The PREFACE.

...and so forth. Thus says Zoroaster, word for word: "God is the first, incorruptible, everlasting, unbegotten, without parts, most like himself, the guide of all good, expecting no reward, the best, the wisest, the father of right, having learned justice without teaching, perfect, wise by nature, and the only inventor of it."

So it follows that a Magician is nothing other than a worshiper and interpreter of divine things original: "divinorum cultor & interpres"; and the Art itself is nothing other than the absolute perfection of Natural Philosophy original: "quam Naturalis Philosophiæ absoluta consummatio". Nevertheless, there is a mixture in all things: of good with evil, of falsehood with truth, and of corruption with purity. The good, the truth, and the purity in every category may well be embraced. For example, in the ancient practice of worshipping God by sacrifice, no man among the Elders who knew God refrained from worshipping the God of all power, nor did they condemn that kind of worship simply because the devil was similarly adored in the images of Baal, Dagon, Astaroth, Chemosh, Jupiter, Apollo, and the like.

Neither did the abuse of Astrology In this period, "astrology" often referred to the scientific study of astronomy as well as the study of celestial influences. frighten Abraham (if we believe the most ancient and religious writers) away from observing the motions and natures of the heavenly bodies. Neither can it discourage original: "dehort" wise and learned men in these days from attributing those virtues, influences, and inclinations to the stars and other lights of heaven which God has given to those, his glorious creatures.

I must expect some slanders and criticisms original: "calumnies and obtrectations" against this work from malicious, prejudiced men and the lazy defenders of ignorance, with whom this age swarms; but the voice and sound of the Snake and the Goose are one and the same The author suggests that the hissing of critics is as mindless as the sounds of animals.. However, our stomachs are not so squeamish and tender now, after so...