of disordered order, which I would rather call a Cacarchy, whereby some are more potent than others. v. Peter Lombard, Sent. II., distinc. 6. Thyr.
Job 41.
Matth. 12.
Mark 5.
Luke 11.
Matth. 12.This may be verified by several passages of Holy Scripture; for in Job, speaking of Behemoth, it is said; “He is a king over all the children of pride.” And in another place Beelzebub is called the Prince of the Devils; for the Jews reproached Jesus Christ because he cast out devils by Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils. But, more than this, our Lord clearly shows in St. Matthew that all devils have not the same power or might, in these words: “If Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself.”
v. Flagell. Dæmon. Docum., 4.Our exorcists are well aware of this; for they sometimes command Lucifer and the other more potent devils to torment those which are inferior to them, when the latter prove stubborn in refusing to come out of the bodies of those whom they have possessed.
St. August., Cass., St. Thomas., Perer., Binsfeld. de confession. malefic., dub. princip., conclusio 10.If, then, it be true that one devil is more potent than another, as we have just shown, and as the Theologians are agreed, it follows that it will be easy for one witch to harm another, provided that he has control over a more powerful devil than that other; for a witch’s power is governed by that of the devil which is his familiar.
Let us take some examples to confirm this statement. Mall. Malefic. II. 2.Sprenger tells that an old witch caused a younger witch to die, that she might heal a Bishop who had been stricken sick by the young witch. Formic. 3.Nider writes that in Germany when a man is bewitched, he goes to an old witch, who pours molten lead into water until, with the help of the Devil, an image is formed of the lead; on which the old woman asks the sick man in which part of the body he wishes her to torture the