And this also is done in the present day, in that the devil is scourged,
and burned, and tortured by exorcists, by the human voice, and by divine power…
Oh, would you but hear and see them when they are adjured by us, and tortured
with spiritual scourges, and are ejected from the possessed bodies with
tortures of words, when howling and groaning at the voice of man and the power
of God, feeling the stripes and blows, they confess the judgment to come! Come
and acknowledge that what we say is true; and since you say that you thus
worship gods, believe even those whom you worship.
Or if you will even believe yourself, he—i.e., the demon—who has now possessed your breast, who has now darkened your mind with the night of ignorance, shall speak concerning yourself in your hearing. You will see that we are entreated by those whom you entreat, that we are feared by those whom you fear, whom you adore. You will see that under our hands they stand bound, and tremble as captives, whom you look up to and venerate as lords: assuredly even thus you might be confounded in those errors of yours, when you see and hear your gods, at once upon our interrogation betraying what they are, and even in your presence unable to conceal those deceits and trickeries of theirs.
Or if you will even believe yourself, he—i.e., the demon—who has now possessed your breast, who has now darkened your mind with the night of ignorance, shall speak concerning yourself in your hearing. You will see that we are entreated by those whom you entreat, that we are feared by those whom you fear, whom you adore. You will see that under our hands they stand bound, and tremble as captives, whom you look up to and venerate as lords: assuredly even thus you might be confounded in those errors of yours, when you see and hear your gods, at once upon our interrogation betraying what they are, and even in your presence unable to conceal those deceits and trickeries of theirs.
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