Then let the Image of our SAVIOUR upon the Cross, be erected in an open Part of the principal Room in the House; and let the Priest sprinkle the whole House with Holy Water, from Top even to the Bottom, saying,

The LESSON. St. Luke, Chap. 19.

AND JESUS entred and passed through Jericho. And behold there was a Man named Zaccheus, which was the Chief among the Publicanes, and he was rich, and he sought to see JESUS who he was, and he could not for the Press, because he was little of Stature. And he ran before, and climbed up into a Sycamore Tree to see him, for he was to pass that Way. And when JESUS came to the Place, he looked up and saw him, and said unto him, Zaccheus make haste and come down, for to Day I must abide at thy House. And he made haste and came down, and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be a Guest with a Man that is a Sinner. And Zaccheus stood and said unto the LORD, Behold LORD, the Half of my Goods I give to the Poor: And if I have taken any Thing of any Man, by false Accusation, I restore him fourfold.

For

fourfold. And JESUS said unto him, This Day is Salvation come to this House, forasmuch as he also is the Son of Abraham. the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

When all these Things are done, let Abyssum,

which is a Kind of an Herb, be procur'd, and after it is sign'd with the Sign of the Cross, let it be hung up at the four Corners of the House.

I suppose the Reason of proceeding after this Manner Day by Day, is that the Devil may be gradually banished: And to be sure, what is observed on the last of the Days, viz. The ordering of the Crucifix, the holy Water, the Abyssum tyed to the four Corners of the House, is to keep the Devil out when he is out.

St. Austin tells us a Story of one * Hesperitius, whose House was troubled with evil Spi

Ubi

Domum suam

* Vir Hesperitius spirituum malignorum vim noxiam perpeti comperisset, rogavit nostros, me absente, Presbyteros, ut aliquis eorum illo pergeret, cujus orationibus cederent: perrexit unus, obtulit ibi sacrificium corporis Christi, orans quantum potuit, ut cessaret illa vexatio. Deo protinus miserante cessarit, Aug. de Civit. Dei, Lib. 22. Cap. 8.

rits, who came once, in his Absence, to his Presbyters, and begg'd their Assistance. Upon which one of them went along with him; and when he had offer'd the Sacrifice of the Body of CHRIST, and prayed in a most fervent Manner, the House, by the Mercy of GOD, was no longer troubled.

Here is indeed an Account of a House being haunted, but not a Word of any such Order in the dispossessing it. The Priest goes immediately over the Threshold into the troubled Apartment, and expells the Spirits by his Prayers. Had such Forms been customary in the Days of St. Austin, had the Crucifix, holy Water and Abyssum, been used, no Question but here, or somewhere else, we should have had some Account of it: But these Ages were unacquainted with such whimsical Forms of exorcising; and if the Story be true, it was nothing but Prayer that quieted the House. 'Tis ridiculous to suppose that the Prince of Darkness will yield to such feeble Instruments as Water and Herbs and Crucifixes. These Weapons are not spiritual but carnal: Whereas, in resisting this potent Enemy, we must put on the whole Armour of GOD, that we may be able to resist him: Which is such a Composition, as is in

tirely free from the least Allay or Mixture of any such Superstitions.

1

F

OBSERVATIONS ON CHAP. XI.

I FIND little that may be added concerning the exorcising haunted Houses, a Species of the Black Art which is now almost forgotten in this Kingdom. Perhaps the Form is worth preserving as a Curiosity, as we hang up rusty Pieces of old Armour: A Proof how much ado there may have been about nothing! (and yet it may be supposed not altogether for nothing neither!)

St. Chrysostom is said to have insulted some African Conjurers of old with this humiliating and singular Observation: "Miserable and woeful Crea

tures that we are, we cannot so much as expel Fleas, much less Devils*."

The

*Obsession of the Devil, is distinguished from Possession in this: In Possession, the Evil One was said to enter into the Body of the Man:-In Obsession, without entering into the Body of the Person, he was thought to besiege and torment him without;—to be lifted up into the Air, and afterwards to be thrown down on the Ground violently, without receiving any Hurt:-to speak strange Languages, that the Person had never learn'd;—not to be able to come near holy Things, or the Sacraments, but to have an Aversion to them; to know and foretell secret Things;-to perform Things that exceed the Person's Strength;-to say or do Things, that the Person would not or durst not say, if he were not externally moved to it, were the antient Marks and Criterions of Obsession.

Calmet in Bailey's Dict. The old vulgar Ceremonies used in raising the Devil, such as making a Circle with Chalk, setting an old Hat in the Center of it,

repeating

The learned Selden observes on this Occasion, that there was never a merry World since the Fairies left dancing, and the Parson left conjuring* The Opinion of the latter kept Thieves in Awe, and did as much Good in a Country as a Justice of Peace.

This facetious and pointedly sensible Writer enquires farther, Why have we now none possest "with Devils in England? The old Answer is, Thè . "Devil hath the Protestants already, and the Pa

pists are so holy he dares not meddle with them."

Casting out Devils (he adds) is mere juggling;

repeating the Lord's Prayer backwards, &c. &c. are now altogether obsolete, and seem to be forgotten even amongst our boys.None will desire to see them revived amongst them, yet it were to be wished that many of these little Gentry had not substituted the doing Things really bad for this seemingly profane, but truly ridiculous Mode, or rather Mockery of the antient magical Incantation!

*I subjoin a very pertinent Quotation from the learned Author of the Origin and Increase of Depravity in Religion.

Apud tum Poetas, tum Historiographos de magicis incanta"tionibus, Exorcismnis et Curatione tum hominum quam belluarum per Carmina haud pauca habentur, sed horum Impietatem " omnium superat longè hac in re Papismus-Hic enim supra Dei "potestatem posse Carmina, posse Exorcismos affimat-ita ut nihil "sit tam obstrusum in cœlis, quod Exorcismis non pateat, nihil tam “abditum in inferno, quod non eruatur-Nihil in Terrarum silentio “inclusum, quod non eliciatur-Nihil in hominum pectoribus con"ditum, quod non reveletur-nihil ablatum, quod non restituatur, "et nihil quod habet Orbis, sive insit, sive non, è quo Damon non ejiciatur." Moresini Deprav. Rel. Orig. p. 8.

Pliny tells us that Houses were antiently hallowed against Evil Spirits with Brimstone! This Charm has been converted by later Times into what our Satyrist, Churchill, in his Prophecy of Famine, calls "a precious and rare Medicine," and is now used (but I suppose with greater Success) in exorcising those of our unfortunate Fellow-Creatures, who are haunted or possessed with a certain fiery Spirit, said by the Wits of the South to be well known, seen, and felt, and very troublesome in the North!

they