, in the time of Tertullian, mentions the Order of
Exorcists as well known. St. Augustin (_De Civit. Dei_,
xxii. 8) records some extraordinary cures on his own
testimony within his diocess of Hippo.

Christian witchcraft was of a more tremendous nature than even
that of older times, both in its origin and practice. The devils
of Christianity were the metamorphosed deities of the old
religions. The Christian convert was convinced, and the Fathers
of the Church gravely insisted upon the fact, that the oracles of
Delphi or Dodona had been inspired in the times of ignorance and
idolatry by the great Enemy, who used the priest or priestess as
the means of accomplishing his eternal schemes of malice and
mischief. At the instant, however (so it was confidently
affirmed), of the divine incarnation the oracular temples were
closed for ever; and the demons were no longer permitted to
delude mankind by impersonating pagan deities. They must now find
some other means of effecting their fixed purpose. It was not far
to seek. There were human beings who, by a preeminently wicked
disposition, or in hope of some temporary profit, were prepared
to risk their future prospects, willing to devote both soul and
body to the service of hell. The 'Fathers' and great expounders
of Christianity, by their sentiments, their writings, and
their claims to the miraculous powers of exorcising, greatly
assisted to advance the common opinions. Justin Martyr, Origen,
Tertullian, Jerome, were convinced that they were in perpetual
conflict with the disappointed demons of the old world, who had
inspired the oracles and usurped the worship of the true God. Nor
was the contest always merely spiritual: they engaged personally
and corporeally. St. Jerome, like St. Dunstan in the tenth, or
Luther in the sixteenth century, had to fight with an incarnate
demon.

Exorcism--the magical or miraculous ejection of evil spirits by a
solemn form of adjuration--was a universal mode of asserting the
superior authority of the orthodox Church against the spurious
pretensions of heretics.[37]

[37] The art of expelling demons, indeed, has been preserved
in the Protestant section of the Christian Church until a
recent age. The _exorcising_ power, it is remarkable, is the
sole claim to miraculous privilege of the Protestants. The
formula _de Strumosis Attrectandis_, or the form of touching
for the king's evil (a similar claim), was one of the
recognis