DEMONOLATRY
NICOLAS REMY
1595
BOOK I
CHAPTER I
The Inducements by which Men may first
be led astray by Demons, and so falling
become Dealers in Magic.
EXPERIENCE itself, to our
own great loss and bane, affords
us sad proof that Satan seizes
as many opportunities of deceiving and destroying mankind as
there are different moods and affections
natural to the human character. For
such as are given over to their lusts
and to love he wins by offering them
the hope of gaining their desires: or if
they are bowed under the load of
daily poverty, he allures them by
some large and ample promise of
riches: or he tempts them by showing
them the means of avenging themselves when they have been angered
by some injury or hurt received: in
short, by whatever other corruption
or luxury they have been depraved,
he draws them into his power and
holds them as it were bound to him.
But it is not our purpose to discuss
here what are those blind passions
and desires by which men may be led
into sin; for it would be a waste of
time and an abuse of learning to involve ourselves in the much-worn controversy between Prometheus and
Epimetheus, reason and appetite.
That we pass by, and say that Satan
assails mankind not only through
their secret and domestic affections
and (if I may so express it) by burrowing into their very hearts, but also
openly and in declared warfare, as it
is called. For he openly addresses
them by word of mouth, and appears
in visible person to converse with
them, as he did when he contended
with the Saviour in the wilderness
(S. Matthew iv). But this he does the
more easily when he finds a man
weakened by the hardships and cares
of life; for then he suggests to the
man that he is grieved at his misfortunes and is willing to come to
help him. But not even so can he aid
and assist any man unless that man
has broken his baptismal pledge and agreed to transfer his allegiance to
him and acknowledge him as his
Master. But if he cannot gain his
object in this way by mere persuasion,
then Satan employs those allurements
and temptations which I have already
mentioned: he fabricates some fair
and delectable body and offers it for
a man’s enjoyment: or he can do
much by means of a false display of
riches: or by providing drugs to
poison those upon whom a man
wishes to be avenged, or to heal those
to whom a man owes a debt of gratitude: often, indeed, the Demons
forcibly drive and compel men into
compliance by fierce threats and revilings, or by the fear of the lash or
peace For men may just as easily be led by violence to practise sorcery as
by coaxing and blandishment, though
I shall not here adduce examples to
substantiate this statement, since this
matter will be considered more fully
in its due place: for the present I am
content to say that I have found it to be
the rarer case for a sorcerer to be driven
by force into his abominable practices.
The truth is that, when Satan cannot move a man by fair words, he
compels him by fear and threats of
danger. When Claude Moréle, who
was convicted of witchcraft at Serre
(5th Dec., 1586), was asked what was
the chief inducement that had first
led him to give himself to the Demon,
he answered that he had withstood
the temptation of all the Demon’s
fair words, and had only yielded
when Satan had threatened to kill his
wife and children. At Guermingen, 19th Dec., 1589, Antoine Welch no
longer dared to oppose the Demon in
anything after he had threatened to
twist his neck unless he obeyed his
commands, for he seemed on the very point of fulfilling his threat. At Harécourt, 10th Nov., 1586, when he
could by no promises persuade Alexée
Driget to dedicate herself to him, thé
Demon at last threatened to destroy
the house in which she lived: and this
misfortune indeed befell her not long
afterwards; but it will be more convenient to discuss elsewhere whether
he was the actual cause of it, or
whether he merely foresaw that it
would happen. Certainly there are
many examples in the pagan histories
of houses being cast down, the destruction of the crops, chasms in the earth,
fiery blasts and other such disastrous
tempests stirred up by Demons for the
destruction of men bor no other purpose than to bind their minds to the
observance of some new cult and to
establish their mastery more and more
firmly over them.
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