gument about the nature and substance of divels 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 prophane sects and doctrines of the Sadduces and Peripateticks, who denie that there are any divels or spirits at all; nor the fond and superstitious treatises of Plato, Proclus, Plotinus, Porphyrie ; nor yet the vaine and absurd opinions of Psellus, Nider, Sprenger, Cumanus, Bodin, Michael, Andreas, Janus Matthæus, Laurentius, Ananias, Iamblicus, &c.; who, with manie others, write so ridiculouslie in these matters, as if they were babes fraied with bugges; some affirming that the soules 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 Manicheis mainteine; some, that they are mortall and die, as Plutarch affirmeth of Pan; some, that they have no bodies at all, but receive bodies according to their phantasies and imaginations; some, that their bodies are given unto them; some, that they make themselves. Some saie they are wind; some, that they are the breath of living creatures; some, that one of them began another; some, that they were created of the least part of the masse whereof the earth was made; and some, that they are substances betweene 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 and praiers to God, and returne 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 eternall, yet they are moved with affections; and as there are birds in the aire, fishes in the water, and wormes in the earth, so in the fourth element, which is the fier, is the habitation of spirits and divels."-" Some saie they are onelie imaginations in the mind of man. Tertullian saith they are birds, and flie faster than any fowle in the aire. Some saie that divels are not, but when they are sent; and therefore are called evil angels. Some thinke that the divel sendeth his angels abrode, and he himself maketh his continuall abode in hell, his mansion-place." It was not, however, until a much later period of Christianity, that more decided doctrines relative to the origin and nature of demons were 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 Phoenix, had been of the order of thrones; that Gaap had been of the order of powers; and that Purson had been both of the order of virtues and of thrones, and Murmur, of thrones and of angels. The pretensions of many other noble devils were likewise canvassed, and, in an equally satisfactory manner, determined. Afterwards, it became an object of inquiry 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 man. 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 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-organize them under a decided form of subordination, or government. Hence, extensive districts were given to certain chiefs that fought under this general. There was Zimimar, "the lordly monarch of the north," as Shakspeare styles him, who had his 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 * This king is invoked in the First Part of Shakspeare's Play of Henry the Sixth, after the following manner : "You speedy helpers that are substitutes were Devil Dukes, Devil Marquises, Devil Counts, Devil Earls, Devil Knights, Devil Presidents, and Devil Prelates. The armed force under Lucifer seems to have comprised nearly twenty-four hundred legions, of which each demon of rank commanded a certain number.* Thus, Beleth, whom Scot has described as" a great king and terrible, riding on a pale horse, before whom go trumpets and all melodious music," commanded eighty-five legions; Agares, the first duke under the power of the East, commanded thirty-one legions; Leraie, a great marquis, thirty legions; Morax, a great earl and a president, thirty-six legions; Furcas, a knight, twenty legions; and, after the same manner, the forces of the other devil chieftains were enumerated.† Such were once the notions entertained regarding the history, nature, and ranks of devils. My next object will be to shew, that, with respect to their strange and hideous forms, the apparitions connected with the popular belief on this subject, were derived from the descriptive writings of such demonologists, as either maintained that demons possessed a decided corporeal form, and were mortal, or that, like Milton's spirits, they could assume any sex, and take they chose. any shape When, in the middle ages, conjuration was regularly practised in Europe, devils of rank were supposed to appear under decided forms, by which they * To estimate the force of Lucifer, multiply 6666, the number of devils of which a legion consists, by 2400. + See Scot's Discovery of Witchcraft, book 15. chap. 2; and his discourse of devils and spirits in the same book. |