Of the Nature of Spirits (Pictorius’ Isagoge), part 4 of 4

Cast. Origen, in his book against Celsus, saith, that there is no way more certain, than the naming of JESUS the true God. For he saith he hath oftentimes seen innumerable spirits so driven away, both from the souls and bodies of men, St. Athanasius, in his book de variis Quaestion, testifieth, that the most present remedy against the insultations of evil spirits, is the begining of the 67 Psalm, Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered. Cyprian, in his book Quod idola dii non sint, commandeth that the devils should be conjured away by the true God. Some men have declared, that fire, which is the most holy of all elements, and the creed, and also the instrument whereon the fire was carried, were very profitable for this purpose: from whence, in their sacrifices about the sepulchers of the dead they diligently observed the use of lights: or else from thence that Pythagoras did determine, that God could in no wise be truly worshipped without lights burning. Some others do bind swords for this intent and purpose, taking the same out of the 11 Ode of Homer, where he writeth, that Ulysses, when he offered a sacrifice to his mother, had a sword drawn present by him, wherewith he expelled and drove away the spirits from the blood of his sacrifice. And in the sixth of Virgil, when the Sybil led Aeneas into hell, she saith thus.

— Procul, O procul este profani,
Tu q; invade viam, vagina q; eripe ferrum.

Hence, hence, all ye profane! do thou invade
The way, and from'ts confinement take thy blade.

Philostratus writeth, that he compelled Apollonius, a spirit, obvious to him & his companions, to flight, with contumelies and direful imprecations; that the vision making a noise, and with great horror vanished away from them. Very many do much commend a perfume of Calamint, Piony, mint, Palma Christi, & Parsley, to be used in this case. Many do keep present with them red coral, mugwort, hypericon, rue, or vervin, for this purpose. Some do use for this business the tinkling of keys, sounding of consecrated bells or the terrible rattling of Armour.

Poll. I have sometimes heard from our Elders, that they made them Sigils inscribed with Pentapentagones; by virtue whereof, the spirits might be expelled and driven away. What sayst thou to these?

Cast. Averrois writeth against Algazelus, affirmed such things to be almost nothing worth unless to them that have confederated with the spirits. If therefore Averrois saith the truth, how then can the d[…]vils kingdom stand, divided against itself?

Poll. But we read that Solomom, a singular man with God, did make such Sigils.

Cast. We do read truly that Solomon did make them; but it was at such time when he worshiped Idols, and not when he was in the state of salvation. Tertullian offered a more certain antidote than all the former, and exhorteth us, as Job, the most strong champion of God, to fight against all the assaults of temptation: he admonisheth us to be cloathed with the silken garment of honesty, the purple robe of modesty and shame-facedness, and the cloak of patience: and he perswadeth us to meditate upon all those things which the devil doth devise and invent, to overthrow our integrity; that his falling may be proved the glory of our constancy, and that we be willing constantly to war against all machinations, which are permitted by God for this end. And the Prophet Jeremiah teacheth the same, in these words: The Lord of hosts is the approver of the just.

D. Maximus, in his book de charitate, commandeth us to bind and kill the devils. He saith we do then bind them, when by diligent observation of the Commandments of God, we do diminish and quash those affections that do boil up in us: and we are said to kill them, when we so truly mortify our lusts, that we cut him off from all occasions of accusing; saying with the Prophet, Depart, O homicide, the Lord the strong warrior is with me: thou shalt fall, and shalt be vanquished from me for ever. Olympiadorus, 10 cap. when he interpreteth the Ecclesiastical history, saith, that all sensual appetites are to be shut out and excluded, so that the devil may not be admitted, neither by the allurements of the eyes, nor by itching ears, nor by the petulancy and frowardness of an hurtful tongue: for this he accounteth to be the most absolute seal against the power of the devils. Some do admonish us, in our going forth to war against the devil, to use two sorts of weapons: the one is pure prayer, which may raise up our affections unto heaven; and true and perfect knowledge, which may communicate and fill our understandings with wholesome doctrines, and may suggest unto us what we are to pray for, that we may pray ardently, according to St. James, and not doubtingly. In the Prophecy of Isaiah, and the Epistles of St. Paul, we may find the same things; Isai. 59. Eph. 6. and 1 Thess. 5. which may be as a remedy against vain Ghosts that they may be expelled.

Poll. For a remedy against Ghosts? dost thou conceive that a Ghost is diverse and different from a spirit?

Cast. I know not truly what I may think hereof: for flowing in so spacious a sea of many opinions, I am so led in doubt, that I cannot easily attain to a certain Port of judgment: for there are some which do suppose that these Ghosts are devils, by reason of the great fear and terror wherewith they ragingly molest men by night in their houses; and sometimes for their innate nature to do hurt. There are others that do believe these spirits are deceitful fantasies, deceiving those that are of evil belief: who by their fallacious visions and Imaginations do deceive and frighten the Inhabitants in their houses and do deny that they are spirits indeed, because the spirits have a body without hands or feet; wherefore they can hurt no man, nor make any tumult: being ignorant that the Angel (who also hath a body without hands and feet) did carry Habakkuk with his whole dinner, by the hair of his head, into Babylon, and afterwards brought him back again, and set him in his own place: neither considering that the spirit of the Lord, also without a body, snatched up Philip, and carried him to Azotus: that I may forbear to speak concerning a certain incorporeal spirit, which did so disquiet the house of my grandfather, that by the space of almost thirty years he caused it to be uninhabitable, unless it were when a lamp was burning therein; neither did that then sufficiently quiet the same: for going out of the house, they did so molest them with stones from above in the streets, that the would cast out of their hands the hearts of Pine-trees, which they used for torches. Concerning the Ghost that haunted the house of Anthenodorus the Philosopher, and the tumultuous spirit of C. Caligula, there may more be spoken: but thou hast understood the relations of them already in the foregoing discourse. From all which, we may easily convince the opinions of those, who deny that the spirits can walk, or make any motion: but of how much truth we may hold the assertions of them, who do suppose that these tumultuous spirits are neither devils, nor phantasms, but the souls of the dead, now hearken unto.

Poll. Are there they who are of that opinion?

Cast. There are they who are of both opinions: for they do declare that these are the souls of them who have departed from their bodies laden & clogged in their sins; which are therefore heard to be more or less turbulent in houses, according as they have any sensible ardent spark of that sin more or less; so that except in the mean time they are expelled and driven away from thence, or expiated by Alms or intercessions, they are compelled to a certain bound or liberty, wandering thereabouts in expectation of the last Judgment.

Poll. Wherefore?

Cast. Because I believe that the souls of them which sleep in Christ, do live with Christ, & do not wander about the earth; and the souls of them who are oppressed and burthened with the grievous weight of their Sins, since they are the members of Satan, are bound with Satan in the chains of darkness, expecting judgment in hell.

Poll. But Firmianus, a Writer of no mean judgment, thinketh the contrary, in his Book which he hath written de devino premio.

Cast. How is that?

Poll. These are his words: Let not any man conceive that the souls of the dead are judged immediately after death: for they are all detained in one common custody until the time shall come, wherein the Almighty Judge shall make examination and inquisition of their deeds. Then they who shall be found righteous, shall receive the reward of immortality; but they whose sins and wickedness shall then be detected, shall not arise again, but shall be inclosed with the wicked in darkness, and destined to eternal punishments.

Cast. St. Augustine subscribeth to Lactantius in his Enchiridion, saying, that the time which is interposed between the death of mankind and the last resurrection, containeth the souls in secret hidden receptacles, where every soul receiveth condign rest or misery, for the good or evil which he did in the body while he lived.

Poll. Neither doth St. Ambrose disagree from this: in his second book of Cain and Abel, he saith, that the soul is loosed from the body, and after the end of this life, is suspended to the ambiguous time of the last judgment.

.Cast. So also some have declared, that the soul of Trajanus Caesar did wander about; but the soul of St. George was freed from such suffrage.

Poll. Thou hast even now spoke, and that truly, that spacious is the sea of various opinions concerning these spirits; for so indeed it is: but what Port thou toutchest at, I desire thee it may not seem troublesome to thee to tell me: for I am not as yet satisfied of the certainty hereof by our discourse.

Cast. That which thou desirest, I conceive to be this: I hold that these tumultuous spirits are meer images of Satan; which are not to be feared, neither is their any credit to be given to their answers: and are in no wise the souls of the dead, which either live with Christ, if they have done well; or else are bound in chains with Satan if they have done evil.

Poll. It remaineth that we fift out this, Castor: for it happeneth now sometimes, that my Father appeareth to me in my sleep; perhaps that may also seem unto thee to be a Spirit.

Cast. It may seem so: but I will not in any thing contradict thee beyond reason: of myself I will add nothing; but at leastwise I will annihilate thy opinion with the assertions of St. Augustine.

Poll. What assertions are those?

.Cast In his 11 book, which he intitleth De mortuorum cura, he offereth them as a means, saying, Human infirmaty doth so believe of himself, that when he seeth any one that is dead, in his sleep, he supposeth that he seeth the soul of that dead person; but when he dreameth of any one that is alive, he then is out of doubt, that neither his soul nor his body, but the similitude of the man appeared unto him: as if they could be ignorant, that the souls of dead men do not appear unto them in dreams, but only the similitudes of the persons deceased. And he proveth both these to be done, by two examples which were as Mediolanus; whereof the first he sheweth to have been the image of a certain father that was dead, who appeared to his son, admonishing him that he should not pay again a debt to an unjust creditor, which the father had paid him before: for he saith the case was thus: the father had paid a debt to a certain creditor, which after the death of the father, the creditor endeavoured by force to recover the same again of his son, who was ignorant of the payment thereof: to whom the image of his father appeared when he was sleeping, and shewed him where the writing was hid. Whereupon, the son awaking from his sleep, sought for the paper in the place he was directed, and found it, and thereby overthrew the malice of his deceitful creditor. The second example is, whereby the same St. Augustine sheweth that the living do appear to the living, in their sleep: for he saith, that Eurologius the Rhetorician, professing the Rhetorick of Cicero at Carthage, he found a difficult and obscure place that was not declared unto him; so that waking and sleeping he vexed himself by reason of his ignorance; but, in a certain night, the image of Aurelius Augustine appeared to him, and taught him in what manner the dark and difficult place was to be understood.

Poll. Augustine doth therefore conclude, without doubt, that they are not souls.

Cast. He doth so conclude: and the greater to strengthen such his judgment, he addeth, that if the souls of the dead have any interest or council in the affairs of the living, he undoubtedly knew, that his own pious mother did not desert him not for one night, but when she was living, followed him both by sea and land: neither did he at any time sustain any anguish of heart but comforted his sorrows. And that this may not seem too hard a speech, the president of Christ teacheth, that they do not err, who affirm that the good Angels, by the appointment of God, and divine dispensation, do sometimes come to, and visit men, both living and sleeping, and sometimes to the place where souls endure punishment: notwithstanding, it is not unto all, but only unto those who have so lived, that God shall judge them worthy of his mercy: or unto those upon whom, without any respect unto their deserts, God will be pleased to glorify his unspeakable mercy; that by the prayers of the living they may obtain pardon of their sins, and deliverance from the prison of torments.

Poll. I have sometimes read, that the same St. Augustine did write, that it is better for a man to doubt of secret things, than to contend about things uncertain.

Cast. That is certainly true; neither doth he declare himself to be an offence to those who do leave all these things to the unsearchable judgments of God, and labour not to find out the secrets thereof.

Poll. Because I have easily understood thy answers hitherto, I will not desist till thou hast fully resolved me concerning this subject. I desire therefore to know whether all miracles which the devils perform, are done really, or imaginary phant[…]sies.

Cast. That they perform many things really, and many things only seemingly, we have already manifested out of the writings of St. Augustine. For that great prelate of the Christian Church, writeth, in the 11 chapter of his book de Trinitate, that it is a very easy thing for the wicked Spirits, through the airy substance of their bodies, to perform many things which seem wonderful (to the souls that are oppressed with earthly bodies) to be done. He also saith, that earthly bodies may be so qualified with art and exercise, that in public Theatres they may perform such wonderful things, that those who never have seen them will not believe them, but that they were done by the assistance of the devil and his ministers, to make their bodies of such an airy element, that the flesh wonders at. Or else which is much, he saith also, that they do contrive with occult inspirations, forms, and fantasies of images, to delude human sense: wherewith, waking or sleeping, they may be deceived. Thus far Augustine, But, if thou wilt, I will produce also another witness without exception, Pollux.

Poll. I would have thee tell me who that is.

Cast. Abbas Tritemius, in his third Question to St. Maximus Emilianus, which is spoken of before, saith thus: The devils, amongst unfaithful people, do seem to raise up the dead to life, and to shew miracles to curious men, that they might as it were swallow them up with error instead of miracles; and are altogether pertinatious and obstinate: but they cannot truly and realy raise up the dead, but do variously deceive the senses of men, shewing them feigned resemblances of the dead, For it is certainly manifest, that the devils can do all things but only in a false similitude of holy miracles in truth.

Poll. Some say that the devils are obedient to wicked men, because of the similitude of their malice. How seemeth that to thee?

Cast. It seemeth to me, that they are obedient to evil men, but not to all men.

Poll. But to whom?

Cast. To those certainly with whom they have contracted and made compacts & covenants; as those women which they call Pythonists are accounted, who have vowed themselves by promise unto him.

Poll. But although they are compelled to be so serviceable unto them, yet is this service true or feigned?

Cast. It is feigned, certainly: for they are subservient unto men of their own accord, and genuine work, that they may deceive them, and allure them to themselves. Although we do not deny that their service is sometimes true, but only towards those men, whose faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, by the merit of his holiness, hath caused them to be acceptable, and friends unto him, And that Lactantius also testifies, in these words, in his second book De origine Erroris, & 16 Chap. That the devils do fear the just, that is, those that worship God, in whose Name they are conjured […]o depart out of bodies, and with whose words they are beaten with scourges, and they do not only confess that they are devils, but do declare their names: neither can they lye unto the just. And the same Lactantius in his fourth book De vera Sapientia, Chapter 27. saith, It is necessary that they who are of the true Christian Religion, should know the course and order of the devils, and understand their subtily, and restrain their force, and conquer and subdue them with Spiritual weapons, and force them to obey him.

Poll. I am now by thee sufficiently informed of all things which I have hitherto desired to know; wherefore I shall not any further trouble thee with my questions, or rather riddles, but leave thee to thy own occasions.

Cast. Neither have I counted myself idle in answering thee: but let the use thereof yield us each to other an equal recompence. Farewel therefore.

Poll. And thee also.