such delusions that he may have your souls
when ye believe his lying deceits.
Now a certain sorcerer saith that witches often declare
even as a matter happens with a true result.
Now say we of a truth, that the invisible devil no
who flieth through these worlds, and seeth many things,
revealeth to the witch what she shall say to men,
that they may be destroyed who seek this sorcery.
Many things said the magicians through the devil's art,
Jamnes and Jambres, [A. S. Mambres], even as Moses wrote,
and they seduced Pharaoh with their deceits,
until he was drowned in the deep sea.
So likewise Simon, the wily sorcerer,
strove so long with Saint Peter, until he was cast down,
when he desired to fly to heaven, so that he burst into four parts,
and so that impious man departed in torment to hell.
Many others have perished who followed sorcery,
even as we read in books, but their story is tedious.
Neither shall the Christian enquire of the foul witch
concerning his health, though she may be able to tell
something through the devil, for it will be harmful,
and all will be poisonous which cometh from him,
and all his followers shall perish in the end.
Some men are so blinded, that they bring their offerings
to an earth-fast stone, and eke to trees,
and to well-springs, even as witches teach,
and will not understand how foolishly they act,
or how the dead stone or the dumb tree
