Supernatural Religion Volume I Part 15

As might be expected from the universality of the belief in demons and their influence over the human race, the Jews at the time of Jesus occupied themselves much with the means of conjuring them. "There was hardly any people in the whole world," we have already heard from a great Hebrew scholar, "that more used, or were more fond of, amulets, charms, mutterings, exorcisms, and all kinds of enchantments."(4) Schoettgen bears similar testimony: "Caeterum judoeos magicis artibus admodum deditos esse, notissimum est."(5) All competent scholars are agreed upon this point, and the Talmud and Rabbinical writings are full of it. The exceeding prevalence of such arts alone proves the existence of the grossest ignorance and superst.i.tion.

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There are elaborate rules in the Talmud with regard to dreams, both as to how they are to be obtained and how interpreted.(1) Fasts were enjoined in order to secure good dreams, and these fasts were not only observed by the ignorant, but also by the princ.i.p.al Rabbins, and they were permitted even on the Sabbath, which was unlawful in other cases.(2) Indeed, the interpretation of dreams became a public profession.(3) It would be impossible within our limits to convey an adequate idea of the general superst.i.tion prevalent amongst the Jews regarding things and actions lucky and unlucky, or the minute particulars in regard to every common act prescribed for safety against demons and evil influences of all kinds. Nothing was considered indifferent or too trifling, and the danger from the most trivial movements or omissions to which men were supposed to be exposed from the malignity of evil spirits was believed to be great.(4) Amulets, consisting of roots, or pieces of paper with charms written upon them, were hung round the neck of the sick, and considered efficacious for their cure. Charms, mutterings, and spells were commonly said over wounds, against unlucky meetings, to make people sleep, to heal diseases, and to avert enchantments.(5) The Talmud gives forms of enchantments against mad dogs, for instance, against the demon of blindness, and the like, as well as formulae for averting the evil eye, and

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mutterings over diseases.(1) So common was the practice of sorcery and magic that the Talmud enjoins "that the senior who is chosen into the Council ought to be skilled in the arts of astrologers, jugglers, diviners, sorcerers, &c, that he may be able to judge of those who are guilty of the same."(2) Numerous cases are recorded of persons destroyed by means of sorcery.(3) The Jewish women were particularly addicted to sorcery, and indeed the Talmud declares that they had generally fallen into it.(4) The New Testament bears abundant testimony to the prevalence of magic and exorcism at the time at which its books were written. In the Gospels, Jesus is represented as arguing with the Pharisees, who accuse him of casting out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils.

"If I by Beelzebub cast out the demons [--Greek--] by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore let them be your judges."(5)

The thoroughness and universality of the Jewish popular belief in demons and evil spirits and in the power of magic is exhibited in the ascription to Solomon, the monarch in whom the greatness and glory of the nation attained its culminating point, of the character of a powerful magician. The most effectual forms of invocation and exorcism, and the most potent spells of magic, were said to have been composed by him, and thus the grossest superst.i.tion of the nation acquired the sanction of their wisest king. Rabbinical writings are

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never weary of enlarging upon the magical power and knowledge of Solomon. He was represented as not only king of the whole earth, but also as reigning over devils and evil spirits, and having the power of expelling them from the bodies of men and animals, and also of delivering people to them.(1) It was indeed believed that the two demons Asa and Asael taught Solomon all wisdom and all arts.(2) The Talmud relates many instances of his power over evil spirits, and amongst others how he made them a.s.sist in building the Temple. Solomon desired to have the help of the worm Schamir in preparing the stones for the sacred building, and he conjured up a devil and a she-devil to inform him where Schamir was to be found. They referred him to Asmodeus, whom the King craftily captured, and by whom he was informed that Schamir is under the jurisdiction of the Prince of the Seas, and Asmodeus further told him how he might be secured. By his means the Temple was built, but, from the moment it was destroyed, Schamir for ever disappeared.(3) It was likewise believed that one of the Chambers of the second Temple was built by a magician called Parvah, by means of magic.(4) The Talmud narrates many stories of miracles performed by various Rabbins.(6)

The Jewish historian, Josephus, informs us that, amongst

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other gifts, G.o.d bestowed upon King Solomon knowledge of the way to expel demons, an art which is useful and salutary for mankind. He composed incantations by which diseases are cured, and he left behind him forms of exorcism by which demons may be so effectually expelled that they never return, a method of cure, Josephus adds, which is of great efficacy to his own day. He himself had seen a countryman of his own, named Eliezer, release people possessed of devils in the presence of the Emperor Vespasian and his sons, and of his army. He put a ring containing one of the roots prescribed by Solomon to the nose of the demoniac, and drew the demon out by his nostrils, and, in the name of Solomon, and reciting one of his incantations, he adjured it to return no more. In order to demonstrate to the spectators that he had the power to cast out devils, Eliezer was accustomed to set a vessel full of water a little way off, and he commanded the demon as he left the body of the man to overturn it, by which means, says Josephus, the skill and wisdom of Solomon were made very manifest.(1) Jewish Rabbins generally were known as powerful exorcisers, practising the art according to the formulae of their great monarch. Justin Martyr reproaches his Jewish opponent, Tryphon, with the fact that his countrymen use the same art as the Gentiles, and exorcise with fumigations and charms [--Greek--], and he shows the common belief in demoniacal influence "when he a.s.serts that, while Jewish exorcists cannot overcome demons by such means, or even by exorcising them in the name of their Kings, Prophets, or Patriarchs, though he admits that they might do so if they adjured them in the name of the G.o.d of Abraham, Isaac, and

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Jacob, yet Christians at once subdued demons by exorcising them in the name of the Son of G.o.d.(1) The Jew and the Christian were quite agreed that demons were to be exorcised, and merely differed as to the formula of exorcism. Josephus gives an account of a root potent against evil spirits. It is called Baaras, and is flame-coloured, and in the evening sends out flashes like lightning. It is certain death to touch it, except under peculiar conditions. One mode of securing it is to dig down till the smaller part of the root is exposed, and then to attach the root to a dog's tail. When the dog tries to follow its master from the place, and pulls violently, the root is plucked up, and may then be safely handled, but the dog instantly dies, as the man would have done had he plucked it up himself. When the root is brought to sick people, it at once expels demons.(2) According to Josephus, demons are the spirits of the wicked dead; they enter into the bodies of the living, who die, unless succour be speedily obtained.(3) This theory, however, was not general, demons being commonly considered the offspring of the fallen angels and of the daughters of men.

The Jewish historian gives a serious account of the preternatural portents which warned the Jews of the approaching fall of Jerusalem, and he laments the infatuation of the people, who disregarded these Divine denunciations. A star in the shape of a sword, and also a comet, stood over the doomed city for the s.p.a.ce of a whole year. Then, at the feast of unleavened bread, before the rebellion of the Jews which preceded the war, at the ninth hour of the night a

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great light shone round the altar and the Temple, so that for half an hour it seemed as though it were brilliant daylight. At the same festival other supernatural warnings were given. A heifer, as she was led by the high-priest to be sacrificed, brought forth a lamb in the Temple; moreover, the eastern gate of the inner court of the Temple, which was of bra.s.s, and so ponderous that twenty men had much difficulty in closing it, and which was fastened by heavy bolts descending deep into the solid stone floor, was seen to open of its own accord, about the sixth hour of the night. The ignorant considered some of these events good omens, but the priests interpreted them as portents of evil.

Another prodigious phenomenon occurred, which Josephus supposes would be considered incredible were it not reported by those who saw it, and were the subsequent events not of sufficient importance to merit such portents: before sunset, chariots and troops of soldieis in armour were seen among the clouds, moving about, and surrounding cities. And further, at the feast of Pentecost, as the priests were entering the inner court of the Temple to perform their sacred duties, they felt an earthquake, and heard a great noise, and then the sound as of a great mult.i.tude saying: "Let us remove hence."(l) There is not a shadow of doubt in the mind of Josephus as to the reality of any of these wonders.

If we turn to patristic literature, we find, everywhere, the same superst.i.tions and the same theories of angelic agency and demoniacal interference in cosmical phenomena. According to Justin Martyr, after G.o.d had made the world and duly regulated the elements and the rotation of the seasons, he committed man and all

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things under heaven to the care of angels. Some of these angels, however, proved unworthy of this charge, and, led away by love of the daughters of men, begat children, who are the demons who have corrupted the human race, partly by magical writings [--Greek--] and partly by fears and punishments, and who have introduced wars, murders, and other evils amongst them, which are ignorantly ascribed by poets to G.o.d himself.(1) He considers that demoniacs are possessed and tortured by the souls of the wicked dead,(2) and he represents evil spirits as watching to seize the soul at death.(3) The food of the angels is manna.(4) The angels, says Clement of Alexandria, serve G.o.d in the administration of earthly affairs.(5) The host of angels and of G.o.ds [--Greek--] is placed under subjection to the Logos.(6) Presiding angels are distributed over nations and cities, and perhaps are also deputed to individuals,(7) and it is by their agency, either visible or invisible, that G.o.d gives all good things.(8) He accuses the Greeks of plagiarizing their miracles from the Bible, and he argues that if certain powers do move the winds and distribute showers, they are agents subject to G.o.d.(9) Clement affirms that the Son gave philosophy to the Greeks by means of the inferior angels,(10) and argues that it is absurd to attribute it to the devil.(11) Theophilus of Antioch, on the other hand, says that the Greek poets were inspired by demons.(12) Athenagoras states, as one of the princ.i.p.al

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points of belief among Christians, that a mult.i.tude of angels and ministers are distributed and appointed by the Logos to occupy themselves about the elements, and the heavens, and the universe and the things in it, and the regulating of the whole.(1) For it is the duty of the angels to exercise providence over all that G.o.d has created; so that G.o.d may have the universal care of the whole, but the several parts be ministered to by the angels appointed over them. There is freedom of will amongst the angels as among human beings, and some of the angels abused their trust, and fell through love of the daughters of men, of whom were begotten those who are called Giants.(2) These angels who have fallen from heaven busy themselves about the air and the earth; and the souls of the Giants,(3) which are the demons that roam about the world, work evil according to their respective natures.(4) There are powers which exercise dominion over matter, and by means of it, and more especially one, who is opposed to G.o.d. This Prince of matter exerts authority and control in opposition to the good designed by G.o.d.(5) Demons are greedy for sacrificial odours and the blood of the victims, which they lick; and they influence the mult.i.tude to idolatry by inspiring thoughts and visions which seem to come from idols and statues.(6) According to Tatian, G.o.d made everything which is good, but the wickedness of demons perverts

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the productions of nature for bad purposes, and the evil in these is due to demons and not to G.o.d.(1) None of the demons have bodies; they are spiritual, like fire or air, and can only be seen by those in whom the Spirit of G.o.d dwells. They attack men by means of lower forms of matter, and come to them whenever they are diseased, and sometimes they cause disorders of the body, but when they are struck by the power of the word of G.o.d, they flee in terror, and the sick person is healed.(2) Various kinds of roots, and the relations of bones and sinews, are the material elements through which demons work.(3) Some of those who are called G.o.ds by the Greeks, but are in reality demons, possess the bodies of certain men, and then by publicly leaving them they destroy the disease they themselves had created, and the sick are restored to health.(4) Demons, says Cyprian of Carthage, lurk under consecrated statues, and inspire false oracles, and control the lots and omens.(5) They enter into human bodies and feign various maladies in order to induce men to offer sacrifices for their recovery that they may gorge themselves with the fumes, and then they heal them. They are really the authors of the miracles attributed to heathen deities.(6)

Tertullian enters into minute details regarding angels and demons.

Demons are the offspring of the fallen angels, and their work is the destruction of the human race. They inflict diseases and other painful calamities upon our bodies, and lead astray our souls. From their

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wonderful subtleness and tenuity they find their way into both parts of our composition. Their spirituality enables them to do much harm to men, for being invisible and impalpable they appear rather in their effects than in their action. They blight the apples and the grain while in the flower, as by some mysterious poison in the breeze, and kill them in the bud, or nip them before they are ripe, as though in some inexpressible way the tainted air poured forth its pestilential breath. In the same way demons and angels breathe into the soul and excite its corruptions, and especially mislead men by inducing them to sacrifice to false deities in order that they may thus obtain their peculiar food of fumes of flesh and blood. Every spirit, whether angel or demon, has wings; therefore they are everywhere in a moment. The whole world is but one place to them, and all that takes place anywhere they can know and report with equal facility. Their swiftness is believed to be divine because their substance is unknown, and thus they seek to be considered the authors of effects which they merely report, as, indeed, they sometimes are of the evil, but never of the good. They gather intimations of the future from hearing the Prophets read aloud, and set themselves up as rivals of the true G.o.d by stealing His divinations.

From inhabiting the air, and from their proximity to the stars and commerce with the clouds, they know the preparation of celestial phenomena, and promise beforehand the rains which they already feel coming. They are very kind in reference to the cure of diseases, Tertullian ironically says, for they first make people ill, and then, by way of performing a miracle, they prescribe remedies either novel or contrary to common experience, and then, removing the cause, they are

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believed to have healed the sick.(1) If any one possessed by a demon be brought before a tribunal, Tertullian affirms that the evil spirit, when ordered by a Christian, will at once confess that he is a demon.(2) The fallen angels were the discoverers of astrology and magic.(3) Unclean spirits hover over waters in imitation of the brooding (gestatio) of the Holy Spirit in the beginning, as, for instance, over dark fountains and solitary streams, and cisterns in baths and dwelling-houses, and similar places, which are said to carry one off (rapere), that is to say, by the force of the evil spirit.(4) The fallen angels disclosed to the world unknown material substances, and various arts, such as metallurgy, the properties of herbs, incantations, and interpretation of the stars; and to women specially they revealed all the secrets of personal adornment.(5) There is scarcely any man who is not attended by a demon; and it is well known that untimely and violent deaths, which are attributed to accidents, are really caused by demons.(6) Those who go to theatres may become specially accessible to demons. There is the instance, the Lord is witness (domino teste), of the woman who went to a theatre and came back possessed by a demon; and, on being cast out, the evil spirit replied that he had a right to act as he did, having found her within his limits. There was another case, also well known, of a woman who, at night, after having been to a theatre, had a vision of a

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winding sheet (linteum), and heard the name of the tragedian whom she had seen mentioned with reprobation and, five days after, the woman was dead.(1) Origen attributes augury and divination through animals to demons. In his opinion certain demons, offspring of the t.i.tans or Giants, who haunt the grosser parts of bodies and the unclean places of the earth, and who, from not having earthly bodies, have some power of divining the future, occupy themselves with this. They secretly enter the bodies of the more brutal and savage animals, and force them to make flights or indications of divination to lead men away from G.o.d. They have a special leaning to birds and serpents, and even to foxes and wolves, because the demons act better through these in consequence of an apparent a.n.a.logy in wickedness between them.(2) It is for this reason that Moses, who had either been taught by G.o.d what was similar in the nature of animals and their kindred demons, or had discovered it himself, prohibited as unclean the particular birds and animals most used for divination. Therefore each kind of demon seems to have an affinity with a certain kind of animal. They are so wicked that demons even a.s.sume the bodies of weasels to foretell the future.(3) They feed on the blood and odour of the victims sacrificed in idol temples.(4) The spirits of the wicked dead wander about sepulchres and sometimes for ages haunt particular houses, and other places.(5) The prayers of Christians drive demons out of men, and from places where they have

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taken up their abode, and even sometimes from the bodies of animals, which are frequently injured by them.(1) In reply to a statement of Celsus that we cannot eat bread or fruit, or drink wine or even water without eating and drinking with demons, and that the very air we breathe is received from demons, and that, consequently, we cannot inhale without receiving air from the demons who are set over the air,(2) Origen maintains, on the contrary, that the angels of G.o.d, and not demons, have the superintendence of such natural phenomena, and have been appointed to communicate all these blessings. Not demons, but angels, have been set over the fruits of the earth, and over the birth of animals, and over all things necessary for our race.(3) Scripture forbids the eating of things strangled because the blood is still in them, and blood, and more especially the fumes of it, is said to be the food of demons. If we ate strangled animals, we might have demons feeding with us,(4) but in Origen's opinion a man only eats and drinks with demons when he eats the flesh of idol sacrifices, and drinks the wine poured out in honour of demons.(6) Jerome states the common belief that the air is filled with demons.(6) Chrysostom says that angels are everywhere in the atmosphere.(7)

Not content, however, with peopling earth and air with angels and demons, the Fathers also shared the opinion common to Jews(8) and heathen philosophers, that the heavenly bodies were animated beings.

After fully discussing the question, with much reference to Scripture,

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Origen determines that sun, moon, and stars are living and rational beings, illuminated with the light of knowledge by the wisdom which is the reflection [--Greek--] of eternal light. They have free will, and as it would appear from a pa.s.sage in Job (xxv. 5) they are not only liable to sin, but actually not pure from the uncleanness of it. Origen is careful to explain that this has not reference merely to their physical part, but to the spiritual; and he proceeds to discuss whether their souls came into existence at the same time with their bodies or existed previously, and whether, at the end of the world, they will be released from their bodies or will cease from giving light to the world. He argues that they are rational beings because their motions could not take place without a soul. "As the stars move with so much order and method," he says, "that under no circ.u.mstances whatever does their course seem to be disturbed, is it not the extreme of absurdity to suppose that so much order, so much observance of discipline and method could be demanded from or fulfilled by irrational beings?"(1) They possess life and reason, he decides, and he proves from Scripture that their souls were given to them not at the creation of their bodily substance, but like those of men implanted strictly from without, after they were made.(2) They are "subject to vanity" with the rest of the creatures, and "wait for the manifestation of the sons of G.o.d."(3) Origen is persuaded

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that sun, moon, and stars pray to the Supreme Being through His only begotten Son.(1) To return to angels, however, Origen states that the angels are not only of various orders of rank, but have apportioned to them specific offices and duties. To Raphael, for instance, is a.s.signed the task of curing and healing; to Gabriel the management of wars; to Michael the duty of receiving the prayers and the supplications of men.

Angels are set over the different churches, and have charge even of the least of their members. These offices were a.s.signed to the angels by G.o.d agreeably to the qualities displayed by each.(2) Elsewhere, Origen explains that it is necessary for this world that there should be angels set over beasts and over terrestrial operations, and also angels presiding over the birth of animals, and over the propagation and growth of shrubs, and, again, angels over holy works, who eternally teach men the perception of the hidden ways of G.o.d, and knowledge of divine things; and he warns us not to bring upon ourselves those angels who are set over beasts, by leading an animal life, nor those which preside over terrestrial works, by taking delight in fleshly and mundane things, but rather to study how we may approximate to the companionship of the Archangel Michael, to whose duty of presenting the prayers of the saints to G.o.d he here adds the office of presiding over medicine.(3) It is through the ministry of angels that the water-springs in fountains and running streams refresh the earth, and that the air we breathe is

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kept pure.(1) In the "Pastor" of Hermas, a work quoted by the Fathers as inspired Scripture, which was publicly read in the churches, which almost secured a permanent place in the New Testament canon, and which appears after the canonical books in the Codex Sinaiticus, the oldest extant MS. of the New Testament, mention is made of an angel who has rule over beasts, and whose name is Hegrin.(2) Jerome also quotes an apocryphal work in which an angel of similar name is said to be set over reptiles, and in which fishes, trees, and beasts are a.s.signed to the care of particular angels.(3)

Clement of Alexandria mentions without dissent the prevailing belief that hail-storms, tempests, and similar phenomena do not occur merely from material disturbance, but also are caused by the anger of demons and evil angels.(4) Origen states that while angels superintend all the phenomena of nature, and control what is appointed for our good, famine, the blighting of vines and fruit trees, and the destruction of beasts and of men, are, on the other hand, the personal works(5) of demons, they, as public executioners, receiving at certain times authority to carry into effect divine decrees.(6) "We have already quoted similar views expressed by Tertullian,(7) and the universality and permanence of such opinions may be ill.u.s.trated by the fact that, after the lapse of many centuries, we find St. Thomas Aquinas as solemnly affirming that disease and tempests are the direct work of the devil;(8) indeed, this belief prevailed

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throughout the middle ages until very recent times. The Apostle Peter, in the Recognitions of Clement, informs Clement that when G.o.d made the world He appointed chiefs over the various creatures, even over the trees and the mountains and springs and rivers, and over everything in the universe. An angel was set over the angels, a spirit over spirits, a star over the stars, a demon over the demons, and so on.(1) He provided different offices for all His creatures, whether good or bad,(2) but certain angels having left the course of their proper order, led men into sin and taught them that demons could, by magical invocations, be made to obey man.(3) Ham was the discoverer of the art of magic.(4) Astrologers suppose that evils happen in consequence of the motions of the heavenly bodies, and represent certain climacteric periods as dangerous, not knowing that it is not the course of the stars, but the action of demons that regulates these things.(5) G.o.d has committed the superintendence of the seventy-two nations into which He has divided the earth to as many angels.(6) Demons insinuate themselves into the bodies of men, and force them to fulfil their desires;(7) they sometimes appear visibly to men, and by threats or promises endeavour to lead them into error; they can transform themselves into whatever forms they please.(8) The distinction between what is spoken by the true G.o.d through the prophets or by visions, and that which is delivered by demons, is this: that what proceeds from the former is always true, whereas that which is foretold by demons is not always true.(9) Lactantius says that when the

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number of men began to increase, fearing that the Devil should corrupt or destroy them, G.o.d sent angels to protect and instruct the human race, but the angels themselves fell beneath his wiles, and from being angels they became the satellites and ministers of Satan. The offspring of these fallen angels are unclean spirits, authors of all the evils which are done, and the Devil is their chief. They are acquainted with the future, but n.o.b completely. The art of the magi is altogether supported by these demons, and at their invocation they deceive men with lying tricks, making men think they see things which do not exist. These contaminated spirits wander over all the earth, and console themselves by the destruction of men. They fill every place with frauds and deceits, for they adhere to individuals, and occupy whole houses, and a.s.sume the name of genii, as demons are called in the Latin language, and make men worship them. On account of their tenuity and impalpability they insinuate themselves into the bodies of men, and through their _viscera_ injure their health, excite diseases, terrify their souls with dreams, agitate their minds with phrensies, so that they may by these evils drive men to seek their aid.(1) Being adjured in the name of G.o.d, however, they leave the bodies of the possessed, uttering the greatest howling, and crying out that they are beaten, or are on fire.(2) These demons are the inventors of astrology, divination, oracles, necromancy, and the art of magic.(3) The universe is governed by G.o.d through the medium of angels. The demons have a fore-knowledge of the purposes of G.o.d, from having been His

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ministers, and interposing in what is being done, they ascribe the credit to themselves.(1) The sign of the cross is a terror to demons, and at the sight of it they flee from the bodies of men. When sacrifices are being offered to the G.o.ds, if one be present who bears on his forehead the sign of the cross, the sacred rites are not propitious (_sacra nullo modo litant_), and the oracle gives no reply.(2) Eusebius, like all the Fathers, represents the G.o.ds of the Greeks and other heathen nations as merely wicked demons. Demons, he says, whether they circulate in the dark and heavy atmosphere which encircles our sphere, or inhabit the cavernous dwellings which exist within it, find charms only in tombs and in the sepulchres of the dead, and in impure and unclean places. They delight in the blood of animals, and in the putrid exhalations which rise from their bodies, as well as in earthly vapours.

Their leaders, whether as inhabitants of the upper regions of the atmosphere, or plunged in the abyss of h.e.l.l, having discovered that the human race had deified and offered sacrifices to men who were dead, promoted the delusion in order to savour the blood which flowed.and the fumes of the burning flesh. They deceived men by the motions conveyed to idols and statues, by the oracles they delivered, and by healing diseases, with which, by the power inherent in their nature, they had before invisibly smitten bodies, and which they removed by ceasing to torture them. These demons first introduced magic amongst men.(3) We may here refer to the account of a miracle which Eusebius seriously quotes, as exemplifying another occasional

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