Being a discourse by Ifor of Gwent for the edification of the populace of the Far Isles concerning the forms and guises of the foul art of witchcraft.
WHETHER IT BE HERESY TO DENY THE POWER OF WITCHCRAFT
It has been stated, even by many persons of considerable learning, that there is no such thing as witchcraft. They maintain that this vile art has no real and actual effect, but that the populous are deluded into the belief that witches have power, and these are their arguments and the refutations thereof.
Question the First. It is argued that every alteration in the human body, be it sickness injury or otherwise, can be attributed to a natural cause, as Aristotle has demonstrated in his 7th book of Physics. Therefore, it may be held that there is not such a thing as magic, and it is only the imagining of those who ascribe natural effects, the causes of which are unknown, to witchcraft. Others declare that witches exist, but that their powers are purely illusory and phantasmical, and that the effects of their spells are wholly imaginary and fanciful.
Answer. In confutation of the first Question, we may most easily turn to divine law, and also to ecclesiastical and secular law. For the penalty of death is not lightly inflicted, but instead for some grave and notorious crime. And in many places divine law decrees that not only are witches to be avoided, but that they are to be put to death. This would not be so were it not that these witches truly enter a compact with devils to bring real hurts and harms to men and beasts. The extreme penalty is commanded in the writings of many doctors and of saints, especially S. Thomas, and in the Holy Scriptures. Thus, although there are many things in nature which exceed our knowledge, such as the hidden power of the lodestone which, as S. Augustine mentions in the 20th book Of the City of God, attracts steel and similar substances, yet the power of witches is not dependent solely upon natural forces, but also upon the aid of the Devil. Thus did S. Isidore state in chapter 9 of his Etymologiae: Witches ('maleficae') are so called on account of the blackness of their guilt, that is to say, their deeds are more evil than those of any other malefactors.
Question the Second. To believe that any creature, which is the work of the Creator, can be changed in any manner whatsoever, or transformed into another kind or likeness, except by the Hand of that Creator, is to fall into an error espoused by pagans and heretics. For the power of God is stronger than the power of the Devil, so it is unlawful to believe that the works of creation can be metamorphosed or injured by the evil craft of demons.
Answer. Now, these opinions are heretical and may readily be confuted. For in the first place, S. Thomas lays down that such an opinion is contrary to the authority of the saints. And the Holy Scriptures state that devils have power over the bodies and minds of men, when God gives them licence, as is plain from many passages therein, which it would be tedious here to enumerate. But, to give an example, consider the providence of God unto Job. For great harms and damages may be perpetrated by demons, when God allows them so to act, as S. Augustine says in his 4th book Of the City of God: Demons may make use of both fire and air if God allow them so to do. Thus, to maintain that devils cannot bring about any real change is an infidelity to the Catholic faith. And since infidelity in a baptised person is technically called heresy, those who hold such an opinion are to be denounced as heretics. Thus is the second Question treated.
©1992 Trevor Barker. Originally published in Far Horizons, Vol. 5, No. 3.
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