THE CLEMENTINES :-GROSS SUPERSTITION. 197 priest at hand, I am the next moment driven out, and he (or she) who was a child of the devil, a child of wrath, and under its Maker's curse, became (and over three-fourths of the Church still becomes) a child of grace, dear to its Creator, and an heir of eternal life through the merits of Jesus Christ, and permissu superiorum, or the act of the rector of the parish. In the degree in which the darkness of the middle ages grew thicker and thicker, the ecclesiastical demonology received fresh developments, and superstition established in the popular Christianity a veritable dualism, dividing the world between God and me, though assigning to me by far the larger share of power and dominion. Of these developments I shall give some account in their more striking instances. Meanwhile I must finish this general outline. SECTION II. THE CLEMENTINES. THE CLEMENTINES, consisting of the "Clementine Recognitions" and the "Clementine Homilies," and including “the Proclamation (or Gospel) of Peter," and "the Travels of Peter," if, as their name indicates, written by Clement of Rome, are a very early product of Christian thought, which any way cannot be brought down later than the beginning of the third century.* These pieces I cannot altogether pass over, if only that they reflect the thought and spirit of the earlier ages of the Church more vividly, if not, on the Judaic side, more exactly than any one of the Fathers, inasmuch as they are free compositions, or, in plain English, fictions illustrative and commendatory of a certain style of Christian thought. They also, in their introduction of distinguished names, such as Clement, Peter, Andrew, Zaccheus, &c., exemplify a practice by no means uncommon in those early days, by which attention was innocently and almost unconsciously claimed for * Die Homilien und Recognitionen des Clemens Romanus, von Gerard Uhlhorn. 1 vol. 8vo. Göttingen, 1854. 198 SATAN'S MUTABILITY. ideas and statements of which the anonymous author and authors were the zealous but unavowed advocates. Bearing this character, the Clementines serve to throw a strong light on some points in which I am deeply concerned, especially my alleged connection with magic and the occult sciences. What a wonder-worker the magician was held to be may be learnt from the account given of himself by Simon Magus, that is Simon the Magician, who is mentioned in the book of Acts (viii. 9-13) as converted by Philip, and rebuked and repelled by Peter (18-24): "I am able to render myself invisible to those who wish to lay hold of me, and again to be visible when I am willing to be seen. If I wish to flee, I can dig through the mountains, and pass through rocks as if they were clay. If I should throw myself headlong from a lofty mountain, I should be borne unhurt to the earth, as if I were held up. Being shut up in prison, I can make the barriers open of their own accord. I can render statues animated, so that those who see suppose they are men. I can make new trees suddenly spring up, and produce sprouts at once. I can throw myself into the fire and not be burnt. I can change my countenance, so that I cannot be recognized; and I can shew people that I have two faces. I shall change myself into a sheep or a goat; I shall make a beard to grow up on little boys; I shall ascend by flight into the air; I shall exhibit abundance of gold, and shall make and unmake kings; I shall be worshiped as God. And what need of more words? Whatever I wish, I am able to do. For already I have achieved many things by way of experiment. In short, once when my mother Rachael ordered me to go to the field to reap, and I saw a sickle lying, I ordered it to go and reap; and it reaped ten times more than the reapers. Lately I produced many new sprouts from the earth, and made them bear leaves and fruit in a moment; and the nearest mountain I successfully bored through."* *The Recognitions of Clement, ii. 9. SIMON MAGUS A POWER OF GOD. 199 Thus powerful himself, the magician, in virtue of his alliance with a higher power, exercises unbounded control over angels and demons; so at least it is declared in the Clementine Homilies (Homily v. chap. v.). "I will tell you how the demons are under necessity to obey the magicians in the matters about which they are commanded. For as it is impossible for a soldier to contradict his general, and impossible for the generals themselves to disobey the king, so is it impossible for the demons not to serve the angels who are their generals; and when they are adjured by them, they yield trembling, well knowing that if they disobey they will be fully punished. But the angels themselves, being adjured by the magicians in the name of their ruler, obey lest, being found guilty of disobedience, they be destroyed." That ruler in some cases is even God himself. So Peter is made to teach in the seventh Homily: "Simon (Magus) is a power of the left hand of God, and has authority to do harm to those who know not God, so that he has been able to involve you (the Tyrians) in diseases; but by these very diseases which have been permitted to come upon you by the good providence of God, you, seeking and finding him who is able to cure, have been compelled to submit to the will of God on the occasion of the cure of the body, and to think of believing, in order that in this way you may have your souls as well as your bodies in a healthy state." 66 So, then, I am God's instrument for good to men, and good in both body and soul. Like Simon Magus, I am a power of the left hand of God." And this prerogative I claim on the authority of him who is the rock on which the Church is built. Bow down, then, before me, and own in me God's instrument, ye popes, bishops, priests, and see to it that ye teach the people the doctrine, which is not only as true as yours, but more salutary. Moreover, observe the extent of power I thus obtain. Sin is universal, and consequently God's left hand work is also universal. And as I control the magi 200 66 cians, and the magicians control angels as well as demons, my power extends from earth to heaven, and spreads throughout the heavenly hosts. Even Peter recognizes the power of the magician : "Simon is a minister of evil to them who know not the truth. Therefore he has power to bring diseases on sinners. By that evil-working magician, then, you (the Tyrians) were stricken with diseases because you revolted from God." (Chap. xi.). I am, however, not without a fear that exception may be taken to the authority I have cited. You are surprised? Well may you be surprised, and more ground for surprise will you have when you hear what I am about to cite-words which I am sure would convict the apostle Peter, the rock of the Church, of rank heresy in any ecclesiastical court of Christendom. You are not ignorant of the orthodox doctrine of "the fall of the angels" and "the fall of man"? Now listen to Peter's statements on these points: "The only good God made all things well and handed them over to man, who was made after his image, and breathed of the Divinity by whom he was made. Moreover, he appointed to them a perpetual law. By obedience to the law they had all things in abundance-the fairest of fruits, fulness of years, freedom from disease and grief, with all salubrity of the air. But they, because they had at first no experience of evils, being insensible to the gift of good things, were turned to ingratitude by abundance of food and luxuries, so that they even thought that there is no Providence. But then they were overtaken by a certain just punishment, following from a certain arranged harmony, removing from them good things as having hurt them, and introducing evil things instead, as advantageous. This misconduct led the angels to ask God to allow them to enter into the life of men, in order to correct them. The request was granted. Whereupon the angels metamorphosed themselves into various natures; for, being of a more godlike substance, they are able easily to assume any HOW MEN CAME TO EAT ANIMAL FOOD. 201 form. So they became precious stones and goodly pearls, and the most beauteous purple and choice gold. And they fell into the hands of some, and into the bosom of others, and suffered themselves to be stolen by them. They also changed themselves into beasts and reptiles, and fishes and birds. But when, having assumed these forms with a view to the good of men, they became in all respects as men; so they partook of human lust, and being brought into subjection to it, they fell into cohabitation with women, and, sank in defilement, became unable to turn back to the first purity of their proper nature. Wherefore they have never been able to ascend into the heavens again. Wishing to please their mistresses, they got charmed stones from the bowels of the earth, and imparted the discovery of magic, and taught astronomy and the powers of roots; also the melting of gold and silver, and the various dyeing of garments. And all things, in short, which are for the adornment and delight of women, are the discoveries of these demons bound in flesh. But from their unhallowed intercourse spurious men sprang, much greater in stature than ordinary men who were afterwards called giants—wild in manners and huge in size, inasmuch as they were sprung of angels, yet less than angels, as they were born of women. Therefore God, knowing that they were barbarized to brutality, that they might not, from want of food, turn to the eating of animals, rained down showers of manna on them suited to their various tastes, and they enjoyed all that they would. But, on account of their bastard nature, not being pleased with purity of food, they longed only after the taste of blood. Wherefore they then first tasted flesh. And the men who were with them for the first time were eager to do the like. But when irrational animals fell short, men also ate human flesh; for it was not a long step to the consumption of flesh like their own, when they had tasted it in other forms. The defilements that ensued led God to destroy with a flood all men except Noah and his three sons, with their wives and their children. Then God gave a law to them and their de |