Portuguese Jesuit, has discovered the “Origin of the _Inquisition_,” in
the terrestrial Paradise, and presumes to allege, that God was the first
who began the functions of an inquisitor over Cain and the workmen of
Babel! Macedo, however, is not so dreaming a personage as he appears;
for he obtained a professor’s chair at Padua, for the arguments he
delivered at Venice, against the Pope, which were published by the title
of “The Literary Roarings of the Lion of St. Mark;” besides, he is the
author of 109 different works; but it is curious how far our interest is
apt to prevail over conscience,—Macedo praised the inquisition up to
heaven, while he sank the Pope to nothing.
Among the great revolutions of this age, the inquisition of Spain and
Portugal is abolished, but its history enters into that of the human
mind; and the history of the inquisition by Limborch, translated by
Chandler, with a very curious “Introduction,” loses none of its value
with the philosophical mind. This monstrous tribunal of human opinions,
aimed at the sovereignty of the intellectual world, without intellect.
It may again be restored, to keep Spain stationary at the middle ages!
DEMON,
A name the ancients gave to certain spirits, or _genii_, which, they
say, appeared to men, either to do them service, or to hurt them.
The first notion of demons was brought from Chaldea; whence it spread
itself among the Persians, Egyptians, and Greeks. Pythagoras and Thales
were the first who introduced demons into Greece. Plato fell in with the
notion, and explained it more distinctly and fully, than any of the
former philosophers had done. By demons, he understood spirits, inferior
to gods, and yet superior to men; which inhabited the middle region of
the air, kept up the communication between gods and men, carrying the
offerings and prayers of men to the gods, and bringing down the will of
the gods to men. But he allowed of none but good and beneficent ones:
though his disciples afterwards, finding themselves at a loss how to
account for the origin of evil, adopted another sort of demons, who were
enemies to men.
There is nothing more common in the heathen theology, than these good
and evil genii. And the same superstitious notion we find got footing
among the Israelites, by their commerce with the Chaldeans. But by
demons, they did not mean the devil, or a wicked spirit: they never took
the word demon in that sense, nor was it ever used in such
signification, till by the evangelists and some modern Jews. The word is
Greek, θαιμων.
Gale endeavours to shew, that the origin and intitution of demons was an
imitation of the Messiah. The Phœnicians called them בעלים _Baalim_.
For they had one supreme being, whom they called _Baal_, (and Moloch,
and various inferior deities called Baalim,) whereof we find frequent
mention in the Old Testament. The first demon of the Egyptians was
Mercury, or Thuet. The same author finds some resemblance between the
several offices ascribed to the demons and those of the Messiah.
_Demoniac_, is applied to a person possessed with a spirit, or demon. In
the Roman church, there is a particular office for the exorcism of
demoniacs.
Demoniacs are also a party or branch of the Anabaptists, whose
distinguishing tenet it is, that the devil shall be saved at the end of
the world.—See DEMONOLOGY.
DEMONOLOGY.
——“Spirits, when they please,
Can either sex assume, or both; so soft
And uncompounded is their essence pure,
Not ty’d or manacled with joint or limb,
Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones,
Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they chuse,
Dilated οr condens’d, bright or obscure,
Can execute their airy purposes.”
MILTON.
Diabolus, a devil, or evil angel, is one of those celestial spirits cast
down from heaven for pretending to equal himself with God.
The Ethiopians paint the devil white, to be even with the Europeans, who
paint him black.
We find no mention made of the word _devil_ in the Old Testament, but
only of Satan: nor in any heathen authors do we meet with the word
devil, in the signification attached to it among the Christians; that
is, as a creature revolted from God: their theology went no farther than
to evil genii, or demons, who harassed and persecuted mankind, though we
are well aware many names are given to the devil both in holy writ and
elsewhere.
“O thou! whatever title suit thee,
Auld Hornie, Satan, Nick, or Clootie,
Wha in yon cavern grim an’ sootie
Closed under hatches,
Spairges about the brimstane clootie,
To scaud poor wretches.”—BURNS.
Demon was the name given by the Greeks and Romans to certain _genii_ or
spirits, who made themselves visible to men with the intention of doing
them either good or harm.
The Platonists made a distinction between their gods, or _dei majorum
gentium_; their demons, or those beings which were not dissimilar in
their general character to the good and evil angels of Christian belief;
and their heroes. The Jews and the early Christians restricted the
appellation of demons to beings of a malignant nature, or to devils; and
it is to the early opinions entertained by this people, that the
outlines of later systems of Demonology are to be traced.
“The tradition of the Jews concerning evil spirits are various; some of
them are founded on Scripture; some borrowed from the notions of the
pagans; some are fables of their own invention; and some are
allegories.” The demons of the Jews were considered either as the
distant progeny of Adam or of Eve, which had resulted from an improper
intercourse with supernatural beings, or of Cain. As this doctrine,
however, was extremely revolting to some few of the early Christians,
they maintained that demons were the souls of departed human beings, who
were still permitted to interfere in the affairs of the earth, either to
assist their friends or to persecute their enemies. This doctrine,
however, did not prevail.
An attempt was made about two centuries and a half ago to give, in a
condensed form, the various opinions entertained at an early period of
the Christian era, and during the middle ages, of the nature of the
demons of popular belief. We shall therefore lay this chapter before our
readers, which, being so comprehensive, and at the same time so concise,
requires no abridgment;—“I, for my own part, do also thinke this
argument about the nature and substance of devels and spirits to be
difficult, as I am persuaded that no one author hath in anie certaine or
perfect sort hitherto written thereof. In which respect I can neither
allow the ungodly and profane sects and doctrines of the Sadduces and
Perepateticks, who denie that there are any spirits and devils at all;
nor the fond and superstitious treatises of Plato, Proctics, Plotenus,
Porphyrie; nor yet the vaine and absurd opinions of Psellus, Nider,
Sprenger, Cumanus, Bodin, Michæl, Andæas, James Mathæus, Laurentius,
Ananias, Jamblicus, &c.; who, with manie others, write so ridiculous
lies in these matters, as if they were babes fraied with bugges; some
affirming that the souls of the dead become spirits, the good to be
angels, the bad to be divels; some, that spirits or divels are onelie in
this life; some, that they are men; some that they are women; some that
divels are of such gender that they list themselves; some that they had
no beginning, nor shall have ending, as the Manechies maintain; some
that they are mortal and die, as Plutarch affirmeth of Pan; some that
they have no bodies at all, but receive bodies according to their
fantasies and imaginations; some that their bodies are given unto them;
some, that they make themselves. Some saie they are wind; some that one
of them begat another; some, that they were created of the least part of
the masse, whereof the earth was made; and some, that they are
substances between God and man, and that some of them are terrestrial,
some celestial, some waterie, some airie, some fierie, some starrie, and
some of each and every part of the elements; and that they know our
thoughts, and carrie our good works to God, and praiers to God, and
return his benefits back unto us, and that they are to be worshipped;
wherein they meete and agree jumpe with the papists.”—“Againe, some
saie, that they are meane between terrestrial and celestial bodies,
communicating part of each nature; and that, although they be eternal,
yet they are moved with affections; and as there are birds in the aire,
fishes in the water, and worms in the earth, so in the fourth element,
which is the fire, is the habitation of spirits and devils.”—“Some saie
they are onelie imaginations in the mind of man. Tertullian saith they
are birds, and flie faster than anie fowle in the aire. Some saie that
divels are not, but when they are sent; and therefore are called evil
angels. Some think that the devil sendeth his angels abrode, and he
himself maketh his continual abode in hell, his mansion-place.”
In allusion to this subject a late writer remarks that “It was not,
however, until a much later period of Christianity, that more decided
doctrines relative to the origin and nature of demons was established.
These tenets involved certain very knotty points relative to the fall of
those angels, who, for disobedience, had forfeited their high abode in
heaven. The Gnostics, of early Christian times, in imitation of a
classification of the different orders of spirits by Plato had attempted
a similar arrangement with respect to an hierarchy of angels, the
gradation of which stood as follows:—The first, and highest order, was
named seraphim; the second, cherubim; the third was the order of
thrones; the fourth, of dominions; the fifth, of virtues; the sixth, of
powers; the seventh, of principalities; the eighth, of archangels; the
ninth, and lowest, of angels. This fable was, in a pointed manner,
censured by the apostles; yet still, strange to say, it almost outlived
the Pneumatologists of the middle ages. These schoolmen, in reference to
the account that Lucifer rebelled against heaven, and that Michael the
Archangel warred against him, long agitated the momentous question, what
orders of angels fell on this occasion? At length it became the
prevailing opinion that Lucifer was of the order of seraphim. It was
also proved, after infinite research, that Agares, Belial, and Barbatos,
each of them deposed angels of great rank, had been of the order of
virtues; that Bileth, Focalor, and Phœnix, had been of the order of
thrones; that Gaap had been of the order of powers; and that Pinson had
been both of the order of virtues and powers; and Murmur of thrones and
angels. The pretensions of many other noble devils were, likewise,
canvassed, and in an equally satisfactory manner, determined.
Afterwards, it became an object of enquiry to learn, how many fallen
angels had been engaged in the contest. This was a question of vital
importance, which gave rise to the most laborious research, and to a
variety of discordant opinions.—It was next agitated—where the battle
was fought? in the inferior heaven,—in the highest region of the air, in
the firmament, or in paradise? how long it lasted? whether, during one
second, or moment of time, (_punctum temporis_) two, three, or four
seconds? These were queries of very difficult solution; but the notion
which ultimately prevailed was, that the engagement was concluded in
exactly three seconds from the date of its commencement; and that while
Lucifer, with a number of his followers, fell into hell, the rest were
left in the air to tempt man. A still newer question arose out of all
these investigations, whether more angels fell with Lucifer, or remained
in heaven with Michael? Learned clerks, however, were inclined to think,
that the rebel chief had been beaten by a superior force, and that,
consequently, devils of darkness were fewer in number than angels of
light.
“These discussions, which, during a number of successive centuries,
interested the whole of Christendom, too frequently exercised the
talents of the most erudite characters in Europe. The last object of
demonologists was to collect, in some degree of order, Lucifer’s routed
forces, and to re-organise them under a decided form of subordination or
government. Hence, extensive districts were given to certain chiefs that
fought under this general. There was Zemimar, “the lordly monarch of the
North,” as Shakspeare styles him[53], who had this distinct province of
devils; there was Gorson, the king of the South; Amaymon, the king of
the East; and Goap, the prince of the West. These sovereigns had many
noble spirits subordinate to them, whose various ranks were settled with
all the preciseness of heraldic distinction; there were devil dukes,
devil marquises, devil earls, devil knights, devil presidents, and devil
prelates. The armed force under Lucifer seems to have comprised nearly
2,400 legions, of which each demon of rank commanded a certain number.
Thus, Beleth, whom Scott has described as a “great king and terrible,
riding on a pale horse, before whom go trumpets and all melodious
music,” commanded 85 legions; Agarer, the first duke under the power of
the East, commanded 31 legions; Leraie, a great marquis, 30 legions;
Morax, a great earl and president, 36 legions; Furcas, a knight, 20
legions; and after the same manner, the forces of the other devil
chieftains were enumerated.”
_Derivation of the strange and hideous forms of Devils, &c._
In the middle ages, when conjuration was regularly practised in Europe,
devils of rank were supposed to appear under decided forms, by which
they were as well recognised, as the head of any ancient family would be
by his crest and armorial bearings. The shapes they were accustomed to
adopt were registered along with their names and characters. A devil
would appear, either like an angel seated in a fiery chariot, or riding
on an infernal dragon; and carrying in his right hand a viper, or
assuming a lion’s head, a goose’s feet, and a hare’s tail, or putting on
a raven’s head, and mounted on a strong wolf. Other forms made use of by
demons, were those of a fierce warrior, or an old man riding upon a
crocodile with a hawk in his hand. A human figure would arise having the
wings of a griffin; or sporting three heads, two of them like those of a
toad and of a cat; or defended with huge teeth and horns, and armed with
a sword; or displaying a dog’s teeth, and a large raven’s head; or
mounted upon a pale horse, and exhibiting a serpent’s tail; or
gloriously crowned, and riding upon a dromedary; or presenting the face
of a lion; or bestriding a bear, and grasping a viper. There were also
such shapes as those of an archer, or of a Zenophilus. A demoniacal king
would ride upon a pale horse; or would assume a leopard’s face and
griffin’s wings; or put on the three heads of a bull, of a man, and a
ram with a serpent’s tail, and the feet of a goose; and, in this attire,
sit on a dragon, and bear in his hand a lance and a flag; or, instead of
being thus employed, goad the flanks of a furious bear, and carry in his
fist a hawk. Other forms were those of a goodly knight; or of one who
bore lance, ensigns, and even sceptre; or, of a soldier, either riding
on a black horse, and surrounded with a flame of fire; or wearing on his
head a Duke’s crown, and mounted on a crocodile; or assuming a lion’s
face, and with fiery eyes, spurring on a gigantic charger, or, with the
same frightful aspect, appearing in all the pomp of family distinction,
on a pale horse; or clad from head to foot in crimson raiment, wearing
on his bold front a crown, and sallying forth on a red steed.
Some infernal Duke would appear in his proper character, quietly seated
on a griffin; another spirit of a similar rank would display the three
heads of a serpent, a man, and a cat; he would also bestride a viper,
and carry in his hand a firebrand; another of the same stamp, would
appear like a duchess, encircled with a fiery zone, and mounted on a
camel; a fourth would wear the aspect of a boy, and amuse himself on the
back of a two-headed dragon. A few spirits, however, would be content
with the simple garbs of a horse, a leopard, a lion, an unicorn, a
night-raven, a stork, a peacock, or a dromedary; the latter animal
speaking fluently the Egyptian language. Others would assume the more
complex forms of a lion or of a dog, with a griffin’s wings attached to
each of their shoulders; or of a bull equally well gifted; or of the
same animal, distinguished by the singular appendage of a man’s face; or
of a crow clothed with human flesh; or of a hart with a fiery tail. To
certain other noble devils were assigned such shapes as those of a
dragon with three heads, one of these being human; of a wolf with a
serpent’s tail, breathing forth flames of fire; of a she wolf exhibiting
the same caudal appendage, together with a griffin’s wings, and ejecting
hideous matter from the mouth. A lion would appear either with the head
of a branded thief, or astride upon a black horse, and playing with a
viper, or adorned with the tail of a snake, and grasping in his paws two
hissing serpents. These were the varied shapes assumed by devils of
rank. To those of an inferior order were consigned upon earth, the duty
of carrying away condemned souls. These were described as blacker than
pitch: as having teeth like lions, nails on their fingers like those of
the wild boar, on their forehead horns, through the extremities of
which, poison was emitted, having wide ears flowing with corruption, and
discharging serpents from their nostrils, and having cloven feet[54].
But this last appendage, as Sir Thomas Brown has learnedly proved, is a
mistake, which has arisen from the devil frequently appearing to the
Jews in the shape of a rough and hairy goat, this animal being the
emblem of sin-offerings[55].
It is worthy of farther remark, says Dr. Hibbert, that the forms of the
demons described by St. Bernard, differs little from that which is no
less carefully pourtrayed by Reginald Scott, 350 years later, and,
perhaps, by the Demonologists of the present day. “In our childhood,”
says he, “our mothers’ maids have so terrified us with an ouglie devell
having hornes on his head, fier in his mouth, and a taile in his breech,
eies like a bason, fangs like a dog, clawes like a bear, a skin like a
tiger, and a voice roaring like a lion,—whereby we start and are afraid
when we heare one cry _bough_.”
It is still an interesting matter of speculation worth noticing—why,
after the decay of the regular systems of demonology taught in the
middle ages, the same hideous form should still be attached to the
devil? The learned Mede has remarked, “that the devil could not appear
in human shape while man was in his integrity; because he was a spirit
fallen from his first glorious perfection; and, therefore, must appear
in such a shape which might argue his imperfection and abasement, which
was the shape of a beast; otherwise, no reason can be given, why he
should not rather have appeared to Eve in the shape of a woman than of a
serpent. But since the fall of man, the case is altered: now we know he
can take upon him the shape of man. He appears, it seems, in the shape
of man’s imperfection, either for age or deformity, as like an old man
(for so the witches say); and perhaps it is not altogether false, which
is vulgarly affirmed, that the devil appearing in human shape, has
always a deformity of some uncouth member or other, as though he could
not yet take upon him human shape entirely, for that man himself is not
entirely and utterly fallen as he is.” Grose, with considerable less
seriousness, observes, that “although the devil can partly transform
himself into a variety of shapes, he cannot change his cloven feet,
which will always mark him under every appearance.
The late Dr. Ferriar took some trouble to trace to their real source
spectral figures, which have been attributed to demoniacal visits. In
his observations on the works of Remy, the commissioner in Lorraine, for
the trial of witches, he makes the following remark:—“My edition of this
book was printed by Vincente, at Lyons, in 1595; it is entitled
Dæmonolatria. The trials appear to have begun in 1583. Mr. Remy seems to
have felt great anxiety to ascertain the exact features and dress of the
demons, with whom many people supposed themselves to be familiar. Yet
nothing transpired in his examinations, which varied from the usual
figures exhibited by the gross sculptures and paintings of the middle
age. They are said to be black faced, with sunk but fiery eyes, their
mouths wide and swelling of sulphur, their hands hairy, with claws,
their feet horny and cloven.” In another part of Dr. Ferriar’s, the
following account is also given of a case which passed under his own
observation:—“I had occasion,” he observes, “to see a young married
woman, whose first indication of illness was a spectral delusion. She
told me that her apartment appeared to be suddenly filled with devils,
and that her terror impelled her to quit the house with great
precipitation. When she was brought back, she saw the whole staircase
filled with diabolical forms, and was in agonies of fear for several
days. After the first impression wore off, she heard a voice tempting
her to self destruction, and prohibiting her from all exercises of
piety. Such was the account given by her when she was sensible of the
delusion, yet unable to resist the horror of the impression. When she
was newly recovered, I had the curiosity to question her, as I have
interrogated others, respecting the forms of the demons with which she
had been claimed; but I never could obtain any other account, than that
they were very small, very much deformed, and had horns and claws like
the imps of our terrific modern romances.” To this illustration of the
general origin of the figures of demoniacal illusions, I might observe,
that, in the case of a patient suffering under _delirium tremens_, which
came under my notice, the devils who flitted around his bed were
described to me as exactly like the forms that he had recently seen
exhibited on the stage in the popular drama of Don Giovanni.
With the view of illustrating other accounts of apparitions, I shall now
return to the doctrine of demonology which was once taught. Although the
leading tenets of this occult science may be traced to the Jews and
early Christians, yet they were matured by our early communication with
the Moors of Spain, who were the chief philosophers of the dark ages,
and between whom and the natives of France and Italy, a great
communication subsisted. Toledo, Seville, and Salamanca, became the
greatest schools of magic. At the latter city, prelections on the black
art were, from a consistent regard to the solemnity of the subject,
delivered within the walls of a vast and gloomy cavern. The schoolmen
taught, that all knowledge might be obtained from the assistance of the
fallen angels. They were skilled in the abstract sciences, in the
knowledge of precious stones, in alchymy, in the various languages of
mankind and of the lower animals, in the belles lettres, in moral
philosophy, pneumatology, divinity, magic, history, and prophecy. They
could controul the winds, the waters, and the influence of the stars;
they could raise earthquakes, induce diseases, or cure them, accomplish
all vast mechanical undertakings, and release souls out of purgatory.
They could influence the passions of the mind—procure the reconciliation
of friends or foes—engender mutual discord—induce mania and melancholy—
or direct the force and objects of the sexual affections.