Compendium Maleficarum/Preface to the Reader
Preface
to the Reader
Among the countless blessings which the Divine mercy daily confers upon the whole human race, and especially upon His faithful, I esteem this to be the most particular: the power to discover the malice and wickedness of our enemies, both visible and invisible. So that, recognising their cunning, we may counteract their stumbling-blocks and temptations. And since (Ps. lxxiii) the pride of them that hate God is daily increased and ever grows, and the venomous Enemy of the human race, whose fierceness waxes ever greater, does not fear to sow in our path the sharpest thorns of sorrow and tribulation and all sorts of maladies, although he himself is fearful of being tormented; therefore he essays his utmost to increase his own eternal punishment by leading as many men as he can to hell, and to deride, despise, and insult the most excellent and divine likeness of God which has been washed in the Precious Blood of Christ, and to turn man’s freedom to slavery. Therefore each one of us ought to search his heart to keep it free from the malice of the devil; for he goeth about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour; and even though his heart may be pierced and torn by his enemy’s weapons, yet the devil leaves nothing unattempted and dares everything. When he sees men of weak and timid mind, he takes them by storm: when he finds them dauntless and firm, he becomes as it were a cunning fox to deceive them: for he has a thousand means of hurting us, and he uses countless methods, superstitions and curious arts, to seduce men’s minds from God and lead them to his own follies; and all these he wondrously performs by means of illusions and witchcraft. Therefore it is agreed that this sort of evils has been disseminated to the destruction of men’s bodies and souls by the devil and his fiends through the agency of warlocks, witches, sorcerers and diviners; and in proof of this the present book will give a sure indication of the truth. And that each man may be able to guard himself, let him seriously read and carefully digest this book, which I have called Compendium Maleficarum; for just as there are shown to be various means and methods of inflicting injury, so there are various remedies by which these harms may be met and dispersed when they are recognised. If therefore, reader, there be anything in this book which holds your attention and points you the way to a remedy, I lift up my hands in thanks to God, who to His own greater glory, and the confusion of devils, has permitted the temptation of our souls that the just may be made perfect and the wicked cast into hell. Therefore the demons do but work in accordance with the design and permission of Almighty God.
