zi8 THE OCCULT SCIENCES. 



King Solomon was always looked upon by the adepts as the greatest of 



magicians. Hence came the name of Theurgy (from to', God), which, 



however, was in many cases much the same as Gocty (ydijs, enchanter), this 



latter having for its object the invocation of invisible powers, amongst them 



being several evil genii (Figs. 161 and 1G2). Henry Cornelius Agrippa, 



magician _as he was, or believed himself to be, defined the principle of 



theurgy as follows : " Our soul, purified and made divine, inflamed by the 



love of God, ennobled by hope, guided by faith, raised to the summit of 



human intelligence, attracts to itself the truth ; and in Divine-truth, in the 



mirror of eternity, it beholds the condition of things natural, supernatural, 



and heavenly, their essence, their causes, and the plenitude of sciences, 



understanding them all in an instant. Thus, when we are in this state of 



purity and elevation, we know the things which are above nature, and we 



understand everything that appertains to this lower world ; we know not 



only things' present and past, but we also receive continually the oracles of 



what will happen in the near and in the far future. This is how men 



devoted to God, and who practise the three theological virtues, are masters 



of the elements, ward off tempests, raise the winds, cause the clouds to drop 



rain, heal the sick, raise up the dead." So, according to this Prince of 



Magicians, as Cornelius Agrippa was sumamed, a magician ought, above all 



things, to have an ardent and unswerving belief in the assistance of God, 



in whose name he exercised his celestial or infernal art. 



Jesus Christ has said, " Have faith, and ye shall remove mountains." 

 But magic was much earlier than the Christian era, for it is said to have 

 originated with the magi of Chaldea, and to have received the name from 

 them. The demoiiographers of the sixteenth century asserted that magic 

 had never had any other object than the invocation of demons, and they 

 ascribed the origin of it to Mercury or to Zabulon, who is supposed to be 

 no other than Satan himself. This sinister science was said to have been 

 inculcated and propagated during the life of Christ by one Bamabe Cypriot, 

 who asserted that he drew his doctrines from books of magic, the authorship of 

 which he ascribed to Adam, Abel, Enoch, and Abraham. These wonderful books, 

 which the angel Raziel, the counsellor of Adam, and the angel llaphacl, 

 the guide of Tobias, had communicated to men, were said to be in existence 

 in Abyssinia, in the monastery of the Holy Cross, which was founded 

 by Queen Shcba on her return from the visit which she paid to Solomon. 



