I Do Not Presume To
Assign The Cause Of This Event, Except That It Is Said To Be The
Presage Of A Sudden Change From Poverty To Riches, Or Rather From
Affluence To Poverty And Distress; As It Was Found To Be The Case In
Both These Instances.
And it appears to me very extraordinary that
these places could not be purified from such illusions, either by
The sprinkling of holy water, or the assistance of any other
religious ceremony; for the priests themselves, though protected by
the crucifix, or the holy water, on devoutly entering the house,
were equally subject to the same insults. From whence it appears
that things pertaining to the sacraments, as well as the sacraments
themselves, defend us from hurtful, but not from harmless things;
from annoyances, but not from illusions. It is worthy of note, that
in our time, a woman in Poitou was possessed by a demon, who,
through her mouth, artfully and acutely disputed with the learned.
He sometimes upbraided people with their secret actions, and those
things which they wished not to hear; but when either the books of
the gospel, or the relics of saints, were placed upon the mouth of
the possessed, he fled to the lower part of her throat; and when
they were removed thither, he descended into her belly. His
appearance was indicated by certain inflations and convulsions of
the parts which he possessed, and when the relics were again placed
in the lower parts, he directly returned to the upper. At length,
when they brought the body of Christ, and gave it to the patient,
the demon answered, "Ye fools, you are doing nothing, for what you
give her is not the food of the body, but of the soul; and my power
is confined to the body, not to the soul." But when those persons
whom he had upbraided with their more serious actions, had
confessed, and returned from penance, he reproached them no more.
"I have known, indeed," says he, "I have known but now I know not,
(he spake this as it were a reproach to others), and I hold my
tongue, for what I know, I know not." From which it appears, that
after confession and penance, the demons either do not know the sins
of men, or do not know them to their injury and disgrace; because,
as Augustine says, "If man conceals, God discovers; if man
discovers, God conceals."
Some people are surprised that lightning often strikes our places of
worship, and damages the crosses and images of him who was
crucified, before the eyes of one who seeth all things, and permits
these circumstances to happen; to whom I shall only answer with
Ovid,
"Summa petit livor, perflant altissima venti,
Summa petunt dextra fulmina missa Jovis."
On the same subject, Peter Abelard, in the presence of Philip king
of France, is said to have answered a Jew, who urged these and
similar things against the faith. "It is true that the lightning
descending from on high, directs itself most commonly to the highest
object on earth, and to those most resembling its own nature; it
never, therefore, injures your synagogues, because no man ever saw
or heard of its falling upon a privy." An event worthy of note,
happened in our time in France.
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