h, and then
to a physician, if one cannot the other shall, _Flectere si nequeant
superos Acheronta movebunt_. [2800]"It matters not," saith Paracelsus,
"whether it be God or the devil, angels, or unclean spirits cure him, so
that he be eased." If a man fall into a ditch, as he prosecutes it, what
matter is it whether a friend or an enemy help him out? and if I be
troubled with such a malady, what care I whether the devil himself, or any
of his ministers by God's permission, redeem me? He calls a [2801]
magician, God's minister and his vicar, applying that of _vos estis dii_
profanely to them, for which he is lashed by T. Erastus _part. 1. fol. 45._
And elsewhere he encourageth his patients to have a good faith, [2802] "a
strong imagination, and they shall find the effects: let divines say to the
contrary what they will." He proves and contends that many diseases cannot
otherwise be cured. _Incantatione orti incantatione curari debent_; if they
be caused by incantation, [2803]they must be cured by incantation.
Constantinus _lib. 4._ approves of such remedies: Bartolus the lawyer,
Peter Aerodius _rerum Judic. lib. 3. tit. 7._ Salicetus Godefridus, with
others of that sect, allow of them; _modo sint ad sanitatem quae a magis
fiunt, secus non_, so they be for the parties good, or not at all. But
these men are confuted by Remigius, Bodinus, _daem. lib. 3. cap 2._
Godelmanus _lib. 1. cap. 8_, Wierus, Delrio _lib. 6. quaest. 2. tom. 3.
mag. inquis._ Erastus _de Lamiis_; all our [2804]divines, schoolmen, and
such as write cases of conscience are against it, the scripture itself
absolutely forbids it as a mortal sin, Levit. cap. xviii. xix. xx. Deut.
xviii. &c. Rom. viii. 19. "Evil is not to be done, that good may come of
it." Much better it were for such patients that are so troubled, to endure
a little misery in this life, than to hazard their souls' health for ever,
and as Delrio counselleth, [2805]"much better die, than be so cured." Some
take upon them to expel devils by natural remedies, and magical exorcisms,
which they seem to approve out of the practice of the primitive church, as
that above cited of Josephus, Eleazer, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Austin.
Eusebius makes mention of such, and magic itself hath been publicly
professed in some universities, as of old in Salamanca in Spain, and Krakow
in Poland: but condemned anno 1318, by the chancellor and university of
[2806]Paris. Our pontifical writers retain many of these adjura