228 PARACELSUS 



" He who expects help from medicine or from a phy- 

 Bician is not a Christian, but he is a Christian who hopes 

 to receive aid from God through the instrumentality of 

 man. God is the first and most potent physician ; human 

 physicians are only His deputies. Call not for help to 

 the personal self of any man, but ask it from God acting 

 through man, and He will cause you to find the physician, 

 if it is well for you that you should receive aid ; or He 

 may aid you through the power within yourself, provided 

 you are holy or a physician yourself." 



" Two kinds of punishment {Karma) are waiting for 

 the sinner. One takes place during his life, the other 

 one after his death. Those sins which are not expiated 

 after death will produce certain efiects in our next life. 

 God is the master of Nature, and the physician is her 

 servant, and let no physician fancy that he can be a 

 master of Nature unless he is a servant of God." 



" There are two ways of practising the medical art : 

 the first is to employ art ; the second is to employ lancy. 

 The former means the employment of observation, reason, 

 knowledge, experience, and wisdom ; the latter is the pro- 

 duct of speculation, self-conceit, preconceived opinions, 

 and ignorance. Those who are wise will know which way 

 to choose " {De Ente Dei). 



" No physician should presume to know the hour of 

 recovery in such cases, because it is not given to man to 

 judge of the offence of another, and the inner temple 

 contains mysteries in which no uninitiated stranger is 

 permitted to pry. If the trial is over, God will send the 

 physician. If a patient recovers by following the advice 

 of a physician, it is a sign that the physician has been 

 sent by God ; but if no recovery takes place, God did not 

 send the physician. Nothing in the world happens with- 

 out a cause. The ignorant physicians are the servants of 

 hell, sent by the devil to torment the sick ; but the true 

 physician is God. God does nothing in an unnatural 

 manner, and if He produces wonders. He produces them 



