presence of the bishops, burned the perniciouswritings which served to maintain their error. "

VIII. What is remarkable is, that if ever any one laughed at magic, itmust certainly be the author in question--since all his book onlytends to prove that there are no witches, and that all that is said ofthem is merely foolish and chimerical. But what appears surprising is, that at the same time he maintains that while in truth there are nowitches, but that there are enchantresses or female magicians; thatwitchcraft is only a chimera, but that diabolical magic is very real. Is not that, as it appears to some, denying and affirming at the sametime the same thing under different names? Tibullus took care not tomake nothing of these distinctions, when he said: "As I was promisedby a witch, whose magical operations never fail. " While treating inthis book of witchcraft and magic, it is affirmed that the demonintervenes on both, and that both work wonders. " But if that is true, it is impossible to find any difference between them. If both performwonders, and that by the intervention of the demon, they are thenessentially the same. After that, is it not a contradiction to saythat the magician acts and the witch has no power--that the formercommands the devil and the latter obeys him--that magic is founded oncompacts, expressed or tacit, while in witchcraft there is nothing butwhat is imaginary and chimerical? What reason is given for this? Ifthe demon is always ready to appear to any one who invokes him, and isready to enter into compact with him, why does he not show himself asdirectly to her whom the author terms a witch as to her to whom he ispleased to give the more respectable title of enchantress? If he isdisposed to appear and take to himself the worship and adoration whichare due to God alone, what matters it to him whether they proceed froma vile or a distinguished person, from an ignoramus or a learned man?The principal difference which the author admits between witchcraftand magic, is, that the latter "belongs properly to priests, doctors, and other persons who cultivate learning;" whilst witchcraft is purelyfanaticism, "which only suits the vulgar and poor wretched women;""also, it does not, " says he, "derive its origin from philosophy orany other science, and has no foundation but in popular stories. " Formy part, I think it is very wrong that so much honor should here bepaid to magic. I have proved above in a few words, by the authority ofseveral ancient authors, that the most sensible men have always made ajest of it; that they have regarded it only as a play and a game; andthat after having spared neither application nor expense, a Romanemperor could never succeed in beholding any effect. I have evenremarked the equivocation of the name, which has often caused thesepopular opinions with philosophy and the sublimest sciences. But Ithink I can find in the book itself of the author, enough to provethat one cannot in fact make this distinction, since he says therein"that superstitious practices, such as figures, characters, conjurations, and enchantments, passing from one to the other, andcoming to the knowledge of these unhappy women, operate in virtue ofthe tacit consent which they give to the operation of the demon. "There then all distinction is taken away. He says again that, according to some, "nails, pins, bones, coals, packets of hair, orrags, found by the head, of children's beds, are indications of acompact express or tacit, because of the resemblance to the symbolsmade use of by true magicians. " Thus, then, witches and those who arehere styled _true magicians_ employ equally the same follies; theyequally place confidence in imaginary compacts--and consequently theyshould both be classed in the same category. 

IX. It is proper to notice here that it is not so great a novelty asis generally believed, to make a distinction between witches andmagicians. Nearly two hundred years ago James Wier, a doctor byprofession, had already said the same thing. Never did an author writemore at length upon this matter; you may consult the sixth edition ofhis book, _De Prĉstigiis Dĉmonum et Incantationibus_, published atBasle. He there proves that witches ought not to be condemned todeath, because they are women whose brain is disturbed; because allthe crimes that are imputed to them are imaginary, having no realitybut in their ill will, and none at all in the execution; lastly, because, according to the rules of the soundest jurisprudence, theconfession of having done impossible things is of no weight, andcannot serve as the foundation of condemnation. He shows how thesefoolish old women come to believe that they have held intercourse withsome evil spirit, or been carried through the air; so far nothing canbe better; but otherwise, being persuaded that there are really magicwonders, [678] and thinking that he has himself experienced somethingof the kind, he will have magicians severely punished. He says, [679]"that very often they are learned men, who, to acquire this diabolicalart, have traveled a great deal; and who, learned[680] in Goësy andTheurgy, [681] whether through the demon or through study, [682] makeuse of strange terms, characters, exorcisms, and imprecations;" employ"sacred words and divine names, and neglect nothing which can renderthem skillful in the black art;"[683] which makes them deserving ofthe punishment of death. [684] "But, " according to him, "there is agreat difference between magicians and witches, inasmuch as theselatter[685] make use neither of books, nor exorcisms, nor characters, but have only their mind and imagination corrupted by the demon. " Hecalls witches "those women who pass for doing a great deal of harm, either by virtue[686] of some imaginary compact, or by their own will, or some diabolical instinct;" and who, having their brain deranged, confess they have done many things, which they never have nor couldhave performed. "Magicians, "[687] he says, "are led of themselves, andby their own inclination, to learn this forbidden art, and seekmasters who can instruct them in it; wizards, on the contrary, seekneither masters nor instructions; but the devil takes possession ofthose women, " whom he thinks the most likely to be deceived, "onaccount of their old age, of their melancholy temperament, or theirpoverty and misery. " Everybody must see, and I have sufficiently shownit already, to how many difficulties and contradictions all thisdoctrine is subject; what we must conclude from it is, that wizards aswell as magicians have equally recourse to the demon, and place theirhope in him, without either of them ever obtaining what they wish. Theauthor sometimes believes he renders what he says of the power ofmagic, and in short reduces it to nothing, by saying, that all thewonderful effects attributed to it have no reality, and are butillusions and vain phantoms; but he does not remark that it is evenmiraculous to cause to appear that which is not. Whether the wands ofPharaoh's magicians were really metamorphosed into serpents, or thatthey appeared to be thus changed to the eyes of the beholders, wouldeither of them equally surpass all the power and industry of men. Ishall not amuse myself with discussing largely many inutilities whichmay be found in this work; for instance, he does not fail to relatethe impertinent story of the pretended magic of Sylvester II. , which, as Panvinius has shown, had no other foundation than this pope's beingmuch given to the study of mathematics and philosophy. 

X. It is owned in the new book, that it is very likely some woman maybe found "who, with the help of the demon, may be capable ofperforming a great many things even hurtful to mankind, " and that byvirtue "of a compact, express or tacit;" and it is added, that itcannot be denied that it may be, without absolutely denying thereality of magic. But when, so far from denying it, every effort onthe contrary is made to establish it; when it is loudly maintainedthat persons may be found who, with the assistance of the demon, areable to produce real effects, even of doing harm to people; how, afterthat, can it be denied that there are witches, since, according to thecommon opinion, witchcraft is nothing else? Let them, if they will, regard as a fable what is said of their journeys through the air torepair to their nocturnal meetings; what will he gain by that, if, notwithstanding that, he believes that they possess the power to killchildren by their spells, to send the devil into the body of the firstperson who presents himself, and a hundred other things of the samekind? He says, that "to render the presents which he makes moreprecious and estimable, and the more to be desired, the demon sellsthem very dear, as if he could not be excited to act otherwise than byemploying powerful means, and making use of a most mysterious and veryhidden art, " which, doubtless, he would have witches ignorant of, andknown only to magicians. But then they pretend that this art can belearned only from the devil, and to obtain it from him they say thathe must be invoked and worshiped. Now, as there is hardly an impiouscharacter, who, having taken it into his head to operate somethingimportant by his charms or spells, would not be disposed to go to thatshocking extreme, we cannot see why one should succeed in what hewishes, whilst the other does not succeed; nor what distinction can bemade between rascals and madmen, who are precisely of a kind. I holdeven, that if the reality and power of magic are granted, we could notwithout great difficulty refuse to those who profess it the power ofentering places shut up, and of going through the air to theirnocturnal assemblies. It will, doubtless, be said that that isimpossible, and surpasses the power of man; but who can affirm it, since we know not how far the power of the rebel angels extends?

I remember to have formerly heard some persons at Rome reason verysensibly on the difficulty there is sometimes of deciding upon thetruth of a miracle, which difficulty is founded on our ignorance ofthe extent of the powers of nature. 

[[688] It is true that it would be dangerous to carry this principletoo far; doubtless, we are not to deduce from it that nothing everhappens but what is natural, as if the Sovereign Author of all had insome measure bound his hands, and had not reserved unto himself theliberty to comply with the wishes and prayers of his servants--ofsometimes according favors which manifestly surpass the powers he hasgranted to nature. It may often happen that we doubt whether an effectis natural or supernatural; but also how many effects do we see onwhich no sensible and rational person can form a doubt, good senseconcurring with the soundest philosophy to teach us that certainwonders can only happen by a secret and divine virtue? One of the mostcertain proofs which can be had of this is the sudden and durable cureof certain long and cruel maladies. I know that simple and piouspersons have sometimes attributed to a miracle cures which might verywell be looked upon as purely natural; but what can be opposed tocertain extraordinary facts which have sometimes happened to very wiseand wide-awake persons, in the presence of sensible and judiciouswitnesses who have attested them, and confirmed by the report of thecleverest physicians, who have shown their astonishment at them? Inthis city of Verona, where I live, an event of this kind happened veryrecently, and it has excited the wonder of every one; but as the truthof it is not yet juridically attested I abstain from relating it. Butsuch is not the case with a similar fact, verified, ten years ago, after the strictest examination. I speak of the miraculous cure ofDame Victoire Buri, of the monastery of St. Daniel, who after achronic ague of nearly five years' duration, after having beentortured for several days with a stitch in her side, or acute pain, and with violent colics--having, in short, lost her voice, and falleninto a languid state, received the holy viaticum on the day of thefête of St. Louis de Gonzaga. In this condition, having ferventlyrecommended herself to the intercession of the saint, she in onemoment felt her strength return, her pains ceased, and she began tocry out that she was cured. At these cries the abbess and the nuns ranto her; she dressed herself, went up the stairs alone and withoutassistance, and repaired to the choir with the others to render thanksto God for her recovery. I had the curiosity to wish to inform myselfpersonally of the fact and of these circumstances, and after havinginterrogated the lady herself, those who had witnessed her cure, andthe physicians who had attended her, I remained fully convinced of thetruth of the fact. I, I repeat, whose defect is not that of being toocredulous, as it sufficiently appears by what I write here. 

Again, I may say, that finding myself fourteen years ago at Florence, I was in that city acquainted with a young girl, named SisterCatherine Biondi, of the third order of St. Francis; through herprayers a lady was cured in a moment and for ever of a very painfuldislocation. This circumstance was known by everybody, and I have nodoubt that it will one day be juridically attested. For myself, Ibelieve I obtained several singular favors of God through theintercession of this holy maiden, to whose intercession I haverecommended myself several times since her death. The wise and learnedfather Pellicioni, abbot of the order of St. Benedict, her confessor, said that if we knew the life and family arrangements of this inferiorsister, we should soon be delivered from all sorts of temptationsagainst faith. 

In effect, what things we are taught by these facts, which remain asif buried in oblivion! What subtile questions are cleared up by themin a very short time! Why do not the learned, who shine in othercommunions, give themselves the trouble to assure themselves of onlyone of these facts, as it would be very easy for them to do? One alonesuffices to render evident the truth of the catholic dogmas. There isnot one article of controversy for the defence of which it would notbe necessary to compose a folio; whereas, only one of these factsdecides them all instantly. We advance but little by disputation, because each one seeks only to show forth his own wit and erudition, and no one will give up a point; while by this method all becomes soevident that no reply remains in answer to it. And who could imaginethat among so many miracles verified on the spot, in different places, and reported in the strictest examinations made for the canonizationof saints, there would not be one which was true? To do so, we mustrefuse to believe anything at all, and to make use of one's reason. But when one of these facts becomes so notorious that there is nolonger room to doubt it, if after that some difficulty presents itselfto our feeble mind, which, so far from grasping the infinite, has onlymost confused knowledge of material bodies, will not any one whowishes to reason upon them be obliged to decide them suddenly bysaying, "I do not understand it at all, but I believe the whole?"Those also, who, through the high opinion they have of their ownknowledge, laugh at all which is above them; what can these men opposeto facts, in which Divine Providence shines forth in a manner soevident not only to the mind but to the eyes? In regard to those who, from the bad education which they have received, or from the idle andvoluptuous life which they lead, stagnate in gross ignorance; withwhat facility would not one of these well-proved facts instruct themin what they most require to know, and enlighten them in a moment onevery subject?]

To return to my subject. If it is sometimes difficult to decide on thetruth of a miracle, how much more difficulty would there be inobserving all the qualities which suit the superior and spiritualnature, and prescribing limits to it. In regard to the penalties whichthe author would have them inflict on magicians and witches, pretending that the former are to be treated with rigor, while, onthe contrary, we must be indulgent to the latter, I do not see anyfoundation for it. Charity would certainly have us begin byinstructing an old fool, who, having her fancy distorted, or her heartperverted, from having read, or heard related, certain things, willcondemn herself, by avowing crimes which she has not committed. But ifwe are told, for instance, that, after having made a little image, anignoramus has pierced it several times, muttering some ridiculouswords, how can we distinguish whether this charm is to be attributedto sorcery or magic? and consequently, how can we know whether itought to be punished leniently or rigorously? However it may be done, no effect will follow it, as has often been proved; and whether thespell is the work of a magician or a wizard, the person aimed at by itwill not be in worse health. We must only remark, that althoughineffectual, the attempt of such wizards is not less a crime, since toarrive at that point, "they must have renounced all their duty to God, and have made themselves the slaves of the demon:" also do they avowthat to cast their spells they must "give up Jesus Christ, andrenounce the baptismal rite. " It is commonly held that "the demonsappear to them, and cause themselves to be worshiped by them. " This iscertainly not the case; but if it were so, why should witches haveless power than magicians? and on what foundation can it be assertedthat they are less criminal?

XI. Now, then, let us come to the point, which has deceived many, andwhich still deludes some. Because in the Scripture, in the OldTestament, magic is often spoken of as it then was, they conclude thatit still exists, and is on the same footing at this day. To that areply is easy. Before the advent of the Saviour, the demon had thatpower; but he no longer possesses it, since Jesus Christ by his deathconsummated the great work of our redemption. It is what St. Johnclearly teaches in the Apocalypse, when he says[689]--"I saw an angeldescend from heaven, holding in his hand the key of the well of theabyss, and a long chain with which he enchained the dragon, the oldserpent, who is the devil and Satan, and he bound him for a thousandyears. " The Evangelist here makes use of the term "a thousand years"to designate a period both very long and indeterminate, since we read, a little lower down, that the demon shall be unbound at the coming ofAntichrist. [2] And "after a thousand years, " says St. John, "Satanshall be unbound, and shall come out of his prison. " Whence ithappens, that in the time of Antichrist all the wonders of magic shallbe renewed, as the apostle tells us, when he says[691] that hisarrival shall be marked with the greatest wonders that Satan iscapable of working, and by all sorts of signs and lying prodigies. But till then, "the prince of this world, " that is to say, the demon, "will be cast out. " Which made St. Peter say, that in ascending toheaven, Jesus Christ has subjugated "the angels, the powers, and thevirtues;" and St. Paul says, that "he has enriched himself with thespoils of principalities and powers;" and that "when he shall give upthe kingdom to God even the Father, and destroyed all principalities, and powers, and rule. " These various names indicate the differentorders of reprobate spirits, as we learn from different parts of theNew Testament. Now, to understand that the might and power which thedemon has been deprived of by the Saviour, is precisely that which hehad enjoyed until then of deceiving the world by magical practices, itis proper to observe, that until the coming of Jesus Christ there werethree ways or means by which the reprobate spirits exercised theirpower and malice upon men:--1. By tempting them and leading them to doevil. 2. By entering into their bodies and possessing them. 3. Byseconding magical operations, and sometimes working wonders, to wrestthe worship which was due to Him. At this day, of these three kinds ofpower, the demon has certainly not lost the first by the coming of theSaviour, since we know with what determination he has continued sincethen, and daily does continue, to tempt us. Neither has he beendeprived of the second, since we still find persons who are possessed;and it cannot be denied, that even since Jesus Christ, God has oftenpermitted this kind of possession to chastise mankind, and serve as awarning. Thence it remains, that the demon has only been absolutelydespoiled of the third; and that it is in this sense we mustunderstand what St. Paul says, "that Satan has been enchained. " Thenceit comes, that since the death of our Saviour all these diabolical______ having no longer the same success as before, those who untilthen had made a profession of them, brought their books to theapostles' feet, and burned them in their presence. " For that thesebooks treated principally of magic, we learn from St. Athanasius, whoalludes to this part of the Scripture, when he says, that "those whohad been celebrated for this art burned their books. " It is not that, even in the most distant time, braggarts and impostors have beenwanting who falsely boasted of what they could not perform. Thus weread in Ecclesiasticus--"Who will pity the enchanter that is bitten bythe serpent?" In the time of St. Paul, some exorcists, who were Jews, ran about the country, vainly endeavoring to expel demons; this wasthe case with seven sons of one of the chief priests at Ephesus. It isthis prejudice which made Josephus believe[692] that in the presenceof Vespasian and all his court attendants, a Jew had expelled demonsfrom the bodies of the possessed by piercing their nose with a ring, in which had been encased a root pointed out by Solomon. In hisnarrative of this event, we may see, in truth, that the demons wereobliged to give some sign of their exit; but who does not perceivethat what he relates can proceed only from one who has sufferedhimself to be deceived, or who seeks to deceive others?

XII. From what I have said, it is obvious, that if in the OldTestament the magic power, and the prodigies worked by magic, areoften spoken of, there is in return no mention made of it in the New. It is true, that as the world was never wanting in impostors, whosought to appropriate to themselves the name and reputation ofmagician, we find two of these seducers named in the Acts of theApostles. The one is Elymas, [693] who, in the isle of Cyprus, wishedto turn the attention of the Roman proconsul from listening to thepreaching of the apostles, and for that was punished with blindness. The other is Simon, who for a long time preaching in Samaria that hewas something great, had misled all the people of that city, so thathe was generally regarded there as a sort of divine man, because"through the effect of his magic he had for a long time turned theheads of all the inhabitants;" that is to say, he had seduced anddazzled them by his knaveries, as has often happened in many otherplaces. For it is evidently shown that he could never succeed inworking any wonder, not only by the silence of the Scripture on thatpoint, but also on seeing the miracles of St. Philip he was sosurprised at them, and so filled with admiration, that he directlyasked to be baptized, and never after quitted this apostle. But havingoffered some money to St. Peter, in order to obtain from him theapostolical gift, he was severely reprimanded by him, and threatenedwith the most terrible punishments, to which he made no other replythan to entreat the apostles to intercede for him themselves withJesus Christ, that nothing of the kind might happen to him. This isall we have that is certain and authentic on the subject of Simon themagician. But in times nearer to the apostles, the authors ofapocryphal books and stories invented at pleasure, profited well bythe profession of magic, which Simon had for a long time skillfullypracticed; and because the magic art is fruitful in wonders, whichcertainly render a narrative agreeable and amusing, they attributedendless prodigies to him; amongst others they imagined that, in a sortof public discussion between him and St. Peter, he raised himself intothe air, and was precipitated from thence to the ground at the prayersof that apostle. Sigebert mentions this, and, if I mistake not, it hasappeared in print at Florence. The most ancient apocryphal workswhich remain to us, are the Recognitions of St. Clement, and theApostolical Constitutions. In the first, they make Simon say that hecan render himself invisible, traverse the most frightful precipices, fall from a great height without hurting himself, bind with his ownbonds those who enchained him, open fastened doors, animate statues, pass through fire without burning himself, change his form, metamorphose himself into a goat or a sheep, fly in the air, &c. Inthe second they make St. Peter say, that Simon being at Rome, and goneto the theatre about noon, he ordered the people to go back and makeroom for him, promising them that he would rise up into the air. It isadded, that he did in effect rise up into the air, carried by thedemons, saying he was ascending to heaven, at which all the peopleapplauded; but at that moment St. Peter's prayers were successful, andSimon was hurled down, after he had spoken beforehand to him, as ifthey had been close to each other. You can read the whole story, whichis evidently false and ill-imagined. It is true that these oldwritings, and a few others of the same kind, have served to deceivesome of the fathers and ecclesiastical authors, who, without examininginto the truth, have permitted themselves to go with the stream, andhave followed the public opinion, upon which many things might be saiddid time allow. How, for instance, can any one unhesitatingly believethat St. Jerome could ever have written that St. Peter went to Rome, not to plant the faith in that capital, and establish therein thefirst seat of Christianity, but to expel from thence Simon themagician? Is there not, on the contrary, reason to suspect that thesefew words have passed in ancient times, from a note inadvertentlyplaced in the margin, into the text itself? But to confine myselfwithin the limits of my subject, I say that it suffices to payattention to the impure source of so many doubtful books, publishedunder feigned names, by the diversity and contradiction whichpredominate amongst them relatively to the circumstance in question, by the silence, in short, of the sovereign pontiffs and other writersupon the same, even of the profane authors who ought principally tospeak of it, to remain convinced that all that is said of it, as wellas all the other prodigies ascribed to the magic power of Simon, isbut a fable founded solely on public report. Is there not even anancient inscription, which is thought to be still in existence, andwhich, according to the copy that I formerly took of it at Rome, bears: "Sanco Sancto Semoni Deo Filio, " which upon the equivoque ofthe name, has been applied to Simon the magician by St. Justin, andupon his authority by some other writers, which occasioned P. Pagi tosay on the year 42, "That St. Justin was deceived either by aresemblance of name, or by some unfaithful relation;" but that whichmust above all decide this matter is the testimony of Origen, who saysthat indeed Simon could deceive some persons in his time by magic, butthat soon after he lost his credit so much, that there were not in allthe world thirty persons of his sect to be found, and that only inPalestine, his name never having been known elsewhere; so far was itfrom true that he had been to Rome, worked miracles there, and hadstatues raised to him in that capital of the world! Origen concludesby saying, that where the name of Simon was known, it was so only bythe Acts of the Apostles, and that the truth of the circumstancesevidently shows that there was nothing divine in this man, that is tosay, nothing miraculous or extraordinary. In a word, the Acts of theApostles relate no wonder of him, because the Saviour had destroyedall the power of magic. 

XIII. To render this principle more solid still, after having based itupon the Scripture, I am going to establish again with my usualfrankness, upon tradition, and show that it is truly in this sense thepassages in the fathers, and ancient ecclesiastical writers, must beunderstood. I begin with St. Ignatius the Martyr, bishop, andsuccessor of the apostles in the pulpit of Antioch. This father, inthe first of the Epistles which are really his, speaking of the birthof the Saviour, and of the star which then appeared, adds, "Becauseall the power of magic vanished, all the bonds of malice were broken, ignorance was abolished, and the old kingdom of Satan destroyed;" onwhich the learned Cotelerius makes this remark: "It was also at thattime that all the illusions of magic ceased, as is attested by so manycelebrated authors. " Tertullian, in the book which he has written onIdolatry, says, "We know the strict union there is between magic andastrology. God permitted that science to reign on the earth till thetime of the Gospel, in order that after the birth of Jesus Christ noone might be found who should undertake to read in the heavens thehappiness or misfortunes of any person whomsoever. " A little after, headds: "It is thus that, till the time of the Gospel, God tolerated onthe earth that other kind of magic which performs wonders, and daredeven to enter into rivalry with Moses. "

Origen, in his books against Celsus, speaking of the three magi, andthe star which appeared to them, says that then the power of magicextended so far, that there was no art more powerful and more divine;but at the birth of the Saviour hell was disconcerted, the demons losttheir power, all their spells were destroyed, and their might passedaway. The magi wishing them to perform their enchantments and theirusual works, and not being able to succeed, sought the reason; andhaving seen that new star appear in the heavens, they conjectured that"He who was to command all spirits was born, " which decided them to goand adore him. 

St. Athanasius, in his treatise on the Incarnation, teaches that theSaviour has delivered all creatures from the deceits and illusions ofSatan, and that he has enriched himself, as St. Paul says, with thespoils of principalities and powers. "When is it, " he says afterwards, "that the oracles have ceased to reply throughout all Greece, butsince the advent of the Saviour on earth? When did they begin todespise the magic art? Is it not since mankind began to enjoy thedivine presence of the Word? Formerly, " he continues, "the demonsdeluded men by divers phantoms, and attaching themselves to rivers andfountains, stones and wood, they drew by their allusions theadmiration of weak mortals; but since the advent of the Divine Word, all their stratagems have passed away. " A little while after, he adds, "But what shall we say of that magic they held in such admiration?Before the incarnation of the Word, it was in honor among theEgyptians, the Chaldeans, the Indians, and won the admiration of thosenations by prodigies; but since the Truth has come down to earth, andthe Word has shown himself amongst men, this power has been destroyed, and is itself fallen into oblivion. " In another place, refuting theGentiles, who ascribed the miracles of the Saviour to magic, "Theycall him a magician, " says he, "but can they say that a magician woulddestroy all sorts of magic, instead of working to establish it?"

In his Commentary on Isaiah, St. Jerome joins this interpretation toseveral passages in the prophet--"Since the advent of the Saviour, allthat must be understood in an allegorical sense; for all the error ofthe waters of Egypt, and all the pernicious arts which deluded thenations who suffered themselves to be infatuated by them, have beendestroyed by the coming of Jesus Christ. " A little after, headds--"That Memphis was also strongly addicted to magic, the vestigeswhich subsist at this day of her ancient superstitions allow us not todoubt. " Now this informs us in a few words, or in the approach of thedesolation of Babylon, that all the projects of the magicians, and ofthose who promise to unveil the future, are a pure folly, and dissolvelike smoke at the presence of Jesus Christ. Again, he says elsewhere, that "Jesus Christ being come into the world, all kinds of divination, and all the deceits of idolatry, lost their efficacy; so that theEastern magi understanding that a Son of God was born who haddestroyed all the power of their art, came to Bethlehem. "

Theophilus of Alexandria, in his Paschal Letter addressed to thebishops of Egypt, and after him St. Jerome, who has given us a Latintranslation of this letter, says that Jesus Christ by his coming hasdestroyed all the illusions of magic. They add, "Jesus Christ by hispresence having destroyed idolatry, it follows that magic, which isits mother, has been destroyed likewise. " They call magic the motherof idolatry, because it transfers to another the confidence andsubmission which are due to God alone. St. Ambrose says, "The magicianperceives the inutility of his art, and you do not yet understand thatthe promised Redeemer is come. " I could bring forward here many otherpassages from the fathers if I had the books at hand, or if timeallowed me to select them. 

XIV. But why amuse ourselves with fruitless researches? What I havesaid will suffice to show that this opinion has been that of not onlyone or two of the fathers, which would prove nothing, but of thegreater number of those among them who have discoursed of this matter, which constitutes the greater number. After that it is of littleimport if in after and darker ages a thousand stories were spread onthe subject of witchcraft and enchantments, and that those tales mayhave gained credit with the people in proportion to their rudeness andignorance. You may read, if you have any curiosity on the subject, ahundred stories of that kind, related by Saxo Grammaticus and OlausMagnus. You will find also in Lucian and in Apuleius, how, even intheir time, those who wished to be carried through the air, or to bemetamorphosed into beasts, began by stripping themselves, and thenanointing themselves with certain oils from head to foot; there werethen found impostors, who promised as of old to perform by means ofmagic all kinds of prodigies, and still continued the sameextravagances as ever. 

A great many persons feel a certain repugnance to refusing belief inall that is said of the prodigies of magic, as if it was denying thetruth of miracles, and the existence of the devil; and on this subjectthey fail not to allege, that amongst the orders in the church isfound that of exorcists, and that the rituals are full of prayers andblessings against the malice and the snares of Satan. But we must nothere confound two very different things. So far from the miracles andwonders performed by Divine power leading us to believe the truth ofthose which are ascribed to the demon, they teach us on the contrarythat God has reserved this power to himself alone. We experience buttoo often that there are truly evil spirits, who do not cease to temptus. In respect to the order of Exorcists, we know that it wasestablished in the church in the first ages of Christianity; the mostancient fathers make mention of them; but from none of them do welearn that their order was instituted against witchcraft and otherknaveries of the same kind, but only as at this day, to deliver thosepossessed; "to expel demons from the bodies of the possessed;" saysthe Manual of the Ordination. It is not, then, denied, that forreasons which it belongs not to us to examine, God sometimes allowsthe demon to take hold of some one and to torment him; we only denythat the spirit of darkness can ever arrive at that to please awretched woman of the dregs of the people. We do not deny that topunish the sins of mankind, the Almighty may not sometimes make use indifferent ways of the ministry of evil spirits; for, as St. Jeromesays, [694] "God makes men feel his anger and fury by the ministry ofrebel angels;" but we do deny that it ever happens by virtue of certainfigures, certain words, and certain signs, made by ignoramuses orscoundrels, or some wretched females, or old mad women, or by anyauthority they have over the demon. The sovereign pontiff who at thisday governs the church with so much glory, discourses very fully[695]in his excellent works on the wonders worked by the demon and relatedin the Old Testament, but he nowhere speaks of any effect produced bymagic or by sorcery since the coming of Jesus Christ. In the Romanritual we have prayers and orisons for all occasions; we find thereconjurations and exorcisms against demons; but nowhere, if the text isnot corrupted, is there mention made either of persons or thingsbewitched, and if they are mentioned therein, it is only in afteradditions made by private individuals. We know, on the contrary, thatmany books treating of this subject, and containing prayers newlycomposed by some individuals, have been prohibited. Thus they haveforbidden the book entitled _Circulus Aureus_, in which are set downthe conjurations necessary for "invoking demons of all kinds, of thesky, of hell, the earth, fire, air, and water, " to destroy all sortsof "enchantments, charms, spells, and snares, " in whatever place theymay be hidden, and of whatever matter they may be composed, whethermale or female, magician or witch, who may have made or given them, and notwithstanding "all compacts and all conventions made betweenthem. " Ought not the fact that the church forbids any one to read orto keep these kind of books, to be sufficient to convince us of thefalsehood of what they imagine, and to teach us how contrary they areto true religion and sound devotion. Three years ago they printed inthis town a little book, of which the author, however, was not ofVerona, in which they promised to teach the way "to deliver thepossessed, and to break all kinds of spells. " We read in it that"those over whom a malignant spell has been cast, lead such a wretchedlife that it ought rather to be called a long death, like the corpseof a man who had just died, " &c. That is not all, for "almost all dieof it, " and if they are children, "they hardly ever live. " See now thepower which simple people ascribe, not only to the devil, but to thevilest of men, whom they really believe to be connected with, and tohold commerce with him. They say afterwards in this same book[696]that the signs which denote a malignant spell are parings, herbs, feathers, bones, nails, and hairs; but they give notice that thefeathers prove that there is witchcraft "only when they areintermingled in the form of a circle or nearly so. " And, again, youmust take care that some woman has not given you something to eat, some flowers to smell, or if she has touched the shoulder of theperson on whom the spell is cast. We have an excellent preservativeagainst these simplicities in the vast selection of Dom Martenus, entitled _De Antiquis Ecclesiĉ Ritibus_, in which we see that amidstan infinity of prayers, orisons and exorcisms used at all timesthroughout Christendom, there is not a passage in which mention ismade of spells, sorcery, or magic, or magical operations. They thereincommand the demon in the name of Jesus Christ to come out and goaway--they therein implore the divine protection, to be delivered fromhis power, to which we are all born subject by the stain of originalsin; they therein teach that holy water, salt, and incense sanctifiedby the prayers of the church may drive away the enemy; that we may notfall into his toils, and that we may have nothing to dread from theattacks of evil spirits; but in no part does it say that spells havepower over them, neither do they anywhere pray God to deliver us fromthem, or to heal us. It is so far from being true that we ought tobelieve the fables spread abroad on this subject, that I perfectlywell remember having read a long time ago in the old casuists, that weought to class in the number of grievous sins the believing that magiccan really work the wonders related of it. I shall remark, on thisoccasion, that I know not how the author of the book in question canhave committed the oversight of twice citing a certain manuscript asto be found in any other cabinet than mine, when it is a well knownfact that I formerly purchased it very dear, not knowing that the mostimportant and curious part was wanting. What I have said of it may beseen in the Opuscules which I have joined to the "History ofTheology. "[697] For the present, it suffices to remember that in thefamous canon _Episcopi_, related first by Réginon, [698] we read theseremarkable words--"An infinite number of people, deceived by thisfalse prejudice, believe all that to be true, and in believing itstray from the true faith into the superstition of the heathen, imagining that they can find elsewhere than in God any divinity, orany supernatural power. "

XV. From all I have hitherto said, it appears how far from truth isall that is commonly said of this pretended magic; how contrary to allthe maxims of the church, and in opposition to the most veneratedauthority, and what harm might be done to sound doctrine and truepiety by entertaining and favoring such extravagant opinions. We read, in the author I am combating, "What shall we say of the fairies, aprodigy so notorious and so common?" It is marvelous that it shouldbe a _prodigy_ and at the same time _common_. He adds, "There is not atown, not to say a village, which cannot furnish several instancesconcerning them. " For my part, I have seen a great many places; I amseventy-four years of age, and I have perhaps been only too curious onthis head; and I own that I have never happened to meet with anyprodigy of that kind. I may even add that several inquisitors, verysensible men, after having exercised that duty a long time, haveassured me that they also never knew such a thing. It is not oftenthat fairies of all kinds of shapes and different faces have passedthrough my hands, but I have always discovered and shown that this wasnothing but fancy and reverie. On one side, it is affirmed that thereis a malicious species among them, who were amorous of beautifulgirls; and on the other, they will have it, on the contrary, that allwitches are old and ugly. How desirable it would be, if the peoplecould be once undeceived in respect to all these follies, which accordso little with sound doctrine and true piety! Are they not still, inour days, infatuated with what is said of charms which renderinvulnerable rings in which fairies are enclosed, billets which curethe quartan ague, words which lead you to guess the number to whichthe lot will fall; of the pas key, which is made to turn to find out athief; of the cabala, which by means of certain verses and certainanswers, which are falsely supposed to contain a certain number ofwords, unveils the most secret things? Are there not still to be foundpeople who are so simple, or who have so little religion, as to buythese trifles very dear? For the world at this day is not wanting inthose prophets spoken of by Micah, [699] whom money inspired andrendered learned. Have we not again calendars in which are marked thelucky and unlucky days, as has been done during a time, under the nameof Egyptians? Do they not prevent people from inhabiting certainhouses, under pretence of their being haunted? that is to say, that inthe night spectres are seen in them, and a great noise of chains isheard, some saying that it is devils who cause all this, and othersthe spirits of the dead who make all this clang; which is surprisingenough that it should be spirits or devils, and that they should onlyhave the power to make themselves perceived in the night. And how manytimes have we seen the most fatal quarrels occur, principally amongstthe peasants, because one amongst them has accused others of sorcery?But what shall we say of spirits incube and succube, of which, notwithstanding the impossibility of the thing, the existence andreality is maintained? M. Muratori, in that part where he treats ofimagination, places the tales on this subject in the same line withwhat is said of the witches' sabbath; and he says[700] "that theseextravagant opinions are at this day so discredited, that it is onlythe rudest and most ignorant who suffer themselves to be amused bythem. " One of my friends made me laugh the other day, when, speakingof the pretended incubuses, he said that those who believed in themwere not wise to marry. Again, what shall we say of those tacitcompacts so often mentioned by the author, and which he supposes to bereal? Can we not see that such an opinion is making a god of thedevil? For that any one, for example, living three or four hundredleagues off, may have made a compact with the devil, that every time apendulum shall be suspended above a glass it shall mark the hour asregularly as the most exact clock. According to this idea, that samemarvel will happen equally, and at the same moment, not only in thistown where we are, but all over the earth, and will be repeated asoften as they may wish to make the experiment. Now this is quiteanother thing from carrying a witch to the sabbath through the air, which the author asserts is beyond the power of the demon; it isattributing to this malicious spirit a kind of almightiness andimmensity. But what would happen if some one, having made a compactwith a demon for fine weather, another on his part shall have made acompact with the demon for bad weather? Good Father Le Brun wishes usto ascribe to tacit compacts all those effects which we cannot explainby natural causes. If it be so, what a number of tacit compacts theremust be in the world! He believes in the stories about the diviningrod, and the virtue ascribed to it of finding out robbers andmurderers; although all France has since acknowledged that the firstauthor of this fable was a knave, who having been summoned to Paris, could never show there any of those effects he had boasted of. Let anyone have the least idea of the invisible atoms scattered abroadthroughout the world, of their continually issuing from naturalbodies, and the hidden and wonderful effects which they produce, onecan never be astonished that at a moderate distance water and metalsshould operate on certain kinds of wood. The same author sincerelybelieves what was said, that the contagion and mortality spreadamongst the cattle proceeded from a spell; like the man who affirmedthat his father and mother remained impotent for seven years, and thisceased only when an old woman had broken the spell. On this subject, he cites a ritual of which Father Martenus does not speak at all, whence it follows that he did not recognize it for authentic. To givean idea of the credulity of this writer, it will suffice to read thestory he relates of one Damis. But we find, above all, anincomparable abridgment of those extravagant wonders in a little bookdedicated to the Cardinal Horace Maffei, entitled, "CompendiumMelificarum, " or the "Abridgment of Witches, " printed at Milan in1608. 

XVI. In a word, it is of no little importance to destroy the popularerrors which attack the unalterable attributes of the Supreme Being, as if he had laid it down as a law to himself that he would condescendto all the impious and fantastic wishes of malignant spirits, and ofthe madman who had recourse to them, by seconding them, and permittingthe wonderful effects that they desire to produce. Do reason and goodsense allow us to imagine that the Sovereign Master of all things, whofor reasons which we are not permitted to examine, refuses so often togrant our most ardent prayers for what we need, whether it be publicor private, can be so prompt to lend an ear to the requests of thevilest and most wicked, by allowing that which they desire to happen?So long as they believe in the reality of magic, that it is able towork wonders, and that by means of it man can force the demon to obey, it will be in vain to preach against the superstition, impiety, andfolly of wizards. There will always be found too many people who willtry to succeed in it, and will even fancy they have succeeded in it infact. To uproot this pest we must begin by making men clearlyunderstand that it is useless in them to be guilty of this horriblecrime; that in this way they never obtain anything they wish for, andthat all that is said on this subject is fabulous and chimerical. Itwill not be difficult to persuade any sensible person of this truth, by only leading him to pay attention, and mark if it be possible thatall these pretended miracles can be true, whilst it is proved thatmagic has never possessed the power to enrich those who professed it, which would be much more easy. How could this wonderful art sendmaladies to those who were in good health, render a married coupleimpotent, or make any one invisible or invulnerable, whilst it hasnever been able to bring a hundred crowns, which another would keeplocked up in his strong box? And why do we not make any use of sowonderful an art in armies? Why is it so little sought after byprinces and their ministers? The most efficacious means fordissipating all these vain fancies would be never to speak of them, and to bury them in silence and oblivion. In any place where for timeimmemorial no one has ever been suspected of witchcraft, let them onlyhear that a monk is arrived to take cognizance of this crime andpunish it, and directly you will see troops of green-sick girls, andhypochondriacal men; crowds of children will be brought to him illwith unknown maladies; and it will not fail to be affirmed that thesethings are caused by spells cast over them, and even when and how thething happened. It is certainly a wrong way of proceeding, whether insermons, or in the works published against witches, to amusethemselves with giving the history of all these mad-headed peopleboast of, of the circumstances in which they have taken a part, andthe way in which they happened. It is in vain then to declaim againstthem, for you may be assured that people are not wanting who sufferthemselves to be dazzled by these pretended miracles, who becomesmitten with these effects, so extraordinary and so wonderful, and tryby every means to succeed in them by the very method which has justbeen taught them, and forget nothing which can place them in thenumber of this imaginary society. It is then with reason that theauthor says in his book, that punishment even sometimes serves torender crime more common, and "that there are never more witches thanin those places where they are most persecuted. " I am delighted to beable to finish with this eulogium, in order that it may be the moreclearly seen that if I have herein attacked magic, it is only withupright intentions. 

XVII. The eagerness with which I have written this letter has made meforget several things which might very well have a place in it. Thegreatest difficulty which can be opposed to my argument is that wesometimes find, even amongst people who possess a certain degree ofknowledge and good sense, some persons who will say to you, "But Ihave seen this, or that; such and such things have happened tomyself. " Upon which it is proper, first of all, to pay attention tothe wonderful tricks of certain jugglers, who, by practice andaddress, succeed in deceiving even the most clear-sighted and sensiblepersons. It must next be considered that the most natural effects maysometimes appear beyond the power of nature, when cleverly presentedin the most favorable point of view. I formerly saw a charlatan who, having driven a nail or a large pin into the head of a chicken, withthat nailed it to a table, so that it appeared dead, and was believedto be so by all present; after that, the charlatan having taken outthe nail and played some apish tricks, the chicken came to life againand walked about the room. The secret of all this is that these birdshave in the forepart of the head two bones, joined in such a way thatif anything is driven through with address, though it causes thempain, yet they do not die of it. You may run large pins into a man'sleg without wounding or hurting him, or but very slightly, just like aprick which is felt when the pin first enters; which has sometimesserved as a pastime for jokers. In my garden, which, thanks to thecare of M. Seguier, is become quite a botanic garden, I have a plantcalled the _onagra_, [701] which rises to the height of a man, andbears very beautiful flowers; but they remain closed all day, and onlyopen towards sunset, and that not by degrees, as with all other nightplants, but in budding all at once, and showing themselves in a momentin all their beauty. A little before their chalice bursts open, itswells and becomes a little inflated. Now, if any one, profiting bythe last-named peculiarity, which is but little known, wished topersuade any simple persons that by the help of some magical words hecould, when he would, cause a beautiful flower to bloom, is it notcertain that he would find plenty of people disposed to believe him?The common people in our days leave nothing undone to find out thesecret of making themselves invulnerable; by which they show that theyascribe to magic more power than was granted to it by the ancients, who believed it very capable of doing harm, but not of doing good. So, when the greater number of the Jews attributed the miracles wrought bythe Saviour to the devil, some of the more sensible and reasonableamong them asked, "Can the devil restore sight to the blind?"[702] Atthis day, there are more ways than ever of making simple and ignorantpersons believe in magic. For instance, would it be very difficult fora man to pass himself off as a magician, if he said to those who werepresent, "I can, at my will, either send the bullet in this pistolthrough this board, or make it simply touch it and fall down at ourfeet without piercing it?" Nevertheless, nothing is easier; it onlyrequires when the pistol is loaded, that instead of pressing thewadding immediately upon the bullet as is customary, to put it, on thecontrary, at the mouth of the barrel. That being done, when they fire, if the end of the pistol is raised, the ball, which is not displaced, will produce the usual effect; but if, on the contrary, the pistol islowered, so that the ball runs into the barrel and joins the wadding, it will fall on the ground from the board without having penetratedit. It seems to me that something like this may be found in the"Natural Experiments" of Redi, which I have not at hand just now. Buton this subject, you can consult Jean Baptista, Porta, and others. Wemust not, however, place amongst the effects of this kind of magic, what a friend jokingly observed to me in a very polite letter which hewrote to me two months ago:--A noisy exhalation having ignited in ahouse, and not having been perceived by him who was in the spotadjoining, nor in any other place, he writes me word that those who, according to the vulgar prejudice, persisted in believing that thesekinds of fire came from the sky and the clouds, were necessarilyforced to attribute this effect to real magic. I shall again add, onthe subject of electrical phenomena, that those who think to explainthem by means of two electrical fluids, the one hidden in bodies, andthe other circulating around them, would perhaps say something lessstrange and surprising, if they ascribed them to magic. I haveendeavored, in the last letter which is joined to that I wrote uponthe subject of exhalations, to give some explanation of these wonders;and I have done so, at least, without being obliged to invent from myown head, and without any foundation, to universal electrical matterswhich circulate within bodies and without them. Certainly, the ancientphilosophers, who reasoned so much on the magnet, would have sparedthemselves a great deal of trouble, if they had believed it possibleto attribute its admirable properties to a magnetic spirit whichproceeded from it. But the pleasure I should find in arguing withthem, might perhaps engage me in other matters; for which reason I nowend my letter. 

Footnotes:

[672] The author here alludes to the hypogryphe, a winged horse, invented by Ariosto, that carried the Paladins through the air. 

[673] Magicus Vanitates. 

[674] Plin. Lib. Xxx. C. 1. 

[675] "Somnia, terrores magicos, miracula, sagas, Nocturnos lemures, portentaque Thessala rides?" HORAT. Lib. Ii. Ep. 2. 

[676] Inexpugnabili magicĉ disciplinĉ potestate, &c. --Lib. Iii. 

[677] Delle magiche frodi seppe il Givoco. --Dante, _Inf. _ c. 20. 

[678] Pp. 139 and 145. 

[679] P. 9. 

[680] P. 144. 

[681] _Goësy_, or _Goësia_, is said to be a kind of magic. It isasserted that those who profess it repair at night to the tombs, wherethey invoke the demon and evil genii by lamentations and complaints. 

In regard to _Theurgy_, the ancients gave this name to that part ofmagic which is called _white magic_. The word _Theurgy_ signifies theart of doing divine things, or such as God only can perform--the powerof producing wonderful and supernatural effects by licit means, ininvoking the aid of God and angels. _Theurgy_ differs from _naturalmagic_, which is performed by the powers of nature; and from_necromancy_, which is operated only by the invocation of the demons. 

[682] P. 170. 

[683] P. 654. 

[684] P. 749. 

[685] P. 9. 

[686] P. 30, de Lam. 

[687] P. 94. 

[688] What is enclosed between the brackets is a long addition sent bythe author to the printer whilst they were working at a second editionof his letter. 

[689] Et vidi angelum descendentem de coelo habentem clavem abyssi etcatenam magnam in manu suà; et appehendit draconem, serpentem, antiquum, qui est Diabolus et Satanas, et ligavit eum per annosmille. --_Apoc. _ xx. 1. 

[690] Et cum consummati fuerint mille anni, solvetur Satanas decarcere suo. --_Apoc. _ v. 7. 

[691] Cujus est adventus secundùm operationem Satanĉ in omni virtuteet signis et prodigiis mendacibus. --2 Thess. Ii. 9. 

[692] Joseph. Antiq. Lib. Viii. C. 2. 

[693] Acts viii. 6. 

[694] Mittet siquidem Dominus in iram et furorem suum per angelospessimos. Hier. Ad Eph. I. 7. P. 574. 

[695] Vid. De Beatif. Lib. Iv. P. I. C. 3. 

[696] Pp. 67, 75. 

[697] P. 243. 

[698] Lib. Ii. P. 364. 

[699] In pecunia divinabunt. --Mich. Iii. 11. 

[700] P. 127. 

[701] Now well known as the evening primrose. 

[702] Numquid dĉmonium potest coecorum oculos asperire? Joan. Ix, 21. 

LETTER

_From the_ REVEREND FATHER DOM. AUGUSTINE CALMET, _Abbot of Sénones, to_ M. DE BURE SENIOR, _Librarian at Paris. _

SIR--I have received The Historical and Dogmatical Treatise onApparitions, Visions, and particular Revelations, with Observations onthe Dissertations of the Reverend Father Dom. Calmet, Abbot ofSénones, on Apparitions and Ghosts. At Avignon, 1751. By the AbbéLenglet du Frenoy. 

I have looked over this work with pleasure. M. Du Frenoy wished toturn to account therein what he wrote fifty-five years ago, as he sayshimself, on the subject of visions, and the life of Maria d'Agreda, ofwhom they spoke then, and of whom they still speak even now in soundecided a manner. M. Du Frenoy had undertaken at that time toexamine the affair thoroughly and to show the illusions of it; thereis yet time for him to give his opinion upon it, since the Church hasnot declared herself upon the work, on the life and visions of thatfamous Spanish abbess. 

It is only accidentally that he composed his remarks on myDissertations on Apparitions and Vampires. I have no reason tocomplain of him; he has observed towards me the rules of politenessand good breeding, and I shall try to imitate him in what I say in myown defence. But if he had read the second edition of my work, printedat Einsidlen in Switzerland, in 1749; the third, printed in Germany atAugsburg, in 1750; and the fourth, on which you are now actuallyengaged; he might have spared himself the trouble of censuring severalpassages which I have corrected, reformed, suppressed, or explainedmyself. 

If I had wished to swell my work, I could have added to it some rules, remarks, and reflections, with a vast number of circumstances. But bythat means I should have fallen into the same error which he seems tohave acknowledged himself, when he says that he has perhaps placed inhis works too many such rules and remarks: and I am persuaded that itis, in fact, the part that will be least read and least used. [703]

People will be much more struck with stories squeamishly extractedfrom Thomas de Cantimpré and Cesarius, whose works are everywheredecried, and that one dare no longer cite openly without exposing themto mockery. They will read, with only too much pleasure, what herelates of the apparitions of Jesus Christ to St. Francis d'Assis, onthe Indulgence of the Partionculus, and the particularities of theestablishment of the Carmelite Fathers, and of the Brotherhood of theScapulary, by Simon Stock, to whom the Holy Virgin herself gave theScapulary of the order. It will be seen in his work that there are fewreligious establishments or societies which are not founded on somevision or revelation. It seemed even as if it was necessary for thepropagation of certain orders and certain congregations; _so thatthese kind of revelations were, as it were, taken by storm_; and thereseems to have been a competition as to who should produce the greatestnumber of them, and the most extraordinary, to have them believed. Icould not persuade myself that he related seriously the pretendedapparition of St. Francis to Erasmus. It is easy to comprehend that itwas a joke of Erasmus, who wished to divert himself at the expense ofthe Cordeliers. But one cannot help being pained at the way in whichhe treats several fathers of the church, as St. Gregory the Great, St. Gregory of Tours, St. Sulpicius Severus, Peter the Venerable, Abbot ofClugny, St. Anselm, Cardinal Pierre Damien, St. Athanasius even, andSt. Ambrose, [704] in regard to their credulity, and the account theyhave given us of several apparitions and visions, which are littlethought of at this day. I say the same of what he relates of thevisions of St. Elizabeth of Schonau, of St. Hildegrade, of St. Gertrude, of St. Mecthelda, of St. Bridget, of St. Catherine ofSienna, and hardly does he show any favor to those of St. Theresa. 

Would it not have been better to leave the world in this respect as itis, [705] rather than disturb the ashes of so many holy personages andsaintly nuns, whose lives are held blessed by the church, and whosewritings and revelations have so little influence over the salvationand the morals of the faithful in general. What service does it renderthe church to speak disparagingly of the works of the contemplatives, of the Thaulers, the Rushbrooks, the Bartholomews of Pisa, of St. Vincent Ferrier, of St. Bernardine of Sienna, of Henry Harphius, ofPierre de Natalibus, of Bernardine de Bustis, of Ludolf the Chartreux, and other authors of that kind, whose writings are so little read andso little known, whose sectaries are so few in number, and have solittle weight in the world, and even in the church?

The Abbé du Frenoy acknowledges the visions and revelations which areclearly marked in Scripture; but is there not reason to fear thatcertain persons may apply the rules of criticism which he employsagainst the visions of the male and female saints of whom he speaks inhis work, and that they may say, for instance, that Jeremiah yieldedto his melancholy humor, and Ezekiel to his caustic disposition, topredict sad and disagreeable things to the Jewish people?[706]

We know how many vexations the prophets endured from the Jews, andthat in particular[707] those of Anathoth had resolved to put theircountryman Jeremiah to death, to prevent him from prophesying in thename of the Lord. To what persecutions were not himself and Baruch hisdisciple exposed for having spoken in the name of the Lord? Did notKing Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, throw the book of Baruch into thefire, [708] after having hacked it with a penknife, in hatred of thetruths which it announced to him?

The Jews sometimes went so far as to insult them in their dwellings, and even to say to them, [709] _Ubi est verbum Domini? veniat_; andelsewhere, "Let us plot against Jeremiah; for the priests will notfail to cite the law, and the prophets will not fail to allege thewords of the Lord: come, let us attack him with derision, and pay noregard to his discourse. "

Isaiah did not endure less vexation and insult, the libertine Jewshaving gone even into his house, and said to him insolently[710]--_Manda, remanda; expecta, re-expecta; modicum ibi, et modicum ibi_, as if tomock at his threats. 

But all that has not prevailed, nor ever will prevail, against thetruth and word of God; the faithful and exact execution of the threatsof the Lord has justified, and ever will justify, the predictions andvisions of the prophets. The gates of hell will not prevail againstthe Christian church, and the word of God will triumph over the maliceof hell, the artifice of corrupt men, of libertines, and over all thesubtlety of pretended freethinkers. True and real visions, revelations, and apparitions will always bear in themselves acharacter of truth, and will serve to destroy those which are false, and proceed from the spirit of error and delusion. And coming now towhat regards myself in particular, M. Du Frenoy says, that the publichave been surprised that instead of placing my proofs before thecircumstances of my apparitions, I have given them afterwards, andthat I have not entered fully enough into the subject of these proofs. 

I am going to give the public an account of my method and design. Having proposed to myself to prove the truth, the reality, andconsequently the possibility of apparitions, I have related a greatmany authentic instances, derived from the Old and New Testament, which forms a complete proof of my opinion, for the certainty of thefacts carries with it here the certainty of the dogma. 

After that I have related instances and opinions taken from theHebrews, Mahometans, Greeks, and Latins, to assure the same truth. Ihave been careful not to draw any parallel between these testimoniesand the scriptural ones which preceded. My object in this was todemonstrate that in every age, and in all civilized nations, the ideaof the immortality of the soul, of its existence after death, of itsreturn and appearance, is one of those truths which the length of ageshas never been able to efface from the mind of nations. 

I draw the same inference from the instances which I have related, andof which I do not pretend to guarantee either the truth or thecertainty. I willingly yield all the circumstances that are notrevealed to censure and criticism; I only esteem as true that which isso in fact. 

M. Du Frenoy finds that the proof of the immortality of the soul whichI infer from the apparition of the spirit after death, is notsufficiently solid; but it is certainly one of the most palpable andmost easy of comprehension to the generality of mankind; it would makemore impression upon them than arguments drawn from philosophy andmetaphysics. I do not intend for that reason to attack any otherproofs of the same truth, or to weaken a dogma so essential toreligion. 

He endeavors to prove, at great length, [711] that the salvation of theEmperor Trajan is not a thing which the Christian religion canconfirm. I agree with him; and it was useless to take any trouble todemonstrate it. [712]

He speaks of the young man of Delme, [713] who having fallen into aswoon remained in it some days; they brought him back to life, and alanguor remained upon him which at last led to his death at the end ofthe year. It is thus he arranges that story. 

M. Du Frenoy disguises the affair a little; and although I do notbelieve that the devil could restore the youth to life, neverthelessthe original and cotemporaneous authors whom I have quoted maintainthat the demon had much to do with this event. [714]

What has principally prevented me from giving rules and prescribing amethod for discerning true and false apparitions is, that I am quitepersuaded that the way in which they occur is absolutely unknown tous; that it contains insurmountable difficulties; and that consultingonly the rules of philosophy, I should be more disposed to believethem impossible than to affirm their truth and possibility. But I amrestrained by respect for the Holy Scriptures, by the testimony of allantiquity and by the tradition of the Church. 

 "I am, sir, Your very humble and very obedient servant, D. A. CALMET, Abbot of Sénones. "

Footnotes:

[703] Dom. Calmet has a very bad opinion of the public, to believethat it values so little what is, perhaps, the best and most sensiblepart of the book. Wise people think quite differently from himself. 

[704] Neither Gregory of Tours, nor Sulpicius Severus, nor Peter theVenerable, nor Pierre Damien, have ever been placed in a parallel linewith the fathers of the Church. In regard to the latter, it has alwaysbeen allowable, without failing in the respect which is due to them, to remark certain weaknesses in their works, sometimes even errors, asthe Church has done in condemning the Millenaries, &c. 

[705] An excellent maxim for fomenting credulity and nourishingsuperstition. 

[706] What a parallel! how could any one make it without renouncingcommon sense?

[707] Jeremiah xxi. 21. 

[708] Jerem. Xxxvi. 

[709] Jerem. Xvii. 15. 

[710] Isai. Xxviii. 10. 

[711] Tom. Ii. P. 92 _et seq. _

[712] It is true that what Dom. Calmet had said of this in his firstedition, the only one M. Lenglet has seen, has been corrected in thefollowing ones. 

[713] P. 155. 

[714] A bad foundation; credulous or interested authors. 

THE END. 

Transcriber's Notes:

 Passages in italics indicated by underscore _italics_. 

 The original text includes Greek characters. For this text version these letters have been replaced with transliterations set off by [Greek: ] tags. 

 The original text includes several blank spaces. These are represented by _______________ in this text version. 

 Footnote punctuation has been standardized for consistency. 

 Misprints corrected: "Corpernican" corrected to "Copernican" (page vii) "destitue" corrected to "destitute" (page xvii) "superstit on" corrected to "superstition" (page xx) "Apocalapse" corrected to "Apocalypse" (page 40) "for" corrected to "fro" (page 55) "thousands" corrected to "thousand" (page 57) "predjudices" corrected to "prejudices" (page 61) "repentence" corrected to "repentance" (page 87) "sorcerors" corrected to "sorcerers" (page 100) "subtil" corrected to "subtile" (page 112) "Loudon" corrected to "Loudun" (page 128) "Gassendy" corrected to "Gassendi" (page 146) "statue" corrected to "stature" (page 161) "testiomony" corrected to "testimony" (page 179) "Ratzival" corrected to "Ratzivil" (page 204) "embarrasment" corrected to "embarrassment" (page 220) "Mohometans" corrected to "Mahometans" (page 222) "ancesters" corrected to "ancestors" (page 231) "cf" corrected to "of" (page 238) "Other" corrected to "Others" (page 248) "treaties" corrected to "treatise" (page 254) "Spiridon" corrected to "Spiridion" (page 258) "not not" corrected to "not" (page 262) "drangement" corrected to "derangement" (page 278) "neigborhood" corrected to "neighborhood" (page 282) "d'Englebert" corrected to "d'Engelbert" (page 286) "obervations" corrected to "observations" (page 305) "of" corrected to "off" (page 326) "corpuscules" corrected to "corpuscles" (page 329) "or" corrected to "for" (page 342) "our" corrected to "out" (page 349) "childen" corrected to "children" (page 360) "her her" corrected to "her" (page 372) "abe" corrected to "able" (page 386) "or" corrected to "on" (page 390) Missing text "III. " added (page 411) "permittted" corrected to "permitted" (page 412) "One" corrected to "On" (page 434)

 Some quotes are opened with marks but are not closed. Obvious errors have been silently closed, while those requiring interpretation have been left open. 

 Additional spacing after some of the quotes is intentional to indicate both the end of a quotation and the beginning of a new paragraph as presented in the original text. 

 All other spelling and punctuation is presented as in the original.