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Table of contents
INTRODUCTION.
PREFACE.
ADVERTISEMENT.
CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XVI.
CHAPTER XVII.
CHAPTER XVIII.
CHAPTER XIX.
CHAPTER XX.
CHAPTER XXI.
CHAPTER XXII.
CHAPTER XXIII.
CHAPTER XXIV.
CHAPTER XXV.
CHAPTER XXVI.
CHAPTER XXVII.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
CHAPTER XXIX.
CHAPTER XXX.
CHAPTER XXXI.
CHAPTER XXXII.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
CHAPTER XXXV.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
CHAPTER XL.
CHAPTER XLI.
CHAPTER XLII.
CHAPTER XLIII.
CHAPTER XLIV.
CHAPTER XLV.
CHAPTER XLVI.
CHAPTER XLVII.
CHAPTER XLVIII.
CHAPTER XLIX.
CHAPTER L.
CHAPTER LI.
CHAPTER LII.
INTRODUCTION.
Among
the many phases presented by human credulity, few are more
interesting than those which regard the realities of the invisible
world. If the opinions which have been held on this subject were
written and gathered together they would form hundreds of volumes—if
they were arranged and digested they would form a few, but most
important. It is not merely because there is in almost every human
error a substratum of truth, and that the more important the subject
the more important the substratum, but because the investigation will
give almost a history of human aberrations, that this otherwise
unpromising topic assumes so high an interest. The superstitions of
every age, for no age is free from them, will present the popular
modes of thinking in an intelligible and easily accessible form, and
may be taken as a means of gauging (if the expression be permitted)
the philosophical and metaphysical capacities of the period. In this
light, the volumes here presented to the reader will be found of
great value, for they give a picture of the popular mind at a time of
great interest, and furnish a clue to many difficulties in the
ecclesiastical affairs of that era. In the time of Calmet, cases of
demoniacal possession, and instances of returns from the world of
spirits, were reputed to be of no uncommon occurrence. The church was
continually called on to exert her powers of exorcism; and the
instances gathered by Calmet, and related in this work, may be taken
as fair specimens of the rest. It is then, first, as a storehouse of
facts, or reputed facts, that Calmet compiled the work now in the
reader's hands—as the foundation on which to rear what
superstructure of system they pleased; and secondly, as a means of
giving his own opinions, in a detached and desultory way, as the
subjects came under his notice. The value of the first will consist
in their
evidence—and
of this the reader will be as capable of judging as the compiler;
that of the second will depend on their truth—and of this, too, we
are as well, and in some respects better, able to judge than Calmet
himself. Those accustomed to require rigid evidence will be but ill
satisfied with the greater part of that which will be found in this
work; simple assertion for the most part suffices—often first made
long after the facts, or supposed facts, related, and not
unfrequently far off from the places where they were alleged to have
taken place. But these cases are often the
best
authenticated, for in the more modern ones there is frequently such
an evident mistake in the whole nature of the case, that all the
spiritual deductions made from it fall to the ground.Not
a few instances of so-called demoniacal possession are capable of
being resolved into cataleptic trance, a state not unlike that
produced by mesmerism, and in which many of the same phenomena seem
naturally to display themselves; the well-known instance of the young
servant girl, related by Coleridge, who, though ignorant and
uneducated, could during her sleep-walking discourse learnedly in
rabbinical Hebrew, would furnish a case in point. The circumstance of
her old master having been in the habit of walking about the house at
night, reading from rabbinical books aloud and in a declamatory
manner; the impression made by the strange sounds upon her youthful
imagination; their accurate retention by a memory, which, however,
could only reproduce them in an abnormal condition—all teach us
many most interesting psychological facts, which, had this young girl
fallen into other hands, would have been useless in a philosophical
point of view, and would have been only used to establish the
doctrine of diabolical possession and ecclesiastical exorcism. We
should have been told how skilled was the fallen angel in rabbinical
tradition, and how wholesome a terror he entertained of the Jesuits,
the Capuchins, or the
Fratres Minimi,
as the case might be. Not a few of the most remarkable cases of
supposed
modern
possession are to be accounted for by involuntary or natural
mesmerism. Indeed the same view seems to be taken by a popular
minister of the church (Mr. Mac Niel), in our own day, viz., that
mesmerism and diabolical possession are frequently identical. Our
difference with him is that we should consider the cases called by
the two names as all natural, and he would consider them as all
supernatural. And here, to avoid misconception, or rather
misinterpretation, let me at once observe, that I speak thus of
modern
and
recorded
cases only, accepting
literally
all related in the New Testament, and not presuming to say that
similar cases
might
not occur now. Calmet, however, may be supposed to have collected all
the most remarkable of modern times, and I am compelled to say I
believe not one of them. But when we pass from the evidence of truth,
in which they are so wanting, to the evidence of fraud and collusion
by which many are so characterized, we shall have less wonder at the
general spread of infidelity in times somewhat later, on all subjects
not susceptible of ocular demonstration. Where a system claimed to be
received as a whole, or not at all, it is hardly to be wondered at
that when some portion was manifestly wrong, its own requirements
should be complied with, and the whole rejected. The system which
required an implicit belief in such absurdities as those related in
these volumes, and placed them on a level with the most awful
verities of religion, might indeed make some interested use of them
in an age of comparative darkness, but certainly contained within
itself the seeds of destruction, and which could not fail to
germinate as soon as light fell upon them. The state of Calmet's own
mind, as revealed in this book, is curious and interesting. The
belief
of the intellect
in much which he relates is evidently gone, the belief
of the will
but partially remains. There is a painful sense of uncertainty as to
whether certain things
ought
not to be received more fully than he felt himself able to receive
them, and he gladly follows in many cases the example of Herodotus of
old, merely relating stories without comment, save by stating that
they had not fallen under his own observation.The
time, indeed, had hardly come to assert freedom of belief on subjects
such as these. Theology embraced philosophy, and the Holy Inquisition
defended the orthodoxy of both; and if the investigators of Calmet's
day were permitted to hold, with some limitation, the Copernican
theory, it was far otherwise with regard to the world of spirits, and
its connection with our own. The rotundity of the earth affected
neither shrines nor exorcisms; metaphysical truth might do both one
and the other; and the cry of "Great is Diana of the Ephesians,"
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 evident fraud
exhibited by many of the actors in the scenes of exorcism narrated by
Calmet, the vile purposes to which the services of the church were
turned, and the recklessness with which the supposed or pretended
evil, and equally pretended remedy, were used for political intrigue
or state oppression.Independent
of these conclusions, there is something lamentable in a state of the
public mind, which was so little prone to examination as to receive
such a mass of superstition without sifting the wheat, for such there
undoubtedly is, from the chaff. Calmet's work contains enough, had we
the minor circumstances in each case preserved, to set at rest many
philosophic doubts, and to illustrate many physical facts; and to
those who desire to know what was believed by our Christian
forefathers, and why it was believed, the compilation is absolutely
invaluable. Calmet was a man of naturally cool, calm judgment,
possessed of singular learning, and was pious and truthful. A short
sketch of his life will not, perhaps, be unacceptable to the reader.Augustine
Calmet was born in the year 1672, at a village near Commerci, in
Lorraine. He early gave proofs of aptitude for study, and an
opportunity was speedily offered of devoting himself to a life of
learning. In his sixteenth year he became a Benedictine of the
Congregation of St. Vannes, and prosecuted his theological and such
philosophical studies as the time allowed with great success. He was
soon appointed to teach the younger portion of the community, and
gave in this employment such decided satisfaction to his superiors,
that he was soon marked for preferment. His chief study was the
Scriptures; and in the twenty-second year of his age, a period
unusually early, in an age when all benefices and beneficial
employments were matters of sale, he was appointed to be sub-prior of
the monastery of Munster, in Alsace, where he presided over an
academy. This academy consisted of ten or twelve monks, and its
object was the investigation of Scripture. Calmet was not idle in his
new position; besides communicating so much valuable information as
to make his pupils the best biblical scholars of the country, he made
extensive collections for his Commentary on the Old and New
Testaments, and for his still more celebrated work, the History of
the Bible. These materials he subsequently digested and arranged. The
Commentary, a work of immense value, was published in separate
volumes from 1707 to 1716. His labors attracted renewed and increased
attention, and the offer of a bishopric was made to him, which he
unhesitatingly declined.In
1718, he was elected to the abbacy of St. Leopold, in Nancy; and ten
years afterwards, to that of Senones, where he spent the remainder of
his days. His writings are numerous—two have been already
mentioned—and so great was the popularity attained by his
Commentaries, that they have been translated into no fewer than six
languages within ten years. It exhibits a favorable aspect of the
author's mind, and gives a very high idea of his erudition. One cause
which tended greatly to its universal acceptability, was its singular
freedom from sectarian bitterness. Protestants as well as Romanists
may use it with equal satisfaction; and accordingly, it is considered
a work of standard authority in England as much as on the continent.In
addition to these Commentaries, and his History of the Bible, and
Fragments, (the best edition of which latter work in English, is by
Isaac Taylor,) he wrote the "Ecclesiastical and Civil History of
Lorraine;" "A Catalogue of the Writers of Lorraine;"
"Universal History, Sacred and Profane;" a small collection
of Reveries; and a work entitled, "A Literal, Moral, and
Historical Commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict," a work which
is full of curious information on ancient 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 the
most popular; it went rapidly through many editions, and received
from the author's hand continual corrections and additions. To say
that it is characterized by uniform judgment, would be to give it a
praise somewhat different as well as somewhat greater than that which
it merits. It is a vast repertory of legends, more or less probable;
some of which have very little foundation—and some which Calmet
himself would have done well to omit, though
now,
as a picture of the belief entertained in that day, they greatly add
to the value of the book. For the same reasons which have caused the
retention of these passages, no alterations have been made in the
citations from Scripture, which being translations from the Vulgate,
necessarily differ in phraseology from the version in use among
ourselves. The apocryphal books too are quoted, and the story of Bel
and the Dragon referred to as a part of the prophecy of Daniel; but
what is of consequence to observe, is, that
doctrines
are founded on these translations, and on those very points in which
they differ from our own.If
the history of popery, and especially that form and development of it
exhibited in the monastic orders, be ever written, this work will be
of the greatest importance:—it will show the means by which
dominion was obtained over the minds of the ignorant; how the most
sacred mysteries were perverted; and frauds, which can hardly be
termed pious, used to support institutions which can scarcely be
called religious. That the spirits of the dead should be permitted to
return to earth, under circumstances the most grotesque, to support
the doctrines of masses for the dead, purgatory and propitiatory
penance; that demons should be exorcised to give testimony to the
merits of rival orders of monks and friars; that relics, many of them
supposititious, and many of the most disgusting and blasphemous
character, should have power to affect the eternal state of the
departed; and that
all
saints, angels, demons, and the ghosts of the departed, should
support, with great variations indeed, the corrupt dealings of a
corrupt priesthood—form a creed worthy of the darkest and most
unworthy days of heathenism.There
is, however, one excuse, or rather palliation, for the superstition
of that time. In periods of great public depravity—and few epochs
have been more depraved than that in which Calmet lived—Satan has
great power. With a ruler like the regent Duke of Orleans, with a
Church governor like Cardinal Dubois, it would appear that the civil
and ecclesiastical authority of France had sold itself, like Ahab of
old, to work wickedness; or, as the apostle says, "to work all
uncleanness with greediness." In an age so characterized, it
does not seem at all improbable that portentous events should from
time to time occur; that the servants of the devil should be
strengthened together with their master; that many should be given
over to strong delusions and to believe a lie; and that the evil part
of the invisible world should be permitted to ally itself more
closely with the men of an age so congenial. Real cases of demoniacal
possession might, perhaps, be met with, and though scarcely amenable
to 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 up for the sake of filthy lucre, personal ambition, or private
revenge. If the public mind was prepared for a belief in such cases,
there were not wanting men to turn it to profitable account; and the
quiet student who believed the efficacy of the means used, and was
scarcely aware of the wickedness of the age in which he lived, might
easily be induced to credit the tales told him of demons expelled by
the power of a church, to which in the beginning an authority to do
so had undoubtedly been given, and whose awful corruptions were to
him at least greatly veiled.Calmet
was a man of great integrity and considerable acumen, but he passed
an innocent and exemplary life in studious seclusion; he mixed little
with the world at large, resided remote "from courts, and camps,
and strife of war or peace;" and there appears occasionally in
his writings a kind of nervous apprehension lest the dogmas of the
church to which he was pledged should be less capable than he could
wish of satisfactory investigation. When he meets with tales like
those of the vampires or vroucolacas, which concern only what he
considered a heretical church, and with which, therefore, he might
deal according to his own will—apply to them the ordinary rules of
evidence, and treat them as mundane affairs—there he is
clear-sighted, critical and acute, and accordingly he discusses the
matter philosophically and logically, and concludes without fear of
sinning against the church, that the whole is delusion. When, on the
other hand, he has to deal with cases of demoniacal possession, in
countries under the rule of the Roman hierarchy, he contents himself
with the decisions of the scholastic divines and the opinions of the
fathers, and makes frequent references to the decrees of various
provincial parliaments. The effects of such a state of mind upon
scientific and especially metaphysical investigation, may be easily
imagined, and are to be traced more or less distinctly in every page
of the work before us.To
conclude: books like this—the "Disquisitiones Magicæ" of
Delrio, the "Demonomanie" of Bodin, the "Malleus
Maleficarum" of Sprengel, and the like, are at no time to be
regarded merely as subjects of amusement; they have their
philosophical value; they have a still greater historical value; and
they show how far even upright minds may be warped by imperfect
education, and slavish deference to authority.The
edition here followed is that of 1751, which contains the latest
corrections of the author, and several additional pieces, which are
all included in the present volumes.Sion
College, London Wall,
PREFACE.
The
great number of authors who have written upon the apparitions of
angels, demons, and disembodied souls is not unknown to me; and I do
not presume sufficiently on my own capacity to believe that I shall
succeed better in it than they have done, and that I shall enhance
their knowledge and their discoveries. I am perfectly sensible that I
expose myself to criticism, and perhaps to the mockery of many
readers, who regard this matter as done with, and decried in the
minds of philosophers, learned men, and many theologians. I must not
reckon either on the approbation of the people, whose want of
discernment prevents their being competent judges of this same. My
aim is not to foment superstition, nor to feed the vain curiosity of
visionaries, and those who believe without examination everything
that is related to them as soon as they find therein anything
marvelous and supernatural. I write only for reasonable and
unprejudiced minds, which examine things seriously and coolly; I
speak only for those who assent even to known truth but after mature
reflection, who know how to doubt of what is uncertain, to suspend
their judgment on what is doubtful, and to deny what is manifestly
false.As
for pretended freethinkers, who reject everything to distinguish
themselves, and to place themselves above the common herd, I leave
them in their elevated sphere; they will think of this work as they
may consider proper, and as it is not calculated for them, apparently
they will not take the trouble to read it.I
undertook it for my own information, and to form to myself a just
idea 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 was
certain or uncertain, true or false, known or unknown, clear or
obscure.In
this great number of facts which I have collected I have endeavored
to make a choice, and not to heap together too great a multitude of
them, for fear that in the too numerous examples the doubtful might
not harm the certain, and in wishing to prove too much I might prove
absolutely nothing. There will, even amongst those I have cited, be
found some which will not easily be credited by many readers, and I
allow them to regard them as not related.I
beg those readers, nevertheless, to discern justly amongst these
facts and instances; after which they can with me form their
opinion—affirm, deny, or remain in doubt.From
the respect which every man owes to truth, and the veneration which a
Christian and a priest owes to religion, it appeared to me very
important to undeceive people respecting the opinion which they have
of apparitions, if they believe them all to be true; or to instruct
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 light grounds, to remain
wilfully in doubt, or to maintain oneself without any reason in
superstition and illusion; it is already much to know how to doubt
wisely, and not to form a decided opinion beyond what one really
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. My
first and principal object was to discourse of the vampires of
Hungary. In collecting my materials on that subject, I found many
things concerning apparitions; the great number of these embarrassed
this treatise on vampires. I detached some of them, and thus have
composed this treatise on apparitions: there still remains a large
number of them, which I might have separated for the better
arrangement of this treatise. Many persons here have taken the
accessory for the principal, and have paid more attention to the
first part than to the second, which was, however, the first and the
principal in my design. For I own I have always been much struck with
what was related of the vampires or ghosts of Hungary, Moravia, and
Poland; of the vroucolacas of Greece; and of the excommunicated, who
are said not to rot. I thought I ought to bestow on it all the
attention in my power; and I have deemed it right to treat on this
subject in a particular dissertation. After having deeply studied it,
and obtaining as much information as I was able, I found little
solidity and certainty on the subject; which, joined to the opinion
of some prudent and respectable persons whom I consulted, had induced
me to give up my design entirely, and to renounce laboring on a
subject which 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 of
it was absolutely false; showing that what is uttered on this subject
is uncertain, and that one ought to be very reserved in pronouncing
on these vampires, which have made so much noise in the world for a
certain time, and still divide opinions at this day, even in the
countries which are the scene of their pretended return, and where
they appear; or to show that what has been said and written on this
subject is not destitute of probability, and that the subject of the
return of vampires is worthy the attention of the curious and the
learned, and deserves to be seriously studied, to have the facts
related of it examined, and the causes, circumstances, and means
sounded deeply.I
am then about to examine this question as a historian, philosopher,
and theologian. As a historian, I shall endeavor to discover the
truth of the facts; as a philosopher, I shall examine the causes and
circumstances; lastly, the knowledge or light of theology will cause
me to deduce consequences as relating to religion. Thus I do not
write in the hope of convincing freethinkers and pyrrhonians, who
will not allow the existence of ghosts or vampires, nor even of the
apparitions of angels, demons, and spirits; nor to intimidate those
weak and credulous, by relating to them extraordinary stories of
apparitions. I do not reckon either on curing the superstitious of
their errors, nor the people of their prepossessions; not even on
correcting the abuses which arise from this unenlightened belief, nor
of doing away all the doubts which may be formed on apparitions;
still less do I pretend to erect myself as a judge and censor of the
works and sentiments of others, nor to distinguish myself, make
myself a name, or divert myself, by spreading abroad dangerous doubts
upon a subject which concerns religion, and from which they might
make wrong deductions against the certainty of the Scriptures, and
against the unshaken dogmas of our creed. I shall treat it as solidly
and gravely as it merits; and I pray God to give me that knowledge
which is necessary to do it successfully.I
exhort my reader to distinguish between the facts related, and the
manner in which they happened. The fact may be certain, and the way
in which it occurred unknown. Scripture relates certain apparitions
of angels and disembodied souls; these instances are indubitable and
found in the revelations of the holy books; but the manner in which
God operated the resurrections, or in which he permitted these
apparitions to take place, is hidden among his secrets. It is
allowable for us to examine them, to seek out the circumstances, and
propound 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
thought proper to reveal to us. I say as much in proportion,
concerning the stories related by sensible, contemporary, and
judicious authors, who simply relate the facts without entering into
the examination of the circumstances, of which, perhaps, they
themselves were not well informed.It
has already been objected to me, that I cited poets and authors of
little credit, in support of a thing so grave and so disputed as the
apparition of spirits: such authorities, they say, are more
calculated to cast a doubt on apparitions, than to establish the
truth of them.But
I cite those authors as witnesses of the opinions of nations; and I
count it not a small thing in the extreme license of opinions, which
at this day predominates in the world, amongst those even who make a
profession of Christianity, to be able to show that the ancient
Greeks and Romans thought that souls were immortal, that they
subsisted after the death of the body, and that there was another
life, in which they received the reward of their good actions, or the
chastisement of their crimes.Those
sentiments which we read in the poets, are also repeated in the
fathers of the church, and the pagan and Christian historians; but as
they did not pretend to think them weighty, nor to approve them in
repeating them, it must not be imputed to me either, that I have any
intention of authorizing. For instance, what I have related of the
manes, or lares; of the evocation of souls after the death of the
body; of the avidity of these souls to suck the blood of the
immolated animals, of the shape of the soul separated from the body,
of the inquietude of souls which have no rest until their bodies are
under ground; of those superstitious statues of wax which are devoted
and consecrated under the name of certain persons whom the magicians
pretended to kill by burning and stabbing their effigies of wax; of
the transportation of wizards and witches through the air, and of
their assemblies of the Sabbath; all those things are related both in
the works of the philosophers and pagan historians, as well as in the
poets.I
know the value of one and the other, and I esteem them as they
deserve; but I think that in treating this matter, it is important to
make known to our readers the ancient superstitions, the vulgar or
common opinions, and the prejudices of nations, to be able to refute
them, and bring back the figures to truths, by freeing them from what
poesy had added for the embellishment of the poem, and the amusement
of the reader.Moreover,
I generally repeat this kind of thing, only when it is apropos of
certain facts avowed by historians, and by other grave and rational
authors; and sometimes rather as an ornament of the discourse, or to
enliven the matter, than to derive thence certain proofs and
consequences necessary for the dogma, or to certify the facts 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, and
some others, do not merit more consideration; therefore I quote them
only to refute them, or to show how far idle and ridiculous credulity
has been carried on these matters, which were laughed at by the most
sensible among the heathens themselves.The
consequences which I deduce from all these stories, and these
poetical fictions, and the manner in which I speak of them in the
course of this dissertation, sufficiently vouch that esteem, and give
as true and certain only what is so in fact; and that I do not wish
to impose on my reader, by relating many things which I myself regard
as false, or as doubtful, or even as fabulous. But that ought to be
prejudicial to the dogma of the immortality of the soul, and to that
of another life, not to the truth of certain apparitions related in
Scripture, or proved elsewhere by good testimony.The
first edition of this work having been printed in my absence, and
upon an incorrect copy, several misprints have occurred, and even
expressions and phrases displeasing and interrupted. I have tried to
remedy this in a second edition, and to cast light on those passages
which they noticed as demanding explanation, and correcting what
might offend scrupulous readers, and prevent the bad consequences
which might be derived from what I had said. I have even done more in
this third edition. I have retrenched several passages; others I have
suppressed; I have profited by the advice which has been given me;
and I have replied to the objections which have been made.People
have complained that I took no part, and did not come to a decision
on several difficulties which I propose, and that I leave my reader
in uncertainty.I
make but little defence against this reproach; I should require more
justification if I decided without a perfect knowledge of causes, for
one side of the question, at the risk of embracing an error, and of
falling into a still greater impropriety. There is wisdom in
suspending one's judgment till we have succeeded in finding the very
truth.I
have also been told, that certain persons have made a joke of some
facts which I have related. If I have related them as certain, and
they afford just cause for pleasantry, let the condemnation pass; but
if I cited them as fabulous and false, they present no subject for
pleasantry;
Falsum non est de ratione faceti.There
are certain persons who delight in jesting on the most serious
things, and who spare nothing, either sacred or profane. The
histories of the Old and New Testament, the most sacred ceremonies of
our religion, the lives of the most respectable saints, are not safe
from their dull, tasteless pleasantry.I
have been reproached for having related several false histories,
several doubtful facts, and several fabulous events. This is true;
but I give them for what they are. I have declared several times,
that I did not vouch for their truth, that I repeated them to show
how false and ridiculous they were, and to deprive them of the credit
they might have with the people; and if I had gone at length into
their refutation, I thought it right to let my reader have the
pleasure of refuting them, supposing him to possess enough good sense
and self-sufficiency, to form his own judgment upon them, and feel
the same contempt for such stories that I do myself. It is doing too
much honor 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 to doubt of
the truth of the apparitions related in Scripture, as well as of 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 the
same; without that there can be no application of principles. The
facts to which my reasoning applies are related by authors of small
authority, by ordinary or common-place historians, bearing no
character which deserves a belief of anything superhuman. I can,
without attacking their person or their merit, advance that they may
have been badly informed, prepossessed, and mistaken; that the spirit
of seduction may have been of the party; that the senses, the
imagination, 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, they
borrow their infallible authority from the sacred and inspired
authors who wrote them; they are verified by the events which
followed them, by the execution or fulfilment of predictions made
many ages preceding; and which could neither be done, nor foreseen,
nor performed, either by the human mind, or by the strength of man,
not even by the angel of darkness.I
am but little concerned at the opinion passed on myself and my
intentions in the publication of this treatise. Some have thought
that I did it to destroy the popular and common idea of apparitions,
and to make it appear ridiculous; and I acknowledge that those who
read this work attentively and without prejudice, will remark in it
more arguments for doubting what the people believe on this point,
than they will find to favor the contrary opinion. If I have treated
this subject seriously, it is only in what regards those facts in
which religion and the truth of Scripture is interested; those which
are indifferent I have left to the censure of sensible people, and
the criticism of the learned and of philosophical minds.I
declare that I consider as true all the apparitions related in the
sacred books of the Old and New Testament; without pretending,
however, that it is not allowable to explain them, and reduce them to
a natural and likely sense, by retrenching what is too marvelous
about them, which might rebut enlightened persons. I think on that
point I may apply the principle of St. Paul;[1]
"the letter killeth, and the Spirit 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 exhort
my readers to do the same; but I blame and disapprove the outrageous
criticism of those who deny everything, and make difficulties of
everything, in order to distinguish themselves by their pretended
strength of mind, and to authorize themselves to deny everything, and
to dispute the most certain facts, and in general all that savors of
the 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:
quod bonum 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 souls
separated from the body. The reality of these apparitions is
considered as certain by many persons, while others deride them and
treat them as altogether visionary.I
have determined to examine this matter, just to see what certitude
there can be on this point; and I shall divide this Dissertation into
four 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 of souls of the dead; and in the fourth, of the
appearance of living men to others living, absent, distant, and this
unknown to those who appear. I shall occasionally add something on
magic, wizards, and witches; on the Sabbath, oracles, and obsession
and possession by demons.
CHAPTER I.
THE
APPEARANCE OF GOOD ANGELS PROVED BY THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.The
apparitions or appearances of good angels are frequently mentioned in
the books of the Old Testament. He who was stationed at the entrance
of the terrestrial Paradise[3]
was a cherub, armed with a flaming sword; those who appeared to
Abraham, and who promised that he should have a son;[4]
those who appeared to Lot, and predicted to him the ruin of Sodom,
and other guilty cities;[5]
he who spoke to Hagar in the desert,[6]
and commanded her to return to the dwelling of Abraham, and to remain
submissive to Sarah, her mistress; those who appeared to Jacob, on
his journey into Mesopotamia, ascending and descending the mysterious
ladder;[7]
he who taught him how to cause his sheep to bring forth young
differently marked;[8]
he who wrestled with Jacob on his return from Mesopotamia,[9]—were
angels of light, and benevolent ones; the same as he who spoke with
Moses from the burning bush on Horeb,[10]
and who gave him the tables of the law on Mount Sinai. That Angel who
takes generally the name of God, and acts in his name, and with his
authority;[11]
who served as a guide to the Hebrews in the desert, hidden during the
day in a dark cloud, and shining during the night; he who spoke to
Balaam, and threatened to kill his she-ass;[12]
he, lastly, who contended with Satan for the body of Moses;[13]—all
these angels were without doubt good angels.We
must think the same of him who presented himself armed to Joshua on
the plain of Jericho,[14]
and who declared himself head of the army of the 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 he should deliver Israel from the power of
the Midianites.[16]
The angel Gabriel, who appeared to Daniel, at Babylon;[17]
and Raphael who conducted the young Tobias to Rages, in Media.[18]The
prophecy of the Prophet Zechariah is full of visions of angels.[19]
In the books of the Old Testament the throne of the Lord is described
as resting on cherubim; and the God of Israel is represented as
having before his throne[20]
seven principal angels, always ready to execute his orders, and four
cherubim singing his praises, and adoring his sovereign holiness; the
whole making a sort of allusion to what they saw in the court of the
ancient Persian kings,[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 NEW TESTAMENT.
The
books of the New Testament are in the same manner full of facts which
prove the apparition of good angels. The angel Gabriel appeared to
Zachariah the father of John the Baptist, and predicted to him the
future birth of the Forerunner.[22]
The Jews, who saw Zachariah come out of the temple, after having
remained within it a longer time than usual, having remarked that he
was struck dumb, had no doubt but that he had seen some apparition of
an angel. The same Gabriel announced to Mary the future birth of the
Messiah.[23]
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the angel of the Lord appeared to
the shepherds in the night,[24]
and declared to them that the Saviour of the world was born at
Bethlehem. There is every reason to believe that the star which
appeared to the Magi in the East, and which led them straight to
Jerusalem, and thence to Bethlehem, was directed by a good angel.[25]
St. Joseph was warned by a celestial spirit to retire into Egypt,
with the mother and the infant Christ, for fear that Jesus should
fall into the hands of Herod, and be involved in the massacre of the
Innocents. The same angel informed Joseph of the death of King Herod,
and told him to return to the land of Israel.
After
the temptation of Jesus Christ in the wilderness, angels came and
brought him food.[26]
The demon tempter said to Jesus Christ that God had commanded his
angels to lead him, and to prevent him from stumbling against a
stone; which is taken from the 92d Psalm, and proves the belief of
the Jews on the article of guardian angels. The Saviour confirms the
same truth when he says that the angels of children constantly behold
the face of the celestial Father.[27]
At the last judgment, the good angels will separate the just,[28]
and lead them to the kingdom of heaven, while they will precipitate
the wicked into eternal fire.
At
the agony of Jesus Christ in the garden of Olives, an angel descended
from heaven to console him.[29]
After his resurrection, angels appeared to the holy women who had
come to his tomb to embalm him.[30]
In the Acts of the Apostles, they appeared to the apostles as soon as
Jesus had ascended into heaven; and the angel of the Lord came and
opened the doors of the prison where the apostles were confined, and
set them at liberty.[31]
In the same book, St. Stephen tells us that the law was given to
Moses by the ministration of angels;[32]
consequently, those were angels who appeared on Sinai and Horeb, and
who spoke to him in the name of God, as his ambassadors, and as
invested with his authority; also, the same Moses, speaking of the
angel 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 length of a street, and disappeared. St. Peter,
knocking at the door of the house in which his brethren were, they
could not believe that it was he; they thought that it was his angel
who knocked and spoke. St. Paul, instructed in the school of the
Pharisees, thought as they did on the subject of angels; he believed
in their existence, in opposition to the Sadducees,[35]
and supposed that they could appear. When this apostle, having been
arrested by the Romans, related to the people how he had been
overthrown at Damascus, the Pharisees, who were present, 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 a
Macedonian (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 presided over
the churches in Asia. I know that these seven angels are the bishops
of these churches, but the ecclesiastical tradition will have it that
every church has its tutelary angel. In the same book, the
Apocalypse, are related divers appearances of angels. All Christian
antiquity has recognized them; the synagogue also has recognized
them; so that it may be affirmed that nothing is more certain than
the existence of good angels and their apparitions.
I
place in the number of apparitions, not only those of good or bad
angels, and the spirits of the dead who show themselves to the
living, but also those of the living who show themselves to the
angels or souls of the dead; whether these apparitions are seen in
dreams, or during sleep, or awaking; whether they manifest themselves
to all those who are present, or only to the persons to whom God
judges proper to manifest them. For instance, in the Apocalypse,[36]
St. John saw the four animals, and the four-and-twenty elders, who
were clothed in white garments and wore crowns of gold upon their
heads, and were seated on thrones around that of the Almighty, who
prostrated themselves before the throne of the Eternal, and cast
their crowns at his feet.
And,
elsewhere: "I saw four angels standing at the four corners of
the world,[37]
who held back the four winds and prevented them from blowing on the
earth; then I saw another angel, who rose on the side of the east,
and who cried out to the four angels who had orders to hurt 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 of God. And I
heard that the number of those who received this sign (or mark) was a
hundred and forty-four thousand. Afterwards I saw an innumerable
multitude of all nations, tribes, people, and languages, standing
before the throne of the Most High, arrayed in white garments, and
having palms in their hands."
And
in the same book[38]
St. John says, after having described the majesty of the throne of
God, and the adoration paid to him by the angels and saints prostrate
before him, one of the elders said to him,—"Those whom you see
covered with white robes, are those who have suffered great trials
and afflictions, and have washed their robes in the blood of the
Lamb; for which reason they stand before the throne of God, and will
do so night and day in his temple; and He who is seated on the throne
will reign over them, and the angel which is in the midst of the
throne will conduct them to the fountains of living water." And,
again,[39]
"I saw under the altar of God the souls of those who have been
put to death for defending the Word of God, and for the testimony
which they have rendered; they cried with a loud voice, saying, When,
O Lord, wilt thou not avenge our blood upon those who are on the
earth?" &c.
All
these apparitions, and several others similar to them, which might be
related as being derived from the holy books as well as from
authentic histories, are true apparitions, although neither the
angels nor the martyrs spoken of in the Apocalypse came and presented
themselves to St. John; but, on the contrary, this apostle was
transported in spirit to heaven, to see there what we have just
related. These are apparitions which may be called passive on the
part of the angels and holy martyrs, and active on the part of the
holy apostle 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 Old
Testament and the New, is the human form. It was in that shape they
showed themselves to Abraham, Lot, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Manoah the
father of Samson, to David, Tobit, the Prophets; and in the New
Testament they appeared in the same form to the Holy Virgin, to
Zachariah the father of John the Baptist, to Jesus Christ after his
fast of forty days, and to him again in his agony in the Garden of
Olives. They showed themselves in the same form to the holy women
after the resurrection of the Saviour. The one who appeared to
Joshua[40]
on the plain of Jericho appeared apparently in the guise of a
warrior, since Joshua asks him, "Art thou for us, or for our
adversaries?"
Sometimes
they hide themselves under some form which has resemblance to the
human shape, like him who appeared to Moses in the burning bush,[41]
and who led the Israelites in the desert in the form of a cloud,
dense and dark during the day, but luminous at night.[42]
The Psalmist tells us that God makes his angels serve as a piercing
wind and a burning fire, to execute his orders.[43]
The
cherubim, so often spoken of in the Scriptures, and who are described
as serving for a throne to the majesty of God, were hieroglyphical
figures, something like the sphinx of the Egyptians; those which are
described in Ezekiel[44]
are like animals composed of the 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 an eagle, two of their wings were spread
towards their fellows, and two others covered their body; they were
brilliant as burning coals, as lighted lamps, as the fiery heavens
when they send forth the lightning's flash—they were terrible to
look upon.
The
one who appeared to Daniel[45]
was different from those we have just described; he was in the shape
of a man, covered with a linen garment, and round his loins a girdle
of very fine gold; his body was shining as a chrysolite, his face as
a flash of lightning; his eyes darted fire like a lamp; his arms and
all the lower part of his body was like brass melted in the furnace;
his voice was loud as that of a multitude of people.
St.
John, in the Apocalypse,[46]
saw around the throne of the Most High four animals, which doubtless
were four angels; they were covered with eyes before and behind. The
first resembled a lion, the second an ox, the third had the form of a
man, and the fourth was like an eagle with outspread wings; each of
them had six wings, and they never ceased to cry night and day,
"Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to
come."
The
angel who was placed at the entrance of the terrestrial paradise was
armed with a shining sword,[47]
as well as the one who appeared to Balaam,[48]
and who threatened, or was near killing both himself and his ass; and
so, apparently, was the one who showed himself to Joshua in the plain
of Jericho,[49]
and the angel who appeared to David, ready to smite all Israel. The
angel Raphael guided the young Tobias to Ragès under the human form
of a traveler.[50]
The angel who was seen by the holy woman at the sepulchre of the
Saviour, who overthrew the large stone which closed the mouth of the
tomb, and who was seated upon it, had a countenance which shone like
lightning, and garments white as snow.[51]
In
the Acts of the Apostles,[52]
the angel who extricated them from prison, and told them to go boldly
and preach Jesus Christ in the temple, also appeared to them in a
human form. The manner in which he delivered them from the dungeon is
quite miraculous; for the chief priests having commanded that they
should appear before them, those who were sent found the prison
securely closed, the guards wide awake; but having caused the doors
to be opened, they found the dungeon empty. How could an angel
without opening, or any fracture of the doors, thus extricate men
from prison without either the guards or the jailer perceiving
anything of the matter? The thing is beyond any known powers of
nature; but it is no more impossible than to see our Saviour, after
his resurrection, invested with flesh and bones, as he himself says,
come forth from his sepulchre, without opening it, and without
breaking the seals,[53]
enter the chamber wherein were the apostles without opening the
doors,[54]
and speak to the disciples going to Emmaus without making himself
known to them; then, after having opened their eyes, disappear and
become invisible.[55]
During the forty days that he remained upon earth till his ascension,
he drank and ate with them, he spoke to them, he appeared to them;
but he showed himself only to those witnesses who were pre-ordained
by the eternal Father to bear testimony to his resurrection.
The
angel who appeared to the centurion Cornelius, a pagan, but fearing
God, answered his questions, and discovered to him unknown things,
which things came to pass.
Sometimes
the angels, without assuming any visible shape, give proofs of their
presence by intelligible voices, by inspirations, by sensible
effects, by dreams, or by revelations of things unknown, whether
future or past. Sometimes by striking with blindness, or infusing a
spirit of uncertainty or stupidity in the minds of those whom God
wills should feel the effects of his wrath; for instance, it is said
in the Scriptures that the Israelites heard no distinct speech, and
beheld no form on Horeb when God spoke to Moses and gave him the
Law.[56]
The
angel who might have killed Balaam's ass was not at first perceived
by the prophet;[57]
Daniel was the only one who beheld the angel Gabriel, who revealed to
him the mystery of the great empires which were to succeed each
other.[58]
When
the Lord spoke for the first time to Samuel, and predicted to him the
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
he at first mistook for that of the high-priest Eli, not being yet
accustomed to distinguish the voice of God from that of a man.
The
angels who guided Lot and his family from Sodom and Gomorrah were at
first perceived under a human form by the inhabitants of the city;
but afterwards these same angels struck the men with blindness, and
thus prevented them from finding the door of Lot's house, into which
they would have entered by force.
