22. I do not accept the devil’s
testimony but his confession. The devil spoke unwillingly, being
compelled and tormented. That which wickedness suppresses,
torture extracts. The devil yields to blows, and the Arians have
not yet learned to yield. How great have been their sufferings,
and yet, like Pharaoh, they are hardened by their calamities! The
devil said, as we find it written: “I know Thee Who Thou
art, Thou art the Son of the living God.” S. Mark i. 24. And the Jews said:
“We know not whence He is.” S. John ix. 30. The evil spirits said to-day,
yesterday, and during the night, We know that ye are martyrs. And
the Arians say, We know not, we will not understand, we will not
believe. The evil spirits say to the martyrs, Ye are come to
destroy us. The Arians say, The torments of the devils are not
real but fictitious and made-up tales. I have heard of many
things being made up, but no one has ever been able to feign that he
was an evil spirit. What is the meaning of the torment we see in
those on whom hands are laid? What room is there here for fraud?
what suspicion of pretence?