{"collection":"Paganism & Neopaganism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/pag/mm/mm02b08a.htm","path":"pag/mm/mm02b08a.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/pag/mm/mm02b08a.htm","text":"Certain Remedies prescribed against those Dark and Horrid Harms with which Devils may Afflict Men.\nYet again we reserve our judgement in discussing the remedies against\ncertain injuries to the fruits of the earth, which are caused by\ncanker-worms, or by huge flights of locusts and other insects which cover\nvast areas of land, and seem to hide the surface of the ground, eating up\neverything to the very roots in the vineyards and devouring fields of ripe\ncrops. In the same light too we consider the remedies against the stealing\nof children by the work of devils.\nBut with regard to the former kind of injury we may quote S. Thomas, the\nSecond of the Second, Question 90, where he asks whether it is\nlawful to adjure an irrational creature. He answers that it is; but only in\nthe way of compulsion, by which it is sent back to the devil, who uses\nirrational creatures to harm us. And such is the method of adjuration in the\nexorcisms of the Church by which the power of the devil is kept away from\nirrational creatures. But if the adjuration is addressed to the irrational\ncreature itself, which understands nothing, then it would be nugatory and\nvain. From this it can be understood that they can be driven off by lawful\nexorcisms and adjurations, the help of the Divine mercy being granted; but\nfirst the people should be bidden to fast and to go in procession and\npractice other devotions. For this sort of evil is sent on account of\nadulteries and the multiplication of crimes; wherefore men must be urged to\nconfess their sins.\nIn some provinces even solemn excommunications are pronounced; but then\nthey obtain power of adjuration over devils.\nAnother terrible thing which God permits to happen to men is when their\nown children are taken away from women, and strange children are put in\ntheir place by devils. And these children, which are commonly called\nchangelings, or in the German tongue Wechselkinder, are of three\nkinds. For some are always ailing and crying, and yet the milk of four\nwomen is not enough to satisfy them. Some are generated by the operation of\nIncubus devils, of whom, however, they are not the sons, but of that man\nfrom whom the devil has received the semen as a Succubus, or whose semen he\nhas collected from some nocturnal pollution in sleep. For these children\nare sometimes, by Divine permission, substituted for the real children.\nAnd there is a third kind, when the devils at times appear in the form of\nyoung children and attach themselves to the nurses. But all three kinds\nhave this in common, that though they are very heavy, they are always\nailing and do not grow, and cannot receive enough milk to satisfy them, and\nare often reported to have vanished away.\nAnd it can be said that the Divine pity permits such things for two\nreasons. First, when the parents dote upon their children too much, and\nthis a punishment for their own good. Secondly, it is to be presumed that\nthe women to whom such things happen are very superstitious, and are in\nmany other ways seduced by devils. But God is truly jealous in the right\nsense of the word, which means a strong love for a man's own wife, which\nnot only does not allow another man to approach her, but like a jealous\nhusband will not suffer the hint or suspicion of adultery. In the same way\nis God jealous of the soul which He bought with His Precious Blood and\nespoused in the Faith; and cannot suffer it to be touched by, to converse\nwith, or in any way to approach or have dealings with the devil, the enemy\nand adversary of salvation. And if a jealous husband cannot suffer even a\nhint of adultery, how much more will he be disturbed when adultery is\nactually committed! Therefore it is no wonder if their own children are\ntaken away and adulterous children substituted.\nAnd indeed that it may be more strongly impressed how God is jealous of\nthe soul, and will not suffer anything which might cause a suspicion, it is\nshown in the Old Law where, that He might drive His people farther from\nidolatry, He not only forbade idolatry, but also many other things which\nmight give occasion to idolatry, and seemed to have no use in themselves,\nalthough in some marvellous way they retain some use in a mystical sense.\nFor He not only says in Exodus xxii: Thou shalt not suffer a witch\nto live on this earth; but He adds this: She shall not dwell in thy land,\nlest perchance she cause thee to sin. Similarly common bawds and bulkers\nare put to death, and not allowed to company with men.\nNote the jealousy of God, Who says as follows in Deuteronomy xxii:\nIf thou find a bird's nest, and the dam sitting upon the eggs or upon the\nyoung ones, thou shalt not take the dam with the young, but thou shalt let\nthe dam fly away; because the Gentiles used these to procure sterility. The\njealous God would not suffer in His people this sign of adultery. In like\nmanner in our days when old women find a penny, they think it a sign of\ngreat fortune; and conversely, when they dream of money it is an unlucky\nsign. Also God taught that all vessels should be covered, and that when a\nvessel had no cover it should be considered unclean.\nThere was an erroneous belief that when devils came in the night (or the\nGood People as old women call them, though they are witches, or devils in\ntheir forms) they must eat up everything, that afterwards they may bring\ngreater abundance of stores. Some people give colour to the story, and call\nthem Screech Owls; but this is against the opinion of the Doctors, who say\nthat there are no rational creatures except men and Angels; therefore they\ncan only be devils.\nAgain, in Leviticus xix: Ye shall not round the corners of your\nheads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard; because they did\nthis idolatrously in veneration of idols.\nAgain in Deuteronomy xxii: God says that men shall not put on the\ngarments of women, or conversely; because they did this in honour of the\ngoddess Venus, and others in honour of Mars or Priapus.\nAnd for the same reason He commanded the altars of idols to be destroyed;\nand Hezechias destroyed the Brazen Serpent when the people wanted to\nsacrifice to it, saying: It is brass. For the same reason He forbade the\nobservance of visions and auguries, and commanded that the man or woman in\nwhom there was a familiar spirit should be put to death. Such are now\ncalled soothsayers. All these things, because they give rise to suspicion\nof spiritual adultery, therefore, as has been said, from the jealousy which\nGod has for the souls He has espoused, as a husband espouses a wife, they\nwere all forbidden by Him.\nAnd so we preachers also ought to bear in mind that no sacrifice is more\nacceptable to God than a jealousy of souls, as S. Jerome says in his\ncommentaries upon Ezekiel.\nTherefore in the Third Part of this work we shall treat the extermination\nof witches, which is the ultimate remedy. For this is the last recourse of\nthe Church, to which she is bound by Divine commandment. For it has been\nsaid: Ye shall not suffer witches to live upon the earth. And with this\nwill be included the remedies against archer-wizards; since this kind can\nonly be exterminated by secular law.\nA remedy. When certain persons for the sake of temporal gain have devoted\nthemselves entirely to the devil, it has often been found that, though they\nmay be freed from the devil's power by true confession, yet they have been\nlong and grievously tormented, especially in the night. And God allows this\nfor their punishment. But a sign that they have been delivered is that,\nafter confession, all the money in their purses or coffers vanishes. Many\nexamples of this could be adduced, but for the sake of brevity they are\npassed over and omitted.","title":"Malleus Maleficarum Part 2 Chapter VIII","type":"page"}