Magical Tug O' War

I actually enjoyed reading chapter seven in Witchcraft in Europe. Mostly because it is one of the shorter chapters we have read, but also because it interested me. The first document of the chapter, document 36, really interested me because at the end of it, Erasmus asks why people should be so surprised that "new plagues come upon us every day, when each day, by fresh wickedness, we provoke the Lord our God" (236). I find it interesting that Erasmus is blaming the human population for wars, famine, and pestilence (236) because they were all a part of the world before magic existed. I think Erasmus is trying to explain that if these magical happenings keep occurring, things will continue to worsen. The fact that blasphemous acts are growing - like the case of the man who does idolatry with the body of Jesus - means that the trouble in the world is growing. People are turning to the devil for happiness rather than God, and that is why the world is falling apart...so to speak.
The next document explains the ins and outs of magic in a little more detail, which I enjoyed. This document says that the devil is able to commit his evil acts through the "innate powers that he has from God" (238). Since the devil is inherently evil and God is inherently good, it is easy for me to forget that God did give the devil his powers. Not only that, but he did not take "his natural strength" (238) away from him. I think God did not take away the devil's powers because, as we discussed in class, he is needed as a temptation. People need to be reminded that they should always trust in God and not run to the devil for help. In my opinion, this is not a very God-like thing to do, but that's an entirely different matter.
The same text goes on to explain that when people practice magic, they are not actually committing the acts. The witches, therefore, only do "a sign, not the deed itself" (238). If I were alive during this time period, I think this would have made using magic even more appalling. Before, I assumed that the magic users simply used the devil's energy to make what they wanted to happen happen. However, it is the devil himself who commits the actions. The witches turn to the devil himself, not just his power, to create magic. Not only are they turning their backs on God's power, they are turning their backs on God himself.

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I like this picture because it shows people being baptized by the devil. I think this is a perfect representation of what magic users of this time were doing.