m, imaginary powers. But the established religions of
Paganism were seen by the primitive Christians in a much more odious and
formidable light. It was the universal sentiment both of the church and
of heretics, that the daemons were the authors, the patrons, and the
objects of idolatry. [38] Those rebellious spirits who had been degraded
from the rank of angels, and cast down into the infernal pit, were still
permitted to roam upon earth, to torment the bodies, and to seduce the
minds, of sinful men. The daemons soon discovered and abused the natural
propensity of the human heart towards devotion, and artfully withdrawing
the adoration of mankind from their Creator, they usurped the place
and honors of the Supreme Deity. By the success of their malicious
contrivances, they at once gratified their own vanity and revenge, and
obtained the only comfort of which they were yet susceptible, the hope
of involving the human species in the participation of their guilt and
misery. It was confessed, or at least it was imagined, that they
had distributed among themselves the most important characters of
polytheism, one daemon assuming the name and attributes of Jupiter,
another of Aesculapius, a third of Venus, and a fourth perhaps of
Apollo; [39] and that, by the advantage of their long experience and
aerial nature, they were enabled to execute, with sufficient skill
and dignity, the parts which they had undertaken. They lurked in
the temples, instituted festivals and sacrifices, invented fables,
pronounced oracles, and were frequently allowed to perform miracles. The
Christians, who, by the interposition of evil spirits, could so readily
explain every preternatural appearance, were disposed and even desirous
to admit the most extravagant fictions of the Pagan mythology. But the
belief of the Christian was accompanied with horror. The most trifling
mark of respect to the national worship he considered as a direct homage
yielded to the daemon, and as an act of rebellion against the majesty of
God.

[Footnote 38: The unanimous sentiment of the primitive church is very
clearly explained by Justin Martyr, Apolog. Major, by Athenagoras,
Legat. c. 22. &c., and by Lactantius, Institut. Divin. ii. 14--19.]

[Footnote 39: Tertullian (Apolog. c. 23) alleges the confession of the
daemons themselves as often as they were tormented by the Christian
exorcists]

Chapter XV: Progress Of The Christian Religion.--Part III.

In consequenc