Zacchaeus Christianus, Consultationum Zacchaei Christiani Et Apollonii Philosophi Libri Tres

Zacch.—Nec me praeterit magicis carminibus non mortuorum, sed daemonum spiritus evocari, eosdemque per phantasiam paulisper simulare quod non sunt : conditionem praeterea addere falsitati, ut aut non visi respondeant, aut, si videntur, obti- ceant : ut imprudentium vota debilia umbrarum illudat effigies. Defunctorum autem animae resolutis corporibus ad sedes debitas perducuntur, ac pro meritis usque ad futuri judicii diem vel in locis bea- torum morantur, et subjectae magorum invocatio- nibus non sunt, aut quibusdam clausae carceribus venire ad superna prohibentur : ita fit ut iisdem venire vel dedignantibus, vel retentis, eorum simi- litudinem daemones fingant, ut et fallaciae quam diligunt semper intersint, et credentes talibus veri imitatione frustrentur. Medicorum vero medelae mul- tis herbarum confectionibus nec statim nec omnibus prosunt; et si quando allior aegris morbus inoleve- rit, aut igni viscera exusta torrentur, aut ferro per- nicies occulta resecatur : nihil in remedium impe- rio agitur, nihil solo sermone perficitur. Et certe fateri omnes possumus derogare medicinam ex co quod sit in homine, posse; addere non posse quod non sit, quae Christi operum contra reputatio est. Caecus materias luminum ab initio non babens, et vacua oculorum loca praebens, limo illitus, quem- admodum erat primum homo factus, visum rece- pit : gressum nesciens jubetur incedere : solutus in muliere venarum sanguis, dicto sistitur : imperio auris solidatur abscissa : nec medicamine fugit lepra, sed verbo. Huc tabefactum sepulcris cadaver et pro- dire jubetur, et vivere; nec subitam praesentiam cernentibus praestat, sed cunctis hominum actibus interest, atque annos victurus exsultat. Quis praeter Deum quinque panibus tantum e plura hominum millia pascere ita potuit ut saturaret? Quis mare pedibus ingredi, et immensum ambulando libere calcavit elementum, ut famulantibus viae fluctibus figeret firma vestigia? Quis ventis jubere, et sae- vientes in tempestatem procellas sermone compes- cere? Quis de aqua vinum facere, et ex eadem in eamdem natura sine intellectu demutationis melioris speciei praestare profectum? Quae Christus in ho- mine agens ut se et Deum probaret, multis viden- tibus fecit. Itaque si echo loquenti, aut fontibus spuma, vel vero lumini umbra coaequanda est; non indigna comparatione junguntur opera hominum virtutibus Dei : cum hic, haec tantum remediorum mora sit, ut prodesse jubeantur; illic praestita per laborem prius pene quam sentiantur, evanescant.

Zacchaeus: Nor does it escape me that by magic spells it is not the spirits of the dead but those of demons that are called up, and that these for a little while, by illusion, counterfeit what they are not; and moreover that they attach a condition to their falsehood, that either they answer without being seen or, if they are seen, they keep silent, so that the likeness of shades may make sport of the feeble wishes of the unwary. But the souls of the dead, once their bodies are dissolved, are led to their due abodes, and, according to their merits, until the day of the coming judgement, either they dwell in the places of the blessed and are not subject to the invocations of magicians, or, shut in certain prisons, they are prevented from coming to the world above. So it happens that, since these either disdain to come or are held back, demons fashion their likeness, so that they may always have a part in the deceit they love, and may cheat those who believe such things with an imitation of the truth. The remedies of doctors, on the other hand, made up of many preparations of herbs, help neither at once nor everyone; and if ever a disease has rooted itself more deeply in the sick, either the inner parts are burnt and seared with fire, or the hidden ruin is cut out with the knife: nothing is done towards a cure by command, nothing is accomplished by word alone. And certainly we can all admit that medicine can take away from what is in a man, but cannot add what is not there; and the account of Christ’s works is the opposite. A blind man who from the beginning had no substance for eyes and showed empty sockets, smeared with clay, just as man was first made, received his sight; one who did not know how to walk is ordered to walk; the blood flowing from the veins in a woman is stopped by a word; at a command a severed ear is made whole; leprosy flees not before medicine but before a word. A corpse wasted in the tomb is ordered both to come forth hither and to live; and he does not offer the onlookers a sudden [passing] presence, but takes part in all the activities of men, and rejoices, to live on for years. Who but God could feed several thousand men from only five loaves so as to fill them? Who [could] enter the sea on foot, and trod freely, walking, on the boundless element, so as to set firm footprints on waves that served him as a road? Who [could] command the winds, and calm with speech the gales raging into a storm? Who [could] make wine from water, and, from the same nature into the same, without the change being perceived, bestow the improvement of a better kind? These things Christ did, acting in a man, with many looking on, to prove himself God as well. So if an echo is to be put on a level with the speaker, or foam with springs, or a shadow with true light, then the works of men may be joined in no unworthy comparison with the mighty works of God; since here the only delay of the remedies is that they are ordered to help, while there the things achieved by toil vanish almost before they are felt.