144 PARACELSUS 



" How can there be any true faith in a man who has 

 not in himself the power of God ? The godless do not 

 believe in faith because they have none of it, even if they 

 continually talk about it. They cannot know what 

 * faith * is. Where can we find a theologian who drove 

 out an evil spirit, or made a spirit come, or who healed 

 the sick by the power of God's will ; not to mention the 

 fact that no clergyman ever removed a mountain by 

 means of his faith, or threw it into the ocean ? But if 

 some one produces a sign, be it good or evil, they denounce 

 him and call him a sorcerer ; for they are not capable to 

 distinguish between magic and sorcery" (Philos. Occult., ii.). 



** Faith is the cause of witchcraft and sorceries, by 

 which means one person may injure another without 

 running much risk of discovery ; because he may kill or 

 injure his enemy without going near him, and the latter 

 cannot defend himself as he might if he were attacked by 

 a visible foe. Great care should be taken that the powers 

 of the faith are not misused, because in such a case it 

 will be witchcraft. The witches ^ are the most dangerous 

 persons in the world, if they use their evil will against 

 anybody." 



" It would be very easy to give instructions so that 

 every one might convince himself of the truth of these 

 statements, but such instructions might be misused by 

 wicked persons who might employ such knowledge for 

 evil purposes ; and it is, moreover, not to be regretted if 

 methods by which one man may injure another should 

 not be publicly known.^ But there are certain things 



nothing of the power of the god, his own self. His faith was an artificial 

 and not a natural one. He knew nothing about God ; that is to say, he 

 had no divine will ; he placed his confidence in the say so of the theo- 

 logians, but not in his own perception of truth. 



^ They are now called " hypnotisers." 



2 It may be remarked that the processes given below would not be 

 effective if employed by any one who is not in possession of power to 

 make them effective, and we see, therefore, no cause why they should 

 not be published. Those who possess such evil powers know these things 

 already. 



