The first of tne series (No. 2422), from which we shall quote, was evidently employed to exorcise the demon of a man who was suffering from leprosy.
• Id thy name I form a heavenly cure for AchdebuJ the son of Achathabu of Daithos, by the compassion of Heaven. Amen, Amen, Selah. Bound, bound, bound shall be all the male Epirite and female Astartes • evil spirits, powers of opposition ... all Satans from West and East, North and South. Bound, bound shall be all evil sorcerers and all who practise violence ; bound and sealed shall be all . . . and curses and conjurations. Bound be the angels of wrath, the angels of the house of assembly . . . the niitrhty princes, the hard princes, thediaeases without number, the sufferings, the abscess, the scAb, the mange, the skin.eruption, malignant discharge, suppurating wounds, the spirit of the burial-place, the spirit of the dead, the spirit of diseases ; bound and sealed up shall ye all be from AchdehviJ, son of Achathabu. Oo and withdraw yourselves to the mountains and the heighU and the unclean cattle (Mt ssa, Mk W", Lk BSij. If ye come on the first of Nisan (regarded as specially favourable for overcoming demons], go away from Achdebu], son of Acha- thabu, in the name of Gabriel, who is called Elpassas, and in the name of Michael, who is called (Demu)thja, and in the name of Elbenmez, and in the name of Elba'baz . . .* [The inscription concludes with the formula Amen, Amen, Selah, which occura In other incantationii, sometimes with the addition of Halle- lujah).
The exorcism No. 2416, transcribed by Wohlstein, is much longer, and other names of angels com- pounded with the name of deity El (as Nuriel, Chathiol, Sesagbiel, etc.) are quoted, with Myta-
* tin:pi: Kmno'Ki "iDn nj-ns. Note that in nj'ne ' spirits •
T
we have pmctically the same word as the Syriac {^.OZX^ 'idol.' The word Krnno'.'* is the Iltardli 'goddesses' of the Assyrian. Similarly, the Talmudic flame-tfrrrton RespA is the Phtenician Qame-deiti/ Reifph or Hetqnt (see Baethgen, IlciCrage n/r Semit. Jieti'j.-gfsch. p. 50 ; Wiedemann, lieiig. der alten yKnyiitfr, p. 8:!). Cf. Beelzebub of the NT. These are in- 9t motive examples of the wholesale conversion of heathen deities into demons.
tron at their head, making seven in all. The formula .t.ix x-n .thk (from Ex 3"), Smir- and all variations on the names of deity, as .t and i^', and the Athbash equivalent [•u ['D, are pressed into the service.
These spells are ascribed to the 7th cent. A.D., though written in unpointed Hebrew. The char- acters are of the more recent square type, and a much earlier date than the above is hardly probable. Wliy they were inscribed in bowls cannot be ex- plained. The bowls were not intended to hold water, otherwise the distinctness of the lettering would have been obscured.
Demonology and exorcism played a conspicuous part in the literature and practice of the Christian Church throughout the earlier period and during the Middle Ages. In the time of our Lord exorcism was regarded as one of the signs of the Messiahship (Mt 12-''). It was the universal belief of the early church Fathers that a disciple of Jesus was able to exercise power over demons by uttering His name (Tertullian, Apologct. 23 ; Origen, cont. Cels. vii. 334). Naturall}', bishops and other ordained clergy were considered to possess this charisma. But there was a special class of individuals who were so endowed without any ecclesiastical confer- ment (Apost. Constit. viii. 26, ^Jopxifl-Ti)! oi x^^P°- TovfiTai). Tliey received formal episcopal recognition, but not ordination, as exorcistw per gratia m. Never- theless, we also find another class who did receive episcopal ordination, and were called exurcistce per ordinem. In the ceremony of baptism the catechu- men of adult age was obliged solemnly and publicly to renounce the devil and his works, but in the case of children the assistance of the exorcist was necessary. By the priest and attendant exorcist the ceremony of ex.iuj/latio and insufflaiio was per- formed on the child, who was regarded as a child of t he devil, as being subject to inherited guilt. Sncerdos cxsujflat ter in facietn catechument semel dicens : Exi ab eo (ea) spiritus immunde et da locum spiritui sancto Paracleto. Hie in modum crucis habet in faciem ipsius et dicat : Accipe sjnritum bnnumper istam ins^ifjlationem et Dei benedict ionem. Pax tibi. According to the practice of the Romish Church at the present day, the separate existence of the exorcist is not recognized, but every priest on ordination, receives previous consecration to tho lower orders, including that of exorcist. In Can. 9 of the Fourth Council of Carthage we read : Exor- cista quura ordinatur accipiat de manu episcopi libellum in quo scripti sunt exorcisnii. At the present time the ordaining bishop places a missal in the priest's hands with the words : Accipe et commenda memorije et habeto potestatem impo- nendi manus super energumenum [i.e. ivefr/oiiurov, sc. virb TTvevfidrui' aKaOdprtoi'].*
Among the Reformers opinion and practice were divided respecting exorcism. Luther and Melancb- thon favoured it, but it was decisively rejected by Zwingli and Calvin {Instil, iv. c. 15. 19). For further details respecting ecclesiastical practice the reader is referred to the article 'Excrcistnus ' in the 2nd ed. of Herzog-Plitt's Eealenfyklopddie, from which the facts in Christian ecclesiastical tradition