V. PNEUMATOLOGY 



The orthodoxy of the Middle Ages looked upon angels 

 and devils and departed human spirits as being personal 

 invisible entities. They personified the powers of good 

 and of evil, and made of them caricatures and monsters 

 that flitted from place to place, attempting to subjugate 

 the souls of men or to bring them within their power. 

 The governmental institutions during those times were 

 those of oligarchy, and the poor were dependent on the 

 favours of the rich. The power of the Church was 

 supreme, and the dictates of the clergy suffered no dis- 

 obedience. Servility and the craving for personal favours 

 were the order of the day, and this state of mind neces- 

 sarily influenced and modified the religious conceptions 

 of the people. The Supreme Spirit of the Universe 

 became degraded in their eyes to a personal tyrant, into 

 whose favour they attempted to wheedle themselves by 

 penitences, supplications, and by means of the interces- 

 sions of priests, who were supposed to be his favourites. 

 Everything that could not be reconciled with existing 

 prejudices and opinions was attributed to the devil ; and 

 the horrors of the inquisitions, religious persecutions, and 

 witch-trials are too well known to require to be recalled 

 to the memory of the reader. 



" Pneuma" or " soul," means a semi-material spirit, 

 an essence or form which is neither " material," in the 

 common acceptation of this term, nor pure spirit. It is 

 (like everything else in the universe) a form of will, and 

 may be with or without any intelligence. Usually it 

 means the connecting link between spirit and body ; but 



there are beings who belong entirely to the realm of the 



103 



