Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/147

* DEMONIAC. 117 DEMONOLOGY. Since obstinate clinging to wrong beliefs could only be accounted for by demoniac inlluence, heretics were also regarded as bewitched. In its battle with the demons, the C'hurcli never struck a heavier blow than when Innocent Vlll. (q.v.), on December 5, liS4, sent out hi> bull Ad futu- rain rci iiieworiam. The methods of carrying out its reconunendations were set forth, with brutal frankness, in the MalUus Malcficaruiit, written by his chief inquisitor, .Jacob Spreuger. It has been estimated that a vast number of lives were destroyed as a result of these methods of deal- ing with demoniacal possession. As Luther and other leading reformers continued to cherisli llie belief, it maintained its hold upon the Protestant churches, and was responsible for much persecu- tion, until, undermined by the attacks of deists and rationalists, it gradually disappeared before the progress of modern science. Consult: Sem- ier, be Deinoniacis (Halle, 1760) ; Stiibe, t/Hrfi.5c/i- habylonische Zaubertcxic (Halle, 1895) ; Xevins, Demon Possession (Chicago, 1895) ; ilaspero, Daicn of Civilization (Kng. trans. Xew York. 1894) ; Alexander. Denionaic Possession in the Xeic Testament (Edinburgh. I90U : Townsend. i<utan atid Demons (Cincinnati, 1902). DEMONOLOGY. The branch of comparative religion wliioh loncerns itself with beliefs re- garding evil spirits or demons. The worsliip of demons is one of the most widespread of all religious phenomena. ' It may even be considered one of the chief sources of primitive religion. Beside the beneficent godlings or ghosts there exists a far greater number of maleficent beings who are either divinities or supematuralized spirits. While the beneficent deities may. and often do. receive expressions of gratitude for past bounties and prayers for continued blessings in the future from their worshipers, it is the demon or maleficent godling or ghost who re- ceives the greater amount of human tribute. The reason for this religious attitude in primitive society is not far to seek. The beneficent deity is. in the eyes of early man. an easy-going being who dispenses blessings as a matter of course, and lie may therefore be trusted to con- tinue on in his routine goodness. An occasional sacrifice as a token of giatitude or as an in- ducement to confer greater boons, or to recom- mence an interrupted course of beneficence, is quite sufficient for him. His blessings may even be overlooked in view of their quiet and orderly action, or be forgotten altogether on account of the nunilier of painful events which befall man. With the demon things are altogether different. His power, which he constantly exerts for harm- ful ends, must be met with continued propitia- tion, in the shape of prayer or sacrifice. Further- more, the malignancy of the demon cannot be overlooked, and is far more prominent to the primitive mind than beneficence, which, as al- ready sUL'^'Csted. frequently passes unnoticed. The worship of demons is in general directly pro- portionate to the lowness of cult. As religion develops in any conununity or tribe, the demon's s<rope of malignancy is circumscribed accordingly, while the degree of worship paid to beneficent ghosts and godlings constantly increases. Demons comprise several classes and occur in a vast variety of forms. The two main divisions are. as in the case of beneficent divinities, either superhuman, being personifications of the powers of Xature, or what may be termed posthuman. being ghosts of dead ancestors, especially of the chiefs, or of men wlio had been otherwise con- spicuous in the conununily during life. These two classes of superhuman and posthuman god- lings and demons fretiuently overlap, and the dividing line between them nuist be regarded as a shifting boundary. Here in many cases .syn- cretism, or the blending of divinities originally distinct into one, may be the source of confusion. In such a divinity as the Oreek Apollo, for in- stance, might be syncretized a beneficent godling of liglit, a gliost of some early member of a tribe conspicuous for musical ability, and the malef- icent godling of light, who causes death and damage as in sunstroke. It is, in consequence, sometimes hard to tell to which division a given godling or demon belongs. Sueh an uncertainty is not in itself a proof of error of method. It is probably incorrect to. assume an excessively nice discrimination in this regard among primitive mankind, although there is a marked tendency to elevate posthunuin into superhuman divinities either beneficent or maleficent, while the change of nature deities into ghosts is practically un- known. On the other band, the attempt to re- duce all godlings and demons to the single cate- gory either of nature deities or of ghosts seems an unscientific one in its fundamental principle. There may even be other factors in the origin of belief in divinities, and it is an error to assume tliat the primitive is necessarily simple. Further- more, the functions of the beneficent and 'ma- leficent deities, like the classification of super- human and posthuman, are frequently fused. Tlius the fire-godling may be beneficent, as in the hearth-fire, or maleficent, a.j in the conflagration of a village. Again, a malignant deity may. by proper sacrifices and ritual, become benignant to an individual or tribe, as in an invocation to smallpox to befall one's enemies. The Semites furnish an admirable example of the course of development of demonology. In the earliest records of Babylonia and Assyria the antithesis between beneficent and maleficent deities is clearly marked. The conflict in the Babylonian creation myth of Marduk, the god of light, with Tiamat, the demon of darkness, a conflict which is indicated by Gen. i. 2-8, and more clearly in Rev. xii. 7-9, is an instance of enmity between two nature godlings. On the other hand. Lilith. according to Talmudic tradi- tion, seems to liavc been originally a malignant ghost changed into a vampire or ghoul. The infer- ence that ghosts were sometimes metamorphosed into demons seems justified from the account of the beneficent ghost of Samuel in the story of Saul and the witch of Endor, I. Sam. xxviii.' 7-20. The Old Testament contains allusions to demons, such as the 'familiar spirits' of Lev. XX. 6, 27, the 'devils' of Lev. xvii. 7. Dent, xxxii. '17, 11. Chron. xi. 15. Psa. cvi. .37, the creatures that haunt the desert. Tsa. xiii. 21. 22: xxxiv. 14. 15. as well as the 'terror by niglit' and the 'pes- tilence' of Psa. xci. 5-(i. On the other hand, the strongly Yahwistic tendency of the Old Testa- ment was most unfavorable to any development of demonology in the Bible. Even the one demon who retained any real personality, Satan (see De«l), plays but a small part in the Old Testa- ment. He is a servant (even, in .Job. i. 6, ii. 11, reckoned among the sons) of Yahweh. and com- pletely under his control, so that he is sharply rebuked by Yahweh in Zech. iii. 1-2, and is