ll of facts
which demonstrate what I have just said. The devil has a thousand
things imputed to him in which he has no share; they give him the
honor of predictions, revelations, secrets, and discoveries, which are
by no means the effect of his power, or penetration; as in the same
manner he is accused of having caused all sorts of evils, tempests,
and maladies, which are purely the effect of natural but unknown
causes.

It is very true that there are really many persons who are persuaded
of the power of the devil, of his influence over an infinite number of
things, and of the effects which they attribute to him; that they have
consulted him to learn future events, or to discover hidden things;
that they have addressed themselves to him for success in their
projects, for money, or favor, or to enjoy their criminal pleasures.
All this is very real. Magic, then, is not a simple chimera, since so
many persons are infatuated with the power of charms and convicted of
holding commerce with the devil, to procure a number of effects which
pass for supernatural. Now it is the folly, the vain credulity, the
prepossession of such people that the law of God interdicts, that
Moses condemns to death, and that the Christian Church punishes by its
censures, and which the secular judges repress with the greatest
rigor. If in all these things there was nothing but a diseased
imagination, weakness of the brain, or popular prejudices, would they
be treated with so much severity? Do we put to death hypochondriacs,
maniacs, or those who imagine themselves ill? No; they are treated
with compassion, and every effort is made to cure them. But in the
other case it is impiety, or superstition, or vice in those who
consult, or believe they consult, the devil, and place their
confidence in him, against which the laws are put in force and ordain
chastisement.

Even if we could deny and contest the reality of augurs, diviners, and
magicians, and look on all these kind of persons as seducers, who
abuse the simplicity of those who betake themselves to them, could we
deny the reality of the magicians of Pharaoh, that of Simon, of
Bar-Jesus, of the Pythoness of the Acts of the Apostles? Did not the
first-mentioned perform many wonders before Pharaoh? Did not Simon the
magician rise into the air by means of the devil? Did not St. Paul
impose silence on the Pythoness of the city of Philippi in
Macedonia?[139] Will it be said that there was any collusion