n 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 Magicae" 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,
_April, 1850._

CONTENTS.
PAGE

PREFACE xv

CHAPTER

I. The Appearance of Good Angels proved by the Books of the
Old Testament 37

II. The Appearance of Good Angels proved by the Books of the
New Testament 38

III. Under what form have Good Ang